Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
Man, oh man, oh man, ladies and gentlemen, the left.
What a bunch of racists.
I mean, they're all over MSNBC.
They are all over the New York Times, the Washington Post.
I have never seen such a collection of racists, all these liberals criticizing Obama on this compromise on the tax bill.
I mean, well, every bit of criticism of Obama has always been said to be racist, hasn't it?
What a bunch of just undisguised racism we are seeing in America today.
Normally they camouflage their racism pretty well, but I mean, they can't.
They're so upset.
It's there for one and all to see.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to do something today I rarely ever do because I am in a peculiar position here.
If I praise the tax deal, the Democrats are going to find it very hard to vote for it.
And this is not done yet.
On the other hand, as titular head, the Republican Party, if I attack the deal, the Republicans will have to oppose it.
So what am I to do?
I am so famous.
I am so powerful.
If I take a position on this, I could end up causing nothing to happen.
Well, I mean, the most tempting thing to do is to praise it and make the Democrats vote for a deal that is backed by me.
I mean, this is essentially, if you go back to my Wall Street Journal piece on, we got it out here, January 29, 2009, my bipartisan stimulus.
Let's cut taxes as I want and spend more as Obama would like, and let's compare the two, see which ones work.
The language in my op-ed is shockingly close to the words of Obama last night.
We'll get to all that in due course on the program today.
Whether or not this is passed, you know, Obama starts out his administration telling the joint congressional leadership, don't agree with Rush Lindborn.
That's not how things get done in Washington.
And yet, on the surface, it appears that Obama has caved to me and to Bush and Cheney and to Palin.
But if I say that, I'm going to be jeopardizing things here.
So here's what I'm going to do.
Now, I've already spoken to Snerdley about this.
He knows what my position is.
No, I'm not going to talk about golf.
I'm not going to talk about the NFL other than I told you what was going to happen last night.
Told you what was going to happen last night and it happened.
Well, I didn't predict the route, but I didn't think there was any question about the outcome last night.
Now, here's what I'm going to do.
Snerdley, I was going to be fascinated by this too, because the reaction to this is running the gamut.
All over the place.
I want to hear from you.
I want to hear from...
When I say something, there's nothing left to be said.
When I say something, all there is is for people to call up and pretty much say, yeah, you're right.
So what I want to do, you people are the Tea Party in large.
You are actively involved.
You in this audience were fundamentally crucial in the election results at the outcome last November.
Therefore, I want to hear from you.
I want to find out what you think of this without my having said anything about it, without my having taped it.
Because look, when I say something about anything, it's over.
I mean, there's a smattering of disagreement out there, but the vast majority of people say, oh, yeah, you know, I haven't thought of it that way, and generally tend to agree with me.
So we'll get to phones quickly.
Snurdle start lining them up.
And this is specific.
I only want to talk to people who have an opinion about the deal.
Now, there's one thing that I think you all need to know here.
I'll just want to pass one bit of information.
I was somewhat confused about it earlier this morning until I did due diligence and research.
And it appears that the 99ers, those who have been unemployed for 99 weeks, will not see their unemployment benefits extended.
The AP has a story on this, ladies and gentlemen.
Basically says that the people who are eligible for this are here, here it is.
Under his plan, unemployment benefits would remain in effect through the end of next year for workers who've been laid off more than 26 weeks and less than 99 weeks.
Without an extension, 2 million individuals would have lost their benefits over the holidays, the White House said.
7 million would have done so by the end of next year.
In other words, those who have exhausted their two years' worth of jobless benefits, the 99ers, will not be covered by this extension because they are not in the system.
They are going to have to re-enter the system somehow.
This does not retroactively start unemployment benefits for people who've already reached the 99 weeks, the two years.
That's fundamental.
And I don't know if you knew that.
Well, that's true.
If the 99ers are to get extended benefits, they'd have to be brought back into the system.
They're now out of the system completely.
They got their 99 weeks.
They're gone.
They are that group that may be looking for work or may not, but by definition, they're not.
It will require a new tier.
It would require tier 5, which they have been pushing for, but that hasn't gone anywhere in the House.
