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Dec. 17, 2010 - Rush Limbaugh Program
33:47
December 17, 2010, Friday, Hour #3
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Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, our final hour of Open Line Friday today.
As the year quickly dwindles down, great to have you here.
Open Line Friday means whenever we go to the phones, you're able to talk about whatever you wish to talk about.
Telephone number is 800-282-2882.
The email address, lrushbow at EIBnet.com.
One more thing on this smart business, and then we'll move on to the audio soundbites, and we'll show you smart, and we'll show you dumb.
First will be Palin and then Pelosi.
Anybody want to have an argument over here?
To me, it's not a contest.
And yet, what's the conventional wisdom?
Sarah Palin's a boob.
She's an idiot.
Pelosi?
At any rate, here is a portion of William Buckley's original mission statement.
This is from November 1955, the mission statement for National Review, the magazine.
This is a portion of it.
The largest cultural menace in America, 1955 now.
The largest cultural menace in America is the conformity of the intellectual cliques, which in education as well as the arts are out to impose upon the nation their moddish fads and fallacies and have nearly succeeded in doing so.
In this cultural issue, we are without reservations on the side of excellence rather than newness and of honest intellectual combat rather than conformity.
Now, you know, you can search them thanks to Hillsdale College.
Hillsdale College has all of Buckley's works archived on their website, Hillsdale College, William F. Buckley.
Hillsdale website contains the complete writings of William F. Buckley Jr.
I don't know that his own website does that.
National Review Online.
I don't know that they don't, but I do know that Hillsdale College does.
But he, in 1955, it was the same problem.
Education wasn't education.
It was indoctrination.
And it was instilling in these young skulls full of mush a conformity and obedience to the authority that was indoctrinating them.
And it still happens to this day.
Let's go to the audio soundbites.
This is this morning on Good Morning America.
Robin Roberts, interviewing Sarah Palin during discussion about the tax rate compromise.
Robin Roberts said, how do you reach compromise if you don't flip-flop?
It is a flip-flop in his position on tax because he was so adamant about not allowing the tax cut extension to take place for job creators.
And then all of a sudden, one day, he was fine with it.
So again, I appreciate that he, you can term it compromise.
I term it flip-flop.
I was thankful that he did, but it's still not good enough.
It still allows the uncertainty there in the free market that our businesses, that I certainly, as a businesswoman, that I fear.
What we need is to make sure that we know what tax rates are going to be so that we know if we can afford to hire people.
It's a lousy deal and we can do better for the American public.
Sarah Palin weighing in on the tax deals.
A lousy deal could have been better and she's right.
Could have been better if we'd have waited.
But certainly the way the Democrats are talking about it, they are now, they sound bushy and they sound Reagan where taxes are concerned.
Now here's Pelosi.
Last night on the House floor during a debate on the tax rate compromise.
We recognize success and the job that wealth does to create jobs, etc.
But we also want to reward work.
We want to reward work.
So in order to reward work in this legislation, we've had to have a big payoff to the top one quarter percent of America's wealthiest families.
Members have to make up their mind about this.
They'll have to make their own decisions as to whether it is necessary to be held hostage, to pay a king's ransom in order to help the middle class.
All right.
Now, what she's claiming happened didn't happen.
Nothing was done for the rich.
It all depends on the baseline.
It all depends on how the table was set.
If you've lived all year thinking the rich are going to get a tax increase, because Obama wanted to raise taxes on the rich.
He wanted to let these tax rates expire.
If you're a Liberal Democrat and you want to soak these people by raising their taxes and you believe your party is going to do that by letting these tax rates expire at the end of the year, and then all of a sudden, your own party comes along and says, nope, you know, we've got to keep these tax rates the same so as not to hurt the economy.
Here comes Pelosi, and she characterizes this as a giveaway to the rich.
There's no giveaway to the rich.
There's no giveaway, period.
The only giveaway is welfare.
The only giveaway is our social program.
The rich are not given anything by government.
Well, other than these CEOs who have a back scratch deal with Obama, but I mean, in the terms you and I are talking about, the rich are not made rich because government gives them money.
