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Jan. 20, 2010 - Rush Limbaugh Program
31:56
January 20, 2010, Wednesday, Hour #2
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Time Text
Well, I had that standing by too.
Greetings to you and welcome, ladies and gentlemen.
It's Rush Limbaugh.
Executing the program flawlessly, assigned host duties flawlessly, assembling the program on the fly.
Great to have you with us.
We will get to your phone calls today, and we will get to a great roster of audio sound bites.
At first, ladies and gentlemen, we have exclusive tape.
Our microphones and our wiretaps are everywhere.
We have the phone call between President Obama and Martha Coakley.
From the Groveyard of Forgotten Favorites, my friends, it's Paolo Conte, EIB network.
Happy feet.
Happy feet.
Love it.
Paolo Conte from the Grooveyard of Forgotten Favorites.
You hear all those voicemail messages on Coakley's phone, Obama telling her to take a blue pill and never call him again.
Senator Kennedy calling from the grave, saying he's still rolling over.
Whoa ho, what?
I guess I'm admitting that we wiretap phones.
We'll wait for a call from the Pibbies.
Great to have you here, Rush Limbaugh, the EIB network.
Jim Webb.
In many ways, the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform, but also on the openness and the integrity of our government process.
It is vital that we restore the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders to that end.
I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care until Senator Elect Brown is seated.
Good lord, my friends, from a Democrat, a referendum not only on health care reform, which means health care reform was rejected, but also on the openness and integrity of our government progress from a Democrat.
That means Obama's government has been neither open, transparent, nor has it acted with integrity.
Jim Webb did a hard pivot.
President Obama has just been thrown under the Jim Webb bus.
The Democrat, the message for them today is bussing.
Everybody throwing everybody else off the bus, or trying to.
And I, as I said in the first hour, I really believe, uh, ladies and gentlemen, that a lot of Democrats in the Senate have been scared to death this was gonna happen.
They were they were afraid to buck Dingy Harry.
They were afraid to vote no on this there for whatever reason they got bought off or what have you.
They were f but I tell you, there I I really believe if they had that vote today, at least five Democrats would vote no.
Lincoln, Landrew, Nelson, Webb.
Um regardless.
There have been there's some people doing huge sighs of relief that this has happened.
Democrats, I'm telling you.
They never wanted this is uh the the pressure was brought to bear.
We got to do this for Obama.
And now they're realizing Obama doesn't care about their futures.
Barney Frank.
Now, after Webb breathed his sigh of relief and blasted Obama, Barney Frank's also out trying to play the role of the reasonable man.
It's too late for Barney.
We know where they stand, and it is not with us.
Here is what Barney Frank said.
I have two reactions to the election of Massachusetts.
I better read it in straight voice so you understand what he said.
I have two reactions.
The election of Massachusetts.
One, I'm disappointed.
Two, I feel strongly that the Democrat majority in Congress must respect the process and make no effort to bypass the electoral results.
If Martha Coakley had won, I believe we could have worked out a reasonable compromise between the House and Senate health care bills.
But since Scott Brown has won, and the Republicans now have 41 seats in the Senate, that approach is no longer appropriate.
I'm hopeful some Republican senators will be willing to discuss a revised version of health care reform because I do not think the country would be well served by the health care status quo.
But our respect for democratic procedures must rule out any effort to pass a health care bill as if the Massachusetts election did not happen.
Going forward, I hope there will be a serious effort to change Senate rules, which means that 59 votes are not enough to pass major legislation, but Those are the rules by which the health care bill was considered, and it would be wrong to change them in the middle of the process.
What?
It's tempting to give Barney the benefit of the doubt here, but I think this is a wheelbarrow full of manure.
As much as Jim Webb's smack down of the president was spot on, these these cowards didn't say any of this last week.
Where was all this statesmanship last week?
Franks were beating up the Washington Times last week for talking about how there would uh there would be delays in seating uh Brown.
Where was all this statesmanship last week?
Where was all this concern for the Democrat process all of last year?
Where's the concern for it this year?
All of a sudden now, in the aftermath of a shellacking defeat, there's this concern for the Democrat process.