From the New York Examiner, Obama's deal on unemployment extension does not include Tier 5 for 99ers.
There's only four tiers now.
Tier 5 would extend unemployment benefits for the 99ers.
Donnie Shaw of Open Congress explained that Obama's agreement succinctly explained it succinctly this morning.
The filing deadline for federal unemployment insurance that provides benefits for people who run out of their 26 weeks of state-provided benefits without finding a gig would be extended until January of 2012.
Essentially, this will make it possible for people who became unemployed in the past 99 weeks, still haven't found a gig to collect benefits for the same length of time as people who lost their job more than 99 weeks ago.
This would not add additional weeks of benefits.
99 weeks still be the maximum amount of time that anybody could receive benefits.
Now, it's still going to cost 56 to 60 billion.
But before you start opining on this, I wanted you to know that salient fact because some people are under the impression that this adds a full year of benefits for people who've already reached their 99 months, and it does not.
So as I say, ladies and gentlemen, rarely, rarely do I refrain from telling you what I think about something.
But in this case, as they say, there's a potential downside here.
It could end up killing the deal as either inspiring Democrats to vote against it or the Republicans to not support it, given that I am the titular head of the GOP.
So we'll get your calls.
800-282-2882 is the number.
Snerdley diligently working and calls.
Snerdly, listen to me.
No calls on the NFL.
No calls on anything other than this for a while.
We're not going to do the whole program, but just this.
Because you people were part of the electorate that resulted in this deal happening last night.
I want to know what you think about this.
And where oh, where, I ask, as host of the most listened-to radio talk show, where oh where is the celebration of bipartisanship here?
Where was Obama's happy face?
Where was the broad smile?
Do you ever see an angrier compromise last night?
Obama consented to extend the current tax rates for all taxpayers.
And he's calling it a stimulus.
And this is key.
I'm going to get to all this later on.
I don't want to in any way unveil my thinking on this yet, because that will taint what you say.
Because everybody wants to be me, and therefore everybody wants to copy what I think.
I mean, who wouldn't?
But I just want to know, where's all the happy faces over compromise?
And bipartisanship.
I've never seen these Democrats, these leftists out there demanding compromise, demanding bipartisanship, saying that's what the election really meant.
Have you seen how livid these people are today?
I mean, you go to the Daily Coast website, yet last night there were six pages of incoherent, full-fledged, undiluted rage over this.
I've got some audio sound by some people on MSNBC enraged over this, that Obama sold him out.
And I'll tell you one thing that has happened here.
For the last 10 years, we have been hearing about how worthless, how damaging, how costly the Bush tax cuts were.
And now Obama has basically taken 10 years of criticism off the table.
This is akin to George Bush 41 promising not to raise taxes and then doing it.
Although this is worse because the Democrats, as a matter of identity, have been ripping and bemoaning the Bush tax cuts as simply tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.
They have been touting these tax cuts as harmful to the economy because there is no trickle-down.
All this supply-side stuff is just a bunch of rhetoric.
And they have staked their identity to this.
And now all of a sudden, Obama's calling it a stimulus.
Obama's out there saying that this is a stimulus just to maintain tax rates where they are.
There are no income tax cuts.
There is a new rate on the estate tax.
And there is a slight reduction payroll tax holiday of 2% for one year.
What is it, 6.4% to 2.4%, something like that.
So that's where we are on this.
I'm amazed at the racism that's out there on the left, and I'm amazed at the anger When we got all this bipartisanship and compromise, Obama knew, where was the happy face?
He was frowning so hard I was going to bust the stitches in his lip.
Julian Assange in jail.
A little ironic, isn't it?
Mr. Assange, who's world famous for leaking, being arrested for not wearing a condom of all things.
I guess Eric Holder.
Yeah, I said it.
Assange, world famous for leaking, being arrested for not wearing a condom.
It's a little ironic.
Of all things to arrest this guy for.
And why doesn't Holder go after Assange right now?
They got him in custody.
Assange is white.
That seems to be a number one requirement at the Justice Department.
I mean, he's really white.
This guy's lily white.
Pasty.
Lily white.
So white, he's almost transparent.
This guy, I mean, he's perfect.
