RUSH: Listen to this audio sound bite. This kind of sums up what I was saying at the opening of the program, about the Republicans being reactionary and reacting to Obama, reacting to the media, reacting to Tucson. With all these people… You have the ribbon here tonight, the black-and-white 
ribbon proposed by Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Michael McCaul, and these people sitting next to each other, this isn’t the ‘State of the Union;’ this is the Date of the Union. They’re calling it like prom night. It should be called the Date of the Union. Last night on PBS, the Tavis Smiley show, he interviewed Rice University History Professor Douglas Brinkley.
During a discussion about… You know, I know I shouldn’t do this. Every time we play a sound bite from Douglas Brinkley, he has changed jobs. He used to be a history prof at Tulane in New Orleans. Before that, he was a history prof at some other college. Now he’s a history professor at Rice, which is in Houston. Now, I know about this guy. Maybe he keeps getting job offers, climbing the history professor ladder. Just an observation, folks. Just an observation. I’m not making anything of it. Tavis Smiley, during a discussion about the Republican Party and Obama, said, ‘Now they have power in Washington. What reason is there for them to work with him? Why not condition this obstructive path that got you control of the House?’
BRINKLEY: It really was the American people saying, ‘We’re tired of you politicians name-calling and screaming at each other.’ That shrill Tea Party, hard-right Republican attitude I don’t think will fly in this season. Tucson was a game-changer.
RUSH: So there you have it. The liberals think they’ve done it. They think they’ve defeated the Tea Party and defeated the conservatism that roared through last election…with Tucson! That’s what Tucson was in their minds: An opportunity to defeat Republicans, conservatives, and the Tea Party. And now everybody’s sitting together at the State of the Union, so were Doug Brinkley — noted presidential historian, now at Rice University — says the American people have had it. The American people tired of this. Doug Brinkley is essentially saying the American people agreed with the media and Obama and everybody else that it was ‘rhetoric’ that caused the shooting, and that the American people don’t want any part of it.
What’s changed? Did the Republicans lose control of the House after the program yesterday, before I came back? Did that happen and nobody told me? Well, what has happened here? What is Mr. Brinkley talking about? The ‘game changer’? ‘It really was the American people saying, ‘We’re tired of you politicians name-calling and screaming at each other.’ That shrill Tea Party, hard-right Republican attitude I don’t think will fly in this season.’ Wha…? Okay, so they’re back. The liberals are back, the Democrats are back because of Tucson. What makes ’em think that? No, I’m serious. What makes them think that? (interruption) Right. The way the Republicans are acting. The way the Republicans are acting is what makes the Doug Brinkleys of the world think that the Democrats have scored a victory with Tucson.
Now, think of that: ‘The Democrats have scored a victory with Tucson,’ and they clearly think they have. And the only reason to think they have is by virtue of the way the Republicans are acting. (sigh) I got a note from a friend from Hawaii over the weekend, somebody who wanted to share some thoughts with me. Here’s the note: ‘Recently there was a video of a young girl singing the National Anthem. The microphone malfunctioned and she was left singing with no sound.’ You’ve seen the video, right? ‘The people in the arena came to her side and finished the song for her and with her, as proud Americans. Now, if there was no need to sing, I wonder how many people would have belted out the words with the same pride. Americans need to know that their voice matters.
‘We need to find a way to have ’em realize the importance of coming to the side of America. Our voice is being silenced, and there is a need to stand behind the country. Now, the Republican National Committee could run an ad using the video and call out every voice to be heard, the importance of the 2012 elections. Without a microphone, we can still be heard.’ The symbolism of that video is what got to him: A little girl singing the anthem, her microphone goes out, and yet the crowd took over. A bunch of people that did not have microphones nevertheless were heard. ‘Americans will do it if they know there is a need. The time is now. You are a great advocate. Thanks for leading. Let me know where to take the idea or to further the thought process.’