They waited to say the right thing when their own careers are threatened.
And after last night, every Democrat seat is in play.
This is what they know.
After last night, every Democrat seat is in play.
These uh these people are using Cochley's loss as an excuse to walk back off the plank.
Barney's district did go for Scott Brown.
Ted Kennedy's hometown, Hyannis Cape Cot went for Brown.
Barney Frank's district went for Scott Brown.
Ever there is not a single Democrat seat that's safe.
That's what they know.
Quick timeout, we'll be back.
Get some of your phone calls when we get back.
Stay where you are.
It's Claire McCaskill.
She's the fifth senator that would vote no if the health care legislation was up for a vote in the Senate today.
She has joined Jim Webb in warning leaders not to try to push a revised health care reform bill through the Senate before Scott Brown arrives there.
She said this morning the agenda's moving too far.
It's too fast.
It'd be a huge mistake for Democrats to force a vote on a new bill in the Senate before Brown gets there.
As I said, they want this no vote.
They want the no vote.
McCaskell, Webb, even Barney Frank.
No doubt Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson, they want this no vote.
They want it.
McCaskill said, as I said to somebody last night, everybody needs to get the Washington wax out of their ears and listen and pay attention to people out there believe that we're going too far too fast.
You take big things like we had to do as related to the economy, you combine that with the frustration of the American people and a big health care bill that frankly, because it was big and complicated, lent itself to this almost virulent misinformation that got out there.
We just barely get any information.
What do you mean that we know what's in it?
We know what the whole thing's a public option.
Make no mistake.
One element of this, they've got a public option.
By the way, folks, do not discount how ticked off people are about closing Gitmo.
Bringing tr and and this and this Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial.
Make no mistake, that's part of the rage and anger.
Go to the phones, Dave.
Start with you, Springfield, Massachusetts.
Nice to have you on the program, sir.
Hello.
Hi, Megan Diddle Rush.
Been a lifelong Democrat until this year I became a Republican.
Welcome home, sir.
Oh, it's it's between you and Fox News, I was safe.
Um basically, the reason I did turn Republican was because of cap and trade and the health care bill.
And we have much more work to do here, especially in Massachusetts.
Such as what kind of work?
And not that I disagree with you, but uh what kind of work?
I have a congressman here in Springfield that needs to be replaced.
He's a progressive.
And every time you call his office with concerns, you never get any response.
Well, that could be all of them.
Who are you talking about?
Barney Junior.
Who?
Richie Neal.
Richie Neal, okay.
Because you could be talking to all of them are progressive.
Yeah.
There's not one moderate Democrat in Congress anywhere.
And we have a governor that has to go.
Yeah, I guarantee you they're all quaking in their boots.
And I just do not want the people to get fooled by what the Democrats are saying today.
No, I don't we're not gonna let that happen.
We this is what this is my hope.
That's not gonna happen.
The intensity is not gonna lessen.
This is no people realize this is step five.
This is this is the fifth thing that's happened.
It's a total rebuke of Obama.
Three of them elections, uh, won the Olympics uh and uh the global uh climate thing that being uh proven as a hoax, and they are going to continue.
Wait till you see November of this year.
This is, I'm telling you, if you anybody wants to listen, the mood in the country is far, far more intense and anti-Democrat today than it was in even 1994 when the Republicans won the House.
From the politico today, Jim Vande Hy and Mike Allen, dazed Democrats.
Rethink entire strategy.
And they've got they've got segments here broken down by subtitle or headlines.
Really, all you have to do is read the headlines they used here.
Scott Brown has turned this town upside down.
The lock is broken.
None of this counters the stunning reality of an election where breathtaking results more than justify breathless analysis.
The lock is broken.
There is no way for Democrats to spin an upside to losing their 60th vote in the Senate.
The fear is unleashed.
Any Democrat with even the faintest fear of a tough race in 2010 is rattled.
It was easy for some to rationalize the defeats in New Jersey and Virginia, and even the flood of polls showing bad news since then.
They are in denial no more.
If Democrats can lose in Massachusetts, they can lose anywhere.
Every seat is vulnerable.
