Rush Limbaugh Program - December 23, 2008, Tuesday, Hour #3

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Dec. 23, 2008 - Rush Limbaugh Program

31:58

December 23, 2008, Tuesday, Hour #3

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	My friends, I want to tell you something.
	Many of you probably think that I no longer am self-impressed or even dazzled when I forecast something that turns out to be true.
	Because let's face it, it happens regularly, and after a while such things can become routine.
	But I want you to understand that's not the case.
	Every time I make a prediction and it comes true, sometimes in a matter of hours, I am still dazzled by myself.
	And it has happened.
	Ladies and gentlemen, it has happened.
	We started this program two hours ago, exactly two hours ago.
	And at that time, in the opening monologue, I referenced the broken water main in Bethesda, Maryland.
	And I made the point that I was the one with compassion.
	While all the media was concerned about the people that were trapped in this thing in their cars, I was the one concerned about the water.
	I was the one concerned about the damage to the environment, the wastefulness of the water in this broken water vein.
	And then, ladies and gentlemen, I said something very close to the following.
	I said, isn't this fascinating?
	A mere few short weeks prior to the inauguration of Barack Obama, who plans to spend Boku bucks on fixing the infrastructure, why a major water main fractures in suburban nation's capital, Bethesda, Maryland.
	Ladies and gentlemen, just seven minutes ago, while watching DNC TV, they had a reporter on the scene at the site of the flood that resulted from the broken water main.
	The subject of the report was, Broken Water Main Illustrates Need for Infrastructure Repair.
	It took less than two hours for my prediction of the way that drive-by media would eventually portray this to actually happen.
	And it happened on the Obama network, MSNBC.
	It was, I'm looking at this.
	I was in Snerdley's office.
	I was so excited when I saw it.
	I ran to the monitor.
	I said, look at this, look at this.
	Because Snerdley was still over there complaining and whining and moaning about Obama voters and when they're going to realize they've been taken.
	Why didn't Maryland fit?
	Maryland didn't know it was broken.
	It didn't know it was broken.
	It didn't know it was broken until it broke.
	How many other water mains are going to go between now and the inauguration?
	Well, at least two.
	I will predict at least, and maybe not water mains, but there'll be somebody will catch a bridge moments before it was to collapse.
	There will be a buckled highway bridge.
	There will be, in the next four weeks, major miracles spotting impending disasters in our infrastructure.
	This one they didn't catch in time.
	But it serves its purpose.
	All the people were saved.
	Of course, the eco-damage, they can even parlay that.
	And, of course, the wasteful water.
	Ladies and gentlemen, it was apparently suicide.
	De la Villa Houché.
	In fact, here is his full name, René Ferry Magon de la Villa Houchet, a founder of the hedge fund Access International Advisors, was found dead early today in his office in Manhattan, according to a French business daily.
	He lost as much as 1.4 billion that had been infested with Bernard Madoff.
	Mr. De La Villa Houche, 65, committed suicide, according to the French Business Daily, citing someone close to Mr. De La Villa House.
	Mr. De la Villahouche had been trying to recover the money that Access International raised in Europe and invested through Madoff's businesses.
	Paramedics responded to a call in a Manhattan address matching that of Access International.
	They found a victim whom they pronounced dead, but they have not yet identified the man.
	I guess they have now, René Thierry Magon de la Villa Houche.
	Now, if there were any Madoff victims out there thinking that maybe this money is somewhere and all the regulators have to do is find it, the suicide of De La Villa House pretty much closes the book on that scenario because this is what Mr. De La Villa Houcher was attempting to do, was get back the money.
	Obama really might decriminalize marijuana.
	Esquire magazine, the stoner community, is clamoring to say it.
	Yes, we cannabis.
	Turns out, with several drug war veterans close to the president-elect's ear, insiders think reform could come in Obama's second term or even sooner.