According to the criteria for prosecution of the Justice Department by Eric Holder.
But no matter how he slices it, Obama, through his actions here, has confirmed the wisdom of the original Bush tax cuts.
All right, let's see what else we got.
That'll do for now.
Brief timeout.
We'll come back and get to your phone calls on what you think of the deal.
Having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have Rush Limbaugh, rarely doing this, but today doing it, deferring to the audience for opinion on the deal.
By the way, before we get to your phone calls coming up real soon here, according to the Drudge report, sources say that editors of Time magazine are going to name WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange person of the year.
Now, this might have been before Time heard that he had sex without a condom.
That can be a disqualifier for certain leftists.
So Drudge may have had that up there prematurely.
Just have to wait and see.
All right, we're going to start on the phones.
Jersey City, New Jersey.
Jill, you're up first.
What do you think of the deal?
I, mega dittos, mega food police dittos from the land of Chris Christie Rush.
I love, I'm happy with the deal, but it was just bliss to see the man child in chief in that suit that's growing larger by the second have to have to talk to us and have to settle on this deal.
What do you mean?
What do you mean the suit growing larger by the second?
You mean he's shrinking?
Does he look smaller to you?
He looks like he's shrinking.
I've always thought he looked small and cold.
The man child in chief.
Yeah.
He is.
Okay, so you like the deal.
What do you like about the deal?
I like that he gosh, Rush, I like that Obama had to, I don't like the word compromise, but he had to actually talk to the Republicans.
He's having to talk to them.
After, what, two years in office?
He's finally, he's finally recognizing.
All right.
So we could say that you like the deal because you think Obama had to eat it.
He had to eat it big time.
All right.
Big time.
All right.
And for the next time.
Well, I can understand satisfaction in the notion Obama had it stuck to him.
We're going to run into all kinds of reasons for people who like it and don't like the deal.
I want you to hear this, folks, before I weigh in on it.
Thank you, Jill.
Eric in Napa, California, what's up?
What's your opinion of the deal?
Hey, 24-7 Dittos from Napa, Russia.
Thank you.
Hey, looking forward to seeing you on the Golf Channel coming up also.
January 11th is the debut.
You like the plug I gave you?
Thank you, sir.
Yes.
Hey, I was calling.
I told Mr. Snerdley, I think this is an absolutely atrocious deal for us.
You've hit on it, and the biggest thing going into the next election cycle, and forget the, or not forget, but setting the presidential election aside, is the number of Senate seats that are up and the number of Democrat seats that are in play.
And I don't think that we can go into the next election cycle without our guns blazing.
And I think what this deal did was it really chopped us off at the knees because the taxes expire in two years.
So that's the big deal.
Taxes expire in two years.
They put it right in the middle of possibly the biggest Senate election in my time, and I'm only 40 years old.
Now, okay, interesting.
Why do you think that the deal, the tax cuts expiring in two years during an election year, is good for Obama's reelection?
Well, it puts the Republicans, it's damned if they do and damned if they don't.
If things work out, Obama gets credit.
If they don't work out, Republicans can get the blame.
I see.
All right.
I appreciate your thinking on this.
Thanks.
Eric Vinney.
Vinny and Queens.
You like the deal or not?
Ditto's great one.
I love the deal.
It's a win-win for us.
First of all, we all knew the Republicans were not going to deny unemployment benefits, especially around Christmas.
We know them well enough to know what they're going to do regarding that.
However, this puts to lie the Democrats claim that, you know, tax, you know, lowering taxes doesn't stimulate the economy at all.
Well, if that were the case, why are they going for it?
Although we have yet to see if they're going to.
Well, now, wait a second, though.
We haven't lowered taxes.
Well, no, I don't.
I don't want to say too much, but we haven't lowered taxes.
Well, keeping them current, keeping the rates current.
I mean, haven't they been complaining for 10 years now that the tax cuts were only for millionaires and it did nothing to stimulate growth?
It did nothing for the middle class yet.
Here they are.
They're going to extend it for two years.
Do you think Obama got anything in the deal?
It's a win all the way around.
Do you think Obama got anything?
