Russia invades Georgia, and everybody thinks, oh, no, the oil price is going to spike way back up.
It went down four bucks.
How can that be?
How can that be?
I'll explain in a minute.
Silly experts were all wrong.
The oil price went down four bucks.
The dollar is rallying.
The stock market's going crazy.
And there's one reason for all this.
The NFL is back.
All is right in the world.
Live from the Southern Command in sunny South Florida.
It's Open Line Friday.
That's it, kids.
Telephone number 800-282-2882.
If you want to be on the program, they email addresslrushbow at eivnet.com.
Yeah, I heard that.
I heard that Brett Favre is playing for the Jets now.
I don't remember where I heard that.
I've been asked if I'm happy that he's playing with the Jets.
Now, you know me.
I am a huge sports fan, football fan.
I love the National Football League.
And even though I said to a woman the other day who wanted me to analyze this Favre thing, I said, look, at the end of the day, it's just sports.
And so it's not that significant in terms of really impacting our lives, other than maybe your self-esteem when your team wins.
You might feel depressed when your team loses.
But the NFL is not going to raise your taxes.
They only raise your ticket prices.
You have an option not to pay it.
It's, you know, the great thing about sports, the great thing about sports, it's the one thing in which you can invest total passion, everything you've got without consequence.
Try that with your boss.
Try that with your spouse.
Try that.
Well, you can do it with a dog.
Dog will love you no matter what you do.
Can't do it with a cat.
Cat will take advantage of you.
Well, you can go through emotional things, I know, but at the end of the day, it's sports.
It's an escape from whatever people consider the humdrum of their life to be.
That having been said, I watched Brett Ferve and his press conference with the Jets in Cleveland last night about 6.30.
Just didn't look right.
No, it's not, and this is nothing against anybody.
It just, the guy spent 16 years, he never missed a start with the Green Bay Packers.
He says in his press conference, he's always going to be a Packer while the Jets are introducing him.
He says he's just one of 53 guys, but he's not.
He is now the team.
As goes Brett Favre, so go the New York Jets, at least in the early stages.
From a fan standpoint and from a league standpoint, media standpoint, good for the game, exciting for the attention.
Yeah, it's great that he's playing.
It's great this little soap opera happened and it's great that all this drama is going on.
But I guarantee in Green Bay, they're happy to have lost the drama and they're glad to have switched and passed the drama on to the Jets.
But the purest, the purest in me says, don't become a Willie Mays.
Don't play to the point where you can't catch a simple flyball anymore.
He could have a Joe Montana year.
It could do a couple of years.
But the drive-by sports guys are even ripping Montana.
And they're ripping Montana because he went to a small market in Kansas City.
He revived that franchise.
Montana was great with the Chiefs.
Took him to the playoffs a couple times.
Never got the Super Bowl, but trouble in the later rounds of the playoffs.
But I don't know.
I can't express this.
You know, I grew up in sports when players were with teams their whole careers, unless the odd trade happened before free agency and stuff.
And we real fans have had to adjust to this free agency stuff and look at sports in a different way because it's a business reality.
It is what it is.
But I wish Favre the best.
And I wish the Jets the best.
And it's good that the Jets are now, you know, they finally have a personality on that team.
They've got a star.
They're not also Rands as a franchise.
But do you hear what Woody Johnson did?
And I've met Woody.
Woody owns the Jets.
As soon as Favre landed on Woody Johnson's private jet in Morristown, New Jersey, they put Favre on Woody Johnson's helicopter.
And the helicopter toured the new Jets practice facility, which is, oh, I forget where in New Jersey, I'm in the middle block.
I don't know where it is.
And then, then they flew Favre out over Woody Johnson's farm so Favre could see that there's farmland in New Jersey because Favre likes farmland and hunting.
His home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi is on a farm.
And of course, people don't think of New Jersey as agriculture except for nuclear waste.
So they had to show Favre that there is a genuine agriculture community there.
And if he wants to buy a farm, he can.
And then they flew him to Teterboro.
He hopped another jet to fly to Cleveland to do the press conference because the Jets are playing the Browns in their first preseason game.
All right, to the audio soundbites.
As you know, yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama was asked a question by a seven-year-old little boy.
I was a little girl.
Well, seven-year-old, yeah, seven-year-old little girl.
