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Nov. 8, 2006 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:25
November 8, 2006, Wednesday, Hour #2
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Let us join the President who began about three minutes ago in his press conference.
Protect the American people from attack.
As the Commander-in-Chief, I take these responsibilities seriously.
And so does the man who served this nation honorably for almost six years as our Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.
Now, after a series of thoughtful conversations, Secretary Rumsfeld and I agreed that the timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon.
Our military has experienced an enormous amount of change and reform during the last five years while fighting the war on terror, one of the most consequential wars in our nation's history.
Don Rumsfeld has been a superb leader during a time of change.
Yet he also appreciates the value of bringing in a fresh perspective during a critical period in this war.
Don Rumsfeld is a patriot who served our country with honor and distinction.
He is a trusted advisor and a friend, and I'm deeply grateful to his service to our country.
I've asked Bob Gates to serve as the Secretary of Defense.
Bob is a former director of the CIA and current president of Texas A ⁇ M University.
If confirmed by the Senate, Bob will bring more than 25 years of national security experience and a stellar reputation as an effective leader with sound judgment.
He served six presidents from both political parties and rose from an entry-level employee in the CIA to become the Director of Central Intelligence.
During his service at the CIA and at the National Security Council, Bob Gates gained firsthand knowledge that will help him meet the challenges and opportunities our country faces during the next two years.
He is serving as a member of the Baker-Hamilton Commission.
He is a steady, solid leader who can help make the necessary adjustments in our approach to meet our current challenges.
I will have more to say about Secretary Rumsfeld and Bob Gates later today here at the White House.
Amid this time of change, I have a message for those on the front lines.
To our enemies, do not be joyful.
Do not confuse the workings of our democracies with a lack of will.
Our nation is committed to bringing you to justice.
Liberty and democracy are the source of America's strength, and liberty and democracy will lift up the hopes and desires of those you are trying to destroy.
To the people of Iraq, do not be fearful.
As you take the difficult steps toward democracy and peace, America is going to stand with you.
We know you want a better way of life, and now is the time to seize it.
To our brave men and women in uniform, don't be doubtful.
America will always support you.
Our nation is blessed to have men and women who volunteer to serve and are willing to risk their own lives for the safety of our fellow citizens.
When I first came to Washington nearly six years ago, I was hopeful I could help change the tone here in the Capitol.
As Governor of Texas, I had successfully worked with both Democrats and Republicans to find common-sense solutions to the problems facing our state.
While we made some progress on changing the tone, I'm disappointed we haven't made more.
I'm confident that we can work together.
I'm confident we can overcome the temptation to divide this country between red and blue.
The issues before us are bigger than that, and we are bigger than that.
By putting this election and partisanship behind us, we can launch a new era of cooperation and make these next two years productive ones for the American people.
I appreciate your interest.
Now I'll answer some questions.
Terry.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Does the departure of Don Rumsfeld signal a new direction in Iraq?
A solid majority of Americans said yesterday that they wanted some American troops, if not all, withdrawn from Iraq.
Did you hear that call, and will you heed it?
Terry, I'd like our troops to come home, too, but I want them to come home with victory.
And that is a country that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself.
I mean, I can understand Americans saying come home, but I don't know if they said come home and leave behind an Iraq that could end up being a safe haven for al-Qaeda.
I don't believe they said that.
And so I'm committed to victory.
I'm committed to helping this country so that we can come home.
Now, first part about new direction.
Well, there's certainly going to be new leadership at the Pentagon.
And as I mentioned in my comments, that Secretary Rumsfeld and I agreed that sometimes it's necessary to have a fresh perspective.
And Bob Gates will bring a fresh perspective.
He'll also bring great managerial experience.
And he is, I had a good talk with him on Sunday in Crawford.
It took me a while to be able to sit down and visit with him, and I did.
And I found him to be of like mind.
He understands we're in a global war against these terrorists.
He understands that defeat is not an option in Iraq.
