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Oct. 7, 2013 - Rush Limbaugh Program
35:47
October 7, 2013, Monday, Hour #2
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Hi folks, welcome back.
Great to have you.
It's Rush Limbaugh, the EIB network and the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
Telephone number 800 282-2882.
So we had our last caller, Rod, who was re responding to the two people in California who showed up and find out that their Obamacare premiums are $1,800 higher than they thought and $10,000 higher than they thought.
And they are Obama voters and they're Obama care supporters.
And they now understand what the Republicans are doing.
They thought Boehner was a nut.
Now they don't.
And they're shocked when they learn that they are having to pay for other people's health care.
And I know you say, what did they think?
I can't answer that.
Well, yeah, I can answer that.
They they believed Obama.
They believe this their Obama supporters.
They believe their premiums are going down $2,500.
Somebody else was going to pay for it.
It wasn't going to be them.
Almost everybody other than the upper crust that supports Obama thinks they're a victim of something.
And that Obama's out taking care of them or looking out for them.
I mean, that's why they vote for him in one thing, one sense, and other reasons as well.
And now they're learning to low down dirty.
So this guy called and said, well, look, what they should do is just bump out of coverage, just cancel the policy and pay the fine.
First couple of years, the fines are nothing compared to the price of the policy.
$95 up to $200 for a fine.
Now what's the smart way to go?
Then when you get sick, then go get the insurance.
I have people check with me the email during the break.
What do you mean?
How do you do that?
You can't just go get insurance after you got sick.
Yes, you can.
Oh, yes, you can, folks.
Being sick does not keep you from getting coverage.
Starting next year, 2014.
Being sick will not keep you from getting health coverage.
An insurance company cannot turn you down or charge you more because of your condition.
And this is what people like like Ms. Vinson and Mr. Washura identified in California are paying for.
And you too.
Those of you who are experiencing premium increases out the Wazoo, you're you're paying for this.
An insurance company cannot turn you down or charge you more because of your condition.
Once you have insurance, the plan cannot refuse to cover treatment for pre-existing conditions.
Coverage for pre-existing conditions begins immediately.
Now there is a but.
There is a very big but with one T. They do not have to cover pre-existing conditions.
And that's who those two people in the Mercury News story are, self-insured.
So apparently Rod's suggestion would not work for them because they are self-insured.
But for everybody.
That's the only exception.
In 2014, being sick will not keep you from getting coverage.
So what happens is if you have, if you have a plan, self-insured, or a grandfathered individual health insurance plan that you bought yourself, if you have one of those, you can switch to a marketplace plan during open enrollment, and that's how you immediately get coverage for your pre-existing condition.
And if you do that, you're paying a bigger freight, like these two people are.
I know this all sounds like hieroglyphics, right?
That's the point.
Just, folks, the simplest way to look at this is it's going to cost you more money.
There's really no way around that.
Now, these two people in California could drop their plan and sign up for a new Obamacare plan when they get sick.
But they have to drop the insurance they've got now, which they might want to do.
Here's another example.
Fountain Hills, Arizona man says that he may soon have to get another job just to pay for health care insurance under Obamacare.
Michael Surpak, a haskrill dropout, one of six kids born to a screw teacher.
Obviously doesn't come from a wealthy family.
He's run two businesses for more than 25 years.
Says he might have to do more to literally stay alive.
He says, I've worked hard because I've had to.
And I've had to because cancer runs in my family.
He picked his current insurance based on that family history.
His monthly premium is half of his monthly take-home pay.
That's when my house payment used to be more than that.
So I know where the guy is.
Back in 2006, he found out he had an incurable form of leukemia, requires ongoing treatment until he dies.
In 2012, his treatment bill was more than 350 grand.
But because of his insurance, his out of pocket was only 4,500, and that's going to change.
Because Michael just got a letter from his insurance carrier saying as of January 1st, he will be dropped from coverage because of new regulations under Obamacare.
And his doctor at the Mayo Clinic may be gone as well.
He said, Now, it doesn't mean I can't go see my current doctor, but my 4,500 out of pocket, that's going to turn into a minimum of 26,000 because you remember they remove the caps.
