RUSH: Bob in San Antonio as we go back to the phones on Open Line Friday. Hello, sir.
CALLER: Good afternoon, Rush. Thank you for taking my call.
RUSH: Yes, sir.
CALLER: I thoroughly enjoy your show and I still thoroughly enjoy a couple ties that I have of yours.
RUSH: Well, thank you.
CALLER: And I hope we get a chance to bring it on in terms of Sarah. But, you know, part of the reason I think that they fear her is she’s not a soccer mom as I heard on the recordings while I was waiting. She’s a
RUSH: Yeah, this is irrational. Their hatred for her is irrational. The woman can’t do anything right to anybody right now. She can’t do anything for anybody right now other than her family. But she has absolute values. She has no doubts about what she believes. She has no lack of confidence. And that just bugs ’em. It bugs ’em all to hell.
CALLER: And that’s why she connects so well. But the reason I called is I’m not sure that the Democrats think they’re committing suicide, as you mentioned earlier, with what they’re doing with this bill. Because what I keep wondering is all of these districts around the country that are getting all these funds that Congress passed earlier this year, except that these districts don’t exist. It makes me wonder where all these funds are going and where they’re going to appear next year and if they think they have a chance to buying their way to election.
RUSH: You’re basically saying we have a giant slush fund here and it is being used to buy these votes: Made-up congressional districts, nonexistent congressional districts. You know, Mark Steyn had a great line. He said, ‘ACORN, why worry about registering individual voters when you can register a whole district?’ This is made-to-order for ACORN. You got people voting now from these nonexistent districts. So there’s no question votes are being bought. Mary Landrieu got a hundred million in the Senate health care bill from Dingy Harry — and, by the way, Dingy Harry is now going to go down to New Orleans for a fundraiser hosted by Mary Landrieu. I mean, we’re dealing here with in-our-face, right out-in-the-open corruption. They’re not even trying to hide it out there, Bob. It is just in-your-face corruption. They’re saying, ‘You can’t stop us and we’re going to do this.’ Now, you may be right that they don’t think they’re committing suicide. Some of them know that they are in the House. But Nancy Pelosi is happy to lose some of her herd. You know, thinning the herd? She’d be happy to get rid of some of these Blue Dogs, have them go back home and lose.
CALLER: Blue Dogs and pro-lifers.
RUSH: Yeah, she’d be happy. Oh, she’d love to get rid of Stupak. Oh-ho ho, yeah! But in the Senate it’s a little different because only a third of the place is up for reelection every two years, and Dingy Harry is up next year. He’s going to have some trouble in Nevada. And Rasmussen put out a poll today, by the way, that J. D. Hayworth — who, I don’t think J. D. Hayworth has announced that he’s going to run, has he? But Rasmussen did a poll out there and he’s only two points behind McCain in the Republican primary poll for the 2010 Senate Republican nomination in Arizona. Now, here’s the reason that they probably do not think they are committing suicide. You’ve heard that the bill doesn’t get implemented until 2013. Now, what’s magical about that is that 2012 is the presidential year. That’s interesting because the impact of this bill will not be felt before the presidential race in 2012. Then we heard — and we know it’s true — that when they send these bills down to the Congressional Budget Office to get scored they have to score them in ten-year increments. I guess that’s policy.
And the way they come in with these low numbers, like Reid got for $848 billion, is that the health care aspect doesn’t start — the benefits, the spending doesn’t start — until year three or four. But the tax increases and everything else start immediately! For example, one that’s going to start in January if the thing passes, is a new marriage penalty in the health care bill imposes a tax on individuals who make a couple hundred grand annually, but married couples making just $50,000 more. That’s one of 17 new taxes imposed by the bill. It also creates a levy on elective plastic surgery, Botox — the ‘Botax’ — and places a 40% excise tax on those who have generous or ‘Cadillac’ health care plans, and some of these taxes will go into effect pretty soon. It’s a long way, Bob, to getting to the answer you want but I need to set it all up. Snerdley asked me yesterday, ‘I don’t understand how it is that the tax increases, say, start in 2010 and the health spending doesn’t start ’til 2013. I don’t understand how the Democrats aren’t going to be hurt. I mean, people’s taxes start going up with all these new fees and rules that you have to have insurance. All that stuff starts in 2010, or even ’11. How can that not have a negative impact on the Democrats?’
