RUSH: Mary Jo in Riverside, California, you’re first, a distinct and high honor, and I’m glad you are here. Welcome.
CALLER: Thanks, Rush, and dittos.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: It is so great to talk to.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: During the fall you talked about the demise of the Democrats and that really encouraged me and made me happy, but now that they have won the Senate and the House, do you still see their decline?
RUSH: Yes, in the long term. But, you know, it disappointed me, too, and I have to tell you, throughout the whole year — and I was not being disingenuous with you —
CALLER: I know.
RUSH: Throughout the whole year, I mean I tell you these stories, I come back from a golf trip or wherever, and I got tired, everywhere I went of people asking, ?Do you think the Republicans can hold the House?? And I said yes. I didn’t have any question about it because, in my mind, I didn’t see or hear one Democrat saying or doing anything that was giving anybody a reason to vote for them. I thought the Democrat Party had become a never-ending Wellstone memorial. I think that we could, Mary Jo, if we wanted to, we could call this not the Pelosi Congress, but the Mark Foley Congress. She is the Mark Foley speaker of the House, because that one story reversed a bunch of Republican momentum and presidential momentum in preelection polls.
I think what happened is the Democrats didn’t win here, the Republicans lost it. The Republicans failed to govern as conservatives, they failed to stand up for themselves when under attack, they failed to campaign vigorously, they were afraid because the president was under such attack, they didn’t want to be associated with the president because they didn’t want to be attacked as well, forgetting that they’re always attacked. It was very frustrating. I don’t think this country has moved left. I don’t think the country is liberal at all. If you look at the Democrats that won, that gave them power, they were conservative Democrats in southern states. The incumbent liberals, of course, won, but they had to commit, you know, quasi-election fraud by running a bunch of conservative Democrats in southern states. The purpose of their victories was to launch a pretty far left power structure in the House of Representatives. But, no, I think the Democratic Party is still in big trouble because they can’t be who they are.
CALLER: I agree. I agree. Thanks, Rush.
RUSH: They’re going to try. This is what’s going to make these next two years fun. They’re going to be unable to hold themselves back because they think, just like the Republicans made the mistake in ’94, I could tell by watching TV today, these people think the country has embraced their ideology, and they are going to go pedal to the metal, as fast as they can, to get as much of it done, and they’re not going to be able to get much of it done because of numbers and legislative realities. But still, it perhaps is going to be interesting to watch as they actually portray themselves as they are, and that could end up being informative. But still, the Republicans are going to have to run candidates people want to vote for. I mean you can’t rely on — this is what the Republicans did. I think they relied on the Democrats to implode and to continue imploding, and that doesn’t work.
CALLER: Yeah. I just wish that we had gotten the borders closed and the judges elected before we lost.
RUSH: Well, here you go.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: You’re in California. I’m sure you’ve heard the latest from Governor Schwarzenegger on immigration.
CALLER: Oh, yes.
RUSH: For those of you that don’t know, I have it later in the stack, but let me find it here because it’s something that you all need to know. Let me paraphrase it. Schwarzenegger has said that every child in California, whether they are illegal or not will be given health care insurance. Here it is. LA Times, ?Governor to seek insurance for all children.? All illegal children to be covered in California under Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal. Then, from the Houston Chronicle today, there is another story that’s not about that, but it’s about immigration, and it’s not a new story. It’s actually a story that has been around and we’ve talked about it briefly on a scatological basis in the last couple or three months. ?A confidential 2004 agreement between the United States and Mexico could require Social Security to pay billions of dollars in benefits to Mexicans who paid payroll taxes in this country, according to a senior citizens’ group that forced the document’s disclosure.? Did you follow me on that, Mary Jo?
CALLER: I did, and I heard that the other day, and that just made me sick because as a baby boomer I know Social Security is not going to be there for me.
RUSH: Well, but before we even get there, the justification for this is that these people, ?Why, Rush, they’re working, and they’re paying Social Security taxes, and why shouldn’t their–? They’re working on illegal identities!
CALLER: I know.
RUSH: They’re illegal, by definition. If they’ve got a Social Security number, they’ve stolen it. And of course that doesn’t matter. So when you say you wish we’d have gotten immigration taken care of and the borders closed and all that and the judges before the election, I have to tell you, they can’t wait — the president is pretty excited to get immigration reform done based on the Senate bill. I mean, the fence probably won’t be built.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: So I think this is one of the problems I was talking about earlier as to what happened in the election last time around. The Republicans showed up and the anti-illegal immigration or secure-the-borders position a little too late. They showed up in August and it looked political at that point.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: So, anyway, just a heads-up on that. But, look, you know, you can’t go through life letting what happens in Washington determine your happiness.
CALLER: No, it doesn’t.
RUSH: I mean it affects you, but people would always say to me, ?Well, Rush, how come they always raise taxes on the rich, they always raise taxes on people.? Some people just refuse to accept it and they work all that much harder and just try to earn more money to compensate for the greater tax that they have to pay. I mean, Democrats today — I was watching television — they were acting like everybody in this country was getting up today, turning to face Washington, and wait with bated breath — (panting) — for the Democrats to take over at noon today.
CALLER: Oh, please. Give me a break.
RUSH: Well, I’m glad to hear you put it that way, Mary Jo. Now, look it, I didn’t like it that the Democrats won, I hate losing to these guys.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: But life goes on. Baseball teams, they play 162 games. They lose. The team that does the best may lose 60.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: You don’t win every election and so forth, but you gotta keep battling and fighting for them.
CALLER: And that’s why I appreciate you, Rush, because you’re just out there all the time.
RUSH: Well, let me ask you a question.
CALLER: Uh-huh.
RUSH: Since I have you, before we go to the break. Something that’s always amazed me. I, throughout my life, have encountered people who — and I’m trying to be kind here — who are near the end of their lives. I’ve always been amazed, whether I was 12 or 15 or 20 or even now when I’m 55, soon to be 56 — happy to admit my age because I’ve always known every year I got older life would improve and it always has — that’s a sideboard — I’ve talked to people 85 and 90 and they care just as much about politics and the country as they did 20, 30 years ago or 40 years ago, and I’ve always been amazed by it. I mean, most of their life has been lived, and yet they are as concerned about who’s running the show and what the future is, as though they’re going to be here when they know they’re not. When they’ve spent most of their life, lived most of their life, you figure, all right, to hell with this, I mean there’s things I’m going to do, I want to make sure I got the most of my remaining days — they don’t think that way. Did you figure out why, did you ever wonder about that and do you have an answer for why that might be?
CALLER: Just to care and just they know it affects their lives, and —
RUSH: They love their country, number one.
CALLER: Well, yeah, love their country —
RUSH: And these are core principles we’re talking about and most of them have children or grandchildren and they care about their future.
CALLER: Right. That’s what I care about —
RUSH: They’re not selfish. But it’s always amazed me. The reason I mention this is because you’re young — I can hear it in your voice — you’re young, and it’s not time to check out just because you’ve got a temporary disappointment here. There are all kinds of reasons to continue to try to be optimistic, and of course the new word, “hopeful.” Of course it doesn’t hurt to say you’re sorry now and then; that’s supposed to make you feel better now and then, to say sorry, even when you haven’t done anything, just tell people you’re sorry and they’ll think you’ve got a big heart. But stuff is important, but there are clearly other things in life, too. Just don’t let this determine your happiness each and every day because you can’t. You really don’t have that much control over it. You have control over far more things than who’s running the show in Washington and what they’re doing. Mary Jo, thanks for the call.