One of Obama's many autocratic changes that he just instituted with a wave of his magic wand, just lifted the limits on the caps out-of-pocket expenses.
So this guy's going to see his 4,500 out of pocket go up to 26,000 to see the doctor he's been seeing the last seven years.
Now, this isn't this is a local ABC story from Arizona.
Listen to this.
Michael realizes millions of people will benefit from the coverage, but he wants them to realize that others are making sacrifices to make that happen.
So they still have to throw in there, oh, all kinds of people going to benefit from Obamacare.
And this poor guy just wants everybody to know that others are making sacrifices to make it happen.
Michael, you're not going to get any sympathy.
Not in America 2014.
America 2014 is riddled with people who think they're owed.
They're owed this just because they were born here.
It's how they've been raised.
It's what they think being an American is.
So that's the latest on this.
The San Jose Mercury News stuff, I think, is interesting.
Within the context here, the framework, that on the Obamacare fight, the Republicans are winning this.
They really are.
In the court of public opinion, the Democrats had no idea they would be where they are.
That's why all of a sudden the attention is shifting now to the debt limit, because the Democrats think that they can scorch the Republicans on that.
And they think they're laying a trap for Republicans by offering to combine the government shutdown on Obamacare with the debt limit fight.
That is kind of a dual-edged sword from a strategic sense.
What to, you know, how to approach that.
Because you don't want to give up the ground gained here on Obamacare.
You just don't.
In fact, you know what I would do?
I I I really mean I think this debt limit thing.
I would keep the pressure on.
This date of October 17th, why does it exist?
Because Obama says it does.
So if I'm the Republicans, I just go ahead and author another temporary bill that pays bills For a month or so and make them veto that.
I just make them continue to veto every uh effort that is made to keep things going, status quo.
And make Obama continue, and Harry Reid make them promise to veto spending for kids' cancer at the NIH.
Make them promise to veto spending to open a Grand Canyon.
Just keep it up.
Because right now, by hook or by crook, somehow, it actually has eventuated that the Republicans are winning on this because it's the Democrats who are seen as incalcitrant, as unwilling to compromise, as unwilling to negotiate.
At this point, you take the win however you can get it.
Now there's still, we still hear that there are 20 Republicans in the House trying to undermine all this.
They don't like this shutdown business.
They don't like this attention on Obamacare, and they think the Republicans are losing.
And they're think they're having it hands up.
Oh, and there's another aspect of this.
There's a story, I guess Salon.com.
Get this, according to Salon.com and the Huffing and Puffington Post, you may throw them in there.
The Republican donor class is now getting very upset at Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and these uh Obamacare shutdown people.
The donor class.
Have you ever heard of the Democrat donor class being upset with the Democrats?
Who is the Republican donor?
Well, obviously wealthy donors, but who are they?
To whom do they give money, the Republican establishment?
So we've had this creation here, the Republican donor class.
I. The money people.
It's just another uh offshoot in the establishment effort to marginalize and ultimately destroy the Tea Party.
And despite this, despite this, the pressure remains on the Democrats with this.
It's actually kind of interesting to watch all of this play out.
CNN, CNN is claiming that Obama is, get this, Obama's signaling that he is much more flexible.
There's only reason why, only one reason why the regime would go to CNN and ask for that to be reported.
It's because he's seen as inflexible.
He's seen his intractable, intractable.
The Democrats are the ones seen as unwilling to negotiate and unwilling to cooperate and unwilling to uh get along.
And I'm sure they are stunned.
I know they're stunned.
They don't believe this, they don't believe they can lose with the media helping characterize Republicans the way they do.
They don't believe, but the one thing the Democrats can't control is reality, and the reality of what people are finding when they go to the exchanges and find out what Obamacare is going to cost them.
Just like these two people of San Francisco or the San Jose Mercury News, you know, I didn't like Boehner's tactics, but now I know why he's mad.
John Boehner's actually seen as being on these guys' side.
May not actually admit it in those words.
But this number, this 20 Republicans number, that that's from the Huffing and Puffington Post.
And they're saying 20 Republicans out there that are nervously wringing their hands and they don't like this Ted Cruz-led effort.
