RUSH: Harry Reid is pulling another Saturday night massacre on the American people, just like Nancy Pelosi did last week. Saturday night, a Saturday night test vote. Here’s the majority leader explaining it all to us.
(playing of Harry Reid spoof.)
RUSH: All right, health care test vote on Saturday night. Let me explain why they’re calling it a test vote. There are two stages to a piece of legislation in the Senate, and both stages require 60 votes. The first vote, which is what’s going to happen tomorrow night, is being called a test vote because if it gets 60 votes, it then is moved to the floor and debate begins. The next vote after that requires 60 votes again to stop the debate. That’s called cloture. And that vote, the cloture vote, tells us whether or not the bill will pass. The vote tomorrow night does not necessarily do that, although this vote tomorrow night is something about which we should all have great concerns. There are a number of ways this can go. He can get the 60 votes and start the debate and then start the media spin, ‘Well, they got 60 votes. It’s just a matter of time.’ Then they limit the amount of debate and try to close cloture and get the final 60 votes before Christmas. If they don’t get the 60 votes — and a lot of people are worried about this. If they don’t get the 60 votes — and I, frankly, I can’t read the tea leaves on this, and the reason I can’t is Reid is buying votes.
He bought Mary Landrieu with $100 million provision in the health care bill. There are Medicare exceptions for the state of Louisiana, and it’s a page-and-a-half long, and it allows states that have suffered a major natural disaster within the last four years, three days, and ten hours… I mean, it zeros in on Hurricane Katrina. Then you are eligible for $100 million additional in Medicare for the old folks and blah, blah, blah. Landrieu is in trouble for reelection down there and she needs to buy votes herself. Reid needs to buy votes. This is what Pelosi was doing over in the House. She was buying votes by giving individual members whatever they wanted. Ben Nelson’s out there in Nebraska, and the way they’re going after Ben Nelson… He comes from Nebraska. He has to make it look to his constituents like he is upholding his moderate conservative values, particularly on abortion. The abortion language in this bill is just like the Stupak amendment over in the House. It’s all going to come out. Whatever is in there now to get Ben Nelson’s vote will eventually come out.
So unfortunately, folks, what we’re looking at here is not a vote on the merits of this. We’re looking at Harry Reid buying whatever recalcitrant Democrat votes that he needs. Now, a lot of people e-mailing me last night said, ‘You gotta really hit the Republicans tomorrow, Rush.’ Folks, the Republicans are not the thing here. One of the concerns that people had, expressed to me last night, was that the Republicans got out of town allowing this vote tomorrow night rather than demanding 30 hours of debate rather than eight, which is what’s going to happen tomorrow because they wanted to get home. I know the way Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republican leadership’s looking at this, and that is nobody’s gonna vote not to have debate. They’re looking at this vote tomorrow as a fait accompli. Nobody is going to vote to not even bring this to the floor for debate. But the second phase, if that does happen — if the test vote tomorrow night fails (and I can’t see it failing, but if it does) — then that’s going to strike the fear of God into Dingy Harry and Pelosi, and that’s when they’re going to start moving toward reconciliation, which would blow the Senate up like nothing has before.
What they would have to do is then change this piece of legislation and call it an appropriations bill. Only budget bills can be passed by a vote of 51, a simple majority in the Senate. Everything else requires 60. It’s just Senate rules. If they don’t get their 60 tomorrow night, the big fear is that Dingy Harry will say, ‘Screw it! I’m not going to try again. We’ll just go reconciliation.’ Because they’re going to do whatever they have to do to get this done. The Democrats are a kamikaze party. They just don’t know it yet. In fact, they may know it and some of them not care. They are martyring themselves politically. Let’s look at some things that we’ve learned recently: A government panel suggesting that women (in the name of cutting costs) should be disarmed in their fight against a ruthless killer (breast cancer) by forgoing on mammograms until they’re 50. And today Pap smears have been added to it. You don’t need to get one every year. Women in their twenties, now every other year, because cervical cancer is slow growing and you don’t have to get a Pap smear every year.
The legislation in both the House and the Senate — and Nancy Pelosi has been asked about it and thinks it’s fair and just — American citizens can be put in jail for failing to buy health insurance. They can be fined by the IRS a percentage of their income if they fail to buy health insurance and then face five years in jail and a $250,000 fine. There are — and we have seen the forerunners of this — death panels for seasoned citizens, rationing of medical care. One, two, three strikes you’re out in the old ball game is the way it used to be. These three items — and there are countless others I could mention, but these three items — are political death. No sane politician would align themselves with heartless, incompetent bureaucrats running medical care. But we don’t have sane politicians in Washington. We have political martyrs-in-waiting. Democrats are the equivalent of political suicide bombers. They have strapped political bombs to themselves and they are hell-bent on taking out as many Americans as they can with them. This is how this must be looked at.