Now, this is inspiring, ’cause this is somebody out in Hawaii who is about as far away from all this as you can get, paying attention to it, and seeing symbolism and optimism for America in that video episode. And we really can’t afford to be the silent majority any longer, and I don’t know that we actually are. Not with the Tea Party — and believe me, the Tea Party’s not going away. The Tea Party is not vanishing, despite all of these ‘optics’ and despite all the psychological efforts of the left to make it look like the Tea Party has been defeated and like the election never happened. ‘You know, the Republicans really didn’t win anything.’
That’s the psychological ploy that’s being attempted here. ‘Republicans didn’t win anything. Obama is the focus of the show. He’s got the State of the Union. Obama’s gonna give us the agenda; Obama’s gonna tell us what to do. Republicans? Who are they? Paul Ryan? Oh, you mean that monster that wants to cut everybody’s Medicare and Social Security? Oh, yeah, that guy. Yeah, well, he wasn’t elected to anything. Tea Party? Ha! What Tea Party? I mean, the people the Tea Party elected are sitting with us at the Obama speech tonight.’ So there’s a clear psychological ploy, and I warned you people about this. Ever since the election I have warned that this would be the effort: To make it appear like nothing of any significance happened in November.
When you couple the fact that the establishment in Washington is unified in their opposition to the Tea Party, you can understand why some of these things are happening. The attitude… You know, I turn on television and I watch guys. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and she’s talking about sitting next to a Republican. I never saw Michael McCaul. He’s the cosponsor of the ribbon idea. I never saw him, but I see Debbie Wasserman Schultz all over the place, and I see Chuck-U Schumer all over the place, and I see Jim Clyburn all over the place. I don’t even see Paul Ryan, this monster. You have to read about him in the Wall Street Journal.
I don’t see him on TV — and if all you do is watch TV, you could conclude that the Democrats still run the House of Representatives and the conservatives are just lucky that they’re even be allowed in tonight, and that the condition they have to meat for being allowed in is that they have to sit next to a Democrat. Whose idea was that? Mark Udall’s. A Democrat puts forth the ideal: ‘You know what? We ought to sit together,’ and it’s happening. The psychological picture is who runs the show. It looks like the Democrats are running the show. This is purposeful. This is precisely what the plan was and how it is being initiated.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: This is Ned in Plymouth, Indiana. I’m glad you called. Nice to have you on the program with us.
CALLER: Nice hearing you, Rush. Thank you. Thank you for all you do and everyone there at the EIB Network. You do a great service. Anyways, I’m gonna get to my point. As a college student I’ve only become interested in politics for the past couple years, and how I see it, I’ve heard a lot of negative expressions toward Republicans and whether they’re kowtowing to the media and trying to get in good with the Democrats. But, you know, two years ago, three years ago the representatives that we had as far as conservatives, our choices were either between George Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney, and after the elections, if we have Paul Ryan as one option, or Michele Bachmann as the other, I think that’s a pretty good shift in the right direction. I see a good future for the conservative movement and the country, and that’s that.
RUSH: Okay, so you think Ryan and Bachmann as leaders or apparent leaders of the right wing is a positive shift?
CALLER: If those are the faces that are being put on by either the Republicans or the Tea Party or conservatives that we have representing us, as opposed to the past ten years where it was John McCain, I think that the window that we’re looking for has shifted pretty far to the right as far as conservative principles and —
RUSH: Okay. I think I see what you’re talking about now. I get it. You’re basically talking about responses to the Obama State of the Union.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Right. Right.
CALLER: Yeah, who we’re choosing to have talking for us. Paul Ryan is representing the Republicans or we got Michele Bachmann, I see it as a win-win for conservatives.
