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Feb. 28, 2012 - Rush Limbaugh Program
32:17
February 28, 2012, Tuesday, Hour #3
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Serving humanity simply by showing up, executing assigned host duties flawlessly.
Zero mistakes.
That's because I do the assigning.
Happy to have you along in the fastest three hours in media, Rushlin Boy at 800 28282, the email address, L Rushbo at EIB net.com.
Okay, we have some headlines that's in the drive-by media today, headlines which are in the uh drive-by media, most of them about Santorum, um and how out of touch he is, and how what a wacko he is, and what a creep.
What a fanatic.
And I had him set aside.
Let's just run through the headlines here.
Uh ABC, let's see, this is uh no, this is not the note, this is just um, it might be the note.
New lows among conservatives, Mark Romney's popularity problem.
This is a ABC News Washington Post poll on Romney's plummeting popularity with conservative Republicans.
From the right scoop, Santorum, Romney uniquely unqualified to take on Obama.
From the National Journal, they do the hotline.
Santorum argues for religion in government.
Let me tell you what this one springs from.
Santorum read John Kennedy's inaugural speech in 1960 and said it made him want to puke.
I would not have said that it makes me want to puke.
But that's what Santorum said.
Now some people are saying that Santorum said he heard it.
Santorum never said he heard the speech, because he was only two years old.
He read the speech, and when he became familiar with it, was it was Kennedy's famous speech.
Back then people were scared to death that the Pope would end up running America if a Catholic were elected.
So Kennedy's speech was to allay their fears.
And Kennedy said, there is no way any prelate is going to be telling me what to do.
There's no way I'm going to be calling any prelate and asking what to do.
The way Santorum interpreted Kennedy's speech was to say there is an absolute wall of separation, church and state, and nobody is going to cross that line long as I'm president.
I'm not going to cross it.
Santorum said, I can't believe that.
He thought Kennedy was saying that people of faith had no business in politics.
Other people have read Kennedy's speech or heard it.
So that's not what he was saying.
He was trying to assure people that he was not going to be bringing his faith and turning the Oval Office into St. Patrick Cathedral.
He's not going to be doing that.
Anyway, Santorum made the point.
And so we get the headline, the National Journal, Santorum argues for religion in government.
This is Washington Post lead editorial.
Rick Santorum shows he's the wrong man to be president.
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, Rick Santorum's rhetoric goes to the extreme.
And then Richard Cohen in the Washington Post.
Enough of Rick Santorum's sermons.
So the drive-bys are filled with stories.
The state control media filled with stories today about what a lunatic fringe religious wacko that Santorum is.
What was what?
Oh, well, no, I don't think no, don't misunderstand these asking me what Republicans do.
Richard Cohen and Eugene Robinson like.
They don't like any.
That's not that's um not my point.
My my my point here, of course they don't like any Republicans.
My point is they are scared.
They are scared.
And I don't know that they're scared that that Santorum will win.
They're frightened, they're scared to death about if he does Win.
They are just they don't like liberals do not like absolutes in anything.
They don't like judgment, they don't like morality, they don't they don't think anybody has the right to define it or to impose it or any of that.
They're just scared.
Pure and simple.
What do they think will happen?
They think if Santorum's elected president, that in five minutes abortion will be illegal, that they will be in jail.
If you doubt me, you remember the 1992 Clinton inaugural, the week before it.
They had all these parties in Washington, some of them outside, on the mall, and they had Aretha Franklin come sing songs.
And the uh the theme one day, the musical theme one day, was uh we're out of jail.
We have been released.
Remembered that?
Uh we are um uh we we have overcome.
We have uh i i i it was as though they were they've been in shackles under 12 years of Reagan and Bush and they've been set free.
Freedom had finally come.
They had all been let loose, is how they interpreted Clinton winning.
So figuratively, they think they're gonna be going back to jail.
They think they're gonna have the condemnation, the wrath of the White House down on them about how they live their lives.
They just they're worried.
That's that's uh they're afraid that there will be a common morality, they're afraid that there'll be definite definitions of right and wrong.
Uh they're afraid that laissez-faire lifestyles go out the door, and they're afraid that that's what an election of somebody like Santorum would mean uh vis-a-vis where the American public happen to be.
They could be the end of gay marriage, it'd be the end of tolerance, the end of all these wonderful politically correct terms that they've come up with.
They're literally scared.
