RUSH: This is Josh in New York City. Great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: Very well. Thank you.
CALLER: So I wanted to bring your attention to something that I saw on Politico. I was just scanning down and I saw this headline that says: “Poll: Americans Like the Rich Class.” So I clicked on that, and I started to read into it a little bit, and I see the divide between Democrat and Republicans, and I see that among Democrats, only 52% of Democrats believe that the US benefits from having a rich class.
RUSH: I saw that.
CALLER: It was amazing.
RUSH: Yeah, I saw that on the airplane flying home and I thought, “Wow.” I mean that is the total ignorance of —
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: — the value of wealth in this country. I was astounded by that. I’m glad you reminded me of that.
CALLER: But to Obama’s credit, I think you could probably walk into one of his campaign offices and see “mission accomplished” banner somewhere because this follows the rhetoric of what he’s been saying for months and for years now.
RUSH: It does, and you know what’s interesting about it is that look at all of the wealthy Democrats that there are who support him.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: From Hollywood, to high finance, to —
CALLER: That’s where he spent his weekend last weekend, in Hollywood and then in New York yesterday and it doesn’t follow his own actions, but —
RUSH: No. He’s lying to his own people.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: He’s misleading his own people. He’s convincing his own voters that the way he and his friends live is un-American, not good for the country.
CALLER: Yep.
RUSH: Which means what he’s teaching is resentment —
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: — class envy, all this class warfare stuff.
CALLER: Yep.
RUSH: Yeah, I saw that. I’m glad you reminded me of that, because it’s never been that high before. If you look at a poll of the entire American population, it’s not nearly as drastic, but when you break it down by party, it is, as you said, what was it, 52%?
CALLER: Fifty-two percent, yeah. And it’s sad because these are the people that have the money to donate to charities, to start businesses, to hire people, you know, people like yourself and like others. These are the people that have the resources to really help people, and do.
RUSH: It is a class envy resentment of wealth. As you say, there’s a complete ignorance of what wealthy people do.
CALLER: Yep.
RUSH: And how they acquire their wealth, too, is all part of the misunderstanding, that they steal it from the poor, or that they game the tax code, or they have offshore accounts, or some of these things.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: I can remember, when I was growing up, our family wasn’t wealthy. We were middle class. We were solid middle class. I don’t remember anybody in my family, anybody, my parents, my aunts or uncles, I don’t remember anybody talking hatefully about people that had more money than we did. I simply don’t remember it. But I do know that it has been almost a birthright of Democrats, particularly from union households, to have that kind of resentment. It’s new in the sense of how widespread it is now. But there’s a total lack of ignorance about this, as you say, about what wealthy people do for the country, totally unknown or ignored.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here is that Politico story. By the way, they ran this late on Friday, The Politico did, I think in an effort to try to bury the details of the story Friday afternoon, in a White House-type document dump. “Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that the United States benefits from having a rich class.” That is a slam-dunk defeat for Obama. That is what Obama has been trying to wipe out. Obama wants two-thirds of the American people to hate the rich. He wants them to love the government.
“Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that the United States benefits from having a rich class, a figure unchanged from over 20 years ago, according to a new survey Friday. Indeed, 63 percent of Americans believe that the United States is better off from having a class of wealthy, according to Gallup. Only 34 percent believe that the country does not benefit from having an upper class. Even as the president has called on the rich to pay their ‘fair share’ –” By the way, you know what’s funny? The actor Will Smith. He was all in favor, he was so excited, Obama calling for higher taxes on the rich, until he heard that the new French president was gonna raise taxes on the rich to 75%, and then Will Smith said, (imitating Smith) “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I’m not in favor of that.” And somebody said, “Well, what’s the difference?” It’s all fine when Obama’s gonna raise taxes, but when he finds out the French guy is gonna top out at a 75% rate, Will Smith, the light went on. Said, “Oh, my gosh, what if that would happen here?”
“Even as the president has called on the rich to pay their ‘fair share’ in taxes, the Occupy Wall Street protests, and amid a public debate over the so-called Buffett rule, American views of the rich have not changed significantly in over 20 years.” A big failure for Obama. Folks, I’m telling you, it’s why this news was buried on Friday. And I’m serious when I tell you, this is the kind of news that would disappoint Obama. He’s been working for three-and-a-half years to change this number. Obama wants as many Americans as possible resenting the rich, despising ’em, hating ’em. Well, that may be going too far. But he wants all of that respect and admiration for the rich transferred to government. That’s what he wants, and thus to him.
“In 1990, 62 percent thought that the U.S. was better off with a rich class of people, compared with 32 percent who disagreed.” So in 20 years it really hasn’t changed. But on this topic — and this is what the caller pointed out — there’s a partisan gap. “A majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents all agree that having a class of rich people benefits the U.S. — 52 percent of Democrats, 59 percent of independents and 80 percent of Republicans.” Only 52% of Democrats think it’s a rotten idea. “Sixty-three percent of Americans say that they would personally want to be rich, compared with 35 percent who said they would prefer not to be if they had a choice.”
Well, hey, you do. You have a choice. If they had a choice? What, you mean you’re just gonna become wealthy one day when you wake up?
“Only 28 percent of Americans, however, thought that it was ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ likely that they would be rich in their lifetimes.” Well, we gotta get that number up.