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Dec. 22, 2011 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:54
December 22, 2011, Thursday, Hour #1
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Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
And a Merry Christmas to you.
A happy Hanukkah to our Jewish brothers and sisters.
Whatever holiday you happen to embrace here as the year comes to a close.
I'm Mark Davis from deep in the heart of I used to call it George W. Bush's Texas.
Still is.
He lives eight miles from here.
Shall we refer to it as Rick Perry's Texas now?
That would be technically true as well.
I am seed a couple of things for the governor as the presidential campaign trail swung back here to Texas last week.
I can pull the curtain back and share a couple of stories about that.
But first, let's just set the stage as follows.
The Rush Limbaugh broadcast year has come to an end, and what a remarkable one it is.
The host himself off on a well-deserved vacation.
He will resume once we all emerge from cold storage after the holidays.
So in those intervening days, this is my one day, and I'm enormously glad to spend it with you ever since March of 08 when I first got the opportunity to join the Rush Limbaugh Show bench strength.
Apparently, because my first name was Mark, that apparently a prerequisite I did not get the memo about, but a benefit from it nonetheless.
Mark Stein will be in tomorrow.
Mr. Stein, Mr. Belling, with the occasional smattering of Walter Williams, who cannot be persuaded to change his first name.
I can't imagine why.
And that it's the usual folks who all I can't speak for them except in the following way.
When Rush is away, our only wish is to continue the ability of the show to be compelling and to serve you well in this listening audience.
So I know I appreciate it personally from this vantage point here at WBAP in Dallas-Fort Worth, proud Limbaugh affiliate since 1993.
So with that, let's dive in.
What shall we do?
It's just one day during the Rush vacation, but it's the only day that you and I have together.
So I approach it with a certain ambition.
I don't want to go overly hyper on you or anything because we've talked about a lot this past year when we have shared the experience together because I am here in Texas.
I have known the governor for more than 15 years.
I would be absolutely fine if he were the nominee.
I am, however, not in any way a shill or a cheerleader.
When the governor has done things that I was not fond of, I said so.
When he was less than great on the campaign trail, I said so.
I also have a lot of good things to say about Governor Romney.
I have a lot of good things to say about Newt Gingrich.
I have a whole lot of good things to say about Rick Santorum.
It drives me crazy why he can't bust out beyond low single digits.
But maybe the good people of Iowa in the 99 counties that he has visited so tirelessly, maybe they will deliver a post-Christmas miracle to him.
I think Congresswoman Bachman has been simply superb.
And it's funny, we can spend some time.
And I suppose the fill-in guys, the one thing, here's another thing I will speak for all of us on without fear of much pushback.
We don't ever presume that you hinge, you hang yourself, hang yourself, sorry, that's vivid.
That you hang on every word.
You spend your time hanging on our words to the degree that you do with Rush.
But it's a window.
I don't know about you, but if I were driving around listening to a show, and it's a fill-in host, the first thing I would hope is that he's remotely competent.
And the second thing that I would hope is that maybe you would say things that would give me a bit of a window to his soul, a window to his brain so I could figure out if I thought the guy was a genius or an idiot or something in between.
So I don't mind spending some of this last day with tying a bow around the 2011 campaign year, telling you a little bit about what I've thought about what Governor Romney has rolled out, what Newt Gingrich has rolled out, the amazing ascendancy, and can that last?
A possible path to a Perry ascendancy, if you want one, and everybody else.
And I, of course, would welcome the same from you.
In terms of hot, fresh headlines, we, of course, have the continuing tax cut extension issue.
All the party leaders have their heels dug in.
There is a top house.
Let me give you the latest on that.
Let's talk about that to the degree that you wish.
There is a top House Republican who has suggested that Congress could extend the payroll tax cut for three months, three months as a potential compromise between the year-long extension backed by the House and the two-month measure approved by the Senate.
To Fox News just a moment ago, House Speaker Boehner's office said Thursday that the Speaker called President Obama to ask him to send his economic team to Capitol Hill to negotiate a full-year extension.
Quote, the president declined the Speaker's offer, Boehner's office said.
According to the White House, during the call, Obama, quote, reiterated to the Speaker that the only viable option currently on the table is for the House of Representatives to pass the bipartisan Senate compromise that received the support of nearly 90% of the Senate.
