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May 26, 2011 - Rush Limbaugh Program
35:08
May 26, 2011, Thursday, Hour #3
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It was a Robert Samuelson piece in the Washington Post, May 15th.
He's an economics columnist.
He's an economics writer that I trust.
I like the guy.
I don't mean to harm his career, but I do.
The elderly are better off than advertised.
That's his story.
I'll print it out there in just a minute.
We'll get to it.
We still have some exciting stuff coming up here, folks.
800-282-2882.
If you want to be on the EIB network, email address, illrushbow at EIBnet.com.
All right.
I just think that it might be possible that Governor Christie is changing his mind.
Not has changed his mind, but he's in the process of perhaps thinking about changing his mind about running for president.
On previous occasions, Governor Christie has said he's not ready and he wouldn't go until he's ready.
And there have been many who have had some pretty tough things to say about Governor Christie and his conservative credentials.
For example, many suspect that he's really not that committed to closing the borders.
There are those who say that while he is awesome in talking a good game of the unions and putting them in perspective and so forth, that he did not join, for example, the 26 states suing the government over Obamacare.
That he opposed Christine O'Donnell came out from Mike Castle.
I had people telling me that.
I said, look, I mean, for credit, the whole Republican Party came out from Mike Castle.
If you expect to go anywhere in the mainstream Republican Party, there are certain things that you have to do, and opposing Christine O'Donnell was one of them.
So I didn't so much hold that against him.
But today, Governor Christie has announced that he's going to withdraw New Jersey from the regional greenhouse gas initiative.
That is a cap and trade scheme that when New Jersey gets out of it will only involve nine states.
Governor Christie has been a supporter of cap and trade.
That's not a winning conservative or Republican issue.
That's a rhino-Republican issue, cap and trade.
Palenti has done many mea culpas on his mistake of cap and trade in that first Republican debate in South Carolina.
He spent a lot of time.
We all make mistakes.
That was my big one.
Governor Christie reportedly said in a press conference, this regional greenhouse gas initiative is a failure.
It hasn't changed behavior.
It doesn't reduce emissions.
The American Tradition Institute Executive Director Paul Chesser issued this statement about Governor Christie.
This is yet another good move by Governor Christie in his continuing efforts to repeal failed, meddlesome big government policies of the past.
RGG represented a hidden tax on electric bills for New Jersey citizens, which went to a venture that benefited special alternative energy interests and was all cost and zero benefit.
So, Christie has seen a light on cap and trade.
It's a trend.
It's a trend in a position that would indicate if you're running, you want to have this position on your ledger.
Sarah Palin Will hit the road this Memorial Day weekend on a tour of the Northeast and possibly even New Hampshire.
And so people say, well, this got to mean that she's officially going for it.
She's got this big bus that she's chartered, a big red, white, blue patriotic bus.
And she's going to get in this bus on the side of the bus emblazon the words, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
She's going to start the bus trip someday in Washington after she and her husband join 250 million motorcyclers at the Rolling Thunder event to support the troops.
250,000 motorcycles.
She'll then leave and make her first stop at the National Archives.
She and her husband are going to stop by, take a look at the Constitution.
Details on where she'll go next and when are unclear.
But people are saying, well, why do this?
They're not going to run for president.
This is something that people are suggesting.
Yeah, Harley-Davidson crowd, Rolling Thunder.
I guarantee you, that is going to roll some heads in the ruling elite.
The Republican ruling class, the inside the belt.
How can you imagine the conniption fit they're going to have?
Sarah Palin out there with the hogs.
The biker babes.
The last line of the daily caller piece.
Christie, however, has said he still believes in global warming, but is skeptical that it is entirely man-made.
That's another step.
Ever so few, but nevertheless, steps that Governor Christie is making in a direction.
Certainly, he has to go if he has any hope of getting primary voters to vote for him.
Let's go to the audio sound bites.
I tasked Cookie with getting some audio soundbites of John Huntsman Jr.
My email is overrun with people who want to know who is this guy, Ambassador to China.
Who is he?
Because, of course, the mainstream, the drive-bys have thrown him now in the top three Republican presidential nominees.
