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May 21, 2014 - Rush Limbaugh Program
37:44
May 21, 2014, Wednesday, Hour #2
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Hello, folks, and welcome back.
It's great to have you here.
Rush Limboss serving humanities by showing up here at the Excellence in Broadcasting Network.
Telephone number if you want to be on the program's 800 282-2882 and the email address, illrushbow at EIBNet.com.
Just a couple more things on the VA, and I want to move on to uh other things.
And in the one common denominator in all of the things Obama is so mad about is Obama himself.
If you stop and think about it, the one common denominator seems to me anyway, the one common denominator in all of the things Obama is so mad about is Obama himself.
I mean, he pretends to be angry now, but in a few months, you know, after the midterms, uh, he'll announce there wasn't even a smidgen of corruption at the VA.
Just like there wasn't a smidgen of corruption at the IRS.
This is how these things are dealt with, folks, is gonna look into this.
He's got the low information crowd now believing, accepting that it is unacceptable.
It's untherable.
He's mad about this.
This is not the way to treat people.
This isn't equality.
This isn't fairness.
Even if the left is not that crazy about uniform military personnel, still.
So he's mad.
He's properly mad.
He's gonna get to the bottom of it.
And he will.
And just like he is now saying about the IRS that there was not a smidgen of corruption.
I think he didn't he say that to O'Reilly in one of O'Reilly's, yeah, there's not a smidgen of corruption at the IRS.
And after this mythical investigation at the VA, there will not be a smidgen of corruption found there.
Washington Post story yesterday.
This memo shows that the VA knew of records manipulation in 2010.
Robert Petzel resigned last week as a top health official for the Department of Veterans Affairs just a day after testifying for Senate committee that he knew VA health clinics were using an appropriate scheduling practices as early as 2010.
Never mind that Petzel is another of the Obama administration's patented phony resignations.
We previously noted Petzel had announced his retirement last September.
Obama announced his replacement in early May of this year, this month.
So less than three weeks ago, Obama announced Petzel's replacement.
And yet, Obama last week running around acting like something had to be done, and this guy had to be fired, and we've done it.
We've replaced him, and we're moving forward.
He resigned.
He announced his retirement last September.
Now, this memo, the Washington Post is talking about that shows the VA knew of records manipulation in 2010.
It spells out precisely what the VA hospitals were doing in order to cover up how they were not meeting their Obama mandated goals.
Now that's another point.
In the phoniness, this administration, they publish and are very public about their new improved streamlined operations at, in this case, the VA.
And they talk about how they're going to really make it better.
Previous administrations had let it languish and let it fall by the wayside because they didn't care.
Or they weren't sufficiently compassionate.
But Obama is on the case, and they are going to re-energize the VA and institute brand new mandated goals.
But that's where it stops.
Because you see, the reality is never the news.
The intentions are the only thing that ever make the news.
Either before or after an event has happened.
So in this Case, the regime mandates brand new streamlined goals.
Yay!
Yay!
And Obama gets credit for doing it just by announcing it.
And that's it.
Then when it doesn't happen, when the excrement hits the fan as it has now, then it's time for phase two.
I am so mad about this, I can't believe it.
I'm not going to tolerate it.
We're going to get to the bottom of it.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
This memo spells out precisely what VA hospitals were doing in order to cover up how they weren't meeting Obama's mandated goals, because they couldn't.
But the mandated goals were not intended to be met.
The mandated goals were just in existence for the purpose of the announcement of the mandated goals.
The mandated goals, in other words, served to, as far as people were concerned, actually achieve new goals.
Whether they did or not didn't matter.
Obama announced his intentions, and that's where it stops.
Except records were kept.
And the memo spells out exactly how the VA hospitals were covering up, not meeting the goals.
Petzel admitted he knew about that memo.
And he says that efforts were made to put a stop to it.
But he couldn't cite any specifics that he did.
Nobody was fired, despite Shintsecki trying to make it sound like 6,000 people were fired, but nobody's been fired.
Nobody's heads have rolled.
None of that's happened.
So it's clear the VA had no problem with this going on because that was what was really going on was not the point.
They were always attempting to cover up half-assed behavior with good intentions to fix it, is how it works in this administration.
