RUSH: We’ve gotta go back and revisit yesterday’s town hall highlights with President Obama over in Fort Myers, Florida. We start with Barry and Julio in Fort Myers. Here is Julio’s question for The Messiah.
OBAMA: Last question. Of course, now it better be a good one. Go ahead.
OSEQUEDA: Oh, this is such a blessing to see you, Mr. President! Thank you for taking time outta your day! (gasping) Ohhhhhhh, gracious god! Thank you so much! Oh! (gasping for air)
OBAMA: All right, what’s..? What’s the question?
OSEQUEDA: All right, Mr. President — heh, heh, heh — my name is Julio Osegueda. I’m currently a student at Edison State College in my second semester, and… Okay, I’ve been at the same job, which is McDonald’s for four and a half years because of the fact that I can’t find another job. Now, with the fact that I’ve been there as long as I’ve been there, do you have any plan or any idea of making one that has been there for a long time receive any better benefits than what they’ve already received?
RUSH: All right. Now, Julio obviously a product here of the public school system in that you couldn’t… You need me to tell you what his question is, and I couldn’t figure it out unless I had a transcript in front of me. Well, he is a communications major, but he said, ‘With the fact that I’ve been in McDonald’s four and a half years, do you have any plan or any idea of making one that has been there for a long time receive any better benefits than what they’ve already received?’ Basically he said, ‘Look, I’ve been there four and a half years, do you have a plan or any idea of making a plan that will make somebody like me, who’s been there for a long time, get any more benefits?’ This is after saying, ‘Oh, god! Thank you for coming, god! Oh, good gracious god, thank you so much! Oh, yes.’ This is Julio, now. Julio, four and a half years in McDonald’s, you should have graduated Hamburger University by now. Maybe you should enroll at the McDonald’s clown college, Julio, and perhaps, you know, get in the Ronald McDonald program. At least you get to travel and see more than just the McDonald’s where you work. Here was Obama’s answer.
OBAMA: The fact that you are working as hard as you’re working at a job that I know doesn’t always pay as well as some other jobs, I think that’s a source of pride for you. That shows that — that you’re doing the right thing. Now —
RUSH: Stop the tape. Did Julio sound proud to you? Julio sounded unhappy. Julio sounded like he was bitching and moaning. Julio sounded like, ‘What are you going to do for me? What are you going to do for me? I’m stuck in this dead end job four and a half years! What are you going to do for me, bud?’ And here’s Obama saying, ‘Well, you’re doing the right thing. You’re working hard,’ (laughing) and here’s the rest of it.
OBAMA: The second thing is — is that you will actually benefit from the tax breaks that we’re talking about so you’ll be able to keep a little bit extra money because we’re gonna offset your payroll tax. That’s going to help.
RUSH: So here’s Julio, who wants some magic gift from the heavens, and Obama says… What’s Julio make at McDonald’s? So his payroll tax is going to be slashed a little bit, probably just enough to maybe buy another Happy Meal every day, or maybe a week. So (laughs) o great promises there from The Messiah. And their conversation ended this way.
OBAMA: Say you’re — you’re going to school. What are you studying?
OSEQUEDA: I’m looking to study and majoring in communications, hopefully being a broadcaster or a disc jockey.
OBAMA: Well, you sound like you’ve got a (sic) good communications skills.
OSEQUEDA: Thank you so much.
OBAMA: So — so part of — part of what we want to do is we want to make it easier for you to afford going to college by giving you this refundable tax credit for your tuition.
RUSH: Golly!
OBAMA: Because young people like ‘ulio who have that much enthusiasm and that much energy, we’ve gotta make sure that we are giving them a pathway so that they can educate themselves and go as far as their dreams take ’em.
RUSH: So the government’s going to be in charge of Julio doing the right thing. This guy’s a communications major? I had to translate for you his question. He makes whatever he makes at McDonald’s. I’m not putting that down. For Obama to tell him that his tax credit is going to pay his tuition to college is a lie. It’s just disingenuous. And now, this is Julio, afterwards. He was caught up with by the press. They asked him, ‘What did you think of all this today?’
OSEQUEDA: I was really impressed when he was — when I was screaming and jumping for joy, for him to pick me, he’s like, ‘Hey, there’s one of my loyal fans,’ and that — that — that just… My heart just like went cold, it felt so good, and I just — you know, I’ve never felt so good in my life. Last time I felt somewhat this good was when I received a PlayStation 3 for Christmas.
RUSH: (laughing) Sorry, folks, I… (coughing) It gets worse the more we learn about these people. It does. It gets worse. It’s depressing. It is depressing. It’s like Snerdley was telling me over the break, he got a call from one of his liberal friends, some girl last night, and she said, ‘You and Limbaugh, you’re going to have to give Obama a chance. You just gotta give him a chance. We need the stimulus bill.’
Snerdley said, ‘What’s in the stimulus bill?’
‘I don’t know, but we’ve gotta give him a chance.’