So who's the compromise coming from?
Michigan Republican Representative Dave Camp.
He said on CNBC today that a three-month extension could at least help employers with quarterly reports.
Eric Cantor, you might have heard him on some of the morning newscasts on your stations this morning saying, hey, we're pet friendly.
He can bring the dog up here if he wants to, referring to the president's shopping trip with the dog in Alexandria across the Potomac from Washington.
So it's unclear whether the White House or Senate Democrats will be open to a three-month measure.
Boehner pushed back on that idea when asked about it at the Republican press conference.
He didn't definitively rule it out.
And Boehner spoke shortly before Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell broke his silence on the dispute, urging Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid to appoint lawmakers, conferees, that's what they're called, conferees.
The House has theirs.
Will the Senate supply some?
Here was Mitch McConnell pressuring Harry Reid to appoint lawmakers to negotiate a compromise package with the House.
But ultimately, you know how this all comes down.
It all comes down to brinksmanship.
It all comes down to sort of the show of it all.
And so there's word now that there's some in the analyst class, the punditry class.
Karl Rove is certainly weighing in on stuff like this, essentially saying to people, give it up.
You're losing in the battle of public opinion.
There's a word, it's funny.
People stumble over a word and they discover it and cling to it, and you hear it 47 times a day.
Today and yesterday and probably tomorrow, that word is optics.
Optics.
The Republicans have, they've lost the optics of this, which is, I mean, I guess I get it.
The visual imagery, meaning this is how an issue looks.
The optics of something or how it looks to people.
And the Republicans can argue all day long and be right.
I am on the side of the House Republicans here that stick to your guns, go for the one year.
The president said he wanted one year.
We're giving you one year.
What's the stinking problem?
Well, the problem is that in so doing, that the Democrats, that President Obama, Harry Reid, and the Democrats, and quite frankly, the Republicans who saw fit to contribute to, what, an 89 to 10 vote in the Senate in favor of this two-month kick the can down the road thing?
They thought that's the only thing they could do.
The only thing they were going to get, Republicans did, apparently.
House Republicans stepped in, as they have so many times, and said, excuse me, no, that two-month thing is, no, it's crazy.
We need to settle this and settle it now with a full-year extension plan.
But the Democrats are going to use the fact that we are a short attention span nation.
And oh my heavens to Betsy, have you seen the tactics that they've adopted now?
Bringing out real people.
Oh, look out for the real people.
Americans are bracing for this financial hardship, smaller paycheck starting in January, if Congress does not break the deadlock and renew a Social Security tax cut.
Washington Post.
Martin Krutzinger, Martin Krutzinger, Martin Krutzinger, AP economics writer.
And McConnell says that he wants the House to roll on this.
So, and so I'll share some of the White House tactic of bringing people out, and the media certainly are the willing handmaidens and stenographers here, always glad to find, you know, Joe America, somebody from Main Street.
And listen, these folks exist, and so I'm not going to speak of them dismissively, but they are going to be used as pawns to point anybody who wants to doesn't want to starve Social Security anymore that it's already starved for money.
And that is what the tax cut issue is ultimately about.
This is not just a general up or down tax issue.
More tax is bad, lower tax is good.
This is money that of all the money in Washington, this actually is money where you know where it's going.
It actually does go to Social Security.
You might remember Social Security, the program that is on the brink of complete insolvency.
So starving it for more cash, that's not something we can really do.
And if we are going to keep the tax cut at the current levels, we've got to pay for it somehow.
House Republicans figured out a way to do that, and the Senate leaves town.
And the Senate leaves town.
So it is ultimately a game of perceptions.
So much of this is a game of perceptions.
And there was Karl Rove in his comments saying, Give it up.
Give it up.
You've lost the optics.
You've lost the appearance game.
You're going to get bludgeoned.
Republicans are going to get bludgeoned for seeming to be in favor of a tax increase.
I spoke with another, I'll do some Texas name-dropping.
You know, you're going to get that from me because I know these guys.
What can I tell you?
Congressman Jeb Hensling, whom you should certainly know well.
He's one of the co-chairs of the super committee.
I don't think he'll be putting that on a proud resume anytime.
It wasn't Jeb's fault.
It wasn't Jeb's fault or the Republicans' fault.
