Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24 7 Podcast.
Hey, folks, how are you?
Greetings and welcome.
It's great to have you here, Rush Limboard.
Today the day, people all over America.
Say T G I O L F. Thank God it's open line Friday.
Live from the Southern Command in sunny South Florida.
It's open line Friday.
Open Line Friday, the day you can discuss anything you want.
You can discuss, I don't care, even if it's football or golf.
In fact, Open Line Friday was practically invented to be the day you can stick it to the stick to the issues crowd.
I love sticking it to the stick to the issues crowd.
I mean, I love the stick to the issues crowd.
But I love sticking it to the stick to the issues crowd.
For those of you new to the program, you might not know what the stick to the issues crowd is.
Okay, I'll explain it any time I talk about anything other than politics or cultural political events.
I get threatening emails from people who say stick to the issues.
I don't care about X. I don't care about golf.
I don't care about football.
I don't care about Apple.
I don't care about anything.
If you keep talking about this, not only am I not going to listen anymore, neither are my friends, and nor is my dog.
And they keep pepping me.
So they've become popularly affectionately known as the stick to the issues crowd.
And Open Line Friday was basically created to help stick it to the stick to the issues crowd.
But it's up to you.
Open Line Friday, you talk about whatever you want to talk about.
Monday through Thursday has to be something I care about.
And I'm gonna let you people in on a secret.
And it's been I probably shouldn't say this.
Now I gotta say it.
Now I have to say it.
Back in the early days of this program, when it was just expanding like nothing before it.
Remember those days, Snertley?
I mean, every week we were announcing 10, 15 new affiliates.
Yeah, we started with 56 radio stations, and is as is common.
People, friends, foe, or media.
Well, what's the difference there?
Would ask the question, how long do you think this is gonna last?
I mean, how long can this go?
As long as I'm interested in it.
As long as I have the past, I said when I get up and don't care about what's in the newspapers, that's when I will know that it's nearing the end.
And that hasn't happened.
But I'll tell you what has happened.
This is what I shouldn't admit, and I'm gonna create all kinds of problems here by admitting them.
I'm gonna go ahead and admit it.
There are things that I really am interested in that I am not talking about.
And it's very frustrating.
It really is, I am, I am, I'm I'm um I'm I have always, no matter what it is, talked about the things that I really passionately care about.
And I have been um there there have been just this is recent, too.
This is with I guess the last six months, that I have uh I get maybe the stick to the issues crowd is getting to me.
Maybe it is, as I've there are things that I really care about that I'm shelving that I'm not talking about because I because I think nobody else is gonna care about, or that I'm uh and the reason is they have nothing to do with the country.
Well, I can always relate it to what's going on in the company.
They have nothing to do with political issues per se.
They have nothing to do with the political campaign.
They have nothing to do with anything to do with any of that.
And I figure people about that stuff these days.
The country is at a at a crossroads.
We are at a fork in the road.
We are at the precipice.
And I've I've just decided, you know, I I'll I'll I'll shelve and put aside some of the stuff that really fascinates and interests me, and I'll just keep talking about the fate of the country because I'm figuring I've always used my instincts.
And I've always been guided by my empathy.
And I have, because of the seriousness, because of the grave consequences, the future of this country, I have stayed focused on matters relating to that, because I have assumed, using my instincts and empathy, that that's what people are primarily concerned about and interested in each and every day.
So I have shelved, and folks, I must tell you it's been very hard.
I'm I'm look at it exactly that way.
I'm I'm holding back as a public service.
Uh Snerdley says, go ahead and tell us what it is.
If it's open line Friday, if if we're if if we're not interested in what you're interested in, uh we'll we'll fake it.
No, don't say that.
Don't, don't, don't, no, no, no, no, no.
Don't don't remind people of that.
That's just gonna put that's just gonna put added pressure on me out there.
And I don't need any added pressure the moment.
Call it courageous restraint, folks.
And but I must tell you, it's the first time in 23 years that I've done this.
It's the first time in 23 years that I have set aside some things I really care about.
I'm interested in, passionate about, and not discussed.
Restrain we much is the new logo or the new uh the new phrase that I'm using here to guide.
I don't I no snurdy, I don't even think I should mention what it is.
That's just gonna get me to start talking about it, and then the stick to the issues crowd's gonna blow up.