RUSH: Okay, it’s interesting. So you think this means that the Republicans are heading and moving in the right direction choosing Ryan. The Republicans did not choose, just to let you know, Bachmann. Bachmann put herself up there. She is the leader of the Tea Party caucus, and Republicans are not supporting her response. That’s why they have put all their weight behind Paul Ryan and so forth. Well, I’m glad you’re looking at it that way. Ryan is, no doubt, an upcoming star. I mean, this guy on the budget spending items is brilliant. Paul Ryan truly is brilliant and I hope he’s able to be heard. I hope he’s able to make his voice heard. I hope he’s able to have his voice heard and that it resonates, that it inspires people. And it is an enlightened choice, and I’ll tell you, one of the bits of evidence that confirms that is how the Democrats have started in on him already as a monster, and they’re applying the straight-out-of-the-playbook criticisms, he wants to take away your Social Security, he wants to take away your Medicaid, he wants to take away your Medicare, why, he is an out-and-out monster. So they’re clearly threatened by him just as they are threatened by Sarah Palin and the others. Ned, thanks for the call. I appreciate it.
This is Matt. You’re next from the Detroit. Great to have you on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hello.
CALLER: Well, thanks, Rush. Mega mid-gut dittos from New Fallujah.
RUSH: Thank you, sir, New Fallujah. New Fallujah! I had forgotten about that. Boy, did I ever get in trouble for that.
CALLER: I can imagine.
RUSH: Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho. That’s from the Grooveyard of Forgotten Favorites. New Fallujah.
CALLER: Imagine my disdain. I sell oil in Detroit so you can imagine how difficult it is here.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: The expression that this is the most divisive time in modern history I think is a misnomer. I believe there’s more unity now than ever before. I mean taking part in Tea Parties I see Democrats, Republicans, independents, Libertarians, old people, young people, blacks, whites, and then we rode into victory in November in a huge way, unprecedented in the last 70 years. I think that shows the extreme unity. I think that there’s hope for us if we stay unified. And as far as the future of the Tea Party, we’re biding our time. We don’t spend our time campaigning. We spend our time doing our business and making our money and raising our families. When the time comes for us to be back and to raise our voices again for 2012, we’ll be there again. We’ll be there again. There’s just as much momentum here as there ever was.
RUSH: That’s an excellent point and you’re probably right about that, and you would know since you’re an avowed member of the Tea Party.
CALLER: Yeah. They didn’t check my ID or anything, and we don’t have anybody give Social Security numbers to join. You know, Bachmann is the titular head of the Tea Party in Congress, but we have no central leader. We have no central leadership and there’s a lot of diversity in reality in the movement. And Paul Ryan is an absolute brilliant, brilliant man. You’re so right about him, and we’re hoping that he rises to even higher parts of leadership in the Congress and maybe in 2016 or something we’ll look to him to run for president.
RUSH: Now, Matt, explain to me again your theory on all the new unity you spoke about. Who is it that’s unified?
CALLER: Well, for instance, we protested an Obama speech at a local community college, and I met with a bunch of retired General Motors workers who had been, well, screwed from the bailout of the auto industry. And it was the first time, and we commented, it was the first time that we could recall that a bunch of Republicans and a bunch of GM, UAW guys walked the line together. And there’s such a myriad of faces in the Tea Party that there’s no ideological line. Folks are concerned about overspending. Folks are concerned about having a future for their children, and it does not have a party line to it. There’s too many Democrats involved. There’s too many Libertarians involved. Teachers, union guys, line workers, IBEW, skilled trades, they’re all part of this movement, and to be continually vilified as —
RUSH: I know. Well, that’s why you’re being vilified. And that’s why all this is going on in the House of Representatives today. All of this stuff with Republicans and Democrats sitting together, believe me, unspoken, is about something these people in Washington all agree on, is they don’t like the political power you people have, and they’re afraid of it. And they will do anything they can to discredit it in the eyes of the American public at large, they’ll do anything they can to make it look like you people are nothing but a bunch of cult fringe characters, which is what this is all about. Believe me, this is all aimed at you, this is all aimed at dispiriting you, it is aimed at making the body politic at large think that you’re insignificant and nonfactors, nonplayers. It’s a huge psychological game being played.
