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Dec. 5, 2012 - Rush Limbaugh Program
32:55
December 5, 2012, Wednesday, Hour #3
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Talent on loan from God.
That's me, ladies and gentlemen.
Great to have you back.
Rush Limbaugh and the nation's most listened to radio talk show.
Our telephone number, if you want to be on the program, 800-282-2882, the email address, lrushbaugh at eibnet.com.
I mentioned, it was just about an hour ago, and it was in the throwaway line in our discussions about Prop 30 in California.
And I mentioned that teachers out there are still not happy.
After all this, they're still not happy.
They have produced a video that shows the rich urinating on the poor.
And Snerd is like, come on, that's funny, but that can't be.
It is true.
And Ed Asner narrates the video.
And I've got the audio from the ad right here.
It was last Thursday.
The ad ran the California Federation of Teachers website, which is cft.org.
They had a video called Tax the Rich, an animated fairy tale, which the website claims explains economic inequality and the need for the rich to pay their fair share of taxes.
Ed Asner narrates, and here is the audio, and it's a portion of it.
Rich people decided they weren't rich enough, so they came up with ways to get richer.
The first way was through tax cuts.
They didn't mind if there's been fewer services for everyone.
They said, why should I care about other non-rich people?
Instead of providing jobs that paid people well like they used to, rich people found they could make more money in Wall Street.
The 1% made money so fast that they devoted more and more money to it.
They took some of that money and sent it far away, where workers had no rights to produce things that workers used to produce here.
When ordinary people wondered why rich people needed so much money, the 1% said, don't worry, this is good for you too, because it will trickle down from us to you.
Someday you'll be rich, and then the rules we made for us will be your rules too.
Right.
And when they start to the trickle-downs, when the urinating started, says the California Federation of Teachers with a video that shows the rich urinating on the poor to depict trickle-down.
After they got what they wanted, after they got their retroactive tax increases, Proposition 30.
Ed Asner, by the way, a multi-millionaire.
And isn't that always the case?
All these hypocritical, ultra-rich leftists running around condemning every other rich person.
I guess, as far as Asner's concerned, his wealth is legitimate.
But if somebody made their wealth in a way he disapproves of or Wall Street or what have you.
But all the ingredients are there.
And these are the people teaching kids in California.
This is why I maintain that the people of California knew exactly what they were doing when they voted for Proposition 30.
Okay, last night at the Jack Kemp dinner, annual Jack Kemp dinner, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan both made speeches.
I want to play the sound bites for you.
I'm going to withhold characterization.
We go through.
I've got three from Rubio, and I have three from Paul Ryan.
And I'll be honest, I have read transcripts.
I've not heard this.
I'll be listening to it with you for the first time.
And as I say, I will withhold comment until after I've heard it all.
And I'm afraid that I'm not going to want to comment.
Only because of what I have been told that what we had last night was sort of big government conservatism on parade.
I hope that's not the case.
But let's just go.
Here's the first of three from Marco Rubio.
The existence of a large and vibrant American middle class, that goes to the very essence of America's exceptional identity.
You see, every country in the world has rich people, but only a few places have achieved a vibrant and stable middle class.
And in the history of the world, none has been more vibrant and more stable than the great American middle class.
One of the fundamental challenges before us is to find an appropriate and sustainable role for government in closing that gap between the dreams of millions of Americans and the opportunities for them to realize them.
Okay, that's the first of three.
Let me underline something here.
I'm not going to say anything.
I promised you I'd reserve commentary.
Okay, here is the second one.
Widespread societal breakdown is not something the government can solve, and yet it's something the government cannot ignore.
Because you cannot separate the economic well-being of your people from their social well-being.
Let's protect our safety net programs, not as a way of life, but as a way to help those who have failed to stand up and try again, and of course, as always, as a way to help those who cannot help themselves.
But these programs must be reformed.
Reformed to enhance family stability and financial opportunity, education, and a culture of work.
And the next?
There are millions of Mario Rubios all across America today.
They are not looking for a handout.
All they want is a job that provides for their families.
But there just aren't enough jobs out there like that.
And many of them do not have the skills they need for the jobs that are available.
All they want is a chance to earn a better life for themselves and a better future for their children.
And whether they get that chance or not will determine whether America remains exceptional or whether America declines.
Okay, so those are the three Rubios from last night that Jack Kemp dinner.
Now, one thing I will tell you is that what animated both these guys was Romney's 47% comment.
The Republican Party is running away from that.
