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Dec. 5, 2008 - Rush Limbaugh Program
35:34
December 5, 2008, Friday, Hour #3
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Time Text
The views expressed by the host on this program are unique.
They are correct.
They're documented to be almost always right 98.8% of the time.
And the views expressed by the host on this program are also envied.
Live from the Southern Command in sunny South Florida, it's Open Lime Friday.
And we have a big hour remaining.
One big hour to go on today's edition of Open Line Friday, my friends.
Great to have you here.
Whenever we go to the phones, the program is all yours.
Here's the number, 800-282-2882.
Email address, LRushbow at EIBnet.com.
All right, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, rather, 100% of all the recount votes are counted.
100% of all the recount votes are counted.
And Coleman leads now by 238 votes after the recount.
Somebody needs to tell the parasite Al Franken to quit, to concede.
There's no point in stealing it because you still can't get to 60.
And the only way that the Democrats and Harry Reid would engage in activity to steal it is if it got him to 60.
But Saxby Chambliss screwed that all up.
So it's time for Franken.
The problem, the reason he won't quit is he doesn't know how to get a real job.
He cannot make any money unless he uses somebody else's name to do it.
A pathetic figure.
You people of Minnesota, I am stunned that it even got this close.
The idea that this country is now a sitcom is exemplified by how close that stupid election was in the first place.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the Hillary syndrome has hit Kansas City.
The people of Kansas City thought they were getting a straight shooter with financial smarts.
You know, every story today, this UCLA story, look, we're going to have to give up our American values in order to get health care.
Every story is from Scrapple Face or the Onion.
You know, you think every story is a snow job.
This one reads like a parody.
People of Kansas City thought they were getting a straight shooter.
Financial Smarts is their new mayor.
What they got, critics say, is a hen-pecked husband who only does one thing behind his wife's back, that's zip her up.
He needs his wife to tell him what to do.
Dawn's looking at me with real anger in her face.
I'm not making this up.
This is a AP story.
And the name of the, I don't know if it's a male or female because I never heard the name, Ann Dale Gross.
A-N-D-A-L-E.
Might have been a person who's done a sex change.
Because you've got Ann in there, and then you've got Dale.
It could go either way.
And whoever this is is writing about a hen-pecked mayor.
In an era when politicians get in trouble for infidelity, Mayor Mark Funkhauser Finds himself under fire for his devotion to his wife, a sharp-elboed New Yorker whose role as his closest advisor has locals wondering who's really running this city of 450,000.
This is why I call this Hillary Clinton syndrome.
I knew Mark for almost 18 years as auditor.
I didn't even know he was married.
It's not like he needed his wife when he was the auditor, said City Councilman Ed Ford, a leading critic of Funkhauser and his wife, Gloria Squatero.
I think we were all surprised that he felt she was so indispensable once he became mayor.
Squiter, remember, now this story is running nationwide on the AP Obama wire.
This is not a local story in the Kansas City scar.
This is running all over the country.
Squatero ran her husband's campaign for mayor, and after he got elected last year, she took a desk near his office in city.
So what?
Happened in Washington.
We've had a redefinition of roles, and so buy one, get one free, whatever.
That arrangement came to an end soon after a former mayoral aide filed a lawsuit last summer in which she accused Squatero of making lewd comments about the office and calling the aide a black woman, Mammy.
Ooh, ouch.
That would make a difference.
The council responded with an anti-nepotism ordinance that bars Squatero, Gloria Squatero, just to get the first name in there again.
Gloria Squatero bars her from volunteering in the mayor's office.
Funkhauser, the husband of Squatero, vetoed the anti-nepotism ordinance, and the council overrode the veto.
Funkhauser shot back by suing the city, saying the ordinance infringed on his authority.
We're only not even halfway through this story, folks.
You want to keep going on this?
On Thursday, the council rejected Funkhauser's request to settle a lawsuit with the former employee after he declined to drop his suit against the city.
After the city council passed the ordinance, Funkhauser began conducting a large share of city business from his house, stunning members of the council because the council cannot make him kick his wife out of the house.
And now they're trying to know, okay, who came up with this plan to run the city out of his house?
And everybody's pointing fingers at Squatero.