The next subhead, the leaders are rattled.
It's been an ugly 24 hours of blame casting for Democrats.
In fact, it's the first time in the Obama era that so many Democrats aired their private grievances in such a public way.
The White House blamed Cochley.
Pelosi seemed to fault Senate Democrats.
Senate Democrats put the blame back on Coakley, who had campaign officials trashing the White House and Senate leaders by midday yesterday, hours before the polls closed.
It is a circular firing squad.
Chalk it up to frayed nerves, but the Democrat unity that brought health care to the brink of passage will be tested like never before in coming days.
Next headline, the angry independents win.
Ideologues and hardcore partisans dominate the leadership of both parties as the cable TV's debates and the cable TV debates, but it's the independents who are the inciders in most elections.
And that voting block is swung decisively against Democrats.
Next subhead, Grand Old Posibility.
Democrats are right that polls show the vast majority of the public holds Republicans in low self-esteem, lower esteem than Democrats, but that might not matter because they blew the last two elections and no longer own what Washington does.
None of it can be tied to the Republicans.
Eric Canter and others are bragging they have a real shot at winning back the House.
They would need to net 40 seats to do so.
The final subhead, the Obama magic has vanished.
Think back a year ago.
Imagine somebody saying Obama would throw his support behind Democrats in New Jersey, Virginia, and Ted Kennedy's seat and lose them all.
Think back a year ago and imagine somebody saying he would celebrate his first anniversary without having gotten health care, financial regulation, or energy legislation signed into law, and that less than 50% of the public would hold a favorable view of his presidency.
I'll raise my hand.
Mr. Vande Hy and Mr. Allen, it was I, L. Rushbo, who foretold all of this as Rush Stradumuth.
This is not the way Obama or many of the people watching him at his immaculation address a year ago expected that he would mark his first anniversary.
You remember July 17, 2009.
Also in the politico.
I can almost guarantee you this thing won't pass before August, said Jim Dement.
Senator South Carolina, if we can hold it back until we go home for a month's break in August, members of Congress will hear from outraged constituents.
Senators and Congressmen will come back at September afraid to vote against the American people, Dement predicted, adding, This health care issue is D-Day for freedom in America.
And Dement famously said and was raked across the coals for This.
July 17th, 2009.
If we're able to stop Obama on this, on health care, it will be his Waterloo.
It will break him.
Mike Pence was also on the call.
Congressman Indiana said the tide is turning.
And so it has happened.
It'll be very interesting.
Obama nationalizing the student loan program, saying publicly, gonna work even harder, double down now to get health care passed.
But it is clear, members of Congress, the House, and Senate on the Democrat side are frightened to go forward and pass the legislation.
We'll be back.
Stay with us.
Hi, welcome back.
Rush Limbaugh serving humanity.
How?
Simply by being here.
Simply by showing up.
Simply by speaking.
Speaking.
Happy to have you along.
These next three sound bites you are gonna dig.
The first one is Chris Shays on MSNBC, former Republican Congressman from Connecticut, May the 19th of last year on Miss NBC.
We have talk show hosts who've never won elections who define very narrowly who's a Republican.
The bottom line of any national party is it has to give you the capability to represent your district.
And if it doesn't allow you to represent your district, you get defeated.
And that's what has happened all throughout the Northeast and other parts of the country.
What do you say about that today, Congressman Shays?
A man ran for his state.
A state bluer than yours, articulating conservative principles substantively on the issues.
And let's not forget December 14th of 2008, CNN's Global Public Square with Farid Zakaria.
He interviewed former Secretary of State, Colin Powell.
Zakaria says, What do you think is going to happen to the Republican Party?
Do you think it's moving in the right direction?
I was impressed by an article that Mort Kondraki wrote recently that said, can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?
Is this really is this really the kind of party that we want to uh be when these kinds of spokesperson seem to appeal to our lesser instincts rather than our better instincts?
Palin to some extent pushed the party more to the right.
And I think she had something of a polarizing effect when she talked about small town values are good.
Well, most of us don't live in small towns, and I was raised in the South Bronx, and there's nothing wrong with my value system from the South Bronx.