And people who have grand political aspirations, presidential campaign or maybe run for the Senate, what have you, they are running away from that 47% comment that Romney made.
Now, what was the Romney 47% comment?
If you had to sum it up, Snerdley, what was the 47% comment that Romney made?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Snerdley says that Romney meant there 47% of the country that's died in the wool going to vote for the Democrat candidate no matter who he is because they believe one of two things.
Either the Democrat Party is going to take care of them or the Republican Party is going to punish them.
And Romney said, I'm not going to get any of those voters.
I've got to go out and coalesce.
I've got to get the others.
Now, and everybody had a cow over that.
They just flipped, and it was a comment made in private to donors.
And it was not something he said at a campaign appearance, and it's not something he said publicly.
And I'm not trying to say that changes it.
But when you're in a room of people have given you a lot of money, believe me, they don't just give money for the hell of it.
They want something in return.
They're expecting something for it.
And Romney was trying to tell these people how he's using their money.
And I believe one of the things he was telling them was, look, I'm not going to spend any money trying to persuade that 47%.
I'm not going to waste your money.
That's what he was saying.
No matter what I do, they're not voting for me.
Well, for some reason, that set the rest of the party off.
And that comment is now the reason in the consultant class and throughout the party why Romney lost primarily.
Now, simple question here.
What is the difference in Romney saying that and the average political consultant who says and operates on the belief that 40% vote Democrat, 40% vote Republican, and 20% is where you win the election.
In other words, one party has its base, the other party has its base.
That accounts for 80% of the votes.
And there in the middle is this 20%.
The independents, the undecideds, and that's, and the consultants all pitch themselves to candidates as the guy who can get those votes.
I know how to get the independents for you.
I know how to get the moderates.
I know how to get the people that are not the partisans.
Hire me.
Okay, so the consultants say 40%.
Romney said 47.
But in truth, what's the difference?
Well, one difference is that the consultants never say it in public, and Romney ended up having his comments blasted all over the public.
But anyway, I find it curious that they interpreted Romney's comments as being exclusionary rather than realistic.
Romney thought he was being realistic, and that's caused them to react almost in panic.
Now, here are the three Paul Ryans from the Jack Kemp Foundation Leadership Award dinner.
The election, it didn't go our way, and the Republican Party can't make excuses.
We can't spend the next four years on the sidelines.
Instead, we must find new ways to apply our timeless principles to the challenges of the day.
As it stands, our party excels at representing that part of the American idea that speaks to the aspirations of our nation's risk takers.
We celebrate that part of the American idea that involves finding your passion and making a living from it.
But there's another part of the American creed.
When our neighbors are struggling, we look out for one another.
We do that best through our families, through our communities, and our party must stand for making them stronger.
Okay.
Hang on.
I'm going to reserve comment till afterwards.
Here's the next Ryan comment.
We have a compassionate vision based on ideas that work, but sometimes we don't do a good job of laying out that vision.
We need to do a better job on that.
Both parties tend to divide Americans into our voters and their voters.
Let's be really clear.
Republicans must steer far clear of that trap.
We must speak to the aspirations and the anxieties of every American.
I believe we can turn on the engines of upward mobility so that no one is left out from the promise of America.
And here is the third and final excerpt from Paul Ryan's speech.
We're still trying to measure compassion by how much we spend, not by how many people we actually help.
Today, 46 million people are living in poverty.
We need a vision for bringing opportunity into every life.
One that promotes strong families, secure livelihoods, and an equal chance for every American to fulfill their highest aspirations for themselves and for their children.
It calls for a stronger safety net, one that protects the most vulnerable, and promotes self-reliance.
It calls for the end to the chronic inequalities in our education system.
And finally, it promotes economic growth through free enterprise because nothing has done more to lift people everywhere out of poverty.
And a brief time out.
We'll come back and continue.
Get your phone calls in on this when we get back.
Don't go away.
And we are back.
El Rushball having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have while meeting and surpassing all audience expectations every day.
Now, the Politico, very snarky about these two speeches, excerpts of which you just heard.
The Politico says that Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio are simply engaging in makeovers.
They're trying to remake themselves.
I don't hear that.
I don't hear these guys saying anything all that different from what they've said during the campaign.
Although, Rubio did mention middle class 35 times in his speech.
I understand what they're both trying to say.
And in both speeches, it's undeniable that both guys clearly said the government has to be involved in whatever solution there is.
And I frankly think the solution is getting the government uninvolved, but that's just me, and I'm just a radio guy, so don't interpret it.