I think government business should be done at City Hall and not out of the mayor's home, said the Councilman Ford.
Part of its transparency, part of it is, why is the mayor working out of his home?
It's obviously so Gloria can be by his side, quote unquote.
The Kansas City SCAR, which backed the candidacy of Funkhauser, retracted its endorsement last month.
Big whoop.
You know, the Kansas City Scar is just another propaganda outlet, and they're all having to.
Did you see where Scripps Howard may have to close down the Rocky Mountain news?
Propaganda organs are just falling to the wayside.
The Obama campaign staff is being paired.
I mean, these layoffs, how many of them are media?
So the Kansas City scar, which is infinite and has nothing to do with anything anymore, renounces its endorsement or takes it back.
Big whoop.
Funkhauser has also become a routine target of the paper's editorial cartoons.
So am I, and it hadn't hurt me a bit.
Let's see what else, including one this week that lampooned the power couple as nitro and glycerin.
Well, Hardy Harhar, that's a really funny editorial cartoon.
Funkhauser and Squatero as nitro and glycerin.
Let's see.
They keep working on it.
Comedy Central might hire them when they get laid off at the cartoon department over at the Kansas City Scar.
In a letter to the editor this week, one reader said, I didn't see her name on the ballot.
I don't recall a two-for-one deal.
Another one wrote recently, he should be removed from orifice immediately so he can spend all of his time with his wife without his job getting in the way.
Separation anxiety problem solved.
So this guy, they're portraying him.
He's a bedwetter.
He is henpicked.
He can't do anything without his wife around because his wife is making him keep her around.
Bring back the old days.
You know, when I lived there, they had a mayor there named Charles Wheeler.
And he never even knew what day it was.
And he went on the radio every morning.
He had his own little five-minute radio shot.
But everybody loved him.
Charles ran around town.
He's always at the Irish St. Patrick's Day parade.
No town business got done, but the snow was always removed and so forth.
It was a fun place to live, except if you didn't have any money.
And what is fun to place live if you don't have any money?
So he was a cool mayor.
Okay, back to the phones we go.
Open line Friday, El Rushbo, and more fun than a human being should.
Oh, wait a minute.
I left something out of this Kansas City mayor story.
Oh, what's his name?
Funkhauser.
I left out the best part of this.
Let's see.
Squatero.
This is the Hillary wife, the nurse Ratchet.
But Squatero quickly gained a reputation as a controlling influence on the mayor and a divisive and meddlesome figure at City Hall.
Funkhauser's chief of staff, Ed Wolf, resigned earlier this year, complaining it was kind of like having your mother-in-law go along on your honeymoon.
As for the allegation in the lawsuit, the couple's lawyers said that Squatero routinely gave affectionate nicknames to staffers, and the word mammy came from Squatero adding an E sound to the word ma'am.
Didn't mean mammy as in gone with the wind, mammy.
It just meant ma'am E, like an IE, like rushy, like mammy.
In a sworn statement, Squatero acknowledged making sexual references, but insisted they were just jokes.
The episodes have been part of a bumpy 18 months for Funkhauser.
He was criticized for accepting free use of a hybrid car from a local Honda dealership.
Man, bad enough to be henpicked by your wife, but to be bribed by a hybrid.
Where has our self-respect gone?
Bribed by a hybrid?
Barry in Henderson, Kentucky.
Welcome to the EIB Network service.
Oh, my gosh.
It is so good to have you back.
I tell you.
Thank you, sir.
That Zycam's working overtime to get you back, and the captain's on deck.
Rushed self-respect.
Man, you've hit the nail on the head.
This sitcom thing is just killing me that you're doing today.
I'm 53 years old today, spent 27 years retailing cars and owned two dealerships in that time.
And, buddy, I got to tell you that the United States government is the natural adversary for an auto dealer and for the manufacturers.
And for a dealer, federal, state, and local governments are your natural enemy.
It's just the way it is.
That's the best damn way of putting this I have heard yet.
Well, thank you.
They are a natural enemy.
It's not enough to say an obstacle.
Right.
They are.
A natural enemy.
You are exactly right.
Thank you.
You know, and watching this.
Now tell people why.