CALLER: Well, one thing that makes me ill is that John Dingell, the dean of the House, is sitting with Fred Upton tonight.
RUSH: Ha! Why am I not surprised? Speaking of that, ‘Consumers Not Yet Warming to New Lightbulbs,’ that Fred Upton was so supportive of. These are the spaghetti compact fluorescents, and it’s a story from the MSNBC website: ‘Consumers Not Yet Warming to New Lightbulbs.’ You know what they found out? Not only is there mercury in these things, they don’t last very long at all. We were told these bulbs were gonna last for years, much longer than the Edison candescent bulbs. But they don’t.
CALLER: Can I ask you permission for something? I’ve never worn another man’s name on a jersey before but I’d like to put your name on a Lions jersey and wear it.
RUSH: Oh, by all means.
CALLER: Thank you.
RUSH: By all means. You feel free to go ahead and do that. Which name are you gonna use, Limbaugh, El Rushbo, Rush, Maha Rushie? Which name you gonna use?
CALLER: Probably Maha Rushie.
RUSH: They’ll probably think you’re actually on the team if you put that on there, Maha Rushie goes on along with Obijobi and Otaweli and any number of other people playing. You put Maha Rushie on there, they might actually think you’re a player.
CALLER: Well, plus Dearborn is right here, so, you know, we fit right in.
RUSH: (laughing) For those in the know he’s really talking about Dearbornistan. Thanks for the call. I have an idea for the Republicans. Everybody wants to wear a ribbon, wear a sash. Not a ribbon, wear a red sash to highlight the federal budget in the red. Now, that would be gutsy.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Hi. Welcome back. Great to have you here. Rush Limbaugh. Talent on loan from God-d.
To Louisville and Tom. Welcome to the program, sir. Welcome.
CALLER: Hi, Rush.
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: Thanks for having me on. I remember you were saying something a little bit ago about this guy who was — I think he was a professor somewhere, and he was — saying something about how the American people had had it.
RUSH: That was Professor Douglas Brinkley, history professor at Rice University.
CALLER: Well, you know what? He’s kinda right. I have had it, but not really with what he’s talking about. You know, I’m a taxi driver in Louisville, Kentucky. I work really hard to make my living, okay?
RUSH: I’ll bet you do.
CALLER: I’m out here… Last week I was out here for 80 hours and I did not make one dime for myself. You know what I’ve had it with? I’ve had it with these two-faced politicians driving business out of this country and saying, ‘Oh, well, we’re doing it for the poor.’ Guess what? I am ‘the poor.’
RUSH: (laughs)
CALLER: I’ve never made more than $22,000 a year in my entire life, and I am so sick of people saying they’re doing it for me.
RUSH: Well, you’re the Democrats’ best friend. You’re their buddy.
CALLER: No, I’m not. I’ve never drawn a dime from the US government. I actually applied for educational assistance when I was 27 years old, living on my own, you know what they told me, Rush?
RUSH: What?
CALLER: They told me my expected family contribution exceeded the maximum allowable. I was 27 years old, and they’re talking about my parents are gonna pay for me to go to college?
RUSH: Well, they must have had some inside information that told ’em you didn’t vote Democrat.
CALLER: Well, I don’t know. At that time, I hadn’t voted for anybody in a very long time.
RUSH: Well, they knew that.
CALLER: And, you know, here’s another thing I’m tired of. I’m tired of all these weak-kneed, just knee-jerk RINOs up there going along to get along. I did not go out to the voting poll and elect these people so that they could sit there and just be that wishy-washy. I want them to stand up for what’s right. I want them to stand up and bring business back in this country. I want them to stand up and do what they said they were gonna do. I don’t want ’em to take prom dates to the State of the Union Address. I want ’em to do what they promised me to do. Is that askin’ too much?