I think all the problems stem from government, and the more government's involved in anything, the more people are going to look to government as a solution.
And at some point, if the people of this country are not, if a majority are not taught, educated, inspired, motivated to solve their own problems, at least in part, nothing is going to change.
The Democrat Party is always going to win because we are never going to commandeer the notion that we are the party of government.
I mean, even if that were the objective, we couldn't pull it off.
We cannot outdo what the Democrats are going to do in that regard.
There's nothing that they can always propose more.
They will always promise bigger Santa Clauses and more Santa Claus.
They can always go to a point that we will not go.
But people have been on hold for a long time.
And I only had two calls here today.
Let me go to Kyle in New Albany, Indiana.
Kyle, I really appreciate your waiting.
Thank you, and welcome to the program, sir.
Hey, Rush.
Holiday greetings from the great state of Indiana and home of Mitch Daniels, who would have made a much better candidate, in my opinion.
But I wanted to comment: I hope that the Republican leadership is listening to your show today, because I think there's millions of people like me who are completely frustrated with the way that the leadership of the Republican Party is dealing with this fiscal cliff issue.
You know, these guys need to take a class on how to negotiate.
They're not even willing to send a message to the American public that they're willing to go over the fiscal cliff.
I mean, on the talk show on Fox on Sunday, Boehner was asked multiple times: you know, is there a chance we'll go over their fiscal cliff?
And he refused to answer the question.
He just said, we won't do it.
We won't do it.
And I think that that gives...
Oh, wait a minute.
That's answering the question.
Well, but it doesn't.
Well, I think what he had a stronger position would have said, yes.
If we don't get concessions from the Democratic side, we will go over the fiscal cliff.
Well, I don't think they want to go over a cliff because they know they're going to get blamed for it, and they got no answer.
I do.
We all do.
They don't.
So they're.
Look, I, in an effort to try to make sense of this, I put myself in their shoes.
And it's, they're in a business just like any other business.
And there are professionals and amateurs.
We are all amateurs in their business in this and none of us do it.
So I try to put myself in their shoes.
And in one sense, I do wear their shoes.
I'm constantly blamed.
I'm ripped to shreds.
I'm lied about.
I'm mischaracterized.
But getting an audience is a different thing than getting votes.
I can get an audience being hated.
They can't get elected being hated.
That's just a simple reality.
So they are highly sensitive to being blamed for things.
Whereas I take it as an honor.
If I'm blamed for something, I'm a radio guy.
Can you believe it?
But that's the point.
They're blamed for stuff all the time, and no matter what they do, they're going to get blamed for it.
So I, as an amateur, always say, why not just do the right thing?
You're going to get blamed for it anyway.
Why not stand up for your principles?
And that then leads to the question, well, maybe, you know, we think they're all conservatives.
Maybe they're not.
Maybe they cannot articulate it the way we do.
Could be any number of explanations.
But putting myself in their shoes, they all know what's coming economically, and it's a disaster.
And they don't want to be blamed for it.
They're going to be no matter what.
That's what's being set up.
But the frustrating thing is that they all think that they can change that by agreeing in part with what Democrats want to do.
Or they all think they can be liked if they do in part what Democrats want to do.
And I also think that there's another factor here.
I think not just these guys.
I think Republicans everywhere are afraid to stand up to Barack Obama.
They're afraid to stand up to Obama because that'll make them racists.
And they believe, and especially after an election in which they lose, their party lost, they still run the House, but they probably conclude Obama is wildly loved, still adored.
And in their world, it makes no sense to go after Obama.
It's only going to redound negatively to them.
And I think it was clear that that's the view of the party.
The party, we're in this position.
I said yesterday, Obama is a cult-like figure.
Obama has legions of support among people who have no idea who he is.
It was left to us to tell the American people.
I mean, the Republicans, to tell American people who Obama is.
They refused to do it.
Did not want to go there.
And this is what happens.
The media wasn't ever going to tell anybody who Obama is in the sense of vetting him.
So by avoiding that part of the campaign, and I don't mean college transcripts.
I'm talking about who he is ideologically, who he is policy-wise, what his view of the country is, where he wants, why does he look at the country the way he does.
There's no, believe me, there is no, not even a desire.
There's no compunction.
There's no thought of even going there.
So Obama is going to get a free ride with all of these assumptions.
He's a great guy.
We even said so.
Hey, he's a wonderful guy.
He's a great family.
He's just in over his head.