You got it because you're in the business.
Oh, well.
You've got to give people some reason because they think that you are the biggest obstacle enemy they have to get the car they want.
They also think when they write me a $30,000 check, it all goes in the bank as profit rush.
And so, you know, that's hard to rationalize.
Well, you got to cut them some slack.
It's the public school system.
True.
You're right.
Let's take it from the national level first.
I mean, cafe standards alone will explain why they're the manufacturers' natural adversary.
But I'll give you an example.
Our local government once passed a new sign ordinance that outlawed helium balloons.
And that was one of the ways we got motorists' attention when they drove by our car store.
You know, helium balloons are happy, they're fun-loving, they're lighthearted, but they became illegal and I became a criminal.
But, you know, wait a second now.
Why did they ban them?
Well, they banned flashing signs because it was unsafe for motorists driving by who would look at our inventory.
No.
True.
No.
That's not why.
That's not why.
All right, tell me, please.
Educate me some.
I'm going to tell you exactly why it happened.
All right.
And if you've been a longtime listener of this program, you'll remember.
I have.
I have, sir.
The problem with a helium balloon is it escapes.
True.
Eventually, the helium gets out of there and the balloon drifts back down to Mother Earth.
Oh, that's right.
Remember the turtles and the sea life were choking on the damn things on the balloons that had been filled with helium?
Okay, but Rush, I got to get to my point or Sterley's going to kill me.
And it's my birthday and I don't want to die.
Rush, watching those executives this morning, when you talk about self-respect, it's just gone.
I mean, car dealers are cowboys.
They're the last John Wayne American.
I mean, those guys, they're in the most competitive.
I'm out now, but I did it for a number of years.
They are in a highly competitive business.
Fellow dealers will cut your throat for a dime.
It's just tough.
And those guys have to learn to be tough.
And here those poor guys are, those executives, sitting up there in front of these absolute, unbelievable, hypocritical Democrat senators, man and woman, gentleladies, I should say, having to answer the question in the way they want it to be told.
And I'm sitting there listening to these questions thinking, okay, give them the true answer to why you're not focused on electric and hybrids.
Give them the real answer.
They can't.
They have to lay down and just go, we need this.
And if we're fortunate enough.
So, Rush, all I got to say is they must be out of options with all lenders because anything, any banker, and that's not always the easiest relationship for a business person, but any banker would be easier than the U.S. Senate.
I mean, those guys are just so hypocritical.
Yeah, see, here's the thing.
Let me ask you, I'll bet you.
I will bet you that there isn't a banker in the world that would give these guys the money with the plans they've put together asking for it.
I totally agree.
Now, what is the truth?
So you keep you keep tantalizing us here.
What is the truth about why they got making hybrids in great numbers and electric cars in great numbers?
As you said, what is it that they will not say to these brilliant little Lord Fauntlerois on these committees?
Oh, gosh, you are so good.
You know the answer before I give it.
Those guys have been building product that rings the cash register.
And that is trucks, sport utility vehicles.
The things you and I, and about 65 to 70 percent of Americans, want to drive.
Whether it fuels $4 a gallon or a dollar a gallon doesn't make any difference.
This is what we want to pull our boats.
This is what we need to haul our families.
And I tell you, they've been ringing the cash register.
And who can blame them?
That is.
Well, here's, you know, you're exactly right.
Try this.
I think we're talking Malibu.
I'm not sure.
Ford and Chevy.
I'm not sure which year, but there's a hybrid version of this car and a standard version of the car.
The hybrid version of the car costs $9,000 more than the non-hybrid version.
And that's only part of the real cost.
Go ahead.
But the gas mileage the hybrid gets is not that much greater than the conventional version of the car, which costs $9,000 less.
So if you amortize how much you'd have to drive the damn hybrid to save all the gasoline that the limited...
It will never pay out, Rush.
It will never pay out.
No, I know because by that time, you've got to get a new battery in it.
And that's $10,000 or $8,000 or $7,000 or $6 or something.
Your car's totaled at 100,000 miles.
So what we've learned is that these hybrids, they are, what do you call them?
I'm having a middle block because of the ravages of the virus that's pouring through every cell.
Yeah, but you're doing good.
