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Oct. 28, 2011 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:21
October 28, 2011, Friday, Hour #2
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The day everybody waits for T G IOF.
IOLF.
Thank God it's open line Friday.
Live from the Southern Command in Sunny South Florida.
It's open line Friday.
The views expressed by the host on this program make more sense than anything anybody else out there happens to be saying.
Because the views expressed by the host on this program are rooted in a daily relentless, unstoppable pursuit of the truth.
Great to have you with us, folks.
Open line Friday.
Whatever you want to talk about, fine and dandy.
Telephone number is 800 28282.
The email address L Rushbow at EIB net.com.
Just this afternoon on the Fox Business Channel, Fox Business Network.
They talked to Herman Cain.
They were on Cain's bus down in Talladega, Alabama.
And one of the Fox correspondents, a guy named Barnes, said the last presidential candidate to come to Talladega was former Alabama Governor George Wallace, a segregationist.
I remember being on the bus in Atlanta, riding as a young teenager, where I would see the sign at the front of the bus that said, White seat from front, colored seat from rear.
And I had to sit in the back of the bus because of the greatness of America.
And the fact that we have this ability to change, that's one of the things that has made us great.
And today, I don't have to sit in the back of the bus.
I own the bus.
And my pictures on the outside.
That's the greatness of America.
And I'm running for president of the United States of America.
Doesn't get any better than that.
Herman Cain, who admits that he was around when everybody was down for the struggle.
He remembers having to go to the back of the bus.
Now he owns the bus.
And this kind of optimism is why Herman Cain's not fading away.
He's the latest non-Romney.
There have been many non-Romnys, and they have popped up, they have shot up in the polls, and then they've lost ground.
Herman Cain hasn't yet.
He's still up there.
And a lot of people.
I've got some friends who want to do fundraisers for the guy.
This support for Herman Cain is real.
And a lot of these people that I know who want to do business fundraisers for Herman Cain are business people, as well as uh being oriented toward politics.
So there's there's something happening here.
Uh it's uh many, many facets to this campaign.
Uh you've got Rick Perry now saying that you know I'm not sure that I'm gonna be in these debates anymore.
I mean, that this next debate may be my last one.
And who can blame him?
He doesn't do well in these debates.
And these debates really aren't debates.
Who is it, Newt and Kane are gonna do a uh private Lincoln Douglas kind of debate.
You know what ticket prices for that thing have reached up.
Thousand dollars.
200, $1,000 pay-per-view, 200 bucks if you want to be in the hall for a Lincoln Douglas style debate between uh Newt and uh and Herman Cain.
So the um dynamic is is is changing.
And nine candidates on the stage with 30 seconds here or a minute there.
You really don't have debates.
You have glorified press conferences with the moderators choosing who gets what questions and how much time to respond and uh and all of that.
Some people do well in formats like that and others don't.
So Perry, and some some people might say, but Rush, it's a mistake for Perry to drop out.
Folks, it really isn't.
I remember when I was um uh a DJ, struggling young DJ long ago in my career.
One of the radio stations I worked at was in Pittsburgh, and the program director decided that the number one song in the market, we weren't gonna play it.
He didn't like it.
He thought it was culturally degenerative.
This is in the 70s.
So he says, we're not gonna play it.
And all of us jocks said, What do you mean you're not gonna play it?
The competition's playing, they're gonna kill us.
He said, Nobody'll know.
You can't be hurt by a song you don't play.
Meaning people won't tune out of a song they don't play.
There's a uh a show business adage that if you don't do it, it can't flop.
So if Perry doesn't do a debate, he can't flop in one.
And that's the theory.
You you take a measure of, okay, what's the upside, what's the downside?
And if if a particular format's not good for somebody by not doing it, you can't flop.
You do run the risk of the news being it doesn't have the guts to do it, or whatever the criticism might be, but you are limiting the damage.
You don't flop, it's something you don't do.
You but this is all oriented toward getting the debate, getting the nomination.
Well, I uh these I think what Perry's talking about is particular debates like this where you had nine people up there.
Uh one-on-one debates that go for an hour and a half, even if they are the staged TV kind with the League of Women Voters format, that is a different ball of wax.
It is uh it is a different animal.