So she wants to reward work.
Really?
Ms. Pelosi, can you name me a policy of yours that does that?
Name me one liberal Democrat policy that rewards work.
Name me instead a policy that does not punish success from you people.
Every liberal economic policy is set out to punish work.
It's set out to punish productivity.
And yet, this brilliant Speaker of the House sits here and says she wants to reward work and then, in a matter of blinding brilliance, says, in order to reward work in this legislation, legislation rewards work.
Government legislation rewards work.
In order to reward work in this legislation, we had to have a big payoff to the top one quarter percent of America's wealthiest families.
Now, her definition of rewarding work is also keeping middle-class tax rates the same.
Nobody's tax rates are going down.
There is not a tax cut other than that payroll deal.
There's no income tax rate cut.
So this is stupid.
Plain, simple, stupid.
It also has as its purpose to mislead.
So it is lying.
It is misrepresentation.
It is prevarication.
She's a flat-out liar.
Now, is she lying or is she dumb and really believes this?
I submit both.
Here's more, Pelosi, from her floor speech last night in Washington.
President Obama was a job creator from day one with the Recovery Act and told us that.
Stop the tape and recue it.
President Obama, a job creator from day one with the Recovery Act.
We've lost how many millions of jobs since Obama was inaugurated.
We haven't created any jobs.
We have, I don't care how you slice it, gross net.
We have a loss of jobs that is near criminal because it is the result of Obama and Democrat Party policy.
And yet, Obama was a job creator from day one with the Recovery Act.
Pulled us back from that recession.
What pullback?
We are still in the recession.
Okay, here's the rest of this.
President Obama was a job creator from day one with the Recovery Act and pulled us back from that recession.
The financial crisis that they created, President Obama pulled us back from that.
And, oh, by the way, remember the financial crisis?
Remember the banks that all that money went to and they didn't extend credit?
Now those same people are giving out over $100 billion in Christmas bonuses.
And these Republicans in this House of Representatives are saying, we don't want you to be taxed to the proper extent on that $100 billion.
I applaud President Obama for his side of the ledger.
I'm sorry that the price that has to be paid for it is so high.
Your guy led the move on this legislation.
Your guy led the move on not taxing these so-called recipients of all this bonus money, Ms. Pelosi.
Your guy.
Six weeks ago, your guy was all for raising taxes on these people.
Your guy led the way on this.
But here's another myth.
Financial crisis, the banks, all that money went to and they didn't extend credit.
That's not what the bailout of the banks was for.
Another myth that these people created to extend credit wasn't about buying up toxic assets caused by subprime mortgage crisis created by Democrats.
Pure and simple.
Now, is she stupid and doesn't know that?
Or is she stupid and does know it and is simply trying to miss cast?
I say both.
Does she even sound smart to you?
Does she look smart?
To me, she never has.
But she's in the special anointed crowd of Washington.
She's a Democrat Speaker of the House.
Now, let's continue on with this analysis of who's smart and who isn't.
From the woman who, while watching the Mars rover at NASA headquarters, asked if it would ever get over to the flag where the astronauts planted it on the moon, Sheila Jackson Lee, on the House floor during debate on the tax rate compromise.
I'd like to make sure that we classify this not as a class warfare, if you will, but a good Samaritan waving the flag.
Working people need help.
So the unemployment insurance that is part of this bill is a valid part of it.
The child tax credit, the payroll holiday, all of those speak to the vision of this nation, that we have the willingness to share, to give $25 to $28 billion unnecessarily that would go and take away from education and Social Security and Medicare, domestic spending that is necessary is a crime.
This is not about fighting against someone who has a few more dollars than the next person.
It is to do what we're sitting here to do is to make sure that the capitalistic system works for everybody, including those who are now unemployed.
Let's get our senses together.
I don't even know.
I'm not going to waste time with this one.
I don't know where you don't.
Well, it's not where you start.
It's when you start.
Where do you end?
And I don't even.