	Apparently, there's some transition team people that are telling the press, Esquire, that Obama wants to decriminalize marijuana.
	Barney Frank, ladies and gentlemen, still fit to be tied over Rick Warren being nominated to say the prayer at the inauguration.
	Singling someone out for the honor of giving the inaugural prayer, I think, is inappropriate.
	I think Rick Warren's comments comparing same-sex relationships to incest is deeply offensive, wildly inaccurate, and very socially disruptive.
	And I'm glad he is talking to the Muslims.
	I'm glad everybody's talking to everybody.
	We're not here talking about not having conversations.
	We're talking about singling somebody out for a great honor.
	And I think the president made a serious mistake in doing that.
	Barney, this is the second time he's had a problem with Obama.
	What was the first time?
	It's not Rick Warren.
	What was the first time?
	Something about the bailouts or some such?
	Oh, no.
	Yeah.
	He wanted Obama to step in now.
	He wanted Obama to step in now, start doing things rather than wait.
	Angria Mitchell, in Nathan Neils, Washington, was talking to Congressman Frank.
	And after this answer that you just heard, even though you might not have understood the words, she did.
	She said, well, why do you think Obama invited Pastor Warren?
	Oh, I believe that he overestimates his ability to get people to put aside fundamental differences.
	I'm a great admirer of the president.
	I am delighted he is elected.
	I think this is going to be the best time in American public policy since the New Deal with Mr. Obama in the lead.
	But my one question is, I think he overestimates his ability to take people, particularly our colleagues on the right, and sort of charm them into being nice.
	When he talks about being post-partisan, having seen these people and knowing what they would do in that situation, I suffer from post-partisan depression.
	I have to say, Barney's worried about Obama's own new tone.
	But Barney, don't, it's just PR.
	It doesn't mean that Rick Warren will never see the steps of the Capitol again during the Obama administration.
	After the prayer, he'll go back to Saddleback Church and do what he does.
	This is PR.
	This is setting the table for getting as many people to sit back and let him make as much socialism as he can.
	You guys on the left are going to have to temper this and then calm down.
	You're going to get more than you expect to get.
	Well, this talk.
	Who's Barney Frank talking about?
	I don't know who he's talking.
	I love these people.
	Great amount of principles.
	I think he's the best time to make public policies in New Deal with the two of the leap.
	What a question.
	I don't know who he's talking.
	It doesn't matter.
	He just a little upset here.
	Rick Warren, by the way, had a message last Saturday night, the 8th annual Muslim Public Affairs Council conviction.
	Are there gay Muslims?
	Because, you know, Ahmedine is there aren't any in Iran.
	When he was at Columbia, what's he doing addressing?
	Here's what he said.
	Now, this one will shock you.
	I happen to love Democrats and Republicans.
	And for the media's purpose, I happen to love gays and straights.
	Oh, there you have it.
	So that was Rick Warren's Saturday Night Long Beach 8th Annual Muslim Public Affairs Council conviction.
	Barney Frank, these guys, they just literally cannot wait to get their greedy little hands on this money.
	Barney Frank, who should be in the process of being investigated, is demanding and preparing legislation to require that some of the money in the TARP fund unspent so far be spent for specific purposes like stemming foreclosures and reducing mortgage rates.
	He wants all the money released.
	He wants it to go to affordable housing and he's fit to be tied out there, ladies and gentlemen, as the banking queen.
	I've read your emails.
	Some of you say you're irritated by this song.
	Too bad.
	I like it and laugh my butt off listening to it.
	Got a great email.
	I got a couple of great emails actually.
	Dear Rush, I'm a 53-year-old solo private practice family physician.
	I'm a long time a listener since 1988.
	By way of Rush history, my daughter Candace, and I met you early on, and you kindly signed a book to her.
	She went on to attend Stanford, then Pepperdine Law, becoming an attorney who believes in limited constitutional government, even working for Judicial Watch for quite a while.