And I believe it's important that there be a fresh perspective, and so does Secretary Rumsfeld.
Steve.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Last week you told us that Secretary Rumsfeld would be staying on.
Why is the timing right now for this?
And how much does it have to do with the election results?
Right.
No, you and Hunt and Kyle came into Oval Office, and Hunt asked me the question one week before the campaign.
And basically is, are you going to do something about Rumsfeld and the vice president?
And my answer was, you know, they're going to stay on.
And the reason why is I didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign.
And so the only way to answer that question and to get you on to another question was to give you that answer.
The truth of the matter is as well, I mean, that's one reason I gave the answer, but the other reason why is I hadn't had a chance to visit with Bob Gates yet.
And I hadn't had my final conversation with Don Rumsfeld yet at that point.
I had been talking with Don Rumsfeld over a period of time about fresh perspective.
He likes to call it fresh eyes.
He himself understands that Iraq is not working well enough, fast enough.
And he and I are constantly assessing, and I'm assessing as well all the time by myself about do we have the right people in the right place?
Are we the right strategy?
As you know, we're constantly changing tactics, and that requires constant assessment.
And so he and I both agreed in our meeting yesterday that it was appropriate that I accept his resignation.
And so the decision was made.
Actually, I thought we were going to do fine yesterday.
Shows what I know.
But I thought we were going to be fine in the election.
My point to you is that win or lose, Bob Gates was going to become the nominee.
Let's see here.
Thank you, Mr. President.
You said you're interested in changing the tone and committed to changing the tone in Washington.
Just a few days before this election in Texas, you said that Democrats, no matter how they put it, their approach to Iraq comes down to terrorists when America loses.
What has changed today, number one?
Number two, is this administration prepared to deal with the level of oversight and investigation that is possibly going to come from one chamber or two in Congress?
What's changed today is the election is over, and the Democrats won.
And now we're going to work together for two years to accomplish big objectives for the country.
And secondly, the Democrats are going to have to make up their mind about how they're going to conduct their affairs.
And I haven't had a chance to talk with the leadership yet about these issues.
But we'll begin consultations with the Democrat leadership starting Thursday and Friday.
David.
Mr. President.
Thank you.
You acknowledge that this is a message election on the war in Iraq.
And so the American public today, having voted, will want to know what you mean in terms of course correction on Iraq, and particularly in light of this fact that last week the Vice President pointed out that you and he aren't running for anything anymore and that it's, quote, full speed ahead on Iraq.
So which is it?
Are you listening to the voters or are you listening to the vice president and what does that mean?
David, I believe Iraq had a lot to do with the election, but I believe there's other factors as well.
People want their congressmen to be honest and ethical.
In some races, that was the primary factor.
There were different factors that determine the outcome of different races, but no question, Iraq was on people's minds.
And as you have just learned, I am making a change at the Secretary of Defense to bring a fresh perspective as to how to achieve something I think most Americans want, which is a victory.
We will work with members of Congress.
We will work with the Baker-Hamilton Commission.
My point is that while we have been adjusting, we will continue to adjust to achieve the objective.
And I believe that's what the American people want.
Somehow it seeped in their conscience that my attitude was just simply stay the course.
Stay the course means let's get the job done, but it doesn't mean staying stuck on a strategy or tactics that may not be working.
So perhaps I need to do a better job of explaining that we're constantly adjusting.
And so this fresh perspective, so what the American people hear today is we're constantly looking for a fresh perspective.
But what is also important for the American people to understand is that if we were to leave before the job is done, the country becomes more at risk.
The Vice President is saying, he said, if the job is not complete, Al-Qaeda will have safe haven from which to launch attacks.
These radicals and extremists have made it clear they want to topple moderate governments to spread their ideology.
They believe that it's just a matter of time before we leave so they can implement their strategies.
We're just not going to let them do that.
We're going to help this government become a government that can defend, govern, and sustain itself and an ally in the war on terror.
Yes, sir.