You go out and announce you've got these massive new goals, massive new plans, we're going to streamline, we're going to improve it, and that's it.
Whether they happen or not is irrelevant.
The credit to Obama accrues with the announcement of his intention to make it better.
They knew the goals were not being met, so they had to cover it up somehow.
So the secret waiting list.
They did any number of things to make it look like Obama's goals are being met, but they couldn't be.
In fact, they're probably doing what they thought Obama wanted done, just like the IRS people did.
And just like anybody involved in Obamacare does, they're probably doing what they think Obama would want done, and that is cover up reality so that the image survives.
Right.
It's not about the veterans, folks.
It's not about the people involved.
It's not about their health care.
It's not about the streamlined goals.
It's about Obama and the perception of the administration.
That's all it is.
Be it the VA, be it Obamacare, be it the IRS, I don't care what it is.
Everything is about how Obama is doing.
And if news surfaces that he's not doing well, then that's when the playbook of, oh my God, this is going on.
I had no idea.
I just found out about it, and I'm as mad as you are, is rolled out, which we got today on the VA.
But there's a memo that basically shows the VA knew that these records are being manipulated all the way back as far as 2010.
Probably prior to that.
From our 50,000 watt blowtorch affiliate in St. Louis, Camo X. Dr. Jose Matthews says that he's paying the price for being a whistleblower at the VA hospital in St. Louis.
He didn't hold back as he told his story to Camo X. Matthews was head of psychiatry at the VA before he came forward to say that doctors were treating only half the mental health patients they had the capacity to handle.
After he says he was promptly removed from his position, specifically instructed not to contact any of the psychiatrists he was leading.
This sounds like bullying to me.
Okay.
And yet Eric Holders still refuses to have the DOJ investigate.
Well, here you have the VA whistleblower in St. Louis says he's been demoted, says he's been bullied.
Because he came forward to say that doctors were treating only half the middle health patients they had the capacity to handle.
He went off script.
He risked blowing this entire image that Obama has all these wonderful intentions and cares so much about all of this.
Even though he was relocated to a basement office, Dr. Jose Matthews continues going to work at the VA as scheduled.
Quick timeout.
We'll come back.
We will continue.
CNN's CEO.
Have you heard about this, Jeff Z?
Have you heard of this snerdily?
Jeff Zucker says they are not going to be shamed into covering Benghazi.
That's right.
They're not going to be shamed into covering Benghazi by a bunch of temper tantrums from the right.
They're not going to fall for this trick.
There's nothing to see in Benghazi.
There's no reason to investigate it.
There's no reason to cover it, and CNN's not going to get shamed into it.
He's also concerned about a tremendous lack of interest in their climate change stories at CNN.
He really is.
He's worried that the audience doesn't care about the great work they're doing on climate change at CNN.
We'll be back.
Welcome back.
Okay.
Even when I, ladies and gentlemen, am not here, I still remain the most talked-about radio talk show and host.
In the country yesterday on Fox, America's Newsroom, the fill-in host Eric Sean spoke with Ed Rollins, the Republican strategist, and the Democrat strategist Marianne Marsh about comparisons that I made between the problems at the VA and Obamacare.
Do you remember what I said?
It was very simple.
In fact, it was harmless.
Happened to be true.
In discussing on Monday, the problems at the VA, I said, folks, here we have a little microcosm of where we're all headed with Obamacare.
The VA is single payer.
This is where we're all headed.
Long lines, some people not being treated.
Regime officials monkeying around with waiting lists.
This is what is going to happen to everybody with Obamacare if it's fully implemented.
That's what they played for the reaction of the Republican and Democrat strategists.
Here first, Eric Sean.
Problems with the VA health care system could be a sign of what's to come with Obamacare.
Here's what Rush Limbaugh had to say.
No matter how big anybody's heart is, no matter how much they care, here is a microcosm of what Obamacare is going to be if it's fully implemented.
Is that the case?
What does the VA scandal tell us about the new world of government health care in our nation?
So after that, they went to Ed Rollins and Mary Ann Marsh.
And a question for Rollins, the VA health care system is government health care.
While some vets are satisfied, all these other cases are just so horrendous and unforgivable.