I have not played golf with John Huntsman Jr.
No, nor have I played golf with John Huntsman Sr.
I've never played golf with anybody.
No.
I've not smoked cigars with John Huntsman Jr.
But the Republican intelligentsia put it as soon as Mitch Daniels got up.
I predicted this too.
Mitch Daniels got out, bam, Huntsman's in.
And he had lunch with George H.W. Bush and Barbara late last week, or this week, forget days are running together in Kennedy Monkport.
So I told Cookie, go out there because I knew the audio exists, go out there and get this.
So if you want to know who Huntsman is, we'll go back three years.
October 16th, 2008.
Salt Lake City on the radio during a gubernatorial debate between Governor John Huntsman, Republican Utah, his challenger Bob Springmeier, the Democrat.
Moderator said, Governor, to the dismay of conservatives in the state legislature, you recently signed Utah on to the Western Climate Initiative.
Now, eventually, this will include a carbon emission cap and trade program.
Some legislators believe could lead to a higher utility costs and stifle business growth.
How do you balance protection of the environment with protection of the economy, especially in these hard economic times?
In order to get to the heart and soul of carbon emission, which is a problem because it leads to polluted skies and air quality problems and climate change, we must put a value on carbon.
Until we put a value on carbon, we're never going to be able to get serious about dealing with climate change longer term.
Now, putting a value on carbon either suggests that you go to a carbon tax or you get a cap and trade system underway.
When I speak of sustainability, I talk about ultimately a cap and trade system.
So there's John Huntsman Jr., the governor of Utah, affirming his support for a cap and trade system.
Now, this is an issue that Tim Polenti is abandoning, has abandoned, and is apologizing for having got it wrong in the first place.
You want to know who Huntsman is?
Better, you can hear him in his own words.
October 1st of 2008 on television in Salt Lake City, gubernatorial debate.
A moderator, Doug Fabrizio, said, let's talk about health care.
I have an email message from Annie, who writes, where do you stand on this argument?
I think, Governor, this is a critical question for some.
The argument that decent, quality, affordable health care is not a right, but a privilege.
Is health care a right?
I think health care is a right.
And I think we're not doing enough in terms of providing that which our citizens need.
We've had problems with the insurance sector.
I mean, why is it that the insurance sector will not provide affordable health care policies?
I've called them in.
I've asked them.
I've humiliated them publicly.
Okay.
John Huntsman Jr., now said to be in the top three of Republican presidential nominees in the top three, the top tier, now believes health care is a right and is proudly bashing the insurance companies.
Healthcare is a right.
Now, you know what Rand Paul said about this?
Rand Paul said, if it's a right, that means you have the right to come to my house at midnight, knock on my door, and make me treat you.
I am your slave if this is a right.
If this is something you can't be denied, you know, a right is something that can't be granted and can't be taken away.
That's what a right is.
I.e., they come from God.
They come from creation.
So, Mr. Huntsman, cap and trade and healthcare.
So he's a moderate Republican and he's not a Democrat, certainly, but he's a moderate Republican.
Those are the positions that he took in a gubernatorial campaign in 2008.
Obama did choose him to be ambassador to the ChiComs, which he served for a while.
Now, I don't know if Governor Huntsman ever complained to the THICOMs about building five new coal-burning power plants a week.
They were.
The ChiComs need electricity.
The TRICOMs, their population is advancing.
Their population is demanding a lot of it.
The ChICOMs need it to support their economic growth.
They need electricity.
And the TRICOMs, they were building five coal-burning power plants a week.
I mean, that's a lot of carbon out there.
That's a lot of carbon pollution that's taking place.
Okay, a brief time out.
We'll come back.
Your phone calls straight ahead.
And Obama, somebody said, I didn't see this.
Somebody said he was so outclassed in a joint press conference yesterday with the British PM camera.
Did you see it, Snerdley?
You didn't see it?
I've had a bunch of people tell me that they did, and it was just, it's becoming embarrassing now that if there's not a prompter, that it's hard to watch Obama.
It just was totally outclassed in the joint presser.
So I got a couple of audio soundbites.
We'll listen to a couple of them and see if that's actually true.