Why do you want to run for president?
Because my country stinks, basically, is what he said.
Country stinks.
He did, Rachel.
Don't give me that look.
He said, Rachel's in for dawn today.
He said, our country's not what it once was.
I'm sitting there saying, when was it better?
When's it better, Barry?
All of 143 days in the Senate.
You tell us, Barry, when it's been better.
So he puts down his country.
Then, yesterday, as well in Norfolk, Virginia, Michelle Obama visited a second-grade classroom.
And after reading a book to the kids, Michelle Obama asked them if there were any messages that they wanted her to pass on to her husband, the Messiah.
Listen to this exchange that she had with an unidentified seven-year-old boy.
What do you think?
Finish what we started in Iraq.
Okay, I will.
I died in Iraq.
Well, did it sound like she could you hear what the little boy said?
Could you hear what the little boy said?
Yeah, it's kind of dicey.
Let me read what the little boy said.
Okay, Michelle Obama.
Okay, what do you think, little boy?
Well, I think that we should finish what we started in Iraq.
And there are a little silence from Michelle My Bell.
She said, finish what we started in Iraq.
I'll pass that along.
Here is a seven-year-old who has more maturity than the Messiah.
I'll never forget, I went down to Shreveport, Louisiana some years ago.
I was asked to speak at an annual fundraiser that the PGA tours Hal Sutton and David Toms do.
They're trying to build the equivalent of a St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Shreveport.
And they do this golf outing every year.
And David Toms got up and was giving a few remarks before I got up and gave my stellar standing O remarks.
And he was talking about a conversation he'd had with his son.
At some point in his career, things were not going well, and he was not practicing as much.
And he said his son said to him, Dad, why don't you finish what you started?
So I guess Tom's raising his kids and always finish what you start.
Don't start it if you're not going to finish it.
So here's a seven-year-old.
Finish what we started in Iraq.
And Michelle Mybel, you know, she's probably expecting some question about SpongeBob SquarePants.
And she gets finish what you started in Iraq.
Here, play the bite again.
And now that you know the little kid's in there, gauge Michelle Mybel's reaction.
What do you think?
Finish what we started in Iraq.
Okay, I will.
I died in Iraq!
Let's go back.
Wednesday, Elkhart, Indiana campaign event.
Barack Obama, seven-year-old little girl, says, why did you start running for president?
America is no longer what it could be, what it once was.
And I say to myself, I don't want that future for my children.
Our children want you to finish what we started in Iraq.
We, ladies and gentlemen, have put together another montage here of the Obamas bash America.
They get better than they claim to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who aren't like that.
Iraq knows that there's a hole in our souls.
I know my country has not perfected itself.
It's easier to hold on to your own stereotypes and misconceptions.
It makes you feel justified in your ignorance.
That's America.
We're confronting the history and stain of slavery in this country.
We're confronting those scars.
For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country.
America is no longer what it could be, what it once was.
I'm sitting there listening to this and I'm thinking I'm hearing sort of a cleaned-up version of what Jeremiah Wright thinks.
America's chickens are coming home to roost.
Evil white people.
Back in just a second, my friend.
By the way, Vice President Cheney is now going to speak at the Republican National Convention.
But what I told you the other day was true.
What I told you the other day, and I didn't go as far as I know, and I didn't tell you as much as I know, but he was specifically told he wasn't welcome.
Vice President Cheney was.
And there was, you know, they were not, this was not wise.
It was not handled the right way.
And it's leaked out in not that form, but of course, the stories that Cheney wasn't going to speak might not speak.
Why not?
You know, McCain is going to need the votes of people that love Cheney and Bush.
They're going to need them, and you just don't cast them aside.
You don't put Lindsey Graham up there and all these five senators here after the stupid deal they did with the Democrats on energy.
So Vice President Cheney will be there the same night that President Bush will be there.
This is Doug in Columbus.
Doug, welcome to the EIB Network, sir.
Hello.
Hello, Mr. Limbo.
How are you today?
Fine and dandy.
Fine and dandy.
I think there's going to be a lot of Packers jerseys in that Jet Stadium first game.
Well, it's tough.
That place has sold out, which, by the way, is another reason for Favre.
You know what?
I saw how many jerseys he sold first day out there.