So that's Perry's decision.
Kane and Nude have said to hell with it in their own way.
They're going to have their own little private two-man debate and charging big bucks for it.
And I like this because in both cases, it is a rejection of the conventional wisdom.
It's a rejection of the conventional wisdom saying this is how we do things.
This is how we elect a president.
We have nine candidates on a stage, and we call it a debate.
Which is what which is fine.
I'm not being critical of that.
That's what it is.
These guys have decided their own way they don't want to be part of it.
Now it'll play that way, but if they don't play to their strengths, or if these formats don't play to their strengths, don't do it.
And Perry's obvious operating philosophy is if he doesn't do it, he can't flop.
And if you stop and think about it, it makes perfect sense.
I mean, everybody's talking about after each debate how it just didn't quite get there.
It just looks like he's struggling for words.
Whatever the criticism is.
And there's also part and parcel of the theory is that debates are by no means the only thing that contribute to somebody's winning an election or a primary.
And they aren't.
They can do more damage than they can do good, is the bottom line.
You can ace debate after debate after debate.
It is said that Romney does.
But look, 70% of Republicans still say, after Romney's acing all these debates, that they prefer somebody else.
And the non-Romney flavor of the moment happens to be Hermann Cain.
Who, by the way, interesting interestingly, Obama wants to move back to the back of the bus.
I mean, that's an obvious conclusion.
One could draw.
Yeah, the phrase is what's cut won't flop.
And it's true, you're editing a television show or a movie, and you're putting the final product together and you cut something out.
Well, we're going to cut that because that can't flop.
It's actually what what this stems from.
If you read any of the philosophy of the great artists, almost all of them will tell you that what makes great art is what they take out of it, not what is added to it.
Whether they're trying to be complex or simplistic, it's still what they take out.
And it has also the root, brevity is the soul of wit.
All of this stuff, uh, all of these different philosophies are tied together.
And they basically say, play to your strengths and avoid as best you can your weaknesses.
And that's what people here are deciding to do rather than to continue to butt their heads against a wall that uh is immovable.
Mm-hmm.
Is the uh question being asked by the official program observer is isn't being articulate uh a primary qualification for the job.
Yeah, uh the undeniable.
So if you're not articulate in a particular format, get out of it.
So if you how can you be hurt if you're not articulate, if you don't go anywhere where you are unarticulate or inarticulate.
That's that's the theory.
Now the other side of it is the news is out that Perry is leaving the debates.
And of course, what will be the public relations aspect of that, and what will his opponents say?
Oh, Rick Perry can't handle it.
He's quitting, it can't handle the pressure, admitting he doesn't do whatever they say about it.
Hey, it's the big leagues.
Uh I don't know how articulate Eisenhower was.
You you you talk about, you know, Eisenhower is thought of as a great president.
He really is.
But Eisenhower fits the mold of what I'm talking about.
Eisenhower didn't do anything.
Eisenhower comes out of World War II.
What did he learn in World War II?
Your enemies, you shoot them.
Okay, so he's elected president.
He figures out, somebody tells him you can't shoot Congress.
He said, okay, fine.
And he goes and plays golf.
And he becomes a member to Augusta National, and he joins a couple clubs out in Palm Springs, and he's on the golf course all the time.
And a few other places.
But I mean, he's basically he didn't do all that much.
And he was considered a great yeah, it was well, he was it was uh somewhat pre-TV, yeah, but at the same time, well, we were also in a post-war boom.
And he didn't do anything.
He didn't mess it up.
Just let things go.
Let things happen.
Unlike the meddling that we've got every day from this bunch who can't leave well enough alone.
Open line Friday, your calls are coming up when we come back from this obscene profit timeout.
Quick reminder here before we go to the uh the phone, support for Obamacare has hit its lowest point since the law passed in March of 2010, according to a new monthly poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
After months of split support for the law, 51% of respondents had an unfavorable view.
Only 34% approve of Obamacare.
Now, just yesterday, the Washington Times had very dispiriting column about the uh uh opposition to Obamacare dimming.
Now that, to be fair, was opposition in Washington among elected Republicans, that they had done everything they could.
They can't force it because they don't have the votes, they don't have a number of uh number enough votes to override an Obama veto, and they sent their repeal bill up and didn't have done that.