That got me to thinking: ‘I wonder when the ten years actually begin?’
When they say the bill isn’t implemented until 2013, what if they mean the tax increases aren’t implemented until 2013 and the health spending doesn’t start ’til 2016? Now, I don’t know if that’s the case. I’m going to endeavor to find out ’cause it is crucial. If they pass this thing any time in the next six months, Obama is going to sign it and the tax increases start immediately. Then there is going to be a negative impact on these guys and they
Now, I just can’t believe they’re going to wait that long to start the tax increases. So that’s how, if these tax increases start immediately, and the health spending part doesn’t start until 2013. Then there’s going to be plenty of ammo that people are going to be fired up with and angry about because their taxes are going up and they will be committing political suicide. We’ll just have to see how this shakes out. One other thing: The Senate Republican Communication Center has put out something that says this: ‘A new study of Senate voting patterns shows that the Senate has approved more than 97% of bills subject to a cloture motion to begin debate, a finding that could undercut Democrat efforts to paint the key health care vote Saturday as procedural or as a test vote,’ which is what the media is calling it. Congressional Research Service put this out.
Now, that is not good. If 97% of all bills pass after the first procedural cloture vote of 60 is achieved, then that’s not good. It statistically indicates this thing is going to become a done deal at some point. This vote Saturday does not pass the bill, it just starts the debate. But history shows that 97% of such bills do become law after successful procedural or test votes like the one that’s going to come up on Saturday. The Democrats are out there, ‘Oh, no, no, no! This is just a procedural vote. No big deal. Don’t be worried about this. It’s to see what our strength is.’ Now, the Senate Republican Communication Center is putting this out trying to undercut the Democrats. It isn’t gonna matter. The point is that Reid’s going to get this done Saturday. They got Ben Nelson. Do you think there’s any hope, Snerdley? Do you think there’s even a shrivel, a shred of a chance they’re not going to get their 60? Roland Burris, you know, he was an obstacle. They just gave him a little slap on the wrist for what his purported (I don’t want to say ‘crimes’) indiscretion, ethical violations. Yes, they gave him a slap on the wrist. So he’s good to go.
Landrieu apparently locked in with $100 million. Here’s the story on that. It’s from ABC, amazingly. ‘What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform? Here’s a case study. On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for ‘certain states recovering from a major disaster.’ The section spends two pages defining which ‘states’ would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that ‘during the preceding 7 fiscal years’ have been declared a ‘major disaster area.’ I am told the section applies’ this is Jonathan Karl, by the way ‘to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill. In other words, the bill spends two pages describing would could be written with a single world: Louisiana. (This may also help explain why the bill is long.) Senator Harry Reid, who drafted the bill, cannot pass it without the support of Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu. How much does it cost? According to the Congressional Budget Office: $100 million.’
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RUSH: By the way, Mitch McConnell had a great line to describe the timeline on health care tax increases versus health care spending. It’s like this. ‘You go in, you buy a house, the bank gives you a mortgage, and you have to pay four years before you get to move in.’ That’s what’s facing us. Pay four years before you get to move in, all so they can hide the actual costs of this monstrosity.
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RUSH: Washington Post today: ‘Angry Congress Lashes Out at Obama.’ Politico: ‘Obama Takes Friendly Fire on the Economy.’ The Democrats are just getting paranoid over their reelection bids in 2010. They’re asking, ‘What are Pelosi and Reid doing to us?’ Much of the criticism of the leadership has poured out in the last 48 hours. These people fear getting wiped out in the 2010 congressional elections. I’ll have details and, of course, on-the-spot commentary and analysis when we get back.