No, the best thing is to watch all the coups that MSNBC, especially the best-looking man on television over there on MSNBC, what's her name, pull their hair out of their head.
Okay, they are going to go absolutely apoplectic about this deal.
And the payroll, the payroll for Social Security, the reduction, that came out of nowhere.
I didn't hear anything about that until the end today.
That's Obama's idea.
Yeah, I still can't get my arms around the idea that Julian Assange had sex with a woman, but I guess he did because that's who's charging him here with not using a condom.
Well, yeah, we are sure it's a woman.
There's a rape charge out there, Snerdley, a sexual abuse charge, and not using a condom.
A leaker.
Not using a condom.
I mean, what a charge.
Okay, if you're just tuning in, I'm asking the audience what they think of the economic compromise that was reached yesterday because I'm in a really peculiar position.
If I praise it, the Democrats could find it very hard to vote for it, not wanting me to be happy.
And as titular head of the GOP, if I attack it, the Republicans will feel pressure to oppose it.
So something very, very rare.
I am withholding my view and instead asking yours and see what you think of it because, believe me, opinion's running the gamut on this from both sides of the proverbial aisle.
And you are the people who made all this happen, really, with your votes.
Last November, elections have consequences.
I want to know if this is what you had in mind when you wanted the Republicans to win.
Eric in Raleigh, North Carolina, you're next.
Hello, sir.
Hey, Rush, big-time fan.
I'm against it.
If this last election showed one thing, is that we don't want to compromise with the Democrats.
We simply want to defeat them.
Extending these unemployment benefits, all that's going to do is add to our debt.
From what I understand, it's not being taken from the stimulus money that's still available.
So again, that's just going to add to the country's debt.
I believe we could have gotten the Bush tax cut extended without having to compromise with the Democrats.
How about actually getting income taxes cut rather than just the rates extended?
Do you think that was possible?
Not at this time.
Not at this time.
But you think it was possible at this time to get a better deal on the unemployment extension.
Remember now, this does not extend people whose benefits have already perspired after 99 weeks.
This does not add a third year to those people.
I understand that, but it's also not paid for either through stimulus money that's already done.
The election was about spending.
There's no question about that.
That's right.
Okay, so you don't like the deal.
What are you going to do about it?
I don't have to wait for the next election cycle and send another message.
That's serious.
That's serious.
Eric and Raleigh, not happy about this.
Snerdley is upset that I have deferred my opinion.
You've got to look at this as courageous restraint.
What's the question?
Mm-hmm.
All right.
I'm not going to get, Snerdley, I'm not going to put your opinion out there.
I'm not going to put mine out there until I've had sufficient response from the audience.
Tracy, in a truck in Arizona, somewhere on the highways and byways, trying to outrun the illegals.
How are you?
Pretty good.
Pretty good, Rush.
Make a ditto.
It's a great pleasure, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Tracy, do me a favor.
Turn your radio down.
It is down.
Oh, it's the phone.
It's just yep.
It's just the background.
All right, okay.
I apologize for that.
So I'm out in the middle of the wilderness of Arizona, and not much I can do about it.
I appreciate that.
I appreciate the effort trying to get through in the wilderness.
The tax cuts, from a small business standpoint, they're not letting me see down the street, let alone the horizon.
I appreciate them letting me keep the cash, but the emphasis is on cheap.
Anybody in a business of any sort size is going to keep the cash.
We're not going to invest it.
I'd like to be able to invest and upgrade someone buying.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Why?
Well, What kind of forecast can I do in two years?
Look how much has happened in the last two years.
What's going to happen in the next two years?
Well, let me be the devil's advocate with you.
Are you ever often guaranteed that tax policy is going to stay steady for five years, six years, ten years?
Oh, with this group that we've got, probably the group that's coming on, probably never.
All right.
So the deal doesn't inspire confidence in you.
No, it certainly doesn't.
No.
No.
And as far as the, and I agree with your last caller on the unemployment benefits, and I was, I was to also toss out where's the work requirement here.
Yeah.
How many of these communities out there could be tapping into that labor force to be able to get done what they need to have done in their communities and don't have a cash war?
All right.