	My sons are also listeners.
	They're actors and musicians in Hollywood.
	They've won Emmys.
	They were part of George Bush's Hollywood A-team in 2000.
	They were invited to the inauguration.
	My wife and I have been married 33 years, and thanks to you, have had a very clean shower for years now.
	Remember the old sponsor, the clean shower?
	Stuff you didn't have to rub, you sprayed it on there, and it got rid of all that gunk in the tiles and so forth.
	The main reason I wanted to write you is I, a doctor, I'm a solo practice doctor.
	I finally got around to using Zycam.
	Not so sure why I waited so long.
	This says, guys, a doctor, this is the first thing I have tried for a cold that literally worked.
	I started Zycam, Oro and Nasal.
	You can get some Zycab lozenges that you dissolve in there if you don't like the nose swabs.
	But the nose swabs are the most because the rhinovirus is in the nose in there.
	That's where it gets it.
	Anyway, I tried Zycom, Zycam, the first day I called.
	The cold was not just improved or delayed.
	It was wiped out.
	Against my own financial interest, doctor, I am trumpeting the amazing results of yet another of the great products and services and companies that sponsor your program.
	What a great email.
	And, you know, you people out there, you're very sophisticated and understand how it is, and this program stays in business.
	And you do a fantastic job of patronizing all these sponsors because they're good.
	Stuff works.
	Now, here's a doctor who has just cut his business.
	You know, doctors can make a mint off a cold.
	Office visit, couple of tests to make sure it's not p. pneumonia and make sure it's not bronchitis or what have you.
	Maybe prescribe some antibiotics.
	Nope.
	The guy says get some Zycam and leave me alone.
	I have real sick people here.
	It does work.
	Crofton, Missouri, this is John.
	Thank you for Maryland.
	Sorry, Crofton, Maryland.
	Are you anywhere near this broken water main?
	No, I'm in Anarundal County, which is the county that Annapolis, the capital, is in.
	That's west of here, and it's Montgomery County.
	That's where Bethesda is.
	And it's one of the most liberal places in the world.
	And they're running a deficit already.
	So their county executive, Ike Leggett, who is black, by the way, and a Democrat, I guess is going to apply for a bailout to get the federal government to pay for this since he's already in deficit.
	Why not?
	Why not?
	I mean, he's done a great service for Obama here with the Waterman break.
	This will speed up Obama's own infrastructure repair program.
	MSNBC is all over this now.
	They're reporting that the water main was built in 1966, as though that's a sure sign it should have broken today.
	1966, a water main still in its infancy.
	New York is using water mains that were built two centuries ago in the 1800s.
	And they're still functioning.
	Not for long, maybe, but they're still functioning.
	I think Washington, D.C., even Georgetown has a lot of water main breaks, and they're over 100 years, so 1966 is it should still be under warranty.
	The reason I called is I think I heard you talk something about Senator Schumer yesterday saying that after he blew the whistle on IndyMac Bank out in California, that failed like within days after some letter leaked out that Schumer originated saying that the bank was in trouble.
	And then you kind of indicated that this was probably planned by the Democrats in the election year and that it just got out of control.
	And I have to say that I'm on the same page.
	When that happened in July, I called Schumer's office.
	It's a local call for me.
	And I said I wanted to give him credit.
	I said, I just heard that IndyMac Bank failed, and I want to give due credit to Senator Schumer because it's all his fault.
	And please pass this on to your boss.
	And they hung up on me, of course.
	Well, naturally, because you were in on the trick.
	But you know, people have forgotten.
	People have forgotten.
	But it wasn't long after Schumer's letter about IndyMac leaked, quote unquote, that Harry Reid went on television and said a major insurance company is about to fail.
	And that was AIG?
	He didn't identify it.
	Yeah.
	He didn't identify it.
	It could have been AIG.
	Could have been AIG.
	Could have been any number of insurance companies.