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RUSH: Now, we were talking about the timing of this bill and when the taxes start and when the spending starts on health care. Because, you know, to come up with a phony, supposedly low cost over a ten-year period, the health care spending doesn’t start for the first four. The tax increases start the first year, but the spending doesn’t start ’til year four. So you’ve got basically six years of services with ten years of tax increases, and they’re going to vote on this in the Senate tomorrow. Now, one question that I have is: ‘What are they going to do with all this new tax revenue they’re collecting to segregate it to make sure it does pay for whatever new spending comes on health care?’ Is there going to be a health care lockbox?
Now, this was part of the Stupak amendment. Stupak said, ‘Hey, there’s no record here of the allocation-of-funds. Where the hell is the money going, all this new tax revenue?’ Hint, hint: There isn’t going to be as much tax revenue as they think because this stuff’s going to further shut down and stifle economic activity, and it’s going to prevent hiring. It’s going to force people off of their current insurance plans into the government option at some point because businesses are going to have to off-load these costs, which is the design. But over at Real Clear Politics, the Horse Race Blog, there is a post by Jay Cost. ‘Have Democratic Leaders Gone Mad? — With the introduction of Harry Reid’s health care bill — talk will inevitably focus on whether the public option or the Stupak amendment will undermine the legislation. Yet, if the bill dies, I do not think either of these will be the primary cause of death. I think this will be the culprit: This is the CBO’s analysis of how the Reid bill will cut Medicare. The total reductions come out to $491 billion over 10 years when everything is factored in. The following has been said by other commentators, but I have to add my voice to the chorus: This is insanity, Democratic leaders. Why are you doing this?
‘Why are Obama, Pelosi, and Reid doing this? How could they be so foolish as to repeat the most egregious mistake of the Republicans of the 104th Congress,’ when they tried to reform Social Security, you recall. Why are Reid, Pelosi, and Obama ‘forcing their vulnerable members to vote on a bill that would cut Medicare in this fashion? Do they dislike their moderate colleagues? Do they find the chore of being the majority party too burdensome? Have they simply gone mad?’ Why are they doing this? They do hate their moderate colleagues! There’s no question about it. So this guy’s theory is that if this bill doesn’t go anywhere it’s because people are going to find out that there’s nearly $500 billion in Medicare cuts. But that’s not news, at least not to me. I’ve been following this for I don’t know how long and I’ve know about $500 billion in Medicare cuts. In fact, folks, I’ll tell you what I think. I don’t think they’re going to be in there. I don’t think when this bill finally gets implemented there are going to be any Medicare cuts at all because I don’t think they are this insane. I think Medicare cuts are just in this so they can come up with a phony cost that is ostensibly low.
Do you really think the Democrat Party is going to have $500 billion in Medicare cuts that will be totally on their shoulders that every seasoned citizen in this country will know they did? It’s just like this abortion stuff. When the final bill is done — and maybe not the final bill, remember. These cuts are not going to start happening immediately, only the tax increases. The spending and stuff and all that will start later. Maybe the cuts will start soon, but nah, because there are never any cuts! You see, this is the big fallacy. Everybody is buying into this cut business. There aren’t going to be any Medicare cuts, just like in the final bill there will be federal funds for abortion. It may not be the final bill. Let’s say that they pass a bill. They get a conference committee report with the House and Senate that has $500 billion in Medicare cuts in it. The president signs it and all hell gets raised. They’ll go in the next session and they’ll just take it out, ‘We saved Medicare! We saved Medicare from the evil Republicans! The Republicans forced us to put that in there but we saved it. We saved Medicare.’
I don’t think anybody in their right mind should believe that the Democrats are actually going to cut $500 billion in Medicare. Folks, the only reason they would do that — I don’t even want to contemplate this, but people are talking about it with this mammogram stuff and the death panels. The only reason that they would do that is if they really don’t care whether people live beyond a certain age, if the cuts in Medicare are going to come in treatment for certain kinds of diseases in certain aged people. Maybe even regardless of age. We know that’s going to happen. There is going to be rationing of care. But we’re talking about the most radical, leftist Democrats. They are not going to cut the size of government anywhere. They’re gonna say they are so they can get a lower cost when the CBO scores this stuff. ‘That’s how we’re going to pay for these $500 billion in Medicare cuts.’ What stuns me is that apparently a lot of people believe that that’s actually going to survive at the end of the day. I don’t think it will.