They stuck to their guns, and I'm glad they did.
I'm glad they did.
Nonetheless, I was speaking to Jeb this morning.
He's like fourth in line in the power structure of the House and the head of the Republican Conference Committee of the House Republican Conference.
And he said that we're here.
We are ready to do business.
And I asked him, I said, you know, there are tons of people, tons of people saying you've lost this in the minds of the people.
You're going to lose it.
You're going to get baseball bad to the head.
People are going to say, those Republicans are in favor of a tax increase.
And Jeb Hensling said to me that my usual instinct, this is him talking now.
He says, my usual instinct is to do what's right and not worry about the politics.
That's a little bit of an offset of something that I've often said that I want my political leaders to do.
Do the right thing and let the chips fall where they may.
Do the right thing and let the chips fall where they may.
That policy is either A, incredibly praiseworthy and something inspiring that we should all ask for in our leaders, or B, incredibly dumb and naive because you're going to get your lunch eaten from time to time.
Which is it?
You tell me.
Why don't you tell me?
As we make that one of the stories we talk about today.
1-800-282-2882.
You know the Rush Limbaugh show phone number: 1-800-282-2882.
And even when the fill-in guys are here, always go to rushlimbaugh.com.
I'm Mark Davis from WBAP Dallas-Fort Worth.
We'll come back, start taking your calls on this.
This may shock you.
You look out, Eric Holder has said something shameful.
Wow, knock me over with a feather.
Details next on the Rush Limbaugh Show.
I'm Mark Davis filling in.
Happy Thursday.
Merry Christmas, Dahlia.
Great to be here.
1-800-282-2882.
Back in a moment on the EIB Network.
It is Thursday, the 22nd of December, T-minus three days to Christmas.
Mark Davis on Rush Limbaugh Vacation Day one.
Mark Stein tomorrow, a smattering of folks next week.
And Rush is back on actual caucus day, Tuesday, January 3rd.
Wow.
It is almost hard to believe, isn't it?
We have spent, I don't know about, listen, in all the various markets where Rush airs.
Obviously, you've heard his discussion of it for really more than a year.
I don't know about you, but 2012 talk started on the show that I do here in Texas on, let me see, let me see.
I think it was, or I think it was January 21st of 2009.
We let Inauguration Day pass with the requisite respect and then began immediately to figure out how to undo the disaster that we knew would unfold.
But little did we know.
Little did we know.
Maybe that's worth some time today.
I remember, I mean, I go everywhere.
I'll be in Iowa.
I'll be in New Hampshire.
I'll be in Tampa for the Republicans, in Charlotte for the Democrats, and in Washington on January 20th, 2013, where please God let Barack Obama's successor be sworn in on that day.
And on Inauguration Day of 2009, you know, okay, he won.
There are some things that transcend politics, and the glorious pageant of self-determination is one of them.
The very process by which, without a coup and without a war, we peacefully transfer power from one party to the next.
I'm proud of that every day as an American.
I cherish it.
And I know full well that in my life, there'll be presidents I vote for and those that I don't, presidents I admire and those that I can't, those whom I politically agree with and those who I don't.
But and when Barack Obama began his adventure, his experiment with us, I thought, please let this just be like Clinton or maybe, or maybe Carter.
On his worst day, and they were many, I don't believe Jimmy Carter ever sought to change the very fabric of what America is.
He was just a bad president.
We're going to get those every once in a while.
And I will tell you, I think many of you will join me in this, marginally tongue-in-cheek.
After three years of Barack Obama, I am almost nostalgic for the comparatively innocuous years of Bill Clinton.
The more I see of Barack Obama, the more Bill Clinton looks like Churchill to me.
Now, please understand the level of sarcasm that I have with that, but she may Christmas.
Who knew?
I mean, we sort of knew.
I mean, listen, Rush knew.
I knew.
We knew that we had a guy with incredible socialist leanings who, after throwing us all these vague platitudes of hope and change, without actually telling us exactly what he meant.
He told us a good bit of what he meant.
He was a radically left-leaning presidential candidate who didn't know what he was going to do.
Well, we just, I guess, didn't know exactly.
We knew Obamacare was coming.
He campaigned on it.
The guy did us the favor of showing us his cards, and we elected him anyway.
It is for that reason, I've always said we get exactly the leadership we deserve.
It is a, it's a marketplace.
Those of us who worship at the altar of the marketplace, metaphorically speaking, should know that politically speaking, that we get exactly what we deserve.
If we vote for a guy, we get him.
The good news is there's a lot of buyer's remorse out there.
Plenty of buyer's remorse.
And the independents who helped to elevate him will now help him back to private life.
November of this coming year.
And with him will come some of the more noxious members of his administration.
I think I mean this.
I'm wrestling with this.
It doesn't ultimately matter.
But I've often said that if there is a member of the Obama administration who chaps me even worse than President Obama himself, it is the disgrace that is Attorney General Eric Holder.
And true to form, Eric Holder, once again under fire from Republicans for pulling the race card to dismiss critics of his tenure as Attorney General.
The AG cited race in explaining why a, quote, more extreme segment of his critics are going after him.
Quote, this is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him, both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we're both African American.
Really?
Really, Mr. Holder?
Has it escaped you that Republican America went absolutely gaga over a black man named Herman Kaine?
Does it escape you that if you find a hundred conservatives at random and ask them about their favorite Supreme Court justice, that a large percentage of the answers will be Clarence Thomas?
We are the ones who don't care what color you are, sir.
We do not care what color you are.
We care about your brain and your heart and your policies.
That's our problem with your boss, not his pigment.
It is what he seeks to do.
It is his agenda that has always been the problem.
A white guy with those same philosophies would earn just as much scorn.
And a black guy, a black president, a black AG, a black Supreme Court justice whose head and heart match what we want will earn our favor.
Always.
How is it that a smart guy like you doesn't get that?
Well, Attorney General Holder is smart.
He does know better.
He is hosing us.
He uses this to insulate himself against criticism and to make his critics look like racists.
One of the oldest tricks in the book.
These days, I can only pray that that trick lies on the failed ash heap of tactics.
All righty, let's do some calls.
Got a lot going on.
It's a busy day.
And here on the Rush Limbaugh show, I'm Mark Davis filling in.
1-800-282-2882.
1-800-282-2882.
Or go to rushlimbaugh.com.
Whether it's a little AG story there, payroll tax stuff, 2012 talk in general.
We've got all kinds of things we can do.
So let us collaborate on the phone lines next.
Mark Davis in for Rush on the EIB Network.
1-800-282-2882.
The merriest of Christmases to you.
Christmas is a time marker.
I mean, it has its enormous religious significance.
It has its enormous societal significance.
And it has sort of a calendar significance just as a milestone.
I mean, it seems like last Christmas was about three months ago.
I don't know what the phenomenon is.
It's probably more of an art bell thing or that the time is actually starting to run faster than the track it was once before.
But this year, it particularly seems so.
I mean, at the beginning of Almost all the way back to the beginning of this year, I had the chance to go to Washington for the installation of this Congress and the handing of the gavel from Nancy Pelosi to John Boehner.
Hmm, how's that working out for everybody?
And the answer, as I pretty well thought it would be, as Rush thought it would be, as you probably thought it would be, is a mixed bag.
I mean, it depends.
Any story of leadership, Republican leadership in the House, the Republican leadership, cross your fingers tight till they turn purple, that we hope we'll get in the Senate.
Nobody's going to do everything you want.
Hopefully, you just get the best batting average you can get in a system made up of widely divergent views and ultimately human beings.
Now, what we've got is the kind of textbook struggle that you can get when you have Republicans in the Senate doing one thing, seeming to lean one way, Republicans in the House seeming to lean another way, and everyone in the midst of all this trying to strategize and see what the best way is to gain political points.
All righty, to the phones we go.
We are in Columbus, Ohio.
Kevin, Mark Davis, filling in for Rush.
Welcome to the Rush Limbaugh Show.
How are you?
Well, thank you.
I'm doing well.
I'm always doing well until I start hearing all this, what I hear from this program daily.
And the first thing I was going to comment on was to remind you guys that Barack Obama did win the election.
So why is it that you feel that he should do everything that they want him to do Republican-wise, and then they don't give up on anything?
But then you brought that race issue in, which kind of irritated me being African-American, because I feel the same way that, yeah, this is our first black president.
But let's take care of one.
Let's work on it here.
Kevin, here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
Let's take care of the first one very shortly and then spend some time on that one because I think it's far more promising.