So at least if there's not a Packers, there'll be number four jerseys all over the place.
But Rush, let me get to my point.
At the very end, I want to ask you one other question.
John McCain is friends with Lindsey Graham.
I think it's obvious the two of them have worked together in the past.
And do you think that John McCain is behind this anti-drilling or this teaming up with the Democrats on this drilling issue?
Because A, he's the Republican candidate.
B, he's friends with Lindsey Graham.
If he was behind it, why wouldn't he come out and take credit for it?
What would be the point of being behind it and acting like he was upset by it?
Well, I would have to say that possibly he can, you know, he wants to be the candidate to say, hey, look, I'm the one that can step out as a Republican and work with the Democrats.
We don't see Barack coming over to our side.
But he didn't do that.
He's already established that.
What these guys did was follow in his footsteps.
Yeah, you know what, then, Rush, I'm baffled by it too.
I can't figure it out.
Follow the money.
Follow the money.
I'd like to end with one question that's not related to the topic, but you can discuss it later if you would, please.
I like to read what the left has to say.
And I read Al Gore's book, Earth in the Balance, and he said back in 2000 he was going to raise the price of gas $3.5 a gallon back in 2000.
And then if the free market would have done what it did to it today, it'd be up to $7 a gallon.
How do you think people would be opposed to that?
You don't need to answer this question now because I know I'm off topic, but nobody has brought up the fact that Al Gore wanted to raise gas $3.50 to research alternative fuels back in 2000.
The government would have spent two years, three years working on trying to find some way.
Well, he would have never been able to do it.
Nobody would have gone.
We found out what the tipping point for gasoline is.
It's $4 a gallon.
So long before we got the $7 a gallon, Al Gore would have been frozen out.
Here is Gary in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Welcome, sir, to Open Line Friday.
Hi, Russ.
Hi.
I wanted to say to you for many years, former long-haired, magnet-infested dope-smoking FM Type Classic, been having a good time rock and roll dittos.
Great to have you here, sir, as part of the stable.
Oh, it's great to be here.
I just want to thank you for everything you've taught me over the years.
You taught me about follow the money, which you've been talking about today, and you taught me about how words mean things.
You taught me to appreciate the women's movement, especially when I'm walking behind it.
Exactly right.
And I think most importantly, the one thing that really hooked me back in my former long-haired, magnet-infested, dope-smoking days was that you taught me that.
Why did you call?
Well, I just wanted to thank you for all of this.
I appreciate that.
I really do.
And I wanted to thank you for everything and wish you happy 20 years.
I'm a little nervous.
And most importantly, I wanted to request a song from the Group Yard of Forgotten Favourites.
This is amazing to me.
Thank you very much.
What's the song, Gary?
Well, I got to hear it for the first time last week in about 12 years or so.
I'd like to request Rush the Knife.
I love that song.
I wish I could get it on MP3 so I could put it on my iPod.
Well, we two things here, Gare.
Number one, I really appreciate your call, but it took you about 90 seconds to make your request, which has taken us beyond the time we have here in this segment to play it all.
It wouldn't finish in time before we have to go to the next commercial break.
You gotten to your request in the first 10 seconds, you'd be listening to the song now.
But I understand you were nervous and you wanted to say nice things, and I appreciate it.
We'll play the song in the next segment.
I appreciate that.
We played it last week during our 20th anniversary celebration.
It goes way back to 89 or 90, and the song, it just came in one day.
No, we don't know.
Still, I don't know who did it.
I don't know.
What I heard was, Mike, now, correct me.
I know that Kiki de la Garza was the broadcast engineer back then, but my memory, this is like 20 years ago now, 18.
My memory is that this guy was like a delivery driver in Las Vegas and just was a big fan and went into the studio and put this thing together and said it to us.
And we still don't know who it is.
I don't know that if we, I don't know that we ever did at one time know who it was.
Does that it's it's okay, Snerdley, who was there at the beginning, uh, is telling me that it uh it is.
It's very similar to that.
Anyway, as you know, it's part it's a takeoff on Mac the Knife, which is part of the three-penny opera.
And that's that's who owns the rights to the song.
Carl in southern Ohio, you're next at Open Line Friday.
Hi.
Hi, Mr. Limbaugh.
It's a pleasure to get to speak with you.