They don't like Lee.
They don't like this shutdown.
They don't like this Obamacare shutdown.
Um, and and they don't have any names.
They say they've they've arrived at this number of 20 Republicans by reading a tea leaves.
There haven't been any votes to show they're anywhere near 20 Republicans that want to bail on this.
But ever since the middle of last week, we've been hearing first it was 12.
Remember that snerdled?
There were 12 Republicans that were not happy at all.
Twelve that were getting ready to came.
We never had their names mentioned.
Now the number's Up to 20.
And the reason why 20 is important, because that would give them a majority if all the Democrats would vote the party line.
If there could be, if if somebody, if they could find 20 Republicans in the House to vote against what's going for what's called a clean continuing resolution, meaning fund the government without with nothing about Obamacare in it.
If they could find 20 Republicans, the Democrats could unify, they could beat it.
And that's why they say there are 20, but they don't name them.
There's not been a vote taken, so it's just anybody's wild guess.
But it's just the pressure is on.
It's always on the Republicans, but especially now because the Democrats are losing this, and the media doesn't be able, doesn't seem to be able to do anything about that.
And when that happens, utter confusion takes over on the Democrat side.
Gotta take a break.
Back after this, folks.
No problem.
Back to the phones.
We go.
This is uh this Georgian Ormond Beach, Florida.
Great to have you, George.
Thank you for calling, sir.
Well, it's great to talk you after 20 years.
Well, you know I I guess you gotta get through occasionally, right?
And what I want to ask you, with all the nonsense about the Redskins and the change of name.
Do you think that Obama's gonna Obama and the Liberals are going to make uh the state change of uh name of Oklahoma?
No.
You don't think so?
No.
Well, what if I kind of uh, you know, tell you a little bit about it.
The name Choptaw.
I mean, the Chop do a name for Oklahoma means red people.
Choctaw means red people.
In Well, I know there's a Choctaw Bridge, and I this guy Billy Joe Tolliver jumped off of it.
No, the state of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma means red people.
Oklahoma means red people.
Right.
Well, but I don't know that anybody's offended by that.
I don't think the media knows that yet.
But they should know it because we should change that name.
Why why let Oklahoma get a name like that?
The media doesn't even know where Oklahoma is.
Well, they know where Oklahoma is, but they don't know what the name means.
I don't care what Oklahoma means.
They don't know where it is, they don't care what happens there.
It's a Republican state.
That would go in my head.
You're right.
Don't know where it is.
They need a visa.
Well, they don't know what that is either.
To get to Oklahoma.
And I understand your point.
There are all kinds of names out there.
But but that's a state that is being named in honor of, just like the uh the proponents of Redskins will tell you it's in honor of.
But uh it's just it's silly, folks.
This is all happening in the media.
You you the only place you read about this is in the sports pages.
And so this AP babe gets hold of Obama and asks him about it, and of course, what's he gonna say?
He he can't he can't come out and be ambivalent, and he can't come out and say he supports the name, because the whole point here is to just is chaos.
The whole point is keep people royal.
The whole point here is attack tradition and institutions.
That's the whole point of the left, just upset every apple cart they can.
But this Redskins thing, this is this is clearly, and it always has been a media thing.
It's not the red the Redskins fans are not upset.
Redskins, you know, the uh the Redskin donor class, seasoned ticket holders, they're not upset.
The Redskins players are not upset.
RG3 doesn't care.
There's nobody upset.
Other NFL teams are not upset.
Now the NFL meetings, the next uh scheduled meetings are tomorrow in Washington.
And there is nothing on the agenda to deal with the name of the Redskins.
However, the media says that some owners who are getting nervous about the negative PR are going to take Dan Snyder aside and start working him Over on the idea that at some point they're going to have to deal with this because this is a situation that is untenable.
But Snyder is making it as clear as he can make it that he's not changing the name.
He went out and hired cheap big pale face, Lanny Davis of Clinton fame to be the frontman on this in terms of PR.
Lanny Davis, number one Clinton defender during Lewinsky.
