RUSH: All right, let’s do a little swerve here into what happens after next Tuesday. Stephen Spruiell at The Corner at National Review Online has this from Richard Wolffe who is at NBC (in the bag, in the tank) and writes books for and about and up orifices of Obama. ‘The White House plans to test Republicans’ unity and political resolve on three controversial issues…’ This is Obama’s political strategy for after the midterms, as revealed by an NBC insider who’s on the take — uh, is — is — is — is in the know. ‘The White House plans to test Republicans’ unity and political resolve on three controversial issues: repealing the Bush tax cuts, implementing the deficit commission’s findings, and pushing immigration reform.’
If we are to believe Richard Wolffe those are the three things Obama’s going to do to ‘test’ the mettle of the Republicans. Meanwhile, the Republicans are expecting Obama to sort of agree with them on things. ‘Obama’s team says that these issues will make for good policy — and good politics, forcing Republicans elected in swing districts to choose between placating Democrats and independents and risking a possible Tea Party challenge in 2012.’ Republicans risking Tea Party chall…? What Obama apparently wants to do here is to put issues on the table to split the Republicans, identify the RINOs, and force Tea Party people to run against them in 2012. ‘The White House believes immigration reform may be the toughest test for the GOP — even tougher than tackling the deficit.
”This will separate the reasonable Republicans from the pack running for president,’ said one senior Obama aide.’ Now, you have to ask yourself: Why in the world, what in the world would make anybody in the White House think that immigration reform is the issue to test the Republicans on? I’ll tell you why. I’ll tell you exactly why. Because Obama and the Democrats know that there are Republicans who are for amnesty in the United States Senate. They think they can probably get McCain back on board. They know they’ve got Lindsey Graham. I’m not saying whether they’re right or wrong. I’m just saying they believe that there are probably enough Republicans to pick off, to put together an amnesty bill.
I really hope that Richard Wolffe is right. I hope this is the strategery that they implement, ’cause they’re gonna be shocked. On this tax business, do they really believe — does Obama really believe — that there are Republicans who are going to oppose the extension of the Bush tax cuts? Do they really think in the White House that that is a reasonable assumption? Have you heard…? Somebody help me out. Is there any Republican that you’ve heard oppose the extension of the Bush tax cuts? In fact, is it not the opposite? Is it not true that it is Democrats who are abandoning Obama on this and advocating the extension of the Bush tax cuts? That’s the reality here. So what’s going on here?
Now, these ranking Republicans I’ve talked about think Obama’s gonna look at election returns and moderate to them. (chuckles) Republicans look at election returns, too. Republicans are going to see what they must do to lose — or, conversely, what they must do to hold their office. The idea that in the midst of this, the White House thinks they’ve got a sizable percentage of Republicans willing to move to Obama? Now, you also have to throw in the mix: Why these three issues? Well, also 2012 is coming up and Obama has gotta get his base back. Even the New York Times is reporting today that he’s lost his base. So these three issues: Immigration reform — and I would have to assume crap and tax or whatever; cap and trade is gonna be in there, Card Check, some of these other things. But repealing the tax cuts, deficit commission findings (that’s tax increases) and immigration reform.
Those three things probably are issues Obama thinks can bring his base back home. I’ve been watching Obama’s base, I’ve been reading Obama’s base. They’re livid with Obama over health care. Do you know why? You and I look at this and think they ought to be happy. They ought to be doing threesomes in the Lincoln Bedroom. They ought to be so damn happy they gotta bust. But they’re not. You know what they’re unhappy about? (interruption) Well, it’s about that they just didn’t get single-payer. It’s that Obama got in bed with the insurance companies. Obama got in bed with the pharmaceutical companies to get ’em on board. They’re ticked off that Obama forged relationships with their dreaded enemies. They are… Stupid? Look, we already identified this as a genetic defect. These people are in it for utter, total destruction.