There is nothing remotely good about any of this. There’s nothing compassionate about any of this. Just before they detonate their political bombs — which is what their votes against the wishes of the people they serve are — they may as well shout ‘Death to freedom!’ They may as well shout ‘Death to freedom!’ as they cast their vote. The items listed above — the mammogram stuff, the Pap smear, going to jail for not having health insurance, death panels and rationed care… Well, there’s Nelson. He’s already said he’s going to vote ‘yes’ to start this because they’ve given him a concession (he thinks) on abortion. So Ben Nelson is in. There’s so much more than those three issues: Generational theft that has taken place in the president’s stimulus bill and the TARP money; double-digit unemployment with no plans to create any jobs; abandoning our troops in Afghanistan who are in harm’s way; massive tax increases in Obamacare during a brutal recession that is nowhere near over — and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed getting full constitutional rights in the jihadist propaganda show trial in New York City.
Amidst all of this, these political suicide bomber Democrats are going to vote tomorrow night to start debate on this health care plan that if it’s ever signed into law will destroy this country as you and I know it. Political suicide bombers, kamikaze Democrats, call ’em what you want. There is nothing in the polls supporting any of what they’re doing and yet the Democrats persist. The destruction of free market capitalism, individualism, American exceptionalism is more important to them than even their political careers. They are willing to term-limit themselves and to destroy their own political careers, rather than to do what the people want and what is right and best for the country. Democrats are voting for death panels, publicly funded abortion. Do not doubt that that’s going to end up in whatever is sent up to the White House for signature. It’s rationed care, higher taxes. All of that is coming our way if this monstrosity ever does see the light of day.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: All right, we’re going to go to the phones. It’s Open Line Friday and Grand Junction, Colorado. Natalie, you’re up first. It’s a very important responsibility. The first caller sets the tone.
CALLER: Rush, what an honor to speak with you. I am so pleased. I knew someday I would talk to you but I didn’t know it was going to be about this: My body parts. I like my breasts and I like my other parts and I want to keep them. What are these people thinking? Are they going to take them away from us when it’s too late, when we’re filled with cancer all over? Rush, I like them and I wanna keep ’em!
RUSH: I certainly hope you do, too. I have full confidence that you will be able to. Who was it? Democrats? Somebody’s out there saying — maybe it’s Health and Human Services — ‘No, no, no, that mammogram stuff, that’s not going to be part of the bill. We’re not going to accept that recommendation.’ But it’s in the bill! It’s in Senator Reid’s bill and it’s over in the House bill, the delay of mammograms until the age 50. The whole thing here, Natalie, is very basic. Why in the world should you have to be told by a government when and when you cannot get your breasts looked at?
CALLER: I know. And, Rush, let’s include Pap smears now. Let’s talk about that for just one little teeny second. Are they going to tell us not to be looked after? You know what? I don’t want anyone to know how old I am, but if I wouldn’t have been looked after I would have been hysterectomized, let’s put it like that.
RUSH: Wow. Well, let me tell you something. The Pap smear they’ve changed to every other year rather than every year because cervical cancer is slow growing and you don’t need to do these tests.
CALLER: Rush, I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that. I was one of those people that had checks every single year. And when I went to my doctor several years ago, ‘Oops,’ there it was, and half of my cervix is gone; and my girlfriend, too; and not only did that happen to us. She had to go back every three months and get frozen. And I know you might not know what those procedures are, but we know. You know what was going to be next? A hysterectomy. We don’t want to lose our parts! We want to keep them!
RUSH: Yeah, so do I. Every man’s in the same corner here with you.
CALLER: We want to keep our things.
RUSH: Let me tell you, folks, as you’re listening to this. I want you to try to understand this is the opinion that’s practically universal around this country. You got maybe a pocket of 20, 30% liberals who support whatever this massive thing is going to be, but this is just outraging people. That’s why I’m calling these people ‘kamikazes.’ Actually I need to revise that. They’re not endangering themselves all that much. And I’ll explain it as we go through the phones. Thanks next question, Natalie. Appreciate it. (Next Transcript: Phony Health Care Tricks, Taxes Cause a Revolt Among Democrats)