RUSH: No. No. It’s not even coming close to asking too much. I want you to listen to this sound bite again. This is the one you heard and reacted to by calling. This is last night on the Tavis Smiley show on PBS. Rice University History Professor Douglas Brinkley. The host said, ‘Now that they have power…’ It’s about the Republicans. ‘Now they have power in Washington, what reason is there for them to work with Obama? Why not just continue this obstructive path that got ’em in control of the House in the first place?’ (replaying of sound bite) So this guy says that people like you are tired of politicians and talk radio yelling at each other, Tucson was a ‘game-changer.’ You want everybody to get along. Is that at all representative of your attitude? I don’t think it is.
CALLER: No way. As a matter of fact, what they’re doing in Tucson, talking about how it was you and Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity that set up the climate? I mean, come on, Superman couldn’t make that leap.
RUSH: (laughing) I happen to… Look, I’m glad you called, Tom. I always love getting calls from people in Louisville — and best of luck to you, by the way, too. And he’s right. These people, Douglas Brinkley and so forth? They are nowhere near connected. All this is doing… I’m just gonna tell you people right now. By the way, an announcement, ladies and gentlemen. The majority leader Eric Cantor will not be sitting with Nancy Pelosi tonight at the State of the Date, date night, whatever it is, which means — ’cause he asked her. We led off the show with a story that Cantor was gonna ask Pelosi to sit next to him. She must have said no, because he’s going to be sitting with his friend and colleague from Richmond: Representative Bobby Scott. (interruption)
Snerdley is having a fit in there. What did you say, ‘What’s the difference?’ Don’t say it, Snerdley! If you start cursing in there I might inadvertently curse back responding to you, asking you not to curse. (interruption) I know, I know, I know, Bobby Scott is one of the most partisan hacks in Washington. (sigh) Well, you know, the student body queen said no, so Cantor is gonna sit with Bobby Scott. Doug Brinkley, by the way, was John Kerry’s hagiographer, biographer, what have you. But I’ll tell you, a lot of this — and maybe they know it in Washington. But if they don’t, let me help out. All of this sitting together and ribbons and stuff, this is not flying out here. This is not appeasing anybody.
It’s not making anybody feel any better. Nobody is being bought off by this. This is not what this election was about. The election in November was not about Republicans and Democrats ‘getting along with each other.’ This is a myth that the media and the Democrats continue to put forth, but is not what that election was about. This election was about defeating Obama. It was about stopping Obama. It was about stopping the Democrats. It was not about sitting with them and getting along with them, and this is not gonna fly. Now, they may be able to fool themselves in the chamber and think that they’re really mattering and that they’re really doing great things and that they’re helping this ‘new civility’ and so forth.
All they’re doing is alienating themselves from the people who elected them. I hate to say it, too. The people that swarmed polling places in November want Obama stopped. They don’t want his agenda joined. The people that swarmed the ballot boxes in November do not believe Obama is ‘moderating’ and ‘moving to the center.’ They don’t believe any of this is genuine. They know it’s a show. They know it’s pure PR. They don’t… All of this civility stuff? This is not what the election was about. The election was about saving the country from Obama policies, and they don’t take great pleasure in seeing all this take place, because, as I said — and, folks, I do not say this with any comfort or happiness.
It does not please me to say this or illustrate it and reflect it and point it out to you. But this reacting to Obama and the media is the exact opposite of what the people who voted in November wanted and expected. Whatever happened to the old phrase, ‘You dance with the one who brung ya’? You dance with the one who brung ya — and I don’t care: Whatever Democrat any Republican sits next to tonight, that Democrat had no effect, that Democrat had no involvement in these Republicans winning the elections. So in a sense you could look at this as sort of a slap in the face — and if elected Republicans are asking themselves, ‘Well, what’s the big deal? Why do you people get so upset about? We’re just gonna sit together,’ you need to ask yourselves: ‘What would our voters do in these circumstances?’
And that’s very clear to understand. If you ask yourself, ