All Episodes
Previous Next
April 25, 2013 - Rush Limbaugh Program
37:08
April 25, 2013, Thursday, Hour #1
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
Hi, folks!
How are you?
Great to have you.
It's Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network and the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies Broadcast Excellence for the next three hours.
It's a thrill and a delight to have you with us.
Telephone number 800-282-2882, the email address, lrushbow at EIBnet.com.
I want to ask your indulgence here at the beginning of the program if you wouldn't mind if I devoted some time here to something that I just personally love.
I was just watching the ceremony of the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library at SMU in Dallas.
And I was, my back has been to it for the most part.
I've been working on the computer and I've had the TVs on.
I've had the audio on.
I haven't been watching.
And all of a sudden, I became aware that a song was being sung, the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
And I stopped what I was doing, and I turned around and I faced the TV, and it was the U.S. Army chorus decked out in their white formal wear, their white military dress, singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
And memories flooded back.
And at the time, I couldn't remember when it was, but I remembered that George W. Bush held a welcoming ceremony for Pope Benedict at the White House outside.
And it was his birthday.
It was, because Kathleen Battle sang happy birthday.
I'll never forget that.
It was the Pope's birthday, and he was making an official visit here to the White House, the United States, and the Army band and chorus sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic.
And it was as moving a rendition.
Now, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has great versions of the Battle Hymn, and a lot of people have done it.
But for some reason, this one just made me stop and have total reverence for the song, for what it was about, for its history, for who wrote it, how it was written.
It was written during the era of Abraham Lincoln when he first heard it.
He liked it so much he demanded it be played again.
And the visuals of the ceremony celebrating Pope Benedict's birthday at the White House.
And it was very close to noon when all this happened.
And I can't tell you how much just the lyrics of the Battle Hymn of the Republic and the way the Army chorus sang it sent chills up my spine.
And I remember I rolled the audio of the TV version of this, which is not the greatest audio.
I rolled it off, and I ended up playing on the program a couple, three days in a row after that because it one of those songs, you know, songs sometimes just hit you.
This one hit me.
I knew of Battle Hymn of the Republic, and I'd heard it performed many times, but the combination of circumstances here entirely moved me.
So I hear it again today.
Now, on that day, it was April the 18th of 2008, turned out.
It's April 25th, five years later.
On that day, right before 12 noon, I called the White House and I said, Would you give me 30 seconds with President Bush just to thank him?
They said, Well, it's going to be tough because he's it might have been the next day, but whatever it was I called, I don't think it was that day, but maybe the next day I called and said, Just give me 30 seconds.
And I tried Karl Rove and he said, Well, I'll try, but I don't, I wouldn't hold out much hope.
I mean, we're swamped today, typical.
And we got him.
And President Bush came on the program for 35 or 40 seconds.
Kathleen Cookie is trying to find it now to roll it off so that we can go back and revisit this.
But I think it is, well, I don't know what it is, but the fact that that song was chosen again today by the president and at that birthday celebration for the Pope, that entire morning, late morning celebration of the Pope in America and the worldwide vision of America and the Catholic Church.
It all came together, and it was a moment of great solemnity and profundity to me.
And I'm reliving it a little bit here when I hear the song.
I say, how coincidental is it that the president chose that song again for his library dedication?
So we've, I want to go back, I want to play, I want to play it for you again.
I want to share my passion for this with you.
The Army Chorus from April 18th.
Now, it's television audio.
It's not the best audio.
You can find professional recordings of the same chorus singing this, but it's not the same.
I went out and did that.
I went to iTunes.
I went everywhere.
I bought as many copies of the vocal portrayal of Battle Hymn of the Republic as I could find, and I could not find one that replicated the phrasing and the syllabic intensity during the chorus as on this version that I want to play for you now.
Because this was almost exactly what I just heard in Dallas.
And I just love this.
He brought his head this sword.
His truth is parting home Oh!
They have built in him an altar.
In the evening jewels and back and read his righteous sentence.
In the living, wearing bats, is praised for.
here.
And when they come back, and when they get into the chorus line again, the way this group sings the word glory, I don't know, it just sends chills down my spine.
It's April 18, 2008, from the White House.
Christ was born on cross the sea with all glory His woes that transfigures you and me as he died to make men holy
Let us fight to make men free while God is party home glory glory hallelujah Glory glory hallelujah Glory glory hallelujah is good is for Jesus
At the White House, the U.S. Army Chorus.
Glory, glory, hallelujah.
I just, folks, I tell you, I can't describe what that does to me.
And it was April 18, 2008, and we were in a period, as we still are in this country, where a ceremony on the White House grounds that honored God seems so unique and unreal.
And this happened with complete fearlessness.
and pride, love.
I was so moved by it, I asked the White House if the president could come on for just a few short minutes so I could thank him.
And actually, the ceremony, I think, was a few days before April 18th.
It was April 18th when the president did make time to call the program.
Mr. President, I can't thank you enough for calling.
I really am gratified you took the time, sir.
How are you?
Any time.
Thanks.
I'm doing great.
I have to tell you, something stirred in my soul, Mr. President, during the welcoming ceremony earlier this week at the White House for Pope Benedict.
And I've been moved by it ever since.
The U.S. Army chorus and band, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, I've been playing it over and over again.
That ceremony, sir, was, you know, we're in a presidential campaign.
And as, you know, by definition, a presidential campaign, candidates are telling us what's wrong with the country.
And that day, you and the Pope brought God to Washington on public property.
It was just amazing.
I just wanted to thank you for it because it was so uplifting.
It was so timely.
The facial expressions on both you and the Pope during the Battle Hymn of the Republic were just priceless.
And I just wanted to take a little time to thank you for it because it didn't get much media coverage, the hymns and the song by Kathleen Battle, but it was just tremendous.
I wish you were there because the spirit on the South Lawn was alive and it was a fantastic moment.
It was, you know, it was great.
I think there was about 13,500 people here.
Yeah, it was the largest welcoming ceremony in the history of the world.
Ever.
And it was really interesting to watch people's expression during the ceremony.
And particularly when his Holy Father got up to speak, there was just unbelievable respect, and everybody hung on his every word.
And it was beautiful.
And you're right.
The Army choir was just fantastic.
I wish all Americans could have seen it.
Anyway, you're kind to say thanks.
It was a great honor for me.
And it's what you expect for the president to do.
And that is to welcome a world figure such as the Holy Father in such grand fashion.
Well, your remarks were excellent as well.
Well, thank you.
Your humility, of course, makes you leave yourself out of this, but your remarks were superb.
The whole day, that whole ceremony, what was it, 45 minutes?
You know, it was bang, bang, bang, but it was just powerful as it could be.
And I played that song all afternoon on the program, and you got more phone calls from people who were inspired by that.
That's great.
So it was a great day.
And I personally wanted to publicly thank you for doing it because it's, like I said, it stirred my soul this week.
It really has.
Well, you're a good man, and I can't thank you enough for your kind words.
And look forward to seeing you up here in Washington again.
I'll buy you another meal when you're up here.
All right, I'll take you up on that.
Thanks very much.
Thank you, Rush.
Good weekend.
President Bush, April 18th, 2008.
He said, that's what presidents are supposed to do.
That's the kind of thing presidents are supposed to do.
And he's right.
And it doesn't happen nearly enough.
And when I heard the Battle Hymn of the Republic today at his library dedication, I thought, what a coincidence.
What a coincidence.
So thank you for indulging me in that.
I could play that song a couple more times.
I obsessed over it listening to it late at night on my computer at home after everybody had gone to bed.
I was just alone with my thoughts.
Glory, glory, hill.
Washington airports have been spared sequester impacts.
Washington airports.
The chief of the FAA told Congress today, Washington area airports will escape the effects of the air traffic controller furloughs, a blessing for lawmakers who fly in and out of the nation's capital.
Michael Werita, head of the FAA, told a congressional panel the Washington region's airports are spaced out enough and have enough spare capacity that furloughs to air traffic controllers won't hurt as much there.
You know, I'm going to tell you: if we had a Republican administration in the White House doing this kind of stuff, there would be hell raised.
The people of this country are being punished for the advancement of a political agenda.
And how about the Politico today?
Lawmakers and their aides may get exempted from Obamacare after all is said and done.
Remember when Obamacare was being debated and when all the tricks were underway to get that bill passed, everybody swore that they in Washington would be subjected to its rules just like the rest of us.
Well, congressional leaders in both parties are engaged in high-level, confident talks about exempting lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides from the insurance exchanges that they are mandated to join.
And this is from sources in both parties.
The talks involve Dingy Harry, John Boehner, administration figures, and other top lawmakers are extraordinarily sensitive.
Both sides acutely aware of the potential for political fallout for giving carve-outs from the hugely controversial law to 535 lawmakers and thousands of their aides.
One member of Congress actually said, this is too expensive for our legislative age to be able to afford.
It's not reasonable.
We should not expect them to have to join these exchanges.
Our legislative aids can't afford this.
More details coming up.
You're listening to Rush Limbaugh.
The big voice on the right.
On the EIB Network.
I went a little long in the opening monologue, so this is going to be a short segment.
I really apologize for that.
That's not good.
But nevertheless, what's with the Politico?
This is twice now.
They've had a story earlier this week that, and it might have been last Wednesday.
I thought time is flying.
Anyway, the Politico did a story that the Gang of Eight immigration bill, if signed into law, will be a political bonanza for the Democrat Party.
Then it will, what we've been saying here, it will register 9 million new Democrats.
It will be the end of the Republican Party for a generation, 25 or 30 years.
Politico published that story.
Ted Cruz, echoing something I said yesterday about this, that The gang of AIDS immigration reform is not intended to pass.
It's intended to die at the House of Representatives.
Let me explain all of this when we come back.
You know, folks, I almost hope, I almost hope that Congress does carve out an exemption for themselves and their aides from Obamacare, just to see if anybody cares.
Folks, that kind of thing, I'm going to be very careful here, in choice of words, that kind of thing, this kind of thing, the crafting of punitive legislation like Obamacare,
mandating that every citizen abide by it, but the elites exempting themselves from it, that has caused trouble throughout world history, throughout human history.
Acts like that have resulted in overthrows, have resulted in attempted overthrows.
And I'm almost tempted to see just what kind of reaction there would be if Congress exempts itself and all of its legislative aides, all of its, essentially its employees, its secretaries, its PR people, because it's too expensive, because it's too oppressive.
Listen to this quote from the politico, this quote from the politico story: lawmakers, especially those with long careers in public service and smaller bank accounts, are also concerned about the hit to their own wallets of Obamacare.
Democrat House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, Democrat Maryland, is worried about the provision.
Now, Stemmy Hoyer makes $225,000 a year or so.
Now, this was fine to force on the rest of the country.
Obamacare, absolutely fine.
All the tax increases, all of the small business adjustments, converting people from part-time to full-time to escape the cost of covering them, to escape the penalties, to escape the fines.
All that was cool.
All that's fine.
But a member of Congress or his aide making $150, $1,800, $225,000 a year, it hits too big.
Stemmy Hoyer worried about the effect of the provision on his wallet.
Stemmy Hoyer makes at least $200,000 as a House Minority Whip.
But yet this was fine to force on the rest of the country, where the average income is still around $40,000, $50,000 a year.
Yet they want to exempt themselves.
This whole bill, Obamacare, the whole thing, folks, is a lie.
It isn't affordable.
It's called the Affordable Care Act.
It isn't.
It has nothing to do with care.
What it is about is nationalizing one-sixth of the U.S. economy, putting it under government control.
It spells the end of sovereignty of the individual.
Radically changes the relationship of the citizen to the state.
Obamacare won't just bankrupt the country.
It may bankrupt small businesses.
It may bankrupt individuals.
And they know it because they want to exempt themselves.
Politico story.
The shock here is that the politico actually ran this story.
What would be the reason?
There's always a reason.
Now, earlier when they ran the story about immigration and how the Gang of Eight immigration bill will be a political bonanza for the Democrats.
By the way, exactly what I have said on this program, that Gang of Eight Immigration Bill automatically creates 9 million new Democrats.
Snap of your fingers.
3 million Republicans.
It changes the balance of power for a generation.
The politico runs a story saying so.
Why?
Why would the politico run a story that could possibly gin up a lot of opposition to the gang of eight bill?
And there in May lie the answer.
Let's go back to the gun control bill.
The gun control bill failed miserably in the Senate, and that ticked off Obama.
As you recall, it wasn't supposed to happen.
The Senate was supposed to okay that gun control bill.
Then it was to be sent to the House where the Republicans theoretically would unite and vote against it.
And thereby, the president and the Democrats have a campaign issue going into 214 because they want to win the House and have one party control over everything.
And if the Democrats pass it in the Senate, send it to the Republicans in the House, Republicans in the House vote it down.
Obama's got his campaign issue.
And you can hear it.
Republicans don't care about kids getting shot at schools.
Republicans don't care about our kids, period.
Republicans want the NRA to run the country.
Republicans want everybody to have a gun.
You can imagine it.
Now, let's come to this Obamacare story in the Politico.
Ted Cruz said yesterday that the immigration bill is designed to fail.
Exactly what I've said.
It's designed to fail just like the gun control bill was designed to fail.
Immigration is supposed to sail through, Gang of Eight, immigration, supposed to sail through the Senate and the Democrats.
It's got things in it that are so reprehensible to Republicans.
The theory is that they'll vote it down.
And Obama's got another campaign issue going into 2014, and that is Republicans hate Hispanics.
Republicans don't like Hispanics.
Republicans don't want Hispanics to have equal rights.
You can hear all the commercials and ads now.
So the Democrats have two issues to run on: gun control, immigration.
Republicans hate both.
Republicans hate this.
Republicans don't care if kids get killed, all of that.
I hate to tell you, but the Republicans might screw everything up here by go ahead and passing the Gang of Eight bill.
The Republicans are so cowed over all of this.
The Republicans are so scared that they might go ahead and vote for it, eliminating any need for Obama to make a campaign issue out of it.
That's just a wild guess.
But as I listen to the rhetoric coming out of Washington, the Republican leadership and Republican power-based offices, there's a theme that is developing.
And the theme is sort of along the lines of, well, you know, we just have to do this.
The American people want it.
We need to solidify our relationship with Hispanics.
It's going to happen anyway.
So rather than reduce the impact of this, we fall back on the idea: well, let's spread the misery around and make it fair.
Just like the Democrats, let's spread the misery around and make it equal.
Let's stop being the party of resistance.
That's not helping us.
Let's stop being the party that is the obstacle.
It's not helping us to be looked at as the obstacle to everything.
So let's just get out of the way, let this stuff sail through.
I'm hearing that from some Republican circles.
Now we come to Obamacare.
Why the political running this story saying that legislative aides and members of Congress are going to get a carve-out?
What in the world is the purpose of that?
Why run that story?
Why not keep that a secret?
has to be a reason for this.
And maybe this is also related to the effort the Democrats are putting in to winning the House in 2014.
So look at today alone.
Lawmakers and their aides may get an exemption from Obamacare.
Steny Hoyer, well, 220, he didn't cite the amount of money he made.
I don't want to misquote him.
I'm just telling you what he makes.
And Steny Hoyer is suggesting that that's a big hit to people's wallets.
And there are quotes from members of Congress talking about their aides.
Richard Burr, Republican, North Carolina.
If the OPM decides that the federal government doesn't pick up the 75% that they have been, then put yourself in the position of a lot of entry-level staff people who make $25,000 a year and all of a sudden they have a $7,000 a year health tab, that'd be devastating.
Yes, it would be.
He's talking about somebody who makes $25,000 working for him or somebody else in Congress.
Well, why not exempt everybody who makes $40,000 or $50,000 a year because it's too big a hit?
Why not exempt everybody who makes $50,000 because it's the hit to them personally?
Their pocketbook's too devastating.
Why carve out just members of Congress and their assistants?
This is almost unreal that this would be made public.
This is the kind of stuff people joke about that Congress does, except these guys may actually be considering it.
And now we learn that Washington area airports will not be affected by the sequester.
They will not be affected by whatever happens to the air traffic controllers or anybody else that gets furloughed because of the sequester.
So Washington's taking care of itself.
Stenny Hoyer's salary, we just checked.
Stenny Hoyer's salary this year is $193,400 a year.
And the hit that he would take would be devastating if he had to subject himself to Obamacare.