	There's a lot of them out there.
	Who knows?
	The point is he went out and said it.
	Yep.
	You know, and they create all this fear and panic going into an election.
	I think politically, it's probably the best, most effective, sadly long-lasting October surprise in my lifetime.
	Absolutely.
	You know, in the beginning of the year, they were talking about the war in Iraq, and it seemed that the surge had been.
	Yeah, see the problem.
	That's exactly right.
	The war in Iraq was going too well.
	They needed another area for bad news, and the economy became the target.
	I just want to listen to a little of it.
	Mannheim Steamroller.
	I really, really, really love this music and this time of year.
	All right.
	Well, let me listen a little bit more of this.
	If you're listening to this on AM radio, and if it just happens to be the first time you're hearing Mannheim Steamroller, go get the CDs.
	Listen to this stuff on your headphones.
	Listen to it in your car.
	Listen to it in the magic of super heterodyne stereo.
	Get all the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas CDs.
	Christmas and the memories that are associated with Christmastime are just, some of them are sad, but even those end up being good.
	Before we talk about that, in a great detail, we always, Christmas time is when I always get thankful.
	I'm thankful all the time.
	Thanksgiving is what it is.
	But there's something about Christmas that makes me all sentimental.
	It gets me focused on the thankfulness of things.
	But I want you to hear this soundbite.
	I want you, this PMS NBC, this afternoon on their program called It's the Economy.
	We have a montage here of an exchange between the anchors Contessa Brewer and Melissa Francis and WRC television reporter Chris Gordon about the water main break in Bethesda, Maryland.
	Freezing temperatures caused a big pipe in Bethesda, Maryland to burst.
	It happened during morning rush hour.
	And that, of course, caused icy waters rushing into a nearby roadway.
	More than a dozen people were trapped in their vehicles.
	This story also highlights the nation's need for serious infrastructure repairs, a top priority of the incoming Obama administration as part of a massive economic stimulus plan.
	I talked to Congressman Chris Monholland today.
	That's his district where this water main break happened.
	And he told me that repairing this kind of infrastructure, these pipes that carry water supplies to cities, it's got to be priority number one with an immediate economic stimulus bill.
	He expects that to happen right away when Obama takes office.
	I just, you know, we see examples of media slavishness and slobbering all the time.
	I just, this, for some reason, takes the cake.
	And I know it's hard to say that any one incident takes the cake.
	But Obama's not even going to have to fight for this agenda.
	All he's got to do is announce one time what he wants to do.
	The drive-bys are going to take care of the agenda and getting it done.
	This highlights a need for infrastructure.
	It does no such thing.
	There's a lot of water mains out there older than this that have not busted.
	By the way, did you notice what the cause was?
	They kind of just slid right past this one.
	Did you hear?
	Did you hear what?
	Freezing temperatures.
	Freezing temperatures, ladies and gentlemen.
	During global warming, freezing temperatures caused a big pipe to burst.
	Now, how does that happen?
	How does freezing temperatures cause a big pipe to burst?
	Normally, what happens is that water expands when it freezes.
	It gets bigger.
	But that would be a lot of water to have to freeze, and that's moving water in a water main.
	So I doubt that the water was frozen, but if it was, it was damn cold in the midst of global warming.
	Vince in Columbus, Ohio, you're up next on the EIB network, sir.
	Hello.
	Hi, Rush.
	It's an honor.
	Thank you, sir.
	President Bush thinks that right after he's out of office, history will show that he did the right things and made the right decisions when he was in office.
	But what he doesn't realize is that when you mention the House Un-American Activities Committee, the first name you think of is Senator Joseph McCarthy.
	Few people take the time to wonder how a senator would run a House committee.
	I think that Bush is wrong in assuming that history will show his actions were justified and correct, just like how most historians link the House Un-American activity to a, quote, evil Republican, unquote, instead of to the Democrats who actually ran the committee.
