RUSH: I want to go back to the Jon Stewart interview of Kathleen Sebelius. If you boil that down, you know what it was about? Jon Stewart just figured out — and he had to learn this from New Media because his buddies in the Drive-Bys are not reporting this. He was very upset with Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human Services secretary, he learned Big Business got a year’s delay on the employer mandate, so they’ve been given a grace period of one year. They don’t have to provide their employees health care. But then he learned that the individual mandate stays intact. We, the little guy, are required by law to have insurance or pay a fine, and he wanted to know why in the world, if business gets a break, the little guy doesn’t get a break. And Kathleen Sebelius lied to him.

She lied to him about how many part-time workers there are. She said the number is going down, and it isn’t. The number is skyrocketing. In fact, most job creation today, 70% of new jobs are part-time jobs. That doesn’t count jobs, full-time being converted to part-time under 30 hours so that businesses escape the responsibility, and she lied to him, and he finally figured that out and was not comfortable by it and he felt guilty pointing it out. He said (summarizing), “It’s very tough to defend something here that you’re lying to me about.”

Well, so this subject came up on MSNBC yesterday when Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington, had as her guest Sean Duffy, a Republican member of Congress from Wisconsin. Now, we’re breaching our ban on what happens on MSNBC. Basically that’s mostly a prime time ban. Well, it was prime time that inspired the ban, and then the ban was just extended to the whole network. And I have not lifted the ban. Oh, let me tell you something. The reason why I stopped, why publicize that crap? They’ve got some host, I gotta be real careful here. I want you to know that I’m employing fabulous discipline right now.

They have people that are now openly blaming the Constitution for what’s happening. The Constitution’s a problem, the fact that the Constitution limits Obama from just fixing this stuff. I mean, it’s really dangerous stuff. These people are some of the most arrogant, condescending smart alecks, but they’re just pure ignorant, and they fit the bill of people who have no love and no respect for the founding of this country. They believe in total centralized power. They believe in dictatorial power by the president, when he is one of them. They’re wringing their hands over the fact that the Constitution is the problem here. The only reason we’re in this mess is our damn Constitution.

Why air this crap? You know, it’s not even worth any entertainment value anymore. So I instituted the ban, and I’m gonna tell you, folks, I don’t normally take credit for things and I don’t know that in this case it’s justified, but the moment we instituted that ban, their numbers just plummeted, and they’re in the cellar, asterisks in many cases. So it worked in that sense. You people would never watch that network, so why should I play stuff on it for you that amplifies what happens there? I mean, you don’t need to hear it to know what liberals think. And I just decided, why should I turn over portions of this program to those nutcases, even if it is just to laugh at ’em? ‘Cause after a while it wasn’t even funny. It was just really frustrating.

So the ban’s been in place for well over a year, maybe longer than that. But something happened yesterday with Andrea Mitchell that we’re gonna lift the ban. Wisconsin Republican, Sean Duffy was a guest with Andrea Mitchell, and it starts this way. She said, “Why not sit down and negotiate over entitlement reform, which is something that you all have been demanding, and that Obama’s offered in his initial budget. I mean, you’re putting on the table a nonnegotiable demand,” meaning the defunding of Obamacare.

DUFFY: The media won’t even ask the question about why are you treating families different than big businesses. You need Jon Stewart on Comedy Central to ask Secretary Sebelius, “Hey, why won’t you treat these two equally?” and she can’t answer it. I mean, that’s how pathetic I think news reporting has become, when we won’t ask tough questions to the administration.

MITCHELL: Well, we’ve asked questions to both sides. That’s not fair.

DUFFY: Do you ask that question, Andrea? Ask the question.

MITCHELL: We have asked that question.

RUSH: “We have asked that question.” Really? Well, nobody heard it. Nobody heard it. Duffy then said, “Why do you want your own health care and you won’t join us in Obamacare?” That’s a question I haven’t seen anybody ask on MSNBC. Please ask it. ‘Cause they don’t have a good answer for it. Why do you want your own health care and you won’t join us in Obamacare? Members of Congress, why are all these people asking out of it, is his point. He says, “I haven’t seen anybody on MSNBC ask that question.”

MITCHELL: The response that Kathleen Sebelius gave to Jon Stewart was, if we had gotten what we wanted, which was a single-payer plan, this wouldn’t be the problem.

DUFFY: That’s right. You say, “I think this is what they would say,” but you don’t know what they would say because you haven’t asked. And that’s one of the problems we have here.

RUSH: Okay, see, he’s going right for her heart. I mean, she prides herself on being the dean of journalistas, and he’s telling her you’re not doing your job. You’re not asking these people any questions. You’re not asking tough questions of the regime or of Obama. So she said, “Do you consider it a small ask that he get rid of the center part of his health care plan that was upheld by the vote, a presidential election, and the US Supreme Court?” So she wants to know, what do you think you’re doing? Don’t you consider it a big deal? You’re asking him to give up his signature item?