I'm glad they actually wrote the piece uh because I think it's uh helpful for all of you to know that the effort or the support for repealing Obamacare is dimming somewhat.
And remember now, two of the reasons.
Well, you know, Rush, there's a couple things in Obamacare that we think our voters really like, keeping the kids on the policy till uh they're 26 and and uh preconditions, uh pre-existing conditions, we think people there's there's a uh uh shall we say a lessening of intensity, but not among the voters.
Do not believe that there is a falling off of intensity, either to get rid of Obama next election or to get rid of Obamacare.
In fact, it's just the opposite.
It's ratcheting up people have had it.
You don't see it covered in the media.
Right now you're looking at all this wonderful orgasmic news about the economy coming back, but don't doubt me.
The numbers of people fed up with what's happening to this country and the intensity that they feel about it increasing.
The all the polling data on on uh uh passion to vote.
Republicans cream the Democrats in that category.
Now to the phones, as promised.
Open line Friday, Highland, Indiana.
Hello, Lee, great to have you with us.
Hi, Rush.
I love, love, love you.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
Okay.
When you said today that you didn't feel like you were quite on your game uh this last month, I suddenly realized that I don't think you have been either, but my theory is that something has to give.
And when you are happy in your personal life and your wife needs you, I think you can either be the most fabulous husband, the most fabulous radio host, but sometimes you can't be both.
Really?
That's that's your take on this.
It is, and I I've been with you for 18 years.
See, I told you, Sterling, she says she you you said it, Lee.
You said it.
I have not been at the top of my game.
You said it.
I haven't.
And I thought it was now wait a minute.
When what do you mean?
I'm not I'm not arguing with you.
When you say I haven't been at the top of my game, what do you mean?
I'll tell you exactly.
Okay, here's the here's the example.
I have rushed 24-7.
So when I listen to you, I run my errand, and if I miss the first thirty minutes of our two, I come home and I listen to it while I'm cooking dinner.
And I have noticed that sometimes I don't do it.
And I thought, well, I'm just busy, I want to see something else on TV or whatever.
I used to never miss anything.
I thought I was just kind of losing interest, and when you said that today, I thought, you know what?
Maybe it is him.
Maybe you were you were blaming yourself.
Yeah.
You were blaming yourself for not listening to the program.
And and and now you are eager to be able to blame me for it.
But I'm not, because you know what?
I love you so much.
I am so happy you're happy.
I don't like it.
I mean, I love Mark Stein, you know, or the host, but um I don't always listen to the whole show when it's another host, but I want you to be a fabulous husband first.
Oh, okay, got it.
Well, interesting thoughts.
Do you consider let me ask you this, Lee, before we wrap it up here.
Do you consider yourself to have been at the top of your game on this call?
No, because I'm so nervous.
And you know what?
I've listened for 18 years, and here I am calling about your personal life.
How funny is that?
Well, I wasn't talking about my personal life.
You are assuming I was talking about my personal life.
Exactly.
No, that's my theory.
I I don't know if you think that.
That's what I think because I have listened to you for so many years, and I'm also married to a workaholic.
And when I need something, when I demand my husband's time and attention, that's what he has to do, and that's what you have to do.
Because I love you enough that I want your wife to be the most important thing in your life.
Because she's gonna be there past the radio shows.
Right.
Uh all right.
Well, look, Lee, I appreciate this.
Uh stuff fascinates me.
Find out how people think, how they um react to this, how they react to things that I say.
Who's next?
Andy uh on the highways of Ohio.
Welcome to Open Line Friday.
Great to have you here.
Uh, thank you, Rush.
Good afternoon.
Uh I've got a couple of quick comments about the this uh economies and the unemployment.
Of course, the economy's gonna get better.
Of course, the employment rate is going to go up because it's the fourth quarter.
I mean, look at the fourth quarter.
You've got Halloween, you have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's.
It's it always goes up.
It's it's kind of a cyclic thing.
Every year.
Wait until January, February, and you know, let it roll around to where they dump all these jobs from the seasonal and you're you're you're you're talking about temporary seasonal jobs.
Correct and uh and and hires.
Yeah, but it's not a good idea.