They think that Obama propped up and made deals with Wall Street in the financial regulatory reform bill, where they want Wall Street destroyed. They think he’s propped up the insurance industry in his health care bill. They think he’s propped up the drug industry in his health care reform, when in fact he has done exactly what they want. He has charted a course to destroy private sector insurance. It just didn’t happen tomorrow. It might not happen for four or five years, but they want it to happen now. So his base is unhappy with him. Not over specifically what he’s done, but how slowly he’s got this done and with whom. Club Gitmo is still open, and despite all the talk that combat operations in Iraq are over, we’re still there — and he upped the ante, as far as they are concerned, in Afghanistan.
Now one of their idols, Gorbachev, is out there saying it’s impossible to win, and they said, ‘Well, why doesn’t Obama understand this?’ Because they want America to lose, and they expect that Obama will make us lose. I predicted to you they would never close Club Gitmo when they’re running the show and I predicted to you they would never lose a war when they’re in charge of it. They will engineer a loss when a Republican’s president but they will not saddle themselves with a loss, militarily, while they are running the show. So his base is not happy with him. You gotta look at these issues in his post-election President Obama presidency as two-pronged: How’s he gonna expose Republicans as frauds and phonies, and how is he going to get his base reignited and back on his side? Now, here’s the dirty secret.
Well, it’s not a dirty secret. This is actually the very visible reality. If you want higher unemployment, if you want fewer jobs, vote Democrat. Do you know that the unemployed are starting to form…? They’re organizing. The people that have been out of work longer than the 99 weeks that they get benefits are now organizing for more unemployment benefits, for extended benefits. There are people in this country who no longer want to work, and they are voting Democrat, and they are demanding extended benefits. If you want that, if you want more Americans who are outta work and don’t wanna work — and we already know 76% of us know someone who’s lost a job — vote Democrat. If you want a smaller paycheck, if you want less take-home pay, vote Democrat. If you want higher tuition — if you want to pay higher tuition for your kids to go to what now seems like (sigh) a more and more worthless proposition, college — vote Democrat.
If you want to lose your home, vote Democrat. If you want to be less secure in terms of foreign policy or even domestic policy, vote Democrat. If you want illegal aliens to vote, vote Democrat. If you want open borders and lawsuits against states who try to enforce federal law, vote Democrat. If you want police citing you for eating too much trans fat, vote Democrat. If you want death panels in your health care legislation, vote Democrat. If you want higher health care costs, vote Democrat. If you wanna believe we’re not a great country, vote Democrat. If you believe America is guilty, vote Democrat. If you believe America must pay the price for 230 years of indecency and evil, vote Democrat. How is that hope and change working for you? By the way, folks, I wouldn’t worry so much about all these ballots being delivered to prisons in Illinois. All the criminals in Illinois are in public office. The prisoners in jail are Republicans.
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RUSH: Obama and his post-election strategery. What is ours going to be? What should ours be? Let me run through some things and see what you think.
Act immediately on votes to repeal Obamacare.
Act immediately on votes to deny the EPA the power to regulate carbon dioxide through cap and trade.
Move immediately to make permanent the Bush tax cuts.
Move immediately to press for a single constitutional amendment that would limit the size of the federal government by limiting the percentage of GDP the federal government can spend in any given year. (And what a wonderful debate that would be! That is what’s driving the Tea Party in large part is spending: Spending ourselves into generational debt and theft. Have a debate on just how much spending there can be, a certain percentage of GDP.)
State openly they will not tolerate any more radicals on the federal bench, no more Sotomayor, no more Kagans, no more idiots, no more activists on the federal bench.
If they do this, if the Republicans do this, they will go a long way toward restoring the republic. Win, lose, or draw, they’ll be fighting for the right things. These are important first steps and in doing this they will be able to articulate our view of society and effectively contrast it with the left. I know what some of you are saying, ‘Rush, that’s an awful lot to bite off and chew.’ No, it’s not. There are gonna be over 200 Republicans in the House. They already say they’re gonna act immediately to repeal Obamacare. Okay, just add to it. What else have they got to do up there? They say they’re not gonna compromise. If you’re not gonna compromise what else are you going to do? If you’re not gonna compromise you vote to repeal Obamacare immediately. You vote to deny EPA the power to regulate through cap and trade; you make sure that doesn’t happen.