Uh remember to tell the old story about Ron Silver, and they had a flyby of some jets, and Ron Silver is flipping the flip flipping the jets off as they flew, and he's cursing them out.
And somebody had to go run, run, run.
Those are our jets now.
Oh, yeah.
Ron Silver, God bless him, may he rest in peace, peace be upon him, converted to Republicanism before he died.
But there's other stuff in the news out there as well as all this uh Republican primary stuff.
And we're gonna know by the night what happened in Michigan, and nobody really knows.
Uh the polling data is all over the place.
It could it could end up it could be it could be a Romney landslide for all we know, but the polling data is just it's it's it's impossible to tell.
One poll has them neck and neck, one poll has Romney uh or Santorum up eight points or ten points.
And another one has uh Romney up seven or eight points.
They're just all nobody can peg it.
In fact, one soundbite, grab grab number ten.
This is actually kind of funny.
This morning on MSNBC, F. Chuck Todd and his show, they actually found a Democrat that voted for Santorum, and it was breaking news.
They stopped everything.
They found a Democrat that voted for Santorum.
Here is how it went.
This is the info, babe.
Oh, sorry.
This is the correspondent, Peter Alexander, who found or heard about the Democrat who voted for Santorum.
Five minutes ago, I spoke to a small business owner and his wife.
This is a registered Democrat, the child of an auto worker who moved to this state to work in the auto industry, and he said that he came out today to vote for Rick Santorum.
He made it very clear that he's not sure who he's going to vote for in the general election this fall, but that he didn't think that Mitt Romney, a man worth as much money as he is, needed to be in the White House and really couldn't understand the issues that he's dealing with right now.
That's not the kind of a storyline that the Romney campaign wants to hear.
Breaking news this morning on MSNBC, a Democrat, an auto worker, the son notice the son of an auto worker, the child of an auto worker.
As though there's automatic virtue.
The son of an auto worker who moved to Michigan to work in the auto industry voted for Santorum.
They stopped everything to report that at MSNBC.
Let's just stay with the sound bites.
Last night, MSNBC, last word, Lawrence O'Donnell, talking to John Heileman of New York magazine.
John, having been accused of being uh odd and perverse and demented, it makes perfect sense to me.
I know exactly what you must be thinking, but please explain to America this go rick go idea.
What is this?
Many Democrats take that as me uh encouraging people to be in favor of Santorum because it would be easier for the president to beat in the fall, and indeed it is true.
Most elite Republicans now believe that they are consigned to defeat this fall with either of these candidates, that there will be a reaction to that loss, and the reaction will be counter to to try to learn the lessons from what happened in 2012.
If Santorum were to blow the election or to lose to Barack Obama, you might be able to see the Republican Party realizing that it's gone way too far into culture warrior grassroots populism and try to make it sell it way back towards a more constructive brand of conservatism and one that would serve the country well if they were to find their way there.
You need me to translate this, because this is all over the ballpark.
Basically, Mr. Heileman talks to Republican elites, establishment types, and he simply reported what we all know.
They don't expect to win.
They thought Romney could win, but they weren't confident, but they were going to support Romney anyway because he would protect them in the Senate and House races.
They might get the Senate.
They'll hold the House.
They might get the Senate back, and then they get control of the money, and then they can stop Obama.
But the Republican establishment has never really been confident Obama can win.
Now what Heileman says, look, they're totally depressed.
Because the only guy that had a chance was Romney, and now he's so damaged Romney can't even win his home state, can't even win, can't even lead the polling data.
So neither of these guys can win, and the elite Republicans have given up.
The Republican establishment is consigned to defeat.
They have given up.
That's what Heileman's report was all about.
They've caved.
They don't think it's possible to win with either of these guys, and they're already anticipating why they're going to lose and are starting to put together their explanation so they can learn from it for 2016.
That's what that means.
On Morning Joe today on MSNBC.
And it's the folks, I'm sure it's the only network we can go to to get liberal comment.
I I know I get sick and tired of it, but uh CNN is so confused.
I don't uh this is not even worth the time other than Aaron Burnett's show, but there's not much else there.
We have to go to MSNBC to find out what these people are saying.
F. Chuck Todd, and he too is reporting that the Republican establishment ready to concede the nomination to Santorum.
Did you hear me?
Chuck Todd says the Republican establishment has thrown in a towel and they are now willing to concede this to Santorum and let him lose.
We've allowed 20% of our party to control it.
And at this point, let the 20% have this nomination.