Your message today is Tom Holtz-Piedad.
Is that right?
We got him.
We got another man with the mic, David.
Please.
Mr. President, thank you.
Can I just start by asking you to clarify, sir, if in your meeting with Steve and Terry and Dick, did you know at that point you would be making a change on Secretary Rumsfeld?
No, I did not.
And the reason I didn't know is because I hadn't visited with his replacement, on potential replacement.
But you knew he would be leaving, just not who would replace him?
No, I didn't know that at the time.
Okay, may I ask you about Nancy Pelosi?
The other thing I did know as well is that that kind of question, a wise question by a seasoned reporter, is the kind of thing that causes One, to either inject major military decisions at the end of a campaign or not.
And I had made the decision that I wasn't going to be talking about hypothetical troop levels or changes in command structure coming down the stretch.
And I'll tell you why I made that decision.
I made that decision because I think it sends a bad signal to our troops that they think the commander-in-chief is constantly adjusting tactics and decisions based upon politics.
And I think it's important in a time of war that to the extent possible we leave politics out of the major decisions being made.
It was the right decision to make, by the way.
And secondly, I hadn't visited with Bob Gates.
I told you I visited with him last Sunday in Crawford.
You can't replace somebody until you know you've got somebody to replace him with.
And finally, I hadn't had my last conversation with Secretary Rumpsfeld, which I had yesterday.
Mr. President, I'd like to ask you, Nancy Pelosi has been quite clear about her agenda for the first 100 hours.
She mentions things like raising minimum wage, cutting interest rates on student loans, broadening stem cell research, and rolling back tax cuts.
Which of those can you support, sir?
No, I knew you'd probably try to get me to start negotiating with myself.
I haven't even visited with Congresswoman Pelosi yet.
She's coming to the Oval Office later this week.
I'm going to sit down and talk with her.
I believe on a lot of issues we can find common ground.
And there's a significant difference between common ground and an abandoning principle.
She's not going to abandon her principles, and I'm not going to abandon mine.
But I do believe we have an opportunity to find some common ground to move forward on.
In that very same interview you quoted, one of these three characters asked me about minimum wage.
I said, there's an area where I believe we can find common ground.
And as we do, I'll be, of course, making sure that our small businesses are, you know, there's compensation for the small businesses in the bill.
Okay, folks, we're hearing quite a lot here, and we've got to pause for an EIB obscene profit timeout.
Back in just a second.
I told you, folks, I told you it was going to get worse before it's going to get better.
And I will analyze this and explain to you why that is when the president finishes.
We now rejoin the presser.
And so you'll see a lot of meetings with Democrats and a lot of discussions with Democrats.
And in terms of the election, no question Iraq had something to do with it.
And it's tough in a time of war when people see carnage on their television screens.
The amazing thing about this election, which surprised me somewhat, which goes to show I should not try punditry, is that this economy is strong.
And a lot of times off years are decided by the economy.
And yet, you know, obviously there was a different feel out there for the electorate.
The economy, the good news in the economy was overwhelmed by the toughness of this fight and toughness of the war.
And so, Jim, look, I understand people didn't agree with some of my decisions.
I'm going to continue making decisions based upon what I think is right for the country.
I've never been one to try to fashion the principles I believe or the decisions I make based upon trying to kind of short-term popularity.
I do understand where the people, people, the heart of the people.
I understand they're frustrated.
I am too, as I said the other day.
I wish this had gone faster.
So does Secretary Rumsfeld.
But the reality is, is that it's a tough fight, and we're going to win the fight.
And I truly believe the only way we won't win is if we leave before the job is done.
Yeah, Jim?
I know, terrible principal.
I'm sorry.
Thank you, sir.
You think I'm nuts?
You think my sensibilities left me as a result of working hard on the campaign trail, Gregory?
Yeah, I was.
But to follow, we were speaking about the war, and during the campaign, two very different viewpoints of the war came out.