Because on the first one, you're absolutely right.
Elections really do have consequences.
Every Republican should know that we run the House, hooray for us, but we don't run the Senate and we don't have the White House.
We're looking to change that in 2012, but until then, it is what it is.
And there's only so much that we're going to be able to do, whether it's Obamacare or the payroll tax cut.
Part of life is realizing when you are in the majority and when you are not and strategizing accordingly.
have a very very good point there now on the notion of why why try to you know mess everything up Well, listen, if the Democrats were the lone voice in the woods and they were trying to get something that you admired done against a Republican House and a Republican president, don't you think you'd think it was kind of courageous?
Or would you be telling them, guys, give it up?
That for the good of the country, if they're moving forward as everybody claims they want, I think that that's what should come first: the good of the country, not the government.
I thoroughly agree with you.
I thoroughly agree with you, but the definition of what's good for the country varies from person to person.
Here's my definition, and maybe you'll agree with it.
I think the best thing for the country is when Republicans bring their best ideas up as energetically as they can and fight for them.
And when Democrats bring the best ideas they have to the table and fight for them energetically.
Let the winners win, let the losers lose.
Ridiculous talk of common ground is almost always a waste of time.
And just let the winners win and the losers lose based on how the field is striped and who owns which house of Congress.
Doesn't that kind of make sense?
But see, the thing is now, when you guys have President Bush, we have more Democrats trying to compromise and get some things done.
And I'm still looking for these job creators as we hear who are they?
And they've had their way for the past, I'm going to say, a good eight years and two extra years with Obama.
So why are things so bad is the way you guys put it?
During the vast majority of the Bush presidency, unemployment was a total non-problem.
Unemployment was a non-issue.
It has a problem now.
You guys are just blowing it up, have some great problem.
9% unemployment is not a problem to me.
From the time he took office until he was out of there, look at all the manufacturing jobs that we lost.
And everybody wants to go overseas and make that profit, obsee profit because of greed.
There's nothing wrong with making profit and being comfortable and living that American dream, but when it's perverted to the point where other people are suffering, there's a problem there.
30 to 60 seconds ago, you told me 9% unemployment is not a problem to you.
Do you want to stand up?
We don't have 9% unemployment.
Yeah, we do.
You're probably right.
It's probably far away.
Well, if I listen to different people from your party, some say 9, some say the real number is 11.
So I guess everything when Bush was in office, all those numbers were dead on.
But now, all of a sudden, we're playing with all these numbers.
I believe the monthly.
No, then let's agree to do this.
Let's believe the unemployment numbers that come out.
I believe the unemployment numbers that came out during the Bush years, and I believe the unemployment numbers that are coming out now.
I'm not sure if that's the right thing.
Okay, so you say that it was under 9%.
Yes, it did.
It was 9%.
It's now slightly under that, which is still, but 8.
Whatever is still way too high.
In our remaining couple of minutes, this may be the most important call I take today, and we're only 35 minutes in.
As an African American, as an African-American, what is it that makes you think that criticism of President Obama is based on his race?
There is no evidence of that whatsoever.
So what makes you think?
For one, he's been calling every name in the book.
For two, from his first day of office, you guys have conspired to get him out of there and discredit him and do all that.
For three, you like certain black folks.
Now, I'll give you that.
But look at what these certain black folks are saying.
Look at where Herman Cain says his own people are brainwashed because they don't agree with him.
Now, so you like that, of course, because he agrees with you.
So why should I like someone that feels like I'm brainwashed because I don't agree with him?
But you've just answered my question.
Conservatives love Herman Cain, maybe not so much now as we did a few months ago.
Conservatives love Clarence Thomas.
Conservatives love none of this because their ideas, their hearts, their minds agree with ours politically.
Politically.
Brainwashed also that don't agree with you.
That's telling me.
When Herman Cain talked about the brainwashing, I got to be honest with you.
If black America were 60, 40 liberals, 70, 30, 80, 20, okay, 90, 10, Kevin?
90-10?
What?
And there's a reason for that because whenever we had black folks that voted for Bush, it was an unusually high number.
What did he ever do for them?
I didn't see what he did.
He brought their taxes down.
You want to know?
I'll tell you right now.
He brought your taxes down.