The worst possible world now at this point will be Mitt Romney with this nomination, because if he loses to Obama, the conservatives will say, Ah, another moderate, and the same ideological fight to take the party off the cliff for the next four years rather than you know what?
Let the 20% have it.
Let them have this nomination, then we can rid the party of that 20%.
I believe that there are Republican establishment types that actually believe that.
I don't believe it F. Chuck Todd has to make that up.
I think that F. Chuck talks to him.
And I think I know, folks, I know the Republican establishment is so mad at you.
They're so mad at you.
You know why they're mad at you?
Because you didn't get behind Romney in mass.
So, well, no, here's the the thinking is that 20% of the party has participated in this.
The most conservative, the ones that ruin the party, the social conservatives, the really died in the wool conservatives, and they have blown it and they've seen to it that the only guy that can beat Obama is not going to win it.
So let's just it's a it's a reverse on what callers here have all let the Democrats win.
Let the country find out how bad it is, and I'll never vote for them again.
The re the F. Chuck is saying that the Republican establishment is saying, okay, let Santorum win it.
Let this kook fanatic win it and let him lose in a landslide so we can finally say to conservatives, screw you in 2016.
You're the reason the party loses.
What F. Chuck is saying here is that the Republican establishment has given up on winning and instead seizing an opportunity here to once and for all rid the party of conservatives in 2016 by blaming them for a landslide defeat that would surely happen with Santorum as the nominee.
By the way, folks, during all of this that's going on, where is the good news for Obama?
I mean, I have to I have to jump in here and tell you there isn't any.
This is just out from Gallup.
He has a 43, Obama 43% approval, 50% negative.
This is approaching an all-time low for Obama in Gallup.
Now the conventional wisdom would have it that with a religious fanatic who is going to turn the White House into a Catholic cathedral.
Obama ought to be soaring.
Unemployment.
Gallup has said it's up a tenth of a point.
Their last report had it unemployment at 9%.
They're saying it's 9.1%.
Now this is Gallup, and they've got their own survey conduct it.
But where's the Obama good news?
Where is it all?
The news on home ownership today, folks.
We've got Obama cutting military health care in half.
The regime's proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their health care while leaving unionized civilian defense workers' benefits untouched.
Proposal causing a major rift within the Pentagon.
So cutting defense.
The housing market, home prices.
What did I read?
Home prices are now at a low since 1982 or 2002, since it's I forget which, but it's in the tank.
And then there is a The Wall Street Journal has uh has a story today on how millionaire homes aren't being foreclosed on as quickly as cheaper homes.
Now you would think it's a 99% versus 1% thing.
But it's not.
The reason that millionaire homes are not being foreclosed on as fast as homes that cost under a million dollars is because those mortgages of homes that cost under a million dollars, they're getting packaged and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack as mortgage-backed securities.
Once again, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack are hip deep in the housing crisis.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are hip-deep in the reason for it.
Foreclosures on average Americans' homes are happening more rapidly than any other foreclosure because there's money in it for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the people selling these mortgages.
If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the way to look at this, if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not involved in this, the foreclosure rate on average American homes would not be anywhere near what it is.
So the government is still negatively impacting the housing market.
The Hill.com has a poll, and they are puzzled.
They don't understand the poll results because what they've found is their question, the most appropriate top tax rate for families earning 250,000 or more.
75% of the people said 30% or less.com poll Do not support tax increases on the rich.
But what's fascinating about this question?
The question did not tell people what the current tax rate is.
The question didn't say today people who earn 250 grand a year or more pay 39 points or 35%.
What do you think their rate should be?
Didn't mention a rate.
It just asked them what is the most appropriate top tax rate.
And the average Americans by 75% said 30%.
5% less than what it is.
And the people over at the Hill are beside themselves.
They're scratching their heads.
What the hell do we done wrong here?
For two years we've been hitting the fact that rich aren't paying their fair share.
Obama hits it every day.
We go out and ask our readers, the Hill.com readers, and they come back and tell us 30% is the most the rich ought to be paying.
Where is the good news for Obama?
There isn't any.
Not electoral news.
The fact that Afghanistan's in flames, the fact that the housing market's in flame, all that is good news for Obama, and I mean to say that, and I mean what I mean.
The chaos and the destruction that's taking place in the American mainstream economy is exactly the recipe for taking control of it, and that's why he likes the chaos.
The chaos in the health care sector is precisely why he likes the chaos, so he can take it over and under the auspices of fixing it.