You spoke a lot, as Brett mentioned, about what you saw as a Democratic approach to the war, which you were greatly concerned about.
Are you worried that you won't be able to work with the Democrats, or do you feel like you have to prevail upon them?
Your viewpoint?
Well, I think we're going to have to work with them, but just like I think we're going to have to work with the Baker-Hamilton Commission, it's very important that the people understand the consequences of failure.
And I have vowed to the country that we're not going to fail.
We're not going to leave before the job is done.
And obviously, we've got a lot of work to do with some members of Congress.
I don't know how many members of Congress say to get out right now.
I mean, the candidates running for Congress in the Senate, I haven't seen that chart.
Some of the comments I read where they say, well, look, we just need a different approach to make sure we succeed.
You can find common ground there.
See, if the goal is success, then we can work together.
If the goal is get out now, regardless, then that's going to be hard to work together.
But I believe the Democrats want to work together to win this aspect of the war on terror.
I'm also looking forward to working with them to make sure that we institutionalize to the extent possible steps necessary to make sure future presidents are capable of waging this war.
Because Iraq is a part of the war on terror.
And it's, you know, I think back to Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.
I mean, Harry Truman began the Cold War, and Eisenhower, obviously from a different party, continued it.
And I would hope that would be the spirit that we were able to work together.
I believe what I'm hearing.
But we should agree that this country needs to secure ourselves against an enemy that would like to strike us again.
This enemy is not going away after my presidency.
And I look forward to working with them.
And I truly believe that Congresswoman Pelosi and Harry Reid care just about as much, you know, they care about the security of this country like I do.
Really?
They see that they, you know, based on what leader in Washington is going to walk away from protecting the country.
We have different views on how to do that, but their spirit is such that they want to protect America.
That's what I'm saying.
Surprise their voters.
Just like I talked about the troops.
I meant when I said, look, people are going to be looking at this election.
The enemy is going to say, well, it must mean America is going to leave.
And the answer is no.
That doesn't really mean that.
That's what they think.
Our troops are wondering whether or not they're going to get the support they need after this election.
Democrats are going to support our troops just like Republicans will.
The Iraqis have got to understand.
All right.
I'm not trying to be rude to the president, folks.
I just can't throw our commercial breaks under the bus.
We have to honor.
We do.
It's business here.
We have to honor our commercial breaks.
So we have to take one again.
We'll have an analysis of all this, and I'll fulfill my promise to tell you that it's going to get worse before it gets better.
I can't wait when we come back.
Stay with us.
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.
This is the EIB network, El Rushball on the cutting edge.
And difficult as it is to do, we rejoin the president who is still engaged in his press conference at the White House.
It's important that that program stays strong.
But, you know, Michael, you're probably following all these, you know, the different lists of concerns people have with my presidency, and I respect that.
I just, frankly, I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about in this question.
I'm sure there's some people who aren't perfectly content, but there are some people who aren't perfectly content from different parties and different philosophies.
All I know to do is to make decisions based upon principles that I believe are important and now work with Democrat leaders in the Congress because they control the committees and they control the flow of bills.
And I'm going to do that for the good of the country.
Let's see here.
Yep.
McKinnon.
Thank you, Mr. President.
If you had any do-overs to do in the state of the world.
You don't get to do them.
Or if Mr. Rove had any do-overs to do anything.
You don't get do-overs.
Anyway, go ahead.
Well, what would they be?
I mean, are there any tactical look?
Yeah, well, you know, I frankly haven't analyzed the election nearly as much as some of you have.
You know, again, I think when you really look close at the results, first of all, there's a lot of close elections.
No question, Iraq had an impact.
But it's hard to win an election when you're trying to win a write-off, a write-in campaign in our state of Texas.
I mean, you could have the greatest positions in the world on issues and be the most articulate person on an issue, but to try to get to win on a write-in is really hard to do.
We had the race in Florida, the Foley seat.
That's a hard race to win, you know, in a Republican district because people couldn't vote directly for the Republican candidate.