	Yeah, I don't know that Bush has actually said that his historical legacy will improve the moment he's gone.
	I think what he actually means is that when history writers who are not even alive today begin to write the history of this era, because let's face it, people writing current history are liberals.
	And it's likely that they will be liberals that are not yet born who will write history.
	But I understand what you're saying.
	But to compare Bush and McCarthy here is a little bit of a stretch to the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was supposedly run by McCarthy.
	I know what you're saying.
	And everything's McCarthy ran the committee when he was in the Senate.
	But Bush thinks this because he thinks, and he's talking pretty much here about foreign policy, that the decisions he made in fighting the war on terror, the war in Iraq, will at some point prove to have been the right thing to do.
	Reagan was the same.
	Reagan said history will take care of this.
	History will get it right.
	And of course, the people that are still alive today that wrote Reagan history still writing it are trying to revise it because it was effective and it was successful.
	Brief time out here, folks.
	We'll take it now and come back before you know it here on the EIB network.
	Sit tight.
	Doing Open Line Friday on Tuesday here off tomorrow and the rest of this week and all of next week.
	We have a series of guest hosts coming up featuring Jason Lewis.
	Walter Williams will make an encore performance.
	Ladies and gentlemen, Mark Stein on January 2nd.
	And we'll have a lot of best of rushes thrown in there.
	We've got Christmas music show on Christmas Day and a best of on the on the 26th as well.
	Amelia Island, Florida.
	Jesse, nice to have you on the EIB network.
	Hello.
	Merry Christmas, Rush.
	Same to you, sir.
	Been glad to listen to you for 20 years now.
	And I really, I just want to thank you for educating me over these years.
	I'm honored to be talking to you now in the year 2008.
	Thank you.
	I appreciate that.
	You say I have educated you, but all of you people in this audience have educated me as well.
	I will explain how, because I'm sure many of you think that's not possible.
	And I will explain how in mere moments.
	What's on your mind, Jesse?
	Well, I wanted to tell you, because of my education, I've gotten on the EIB network.
	I have been able to put together a book recently.
	Called Own Yourself.
	It's a challenge to strong, brave, intelligent young men.
	And you'll see that there's a lot of information in there that I've got.
	The book is entitled Own Yourself.
	So it's a book on self-slavery.
	No, Rush.
	It's a book on self-reliance, individuals.
	I was trying to be funny out there, Jesse, just being a little clever here.
	Well, the reason I address it to young men is because I really believe that the older generations, those of us who were born after 1950, are pretty much already addicted to government and give out hand-out bailouts and you name it.
	And it's going to take a new generation of individualists to bring us out of this.
	Well, you know, I've done a study of this because there have been plenty of times in American history where people think the country is headed into an abyss from which it won't return.
	It'll still exist, but it'll be of a different structure and foundation.
	Yet, it's always rebounded.
	And if you look into research of this, you'll find that every two or three generations, just exactly what Jesse is saying here, every two or three generations, you have a group of young people that just refuse to put up with it all.
	They just don't accept the way their parents live and grandparents live and so forth and change it.
	And it takes many forms.
	I don't think that everybody born after 1950 has become dependent yet.
	I'm born in 1951, and I'm still as diametrically opposed to becoming dependent to anything, anybody for my wants and needs and for financials and so forth.
	But I know that people who only have Social Security, where else are they going to go?
	Grand design, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, that's all they've got.
	What are they going to do?
	They're not going to oppose any policy that might lower taxes that they know will come their way.
	This has been part of the grand design by the Democrat Party.
	But let me explain something here about, you know, Jesse wanted to thank me for his education, and I said, I'm sure this is difficult for many of you to believe, and I said this, that you have led to my education as well.
	I know many of you listen to this program and say, how in the world could we make Rush any smarter than he is?
	I understand if you would look at it that way.
	You see, education is an ongoing process.