Will this be what it could be like under Obamacare, Ed Rollins?
I think you have to separate the two.
First of all, we have to take care of the the VA.
Whatever it takes bipartisanly, we need to fix this thing.
Relative to it being connected to Obamacare.
The problem with Obamacare is it didn't do anything to reduce the cost.
It basically added more coverage for people, but wasn't any guarantee there's gonna be more medical services available.
Just can't go there.
Just can't just can't see.
You agree with me that would that that would be divisive in Washington.
So have to make the point.
Well, it's two different things.
First of all, we have to take care of the VA.
Whatever it takes.
Bipartisan, we need to fix this thing.
That's the establishment mantra.
It could be Chris Christie.
It could be, you name it, and they have to have bipartisan.
That's right, Limbo.
We get across the aisle.
We're going to roll up our shle work with the other side.
And that's what I'm the best at.
And that's the solution.
Can't possibly agree.
No, no, no, because that would be too scary to contemplate.
Cinder went to Marianne Marsh, the Democrat strategist, and this was her reaction.
The VA has had issues long before Obama was president and long before Bush was president.
The tipping point came when we went into two wars we shouldn't have been in, we didn't pay for, and never planned for these veterans.
That is the huge problem here.
So I agree with that.
A bipartisan agreement by Republicans and Democrats to devote the resources necessary to the VA to make sure every soldier gets every service they need because they have served our country.
Right.
So you agree with Rollins, the establishment finding comfort with one another.
Bipartisan, absolutely.
And then she adds to, by the way, we wouldn't even have these veterans and their medical problems if it hadn't been for Bush.
And those two wars that we didn't pay for.
And we never planned for.
That's the huge problem here.
Two wars we should have never been in, and we've got all these injuries and all this sickness.
It wouldn't have happened if it hadn't been for Bush.
Well, I agree with Ed by partisan agreement.
The resources necessary to fix the VA to make sure every soldier gets every service they need because they've served our country, but damn it, they didn't have to.
So you see how this plays out inside the beltway.
You realize how idiotic this is.
This is the huge problem.
So I agree with it.
A bipartisan agreement, uh, Republicans, Democrats, devote the resources necessary to the VA.
Well, what's been going on the last five years?
We didn't have these problems.
We were at war when George W. Bush was president, obviously.
We have these problems.
The Iraq war ended a long time ago.
What do you mean these injuries and these cases are specific to these two wars?
But because the mantra is bipartisan, work together.
We cannot let it stand that what we're seeing here at the VA is a microcosm of where we're all headed for Obamacare, even though it is.
It's a natural progression.
Back to the phones.
David St. Petersburg, Florida.
Great to have you.
Glad you waited.
Welcome to the program, sir.
Hi.
Well, thank you very much.
Uh great points today.
I am a brain and spine surgeon in Florida.
I've worked in VA systems around the country for many years, been practicing almost 20 years, and I can tell you for sure that the vets are suffering.
Uh, there's they're uh undergoing neurologic deficits, and they're dying because of the weight they have to endure in the VA.
There's no question about it.
The doctors and nurses there are great.
There's a lot of good employees there, but in the end, it's the bureaucracy, the bloated government administration, and uh that is really hurting our vets.
David, let me share with you something that I was uh given a heads up by the staff.
This always happens.
Um when I'm out on a particular day, if it's just one day, uh I'll okay, what happened yesterday?
What do I need to know?
Uh that might have happened on the program.
What I was told was there were a lot of people at calls defending the VA yesterday, that the that the health care being doled out there is fine, that the treatment there is fine, that it's simply a problem of getting to the treatment, that the lines are so long, that's the problem, is that?
Yeah, that is correct.
Now I'm a private doctor.
I worked in the VA in the past as a as a resident and as a professor, but uh right now they don't have neurosurgeons, for instance.
And even if they did, it still takes forever.
When I was in VA clinics as a neurosurgeon, it takes months and months to come in for the most simple things that are easy to treat.
So now they'll send me bets because our VA doesn't have a neurosurgeon in the area.
And they'll have uh leg pain going on for a year or two.
That's so easy to treat with a simple operation.