And all I'm telling you, John, is that when you dig into the races, there's a look, I had to go down to Houston and Sugarland and act as the Secretary of State, you know, take your pencil into the box and then write it in.
And the reason I bring that up is, you know, I'm not sure Iraq had much to do with the outcome of that election.
Now, it certainly did in other places.
One of the interesting observations I had from last night was that if you take a look at New York State, Senator Clinton ran a very strong race, but she ran a race that appeared to me to be on just a Senate race.
She wanted to show people she had the capacity to help others win.
And the same thing happened in Pennsylvania with Governor Rendell.
He ran a very strong race, as did Senator Delette Casey.
And my only point to you is that I'm sure Iraq had something to do with the voters' mind, but so did a very strong turnout mechanism in those two important states.
So they're just going to have to analyze all the different results.
As far as do-overs, I can't look to talk to them.
Ann.
Americans have heard it before.
There's going to be cooperation.
We're going to get along.
What can you do to show Americans that you'll stop and avoid any gridlock because they've seen it come anyway?
Well, you know, we had some pretty good success early on in this administration.
We got the No Child Left Behind Act passed, which was an important piece of bipartisan legislation.
He got some tax cuts passed with Democrat votes.
No, I'm anxious, but, you know.
But so we just now got to show people we're capable of doing it.
I mean, you're right.
I mean, people are skeptical.
And the way you defeat skepticism is perform.
And I was very pleased with my conversation with Congresswoman Pelosi.
It was a very gracious conversation.
And albeit a little early in the morning, I must confess, but nevertheless, it was a good one.
And my fault since I was the person who initiated the call.
But I do believe we can get some things done.
I think we can set an agenda.
And I hope so.
I hope so.
I didn't come to Washington just to occupy the office.
I came to get some positive things done on behalf of the country, and there are some big issues we've got to deal with.
No child left behind is one, entitlements.
That's going to be an interesting issue to try to deal with.
And it's going to be very important in entitlements for people to feel comfortable about bringing ideas to the table.
And people being Republicans and Democrats, if we do not have Republicans and Democrats at the table for entitlements, nothing is going to happen.
Folks, we're talking about warwins now, not getting rid of any of them.
I want you to understand this.
To reach out to folks on the Hill to see if we can't at least get a dialogue started that will enable us, hopefully, to move forward on a very important issue that will affect this country for a long time if we don't solve it, and that is the unfunded liabilities inherent in these entitlement programs.
We need to continue to talk about energy.
Dependency upon foreign oil is a national security and economic security problem.
And it's a problem that requires bipartisan cooperation.
I know the Democrats are concerned about this issue, as am I. In some other words, there's areas where I believe we can get some important things done.
And to answer your question, though, how do we convince Americans that we're able to do it?
Do it.
That's how you do it.
You get something done.
You actually sit down, work together, and I sign legislation that we all agree on.
And my pledge today is I'll work hard to try to see if we can't get that done.
Herman.
I wanted to ask you about the thumping you took at yesterday's rodeo.
You said you were disappointed, you were surprised.
Hey, there you go.
You said you were...
Gutenberg, did you notice that?
Taking one.
And that was thumping without a G, correct?
I just want to make sure we have it right for the transcript.
You said you were surprised.
You didn't see it coming.
You were disappointed in the outcome.
Does that indicate that after six years in the Oval Office, you're out of touch with America for something like this kind of wave to come and do not expect it?
And on something related to note, does Nancy Pelosi look much like Bob Bullock to you?
It's an inside joke.
I'm not commenting on it.
Secondly, I'm an optimistic person.
That's what I am.
And I knew we were going to lose seats.
I just didn't know how many.
How could you not know that and not be out of touch?
You didn't know it either.
A lot of polls showed it.
Well, there was a - I read those same polls, and I believe that I thought when it is all said and done, the American people would understand the importance of taxes and the importance of security.
But people have spoken, and now it's time for us to move on.