He's not in over his head at all.
But anyways, I just you put yourself in their shoes.
You can understand it, but it doesn't help at all.
Randy, Sparks, Nevada, great that you called.
Welcome to the program, sir.
Hi, Rush.
About 10 years ago, after the 02 election, when the Republicans did quite well that year, they started pushing through a lot of conservative bills, sending them to the Senate, and this made Ted Kennedy really mad.
And I remember seeing him on TV going on a rant about how this is not a mandate for the Republicans to push through their agenda, and that he still has constituents to represent, and they put him there for a reason, and they're going to do everything in their power to stop them from pushing through their agenda.
My how the tables have turned.
Meaning what?
Well, meaning the hypocrisy of the Democrats, because now that they seem that they have this mandate right now after winning the election, and after the Republicans won their election, when they tried to push him through their agenda, that made the Democrats mad.
And Ted Kennedy went on this rant.
He was on TV.
Well, I know, but are you saying that the Democrats, since they won, should say that they don't have a mandate?
Well, no, what I'm saying is the Republicans need to step up and stand their ground like the Democrats did.
Oh, you want the Republicans to stand up and say, just because Obama won doesn't mean that he's got a mandate.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, well, that's such a foreign concept.
I didn't even think of it.
It ain't going to happen.
Probably not.
But, I mean, you know, because it was only.
When the Republicans win elections, the Democrats run around and say, this does not mean that the minority has no power.
And they start campaigning for minority rights and minority dominance in the Senate and in the House.
That's just who they are.
They do not accept defeat.
Right.
They do not accept defeat.
When we lose, we try to join them in their victory.
Right now, Boehner and the Republicans seem like they're just ready to roll over and give them what they want.
Well, I know it looks that way.
Why do you think Boehner is doing that?
There's no wrong answer.
I'm generally seeking what you think.
Why do you think Boehner does that?
Well, I just don't think he wants to look like the bad guy.
There you go.
It's exactly.
You see, it's all rooted in that.
The media concocts all of these narratives and templates, and the Republicans accept them, such as don't criticize Obama.
The Independents don't like that.
The Independents want people to get along.
The Independents and all these people that determine the winners of elections, they want everybody to be singing on the same hymnal, and they want people to work together, bipartisanship, and all that.
And so we don't criticize Obama.
So we don't define Obama.
We don't tell people who Obama is.
But by the same token, the Democrats can come out and call us the most vicious names, refuse to work with us.
Harry Reid before the election can say, if Romney wins, I don't care.
We're not working with him.
That guy's a scumbag.
You think I'm working with a scumbag dog killer?
And the independents don't seem to mind.
Independents don't get mad at that at all.
Somehow, somehow, the Republicans have bought the notion that any criticism of Democrats is going to be met very poorly with the 47%.
We can't do that.
So I really think that a number of Republican leaders think that they are outnumbered eight to one.
They act like that, behave like that, and they believe that standing up for themselves is going to only make it worse.
That's what it appears to me.
Look, I'm glad you called, Randy.
Thank you.
Tom and Warren, Michigan.
Hello, sir.
Welcome to the EIB Network.
Thank you, Rush.
I can't believe I got on.
I have an idea for you to think about.
Right now, the Democratic narrative is the top 2%, they're the evil, and we have to punish them by raising their taxes.
Let's agree with them.
Let's raise their taxes to 100%.
This will do two things: it'll force the Democrats, who know that the top 2% is the golden goose where all the taxes come from, the top 40% of our taxes.
It'll force the Democrats to defend the wealthy.
All right.
And if they don't, then the wealthy will move out of this country and they won't have anything to go back on.
So I have no fallback position.
You're forgetting a third possibility.
I'll hear it.
The Democrats would agree to do it.
If they do.
And find a way to exempt their rich people.
Well, right now, we control the Congress.
They will write the law on taxes.
There will be no exemptions.
That's what the Democrats are hoping for.
Even with this little percent, the John Kerry's, the Pelosis, the George Soroses of this world, they know that their friends, their Democratic friends, are going to give them an out.
They're not going to pay these taxes.
No, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait.
How is that going to happen?
How are those people going to get an out on paying the taxes?
Well, they have in every one of these tax bills, there's always deductions made in such a way.
What I'm suggesting is that there is no deductions for the wealthy.
You make $10 million, the first $250,000 tax-free.
The rest you have to send in.
Well, that's not 100%.
Well, you've got to let the poor man have his $250,000, Rush.