It was that attempt on the part of the party to use polarization for political advantage that I think backfired.
And I think the party has to take a hard look at itself.
Where's Colin Powell today?
Uh Scott Brown's from a small town, Rentham, Massachusetts.
Sarah Palin's from a small town, arguably the two most popular people in the Republican Party today.
I'm from a small town.
Obviously the most popular conservative media figure today.
Colin Powell's not from a small town, and where's he today?
today.
Not that small towns are anything special and unique, but they are put down by the elites, as we just heard here.
Can we continue to listen to Rush Limbaugh?
Is this really, is this really the kind of party we want to be when these kind of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser inside.
General Powell, I would suggest that the speech given last night in acceptance by Scott Brown sounded much more like me than like you.
And here's Chuck Hagel.
at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Every country out there has their Know Nothing Party.
And, of course, we're much educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh and others.
The American people don't like what's going on.
They want us to start doing what leaders are expected to do.
Address the problems, find some consensus to govern, get along.
There'll be differences there should be.
But in the end, we can't continue to hold ourselves captive to this raw partisan political paralysis.
Three sound bites, three people who could not be more wrong.
Hegel And Shays are out of the party.
And you'd have to say General Powell is too, because he only speaks positively of Obama and endorsed him and voted for him.
Of course, we're much educated by the great entertainers like Rush Limbaugh.
I love these sound bites.
I just love these.
Now we can get our party back, folks.
We must.
And Scott Brown has shown us the way, given us that chance.
We need to not get distracted by people saying that this was simply an anti-Washington result.
Do not fall for that, I beg you.
This was not an anti-Washington vote.
This was voting for somebody to go to Washington fix it.
And to stop Washington dead in its tracks.
The Republicans are not responsible for what's happening in Washington.
They don't have the votes to stop anything.
Everything that's advancing is advancing because a Democrat votes.
When you look deeper, this is this is uh this is this is this is a Tea Party's, this is all kinds of things out there.
This is grassroots.
And there's a piece by C. Edmund Wright today and the American thinker, what has Brown done for us?
I bet they can hear this cheering all the way in Washington, D.C. That's Brown's opening statement last night.
He says just the beginning.
When there's trouble for the Democrat machine in Massachusetts, there's trouble everywhere.
Rest assured they know it.
He didn't say when there's trouble for the Washington machine.
So what has Brown done for us?
Well, he just administered a stunning Tea Party Republican thrashing to the Kennedy Liberal Democrats in Massachusetts, with Obamacare front and center as the core issue at hand.
That's what?
Forget any spin you hear.
That is just what happened.
That Brown did not stress the party or the term Tea Party does not matter.
His issues were right off the Tea Party posters.
His issues are right out of a conservative manifesto.
Sure, Martha Coakley ran a horrible campaign, but Democrats win safe seats with horrible campaigns all the time.
And horrible candidates.
Brown ran a great campaign, but good candidates lose uphill battles all the time in places like Massachusetts.
And no MSNBC, this was not a tip O'Neill, all politics are local referendum on potholes.
Thanks to big government liberals, no politics are local anymore.
Not even obscure congressional districts, known as New York 23.
Every single seat now may hold the key to Washington's ability to reach into the homes and wallets and lives of every American for any reason they deem necessary, and that's what this was about, with health care the key issue, but only one of many concerns about intrusive government.
This was, without a doubt, another crest in the wave that started when Rick Santelli put CNBC and the term Tea Party on the map in February 2009, an anti-big government rant that went multimedia viral.
Thanks to the Rush Limbaugh Show and read end of the world headlines on the Drudge Report.
It built with April 15th tea parties around the country and through the town halls of August and September.
It even survived the misguided effort to dub a pro-union thug song called Shutting Detroit Down as the official anthem.
It was palpable, and this wave continued to rise in November as Republicans.
Yes, Republicans rolled a stunning wins in New Jersey, Virginia.
This wave was obvious to anyone and everyone not occupying office in Washington and certain pundit chairs in the D.C. Manhattan corridor.
The message was consistent.
Washington was trying to fundamentally change America, and beyond their notice, Americans were waking up to what that means and were shouting, not no, but hell no.