You act immediately to sidetrack Card Check. You act immediately to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. This is why they are there. This is not too much. This is not too big a bite. This is why they are being elected. Move immediately to press for a constitutional amendment limiting the size of the federal government. That’s what this is all about. Not only is this what’s expected, not only is this what we hope for, this is what’s right. That’s what this is all about! I’m simply laying out the basic foundation here of a conservative agenda, and if all of this is done — win, lose, or draw. I’m not saying succeed at it. I’m not saying win every one of these things, I’m not unrealistic. Try it, do it. Put the pressure on! Stand up for yourselves! Be what you’re for. Don’t just say it. We’re not electing people to go up there and wait two years until we might win the presidency to do stuff.
There is a sense of urgency about this. State: ‘No more radicals on the federal judiciary bench.’ Win, lose, or draw, the Republicans will be fighting for the right things. They will be taking important first steps. And in the process, they will be articulating our view of society, culture, ideology — and in the process, magic will happen. They will be effectively contrasting what we are with radical liberalism. And if that’s done, we can’t lose, particularly in this climate. Nobody — and I’m talking a majority — nobody wants what Obama’s doing. It’s in the polling data. It’s no time to be defensive, no time to be afraid of the charge of racism. Drop this fear of the media. The support of the American people will dwarf whatever damage the media can do to these people. Connect with their audience, connect with their voters. Understand that what they do is not for them; it’s for their voters, it’s for their country.
That’s all that has had to happen here.
There are other issues. You might have issues you think are more important than the ones I’ve mentioned. Fine, but this is a good start. Budget matters? Cut the federal civilian workforce by 10%, or more — or try to. Cut spending to 2008 levels! A budgetary freeze, for crying out loud! You know, allow for inflation increases, but just a freeze. It won’t hurt anybody. They’ve already proposed that, by the way, going back to 2008. Obama’s gonna veto all this. So be it! Let him veto it! That helps us. We come back for it all again — and he vetoes it again, and he calls us mean-spirited, extreme. He calls us whatever they’re gonna call us. Let him do it. They’re gonna call us that anyway no matter what we do! Not even Obama’s supporters support what Obama’s doing. Those still with him are doing it out of loyalty and fear of what we are. Take the votes; let the chips fall as they may. But this is a decades-long process. It’s not gonna all happen the next two years, it’s not gonna all get fixed the next two years, but it’s gotta start somewhere.
If not now, when?
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RUSH: Now, see, I forgot something that’s important in this list and that is: Securing the border. You secure the border with substantial resources and personnel and physical structures: A wall, watchtowers. This isn’t even controversial unless you oppose national security and the rule of law. There’s nothing controversial about securing the border — unless you listen to La Raza, unless you listen to the blame America first crowd. There’s nothing controversial about guaranteeing the liberty of the American people.
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RUSH: Here’s Shelly in Darien, Illinois. It’s great to have you on the EIB Network. Welcome.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thank you. It’s an honor to speak to you.
RUSH: Thank you very much.
CALLER: I have become totally absorbed into this political scene, and this is my first time voting. I became an American citizen in 2008, and what a great country you have, but so many people don’t realize it. I have followed American —
RUSH: It’s worse than that. It’s worse than that. It’s not that some people don’t realize it. It’s that some people don’t think it.
CALLER: Yah. Yah. Exactly. Exactly. Now, I was an RN in Canada for 30 years. So this Obamacare really got me going. I didn’t say too much at first, and then my patients realized that I knew about the Canadian health care systems, and they’d say, ‘Okay, Shelly, what’s it really like?’ The first thing that really opened their eyes, Rush, is when they find out it wasn’t free. It’s not free. It’s not free in Canada. My income tax was 42% when I left in 2003, and our sales tax is 13% on everything you buy and on services, like even getting a haircut. So it’s not ‘free.’ When I became an RN here in the United States I couldn’t believe that I didn’t have to wait for my patients for a year to have a hip replacement done. They didn’t have to wait in the ER department for three hours to nine hours.
RUSH: Well, wait awhile, and it will happen here.
CALLER: We can’t. We can’t allow this to go through, and we have to make sure that the politicians that we put in on November the 2nd stick to what they say or they get booted out. They say, ‘Oh, yes, we’re gonna repeal. We’re gonna repeal.’ But when they get there are they going to do that? Lordy be, they…
RUSH: We’ll see.