And and I love the stick to the issues crowd.
The stick to the issues crowd, basically three people who write emails in such a way as to make it make it look like they represent hundreds of thousands of people.
So anyway, here are the rules.
Open line Friday, uh, whatever you wish to discuss.
Doesn't matter.
Fine and dead.
That's the purpose of open line Friday.
Monday through Thursday, we only talk about things I care about.
Oh, I should add, folks, and I've I have been in all candor, in a professional sense, I have been agonizing over this because I've been talking about things I really don't care about, and I have been worried, particularly for the past month, that I'm boring everybody silly.
I've I've always known, and I've always believed that passion is the magnet.
You talk about something that you're passionate about, it is magnetic.
It is what locks people in.
I've been talking about things I really couldn't care less about, the things that have been boring me, but I have been too because that is what I have judged.
I has been the desire of you people in the audience to have discussed or to be part of a discussion when you call or what have you.
So I'm asking myself in my private moments, when Catherine's gone to bed, when the dogs are still peeing on the floor in the kitchen and I have to go clean up.
I'm asking myself, have I reached a career crossroads here?
This is a new experience for me.
Well, it is.
I mean, I've I've I've I've really been agonizing over this in a career, in a career sense.
And I have been uh dealing with it as best that uh that I can.
So I just wanted to share all this.
I figure open line Friday.
One thing I don't care about, uh one thing I don't care about.
Uh well, I'd have to go to the stack here.
I got some stuff in the stack I don't care about.
I just put it in here because I figured I have a duty To uh to discuss it.
Uh I don't know.
I'll tell you as I go through the stack, as we as I do the program, I'll I'll start out by saying, folks, I really don't care about this, but here goes.
Would that suffice you?
But I'm not going to tell you the things I do care about that I'm not talking about, and that would defeat the whole purpose.
Because if I tell you about the things that I do care about that I'm not talking about, then I'm talking about the things that I do care about, violating the own rule, because I'm assuming you don't want to hear it.
That that's the assumption that I'm making.
Well, it could be a wrong assumption.
It's the assumption that I am uh that I'm making.
We'll see.
In the meantime, um I have taken let's take a brief time out here.
We'll come back, we'll get started with all of the uh the program today.
Starting off with remember, well, in fact, let's just do this now.
Grab audio sound bite number two.
Let's go back Wednesday, just two days ago.
Just two days.
It's stuff like this that makes okay.
Maybe I haven't lost it, because that's what I really been worrying about.
Have I lost it?
I sturdily, I've walked out of here every day the past month thinking this has to have been boring as hell to listen to.
Just has to be.
This show I do for the audience.
I don't do it for me.
Well, I do do it for me.
That's crazy.
But I do it for the audience.
I know what the audience expectations are.
And they are high.
And the objective here is to meet and surpass them each and every day.
When I think I'm not doing that, I get depressed.
In in terms of letting people down.
At any rate, this is me two days ago, right here behind this golden EIB microphone.
They're hanging on the every action that the Occupy Wall Street people are taking.
And I'm convinced.
I'm convinced that the media's hanging on here hoping and praying that we get the equivalent of a car wreck.
They're hoping some sort of Kent State type massacre is gonna take place.
They are hoping that there's going to be some kind of civil disobedience.
They are hoping that general unrest is going to take place.
The riot is gonna start.
That's what I said on Wednesday, talking about Occupy Wall Street.
Let's go this morning.
MSNBC, Scarborough Show.
He had on Barbara Lee, Democrat California.
I think she heads up the uh congressional black Caucasians.
And they were talking about the Occupy Oakland protest, because that's where she's from.
Guest panelist was uh Deutsch ad agency CEO Donny Deutsch, and Deutsch and Barbara Lee had this little exchange.
I am afraid the thing that's gonna take this movement to the next level is we are just waiting for violence.
Do we have to wait for someone to die?
And that's what scares me.
That image, just like we stare at that Kent State image.
That's what sticks with us.
And that's what's frightening, and why are we waiting for that to happen?
I was terrified and watching what took place in Oakland and expressed my outrage and my uh real concern for what is taking place.
The protesters are not causing this violence.
These are peaceful protesters who have a right to petition their government.
They just come right out and say it.
They are waiting for it.
They're just coming out and I mean, here's Donny Deutsch.