And Lanny Davis is out there with all kinds of polling data from everywhere that shows there isn't anywhere near a majority.
There's not even a small minority upset about this.
And to find a small minority, you have to spend a whole lot of time agitating people.
It's not something they're walking around thinking about.
It just isn't.
When everything going on in the country, what the name of the Washington football team is not something that's on the front of everybody's mind.
And most people are not offended.
But you know, you are even the commissioner, Roger Good.
Well, if even one person's offended, we must listen, right.
They're just trying to I thought there was no politics in football.
I I thought the media was supposed to keep politics out of football.
But that is really all this is.
Media driven, media led, media trying to demonstrate the power they think they've got, uh influence they think they have, pressure that they think they can bring to bear on something.
This is uh an exercise in flexing muscles.
As much as it is anything else.
I got to take another obscene profit break here, folks, but we're back before you know it.
Don't go away.
Now, this is interesting and uh it bears out my theory today.
Jay Carney, a White House spokesman, just said the president has been open to negotiations all year long, and he remains so today.
No, he has not been.
He doesn't negotiate.
He has said he's not going to negotiate.
He's actually been more blunt.
Did you see that?
I cannot believe this.
Did you see there's a picture of it up there now that JFK once went on a date with Helen Thomas?
And if they went on a date, you know what that means.
You if you're a woman and you went on a date with JFK, you got undressed at some point.
Yes, it does, Dawn.
Don't tell me it didn't.
Of course it means that.
You don't think that's true?
I can't believe this.
This is the kind of thing we're up against here, folks.
I've got somebody wanting to defend JFK here on something like this.
Obvious.
Even Helen Thomas, that's what makes you think it's not possible.
Don't doubt me on this.
JFK, Helen Thomas.
I mean, well, anyway.
Jay Carney said president's been open to negotiation all year long and remains so today.
He hasn't.
He has purposely, he's I I I forget the exact words he said just last week.
He said he wasn't going to negotiate with them.
He had nothing to negotiate with or over or about.
Yeah, Helen Thomas said JFK was too fresh.
What do you think that means, Dawn?
You think people these days knows know what that he's too fresh.
That used to mean that he came on too strong.
That's what you'd say about somebody, ah, we're too fresh, came on too strong.
You youngsters may not know that.
That's why I'm that's what she said about it.
Well, there's only one thing that means.
He took his clothes off and he tried to get hers off.
Yes, Don, don't sit there and act like you're offended by this.
Anyway.
What is this?
I I think, folks, the fact that Jay Carney is out there saying the president has been open to negotiations all year long and remains so today means that the polling data or the focus grouping, whatever they're doing, must really be bad for them.
We're just supposed to forget.
just a couple of days ago.
Obama said he would never negotiate on this.
Now, by the way, Carney led off his press conference by talking about how 7,000 kids are suffering because of the shutdown.
Shutdown hurting head start.
I I thought the sequester.
I thought the sequester dealt with head stuff.
That's another thing.
The sequester did not cause endless pain and suffering.
And the Democrats were crying wolf about the sequester.
Oh my God, these music guns, oh no, Medicare, Medicaid, defense, oh no.
Nothing happened.
The sky didn't fall.
The world didn't come to an end.
And it hasn't here with this so-called shutdown.
By the way, the shutdown, only 17% of things are shut down.
Now they reinstituted the Amber Alert website.
Did you know they shut that down?
Did you get your alert over the week or your amber alert?
I got my first one on my phone.
And I looked and said, what the hell?
All three phones went off.
And I said, I could have sworn I had two of these things on Do Not Disturb.
And they were.
They were on do not disturb and a stupid alert still permeated to do not disturb.
It was a license plate number of a car in Miami, Amber Alert.
It turns out that uh over the weekend the Amber Alert website was shut down because of the government shutdown.
When news of that hit, but that Michelle Obama's exercise website was still up, they reactivated the Amber Alert.
But Obama is the regime here is being really vindictive in the things that they're shutting down.
83% of the government still operating.
17% is shut down.
And now, folks, you know, they're already starting to talk about payment, repayment for furloughed.