All right, let's listen.
This is the, I guess, the joint press conference yesterday in London at Lancaster House.
David Cameron, the PM, joining President Obama.
Reporters said, Mr. President, you've talked about the need for robust action on your country's deficit and debt positions.
Do you agree with the Prime Minister's supporters that he led the way on the issue, or do you feel that, in fact, he's traveled too far and too fast?
One thing that I'm absolutely clear about is David and I want to arrive at the same point, a point in which we're making sure that our governments are doing what they need to do to ensure broad-based prosperity.
The other point I think David and I would agree on is that this is going to be a constant process of trying some things, making adjustments.
There are going to be opportunities for us to make investments.
There are going to be other areas where we think those were good ideas at the time, programs that were started with the best of intentions, and it turns out they're not working as well as they should.
If a program's not working well, we should get rid of it and put that money into programs that are working well.
It means that we've got to make sure that we take a balanced approach and that there's a mix of cuts, but also thinking about how do we generate revenues so that there's a match between money going out and money coming in.
Hmm?
Sorry, folks.
I don't think any there there.
Okay, that was pretty meandering.
That was wandering aimlessly in vain search of a coherent thought.
And I don't think they found one.
That is gobbledygook.
On the Libya, another reporter.
Mr. President, you've said that Moammer Qaddafi's exit from Libya is inevitable and that the U.S. will continue with the campaign until his attacks stop.
Does that also mean that you will commit the U.S. to that campaign until Qaddafi is removed from power?
And would you be willing to commit additional U.S. resources if that meant speeding up Gaddafi's exit?
The reason that we intervened in Libya was to protect people on the ground and to give the Libyan people the space that they needed in order to bring about a change towards democracy.
Basically, we are strongly committed to seeing the job through, making sure that at minimum, Gaddafi doesn't have the capacity to send in a bunch of thugs to murder innocent civilians.
So we have not put forward any artificial timeline in terms of how long this will take.
Yeah, you did.
I mean, you said it would just take days.
At the outset, you said it would just take days.
Yeah, that's what weeks, not months.
That's right.
Weeks, not months.
And now it's open-ended.
Well, there's no timeline on this.
No timeline on it.
We got to give the Libyan people space that they need to bring about a change toward democracy.
We have to give the Libyan people.
It's Gaddafi that's got to give them the space.
I think that's right.
Obama is the one that ran against Bush for not having a timeline to get out of Iraq.
He wanted a timeline for exiting Iraq.
Now, well, we can't be bound by timelines.
Of course, that's artificial.
Let's listen to one from Cameron.
Cameron wanted to get in on the Qaddafi answer after that.
I so agree that the two key things here are patience and persistence.
In terms of the U.S. role, I would make this point, which I'm not sure is widely understood in Britain or in Europe, is already a huge number of the sorties and the support and the air assets that are actually bringing the pressure to bear are U.S. assets.
There was this enormous effort at the beginning, as the president said, but also a sustained amount of assets that have been used.
And as the president said, there are also the unique assets and capabilities that the U.S. has that others don't have that are so vital.
We all have to ask, what is it that we can all do to make sure the pressure is really brought to bear?
Whoa, now you could take this any number of ways.
But it sounds to me like that the prime minister here, when he says already a huge number of sorties and support, the air assets actually bringing the pressure to bear are U.S. assets.
It sounds to me like Cameron wants everybody to know, you know, this operation, you guys aren't that much on the sidelines.
American people are being told that you're kind of on the sidelines that NATO to you and whoever else are running this show, but a lot of U.S. assets behind this.
Cameron's making it clear here just how involved the United States is.
By the way, Senator, you got the quote on Obama wrong.
Here's the actual quote: March 21st, Obama was in Santiago, Chile.
Audio sound right number six.
Let me emphasize that we anticipate this transition to take place in a matter of days and not a matter of weeks.
You thought it was weeks, not months.
He said days, not weeks.
All right.
And it's now been months with no end in sight because any end in sight is an artificial timeline.
But don't forget, you're right.
He was insistent that Bush tell us exactly when we're getting out of Iraq.