Well, we'll have to move in here and straighten this out.
There is no good electoral news for Obama.
Likely voters prefer lower individual and business tax rates.
Hill.com poll.
Can't believe it.
Brief time out as we move on here on the EIB network.
Be back right after this.
I got an email here.
Dear Maharushi, I'm not arguing anything here.
As I have said, I gave this primary to God a year ago, and I hardly read anything about it.
But what would you say to people who deeply believe that Santorum is really no different from Newt in his so-called conservatism, which is basically big government driven.
No experience in the private sector, big government, big spender.
Santorum is just a little more personally moral than Newt.
Just asking, what would you say to somebody who thought that?
He's vote Romney if that's what you think.
Not hard.
If you think Santorum's a big spender, if you think he's big government guy, doesn't know what he's doing, no private sector experience, nothing but the government this and the government that, vote Romney.
What's your what vote Ron Paul?
I mean, you've got two choices.
I'm gonna leave Obama.
I don't think anybody wants to vote Obama, but vote vote Romney if that's that's what I would tell you.
Economic news, home prices continue slide as winter adds to slowdown.
Durable goods demand falls the most in three years, down four percent.
Remember Stanley Greenberg, the memo last week came out from uh the Democracy Group that's his polling unit for Democrats, warning Obama if you guys think that you can convince the American people the economy's roaring back and win on that, you got another thing coming because you can't, because it isn't.
And the American people know it.
And they're not living it.
Home prices continue to slide, their houses are being foreclosed on, while the one percent homes aren't.
Durable goods demand falls the most in three years, and will gas prices stall the economy?
Let's not forget that.
That's uh a major factor in uh economic news.
Can't take it out of the equation.
Okay, who's next?
Chris Pittsburgh, great to have you on the EIB network.
Hello, sir.
Hello, Rush.
This is uh truly an honor to speak with you.
I can understand.
Thank you.
You have been a great uh positive influence on my life more than you'll probably ever know.
Well, I appreciate that, I really do.
But you've had the same for me, unknown to you, but you have.
Well, I thank you.
Uh just a concern about St. Torum from someone who lives here in Pittsburgh and watched him uh on his last senatorial campaign against Bob Casey.
Um there was a time there he seemed to get a little bit angry, more so.
I think it's more his passion, however, it came across as anger, and you know, as much as conservatives are seen these days as angry anyway.
How do you feel about that concern?
Well, you know what you're talking about, because I have made a similar observation.
When watching Santorum in the debates, I detected what I thought was resentment.
I don't know if you know the personality type.
Let me describe the personality type.
The guy who thinks that everything everybody else is saying, he's already said but hadn't gotten credit for it.
A lot of things that people have accomplished, he's already done, but he didn't get the credit for it.
Santorum struck me at times.
The anger you're talking about, the uh the facial expressions, the the size.
I I got the impression that he he resented the fact that nobody knew what he had done.
They resented the fact that nobody know knew what his accomplishments were.
And the the the facial expressions that accompanied that could be off putting.
Now, I haven't seen them as frequently in the last two or three debates, but all last year that's uh w one one of the observations that that I made, and I I wondered about it, and I thought this it not going to be helpful.
It's uh no th that personality type is not uh magnetic.
Um resentment is is never attractive.
And so that that's that's that's how I interpreted a little.
I could have been wrong, but that's how I interpreted it.
You you saw it as as uh as anger.
Uh who's the Joe in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Hello, sir.
Great to have you with us on the EIB network.
Thanks, Rosh.
Uh mega Civil War history ditto's from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Well, thank you very much, sir.
Rush, what I wanted to say is Newt is my guy because no one other than you, Rush, articulates conservative principles and values better than Newt for me.
And I have to vote my conscience.
Now, what I would like to see, Rush, is uh someone to put together Newt's greatest hits from the 20 uh twelve debates, uh, because nobody brought down the house more than Newt did, as you well know.
I mean, if there was an applause meter at any of those debates, would have went off the radar with Newt.
And the other thing, uh, Rush is, you know, that whole Catholic Church mandate was about a week or ten days old when it was Newt who reminded us, as we as you did, that Obama voted for the partial birth abortion and in Franciside.
It wasn't Santorum, and it wasn't Romney, it was Newt Rush.
And he reminded the whole country of that.
So God bless.
Let me tell you something.
I suggested, I suggested, after the previous round of uh after the after the last debate, because there hadn't been one in a month.