Oh, yeah, he couches it, I'm afraid.
I'm afraid that violence is gonna happen.
I'm afraid that I have to wait for somebody to die.
That's what scares me.
What do you wait for why?
What what what are they waiting for?
What what is the point?
What are they in eager anticipation of?
Well, isn't it clear?
This thing really hasn't taken off.
It hasn't taken off the way they dreamed.
It hasn't taken off the way they imagined.
They want the cops to take somebody out.
They want they want a can't state like things to make it a bigger news story because they're having trouble propping it up.
That's what they mean by this.
Don't doubt me.
By the way, something related to what we were talking about yesterday.
I find this uh quite telling.
And I don't mean a harp on the subject of uh college tuition, but CNN Money.com is reporting this.
The number of colleges and universities with tuition and fees totaling more than fifty thousand dollars for a single year rose to a hundred and twenty-three for the twenty eleven-2012 year.
That's up from one hundred institutions at that price level in the previous year.
So twenty-three new colleges where it costs fifty grand minimum for a single year.
Now they point out in the story that this is more than the average United States salary.
Do you know that if you earn $50,000 a year or more, you are in the upper 10% of wage earners in America?
I love telling people that statistic.
They don't believe it.
And it sort of puts this do you know what it takes to be in a top one percent?
Take a stab.
What is it?
Here's the here the top 10%, 50,000 a year or more, you are in the top 10% of wage earners.
Take a stab at the f at the at the floor.
The minimum income that qualifies you to be in the top one percent.
Brian, what do you think of his close.
He's a 500,000.
It's 343,000.
If you make $343,000 a year, you are in the top 1%.
Now, I know I can hear members of the new Castrati, Mr. Lombaugh, Mr. Lombo, that is just silly.
That's just crazy.
Everybody knows that the top one percent is a millionaires and a billionaire than a fourth of five.
No, no, no, no.
The top one percent starts at 343,000.
There aren't that many people in it.
This is the whole point.
Those of us who uh uh oppose everything Obama's talking about, oppose everything these these these Wall Street protesters, this one percent myth uh is is that it's all millionaires and billionaires, and that there's tons of them, and that the income gap uh is widening.
That may well be, but it's not because of capitalism, it's not because of the unfairness of anything, it's because of government.
It's because the Democrat Party's created so many dependent helpless people who do not know, and some of them don't care about being upwardly mobile.
Opportunities are still there, even with this guy running running the show.
So you stop and think about that.
There are 123 institutions of higher learning where it costs more than the average American salary, annual salary to uh to attend the place.
Herman Cain, by the way, continues to do well in the polls, several hit pieces on him and his staff are out this morning from the New York Times as Kane promotes management skills, ex-aides tell of chaos.
The article goes on to say Herman Cain's presidential campaign has generated much promise, but it may have undermined itself with questionable decisions in a series of missteps.
And there's also this love note from the AP, Top Kane aid has checkered past.
The AP goes on to say, meet Mark Block.
Cain's unorthodox campaign manager.
Perhaps no one is more responsible for the Georgia businessman's meteoric rise than Block, a Republican strategist and Tea Party leader who's left a trail of questionable campaign work behind him.
You would think, folks, that the free press, a free press, would be embarrassed doing the regime's work for them like this day in and day out, but we don't have a free press.
Where has there been any reporting of anything like this ever about Obama or his campaign or people involved?
So trying to take Herman Cain out now, the Washington Post is still assaulting Marco Rubio.
And I'll tell you why.
Tell you why.
They are deathly afraid.
Don't believe.
In fact, if you're if your instincts are telling you, because that's we've got the sound bites coming up.
The media is having an orgasm over this two and a half percent growth rate.
The economy's back.
All right.
In fact, here, grab sound by four.
This is Stephanopoulos.
This is last night.
ABC's world news tonight.
All day today they were hard to miss.
Perhaps because we hope for them so much.
Signs of life in our economy, starting with the stock market on a tear up three hundred and forty points today.
October is now on track to be the single best month in twenty five years.
Twenty five years.
We learned today that the American economy grew faster than expected over the summer.
Not roaring yet, but a growth spurt that has tamped down fears of a second recession.
Oh, yeah, two and a half percent.
They're excited as hell.
That means it's okay for Obama.
It means nothing of the sort.