Or their foot will be partially paralyzed because they didn't get a simple operation, or the worst case I had recently of a person with an obvious brain tumor that was just messed around with was so long and they died.
David, why are there doctor shortages at the VA?
I mean, the government spends money it doesn't have on other things.
Why not stock fully the VA with doctors?
Well, because they spend the money on bureaucracy, right?
They spend the money on uh management, cost control, and computers and more administrators and bigger buildings, and it's all part of the government, you know.
So there's a real simple solution.
You know, let's put the government, I mean, the uh the patients and the vets first and the government last, give the vets a voucher, let them find the care elsewhere, and it'll be fine.
But that's not what the progressives want.
They want big government, which is why they say put the funds into it.
No, I understand that.
But my my question is the nature of it's a little bit different.
We don't have the money that we're spending now.
I mean, we're national debt 17 trillion, the annual deficit's about a trillion dollars.
We we're we're spending money we don't have.
Um, and every cabinet department has a budget.
They all go over it.
Baseline budgeting guarantees that.
You're talking about allocation.
But why stop at building new buildings and getting new computers?
Why not also, if we're going to bust the budget, why not bust the budget getting doctors?
Because they can't afford the true market rate for doctors and what they should be paid, and they also don't run a system that's designed to deliver on the government.
But the government can afford anything it wants because it can print the money to pay for it, is my point.
Yeah, I suppose.
But in the end, all government systems run out of money.
They always have to ration it, they always have to serve the bureaucracy first, and the patients suffer, and the doctors serve.
But that's always selective, because the idea that we're busting budgets is old news.
We're spending money we don't have anyway.
Uh so it's a conscious reason why here.
All right, let me answer my own question.
I'm best at that anyway.
Because it's a good question, B, the answer is even better.
And C, this is the kind of thing that the network's going to play for their guests to react to on future shows.
My question to the good doctor, we just had on the phone.
If every government agency is over budget, and it is by default, and we're spending a trillion dollars a year that we don't have.
We're nowhere near balance, so it doesn't matter.
Every agency is over budget.
So my question to him was, it really doesn't matter, does it?
What the budget is?
They're going to spend it, so when they spend it, why don't they spend it on staffing the VA with doctors?
And if the answer comes back, well, there's a limit, you know, there's a budget, and we can only spend on No, that doesn't wash, folks.
The budget doesn't matter.
This government is spending on whatever it wants to spend.
Look at Obama's budgets that are submitted every year.
I don't care if they're DOA, I don't care if they never get voted on.
Look at the desire.
There is no spending limit.
There is no real limitation on spending.
That's why the Tea Party exists.
You know it, and I know it.
Left to their own devices, these people would spend money without any regard for the consequences in a fiscal sense.
So why do they not actually spend it on doctors?
And here comes the controversial answer.
That's not the purpose of government.
The purpose of government from the left standpoint is not results.
If it were, LBJ's great society wouldn't be a dismal failure.
Remember, we're not supposed to look at the results of liberal programs, are we?
There aren't any that are successful.
Every social program to come down the pike that the Dems liberals have have authored, has busted up minority families, destroyed the border system In this country.
I mean, it's a disaster.
The social fabric, the cultural rot taking place in this country is again the result of policy put in place by Democrats.
But with what?
Good intentions, yes, we are only supposed to judge the good intentions.
Social Security, Medicare, Warrant Poverty, you name it, all of them are disasters.
And because of that, we're only supposed to look at the intentions.
Okay, let's come to the VA just to pick.
This would be true of any agency.
When it comes to the VA, results are really not the purpose of government.
What does a liberal want to run government for?
Power exactly right, growing government.
They spend the money to call her the doctor, the good doctor had it right.
They spend the money on what?
Themselves.
They hire more of them.
They hire more administrative employees.
They do this with education.
What are we spending per student in most states?
New Jersey, 20 grand per student.
Look at the results.
Where's the money going?
Additional administration.
Buildings for the administration.
Cars and transportation and expense accounts for the administration.
New computer systems for the administration.
Grant money for the administration to give to climate scientists to come back with a verdict that man is causing global warming.
Same thing at the VA.
What are they doing?
They are spending their money to grow the size of the agency.
Same thing at the EPA, what are they doing?