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
I've got a little different take on this gasoline price.
I was a senior in high school back in 73 and 74 and lived through what was called the OPEC oil embargo.
Right.
And I think McCain's kind of missing the boat.
I don't think it's so much about the price per gallon as it is the he should be concentrating on the supply and the national security issue because it doesn't matter if gas is even 10 cents a gallon.
If you can't buy gas, the country's going to shut down.
And as far as these five Republican senators, John McCain being the maverick that he is, he ought to take it right to their face and say this is not acceptable and get right back on the bandwagon.
I agree.
I agree, but how can he do it?
They're just trying to copy.
I think they're trying to impress him.
I mean, look, they're saying this got McCain, the Republican presidential nomination.
This has been my fear all along that Republicans are going to say, well, McCain, this is the way to go.
Give everything away to the Democrats, compromise, media will love you, and the party will love you, and they'll nominate you.
It's been one of my big, big concerns.
But see, this is it.
You live as a maverick, you're going to die as a maverick.
We're all mavericks now.
I mean, McCain wants McCain wants everybody in the party to follow his lead.
He's the presidential nominee.
He wants everybody to toe the line.
And when they don't, why, that's not allowed.
That's not allowed.
But when McCain doesn't follow the party line, when he crosses the aisle and sits down with Ted Kennedy or whoever to write bills and violates the oath with his own president on things, well, then that's okay.
He's being a maverick.
So he's sort of been hoisted here in his own petard.
And it would be tough for him to tell these guys to stop it.
Having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have.
Rush Limbaugh behind the golden EIB microphone at the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies to Austin Town, Ohio.
This is Laura.
And it's great to have you here.
Thanks, Russ.
Great to talk to you.
I'm calmed down a little bit.
I called Lindsey Graham's office about 45 minutes ago and got into a heated debate with an office worker.
I said, you know, I was not a supporter of John McCain.
I said, I've put my checkbook away.
I said, the House Republicans are doing something that is inspiring, conservative.
I got out my checkbook to write again, and you just shut me down.
I said, you're sabotaging McCain's candidacy and the presidency, and you're handing it to Obama.
And he said that we need to get something done expediently, or we are going to lose the House, and Obama's going to have a 60-proof veto majority.
And I said, well, Republicans are tired of you compromising with the Democrats.
If we wanted a Democrat plan, we would vote for him.
We want to drill in American soil.
I said, conservatives are excited about this.
You would have so much money flowing in if you would fight for our ideals.
And he told me, well, what exactly is the plan that you're against?
And I said, you're going to be raising more taxes.
You're going to be giving into environmental concerns, their agenda more so.
And he said, well, maybe you ought to read it before you just listen to Rush Limbaugh and what he's telling you.
He said, I've been taking angry calls for the past two hours over this.
Maybe you ought to think for yourself.
And I said, well, Rush Limbaugh doesn't speak for us, but he is the voice of those who us who get ignored by Washington senators like Lindsey Graham.
Wow.
Proud of you.
You ladled it on.
Yeah, I was quite upset because for somebody to tell me that I don't have a mind of my own when I think conservatives have the greatest minds to think.
All right, now, I want to go back over something that you said the person in Lindsey Gramnesty's office said to you.
This person said to you, we've got to do something.
We have to show compromise because we've got to keep the Democrats from getting 60 seats in the Senate.
Yeah, he said they are going to have a veto-proof majority in the Congress.
Right.
Okay, so what that means is, in the office of Lindsey Gramnesty, the calculation has been made that in order for more Republicans to get elected, they have to show the willingness to compromise with Democrats on an issue the American people overwhelmingly oppose the Democrat stance.
Also, Lindsey Graham, none of these guys faces a serious reelection challenge.
It's not as though they have to go out and show bipartisanship in order to win reelection.
That's just, that's even worse than what they did.
By the way, did you tell this babe, or was this a guy or a woman you were talking to in there?
A guy.
Did you tell him that this story is all over the Wall Street Journal?
Well, no, I didn't hear that part.
I've been in and out of the car all day.
Well, that's where I got the information.
So Kimberly Strassel has written a column about it.
We double-checked it.
There's an energy think tank that's really good that has even bullet-pointed the problems of this bill even more.
I'll get the name of that to you in a second, the next break.
