RUSH: What a dramatic kickoff to the Summer of Recovery. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute, now. It’s July 20th, summer’s one month old. Summer was June 21st, it’s July 20th today. Vice President Bite Me calling it the Summer of Recovery, what a way to kick it off. Unemployment insurance extended now to two and a half years. Two and a half years! The media story line is the Democrats want it, the Republicans don’t. That’s not the story. The story is how the hell are we going to pay for this? And the substory is, at what point does unemployment compensation become welfare? The longer you pay people not to work, the longer they’re not gonna try to work. At what point does unemployment compensation become welfare? And I’m here to tell you that we may be on the cusp of it. Unemployment compensation is just another welfare program. (interruption) ‘What do you mean, how dare me?’ Somewhere there needs to be truth, and there’s journalism going on in this program. It’s not emergency spending. We don’t have the money for this. This is another expanded welfare program. It’s a welfare program. It’s not called that. It’s called unemployment compensation insurance, now two and a half years.
It used to be you got this for a month or two, 13 weeks. Then it expanded and expanded and expanded and expanded. So what a dramatic kickoff to the Summer of Recovery, effectively a new welfare program put in place by the Obama regime. Now, is it just me, or does — (interruption) Snerdley, what are you having a fit in there for? It’s not front page — so what? There is no media. I don’t care what they say about it. When are you people on the other side of the glass going to realize I don’t care what they say about me? You think what I say is hurting the cause? You think the kinds of things I’m saying are gonna hurt me? You think it’s going to hurt the EIB Network? No. Let me tell you something. The big question the Republican Party has to answer itself is not anything other than, ‘How the hell are we gonna contrast ourselves with these people? How are we going to contrast ourselves with these people?’ That’s all the Republican Party has to answer. Who are we? What do we believe in or what are we going to tell people we’re for? That’s all they have to do. I happen to be doing it and part of doing that is explaining who the hell they are.
If you don’t have the guts to explain who they are like they lie about who we are then they’re going to continue to lose. They mock us. We mock them. They lie about us. We tell the truth about them. We don’t have the courage to do that. This isn’t unemployment compensation insurance. This is a welfare program. And it’s needed because the Democrat Party has destroyed the job sector. That’s all you have to say. We wouldn’t even need this if there were jobs being created out there. There’s one reason the jobs aren’t being created. His name is Barack Obama and his party, the Democrat Party. They’re killing jobs. They are killing the private sector, and it is not an accident. Is it just me, or does it seem a tad off key to publicly demand extending unemployment benefits during the Summer of Recovery? That sounds like an admission of failure. Call me crazy. You and I both know we’re not. But I would think that a president during a Summer of Recovery would announce a reduced demand for jobless benefits. I would think if it were me, the way I would define the success of my summer recovery is that there is less need for unemployment insurance, a reduced demand for jobless benefits.
To those of us in the country class, recovery means healing; means coming back; means onward Christian soldiers; means we’re on the march, in this case, a healing or recovering economy. But extending jobless benefits feels more like unabated bleeding. I don’t care what Durbin says, Snerdley. I don’t care what they say. You can’t believe what they say. They’re totally agenda oriented. Durbin said every dollar of unemployment benefits creates $1.60 stimulus in the economy once it circulates? And he cited David Brooks — (laughing) well, yeah, David Brooks. There you go. There you go. Next let’s quote Colin Powell. Let’s quote Colin Powell on what the Republican Party needs to do, that is, support Barack Obama. Yeah. And where do we go next? Let’s start quoting John Kerry. We’re gonna quote Durbin, let’s quote John Kerry and then let’s quote Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. Yeah, that’s what the ticket is. In the meantime, the regime while promising recovery is extending welfare benefits. Summer of Recovery? I think we’re coming back, and what’s the next Summer of Recovery PR event? Is the president going to invite the press to a series of high profile ribbon cutting ceremonies for soup kitchens? Hey, look at our summer recovery, we’re opening new soup kitchens here right in Manhattan. Is President Obama going to announce in the Rose Garden plans to expand and refurbish unemployment offices so that the people going in to get their checks have a more pleasant experience? Maybe put pictures of Shirley Sherrod on the wall in there to see a real American hero.