So they're going to exempt themselves.
And the airports in Washington will be spared any of the impacts of the sequester.
From Fox News, Jim Angle, lawmakers warn the cost of federal free phone programs spinning out of control.
Anybody believe they're actually going to do away with the Obama phone program?
Anyway, just scratching the surface here, folks, I got to take a brief time out.
You sit tight.
We'll be back and continue with much more here on the Rush Limbaugh program right after this.
Making your dreams come true.
Rush on the EIB Network.
Talent on loan from God.
I didn't see it, but I'm told that Obama used a portion of his remarks at the dedication of Bush Library in Dallas today to push his immigration bill.
And I am told reliably, ladies and gentlemen, that the scuttlebutt among the people at the crowd was that it was not well received, that it was not classy.
Might be some blowback on this.
Maybe, not predicting it, we'll see.
But a reliable source who was there telling me that there was all kinds of in the crowd when Obama deviated from the accepted norm and started politicking.
Now, remember Ted Cruz.
Here's Ted Cruz's quote.
President Obama does not want an immigration bill to pass.
I think that the president wants to campaign on immigration reform in 2014 and 2016.
And I think the reason that the White House is insisting on a path to citizenship, i.e. amnesty, for those who are here illegally is because the White House knows that insisting on that is very likely to scuttle a bill.
That's Ted Cruz.
By the way, the long knives in the Republican Party are out for him too.
Big time.
Not just for me and others on talk radio, but the long knives are out for him too.
So he's got the same theory that we espoused here yesterday, all of this, like amnesty, blatant amnesty, path to citizenship, that's supposed to get killed in the Republican House.
The danger is it may not.
I mean, the Republicans in that, folks, they just may say, look, we're sick and tired of always being opposed to everything.
That's what's killing us.
That's the way they think.
You know what?
I describe, what do I do?
I get up every day here.
I look at the people, the traditions, the institutions that I believe in and love under assault, under attack, and I come here and I defend them.
That's called pushback.
Some people say that's putting obstacles in the way of progress.
And the Republicans, they're not comfortable doing that.
I think they have been told by consultants and the like that one of the problems that the people of the country have with Republicans is that they're seen as nothing.
They're constantly stopping things.
They're opponents.
They oppose everything.
They're always against.
They're never for anything.
And people don't like them for that.
The Republicans are always the obstacle.
And the Republicans are saying, we don't want to be the obstacle anymore.
That's why people dislike us.
So I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if Amnesty sailed through the House.
Ted Cruz thinks it won't, and it likely won't.
I'm just saying, I wouldn't be surprised if it did.
For that reason that I just gave you, that they're just sick and tired of opposing everything, and they think opposing everything is why people don't like them.
So stop opposing.
Appear cooperative and be liked and end up with 150 members.
Harken back to the old Bob Michael days.
Anyway, that's where we appear to be on all of these issues.
And it could well be that Ted Cruz is right.
I think he is.
That Obama's looking for all this stuff to be defeated right.
He's got plenty of time to get this done.
They're getting the Hispanic vote anyway, already.
They get plenty of time.
I mean, winning the House is the big deal.
Not, I mean, that's bigger than any individual piece of legislation right now.
The Democrats winning the House in 2014.
So we'll just have to keep a sharp eye.
I'll tell you, you know, this move we've talked about it the last couple days to levy sales taxes on the internet.
That is something that some Republicans are sounding like they want to support.
There is bipartisan support for taxing small businesses on the internet, startup entrepreneurs.
And the theory is: well, it's not fair that those guys shouldn't be punished.
If we're punishing everybody else with sales taxes, it isn't fair that the internet guys aren't punished.
So we need to make it equally difficult to make a buck on the internet as it is in the brick and mortar stores.
Rather than trying to make it easier to make a buck for everybody, we're going to say it's hard to make a buck in brick and mortar, and we're going to make it just as hard to make a buck on the internet.
That's how Kakamai meets.
The Wonder of Rush will continue on the EIV Network.
Okay, I dug up what Obama said at the Bush Library dedication about immigration.
It is pretty pathetic.
And it uses Bush.
Obama does.
I'll have that for you.
And lots of everything else.
▲
Export Selection