Obama's not trending upward.
Don't believe anybody who tells you he is.
But do believe this.
Stock market, 340 points.
Stock market is way ahead.
People with skin in the game are way ahead.
The stock market is already reacting to the very real possibility Obama will not win a second term.
That's why the market is up, and we will be back.
Don't go away.
And we're back.
Hill Rush Both serving humanity.
It's open line Friday.
James Petacucas.
We cite James Pethacucas often.
Last I knew he was uh blogging and posting at Reuters.
Uh, and he's been at a number of other places.
Now the drive-by's, and you just heard Stephanopoulos barely able to contain himself in his underwear.
Going on and on and on.
Oh, the economy.
Oh my God, 340 points, Wall Street.
Wow.
Best month in 25 years.
25 years, Stephanopoulos said.
Hopping up and down in his little anchor chair.
And we learned today the American economy grew faster than expected over the summer.
Uh uh uh uh.
James Pathicukis, the Obama boom.
Disposable income adjusted for inflation fell 0.1% in September after being down minus 0.3% in July and minus 0.4% in August.
Disposable income, meaning that's most people's r uh uh reality.
How much money do you have to spend after you've paid the bills?
And it's not increasing.
So they can sit out there and lie to themselves and fool themselves all day long with a two and a half percent growth rate, and they can tell them's a stock market since when do they care about that anyway?
I mean, they're organized against Wall Street, the very people who are pushing the or the Occupy Wall Street protesters, the very people hoping for a Kent State moment.
The very people hoping for violence, the very people hoping that some hell breaks loose down there.
Stephanopoulos and the left now talking to us about the stock market being up 340 points, how great that is.
Oh, wait, maybe they're being all enthusiastic about it to tick off the Occupy Wall Street protesters, so they'll start blowing up bank buildings like they were doing in the 60s.
Well, I talked to some people who um whose life is the market.
And the um there's a there's a uh uh wouldn't call it conventional wisdom, but there's a popular opinion that the market is actually reacting to uh uh long-term view that Obama's not gonna be re-elected, and that the Democrats are gonna lose the Senate.
I think both those things are entirely possible.
I absolutely do.
I just I'll take it.
You just wish for a stronger conservative leadership in uh, you know, on Capitol Hill, but regardless, uh folks, you you're gonna have to have a really tough backbone from now on, the next 12 months, 13 months, because any news like what we had is two and a half percent growth rate.
That's we're back.
I'm gonna tell you what it's gonna be.
See, it was worse than uh we knew when Obama was inaugurated, and it's taking longer for his policies to work than anybody knew.
And they're finally starting to work.
Look at it all now.
Stock market going through the roof, um, GDP up two and a half percent.
Uh it took longer than any of us knew, but we can't afford to start changing horses.
Now we can't change horses in the middle stream.
We've this and the pressure is going, and then you're you're you're gonna see uh Obama approval numbers start inching up, and you might see unemployment come down.
I'm still waiting for the government to report a below nine percent unemployment figure.
And if that happens, and even if the below nine percent numbers eight point nine percent, forget the point nine.
It'll be the eight that they focus on.
They can't wait for it.
They're setting it up, but they are all lying to themselves.
Or better stated, they are fooling themselves.
Here's another example.
Last night, ABC's World News tonight.
They have a reporter there, a correspondent by the name of Dan Harris.
Here is a portion of his report about the economy.
The American economy grew at a 2.5% rate from July to September.
Before today, the American economy was on an unsettling roller coaster ride.
But today the roller coaster appeared to be heading back uphill.
So we're not going to solve the massive unemployment problem right now, but we are heading in the right direction.
We are absolutely heading in the right direction.
So why are economists optimistic about jobs?
Because as consumer spending picks up, companies have to hire more people to meet that demand, and that creates a virtuous cycle of more employment and more spending and more employment and more spending.
Could be back at normal levels of unemployment in three to four years.
There oh, really, you see how this is now starting to manifest itself.
But note.
Yeah, yeah, this is the ABC reporter.
So why are economists optimistic about jobs?
Well, because his consumer spending picks up.
Where's that happened?
I didn't think so.
As consumer spending picks up, companies have to hire more people to meet that demand, and that creates a virtuous cycle.
More employment and more spending and more employment and more you mean this all happens in the private sector.
Mean this is not happening because of stimulus?