Working people need help, so the unemployment insurance is part of the bill.
By definition, unemployment insurance does not go to working people.
It's hopeless.
It's totally hopeless.
These people, folks, I tell you.
Paul in Albany, I'm glad you waited, sir.
You're next on the EIB network on Open Line Friday.
Hi.
Hello, Mr. Limbaugh, Sir Schnerdley.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Same to you, sir.
I'm calling, sir.
I have to revert back to yesterday's broadcast about the liberal tree hugger occupants of the street.
I think it's about time, sir, we can put a tax behind that that we can all stand behind.
I think it's about time to hang license plates on those vehicles that are driving in the street, those bicyclists.
Aha!
I wondered who you were talking about, liberal tree huggers of the street.
Could have been hybrid drivers.
You're talking about, you're talking about bicyclers.
Oh, I think those speedo-wearing little pukes ought to pay to use those streets with our dilapidating infrastructure and the fact that our DOTs are all starving and looking for money.
I think that we should start hanging plates on bicycles.
Register them.
License plates on them.
Why not?
Why not?
I get charged.
What's the rationale for doing this?
I get charged.
Let's go for a pay for what you use, society.
Hmm, interesting.
Well, that's your rationale.
These people are using the highways and they're not contributing to it at all, at least with vehicle taxes and that kind of thing.
Yes, that's what he means.
He's confused by my question, but I know that's exactly.
See, sometimes some of the best questions asked are the ones I ask.
Anyway, thanks, Vince.
Paul, I appreciate it.
This is Vince in Titusville, Florida.
Welcome, sir, to the EIB Network.
Merry Christmas, Rush.
What an honor to be talking to the smartest and most qualified man that walks into any room in Washington, D.C. Thank you, sir, very much.
Two things.
I have a question about the results of the takeover here by the Republicans again.
In 94, we had a lot of Democrats, if I remember, decide they didn't want to be part of the game when they weren't in charge of things, and we picked up some after the fact.
Is that likely, do you think, to happen in this round and maybe even enough to, if not, take over the Senate, which Mr. Snerdley and I don't think will happen?
Could it be a game changer?
And then I have a little information I'd like to pass on to you if you have time.
Well, I don't know.
The thing that happened in 1994 was the first time in 40 years.
These people that had been in the Democrat House, many of them had been there for decades.
And the notion of being in the minority just was unacceptable to them.
They just couldn't stomach it.
So they either retired and some of them switched parties.
I don't know that that sentiment is going to remain the same this time around because some of these people have not, it's a big difference being there in 10, 12 years in the majority.
Well, now, actually, they've only been in the majority here since 2007.
Well, some of them were in the majority before they lost in 94 to holdovers, Pelosi, and so forth.
I don't know.
I think a lot of it's going to depend on what happens next year.
How bleak does it look as the year unfolds next year?
Some did retire before the elections.
And Pelosi, by the way, has kept a lot of the losers and the retirees out of town during this lame duck.
She didn't even want them there.
So it's, look, it's entirely possible that there could be a spate of these things.
I do think that significant numbers of retirements or party switches, you're seeing a lot of that, by the way, at state levels.
Don't forget this election, not just in the House of Representatives and not just in the governor's chairs, but in state legislatures and even get into county and so forth, the Democrats just got shellacked.
People have really forgotten the depth of this defeat.
It was and is overwhelming, far, far greater, far more in depth than 1994 was.
So a lot of it's going to depend on how much Obama can rally these people and reinspire confidence that they're all going to be back in power relatively soon, a couple of election cycles or what have you.
But I think it's possible you haven't seen the end of the party switchers.
Well, a little National Football League news folks just learned that Donovan McNabb will be the third quarterback for the Redskins this weekend, which means he's the quarterback of last resort.
He can only play if the other two get hurt.
Somebody named John Beck has been moved up to the second quarterback behind Rex Grossman, who's going to start for the Redskins.
John Beck Shanahan said, hey, he's had a great weekend of practice.
I want to see him in the number two position.