It would be a great way for those people to pay back their communities for helping them off their time to meet.
All right.
So here's the moral component being introduced in this by Tracy in Arizona.
Upset that there's no moral component here.
Very, very interesting.
By the way, I need to add, this does add a year of unemployment benefits to those who are in their 98th week.
It's 26 to 99.
Anybody who's greater than 26 weeks or less than 99 weeks gets an additional, gets the extension.
So if you're at 97 or 98th week of unemployment, you do get another year added.
It's 99 is the cutoff.
Tony, College Station, Texas, welcome, sir.
Nice to have you on the EIB network.
What do you think about the deal?
Well, Russ, Ditto, did us, of course.
I don't agree at all.
We're finally starting to live the reality of all the left dreams, all the stuff they've been promising.
I think it's time we let them own it.
I'm tired of arguing with socialists about things that are going on.
And whenever you start to throw facts at them, they start to get really hypothetical on you and they can't ever nail it down.
I think it's time we take what we have and beat them over the head with it and make them like Obama, for instance.
Okay, he knows now that the economy is going to keep going down if he doesn't do something with the taxes.
But his ideology, everybody he's with, you know, they're totally against that.
If he has to say on his own, we're going to do this, then that makes him betray, excuse me, everything that he stood for his whole life.
And I'll, you know, it's, yeah.
All right, but what about the specifics of this deal?
What are they that you don't like?
The jobless benefits is the biggest one.
I just haven't seen any deal come out of this administration that wasn't tangled and hairy.
I wouldn't have anything to do with it.
I don't care if they say everybody's going to get a gold bar.
There's probably something hidden in there that's going to take two gold bars away from you.
But why?
What specifically are you opposed to with the unemployment extension?
I just opposed to people not being incentivized to go out and work more.
All right.
So you're getting a good cross-section here.
Conducting a study group, just like Obama.
Oh, no.
I'm nowhere near ready to weigh in.
Why would I weigh in now?
We've just, I'll tell you my informal survey, I think it's about five to one opposed to this right now.
What if we had one person, maybe two people that like it?
Let's try Mike in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
What do you think about the deal?
Hey, Rush.
Megan Ditto, longtime fan.
I'm still holding a little bit of judgment on whether I like it or not, but I'm very concerned about the payroll withholding reduction.
Why are you concerned about that?
Well, going into the 2012 elections, I believe, you know, they didn't reduce the tax rate for those individuals, but they reduced the withholding.
So the 2012 tax refunds will be a lot lower.
And I know many people, dozens and dozens of people that rely on that as almost like an April early year bonus.
Wait a minute.
I want to make sure I understand this.
You don't like the one-year payroll reduction because it's going to lead to smaller tax refunds?
Well, it's not the payroll reduction.
It should, in my opinion, it should be a tax reduction, not a payroll withholding reduction.
Because I think what's going to happen is if you withhold less taxes in 2011, the same amount of tax is going to be due when they file their tax returns for 2011 in early 2012.
So the tax refunds for all these folks are going to be much lower.
And I believe if the Democrats can tie the lower tax refunds, the Republicans are going to get a huge victory in the 2012 elections if they can link the Republicans to the middle class getting lower refunds for this whole tax plan.
You're confusing me now.
Okay.
You're opposed to the deal, yet you say the Republicans are going to get a huge victory.
Are you a Democrat?
No, the Democrats are going to get the victory, I believe.
If you lower the withholdings, but you don't lower the taxes, then when people do their tax returns in 2012, they're not going to get the same tax refund that they've typically gotten.
The people depend on that $3,000 refund or the $5,000 refund.
And if it's not that same level, I think the Democrats are going to be able to blame the Republicans because of this tax whole tax plan.
Oh, people are going to be able to do that.
But for the 2012 election, they can say, as the Republicans argued to extend tax breaks for the wealthier.
Well, now, I will admit, I hadn't factored in the income tax refund angle of this.
I got to say, I hadn't factored that in and how that could benefit the Democrats because people's refunds will be smaller, and they'll blame Republicans for a tax increase.
I hadn't factored that in.
But that's what we're doing here, folks.
