RUSH: I have a couple of audio sound bites for you, ladies and gentlemen, from President Obama, and they’re just delicious. They are from this morning. They are for air tonight and tomorrow on ABC’s Good Morning America. George Stephanopoulos interviewed President Obama. During the interview Obama said this about the Massachusetts Senate race…
RUSH: Is he delusional? Does he really believe this? He can’t possibly believe this. To not know that the anger is solely directed at him and his party… He thinks the anger that they drummed up against George W. Bush is the same anger that elected Scott Brown? If he believes this, folks, his ego is more out of control than even I (and I know egos) had imagined. If he really believes this and is not delusional — if he thinks the same anger at George W. Bush is the anger that existed in Massachusetts — that’s just… MSNBC, get a show ready for this guy. MSNBC proves what happens when you deinstitutionalize the mentally disturbed. And then, from the same interview, Stephanopoulos says, ‘What happens now…?’ and brace yourselves for this. ‘What happens now with health care, Mr. President?’
OBAMA: Here’s one thing I know. Uhhh, and I just want to make sure that this is off the table. The Senate c-certainly shouldn’t try to jam anything through until Scott Brown is seated. The people in Massachusetts spoke. Uh, he’s gotta be part of that process.
RUSH: Wait a second. That doesn’t go with what you just said about all the anger out there that elected Scott Brown. I mean, because when you were elected, the anger was they wanted health care, damn it! They wanted it, they wanted it, they wanted it! Because they thought it was going to be cheap and plentiful and everybody was going to have it and now they realize that’s not what it’s going to be. Why, there are stories in the paper this morning — I read one of the headlines to you — Obama to double down. We gotta get this done! And now he says it’s off the table? The Senate certainly shouldn’t try to jam anything through until he’s seated? Now, I need to say something about this, something that is actually remarkable. It finally hit me. This given assumption, the absolute certitude with which the 41st vote for the Republican gravely damages the Democrats and halts health care.
Do you realize how universal and automatic that is? We are just being told that it’s automatic. ‘Okay, that’s the end of health care. We got 41 votes,’ but that 41st vote would only matter if it was understood — if it was known — that the rest of the Republicans are reliably, categorically together in saying that we need to stop it. Amazingly enough, we need to give the Senate Republicans credit. They have held. This election would mean nothing if Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins were behaving as usual. This election wouldn’t mean diddly-squat. He might not have even won it if the Senate Republicans had not held together on this. This is crucial. Because for hanging tough, hanging together, that 41st vote mattered. That’s only the foundation upon which the Scott Brown vote in the Senate has any meaning, by the way, folks, is that all 40 Republicans are hanging tough. Everybody knows… (ahem) I say this somewhat sarcastically. Everybody knows that the Senate Republicans are a formidable bloc. I mean, we had defections in the Senate Republican membership all the time. McCain. (doing impression) ‘That’s right, Limbaugh! Stepping across the aisle. I show how it’s done.’ But they’re all holding firm, every one of them, and that makes the 41st vote the tipping point. So if Obama is out there saying, ‘Hey, it’s off the table’… By the way, don’t think they haven’t been trying to get Snowe. Reid gave a really snarky comment about her the other day. He said (paraphrased), ‘I knew I wasted my time with her back in the fall.’ So they’re holding together. If they didn’t and if they weren’t, this vote and the Scott Brown election wouldn’t mean anything. If just one of them had defected. Think about that.