DUFFY: Hold on. That’s your spin. The president gave a one year exemption —

MITCHELL: It’s not spin.

DUFFY: — listen, he gave a one year exemption for businesses in regard to taxes and penalties and Obamacare. We’ve said for the individuals, for the families, if they want to go to into Obamacare, they can, but if they don’t, for one year don’t tax them or penalize them just like the way you’re treating big businesses. That is fair under the law. That’s all we’ve asked for. Why won’t he join us in Obamacare? Why wasn’t Michelle Obama on October 1st at the computer with her family signing up for Obamacare? Or Jay Carney. They have their own gold-plated health care plan that they’re in —

MITCHELL: So do you.

DUFFY: No, I’m not. I’m in Obamacare. I’m in Obamacare, Andrea. All members of Congress are and my family. The president should join us in Obamacare and the rest of America. Is that pretty reasonable? We should all be treated equally under the law?

RUSH: Now, see, his point here is that he’s changed the law, Andrea. He’s just willy-nilly choosing when and what to implement and not implement. And we’re simply saying that the thing that is happening now is not what was signed into law. The way this plan is unfolding is not what he signed. There were not waivers of one year for 2,500 unions and there were not waivers of one year for business on the employer mandate. There weren’t any of these excuses granted or extensions granted to people to not participate. And you’re not asking about that. You’re just simply accepting that Obamacare is what is signed into law, and it isn’t. He is extra-constitutionally changing it, and you’re not even asking about that.

His point is, why do you constantly circle the wagons and protect this guy instead of taking a look at what’s really happening and ask somebody at the White House about it? And then this is the way the exchange ended, and I think it was kind of interesting because it ends up with him playing journalist and her being, however you want to call it, victim or the suspect, which is what a guest is on TV, you’re a suspect, not a guest. And this is how the final exchange ended out there.

DUFFY: Can you defend why the president shouldn’t be on Obamacare like members of Congress and their staffs?

MITCHELL: I can’t defend why Congress —

DUFFY: Then ask that question to ’em.

MITCHELL: — and the White House cannot figure out a way to reopen the government so that our kids —

DUFFY: Ask them that question, Andrea.

MITCHELL: — and their families can get the benefits that they have been —

DUFFY: Listen, I told you we’re gonna do that this week. We’re just saying treat individuals and families like Big Business and have Obama go into Obamacare. That’s it. No one’s asked that question but Jon Stewart. I think the media should start doing its job.

MITCHELL: Thanks for your advice.

DUFFY: Thank you.

MITCHELL: Thank you, congressman.

RUSH: Yeah. So it is interesting in a sense. “Open the government so people get their benefits.” Everybody’s getting their benefits, Andrea, it’s only 17% shut down. Illegals get the use of the park, the National Mall. All of Obama’s buddies are getting their checks. All of Obama’s political friends are getting whatever they want during this shutdown. The only people being denied things during this shutdown are Obama’s political enemies.

Now, Piers Morgan on Piers Morgan Live, the show’s eponymous. You know what that means? It means it’s named after him. If you have an eponymous show, it means it’s named after you, like the Rush Limbaugh program is an eponymous show. And so Piers Morgan has an eponymous show, Piers Morgan Tonight. Of course tonight’s not his name, but it might be if he keeps up. He’s a little worried. He thinks what happened on the Jon Stewart show is significant. This is what he said.

MORGAN: Jon Stewart taking some shots at Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. I can barely believe what I was watching. It was like the person in charge of this didn’t seem to have a clue about almost any of it. It was embarrassing to watch. And I have nothing against Kathleen Sebelius. I’ve met her once, she seemed a very nice lady, but I was squirming watching this.

RUSH: Well, what did it tell you though, Piers? You think she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. So what does that mean you think? It means you think these people are infallible. You think these people are simply experts and never lie because they’re on your side and they’re fellow liberals, and then you see raging lying or incompetence or whatever, and it doesn’t compute, and you get nervous?

So Piers Morgan for the first time has something about this questioned. He’s never questioned it, he hears Stewart ask a question, but he sees somebody in the regime lie, and he is scared. He can’t believe what he was watching. The lack of curiosity of some of these people is just astounding to me. They call themselves journalists, and they’re nowhere near it. They’re blind followers. And now it’s not happening the way they all thought. It was gonna be the best thing since sliced bread, and now it’s an absolute debacle and joke, and their confidence is shaken. Even Charlie Rose, this is last night on PBS. He’s talking to Mark Landler of the New York Times. Just a short little bite here.

ROSE: Is the president on firm ground when he says I’m not gonna negotiate, is he on firm ground in making that argument?

LANDLER: Well, I would say that ultimately he’s the guarantor of the nation’s creditworthiness so I think it’s a difficult argument to say that I’m not going to negotiate.

RUSH: So Charlie Rose shows a little bit of a panic, too.