	I've been doing this 20 years, and I get reflective this time of year, and I look back, and this is when I really count my blessings.
	And of course, the blessings of family are irreplaceable and unique.
	But man, the blessings that I have had since 1988 hosting this program and having all of you be in the audience, it's incomprehensible and it's incalculable.
	And I think back sometimes, I look at, I'm always assessing myself.
	How did I do today, job-wise?
	Did I phone it in?
	Did the audience think I phoned it in?
	Could it have been better?
	And when I get reflective, I try to be as honest with myself as I can.
	I look back to just 10 years ago, just pick a number, 10 years ago, back to 1998, and I'll remember certain things I did.
	I think, boy, how naive was I?
	I'm not talking personal life.
	I'm talking about understanding just the things that are discussed on this program.
	Point is, I learn every day.
	There are more things that become understandable immediately, which is the result of ongoing education.
	And see, I love it.
	I actually love learning.
	I hated learning when I was a kid because it was being force-fed me and in school.
	And I wasn't, you know, for everything I was interested in, I had to spend eight hours being bored with garbage I wasn't interested in.
	And I thought the education system was missing out with people like me.
	But they had to have a system that educated a mass number of people at the same time.
	The only way I could do it.
	But, you know, I'm lucky I ended up in a profession where doing what I love is what I get paid to do.
	And so it's not work, per se.
	It's...
	It's an indulgence.
	And I get to indulge my passions each and every day.
	And I learn more, become more informed.
	And it's, you know, it's true.
	The older you get, if you're paying attention and if you're clocked in, you can't help but to accrue more wisdom.
	It's impossible.
	I mean, all things being equal, if you're an idiot, you have some sort of mental deficiency, of course, none of this stuff applies.
	But I mean, all things being equal, you can't help but learn more.
	And it's exciting when you do.
	And it's exciting when instincts replace careful thought when you just know, when you just, without, because the study has taken place in the years ahead.
	And I think back to all of the good fortune that all of us here at the EIB network have had.
	Well, I always maintain my perspective on this and understand the root of it and where it comes from.
	And that's you.
	I mean, I could be the exact person I am doing exactly what I'm doing, but if nobody listened to it, then it would all have been for naught.
	And you all have listened and you have stayed attached, your loyalty and devotion to this program and our sponsors.
	And I can't tell you how much I appreciate the fact that I know how sophisticated you are in terms of understanding what it is that keeps this program afloat.
	Like I'm getting emails all the time now about, I got an email here about the Carbonite guy.
	He just got it.
	He heard me talking about it.
	He got a new computer, heard me talking about it, went out, signed up.
	It happens in the background.
	Brand new computer in three weeks is hard drive blue.
	Sends me a note to thank me.
	Carbonite.com, by the way, if you're interested, offer code Rush.
	But nevertheless, every year at this time, I get sentimental.
	You know, a lot of us have lost family members this time of year.
	And this time of year can generate a lot of sadness and melancholy.
	Mostly when we think of nostalgia, when we go back and think of the past, we're wired so that we remember the good times, remember the laughs that we had.
	We remember the things and the people that we enjoyed.
	We figure out as we get older that it's not what you have or what you have accrued over the course of your life, but rather it's the relationships with people that you love that you remember.
	Those provide the fond memories, and of course you lose people that you love.
	And I'm sure, like myself, a lot of you have lost family members this time of year.
	And this is when families get together or try to.
	And you never get over the absence.
	But even so, the memories, they can overcome the sense of loss or absence.
	And the memories are positive and they end up making for good times.
	And that's what this time of year, other than, of course, the birth of Christ the Savior is all about for so many people.
	Once again, folks, you always tell me how much the program means to you, and I appreciate that, but there's no way that this program can possibly mean as much to you as what you have meant to me and my family and all of us here.
	Merry Christmas, everybody.
	We'll see you on January 5th.
	I hope you get as much fun of the next few days as we plan to.

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