How about the president hosting a televised government cheese giveaway from the Oval Office to herald the Summer of Recovery. What’s the difference? Cheese giveaway, refurbished unemployment offices, blue ribbon ceremonies to inaugurate new soup kitchens? Well, we’re extending unemployment benefits in the Summer of Recovery. What the hell. Now, the Wall Street Journal today, this is great, by the way. ‘Stimulating Unemployment — If you can’t create any jobs, pay people not to work. Presidents typically invite Americans to appear at Rose Garden press conferences to trumpet their policy successes, but yesterday we saw what may have been a first. President Obama introduced three Americans — an auto worker, a fitness center employee and a woman in real estate — who’ve been out of work so long they underscore the failure of his economic program,’ and yet they’re up there and he’s touting them because they are gonna receive welfare checks now, called unemployment compensation. And we can’t make hay out of this?
We have a president who brings three examples of his abject failure into the Oval Office and heralds them as a sign of his success in extending unemployment benefits? ‘Sure, Mr. Obama’s ostensible purpose was to lobby Congress for the eighth extension of jobless benefits since the recession began, to a record 99 weeks, or nearly two years. And he whacked Senate Republicans for blocking the extension, though Republicans are merely asking that the extension be [paid for].’ You know, there’s 300 plus billion unspent in the Porkulus fund? Why not go get the money from that that? Oh, no, no. Slush money, slush fund, that’s for reelection efforts coming up in November. But there Obama was, ‘obliged to concede that, 18 months after his $862 billion stimulus, there are still five job seekers for every job opening and that 2.5 million Americans will soon run out of unemployment benefits. What happens when the 99 weeks of benefits run out? Will the President demand that they be extended to three years, or four?’ Yes! Because we’re creating a new entitlement: unemployment. We’re creating a new welfare program: unemployment.
‘Only last week Vice President Joe Biden was hailing the stimulus for ‘saving or creating’ three million jobs. This week the White House says we need even more stimulus, in the form of jobless checks, to make up for the jobs his original spending stimulus didn’t create. The one possibility the President and Congressional Democrats won’t entertain is that their own spending and taxing and regulating and labor union favoritism have become the main hindrance to job creation.’ No, they know that. Of course they’re not going to admit it. ‘The overall economy has been expanding for at least a year, but employers still don’t seem confident enough to add new workers.’ The elite Ivy League degreed and honored economists of the ruling glass ‘who sold us the stimulus say it’s a mystery.’ The New York Times: Where are the jobs? They’re asking, ‘Where are the jobs?’ We did what John Maynard Keynes said to do, we did what Obama told us to do, we did what Marx said to do, we did what Castro’s done, where are the jobs? Where are the jobs? A genuine who done it, call Sherlock Holmes.
Somebody’s got the jobs out there, they’re hiding ’em. Who is it, Mitch McConnell, is it John Boehner? Maybe Palin, Palin’s hiding the jobs. Palin has the jobs. She’s got ’em in Alaska. She’s waiting to parcel ’em out so she gets elected. Somebody conduct a quick search. The Democrats, these Ivy League educated ruling class twerps are looking for the jobs. And, meanwhile, they can’t find the jobs, so they bring up three people unemployed forever as signs of success! Because they’re gonna get unemployment checks for two and a half years now. Democrats are subsidizing more unemployment. You subsidize something you get more of it. So if you pay people not to work, they might decide not to work. Other than that, how’s your Tuesday, folks?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: This morning on MSNBC Live the anchorette infobabe Norah O’Donnell spoke with ‘congressional correspondent’ Luke Russert about the vote to extend unemployment benefits. She said to him, ‘This vote’s going to happen this afternoon. It’s a big deal. A new Senator, of course, but there’s a lot of politics going on, isn’t there, Luke?’
RUSSERT: They look to probably pass cloture at 2:30, final passage this afternoon. The bill would then be sent to the House tomorrow where it will be passed quite quickly and hopefully trying to get President Obama’s signature — Democrats hope — by Wednesday evening so that the states can start doling out the unemployment benefits on Thursday morning. That’s the time frame the Democrats would like to see.
RUSH: There you go: ‘Dole out the benefits Thursday morning,’ a couple days. ‘Dole out the benefits.’ ‘[T]he states can start doling out the unemployment benefits on Thursday,’ and you smirk at me when I refer to this as a new welfare program. All right, from Washington, AP: ‘The Unemployment Rate Fell in Most States in June.’ Oh. Whoa, whoa! Maybe we’re recovering. ‘The unemployment rate fell in most states in June,’ Ah, ah, ah…oh…oh, ‘mainly because more people gave up searching for work and were no longer counted. Fewer states saw job increases, the latest evidence that the economic recovery is slowing’ in the Summer of Recovery. Never mind. I thought I had breaking news from State-Controlled Media.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Let’s go to this big celebratory thing at the Rose Garden yesterday. This is Obama heralding the success of the summer recovery by bringing up three people outta work long enough to receive unemployment benefits for two and a half years. That’s how successful the Summer of Recovery is. Here’s the parody of victims.