But it's all over the place.
What they're mad at is that what they did got out.
It just happened last Friday, a week ago, Laura, but people just found out about it yesterday.
Well, my point to him was, you are trying to save your congressional seats, but you're going to, in turn, lose the presidency.
I said, so you are sabotaging McCain's campaign at this point, because if you don't have conservatives behind him, it's not going to matter you winning all the seats in Congress.
Well, that's a good point.
I don't know whether they look at it that way, but they are sabotaging McCain's campaign because McCain finally, finally had come around on energy.
He'd finally come around for drilling accepting and war.
But then these guys come and do this, and it did take the wind out of McCain's sails for a while, but it's just a deal among 10 senators now.
It hasn't gone to the full Senate, but I mean, with these five Republicans caving it, it's only going to take four more.
Well, I think they're getting the wind knocked out of their sales because I don't think they expected the amount of calls.
It was tough getting through.
How could they not?
You know, that's another thing, Laura.
How can they be so tone-deaf?
How can they not understand that essentially agreeing with the Democrat position on this?
No drilling, tax increases on oil companies, money spent on renewables and alternatives.
How could they not know that a hell storm would erupt?
I don't think they care.
To be honest, I think they're so beyond all those senators that have been there forever, almost beyond help, because if they have sabotage themselves anymore, if they don't see that this has gotten conservatives excited and they're starting to write checks, which they've been hurting for money, I don't understand how they could pull the rug out from under us and say, well, we need to do something expediently.
It just doesn't even make sense.
So I don't think they listen beyond Washington.
Well, the way I hear that is that they sounds like they think that in order for them to win elections for Republicans to be reelected, they got to show a willingness to work with Democrats.
This is just, of course, their role model for that is McCain.
So in one sense, it's understandable, but it isn't understandable in the sense that it undercuts the position of their party presidential nominee, as you have pointed out.
Well, I appreciate the feedback on that call, Laura.
Thanks for taking it.
You bet.
Oh, I've got to play that song.
I forgot to play the song.
We can only play it one more time here, folks.
This one is so special.
Song is so special that we cannot overplay this because they don't want people to get tired of it.
Here it is.
It runs three minutes.
Rush the knife.
Got to be 19 or 20 years old.
On the cutting edge of societal evolution, El Rushbow at 800-282-2882, the Environmental Protection Agency rejected yesterday a request to cut the federal government's quota for the use of ethanol in automobiles.
They concluding, at least for now, that the national goal of reducing oil use trumps any effect on food prices from making fuel from corn.
So here's an agency of unelected people, the Environmental Protection Agency, and you know that this agency is populated with a bunch of leftists.
And so people want to break.
Could you get rid of this mandate on this quota on the use of ethanol in cars?
Nope, nope, nope, not going to do it.
Not going to do it.
Cutting down on our use of oil is far more important than people eating.
The cost of food.
The agency's administrator, Stephen Johnson, said the mandate was strengthening our nation's energy security and supporting America's farming communities, and that the mandate was not causing severe harm to the economy or the environment.
Severe harm.
See, the harm to the economy or the environment isn't severe enough to reduce the quota.
And need I add, ladies and gentlemen, that the EPA will be given even more powers in this gang of 10 bill in the Senate joined by five Republicans over restrictions and regulations on drilling.
Dalton, Georgia, this is Neil.
You are in the EIB network.
Hello, sir.
How are you doing, Rush?
Excellent to outstanding, sir.
Good deal.
Listen, the first time I heard about these five Republicans trying to cut this outrageous energy deal with these Democrats, I heard from you this morning.
And when I heard it, it just outraged me.
And I got on the phone to both Isaac's and Chandler's office, and I told them, I said, what's wrong with these guys?
I said, have they lost their minds?
I said, do they not understand that people in this state and in our country want us to drill for our own oil?
And I said, I don't consider it nothing less than a stab in the back.
And I said, they better back away from this.
And the thing about it is, Rush, I voted for these guys.
And I'm ashamed that I voted for them now.
I can't believe that they would actually.
I thought Shamless was a pretty good senator because he always seemed to come down on the correct side of issues.
But now he just, it seems like he's just turning out to be another typical politician.
Well, it appears so on this issue.
I was looking, I didn't know anything about this either.