Now at the EPA, the FDA, there's a little difference because when you say they don't care about results, there are exceptions to everything.
And at the at the EPA particularly they care about results.
Mandated undemocratically mandated official regulations they impose.
They care about the results of their demands or limits or regulation on you and me and how we must live.
But the VA, look at folks, I the VA's got a lot of good people in it.
But it's always the case, the mindset of the people that run it, when you have a Democrat like Obama particularly in office, results are not what matters.
It's a real simple question.
If you are going to go over budget, if money really doesn't matter, and isn't that when you get down to it the thing, the money doesn't matter.
They'll always say, well, we've got budget, we can't hire more doctors.
Budget limits, but they never use that excuse to say they can't grow the size of the agency.
So if you're going to spend money you don't have anyway, why not spend it on getting more brain surgeons, spinal surgeons, if that's what the VA needs, get them in there.
Why not get a bigger bang for the buck on actual medical care in the VA?
Why not do that?
I don't know, but it's a choice.
If they're going to spend more money than they have anyway.
This is my point.
The analogy I could best give you would be the House bank.
If members of Congress could go write personal checks for any amount of money, regardless what was in their account, then it really didn't matter what their salaries are.
If a member of Congress earns 150,000 and has $5,000 in the bank, but can go right at personal check for cash for $25,000 on credit with the assumption is going to be paid back, then doesn't really make the it doesn't need the money to cover the check.
Okay, well, same thing with every cabinet level department.
The money doesn't matter.
If we're over budget anyway, and if there's no concern for being over budget, and there isn't, When's the last time anybody submitted a budget with less money than the year before?
There really isn't any concern about this.
Hello, that's why the Tea Party exists.
So my only point is if the money really isn't an obstacle.
It's just something you pretend is for the consumption of the public.
You have to make the public think you care about the budget.
You have to make them think you care about federal spending.
But when the rubber meets the road, you don't care.
You're spending on whatever.
It's not yours, and that's the fun of being in government.
Unlimited amounts of money and just go spend it.
Look at the stimulus.
Shovel ready projects, all this, all this happy money.
What's not what the money was spent on, was it?
75% of the money went to unions to keep those people employed so they'd pay dues so the money would come back to Democrat campaign coffers.
There was a money laundering scheme.
The first stimulus package was a Democrat money laundering scheme.
It wasn't used to rebuild schools or bridges or roads or any shovel ready project.
They just wanted the money.
And by expanding that spending in one swoop by almost a trillion dollars, what happened to the budget baseline?
That went up by a trillion dollars.
Baseline went up, giving everybody, every department more money to spend, whether they need it or not.
But if there is never an effort to balance the budget, then what does it matter if you go over budget by a dollar or ten trillion dollars?
Well, the only limiting factor is what you think you can get away with.
And there may be a little bit of conscience, but more likely a political calculation.
So if there's no real concern for the budget, if there's no real concern for going over budget, if you're going to spend money that you don't have anyway at the VA, and if you're gonna spend that money on something other than doctors and patient care, then what are you doing?
Well, you're obviously not concerned with results.
Medical results.
You're doing something else with the money.
You're growing the administration.
You're providing more jobs for fellow travel liberal liberals, fellow traveling liberals.
You're providing more administrative jobs to get more liberals in the bureaucracy, career that are never going to be fired once they're hired, can't be these are not political appointee jobs.
You're growing it to put more liberals at work that come out of college with this degree or that degree, maybe don't have any degree, just hire them.
This is how you grow government, this is how you expand your influence of your department.
Standing with the IRS, whatever agency it is.
This is why it matters to me who wins elections.
This is why it matters conservatism versus liberalism when it comes to spending and responsible spending and responsible budgeting and so forth.
And this is just, we're out of control here.
But even with all the money that we're spending, and it's incomprehensible the money the amount of money we're spending, it's incomprehensible.
Look at the lack of results we're getting for it.
For crying out loud, well, all the money we're spending on creating jobs, why aren't there any?
With all the money we're spending growing the economy, why isn't growing?
All the money we're spending on, you name it, why isn't it happening?
Well, there are many reasons.
A government can't do all those things.
But B, they're not spending the money on those things.