Washington employees, Pentagon to recall most furloughed workers, Chuck Hagel says, in a nutshell, in anticipation of the upcoming shutdown, Congress passed legislation last week signed by Obama that ensures the military will not have their paychecks delayed by a shutdown.
Pay our military act.
It exempts the Defense Department civilian employees from not being paid if they provide direct support for the military.
House approves back pay for furloughed workers.
And this passed unanimously, 407 to nothing.
Twenty-five members not voting.
And it's probably going to pass the Senate unanimously as well.
And Obama's going to sign it without a murmur.
Even though it's piecemeal funding.
The House voted unanimously Saturday to retroactively pay.
Well, yes, this always happens.
The 95 shutdown went through Thanksgiving.
Guess what?
They got their turkeys at Christmas.
They got their back pay.
The federal workers never lose their money.
It's always reimbursed.
In fact, the 1995 government shutdown, you know, something I just remembered Clinton went to the public employee union guys and struck a deal with them.
And the deal was that they would be reimbursed, and they were if if they would simply raise hell about losing their jobs because of the shutdown.
Now this was before the shutdown went into effect because of the optics.
Everybody, the Democrat side, Clinton wanted to embarrass Newt and the uh and the Republicans.
And of course, as far as the media is concerned, the government shut down Republicans got creamed, but in reality they didn't.
The media optics were bad for the Republicans, but reality wasn't.
And what's missing in this shutdown, the optics are not hurting.
If you got Jay Carney out there, oh yeah, President willing to negotiate any day.
Every day, all year he's been willing to negotiate.
That tells me that they are losing in the polling data.
That tells me they are losing this shutdown business over Obamacare because they are seen as the ones who won't negotiate.
And I know it might seem like chump change and no big deal, but there are apparently a lot of voters to whom that is a big deal.
The two parties sitting down and working together, getting along and trying to come to a compromise.
And in this one, the Democrats are the ones who appear mean, extreme, and uncompromising.
So a carney out there today, just moments ago saying, oh yeah, Obama's been willing to negotiate all year.
He's negotiated with anybody any time.
And just last week, he said he never would.
So the Republicans are winning this, but there's an all-out effort within the Republican Party and the DC establishment to get them to cave.
Even when they're winning this.
And let's demo this with some audio sound bites.
First up, a well-known Republican conservative Mike Murphy, establishment conservative guy.
He was on Meet the Press on Sunday during the round table.
Savannah Guthrie did the hosting honors.
Guthrie was uh sitting in for David Gregory.
And she said two-thirds of the country don't like the tactic of shutting down the government, even if they don't like Obamacare, and they don't like this.
I think we ought to go back to the problems with the computer sites.
Because what we have is a perfect storm here.
You take the cynics who run the Democratic Party, and you take the stupid wing of the House GOP, they fell for a trap.
There's no rule in politics.
When your opponent is in trouble, when they're drowning politically, you throw them a fire hose.
We threw them a lifeboat and a machine gun.
Because now we're going to debate this.
Excuse me, I'm all choked up on some.
Instead of 13 months away getting control of the Senate, which means we can have the policy fight within the system.
So on a tactical basis, it is an incredibly stupid move.
That's a Republican consultant who thinks what the Republicans are doing is crazy.
And once again, you see, as far as the establishment is concerned here, and there's nothing wrong with this on its face.
I mean, they focus here on winning the Senate, but did you hear what he said?
We win the Senate, and then we have the policy fight within the system.
As though what's going on now is outside the system, and that makes it bad.
There is no outside the system.
All of this is the system.
There are mechanisms everywhere for people in both parties on both sides to use in these political arguments.
But in the Republican donor class and the Republican consultant class, there is this obsession with winning the Senate, but not because of ideas, folks.
They want the committee chairmanships.
They want to control the money.
They want to be the ones getting credit for how it's spent.
And therein lies the difference.
To the extent that you and I want our leaders to acquire power, it's to de-emphasize Washington and everybody's life, not to grow it.
We're not interested in getting control of the money in order to spend it so that we can buy love and buy support.
That's not who we are.
But the establishment of our party is just like the establishment of the Democrats, and that's the attraction is all of that money.
And the committee chairmanships.