OBAMA: We need to pass it for men like Jim Chickalsi who is with me here today. Jim worked as a parts manager at a Honda dealership —
RUSH: That you put out of business.
OBAMA: — until about two years ago.
RUSH: Oh, yeah.
OBAMA: He’s posted resumes everywhere.
RUSH: Yeah.
OBAMA: He’s gone door to door looking for jobs, but he hasn’t gotten a single interview.
RUSH: Can you believe this?
OBAMA: We need to pass it for women like Leslie Mako, who lost her job at a fitness center last year and has been looking for work ever since. We need to pass it for Americans like Denise Gibson, who was laid off from a real state agency earlier this year. Denise has been interviewing for jobs, but so far nothing’s turned up.
RUSH: Now, who is this? This is the president of the United States who announced a year and a half ago a stimulus job to prevent all of this. This was not going to be happening, and yet somehow he’s not president, he’s talking as a candidate. ‘Well, the economy’s really bad out there, somebody’s responsible for this. These people have been working very, very hard, nobody’s taking care of them; nobody cares about them. We’re gonna give ’em unemployment benefits.’ This is unreal. This is a guy touting the Summer of Recovery. He brought us back from the brink, and he brings up three people and tells us no matter how hard they look they can’t find work in his America. (interruption) No, Snerdley, it’s not gutsy and courageous. It’s predictable. He knows damn well that what suffices as a media is going to be right in line with him. This is not guts. Why didn’t he give them a job from his stash? Why didn’t he make them czars of something? You know, make one of them an assistant to Feinberg who is in charge of who gets paid at Wall Street. This is incredible. It’s as though he’s not the president. It’s as though he’s not had a jobs program, laser-like focus on jobs. He’s bringing three people up that are testaments to his failure. Here’s the next bite.
OBAMA: I have to say, after years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, the same people who didn’t have any problems spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are now saying we shouldn’t offer relief to middle class Americans like Jim or Leslie or Denise who really need help. The past few weeks a majority of senators have tried. Not once, not twice, but three times to extend emergency relief on a temporary basis. These leaders in the Senate who are advancing a misguided notion that emergency relief somehow discourages people from looking for a job should talk to these, folks.
RUSH: So there’s Obama ripping the Republicans for not extending benefits for these citizens of Obamaville. And it’s exactly what they are. These are people living in Obamaville. Years of championing policies that turned a record surplus into a massive deficit, a lie. The same people who didn’t have any problem spending hundreds of millions — you don’t spend money on tax cuts. But this is it, and this is why we don’t have a media. There is no media; there is no journalism; there is no reporting. Somebody is shouting in my ear, ‘Didn’t the media want to fact-check these people and find out their stories?’ Don’t make me laugh. Fact-check these people? Of course they would be fact checked if they were Republicans, Snerdley. It’s my point. It is silly to make commands of these people. We’re not convincing anybody to say, ‘Why don’t you go fact-check these people?’ There is no media. The day has come and gone — maybe this is what I’m trying to say. I have people who just inundate me with e-mails, ‘Rush, you need to point this out about how the media is X and the media is Y.’ What have I been doing for 20 years? Have you not been listening? If you don’t think I’m explaining it right go get your own radio show.
The point is it’s a waste of time to point out how the media is not doing their job because there is no media. They are doing their job, they are propagandists and to expect them to do their job is folly and stupidity. And those of you writing me and telling me to point out what the media is doing need to get in line and understand I’m way ahead of you. Uh. You wouldn’t believe it. ‘Rush, you need to really, the media this, the media that, the New York Times said –‘ of course the New York Times said that. (interruption) Snerdley, wants to know if I think these three people really can’t find one iota of work out there. To ask the question is to fall for the trap being set. The reason they’re up there is not because they can’t find work. The reason they’re up there is to give Obama faces to show how inconsiderate and heartless Republicans are. And this is where the Republicans misunderstand. And to talk about the media not doing its job, these people really can’t find work, is not the point. What needs to be pointed out here is that this is a shameless exhibition by the president.