He kept you safe from terrorist attacks.
Where's the love?
Okay, so where's the ball?
Where's the love for President Obama for doing the same thing?
You know what?
You know what?
I will do that.
I tell you what I'll do.
You guys don't even want to give him credit for that.
I'll tell you what.
I will give President Obama every bit of credit he deserves for maintaining the Bush policies that kept us safe.
He did not shut down Guantanamo, and I thank him.
He kept the drones flying, and I thank him.
He gave us the Afghan surge, and I thank him.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
But this is extremely important.
Since conservatives do indeed like Clarence Thomas, J.C. Watts, Herman Kane, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, there is the proof that skin color does not matter to us, does not matter to us.
It's what's in your head.
What's in your heart?
What are your policies?
I guarantee you.
Now, are there racists out there?
Of course there are.
Please, of course, there are.
But it's been forever since that was a guiding force in conservatism.
Truly, truly.
Listen, I love you, man.
Merry Christmas to you.
And I know that Rush appreciates the calls from people who listen and disagree, and I sure do too.
Thank you very, very much.
And my best, everybody, up there in Ohio State country.
All righty, back to the phones in a moment.
1-800-282-2882, RushLimbaugh.com.
The website, as you know, Mark Davis filling in for Rush from WBAP Dallas, Fort Worth.
Hope the holiday season's going great for you, and we'll be back in a moment on the EIB Network.
It is the Thursday Rush Limbaugh Show.
Mark Davis filling in from Texas.
1-800-282-2882.
That's phone number, of course.
But in this modern, multi-platform world, if you want to get a little something, something to me, you may also do so in the Miracle of Twitter.
If you want to follow my ramblings, it's at Mark Davis, M-A-R-K-D-A-V-I-S, Mark Davis.
And if you want to throw me a little something on there, I'll check during the breaks and answer stuff or address stuff because there's only X number of phone lines and only a few million people listening.
So the miracle of Twitter makes that a little easier.
Then hooray for all of us at Mark Davis, M-A-R-K-D-A-V-I-S.
But kicking it old school on the phones, let me go down I-45 to Houston and say hi to Carlos.
Welcome to the Rush Limbaugh Show.
Mark Davis filling in.
How are you, sir?
Holy background, I hit the lottery.
Actually, got on the Rush Limbaugh show.
Well, look at there.
The good news is you're on with Rush.
The bad news is it's me.
It's all right, Mark.
You're an excellent talk show host, also.
You're very kind.
Two points I want to make, and that is: Speaker Bayner shows me what a rhino president is going to be like.
They always capitulate to the Democrats.
And I got to hand it to the Democrats, the liberals.
They fight tooth and nail, whether they're right or wrong.
They fight.
They'll go to their graves fighting.
And us Republicans, we always capitulate.
What he needs to do is shut the damn Congress down, tell everybody, go home and let the chips fall where they fall and not worry about the newspapers, the reporters.
He needs to stand for principle.
And we're not going to lose the election if he does that.
If he doesn't do that, which I believe he's not going to do that, he's going to capitulate and he's going to do the three-month plan or the four-month plan.
Then people are going to start questioning: why should I elect a Republican rhino in there?
Why should I vote for Romney?
Why should I vote for Newt Gingrich?
They're rhinos.
They're going to capitulate.
Preferably, I prefer a hardcore conservative.
If I don't get one, I'm not going to vote for a rhino if they act like this.
And if the chips fall with me, Paul and we have a civil war, you know what I'm going to do in that civil war?
I'm going to become a pirate and I'm going to steal from the government and I'm going to hang on.
Stay on the planet with me.
I'm thoroughly entertained.
I can't remember a call that contained such flights of fancy intermingled with such serious analysis.
What you described is exactly what, I mean, Carl Rove said essentially the same thing: cut your losses, get out of town, shut it down, and spend the holidays pointing at the Democrats, lambasting them for having abdicated their responsibilities to pass a year-long tax cut and then just take it back up.
I think there's wisdom in that.
Doesn't it seem to you that the Republicans who are staying in town saying, hey, our conferees are here.
We're here ready to work makes it kind of a clear counterpoint, a clear juxtaposition with the Democrats and Republicans in the Senate who have left town not to return until January 23rd.
Those are sellouts.