And this is funny, on MSNBC today, the co-host Savannah Guthrie spoke to Becky Quick, CNBC's squawk box, about the new economic numbers.
The drive-bys are just distressed, folks.
The foreclosure numbers, the unemployment numbers, they've really got themselves believing that we are in a recovery.
And it just isn't happening, and they don't know what to do about it.
And Savannah Guthrie to Becky Quick, Becky, new numbers out today that show the economic recovery still has a long way to go.
The numbers this morning on Wall Street have not been great.
We saw jobless claims coming in.
Those jobless claims show 424,000.
That, again, is not a great number.
That continues to be a disappointment.
Perhaps even more concerning, though, is this new number we got for first quarter GDP.
People had now been looking for 2%, maybe 2.2% for that reread.
Came back in at 1.8%.
So yes, things are just as lousy as we thought first time around.
And that knocked the wind out of the sales of the markets this morning.
Yeah, yeah.
Experts, they thought we'd have better numbers.
What happened?
Golly, we were really expecting better numbers.
Where's the recovery summer in Obamaville?
Oh, they're just distressed.
They're just, they thought they'd set the table.
Happens to them every other week because every other week there is a deceptive now.
I don't know what bit of economic news in the last two years they can look at as indicating we're coming out of a recession anyway.
There hasn't been one shrimp.
They have taken meaningless news stories.
They've invested so much hope in them.
And now they're just depressed as hell.
It's like they can no longer continue the illusion.
Well now, Gallup poll is out.
Sarah Palin.
The Gallup poll of Republican Presidential Hopeful.
Sarah Palin is number two behind Mitt Romney.
With Trump gone.
With Miss Daniels never in.
Well, Trump was never in either, but those guys and the huckster gone.
Sarah Palin is in at number two behind Romney.
And she's starting the bus tour on the weekend, Memorial Day weekend.
To the phones, Donna in Munster, Indiana.
I'm glad you waited.
Great to have you on the EIB network.
Hello.
Hi.
Good to talk to you.
Thank you.
The Republican Party has a communication problem, I believe.
They need to better understand Ryan's Medicare plan so they can communicate it to the public.
Tell them what it is.
Well, they also need to compare the difference between Ryan's plan and Obamacare, which is a step toward universal health care.
Tell them what it is.
What the plan is?
Yeah, tell them what is Ryan's Medicare plan.
Well, one thing, his plan, he does not plan to take to change the Medicare coverage that the seniors already have.
Age 55 and up.
At this time, that's right.
You think most Republicans don't know that?
I think they're confused about it.
Do you mean elected Republicans or Republican voters?
I think some of the candidates that's been talking, one of the Republicans, Jane Corwin, I saw the interview when she's at a town hall meeting, and one of the gals asked about the Republican plan, and she said, well, I want to save the Medicare program.
Well, what does she mean by that?
She didn't explain it.
And I think the seniors may be forgetting about the large Medicare cut being made in Obamacare.
Now, wait a minute.
Pretty obvious.
If you have the Republican candidate in a town hall forum saying, no, no, no, I want to save Medicare when asked about the Ryan plan.
Right.
Well, kissing goodbye.
That was her answer.
Yeah.
And I was just appalled by that.
And I thought, well, you know, there's your opportunity to explain the difference between the two.
She may not know.
If her knowledge source for this is what's in the media, she doesn't know.
Because the media is the one saying that if you're a senior citizen, you'll die because of the Ryan plan.
Right.
And then their video, it says, if anyone wants to throw Granny off the cliff in a wheelchair, it's Obamacare.
And those that don't believe it are fools.
Because this is just the way it is.
Yeah.
Let me wonder.
That ad, I've seen the ad.
I kind of admire it.
It's funny.
Well, I am.
Don't misunderstand me on this.
Of course, the ad infuriates me in one way, but I love humor pushes the envelope.
And creativity.
And if that's what they want to, if they want to try to illustrate what they don't, oh, never mind.
Point is, I look at that, I say, how many people actually believe it?
And I guess I'm wrong.
As a lot of people do, take that ad for real.
This is what the Republicans want to do.
So when you illustrate it that way, I don't understand anybody believing that.