And no bigger hell no can be remembered in decades than the one given in the Bay State last night.
This folks is Massachusetts.
Even McGovern won Massachusetts.
Obama won Massachusetts by 26 points in 08.
Last night, Coakley and Obama lost that same population by roughly six points in round numbers.
That's a third of the state that has shifted.
This is simply seismic.
Brown may have won the people's seat, but moreover, the Democrats have just lost the Kennedy seat.
Yet it's still not clear how they would answer the question, can you hear us now?
One year ago today Barack Obama was all too anxious to accept his victory and to read deep meaning into it.
Today it appears like he's not even willing to acknowledge his incredible defeat of last night, let alone learn from this teachable moment.
This is especially true as it relates to his legislative agenda.
Regarding health care, some folks have opined that Brown just slammed the brakes on it.
To hear others, however, he has merely stealed the Thelma and Louise or steered it off the cliff strategy of the Democrat Party vis-a-vis Obamacare.
This is the message consistent with the vibe coming from both the White House and Speaker Pelosi's office.
This is really wasn't about health care, they're saying.
It wasn't about health care.
There was no message here about health care.
That's they're deluding themselves.
Either way, Scott Brown has done a lot for us.
And by us, I mean America.
Stopping health care now or making it even more nakedly obvious, the raw socialist power grab of the Democrats are both tremendous gifts.
Now, this was not a win.
This was not a win for the Rhinos.
This was not a win for the Reach Across the Isle Rhino Republicans or the David Brooks Republicans.
Not at all.
Brown ran at every rally as the 41st vote to stop Obamacare, and in no way was looking for an Olympia Snow style accommodation.
He was not, in the words of Bob Dole, trying to figure out a way, quote, to pass a bill, unquote.
He is not looking to reach across the aisle, and certainly after being cooped up in a pickup truck for 200,000 miles, he does not have a pant crease sufficiently crisp to win over David Brooks.
His final points last night were a Reaganesque litany of low taxes, national defense, and national pride.
Chance of USA broke out several times.
Chance of seat him now broke out spontaneously.
The Kennedy name was praised.
But the only Kennedy ideas that were praised were the fiscally conservative ideas of J. F. K. There was no remorse over unfettered capitalism anywhere to be found.
The only thing that might appeal to Teddy was the tongue-in-cheek implication by Brown that his two comely daughters might be available.
I loved that, by the way.
Did you hear that, Don?
It's two daughters up there.
And by the way, here are my two daughters, and they are available.
Oh, the media is all over him, and Democrats, they are all over him for this today.
It was funny.
Other than that, it was a show of belief in limited government and a hard line against terrorists.
The best line was that American tax dollars should be used for weapons to fight terrorists, not lawyers to represent them.
And that was a home run line.
American tax dollars should be used for weapons to fight terrorists, not lawyers to represent them.
The crowd roar at that was tremendous.
That was not exactly McCain sniffling about on waterboarding, ladies and gentlemen.
Across this country, to all those folks who are listening, if you're covering me, we are united by basic convictions that only need to be clearly stated to win a majority.
These are the words of Scott Brown.
We are united by basic convictions that only need to be clearly stated to win a majority.
That is a limbaugh echo.
Be unabashedly eager.
Do not be ashamed to be conservative.
Do not be ashamed to articulate conservatism.
Learn to do it.
If anyone doubts that in this next election season that's about to begin, well, let them take a look at what happened here in Massachusetts.
Because what happened here can happen all over America.
Scott Brown said.
Scott, we're listening.
We saw what happened in Massachusetts.
We definitely hear you now.
I saw something that surprised me.
Last week, one day last week was a news story about all the small business startups that are taking place out there.
There are small business startups.
Now remember, these are self-employed people, so they don't get they don't get recorded on the unemployment rolls, and they don't get unemployment compensation.
And the reason for it, the reason I was surprised because in an economic circumstance like this, we we see all kinds of stories about about some small businesses not hiring and not not not borrowing and not expanding.
And then when I saw that that there's a boom in small business startup, I read further, and it's really small, but I mean small entrepreneurs who've lost their jobs, just like the white collar uh exodus that happened in the early nineties.