I suggest if Newton did well that he could re-emerge.
And a lot of people had the same thought.
Now, Newt has conceded Michigan.
He's not campaigning there.
That's undoubtedly helping Santorum.
I think it's still wide open.
I saw somebody, might have been somebody in the Romney camp, I'm not, I'm not sure, who theorized that this primary battle is going to go on until at least May.
At least May is what some people high up who know these things think could possibly happen here.
And depending on what happens in Michigan, that could well be.
So we're still very early in this in terms of delegate selection, numbers of delegates pledged, and all that.
And and out there lurking in the weeds is the Republican establishment who NBC reporters say have given up.
And then Alternately we hear that those same people are planning to take over the convention and see to it that none of these people end up as a nominee because they're all too damaged.
What it all adds up to is that Newt's not out of it yet.
Romney's not out of it yet.
Santorum's not out of it yet.
This is still wide open.
Back to the audio sound bites.
Now, Mika Bzinski on Morning Joe today, they're talking about this uh operation chaos, all the Democrats being urged to cross and vote for Santorum today.
And they're talking about the social issues.
And Mika doesn't quite understand what's going on here with the social issues.
She and Mark Halpert have a conversation about it.
You guys follow these events closely.
Is there something we're missing?
Is he being asked about these things and put in a bad position?
Or is he literally going ahead with these issues on his own?
I mean, he says it often enough that the press stays on, and the press is obsessed with these things, but he that's more skillful candidate, wouldn't say these things initially, and if they occasionally did, they'd fix it.
George Bush circa 1999.
If he had the president's record to deal with and the conservative wing of his party to play off of to look more centrist, this is a great situation for a strong candidate.
Is there something we're missing?
Why does he keep talking about the social issues?
It's such a death now.
What what am I missing?
What you know, she's sensing something here.
She doesn't know what it is.
She doesn't know why Santorum's still breathing.
She can't figure out why he still has a chance at winning anything.
In the liberal Democrat world, this is your funeral.
Talking about this stuff.
Basing a campaign is suicide.
Social issues is suicide.
Why is he keep talking about it?
Because the Democrats keep bringing it up.
Now they brought it up.
He keeps getting questions about it.
Mark Halperin, again on Morning Joe.
Scarborough said, are we gonna situation here where the Republican Party goes to him and grabs somebody and says, you have no other choice at this point, meaning Romney.
Michigan would be a huge blow.
The danger for him is if he's blown out on Super Tuesday, which he could be, then I think the party has to get him out of the race.
While he could win it, it'd be too ugly.
Mark Halper, Time Magazine.
If Romney loses Michigan and Super Tuesday, the party has to get him out of the race.
Now, folks, as a keen observer here.
Go back six months.
Can you ever imagine this question being asked?
If Romney loses Super Tuesday, the party's got to get him out of the race.
The last guy anybody would have thought that about.
Here's Scarborough explaining to people what it is about Santorum that bothers them.
Rick Santorum is going out and telling people that we live in this brave new world where the freedom of religion is going to be challenged because I'm laughing.
The term freedom of worship.
What the hell is he talking about?
We got 15% real unemployment.
We've got a stagnant economy, real wages have been down since 1973, and he's playing semantic games that have absolutely no application to people in working class Americans' day-to-day lives.
Well, the thing you can say in defense of Rick Santorum is he actually means that.
There are people who believe that the Antichrist is going to use the trilateral commission Chuck Todd to uh lead us all to revelation.
That's crazy.
They know that Santorum believes it.
That's what bugs them.
He believes it.
Oh, he really believes this stuff.
And you look at the polling data, and it's not Santorum's numbers who are falling.
It's Obama's numbers who are falling.
And Joe, I would tell you, Obama's numbers are falling precisely because there's 15% real unemployment.
Obama's numbers are falling because there is a stagnant economy.
Obama's numbers are falling because there is real wages have been down since 1973.
The American people don't need to be told this.
They're living it.
The Republican primary campaign does not have to exclusively be about the economy because everybody is living it, and everybody knows that Obama is faking the recovery and trying to turn into a virtual dreamland, and it isn't flying.
We'll be right back.
Don't go away.
Man, oh man, where does the time go?
It felt like just uh a commercial break ago the show started.
But alas, we come to our long delay.
21 hours.
I know it's tough.
It's tough for you, it's tough for me.
But we'll be back, and we'll pick up right where we left off or wherever we need to pick up.
You can count on that.
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