You're back in the saddle, sir.
Well, but it's vanity.
It's a vanity buy.
These hybrids, they either say hybrid in 15-inch letters or they look like Jetson cars.
Exactly.
In either case, it's like putting on a red ribbon or a blue ribbon for some.
I care more than you do.
That's why when I see one of these things, you can tell by looking at the driver it's one of these vanity purchases.
You can tell they're snibling little pencil-necked liberals.
And I get my 12-cylinder hog and I get as close to them as I can.
And when I get a chance, I just floor it.
I dart by them, and I hope they choke on my fumes and their little hybrid that's not making one damn bit of difference in the climate.
Greetings and welcome back.
You know, our last caller who said that auto dealers, they're retail auto dealers, are the last American John Wayne's, last cowboys out there.
I don't know about that, but they are cowboys.
They are renegades.
These people are, they are their own.
I know a lot of them.
Don't know them all, of course, but they're a certain breed of cat.
And every business counts every penny.
But these guys, they're just, he was exactly right about who they are.
And they know their business inside out.
And they love, they just love having the customer think that the customer is screwing the dealer.
At the end of the day, they just, the more customers they can make think, boy, did I screw this guy?
This salesman didn't even know what he was doing.
They're happy.
And I'll tell you who else is, you'll never meet these guys.
But these people that fly cargo aircraft, I don't mean FedEx and UPS because they have corporate rules, but you've got some independent, like Flying Tiger was an outfit.
You've got some independent cargo jockeys.
They don't care.
24 inches of snow in 10 hours in New York, they'll land.
You give them a runway and they will land.
They will get the cargo.
They are fearless.
And since they're not carrying people, the regulations that they have to go by are a lot less stringent.
They still have airport minimums and so forth that they have to deal with on visibility and that kind of thing.
But they'll go places that people carrying people will not go.
Understandably so.
But it's just, this and things here are just uniquely American.
And sadly, none of it is on our television anymore.
None of it's on TV anymore.
What's on TV in this country is the politically correct sissies and wusses who have taken over things.
This would be a good time, ladies and gentlemen, to go back to the audio sound bites here.
Debbie Stabenow.
Stabenow or Stabenow.
Stabenow.
Stabenow.
Debbie Stabenow.
She is a senator from, isn't she the one whose husband was well, let's say he wasn't funkhauser.
He was doing a lot more behind her back than zipping her up.
Isn't she the one?
I think so.
Google it.
Shouldn't take you long.
Do that before you kill another caller.
That's right.
It was a prostitution sting.
And he was able to get away with it because his name is not Stabenow.
Her name was in Beaver, Michigan.
That's right.
That's where he got caught.
Big Beaver got caught in Big Beaver.
That's right.
Big.
Well, you got to.
That's right.
You have to specify Beaver from Big Beaver because there's two of them.
I can't laugh or I'll cough out there.
Anyway, here's Senator Stabenow on the Today Show Today with David Gregory, who, by the way, David Gregory can't laugh.
I can't laugh.
What happened?
This is why I'm sad today.
I want to laugh.
I can't laugh.
Gregory, it was leaked.
Did you hear about this?
Earlier in the week, it was leaked that he's the new host of Meet the Press.
And then NBC came out and said, no, They were going to announce it Sunday as anchor emeritus Tom Brokaw, who's still researching just who Obama is.
Brokaw was going to announce it.
And apparently, the decision had not been made.
And apparently, there was a leak.
And the leak, they think, came from Chuck Todd, who is the NBC political director who wants the gig.
So NBC had its whatever the plan is.
I don't know who the new host of Meet the Depressed is.
I don't know who it's going to be.
But Todd apparently wanted the stories.
I don't know if this is true, but Todd leaked it.
That's what they say.
So NBC, who thrives on leaks, now done in by one from inside their own shop.
Anyway, sorry for the diversion.
David Gregory was talking to Debbie Stabenow, who's, in case you've forgotten, husband caught in a prostitution sting in Big Beaver, Michigan.
Question.
Isn't there a way to pursue bankruptcy for these auto companies?
A lot of people have said that.
Why not do that?
Everyone agrees to an overseer and restructuring, but bankruptcy in the auto industry just doesn't work.