Ken?
Mr. President, you mentioned entitlements, and one of the big hot-button issues for the Democratic Party is Social Security and the idea of partial privatization, which you have talked about.
And I wonder if there's anything in your agenda in that way that you're willing to adjust in the spirit of bipartisanship or back off from, given how important that is to the core of the Democratic Party.
I told Ken, I told Hank Paulson to tell the members that we'd sit down and we'd listen to everybody's ideas.
I put out my ideas, as you recall, I think in the State of the Union last time, and we want to hear their ideas.
And hopefully, out of this concept of folks sitting around a table sharing ways forward, that we will come up with commonality that we're able to then say to the American people, we've helped solve this problem.
But it's a tough issue.
Look, I fully understand how hard it is.
Social Security is, you know, people are generally risk-adverse when it comes to time to Social Security.
My problem with that is that the longer you wait, the more difficult the issue is going to become.
And some will keep pushing it.
And hopefully, you know, we can get something done.
Richard.
A little earlier, you said that you truly believe that the Democratic leaders care about the security of this country as much as you do.
Yet, just about at every campaign stop, you expressed pretty much the opposite.
You talked about them having a different mindset.
I did.
About having a different philosophy, about waiting, about being happy that America gets attacked before responding.
What would you just say?
Happy?
You said they would be satisfied to see America.
No, I didn't say happy.
Let's make sure.
You left that impression.
Forgive me.
With you.
Go ahead.
Well, I'm wondering, looking back at the campaign and previous campaigns, do you think that it's been harder to pull the country together after the election by making such partisan attacks about national security?
Richard, I do believe they care about the security.
I thought they were wrong not making sure our professionals had the tools.
And I still believe that.
I don't see how you can protect the country unless you give these professionals tools.
They just have a different point of view.
That doesn't mean they don't want America to get attacked.
That's why I said what I said.
Yeah, Jackson.
Thank you, Mr. President.
On immigration, many Democrats had more positive things to say about your comprehensive proposal than many Republicans did.
Do you think a Democratic Congress gives you a better shot at comprehensive immigration reform?
You know, I should have brought this up.
I do.
I think we have a good chance.
And thank you.
It's an important issue, and I hope we can get something done on it.
I meant to put that in my list of things that we need to get done.
I would hope Republicans have recognized that we've taken very strong security measures to address one aspect of comprehensive immigration reform.
And I was talking to Secretary Cherdoff today.
He thinks that these measures we're taking are beginning to have measurable effects, and that catch and release has virtually been ended over the last couple of months.
And that's positive, and that's what some members were concerned about prior to advancing a comprehensive bill.
In other words, they said, show me progress on the border, and then we'd be interested in talking about other aspects.
Well, there is progress being made on the border in terms of security, and I would hope we can get something done.
It's a vital issue.
It's an issue that there's an issue where I believe we can find some common ground with the Democrats.
What are the odds for a guest worker provision?
Well, that's got to be an integral part of a comprehensive plan.
When you're talking comprehensive immigration reform, one part of it is a guest worker program where people can come on a temporary basis to do jobs Americans are not doing.
I've always felt like that's an important aspect of securing the border.
Whereas if somebody's not trying to sneak in in the first place, it decreases the workload on our border patrol and lets the border patrol focus on drugs and guns and terrorists.
But I appreciate you bringing that up.
I should have remembered it.
Listen, thank you all very much for your time.
Appreciate your interest.
Okay, that's it.
The president has concluded his press conference, and we'll discuss it when we come back from this brief timeout.
Plus, take your phone calls at 800-282-2882, El Rushbo, the EIB network, right back after this.
And we're back.
Glad to have you with us today, ladies and gentlemen, the El Rushboat program here on the EIB network and from the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
All right.
Well, let me sum this up for you.
It's not going to take very long.
Prior to the President's press conference beginning, I told you that based on the leak that Don Rumsfeld was canned and asked to resign, alerted me to the reality that it's going to get worse before it gets better.