Who in the world would actually want to push their grandmother over a cliff in a wheelchair?
There's only one instance who would actually want to do it.
Okay, wait a minute.
You're just saying check the email in 10 minutes.
I don't know.
The ad is so campy.
It's so, it's, there's no terror in the ad.
There's no real horror in the ad.
Oh, even if you're a, oh, come on, are you telling me that a seasoned citizen watching that ad can actually sit there and relate, yeah, yeah, that's what they want to do to me.
Actually throw you, roll you over the cliff.
Yeah, but that stopped working a long time ago.
They would kick you out of your house of your house and make you eat dog food.
Look at the reason.
Republicans have been getting the senior citizen vote for a long, long time.
And all those clichés stopped working back in the 90s.
On Social Security specifically, Donna, thanks.
Thanks much for the call.
I appreciate.
I'm sitting here waiting.
How much trouble am I in now when I say I admire the ad?
I think I've only seen it, what, three or four times.
And here's Granny shouting and flailing away, no, stop.
And they actually do it.
The dummy actually goes over the cliff.
You actually see it.
I think, well, who could possibly believe in the Bronx?
Hey, John, great to have you on the Rush Limbaugh program.
Hi, John, Rush.
How are you?
Listen, that ad, by the way, that ad that reminded me of the old Cold Water ad where they had the daisies blown up with an atom bomb, you know, same sort of effect as that.
Yeah.
But the reason I'm calling is about this thing about Christie running, you know.
And I told Snurdy, I'll tell you, I am more scared of a rhino than I am with a liberal.
At least with a liberal, you know where you're coming from, you know where this guy's at, you know.
But then all of a sudden, these rhinos get in there and all of a sudden it's like they had a pause like somebody that you never thought was that they were.
A rhino, I'll tell you, you know what it is, Rush?
You're nothing but a liberal, you know, with a new suit on, you know.
And now that now here's Christie.
He's taking off his suit.
He's dusting it off and he's getting it all cleaned up, you know, supposedly for a run for the, maybe the, for the president.
Well, you think Christie's a rhino.
Is that what you're saying?
Oh, sure.
Yeah, yeah.
And, you know, it's like a lot of these rhinos, though, they get in there, they start to run, you know, and they're like these old musicians, you know, like after 30 years being in organization, they go on a world tour, you know, for one last time.
And that's what I remember when the dog, you know, when he ran for office, it was like, it was like his world tour, like he was going around here, shaking hands here, giving everybody his big smile, you know.
But in the end, you know, he just said, hi, thanks a lot.
I ran off and he started telling by arguments.
Why do you think people like Christie then if he's a rhino?
Excuse me?
Why do they like Christie so much if he's a rhino?
I don't know.
First of all, he's not getting a negative press from the press, which is another big clue.
I mean, you know, like anybody that's doing their job, like Powell or Bachman or any of these people that are doing their job, I mean, they're getting ringed, you know, left and right by the press.
But, you know, the only little tap that Christie got was when he talked back to a couple of teachers, you know.
And so right away, they made him out to be some kind of a hero.
Big deal.
Well, now, wait a second.
That's bigger than a big deal.
You talk back to Teachers Union.
You're talking back to all the union thugs.
You're talking back to the media.
Believe me, don't discount that.
That is one of the major reasons he has a lot of support because Republican voters are sick and tired of all of this, this wimpiness, politeness, whatever you want to call it.
That's why they like Trump.
Trump took it to Obama.
Look at them.
They see these people destroying the future for their kids and grandkids, and it's not something you have to be nice about.
So there are reasons why these people are attracting support based on their passion and their energy and the people they are willing to oppose.
It does count for something.
But you got to look at, but you've got to look at their record and where they're coming from, too, Rush.
Well, I know.
I know.
Christie's cap and trade, open borders kind of guy, and he didn't join the health care laws.
Yeah, and then some of his appointments, he nominated that guy for Supreme Court and jersey, you know, the Muslim.
They're not too happy about that and the Sharia law.
And he came out with a good guess.
Another thing that ticked me off, too, like, what are these guys doing, knocking each other?
Like, Christy, he came out and he gave Senator Palin a big blast, you know.