This is not happening because of Obama nomics?
This happening because of what's going on in the private sector?
Does this guy realize how he's just screwed up royally?
And if if even if none of it's true, they say we we could be back normal levels, unemployment three to four years.
Folks, we're gonna have to have job creation at a hundred and fifty thousand a month for four years just to get down to eight or seven percent.
We're nowhere near getting back down to the four point seven or five percent that we had just three years ago before Obama assumed office.
That's a good point.
How many times is this now that we've turned the corner?
How many times is this that we're finally back from the brink?
About twenty times Cliff in uh Castleton, North Dakota.
We'll start with you on open line Friday today, sir.
Hello.
Hey, Ross I called because I think you're uh you and uh the pals in the right wing media are really giving Occupy Wall Street a bad name.
I mean a bad rap.
You're not being fair.
They keep being cast as violent.
And you know, I gotta tell you, I haven't seen a single gun at those rallies.
And at the Tea Party rallies, I saw people carrying guns at anti-health care things.
These guys didn't have to be.
Oh, come on.
I don't have the patience for this.
I really don't.
I don't have the There wasn't a one gun fired at a Tea Party rally.
There hasn't been any violence at a Tea Party rally.
We did have a guy beat up or whatever out in Oakland.
There is violence.
I'm not hoping for violence, and I'm not talking about it.
I didn't even mention the Oakland Violent Act until you just called here and mentioned this.
You people so jealous of the Tea Party.
That's the only thing about this that uh that amuses me.
There's a uh there's a New York Post editorial today about violence.
They occupy Wall Street.
Now I haven't read it yet.
I've got to go get it somewhere, but it's uh the the the the there is literally no comparison.
In fact, Richmond, Virginia, a Virginia Tea Party group, is demanding a refund of about $8,000 from the city of Richmond, claiming it was unfairly charged for rallies while the Occupy protesters have used the same space for several weeks for free.
The political organization sending the city an invoice for charges incurred for three rallies held in Kanawa Pala Plaza over the past three years.
The Occupy protesters have been camped in the in that plaza since October 15th.
So the Tea Partiers play by the rules.
They don't make any messes.
They clean up whatever messes.
Tea Party people carrying guns around.
I'm sorry, I haven't the patience for this.
Try it somewhere else.
We'll be back.
Don't go away.
We are back.
Rush Limbaugh.
I have my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair.
On open line Friday, that last caller is a blogger.
He's a seminar blogger.
He calls radio talk shows and writes about his experiences.
I recognize the voice.
He gets through here all the time.
And I just, I have I have no patience for these for these clowns.
They know that open line Friday is an opportunity to take a contrary, or they think it's that we take people that disagree with me all day, every day during the week.
Friday is when they seek their, I think their best opportunity to get through, but they're absurd.
They're ridiculous.
Make these outrageous claims, then get a reaction posted on their blogs.
Anyway, here's Chuck Todd, F. Chuck Todd on the Daily Rundown today on MSNBC on uh uh.
Wait a minute.
Oh, he had a guest from CNBC on.
Andrew Ross uh Ross Sorkin and uh F. Chuck, he's all excited too about the economy, what it might mean.
I've got to have the best October in decades.
Does that mean anything for the U.S. economy?
Well, the good news is it means that we're not going into another wieman-like moment, and I think the market clearly surged yesterday off of this European deal.
However, today we're having a little bit of a hangover.
Uh markets opening up uh, well, it's almost flat, a little down, and that's really a function of the fact that people are now digesting what's happened in Europe, and they're saying there might be some questions about how this deal all gets done.
So I think we're we're not out of the woods yet.
Damn!
Damn it!
F Chuck unhappy, not out of the woods yet.
His question.
We're gonna have the best October in decades.
Does that mean anything for the U.S. economy?
No, F. Chuck.
They're all focusing on that stock market being up 340 points.
And remember, remember, this is the same bunch that wants all these Wall Street people in jail.
Stock market goes up 340 points.
Who do you who do you think benefits?
They're not thinking so much shareholders, they're thinking the traders.
They're thinking the bankers.
And they're all excited.
They're so excited, they're so desirous.
The economy pop back so it can make Obama look good that they'll shelve for a moment the very idea that they are ticked off.
That it's the Wall Street people that are benefiting.