In Pittsburgh, Troy Palomalu looks like out for the Steelers against the New York Trippers, known as the New York Jets.
It looks like Aaron Rodgers, quarterback of the Packers, will not play because of a concussion against the Patriots.
That's in Foxborough where we will be over the weekend.
What are big NFL news is there out there?
Gonna play outdoors in Minnesota at the University of Minnesota Stadium, which is good.
I mean, it's wintertime.
It's Minneapolis.
They ought to be playing outdoors.
Bears tried to say, hey, at Frozen Field, you don't want to knock your head on it.
We don't either.
NFL said, man up.
It was either there or play the game in Atlanta.
And the reason.
What?
What?
What's the question?
Can I explain Albert Hainsworth?
What do you want to, what, what, what is what, what about, what, what about, what about, well, I'm going to have to sit here for people who don't know what Hainsworth did.
I'm going to have to spin here and take some time.
Basically, Hainsworth took $100 million, $41 million of it guaranteed.
And then they fired the coaching staff that basically was in place when he was signed.
Shanahan comes in, wants to run a different defensive scheme that Hainsworth doesn't want to play in because we're requiring to be nosetackle.
They want to be nose tackle.
So he says, screw it.
So he took his roster bonus of 20-some-odd million, didn't go to any of the off-season training sessions, OTAs, any of that.
He just, from the outside, looks like Hainsworth is the bad guy here, the bad teammate, taking the money, not doing anything for it.
But in the modern world, hey, they're paying him.
Why shouldn't he?
He doesn't want to play in that system.
Look at it.
Don't get me started on this because I think this is at the end of the day, it's not, he was a known quantity.
This is a question you need to ask the Redskins.
You know, what are you doing signing a guy and paying him that kind of money?
I mean, that's where this starts.
There wasn't a bidding war for the, it was one of the most curious things, but bad actor, bad teammate, suspended for the final four games, lost season for the Redskins, lost season for, I think this is basically, you know, Shanahan clearing house.
He's going to put his own team in there and start fresh next season.
Frank, Covington, Louisiana.
Yeah, Covington, Louisiana.
Great to have you on Open Line Friday.
Hi.
Thanks, Rush.
It's a pleasure to talk to you.
Thank you very much, sir.
Appreciate it.
You know, the whole United States is in trouble.
I think we're in an emergency situation, and the EPA has devastated about 80% of the businesses.
We could open all the oil and gas and coal territories and land in the United States.
And just think of the service industries, catering, construction, transportation.
We need at least 200 refineries to be built.
I believe we used to have something like 1,100, and we're down to something like 80 in this country.
We're not going to build 200 refineries.
It would take 14 years to build one.
But, you know, your point is this is another thing.
This is no accident, this war on oil on the part of this regime.
This regime is part of this radical left-wing bunch that buys into this notion that oil is the poison.
It's just, look, it ticks me off to even think about it.
You're dead on right.
It ticks me off.
There's no need for any of this.
The oil business alone could be an economic revival alone by itself.
If the EPA would just get out of the way.
But you've got, look at all these other politicians, all these local politics.
You can't drill off the coast of my state.
You can't drill there.
You can't.
I mean, it's all these people falling prey to yet another fraud and a myth.
And that is that somehow oil is going to destroy their state.
It's going to destroy their tourism.
The league is going to destroy their beaches and all this.
It's just, I don't know.
This is a left wing is totally hijacked in industry and is in the process of shutting it down domestically.
The rest of the world is drilling like crazy in our backyard.
Exactly.
And if we could get America to really push for this, just think 4% off the top of oil, gas, and coal, we could pay off our national debt with that.
No politician can touch the first 4%.
Now, now, wait, now, national debts here, we're talking 14, 18 trillion.
I know the point that you're making.
There's a lot of revenue that we're leaving in the ground.
There are a lot of jobs, therefore, that are not being created.
25% of the rigs in the Gulf are idle.
They still got the moratorium because they're still not granting leases.
So this administration shut down the domestic oil business.
And they did it.
It took the occasion of that spill, a BP well out there, and aha, here's an opportunity.