I mean, he might have to have a Mercedes or something to drive around.
But at that point, what will happen to the wealthy?
Where would they go?
What country are they going to?
Where is John Kerry going to move his money to?
New Zealand.
That's right.
Nancy Pelosi, she sells her vineyard out in the gone.
She won't have to.
San Francisco is a foreign country.
Well, she'll have to get it.
Folk, we're getting a little weird here now where there's not going to be a hundred percent tax increase on the rich.
That's not the way to.
We cannot continue to stand for disaster, support disaster, advocate disaster to teach people a lesson.
We're in the middle of a disaster.
We're right in the middle of all the, it's incrementally happening.
Your 100% tax rate on the rich is incrementally happening.
There is an all-out assault on every achiever.
And it's not just millionaires.
It's people starting at $200,000 a year.
There is an all-out assault on anybody who has any disposable income.
We are in the middle of this.
It's happening incrementally.
We don't have to make this proposal.
It has been proposed.
It's in the process of being implemented.
What we need to do is find a way to stop it.
And that means standing up and opposing this at every turn on every proposal, every idea, every Democrat idea, oppose it.
That's the only choice that we've got.
I'm frank, folks, I'm worn out with this thinking.
Well, let disaster happen to teach people a lesson.
That's been happening.
And the lesson being learned is that there isn't a disaster.
The government's going to take care of people.
That's the message of the Democrat Party.
You're out of work for four years.
No worry.
We're going to expand and extend unemployment benefits.
And we'll give you some more food stamps.
And then we'll bail you out of your student loan.
That's their message.
There is no disaster for the beneficiaries of the Democrat Party.
The disaster is for people who work and earn their way.
And I'm sorry, there's no lesson to be taught here.
There's a country to be saved.
Pure and simple.
I got to take a break back after this.
Folks, look, I'm a little worn out, fed up, and very impatient with these ongoing assaults on the people who work in this country.
Let's tax them at 100%, teach people a lesson.
Let me tell you, if the current disaster is not teaching people a lesson, nothing will.
Unless we make some drastic changes, I'm here to tell you the solution to this problem does not involve punishing people who work.
You know what needs to happen?
Unemployment, 13 weeks, and that's it.
Food stamps, a month or two, and that's it.
If you're able-bodied, capable, you have your mental acuity about you, that's it.
We are coddling the wrong people and punishing the wrong people.
We're blaming the wrong people and we're exempting the wrong people.
All in the name of phony compassion.
It's not doing anybody any good.
We're not teaching people to be productive, and instead, we're teaching them that there's nothing wrong with being slovenly.
I hear all these ideas, raise taxes on the rich, take away their deductions, all that crap.
It's stupid.
It's what they did in the Soviet Union.
Punish success.
Punish achievement.
Punish ambition.
Kill it.
Make everybody dependent on the government.
To hell with that.
I'm telling you, the only way, if we go over the cliff, the sky's going to be blue.
The birds are going to be chirping.
The unemployed are going to have their money.
They're going to be eating.
They're going to have their big screen, their cell phones.
Nothing's going to change.
Nothing.
Not in terms of disaster.
It's only going to get worse for the people who are working.
The burden on them is going to increase.
Why do we want to punish them?
What is the crime in working?
What is the crime in success?
That's what we're doing.
We're criminalizing it for all intents and purposes.
We're ginning up hatred for people who take care of themselves.
Resentment.
All of this stuff.
It isn't healthy.
It isn't good.
We've got to stop borrowing money, printing money, buying things we can't afford.
We can't afford all these goodies.
We can't afford all these freebies.
We're damn lucky there's still millions enough people who want to take care of themselves.
If everybody just chucked it and said, you know what?
I'm going to let Obama be my dad, my mother, my Santa Claus, where would we be?
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Now, folks, I don't want to hear anymore.
If Snerdley puts a call through, he's fired about one more person that talks about punishing the rich in order to teach people a lesson.
I've had it up to here with that.
No more.
We've got to stop thinking this way.
We have got to stop thinking we can teach people by virtue of having a disaster happen because it has happened.
We're in the middle of it.
The problem is the disaster is affecting disproportionately the wrong people.
Back in just a second.
Okay, folks, that said, another exciting excursion into broadcast excellence.
But there's much more in 21 hours.
And we'll be back, revved up and ready to go to kick it off again.
And I know some of you disagree.
Well, you think until we take Warren Buffett's money away and Hollywood's money away, we're not going to accomplish anything.
We can talk about it.
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