I mentioned a New York Post column.
It's written by a guy named Ed Mullins.
Ed Mullins is president of the 1200-member New York City Sergeants Benevolent Association.
He is not a union guy.
As the president of the New York City Sergeant's Benevolent Association, I understand and respect the concepts of free speech and assembly.
Contrary to what many people believe, the Occupy Wall Street protesters have been given a wide berth over the last few weeks, which has enabled them to take their movement on the road to other cities.
What's gone mostly unreported is the number of uniformed NYPD members who have been injured while trying to maintain order at these demonstrations.
To date, at least 20 officers have been hurt during flare-ups with protesters whose actions are becoming increasingly hostile and aggressive, and this has never been reported at a tea party event.
It's never happened at a tea party event.
The cops don't get attacked at Tea Party events.
Well publicized confrontations between police officers in Oakland and elsewhere seem to have emboldened their New York brethren in recent days, resulting in the SBA publicly declaring its intention to personally sue any protesters who injure New York PD sergeants.
So the New York PD sergeant, not a union group, is pledging lawsuits against the protesters over their injuries.
What Started out as a protest against corporate greed has turned into police bashing of the highest order, which is being done both literally and figuratively.
NYPD officers have been working around the clock to maintain peace.
The last thing any of us want is to be in the line of fire, but we take seriously our oath to uphold the law.
We're trained to be tolerant of verbal assaults, but we are not expected to engage in street fights with professional agitators or stand idly by as we're pelted with bottles, rocks, or other debris.
For that reason, I ordered our attorneys to prepare to personally sue any protester responsible for injuring an NYPD sergeant.
I fully appreciate the rights of Americans to protest, what they perceive to be inequities, but they have no right to disrupt the lives of the residents, workers, and business people in lower Manhattan.
The brunt of the scorn they feel for corporate America is instead being felt by ordinary people who want to go about their lives in relative peace.
So story goes on.
Last line is this I assure anybody who dares to attack an NYPD sergeant that the long arm of the law will extend far beyond the criminal justice system as we will do whatever it takes in seeking civil redress.
Now, you phony baloney plastic manana, good time rock and roller leftist.
You can sit out there in your dreamland all day long.
But there was never ever anything like this written about Tea Party protests or protesters.
And it illustrates an indefensible intellectual position to have to try to draw such an analogy.
Try it somewhere else.
You're not going to get away with it here.
Police in Queens have arrested a 15-year-old suspect, accusing him of raping.
Stick with me on this now.
Two women, a 15-year-old in Queens, arrested, accused of trying to rape two women.
He's been charged with assault, attempted rape, and other crimes could face up to eight years.
Police say the two attacks are part of a larger pattern of assaults that began in September, a key point that I will return to in mere moments.
In Fayetteville, North Carolina, another 15-year-old student facing charges of attempted first degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
An eighteen-year-old suspect is also being held.
According to Cumberland County Sheriff Earl Moose Butler, surveillance video helped authorities track down the suspects who were seen carrying a rifle inside Cape Fear Haskell.
The victim, a fifteen-year-old girl, is in stable condition after being shot in the neck.
Now I said it was key that the attempted attack started in September.
And here's why.
In early September, Obama appeared before a joint session of Congress, demanding that they pass his so-called "jobs bill" immediately.
Congress read it.
They realized it was a tax bill, not a jobs bill, and they gave it a thumbs down.
Since then, the vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, has been running around the country warning that murder and rape would increase if Republicans did not pass the President's Jobs Bill.
Now, many of us just assume that Vice President Bite Me was being Joe again.
Just a jackass.
That's the defense the left always mounts for.
It's just Joe.
You've heard him.
He's run around Flint, Michigan.
He's challenged human events reporters.
I'm telling you, guy, what I said was the Republicans don't pass that bill.
There's going to be more rapes, and there's going to be more holdups.
There's going to be more crime in general.
Okay.
Cool.
Now we have kids.
Fifteen year olds in Democrat strongholds attempting to rape and murder their fellow citizens.
So the question that must be asked.
What did Joe Biden know?
And when did he know it?
According to the Hill dot com in a poll in the Kaiser Family Foundation from the Kaiser Family Foundation, health care law's popularity hits a new low.
This is on the heels of a story yesterday for the Washington Times, which said that support for repealing it had dimmed.