I just yeah, but but here's the here's the thing.
I just I like to have people prepared.
Like to have your s your spine stealed.
And that distinction is not going to be made by the state controlled media.
That's not even gonna that's that that's not even gonna be referenced.
It's gonna be the economy's back.
It took longer than we thought, but Obama's policies are working.
That's what's coming.
It's not going to be true, but that's what's coming.
Open line Friday, Il Rushbo, have my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair, a man, a legend, a way of life.
This is Gordon in Great Falls, Montana.
Great to have you on the program.
Hello.
Hey, Rush, how are you doing?
Very well, sir.
Thank you.
Hey, look, I was reading an article.
You mentioned uh an article at the Heritage Foundation about the flat tax over in uh Russia.
Why haven't we looked at this?
I'm not we've looked at it in the past, and um I know, but talking about the uh GOP candidates, you know, Herman Cain and also uh Rick Perry coming out with his flat tax.
Why haven't we looked at his plan, you know, what he's done over there, uh what Russia has done over over in their country, and why haven't we looked at it a little bit closer?
Why haven't we looked at Russia's flat tax plan?
Yeah.
I don't know.
I don't even know what it is.
Well, they started the the plan that they implemented was uh Russian uh Russian uh guessed then the Russian president uh Putin, but they put in a uh I think it was a thirteen percent flat tax.
Um why why should we look at theirs when we've got a couple candidates proposing their own?
We've got the fair tax, we've got the flat tax.
Um we've got Perry's got his version of it.
What what do you like about the um the Russian tax?
Not necessarily what I like about it, but why don't we just take a look at what they're doing and then see what how it works and then see what we're too busy looking at what the ChICOMs are doing.
That's who Obama wants to emulate.
Well, I would certainly I was certainly hoping that one of the candidates will maybe mention and no one's ever mentioned it, you know, but what they're doing, but uh there's at least there's one country there that's got a flat tax that we can look at, and I think other countries after uh Russia started their flat tax.
I think other countries have followed pursuit in that as well.
Well, I do remember the heritage uh uh uh story on the Russian I remember it's it's a long time ago.
I remember the story, something about their tax and their economy was uh or the revenue generated by it was uh at an all-time high.
I think you know, I I I can't tell you why the Republicans don't do or do do things.
I'm not one of them.
I can I can tell you why Obama's not interested in it, and I can say well the Democrats aren't interested in it, and that is they're not interested in in in things that generate revenue.
The Democrats they don't care about deficits.
They don't care about raise.
I mean, they as as a talking point, they will they will say, well, if we're gonna cut that tax over there, we have to pay for it somewhere else.
They do not want to lose any revenue, but they're not concerned about raising it.
That's not their purpose for the tax code.
Their purpose, the tax code is growing government and uh and usurping individual liberty and and and freedom.
Now, as to why the Republicans don't incorporate the Russian plan, I don't know.
I haven't the slightest idea.
Jordan in Daytona Beach, welcome to the EIB network.
Hello.
Hey, Russ, it's great to speak with you today.
Thank you very much.
My comment for you is um we shouldn't be letting the left define greed as the people who use superior talents and abilities to achieve wealth.
Instead, we should turn it around and define greed as being the people who vote for politicians based on the sole principle of who is going to give them the most money out of someone else's paycheck.
Yeah, this is a good point.
The greed, you know, I hear politicians talking about it.
The greed in this country resides in two places.
Washington, D.C. And, of course, you're right, maybe three places.
The greed of the people who expect to be given things from other people.
But then, greedy academics, look at these people.
Look at how they benefit from rising tuition and all of the other added finances that the institutions of higher learning get.
get.
Um the greed is everywhere and and it they they are attempting to say that people who want to keep more of what they earn is greed and that couldn't be further from the truth.
But again, the reality of definitions is not is not their point.
This is character assassination uh and basically other attempts here to denigrate conservatives and republicans because it's worked in the past.
The media picks it up and runs with it, and so the greedy are now considered to be the people who work and who are achieving and who want to keep what they earn.
The greedy are not those who want to take it from them.
And you're right, it's just the exact opposite.
Uh Mary in Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, open line Friday.
You're next.
Hello.
Hi, Russ.
Thanks for taking my call.