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RUSH: All right, some economic stories here. From The Politico: ‘Obama Takes Friendly Fire on Economy.’ Here’s the pull quote: ‘The wave of Democratic grief had been building privately for months, but Hill Democrats had held back on publicly criticizing the Obama presidency. But now, Democrats who see that their economic agenda seems to be flailing and fear getting wiped out in the 2010 congressional elections are going public with a burst of criticism, and much of it has poured out in the past 48 hours.’
In the Washington Post: ‘Growing discontent over the economy and frustration with efforts to speed its recovery boiled over Thursday on Capitol Hill in a wave of criticism and outright anger directed at the Obama administration. Episodes in both houses of Congress exposed the raw nerves of lawmakers flooded with stories of unemployment and economic hardship back home. They also underscored the stiff headwinds that the administration faces as it pushes to enact sweeping changes to the financial regulatory system while also trying to create jobs for ordinary Americans. President Obama’s allies in the Congressional Black Caucus, exasperated by the administration’s handling of the economy, unexpectedly blocked one his top priorities, using a legislative maneuver to postpone the approval of financial reform legislation by a key House committee. … And Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said Wednesday on MSNBC that he thinks Geithner should step down, pointing to his handling of the aftermath of American International Group’s meltdown.
‘The Congressional Black Caucus wanted the administration to do more to help African American communities suffering in the economic decline. … The caucus itself did not publicly detail its concerns Thursday, but one member, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), issued a statement: ‘The recession has created a unique systemic risk that threatens all parts of the African-American community, including the poor and the middle class.” Now, Maxine just wants some walking-around money. I think the Congressional Black Caucus is being shut out of the slush fund and that’s what’s got them upset. Somehow they’re getting shut out of the slush fund. I mean, Landrieu’s getting a hundred million for Katrina but none of them are. They get sent to jail like Congressman William Jefferson (Democrat-Louisiana).
‘Dems Fight Over Funds Left from Bailout,’ not bailout the slush fund. ‘Senate Democrats want to put a big chunk — say, $40 billion — toward loans to small businesses,’ this time an effort to direct a small amount to the private sector, $40 billion. We spent over $1.3 trillion. Forty billion for small business. There’s trouble in paradise out there. ‘US Mortgage Delinquencies Reach a Record High — 10% of mortgages are now delinquent.’ Los Angeles Times: ‘Foreclosures Will Keep Rising Through 2010, Report Says — Mortgage Bankers Assn. says delinquencies and home repossessions have hit a new high. Blaming job losses for most of the pain, it sees a continued surge in foreclosures through all of next year.’ For those of you in Rio Linda, that would be 2011. And is there another economic disaster story? Yes. ‘Culture Clash in Medicine.’ This is about the mammograms. Folks, do you realize we’re just a couple notches above what hell must be like, and we’re still spiraling down? I mean, it is a disaster out there and when the Democrats start bellyaching like this, and you got people at Real Clear Politics, ‘Mr. Obama, Mrs. Pelosi, Mr. Reid, what are you doing to your members? Are you insane?’ I do think that they’re committing suicide. They don’t know it.
And there’s this from the CNN polling unit on top of all this economic news: ‘Nearly two years into the recession…’ and it’s not two years. They say it started in December of ’07 under Bush but it didn’t start then. That’s just to tar Bush with this. But anyway, ‘Nearly two years into the recession, opinion about which political party is responsible for the severe economic downturn is shifting, according to a new national poll. A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday morning indicates that 38 percent of the public blames Republicans.’ That’s down 15 points from May when 53% blamed the Republicans. Twenty-seven percent now blame Democrats. That’s up six points. So the bad news for the Democrats is that the number of Americans who hold the Republicans exclusively responsible for the recession has been steadily falling by about two to three points a month. So there’s a shift out there.