Snerdley says, ‘Give him a chance? You guys were burying George Bush before he was even inaugurated!’ and Snerdley told her, ‘I am not going to sit her anymore and listen to uninformed opinion. Uninformed opinion is invalid. You don’t even know what you are talking about, and you’re telling me? We do this for a living, and you are wasting my time. You don’t even know what you’re talking about, and you’re telling me how I have to behave? You’re a moron.’
That’s pretty much what you said, right? ‘A political moron,’ he called her. That was the end of the conversation? You don’t expect to hear back from her? You are wrong! She will be groveling tonight. She will call you back tonight, especially after having heard this. All right, now, let’s move on to Henrietta Hughes from yesterday in Fort Myers as Obama hosted The Oprah show. Do you remember the old television show — you might not be old enough, some of you people — Queen for a Day? This is almost what Queen for a Day was like. On Queen for a Day back in the days of black-and-white, daytime TV; you’d have the host and they’d bring in the guests; and they would find the most downtrodden life stories they could find, and they would be tear-jerker kind of stories. ‘My spleen has been removed. My husband left me. My daughter won’t talk to me. But that’s okay, because I don’t even have car fare to get home to suffer even more abuse,’ and the audience would (sobbing) start crying. So whoever told the biggest sob story, who made themselves sound like the most downtrodden of all the contestants was named Queen for a Day. And then they got the little goodies like a Frigidaire, washer and dryer, refrigerator, or what have you. The stellar appliances of the day. Well, this is almost what the Obama show was like yesterday. Here is Henrietta Hughes with Obama at the town hall meeting in Fort Myers, Florida, yesterday.
HUGHES: I respect you and I’m so grateful for you.
OBAMA: Thank you.
HUGHES: Been praying for you. But —
OBAMA: I believe in prayer, so I appreciate that.
HUGHES: I have an urgent need, unemployment and homelessness, a very small vehicle for my family and place to live in, we it need urgent, and housing authority have two years waiting lists and we need something more than a vehicle and parks to go to. We need our own kitchen and our own bathroom. Please help.
OBAMA: Well, I — listen, I — what’s your name? What’s your name?
HUGHES: It’s Henrietta Hughes.
OBAMA: Okay, Ms. Hughes. Well, we — we — we’re going to do everything we can to help you, but there are a lot of people like you. We’re going to do everything we can, all right? But the, uh, I’ll have my staff talk to you after this, uh, after the — the town hall, all right?
RUSH: One chance in her life to speak to the president of the United States, ask for a kitchen and a car and a sink and a bathroom. She goes and talks to the staff, and, of course, the people there think she’s going to get what she needs because Obama sends her to talk to the staff. It turns out that she did. After the program ended yesterday, I received the following news story from the Fort Myers News Press. ‘Henrietta Hughes was offered a home by Chene…’ and who knows if I’m pronouncing that right. C-h-e-n-e. I’m probably going to get a note saying this is pronounced Oswald. ‘…Thompson, wife of state representative Nick Thompson who heard the homeless woman’s pleas for help, the house is in LaBelle, Florida. The house is in LaBelle, the first home Scere Thompson…’ S-c-e-r-e — that’s S-c-e-r-e Thompson; Scere, which is probably pronounced Harvey, ‘bought after law school.
‘She told Hughes, ‘Just give me the opportunity to help you.’ Hughes broke down in front of thousands [of people]. Obama hugged her after she asked her question and said his staff would help. A staffer later gave her a card to the head of the housing authority and she was told he would help her.’ Hughes ended up being offered this home by this Chene Thompson woman. No word on whether or not she’s accepted the offer to live in the house. Now, my question here is this: Will Henrietta Hughes get the Joe the Plumber treatment? Henrietta Hughes is a poor homeless woman in Florida who just happened to be called on today by Obama. It’s a wonderful coincidence out there.
She begged the president for a home. Obama came up and gave her a big hug, a peck on the cheek, and in the background there’s the this woman, got a T-shirt on, says, ‘I love you, Barack,’ mouthing ‘I love you, Barack’ as he’s approaching Henrietta Hughes. Now, if this is Joe the Plumber, of course, the state of Florida and some secretary of state would be poring through records to find out who this woman is, how she became homeless and plastering it all over the media. But I doubt that she will get the treatment that Joe the Plumber received.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, Mr. Snerdley says, ‘This poor Henrietta in Fort Myers.’ The Obama people are supposedly gonna send her over to the housing authority where there’s a two-year wait, you hear this? Snerdley says, ‘What about the poor schlub that’s going to be moved and lose his place in line so Henrietta can get her place?’
That’s not the real point. If I had a chance to speak to Henrietta — and by the way, CNN’s got this story, she’s the latest media star, everybody wants to get hold of her, she is the face of the recession. Henrietta Hughes, the face of the recession. Hey, Henrietta, you’re living in a pickup truck, you want the president to give you a new home, a kitchen and so forth when he hasn’t even given his own brother a pot nor moved him out of his nine square foot hut, and you want that same government that’s got a two-year waiting list for you at the housing authority to run your health care? It wouldn’t make any impression at all, I fear.