You bet.
My husband and I are a small business, and in 2008, the year Obama got elected, first quarter unemployment, I paid 2800.
In 2011, first quarter, based upon the same amount of payroll, I'm paying over 14,000.
Plus in I got hit with a nine hundred and thirty-eight dollars assessment based on interest owing to the federal government that Wisconsin had to pay.
Uh make sure I understand this.
Before Obama was elected, your unemployment insurance payment was twenty eight hundred dollars, and now it's over fourteen thousand.
Is this a year or a month?
Um quarter.
A quarter.
Yes.
So you're uh the amount you pay for unemployment compensation for your employees if they need it is fourteen thousand dollars a quarter.
Correct.
Wow.
Yes.
And then I have had three people in the past year turn down jobs saying that I was not offering them enough money to get off of unemployment.
People forget that employers pay unemployment.
We pay based on payroll taxes to the state level.
Well, they don't think that.
They think Obama's paying for it.
They think the federal government's paying unemployment and for 99 weeks.
And you're exactly right.
Unemployment is is uh is so high now that there are people to whom it's it's it's a much better deal to stay on unemployment than to go get a job.
Also, Rush, I wanted to point out a lot of schools encourage kids to take out student loans, quote, it helps their credit rating.
Yeah.
And they encourage them to do it.
They don't sit back and say, why don't you get a job going to school?
They now require unpaid internships, community service before you can get your graduation, and they encourage them not to work.
That's right.
Go ahead and get a loan, establish your credit rating, uh, go to school.
That guarantees that the money you borrow we will get.
It's a racket.
And Rush, thank you so much for taking my call.
You are welcome.
You have a good day.
You do the same.
Here's another Mary from Bethany, West Virginia.
Hi, and welcome to the program.
Hi.
You there?
I'm here.
Okay, don't keep.
Hey, just called to say, you know what, you make my day.
Well, thank you.
Thank you very much.
I have to say what my husband listened to you for years, and to tell you the truth, I couldn't stand you.
Okay.
Why?
Why not?
Because you sounded so arrogant.
Well, what do you mean arrogant?
You mean I was just so I sounded sure of myself.
I have one hand tied behind my back.
Half my brain tied behind my back, just to make it fair.
Yeah.
Well, your statements, and then and then eventually, as we're listening, I'm like, oh, okay.
And then I would chuckle.
And no matter how day how bad my day might be, you always make a statement that I have to smile or laugh at that.
Well, thank you very I appreciate that.
I really do.
You're welcome.
You have a good day.
Okay, you do the same.
Thank that's Mary from Bethany, West Virginia.
We've got a brief timeout.
We'll be back and continue after this.
Well, the first linebacker is uh uh first lady is uh on the campaign trail.
Where was she?
It's uh from a website White House dossier.
In the chilling appraisal of President Obama's Republican opposition, the first linebacker, Ms. I did it again.
A First Lady, Michelle Obama Thursday suggested a Republican victory in the twenty twelve presidential race would result in limits on freedom of speech and religion.
She was speaking at a fundraiser at a private residence in Tampa, and she noted the power of the president to appoint members of the Supreme Court, and she indicated that a Republican would select justices who would lack basic First Amendment rights, saying that's what's at stake in this election.
And as a White House transcript, here's what she said.
Let's not forget about what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices.
And for the first time in history, our daughters and our sons watched three women take their seats on the nation's highest court.
But more importantly, let's not forget the impact those decisions will have on our lives for decades to come on our privacy and security, on whether we can speak freely, worship openly, and love whomever we choose.
That's what's at stake here.
This is what you get when you can't run on your husband's economic record.
This is what happens when you can't run on your husband's achievements because there aren't any.
This is what you get.
Republicans want dirty air.
Republicans want dirty water.
Republicans want fewer people alive.
And now Republicans don't want you to be able to speak, and the Republicans don't want to you to be able to practice your religion.
This is what they have.
This is what they're worth.
This is all they've got.
They are morally bankrupt.
This is how they have to go out and raise funds.
There is nothing, not one syllable from either Michelle Obama or Barack Obama or anybody in this campaign that's inspiring or uplifting.
They are happily presiding over and managing a country in decline.