This is one of these things that happened very quietly.
I didn't know about this until I read Kimberly Strassel's piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning and then had it confirmed and backed up on an energy activist website.
I forgot to get that during the break, but I will get it.
I'm having a mental block as to the name of it, but we'll link to it at rushlimbaugh.com.
I just, like you, I was just stunned.
It's worse than stupid.
It's so stupid there has to be some other reason for this.
Well, I just can't, you know, I just can't, you know, I don't know what's wrong.
You know, I've been listening to you for about three years, and I've become so much more informed about what's going on in this country and the government and such.
But, you know, here I am out here busting my hump just to put gas in my car, which is almost $4 a gallon here.
And, you know, here these guys are up in Washington, you know, that I voted for.
And, you know, it seems like all they care about is, you know, of course, their jobs.
Well, what did they say?
I mean, what do their representatives say when you talk to them?
Well, Isaacson's office was fairly cordial, but Shamless's office, and it took me a while to get through to both of them because their lines were busy.
Yeah, but Shamless's office, the lady that come on, she had a real bad attitude.
She said, well, we've already gotten a bunch of calls about this.
I said, well, now you got one more.
I said, you better tell the senator.
I said, he better get his head out of his butt, and he better back away from this because he's going to lose a lot of votes.
And, you know, he's going to have to pack his bag and find another line of work next time he comes up for election.
And if I hear any more about it, me personally, and I have a large family and a lot of friends, and they all vote Republican, and they all voted for Chandler.
If he doesn't back away from this, none of them is going to vote for him.
And if he is so stupid to do something like this, and that's another thing, the more I listen about it, the more that it just floors me.
How can anybody not want to go in our own country and get our own oil out when we have got so much?
And talking about all this environmental green stuff and alternative energies, yeah, I'm sure some of that stuff would do some good.
But, you know, I'm totally in line with you.
You know, oil is going to be here.
Everybody might as well face it.
And here we have, we've got a bucket load or tons of bucket load right underneath our feet.
And people like Obama and these other just stupid Democrats, they don't even want to get it.
I mean, I don't understand, Rush.
Because they don't control it.
Because they don't control the oil.
If they could nationalize the oil companies, they'd be all for it.
If they participated in it, but they don't control it.
That's just one of the reasons.
It's irrational, but you're right.
They hate it.
But this country of the Western democracies, the advanced industrialized Western democracies, this country is the cleanest in the world.
Oh, I think it's a good idea.
This oil, my point is, this oil, wherever it is, offshore, underground, is not polluting us.
It's not destroying.
It's organic.
It is a commodity, and Democrats hate it.
It's like hating sugar.
It's like hating cotton.
It doesn't make any sense.
And you take oil out of the economic equation, and we're back.
We're back to the 1850s.
Well, you know, oil, you know, I totally agree.
Oil is the natural product of the earth as plants and soil are.
You know, and.
Of course it is.
That's what I mean.
It's organic.
Ethanol is the artificial thing here.
Well, I'll tell you what, Rush, I don't know.
Is it even possible to elect anybody anymore that actually goes to Washington and stands up for the people and not get caught up in, you know, all the perks on their job and turn into a typical politician?
Because I'm beginning to wonder, because even the ones that you think are fairly decent good, once they get up there, they turn out to be just like everybody else.
Yeah, there's something about that town that does conservatives in.
But look at, Neil, let me explain something to you.
And this is, I mean this, people are going to think this is a lousy excuse for these guys.
But look at who the Republican presidential nominee is, John McCain.
What does he even say is his strong suit?
Working with Democrats.
It got him laudatory media time.
He was fawned over and loved for a while by the Washington Press Corps, by the Washington Social Circuit.
And now he's ended up as the party nominee.
Well, now it's just in the sense that everybody's a copycat and politics is a copycat game.
And you got Lindsey Graham, you know, hanging around with McCain all these years.
It could well be that these guys are simply following the leader, hoping that it will advance their careers as it advanced McCain's.
This is one of the problems that this whole nomination presents us.
At any rate, I've got to take quick time out here, folks.
We will be back and wrap up this hour right after this.
It's the Institute for Energy Research website that has analyzed the Gang of 10 bill in the Senate described by Kimberly Strassel today in the Wall Street Journal.