They need to go home and enjoy the damn holidays and stand with the people.
Come to us.
I would like to see my senator out here and my congressman out here explaining to me why they didn't vote for the damn thing.
Why do we have to listen to these Sunday shows on and on how we need to negotiate?
You control the house, for God.
God's sake.
Go home.
Go home.
You have given me a great Christmas gift, my friend.
Thank you very, very much.
Don't you find somebody saying this to you every once in a while?
And I will tell you, I think you've already started to glean this from me.
And it's something I got for, here's another huge name drop.
I'm sorry.
Hey, I was there.
It's something I got last time I got to hang out with Grover Norquist.
All right, here's the deal.
Grover came to town.
It's not like I'm up in D.C. doing coffee or Grover at the Americans for Tax Reform, even though I would.
Grover came to town for a speaking engagement that I emceed in Dallas.
And he just exploded the myth so skillfully, the myth of common ground.
Let's say you're in Chicago.
Someone wants to take you to New York.
Someone else wants to take you to Los Angeles.
Where exactly is the common ground?
What is the compromise position between heading left or heading right at the intersection?
What is the compromise position between those who want more government and those who want less?
What is the compromise position between those who want more spending and those who want less?
I guess stalemate, which is why do-nothing Congress has always had an kind of a nice ring to me.
Please let me relive the last three years with Congress doing nothing.
I'd give a limb for a do-nothing Congress since January of 2009.
We wouldn't have Obamacare.
There are all kinds of things that we would not have because Congress did nothing.
And nothing is better than something when the something is bad.
Kind of think I just made a t-shirt.
Nothing is better than something when the something is bad.
Somebody run with that.
No charge.
So what Grover's point was, and it's one that I've carried with me all the time, is that this search for, I mean, except for the occasional war, and Lord knows we didn't have it in this one, Democrats and Republicans are not going to get together.
Liberals and conservatives are not going to get together and agree.
We see the world differently, and that's okay.
Not only is it okay, it's delicious.
It's the sound of free speech.
It's the sound of debate.
It's the sound of democracy.
So as I told a prior caller, to solve every, well, or to progress on every problem we have, every problem we have, let conservatives come with their best and boldest ideas and fight for them energetically.
Let the left come with its best ideas and fight for them energetically.
Someone will win.
Someone will lose.
Let the winners win with grace.
Let the losers dust themselves off to fight another day.
Boom, there you go.
Now, sometimes we in conservative land will win.
Sometimes we will lose.
If we lose and it doesn't work out so well, we can use that as an argument to say, look, elect more of us and you'll like the result.
You'll prefer the result.
Some things really are simpler than you think.
They really are.
And all this, well, how are we going to compromise?
How are we going to navigate these things?
The Republican Party should be able to run absolutely anything it wants through the House.
Boom.
That's it.
We do not command the Senate, so the Senate is Democrat land.
The White House is Democrat land.
How's that working out for everybody?
How are we enjoying that?
If indeed we can make the case that a Democrat in the White House and a Democrat in the controlled Senate has not worked out so well for America, then they will give us the White House back and they will give us the Senate back.
And then the ball will be in our court.
Until then, let us proceed with whatever we can through the houses of Congress that we control.
The ones we don't, Democrats are going to win.
Doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
Sometimes there are things we can do where the field is striped on certain issues where we have Democrats up for re-election, where they will vote with us because they know that our view prevails where they live.
If you can ever get that going, that's kind of magical.
That's kind of cool.
That's always nice.
But it also doesn't happen very often.
All right.
1-800-282-2882.
Mark Davis in for Rush on the EIB Network.
You know, nothing says Christmas to me like a little vintage Judas Priest.
Hey, we gave you Carol of the Bells at the bottom of the hour.
You know, you got to balance this thing out.
Oh, heavens to Betsy.
Mark Davis down in Texas talking some 2012, some payroll tax cuts, some Eric Holder, this, that, and the other.
We're hugging the top of the hour here.
Let's all grab a newscast on our various radio stations, and then we will come back and I'll dive right back into your calls.
Various things from the year gone by, various things from the week gone by, the year ahead.
I got a couple of thoughts on how I think Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida may go.
That may be of some interest to you.
So stick tight.
We'll get the job done.
In for Rush, Mark Davis on the EIB Network.
Do stick around.
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