RUSH: Well, we’re going on now the second day grilling of ‘Toyota’ as Henry ‘Nostrilitis’ Waxman refers to the company. Does anybody really doubt, ladies and gentlemen, that Toyota does a good job making safe, affordable cars? I mean there’s so many of them out there, does anybody doubt they
have done their best to kowtow to the environmentalist wackos? So why the Spanish Inquisition, why is this happening? There’s only one thing that Toyota does wrong and that is they don’t hire UAW workers and pay ’em an average salary of $73 grand including benefits, and that’s why Toyota is being hung out to dry. And, folks, I have to laugh here ’cause this is a teachable moment. An organization is accused of selling a defective product that unintentionally harms people who buy the product, a product marketed and sold to keep millions of people safe. Are we talking about Toyotas or are we talking about Obama’s health care plan? Toyota is being accused of careless, reckless behavior in producing a defective product, by Congress! By Congress! This is chutzpah.
At the same time, Obama and Congress have manufactured a health care product, Obamacare, that is a ticking time bomb of design flaws. I mean the difference between Toyotas and Obamacare is that nobody’s forced to buy a Toyota. The difference is a tiny percentage of Toyota owners are affected whereas all Americans will be forced to buy a health care product that is riddled with design flaws, weakens the company selling them and puts the buyer at great personal risk. And the worst thing about it is, is that the CEO of this will not be subject to recall, meaning Obama. These hearings are taking place just as Obama’s one-day-only political theater opens. I saw something hilarious this morning. On Fox, mere moments ago, here in the middle of show prep they had two guys on, a former Republican congressman, and some snooty, smug, just irritating former Obama campaign advisor who was just going on about (imitating former Obama campaign advisor) ‘how the public is being so ill-served by what’s happening at the summit tomorrow. Why, people’s lives are at stake and all that’s taking place up there is theater.’
Well! Holy cow! We’re actually getting a Democrat with an honest assessment of this, and then the guy blew it. (imitating former Obama campaign advisor) ‘The Republicans are saying that they are going to come and crash the party. That is nothing but pure political theater. The Obama people have peoples lives on the line and in mind and they are trying to do something terribly desperate, and the Republican are going to –‘ everybody knows it’s theater. Both sides know that nothing is going to come of this. It’s all over the news today. Obama is pretending that he doesn’t even know what the Republican plans are, but guess what? The House Republicans gave Obama their health care proposals weeks ago. He’s had them. Rahm Emanuel has had them. And Obama keeps pretending he doesn’t even know what they are. You talk about watching sausage be made. We are watching the death of the country by legislation and by executive order, and instead we got a bunch of Toyota execs up there groveling, bending over and grabbing the ankles and saying, ‘Yes, we’re guilty. Yes, we grew too fast. How can we do this, how can we get out from under your bad vibe? We don’t want to offend you anymore. What could we do? You want us to hire union work? Fine, we’ll do it. Just leave us alone.’
Meanwhile, we have to sit here and put up with this attack on the private sector, private insurance agencies, private everything is going under water. You’ve seen the new numbers on home sales. They are horrible. Home sales hit a record low in January. New home sales plummet 11.2% to an annual rate of 309,000. That’s the lowest on record. Meanwhile, the recovery is going on and the CBO says, yip yip yip yahoo that the stimulus actually created a million and maybe two million jobs the fourth quarter. Nothing is real.
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Folks, I have to tell you something, this looks like a war crimes trial with these Japanese Toyota execs before an august committee of US Congress. Rasmussen, the latest approval numbers for Congress: 10%. Now, we are making a mistake by broadcasting pictures that look like for what they are, we are shaming these Japanese Toyota execs, we are publicly humiliating these guys, and the Democrats are doing this for pure political posturing, and this is a mistake. This is a foreign policy blunder to be handling this situation this way, to shame these people like this. There are a lot of Toyotas on the road in this country ’cause people like them. There are a lot of Lexuses on the road in this country because people like ’em, a lot of Nissans on the road because people like them. People like Toyota-made products and to shame them this way, you talk about not enhancing our image around the world, this does not look good because these guys haven’t done anything to us, except they have done something to the Democrats. They don’t have UAW employees. (kissing) That’s what this is really all about.
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RUSH: Because the ChiComs sold off a bunch of T-bills the other day, the Japanese are now the largest holders of our debt. And this does not look good shaming these Toyota guys up there, and I’ll bet the ChiComs don’t like a bunch of Asian guys being shamed like this. Folks, the Democrats running this show, and we’re looking at the board of directors of GM and Chrysler, essentially — this committee — grilling these Toyota executives. The Democrats are always looking for guidance from some of their respected elders in circumstances where it’s not clear what the next course of action should be. I wonder if some of these Democrats are asking themselves as they listen to these Toyota guys, ‘What would FDR do? What would FDR do?’ Let’s listen to a little bit of this. This is Akio Toyoda speaking broken English to show respect to the board of directors of GM and Chrysler.
TOYODA: I’d first like to state that I love cars as much as anyone, and I love Toyota as much as anyone. I am here with my Toyota family of dealers, front team members, and friends. I take the utmost pleasure in offering vehicles that our customers love, and I know that Toyota’s 200,000 team members, dealers, and suppliers across America feel the same way. However, in the past few months, our customers have started to feel uncertain about the safety of Toyota’s vehicles, and I take full responsibility for that.
RUSH: Now, this next is what these guys know they have to do in front of American congressional committees (particularly this committee, the board of directors of GM and Chrysler). You have to go up there and have to admit mistakes. Americans love this. They gotta go up there and just explain how dirty, rotten they were.
TOYODA: Today I would like to explain to the American people as well as our customers in the US and around the world, how seriously Toyota takes the quality and safety of its vehicles. I myself, as well as Toyota, am not perfect. At times we do find defects, but in such situations we always stop, strive to understand the problem, and make changes to improve farther. In the name of the company, its long-standing tradition and pride, we never run away from our problems or pretend we don’t notice them.
RUSH: By the way, we have one more bite to go, and this is the piece de resistance. This is a comment tailored to appease Democrats. They’re basically blaming capitalism. They just grew too fast.
TOYODA: Toyota has, for the past few years, been expanding its business rapidly. Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick.
RUSH: So they’re up there and they’re groveling. They know the drill. They understand what they have to do in order to get out of there and get home. Remember, the Democrats on that committee are always seeking guidance from their heroes, and they’re asking themselves: ‘What would FDR do in this situation?’
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RUSH: Now, this poor old Toyoda guy has to go up there and say, ‘Perhaps we grew too fast,’ and the Democrats say, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! (applauding) Too much capitalism! You grew too fast!’ How come that’s never said about government? Why is it never said that government is growing too fast and that’s a problem, but it is for companies like Toyota?