First of all, people aren't going to buy automobiles from a company in bankruptcy.
Secondly, the taxpayers will be hit with over 700,000 pensions that suddenly become our responsibility.
We're told that one bankruptcy could cost the taxpayers over $150 billion.
It's mind-boggling to me when we look at what's at stake here, going from a recession to possibly a depression.
Wall Street was helped.
When Main Street's involved, middle-class jobs are involved.
All of a sudden, I don't understand that.
You know, folks, there's something that we have to fix here right away.
And that is this notion that nobody will buy a car from a bankrupt company.
That's just BS.
That is absolute BS.
They don't go out of business.
Nothing gets shut down.
Business keeps going.
In fact, they might even up their sales for a minute because it would be more of an indication that something serious here is going to happen.
Most people oppose the bailout.
I mean, a tremendous number of people oppose the bailout.
How's that going to affect them in terms of public relations?
The airlines filed bankruptcy.
People, do you know if you, you probably flying on a bankrupt airline right now or a bankrupt airplane, depending on the moral condition of the pilot?
Seriously, you have flown on airplanes that are in bankruptcy proceedings.
I think most of these are over and the airlines, they merged, they reorganized, and they lived another day under reorganization.
Their unions had to make some concessions and so forth.
So this is all part of this PR blitz.
And by the way, Debbie Stabenow is from Michigan.
I have a correction.
Her husband was nabbed in the prostitution staying not in Big Beaver, Michigan, but on Big Beaver Road.
Big Beaver Road in Michigan.
And there's probably a little beaver road, and there's probably a beaver road.
And maybe many beaver roads.
Michigan's a big state.
I just figure a town like Michigan, many towns, a lot of beaver streets and roads and so forth.
That's why you differentiate between a big beaver and a little beaver.
So anyway, she's begging for the bailout here because this is her state.
So Gregory said, well, for those who care about this on the other side of the aisle, the question is whether President-elect Obama must be more assertive now if something is going to get done before the end of the year.
Senator Stabenow, take that question.
Well, first of all, I'm very proud that the incoming president understands we need a 21st century manufacturing commitment, a strategy for our country.
I'm confident he's going to do that.
He is not yet our president.
The current president has the authority right now, today, to solve this.
We don't have to be here.
We don't have to bring the Congress back into session if the President of the United States would finally step up and fight for American jobs.
Well, now she better get together with Barney Frank because Barney Frank, here, go back to the top of the soundbites.
Was it soundbite number one or number two, Mike, that Barney Frank got all upset?
Let's see.
Play number one.
It's number one.
Barney Frank, yesterday at a consumer advocates event got mad that Obama's not assertive enough and he needs to step up to the plate.
Here's the problem.
Secretary of Treasury is waiting to hear from the Obama people and the Obama people are waiting.
And again, I'm a great fan of the President, but I think it's probably the case that he's going to have to be more assertive than he's been.
And I know what he says is, well, we only have one president at a time.
My problem is at a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time.
I am afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have at the present time.
And I think we have got to remedy that situation somehow.
You know, they laugh at George Bush now, but they're not going to be laughing for very long.
You wait.
But nevertheless, I'm just playing the bite again because there's Barney Frank saying Obama's got to step up.
Bush can't do anything.
Bush isn't doing anything.
Stabenow says Bush could solve this right.
What could Bush do?
Could he go tell Paulson, okay, I want you to take money out of there and give it to the auto company.
Bush made a statement this morning before the program about the economy, and he hit these auto guys hard.
He was critical.
I don't have it in front of me what he said, but he was critical as hell of them.
Pretty hard hitting, more so than he's been up till now.
All right, brief timeout.
We'll come back.
More phone calls coming up right after this.
All right, folks, details keep pouring in here.
The EIB Nerve Central.
Turns out that the husband of Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow was apprehended in the prostitution ring sting on Big Beaver Road in Troy, Michigan, which I've also just learned is right near an exit 69 off of something.
Here's Mike in Nash, Texas.
I'm not making this up.
Mike, welcome to the program.
Nice to have you here, sir.
Thank you, Rush.
Make a ditto.
You bet.