And the only ammunition in their arsenal is these never ending lies about the Republicans want poisoned air and water, dirty air and water, nobody able to speak.
It's just it's it's breathtaking to uh to to listen to this.
That to listen to absolutely how uh morally vacant they are.
How unable they are to talk about anything positive or uplifting, including any of their own achievements, because there aren't any.
Nancy in uh Chatham, Illinois, you're next on Open Line Friday.
Hi.
Hi, Rosh.
This is such a great honor to talk to you.
I I'm so pleased.
My husband just uh carries a recording of uh your uh program each day and he carries it around with him.
And uh so that would be the podcast.
Thank you very much.
Uh well, no, we're not quite that up to speed.
He it's kind of like uh uh but you still know what it is.
Yeah, yeah, I do.
Anyway, we're retired, and I just wanted to say that that Herman Kane ad, a lot of people put it down because of the guy smoking.
I thought it was brilliant.
I have never been a smoker.
I hate secondhand smoke, but people have a right to smoke, and I think that that where he says at the end that support Herman King and we will take back America, he smokes.
There is no group of people that have lost more personal rights than smokers.
And I thought it was absolutely brilliant.
Well, it it it was on a number of levels.
People are still talking about it, number one.
Right.
But why w what is it your grievance with uh with second hand smoke?
Well, I have asthma, but if I go to a restaurant, um I always ask for the um not I did ask for the non-smoking area, and and but then my clothes come away as kind of smoky smelling, but people have a right yucky.
Yeah, well, people have a right.
Uh you know, and nowadays they're trying to ban it in your houses, your private homes, in your cars, in the park, and I think that's just gone too far.
And I think this was a statement that all smokers can relate to.
Well, it was something.
I don't know what the guy was trying to do with it, but whatever he did with it, it had it had it uh an effect, it had it had some impact.
They had to know that there was going to be shock and dismay by ending that commercial with the guy taking a puff off a cigarette.
They had to know that.
What they were trying to do is open to interpretation.
He says he's a smoker.
He likes smoking.
Boehner likes to smoke.
Obama likes to smoke.
Every smoker likes it.
Let's face it, folks, it's cool.
It looks cool.
Everything about it is cool, except the health impact of it.
But here's what I think about this.
I uh I I'm I'm amazed, because you're right, they're trying to ban it everywhere, including in the privacy of your own home.
And yet you know how many health care programs are funded with the sales tax revenue from cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products.
I have long maintained that smokers deserve our gratitude.
In fact, I think smokers, there should be somebody chosen, and a smoker should be given the highest medal that this country gives out.
Whatever it is, the medal of honor, if not that, a congressional medal of honor.
Smokers are being told horrible things about themselves.
They're being told they are rotten to the core people, they are despicable, and yet they alone practically are funding children's health care programs.
And we are raising taxes on the sale of tobacco products, and that money is targeted ostensibly for health care programs, primarily for children.
So we want them to keep smoking.
Contrary to the so-called do gooderness of the liberals who wants everybody, they say they want everybody to quit, they want everybody to be healthy, let's put less strain on the health care system, and yet how does that job with setting up health care programs that depend on the sale of tobacco products to be funded?
So smokers continue to pay these exorbitantly high prices.
They continue to suffer the abuse, the verbal abuse, the onslaught, the attack on their freedoms, and yet they continue to buy, and they continue to pay these higher taxes.
All to support uh and fund health care programs for our children, and they're still despised.
But you have to wonder about assembling programs this way.
You raise taxes, you make the cost prohibitive, claiming that you're a do-gooder, that you have compassion.
You actually want these people to quit smoking.
It's good for them, it's good for us.
Getting them off cigarettes will uh bring down health care costs, it is claimed, because there will be fewer people showing up requiring health care at a relatively early age because they have contracted a terminal disease.
We want to eliminate all that.
Right.
Yet we take the sales tax revenue from those products to fund programs like children's health.
So does the government actually want these people to quit smoking?
It doesn't look like it to me.
It's just this simple.
Ladies and gentlemen, whenever a person quits smoking, a young child suffers.
Whenever a person quits smoking, a child has to do without treatment.
That child coughs a little longer and a little harder every time somebody quits smoking.
It's a terrible thing.
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