So they tried to create a crisis to coalesce even more power, shut down another element of the industry, all the while talking about energy independence.
This is a dangerous bunch of people.
That's why job creation with their stimulus bill.
When we hear about all these efforts Obama's making to revive the economy, meeting with a bunch of CEOs that voted for him anyway.
From what I'm told, by the way, the CEO said, you know, you have to do something about our taxes and you have to lighten the regulatory load.
There's no reason for us to hire.
Obama said, great meeting.
We'll see you next year.
Nothing's going to be done.
What's the photo op of the meeting?
I'm summoning the CEOs.
He wouldn't know what a CEO has to do unless Saul Alinsky wrote a book on it.
All he knows to do is resent them.
Think they're the enemy.
Here's John in Indianapolis.
Open line Friday rolls on, and you're up, sir.
Hi.
I realize that you're due for a well-deserved break real soon because it's been a while since you've had a break, sir.
So, my question is: when will we, the listening audience, experience the chickification of the EIB network, meaning a female guest host?
Oh, you want female guest hosts here?
A skirt wouldn't be bad, sir.
A skirt wouldn't be bad.
You'd have to imagine the skirt.
Radio really couldn't see it.
You have anybody particularly in mind here that you would like to guest host the pro this is a risky proposition, by the way, to ask this question because you never know what you're going to get.
Any particular chicks you have in mind to guest host the program?
Well, over the course of the last six months, you speak of the chickification of the NFL and several other entities of life.
And I feel that there are several excellent substitutes to sit in when you're MIA.
First off comes Malkin, Coulter, or an Ingram.
She's got her own show.
I understand that, but you know, come on, man.
Don't make me pull Keyshawn on you.
Let's see a female in there one time.
Put Geisha on me?
What does that mean?
Don't let me put Geisha on you.
What does that mean?
What am I missing here?
No, Keyshawn.
Keyshawn Johnson.
Come on, man.
Oh, Keyshawn Johnson.
Come on, man.
Oh, you want Keyshawn to host?
No.
I'm just kidding.
Just kidding.
Okay, so you like Michelle Malkin.
Who else did you mention?
You liked Ann Coulter.
And if you really want to get on the left side, since Sarah Palin's all over the place, put her in there for three hours.
That would be excellent.
Well, how about Liz Cheney?
Would you like to hear Liz Cheney?
I'm just throwing names here.
We haven't explored any of this in an official or unofficial way.
Since you're mentioning names, I thought I'd throw one out at you.
Well, neither have I. Talon would make people.
I don't know, but I'm just talking about somebody that has a lot of good thoughts that people are familiar with.
People could have put a face with a name.
I'd really like to see, you know, if you want to really go forth with it, I'd like to see Ann Coulter versus Rachel Maddow on the next day off.
That would be epic.
That would be epic.
Doing what?
Well, going back and forth.
I like to see who stands up for it.
You know, who has the better debate when you're on vacation?
Oh, you mean talking?
Maddow versus Coulter talking?
Oh, I think.
Oh, yeah.
You're not thinking that's even further.
I thought you were talking about something exciting.
Sorry.
Back in a second.
Look, folks, I just got.
Problem is, if we get a female guest host in here, I may not get this show back.
You let a woman in the door and they take over.
Look at the newsrooms of America.
Look at Fox News.
Find the number of guys on that network for me.
Count them on one hand.
So what's wrong with that?
Well, in the case of Fox News, I know what he's talking.
I'm just kidding.
How about, oh, you want a woman?
How about Julian Assange?
Julianne Assange.
It's on bail.
Way to reach out to the left.
If you know, by the way, somebody, I've got this somewhere in the stack.
Somebody has been looking into this guy's emails.
This guy is a serial.
He's got an abuser of women.
Serial abuser of women.
It's like a stalker.
He stalked a 19-year-old girl, Julianne Assange.
I mean, it's amazing when you find out who these so-called saviors, whistleblowers are in some cases.
You know, somebody that's really good with a calendar has figured this out for us.