And you know, it's like that's the letters commander.
Who hasn't given Palin a big blast?
I mean, they're scared of her.
They're really frightened of her.
That's gonna, it's going to happen.
It's going to be happening more and more and more.
If Palin is.
Yeah, that's right, Snurdy.
They like Christy because he's throwing his weight around.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you very, very much for that.
Man, look at that Amazon.
Whoa.
And welcome back.
We are here, El Rushbo and the.
What was that live?
Oh, geez.
Nick Fort Worth, Texas, welcome to the EIB Network.
Hi.
Texas Size Dittos, Peter Rush.
Thank you very much, sir.
Thank you so much for cutting through the bovine shenanigans that are going on with the skill of a brain surgeon, because we're not getting it anywhere else.
What are you talking about, sir?
What are you talking about specifically?
Well, I mean, for example, Joan Huntsman Jr.
I've, through family and stuff, I've known him for quite some time, and he is a lot of things, but a conservative, he is not.
Oh, you're just thanking me for playing the soundbites.
Oh, thank you.
Because in his own words, I mean, you didn't have to say another thing.
You laid the case out there of who he is and why he does what he does.
Yeah.
He's free to be who he is.
The interesting thing about that now, the thing about John Hunter, he can be who he wants, folks.
I have no problem.
But understand that is being what he is.
What he said in these bites, that's being embraced by the elite Republicans.
Cap and trade is being embraced by the elite Republicans.
That was the importance that Nick, I appreciate out there.
Springfield, Virginia.
Hi, John.
Welcome to the EIB Network.
Hello.
How you doing, Rush?
Very good.
Thank you.
Best of everything.
Congratulations on your marriage.
Thank you, sir, very much.
Coming up on one year.
Unbelievable.
Seems like only one day.
I wanted to say something about this trip to the United Kingdom.
I think this has been a complete snafu, all the way down to his limousine getting hung up on some pavement.
And I think they even had trouble in Ireland getting that thing down the roads.
But anyway, if you were watching, Are You Smarter Enough Fifth Grader, you would have thought Obama was one of the contestants.
He didn't even have the sense to peek from his assistant, who happened to be the Bishop of Westminster, when he asked him what the date was, and he couldn't even get the year right.
And his face-off with Cameron, I don't think he came out well there.
I don't know what he was trying to say.
He was all over the map there.
But I think he's beatable, Rush.
And I think that's why you got Christie, who wasn't going to run.
You got Giuliani who's talking about it.
You got Palin starting here in the Washington area this weekend with Rolling Thunder.
You got Rick Perry that's had it up to here with no government help for all the forest fires he's got in Texas.
I know the border.
You know what?
It's getting exciting.
It is getting good.
There's no question about it.
And Obama is beatable.
And they know it in the White House.
And they know it at Buckingham Palace.
They know it wherever Obama goes.
They know he's beatable.
So it is all these people throwing their hats in or appear to be throwing their hats in.
I think now about Christie, I might have to reserve this.
I might have to pull it back because of this.
There's more on Christie's decision about cap and trade here from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
They quote Governor Christie.
He said, we're not going to participate anymore in something that doesn't work.
But that is not abandonment of our commitment to continue to work towards renewable energy.
Governor Christie said his regime would also ban future coal projects.
Dicey, start talking about banning coal.
That's what Obama does.
That's the way Obama talks.
By the way, from CNN, remember the old budget director, Peter Orsog?
He says that former budget chief, he said today that Congress will not reach a deal to raise the debt ceiling until the financial markets panic.
Peter Orsog is calling for panic.
Panic is needed before anybody will get serious about raising the debt limit.
So there you have it.
A former member of the regime is asking for panic in the markets.
I don't know where the time goes here.
I mean, we're finished.
It's over.
As I said, folks, it's over.
That's it.
But tomorrow is Open Line Friday.
And we'll be back and we'll be rearing and ready to go and load it for bear.
And there's a part of me that I feel like I need to apologize for this program today.
You know, 70, 75% of what it could have been.
I don't know why.
Maybe I'm just not feeling 100% myself.
But if you thought today's show was bad, I'll agree with you.
And I apologize.
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