I just wanted to let you know, I think you're at risk of losing your GM deal.
Really?
How?
Well, because the union is getting so upset over the fact that you keep telling the truth about them that I think they're going to start pushing the management to get away from you.
Dad, nothing's going to happen to the union here.
This is what this is all about.
This is the dirty little secret here that Debbie Stabenow and Graham Holmes and Sander Levin, Carl Levin, the whole Michigan delegation, this is all about preserving the United Auto Workers and its current deal.
They're going to be, if there are any concessions made, they will be few.
They will be window dressing.
But that's why this is going to happen.
If it doesn't happen now, one of two things is going to happen.
They're either going to, in fact, I think both these things have happened.
I think there'll be a bridge loan to the bridge.
And then when Obama, and that'll cover them until Obama's inaugurated.
And Obama's going to come in and then fix it.
And I think the whole objective here is to preserve the United Auto Workers and maybe even offload the pensions to the government.
I think it is 700,000 pensions.
Is that what the number that Debbie Stabenow used in that sum?
700,000 here.
I mean, these companies are paying a whole lot of people who are no longer working.
I know the deal was the deal.
But at some point, you know, it just the money isn't there.
At some point, it just isn't there.
Have you been curious, ladies and gentlemen, as the auto company execs are up testifying first time, whatever it was, two weeks ago and now this week, and they're painting a bleak picture.
Why it's horrible.
We don't get this money.
We are out of business.
We are out of business.
We have to shut down on December 31st.
I have yet to see a drive-by news interview with a panicked member of the United Auto Workers.
If this were that, I think those people would be scared to death.
There's 200,000 of them.
And then they're related jobs throughout the industry, as we keep hearing.
I just, maybe the local TV station is doing it.
Or maybe it's happening.
And have you seen it?
Have you seen normally when they go on strike over the years when we've, the cameras have been there, and we get the sob stories, the sympathy plays, and so forth.
Not criticizing it.
I'm just observing here.
And this is worse than going on strike.
This is the industry supposedly shutting down.
That means it's over.
Put goodbye.
I mean, if you have a contract, but you've got nobody on the other end to honor it, it's worth zilch zero nada.
Just observing here, folks.
And don't forget, I am being ravaged by some mysterious virus that is immune to all attacks.
So far, Carol in South Texas, welcome to the EIB Network.
Hello.
Hi, Rush.
Hey.
It's nice to talk to you.
Thank you.
I just wanted to tell you how much I'm enjoying your show today.
When you played that takeoff and she's always a lady, it just had me dying laughing because it reminded me of 1993 when I'd make the 10-hour drive from Brownsville to Dallas and I learned to find you all the way up.
Some of your shows were delayed.
And you had that guy on that was imitating Clinton when he was first running for office.
And it was just, he just, I was dying laughing.
And people were packing me and thinking I was crazy.
That's sure.
That was me.
Well, yeah, that was you back then.
That's right.
But I thought it was another guy.
Sometimes Bill Clinton just takes over.
And I start chatting with Bill Clinton here.
Sometimes I don't even know it's me or if it's Clinton speaking.
I know.
It was so funny.
And I remember you saying when people were criticizing your commentary or your news show, and you said, look, I'm an entertainer.
And I thought, that's right.
You have really entertained me over the years.
Well, thank you very much.
You know, it is interesting how history and things have a repetitive cycle.
And we go back to whenever the Pennsylvania primary was over, the last primary, and then we knew that the superdelegates had finally gotten through to Hillary.
Just get out.
And all the Democrats, forget us, all the Democrats, privately, secretly, then they came forward so happy that a stake had been driven through their hearts.
And now they wake up and they find out that the whole Clinton apparatus is over at the State Department.
It's at the Attorney General's office.
Jamie Gorellik's going to be back prowling around over there.
The entire Clinton apparatus is back.
And that's why 2009 reminds you of 1993.
Okay, folks, have a great weekend out there.
We get back Monday.
I'll tell you about the story of the dog who got frozen to the sidewalk.
It's a sitcom today, I'm telling you.
The dog got frozen to the sidewalk, didn't die.
It was saved by the amount of fat that it had.
So here's to obesity as we head to the weekend.
We'll see you Monday.
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