And now the White House has stepped back from stimulus jobs claims. This is Louise Radnofsky in the Wall Street Journal. ‘The White House stepped back yesterday from claims that the stimulus plan created or saved 640,329.2 jobs through September in the face of mounting criticism over errors in reports by tens of thousands of recipients of stimulus money.’ So they’re backing away from it. They haven’t saved or created a single job other than the public sector.
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RUSH: Bob in Roosevelt, Utah, you’re next on Open Line Friday. Hi.
CALLER: Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for talking with me.
RUSH: Yeah, you bet.
CALLER: I got a question for you. I basically go along with the political suicide on this vote, but you see the politicians voting against the American people, and… I mean, I need a logical answer. What could the politicians be more afraid of than the American voter?
RUSH: I don’t think that there is a fear component here. If there were a fear component, they wouldn’t be voting the way they’re voting. I think people do not understand who these people are. I don’t think people have an understanding of just how radically left, anti-capitalist, anti-liberty these people are. I don’t think people understand how devoted these people are to the government being the single citadel in this country for everybody. I don’t think people understand their radical thirst for total power. People do not understand that people like Pelosi and Reid and Barney Frank and Barack Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus. Practically 80% of the Democrats in the House and Senate have been yearning for this for their entire lives, many of them since the sixties. This is their utopia! They don’t care. They’ve got it. It’s within their grasp. Have you ever wanted something so bad you’ve devoted your life to it, and you get within an inch of it, and you find out that nobody else wants it, but you don’t care?
This is where we are. People have been either unwilling to accept or unwilling to believe just how radically left the current Democrat Party is. There is nothing remotely ‘democratic’ about this bunch. There is no democracy going on here. What is happening is pure, unadulterated leftist corruption. It’s happening right in front of our eyes and they don’t care. They don’t care what we think, Bob, because they don’t think we have the power to stop them — and when this passes they will have even more power regulating every aspect of our lives, because they believe in their minds and hearts that we have no competence whatsoever so lead our own lives and make our own decisions. They look at average Americans with pure contempt. They look at the Constitution with contempt. So when you look at what are they afraid of, if they’re willing to so anger their constituents, what out there must they be afraid of? There’s nothing else they’re afraid of. They’re excited! This is like 14,000 Christmas Eves on one day to them.
I wish I could come up with an analogy that would properly convey the excitement, the passion, the single-mindedness they have about gaining finally, after 200 years, dictatorial control over the US government. That’s what’s going on. But people don’t want to look at it that way. They say, ‘Oh, Rush, come on. This is just standard Democrat-Republican Party politics.’ No, it’s not. It has gone way beyond that. These people… Here’s the analogy. If they get this — remember, I called ’em ‘political suicide bombers.’ They’re strapping the bombs on. The bombs are these health care bills. They’re going to get — with this bill, if it’s signed into law — their 72 virgins. They’re going to get a lifetime supply of Viagra or Cialis, their choice, and they’re not going to die. They’re going to get the 72 virgins in their offices or in the Capitol wading pool or wherever they want them. And the Cialis and the Viagra, whatever it is, are the health care plan that they will sign up for.
If you really have avoided facing the reality of how radical left the Democrat Party is today, then this that I am saying to you is probably not going to penetrate. ‘No, Rush! This is the United States. It can’t be happening. These people, they just want power and money.’ No, folks. They want to remake the country. They’re telling us! Obama, Barney Frank, they’re all telling us. They want to remake this country. They want to be in charge of what everybody earns! Barney Frank says so. They’re all out there telling us this stuff, just like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is telling us he’s going to nuke Israel at some point, and the 12th imam’s going to come up out of the well and we’re all going to be whatever. In their own way they are just as radical as religious radicals are. But people don’t want to face it. That’s where we are. So there’s no fear here. There’s joy; there’s anticipation; there is excitement. And to hell with us! We’re going to finally be put in our place. This notion that they work for us? Unh-uh! Not in their minds. Never has been the case, and now they’re going to establish it as fact.