What needs to be pointed out is, as I have done, doesn’t anybody find it odd that the architect of a recovery that’s brought us back from the brink brings up three people as shining examples of his failure? Can we in the Republican side — not we, ’cause I know how to do this — can’t they learn to laugh at this schlub? Isn’t it time to learn to laugh at Obama and make fun of Obama and mock Obama? He is not God’s greatest gift. He is not God. He is not The Messiah. He is an ineffective, incompetent man-child. He doesn’t have the slightest clue what he’s doing, if you look at this in terms of accepting his premise. If you want to understand Obama, go read Rules for Radicals. If you want to understand Obama, go read Saul Alinsky. If you want to understand Obama, go listen to Jeremiah Wright. But if you’re going to fall into the trap that Obama wants the best for the country as you define best for the country, then you’re forever going to be misunderstanding what’s going on here.
I know it’s too much to expect. There should have been a press conference. Republicans should have been laughing themselves silly at a joint press conference after Obama did this yesterday. ‘Well, this is really great, our president, after a year and a half of economic recovery programs and job stimulus, brings up three people he admits can’t find work in his country because of his policies.’ That’s all you have to do. Instead of sitting there and saying, ‘Why doesn’t the media investigate these people? Why isn’t the media doing their job? Why isn’t the media finding out if these people really –‘ this is the point. All these people are a distraction that too many people are falling for. There’s another bite from Obama telling Republicans to put these victims-of-Obama-bill before their own election.
OBAMA: That attitude I think reflects a lack of faith in the American people because the Americans I hear from in letters and meet in town hall meetings, Americans like Leslie and Jim and Denise, they’re not looking for a handout. They desperately want to work. Just right now they can’t find a job.
RUSH: Stop the tape. Stop the tape. They desperately want to work and they can’t find work in your America because they live in Obamaville! And we’re letting this guy get away with this. We’re letting this guy get away with blaming the Republicans for the fact these people can’t find a job, when the reason they can’t find a job is his sorry little — blah!
OBAMA: These are honest, decent, hardworking folks who have fallen on hard times through no fault of their own and who have nowhere else to turn except unemployment benefits.
RUSH: Wrong.
OBAMA: We need emergency relief to help them weather this economic storm.
RUSH: Turning to you.
OBAMA: It’s time to do what’s right, not for the next election, but for the middle class. I know it’s getting close to an election, but there are times where you put elections aside. This is one of those times.
RUSH: I think if anybody’s putting elections aside it’s the Republicans. The easy thing to do for the election would be to get ahead of Obama and start giving away money. That’s what you would do for the election. ‘Hi, I’m Mitch McConnell, and I want to give you unemployment benefits for three years, not two and a half. Top that, Obama,’ and Obama would be happy to. The people playing to the elections are the Democrats and the media. I am frustrated.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Jack on the New York State Throughway, great to have with you be the EIB Network, hello, sir.
CALLER: Hello, sir. Congratulations on your wedding.
RUSH: Thank you very much.
CALLER: You’re absolutely right about unemployment becoming welfare, the new welfare. I have customers who have been trying to hire people, and the question they ask: ‘Will you pay me off the books so I can keep my unemployment? It’s not worth it. You’re not going to pay me enough. You’re paying me more than I’m getting now, but it’s not enough to come back to work.’
RUSH: By design, in many cases.
CALLER: By design in many cases. It is truly amazing.
RUSH: I want you to say that again. You have people, you have customers who have been trying to hire people, and the question they’re asked is, ‘Will you pay me off the books?’
CALLER: ‘Will you pay me off the books?’ Right.
RUSH: Meaning, ‘Will you pay me cash so I can continue to collect unemployment benefits?’
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Right. Gaming the system.
CALLER: Yes. This is in New Jersey where the unemployment benefits are very high.
RUSH: Well, of course.
CALLER: They’re getting over $500 a week.
RUSH: Look, New Jersey is full of entrepreneurs.
CALLER: And they’d probably only be making seven, $800 a week.
RUSH: Entrepreneurs come in all shapes, sizes, and forms, and there are people who recognize how to game the system out there, and they’re doing it. It’s maybe not something you and I would do, but they see an opportunity, and they say, ‘You know what? It’s gonna be easier. This guy can pay me off the books. He doesn’t have pay me any taxes. He doesn’t have to report that I work for him. I can still get unemployment benefits. He benefits; I benefit. I get rich. I get paid more by not working and working than if I went and took a real job and had health benefits.’ There are certain people who size up what’s going on and here’s their way of dealing with it. I’m not condoning it. This is the kind of behavior that is…. Ah, I don’t know if you want to say ‘spawned,’ but certain creative people — they’re always out there — gaming the system.