CALLER: They better stick to their word.
RUSH: We will see. There’s gonna be a couple things we’re going to see. A lot of us are expecting lip service. Is it going to be serious, or is it going to be articulated in ways they think just to satisfy us to make us believe they’re taking it seriously? We will be able to tell. We’ll know. Let me run through this again. I’m glad you brought this up, Shelly. Let me run through again, because there are stories today all through the media: ‘What is Obama’s post-election governing strategy?’ Well, what’s ours? We know who Obama is. We know what he’s going to do, and we know what he’s not going to do. Really right now the great unknown is on our side. That’s where everybody’s focus is going to be starting next… Actually, the remainder of the year because the Democrats are gonna come back.
There’s gonna be a lame duck session. What are they going to do? If they lose big, folks, don’t be surprised if they try to jam everything in the world we hate down our throats as the price we must pay for not voting for them. Here’s what the Republicans can do. Act… I’m just gonna run through this again. Act immediately on votes to repeal Obamacare, on votes to deny EPA the power to regulate through cap and trade. Move immediately to make permanent the Bush tax cuts. Don’t wait for the Democrats to come up with whatever they want to do for it in lame duck. Move immediately! Take the offense. They are going to have the majority. Don’t act on defense and don’t wait for them to establish a premise.
John Boehner and Mitch McConnell will come out on Wednesday or Thursday of next week and say, ‘Here’s what we’re gonna do. This is what’s in store. We’re gonna work to repeal health care. We’re gonna make sure the EPA cannot universally implement cap and trade. We’re gonna make sure the Bush tax cuts are made permanent. We are going to move immediately to make permanent the Bush tax cuts and also press for a single constitutional amendment limiting the size of the federal government by limiting the percentage of GDP the federal government can spend in any given year. We’re gonna oppose any more radicals on the Supreme Court or elsewhere on the federal bench.
Win, lose, or draw they will be fighting for the right things.
Border security. Use resources in personnel and physical structures to secure the border. This is not even going to be controversial, unless you oppose national security and the rule of law. But the important thing here: Don’t wait for the deficit reduction commission in December. I have a fear that some of our guys are going to do that. Don’t wait for them. Don’t wait for Alan Simpson. Don’t wait for ‘Irksome’ Bowles. Establish your own agenda. Make permanent the Bush tax cuts. ‘Well, Mr. Limbaugh, I really (grumbling) think we should hold off on that. The deficit commission might recommend something opposite to that and we might have to agree with some of it.’
I’m sure that’s the mind-set of some of the Republicans. It’s very simple: Win, lose, or draw. You don’t have to win these things. We’re not unrealistic. We know Obama can veto all this, but you make him veto it! You make them show themselves! You make them illustrate who they are! You start the campaign for 2012 next week by spelling out and articulating (which will then educate and inform) what we are for. Don’t accept any of their premises. You know, the premise is that this deficit reduction commission is going to have all the power. It has none. They do not have the authority to implement one or any of their recommendations.
They can be totally blown off. They can be totally ignored. Now, they won’t be because the purpose of the commission is to take the heavy lifting away from elected officials. The purpose of the commission is so Elected Official A can say, ‘Hey! (heavy breathing) I didn’t want to do this but the commission said. It isn’t me.’ It’s the same theory behind base closures. ‘We’re going to have a blue-ribbon panel here for the next round of base closures. We’re gonna close the base in your town. Your congressman had nothing to do with it. A blue-ribbon panel came through with it. Don’t hold it against your congressman.’
That’s what’s gonna happen. We don’t have to sit around and accept their premises. None of this is hard. None of it’s hard. In fact, it ought to be easy because it’s natural. This is, after all, who we are and what we believe. How hard is it to state that our objective is to rein in the reach of the federal government? How hard is it to say or to declare that America is a free country, that Americans are a free people, and the purpose of the federal government is to guarantee that freedom and liberty? How hard is that to say? It’s easy to say, and it’s not that hard to do — and doing it will cause an eruption on the left, which is what we want! We want to continually expose them. We want them to continually expose themselves to be who they are.