The President's press conference confirmed that for me.
The President referred several times to the phone call that he had with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, soon to be the Speaker of the House.
And I think the best way to sum up the substance of that call, and I'm just guessing, of course, because I was not privy to it.
But I think the best way to sum up the substance of that call was the president saying, what do you want?
I've got it.
What do you want?
You want a minimum wage raise?
You got it.
You want guest worker program and an amnesty program and an illegal immigrants?
You got it.
Democrats won the election.
They get to choose what we get.
That was the attitude that I got from the president.
They won.
They get to choose what we get.
He reminded everybody of his new tone that he tried to bring and unite people in 2001 and was inaugurated.
Going to try to do that again.
I think what's going to happen here, folks, this one, I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.
I think the president has seen how this is done.
This is a page out of the Clinton playbook.
After the 1996 and the 1998 elections and after the impeachment, Clinton's only objective, not saying this is the president's only objective, but Clinton's only objective was to keep those poll numbers up and get out of town loved and adored.
Just make everybody happy.
Just get rid of all the controversy.
Get rid of all the consternation.
Get rid of all the confrontation, all of the partisanship, whatever anybody wants, just give it to them.
We'll find a way to compromise, give you what you want, if not all of it, a lot of it.
So if you want something done on STEM, we'll talk to you about it.
We'll come up with a compromise.
If you've got a problem with our tax cuts, well, you won the election, and we'll find a way to work with you on it.
The bottom line here is that there's not going to be any partisanship from the president.
There's not going to be any partisanship from the Republicans going on, and especially these next two months before the Congress assumes power.
After that, the Republicans are going to be busy reorganizing themselves, trying to figure out who is going to be in the leadership positions.
Haster has said he's not going to run for the majority.
Just read that.
He's not going to run for the Republican majority position.
So that's wide open.
He'll be jockeying for that.
In the meantime, the bottom line is, Ms. Pelosi, what do you want?
And we're going to work together with you, and we're going to make everybody happy.
When it comes to Rumsfeld, he's gone.
This is sort of tough to watch because the president said that he, I don't know how to characterize this.
He was asked, you said just two days ago over the weekend that Rumsfeld was going to serve the last two years.
Yeah, I knew that.
I thought that was the case.
But I didn't know that we were going to lose when we lost.
And he got caught.
He got tripped up.
He didn't answer the question, I'm sure, as well as he would have liked because the report's going to be that he misled the reporters over the weekend, knowing full well that he's going to can Rumsfeld when he wouldn't admit it.
And he said, well, I wasn't going to make a major change in the command structure in the campaign.
I don't want the troops to think that I do that kind of thing, make moves for political reasons only.
And so that's why I didn't do it.
But they're going to harp on that left and right.
I think that they're next going to move on on Cheney.
Left-wing kooks are going to demand war crimes investigations against Rumsfeld.
I mean, they've called for his scalp, and now they've got it.
And the idea that this is going to satisfy them is wrong.
We all know liberals, and this is just going to whet their appetite for more.
So they'll start making, especially if they run into a very compliant president who wants only to make them happy and avoid any confrontation.
If he wants to go back to Crawford with a 65% approval number, he's seen how that's done.
All he had to do is watch how Bill Clinton did it.
Clinton signed welfare reform.
Clinton did a whole bunch of things that angered his side.
But it satisfied the American people that want us to get along, want us to work together.
I mean, he might even want to consider firing Josh Bolton, his chief of staff, and hiring Leon Panetta, hired Democrat chief of staff, just to show that he was willing to work together with these people, be open to all kinds of ideas.
And when you start talking about entitlements with Democrats, you're talking new ones, folks.
I'm sorry, you're not talking about getting rid of existing ones.
People have been asking me all night, all day, how do you feel?
Rush, how do you feel?
I feel liberated, ladies and gentlemen.
I will explain that when we come back.
Lots of your phone calls, too.
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