It's all they can do.
If they if they want to replace the salary that they've lost, they've got to try to start their own business, and they're trying to put their dreams into play.
And if that's you, if you're doing that, I have a message of great value to you, and it's called legal zoom.
Let me tell you about a guy named Chris, invented a device that makes great tasting hot dogs by cooking the hot dog and steaming the bun at the same time.
It's already being sold on TV.
Then there's a guy named Billy, taking inspiration from his daredevil grandfather, he started a company that makes sporting sales for skateboarding.
What a hot dogs and parachutes have in common.
Both businesses were launched at legal zoom.
Chris filed his provisional patent and trademark for legal zoom, while Billy used legal Zoom to form his LLC.
And if you're starting up a business, legal Zoom is for you.
LegalZoom is not a law firm, but was started by top attorneys to provide self-help service at your specific direction.
Visit legalzoom.com today.
That's legalzoom.com and find out what I'm talking about.
Especially if you're one of these God love you risk takers, entrepreneurs fighting back by starting your own business.
Here's Carl in uh Ironton, Ohio.
Carl, I'm glad you waited.
Welcome to the EIB network.
Uh it's a great honor and privilege to speak with you, Rush.
Thank you, sir.
Uh I'm really upset at the lack of coverage by the drive me drive-by medias on this uh uh on this election here in Massachusetts.
Can you imagine if this was a long held Republican seat?
These drive bys, um I'm telling you, they'd had every talking head on every morning show they could have they could dig up.
They would have been saying this is a repudiation of the Republicans and their beliefs, their values and their agendas.
Oh, yeah.
And uh, you know, you're gonna start seeing these Democrats now up for election in 2010 flee from Obama like rats from a thinking ship.
This guy's the kiss of death.
And what I truly believe, what happened yesterday in Massachusetts, Rush, this is a tsunami.
And it's heading fast and furious to the rest of the Democratic Party all across this country.
And most of them know it.
Yes.
Most of them boy, you are so right.
They'd be wall to wall.
If this were a Republican seat in Orange County that have been held for 47 years and went down the tombs, that's all we'd be hearing.
Let's go to the today show today.
Audio sound by six and seven.
Uh Meredith Viera got the first shot at Scott Brown.
I think she whiffed a question.
On a personal note, you said last night the first call you made after your victory was to Ted Kennedy's widow Vicky.
How comfortable was that for both of you, knowing that you're going to do whatever you can to derail what Ted Kennedy called the cause of his lifetime, which is health care reform.
First of all, you're misrepresenting.
I never said I was going to do everything I can to stop health care.
I believe that everybody should have health care.
It's just a question on how we do it.
Do we do a one-size-fits-all plan, or do we allow the states to actually uh get more involved and do what we did?
Um the call to Mrs. Kennedy was was very nice.
Felt it was important to call her because I've known uh Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy for a while.
I've I've worked with him for many, many years, and and he was uh, as you know, a living legend.
And I had a great sense of humor, and I enjoyed his uh that uh especially about him as well as his the constituent services that they they do in Washington.
All right, and that they that's their B roll in the background of Ted Kennedy.
That the that's it's not double talk here on our part.
Uh, but the the lesson here don't accept the premise.
Do not accept the premise.
Very quickly.
Next question, bigger picture here.
Uh some have said this is a referendum on the president.
Do you agree with that?
No, it's bigger than that.
Uh it really for for our us in in our area, we have three speakers that were indicted, three senators that have resigned in disgrace.
We have out of control taxation spending in Massachusetts.
You couple that with what's being proposed nationally, people are angry, they're tired of the backroom deals.
They want transparency, they want good government, they want fairness, and they want people to start working and solving their problems.
It's bigger than Obama.
Back after this.
Folks, there's another way to look at what happened yesterday in uh Massachusetts, uh including Hyannisport.
I mean, I don't know how else to describe this.
I don't know how else to characterize this.
It just seems to me that all those good people in Massachusetts want Obama to fail.
Even the people in Hyannesport.
Doesn't it seem that way to you?
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