It's why they hated Sharon Engel and like uh the O'Donnell, because they didn't think these people don't have a chance.
They don't care if they win the committee chairmanships with moderate liberal Republicans.
It doesn't matter.
Just as long as whoever there's got an R by their name, because that gives the establishment of the party the power to spend the money, and that's what they are primarily interested in.
But there is no insider outside the system for these policy fights.
This is a policy fight that's taking place, I think it's in Washington, it's within the system.
But you see the Republican establishment is considering the House GOP the stupid wing of the GOP.
But it's not them who are drowning.
And I think it's interesting, people that are inside the beltway think that's what's happening.
People inside the beltway who make the news the beltway, who consume it, who basically live the Washington narrative every day, are just convinced the Republicans are just embarrassing themselves and losing humiliatingly bad.
Well, I don't think that that's really what's happening out there.
Anyway, uh you sit tight.
You know, we'll be back.
Another obscene profit timeout.
We'll get to your phone calls when we return.
There's another thing that Mike Murphy is saying when he says, Come on, come on, we need to have a stupid party.
We need to stop this.
We need to stop this and focus on winning this tenant and we can have these discussions within the system.
It's just another way of saying let's cave on this, and then we really fight him on the next one.
And we've been doing that ever since the first debt limit fight, the first continuing resolution.
It seems like the Republican strategy has been, oh, let's cave on this.
And we'll take it to them in three months.
That's when the really when the big one's gonna get that's when we're gonna raise a debt limit.
That comes along, and we shelve that, we cave on that, we move on to the next one.
And every time we get to the next one, we cave and move to the next one.
Every time we get to the next one, we're really gonna mount the fight, somebody comes up.
You know, this would be a bad time.
This is the wrong time.
Go ahead and cave on this.
There's much bigger stuff ahead.
We'll tackle it on the next one.
So this is the quintessential.
Let's cave here.
We're looking dumb.
We're looking stupid.
I'm embarrassed as a Republican.
I want to focus on winning the Senate, and then we'll take it to them.
That's what's happening here.
Now, here's here's Obama.
This is uh uh thank FEMA staffers who are working for the government shutdown, and and he spoke about it.
Here's Obama himself saying that he never said he wouldn't negotiate.
I heard a lot of talk over the weekend that uh the real problem is is that uh the president will not negotiate.
Well, let me tell you something.
Uh I have said from the start of the year that I'm happy to talk to Republicans about anything related to the budget.
That's a crap.
It's not a subject that I am not willing to engage in.
This is a work on negotiate and come up with common sense compromises.
A total crap.
What I said is that I cannot do that under the threat that if Republicans don't get 100% of their way, they're gonna either shut down the government or they are going to default on America's debt, so that America for the first time in history does not pay its bills.
That is not something I will do.
That's not what they're doing, but that's even so precisely when you would negotiate to stop that.
He didn't say he it was just last week he said he would he just said it again.
So he's saying both things.
I'll negotiate anytime, anywhere.
I'm just not gonna negotiate when they don't let me have what I want.
That's what he's saying.
I'll negotiate anywhere, anytime.
But if they're not gonna let me have what I want, I'm not talking to them.
The fact that he's saying he'll negotiate is proof to me he's losing this in their internal polling data.
And even Wolf Blitzer thinks he might be hearing Obama blink here.
I did hear a little greater flexibility on the part of the president, at least willing to say he's ready to negotiate some of the long-term debt relief spending, if you will.
He's not willing to negotiate over Obamacare, but maybe there's an opening that we're all hearing right now.
Is that too optimistic?
Oh, I don't want to freaking hero worship.
I can't handle much more.
But anyway, the point is they are.
I mean he even Wolf said, I'm serious he's willing to negotiate.
They know, folks, they know exactly.
The Republicans, despite themselves are winning this thing, in spite of themselves.
Well, not Cruz and Lee are doing great work, but I knew over the weekend, and this, this, this, it's all about this negotiation business.
And Obama's out using that word and promising people he's willing to do it.
They're losing it on that, trust me.
Sit tight, my friends.
We have yet another exciting busy broadcast hours straight ahead.
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