They didn't spend it on shovel ready jobs, rebuilding roads and bridges and the precious schools.
Liberals spend the money on growing the actual infrastructure of government.
They create new jobs for nameless, faceless, loyal liberal troops to populate the expanding government.
True believers.
Ideologues to the hilt.
If they really cared, and they're going to go over budget anyway, why not pay some doctors at the VA?
Okay, back to the phones where we go.
This is uh Joanne in Virginia Beach.
Great to have you on the EIB network.
Hi.
Hi, Rush.
So after the after the speech today, I'm I'm sure everything's gonna be magically fixed at the VA because one, he's had a meeting, two, he's gotten really, really mad.
Three, he's had a press conference, four, he's going to investigate, so it's got to be magically fixed, right?
Um that probably no.
I I don't think that is what's gonna happen.
I think what's gonna happen is that after the midterms, they will announce the results of the investigation, and they will say that that there was uh not a smidgen of corruption found.
I'm sure you're correct, but I just found it just so infuriating this morning when he got on and started with his nonsense, and I'm thinking nothing's gonna be done.
Why why do you even bother?
Why waste our time?
Well, that's because of the CNN reporters said this is what was funny, the CNN reporter who's been following this couldn't believe Obama did it.
What do you mean you need to investigate?
This is real, this is happening.
What do you mean?
He couldn't believe it.
He was expecting Obama to come out and really do something about this.
Really was this for some reason, folks, it's it's mysterious.
For some reason the drive-bys are worried about this one and they're looking at their leader to make this go away.
What, Mr. Snergley?
What's the Well?
Here's the uh the question is isn't all of this kind of beside the point.
Because isn't the truth that the VA as constituted can't be fixed, because the government cannot run something like health care, either for a finite group like America's veterans or the country at large.
And so therefore isn't all of this just a smoke screen, because they can't fix it.
They don't know how to fix it.
The government is not.
Um it's a good question.
It's an excellent question, but the truth of the matter is that for a significant number of Americans, that doesn't matter.
All that's going to matter is the appearance of effort.
Rooted in caring to try to fix it.
Could you demonstrate for me?
Could you show me?
There are answers to this, but they're very few.
I want you when was the last time that you can recall a Democrat president being held accountable for failure, other than the Democrats losing a presidential election.
Lyndon Johnson.
All right, that's Vietnam.
Lyndon Johnson, but he wasn't thrown out of office.
He was losing an election.
He was gonna lose the election, he got out of there because he wasn't gonna win re-election.
But there Democrats are not held accountable for these failures.
They survive on two things.
The perception that they care and they're trying, combined with the image they've successfully created that we don't care, that we don't have compassion, that the free market cannot possibly care about what happens to people.
Because in capitalism, there's pain and suffering, and nobody cares.
At least the Democrats care.
They may screw everything up, but at least they're trying.
And that's all Obama has to do with this.
So you say, isn't the big question the fact that it can't be fixed because the people trying to fix it don't know what they're doing?
A, you are exactly right.
B, it doesn't Matter.
All that needs to happen is, at least as the country is constituted now, all that needs to happen is voters.
Enough voters need to see that Obama cares.
Why do you think his modus operandi on every one of these scandals is to come out and tell everybody how A, he just found out about it, he didn't know about it, and how ticked off he is.
What do you think the purpose of that is?
He's doing it because it's working.
If a republic, if this happened, if Bush were president, it was happening, it'd be precisely the first story on it would be because Bush doesn't care.
Bush sent these guys off to war to avenge his his father and Saddam's attempted assassination.
That's the only reason Bush did in Iraq.
He didn't care what happened.
Look at our troops, even were accused of being rapists and terrorists by Democrats.
Yeah, you have you had uh all these people saying that that Petraeus was a liar before he even testified.
Why?
Because he didn't care.
He really didn't care what happened to those troops.
That Obama, he's livid over this mistreatment.
This is what's so frustrating.
Look at I'm mayor of Reev Realville, and I'm telling you this stuff really.
You know, I'm the thing, how easy it would be for me if I could just survive on image.
That I couldn't constitutionally, I couldn't do it.
Fast as three hours in media, folks, and I have to step aside here for a brief couple.
Obscene profit timeout time.
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