237 years ago, last night, colonists dumped all kinds of tea in Boston Harbor to protest the way things are being taxed by the British Parliament.
And now that's key.
They were protesting the way they were being taxed.
Taxation without representation.
So it's perfectly fitting.
Last night, the Democrats had to dump their $1.2 trillion proposed budget, this obominibus spending bill.
And that's the big defeat.
You can talk about the tax bill all you want, but Obama bought the bullet on the omnibus.
So did Harry Reid.
They've somehow kept Obama's name away from this, but this was as important to him as anything else.
This was hijacking the budget from the new Congress.
Make no mistake, the White House was involved in this, and Reid just, they misplayed their hand.
Plus, somebody was able to get to a bunch of Republicans who were going to go up with the Democrats.
And Mitch McConnell did a pretty good job there, and others got to these Democrats, these Republicans.
Otherwise, it could have been a disaster.
Reed did not get the November election message loud enough, but the Republicans heard the Tea Party message loud and clear, and they remembered you when you said no to all of it.
That's you and I being effective.
Or as liberals like to say, make a difference.
We made a difference.
It's that simple.
Republicans in Congress are finally listening to fiscally conservative Americans again.
And the omnibus, great evidence of that.
Heritage Foundation's right there in the trenches of Washington, making meetings happen with as many elected officials and staff members as possible, explaining how they might be going off track and talking to the incoming freshmen.
You get all these freshmen members of Congress going into session three weeks from now at the beginning of the year, and Heritage has been having meetings with them, not just leaving it up to the standard orientation process.
That's why Heritage has an end-of-the-year fundraising effort to create the programs and communications necessary for 2011.
Heritage Foundation, AskHeritage.org is where you learn all about this.
Become part of it too, if you want, by becoming a member.
As little as $25 gets you started there.
But AskHeritage.org is a way to keep track of some of the most salient inside-behind closed-door things happening policy-wise in Washington.
Debbie in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, great to have you on the EIB network.
Hello.
Hi, Russ.
How are you?
Very good.
Thank you.
I told your screener, don't do it.
Don't chickify your show.
There's places women don't belong.
Football, baseball, cruiser cars.
They need to stay home with their kids and cook.
I raised my kids.
I didn't go to work full-time until my last one graduated from high school, and I don't regret it.
What is it?
Part-time is fine, but women need to realize what's more important.
Being on your show, they don't belong there.
They don't belong in football.
I can't stand watching football with pink sneakers.
What in God's name is wrong with these people?
Well, we're kind of on the same page there, but that's the NFL reaching out to the breast cancer audience.
Oh, but they're trying to bring the game to women.
They're trying to expand their market in that way.
What if I had, look, you know, there are female guest hosts.
There's nothing trendy about that or nothing revolutionary.
But how about if I go out and get the first transgender host?
Why?
What's wrong with you the way you are?
Well, when I'm not here.
I like to British guy.
He's great.
British guy.
Yeah, he comes back.
Oh, yeah, Mark Stein.
Mark Stein.
Mark Stein.
Yeah.
So you think a woman's place is in the House and the Senate?
As long as they got kids, their place is at home.
Period.
I lived it.
I've done it.
I'm speaking from where I come from.
Right.
And I am 50 years old, and I work more hours now than I could be.
Would you really not want to listen to a female host of the program?
Is there just about you think they ought to be home baking babies and cooking milk?
No, I really don't want to listen to a woman host.
I've heard of a couple other places that have woman hosts on, and I turn them off for the day.
Well, interesting.
I wish I had more time to ask you why, but I don't, which may be a good thing.
Now that's the another excursion into broadcast excellence has come to a screeching halt.
Oh, before we go, a lot of people have been talking about Abby and the dogs.
How's Pumpkin?
Pumpkin's great.
Pumpkin got out of the vet's office and is back to her old self, ignoring everybody but me.
And that's just some of the time.
She's back to herself.
She's in fine form.
Everybody in the family, hunky Dory.
Have a great weekend, and we'll see you back here on Monday, folks.
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