We're getting people's opinions on all of this before I weigh in and tell you what the truth is.
We'll be back.
Sit-tight.
So the White House has just announced that Obama is going to hold a news conference at 2.20 this afternoon in the briefing room.
So either he's going to announce a deal or he's going to defend his caving.
Well, I'm thinking of waiting until 2.20 to announce my opinion of the deal.
Well, if this guy is going to conduct a press conference during my program, I'm going to wait and tell people what I think of all this until he starts.
If he wants to set up a little competing thing here, I'll be glad to go along with us.
Well, what do you mean I'm adding to the uncertainty?
Yes, I'm adding to the uncertainty here as I withhold, defer my opinion on this, but that's because I'm in a no-win here.
It's a case of being too powerful and too famous.
Annette in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Thank you for calling and welcome to the EIB Network.
Long time listener doesn't sound happy.
Well, I am just confused as to why you're not giving your opinion right away.
I mean, that's what people listen to you for.
Did you not hear me explain, or do you not believe what I said?
Well, you're withholding because you feel like you're in a no-win situation, but I don't see that.
I think that people tune into your radio station to get your opinion on what is going on in this country.
And you're withholding.
I'm deferring.
I'm not keeping it a secret.
I'm going to get to it eventually.
I just, the reason I'm doing this is exactly what I said.
Plus, as I have examined people's reaction to this, it runs the gamut.
There are Republicans who want this thing killed.
There are Republicans who are organizing in the House official opposition.
There are Democrats who want to impeach Obama.
On our side, the election, you know, elections have consequences.
The people who voted and created the shellacking of Obama and the Democrats, many of them are in this audience.
I want to find out what they this is essentially the first such deal.
And remember, we're still in the lame duck here.
We're still in the lame duck.
The Democrats still run the show in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.
And I want to know what people think without having been affected, having their opinions affected one way or the other by hearing what I think.
I'm going to get to it at some point.
Well, you know, a lot of people in this country are obviously frustrated with what is taking place.
And I don't understand why the Republicans don't step up and say, look, look at what Obama has done and the Democratic administration.
And here they have done it again where half the party is upset with the fact that he's compromised with the Republicans on this deal, the unemployment, extending the unemployment benefits.
And then you have on the other side of it, the Republicans trying to push, obviously, the sorry, I'm nervous.
The tax rate extension.
Okay, so where do you come down?
Do you like it or not?
What's your instinctive reaction?
What was your first reaction to it?
Well, I don't like the fact that we have extended unemployment benefits.
We've already extended over and over again.
So there we are adding to our deficit with that.
Seems to be a recurring theme today amongst all the people who've called.
Yes.
And on the flip side of it, you've got the Republicans with the tax cuts for the wealthiest, but also that helps small businesses.
Well, I don't know why they don't reiterate that, you know, small businesses make this and you're hurting the unemployment rate with not having those tax cuts.
Well, thing is, yeah, okay, you're right.
There haven't been any tax cuts.
There are no tax cuts here.
These are tax rates that have been extended.
In fact, why is this even considered a victory?
It's because the way the table was set.
For the last, what, year and a half, the debate has been extending the Bush tax cuts, as they've been called, or not.
The option on the table has been a tax increase, which they haven't properly phrased it that way, the media, or no change.
Never did anybody start talking about tax cuts.
was never tax cuts have never been proposed by anybody now most people who pay scant attention are finding it hard to believe they think this is all about tax cuts there hasn't been one dime in tax cuts here so uh because of the way the table was set there is an apparent victory here an apparent victory for the republicans there is an apparent victory because of the way the table was set because Obama had spent all this time saying,
I'm opposed, I'm opposed, I'm opposed.
We're not going to extend them, we're not going to extend them.
And then all of a sudden there's a supposed cave where we keep everything as it is.
There really, nothing has changed here.
We were only dealing with the threat for the last year of the tax rates expiring.
What's really changed here?
Nancy Pelosi has just came out, just come out and says she is for the deal.
She has issued her fatwa.
Pelosi for it.
Obama might be hurting himself because he's guaranteed high unemployment here.
He's guaranteed 9.5, 9.8% unemployment with this extension of benefits.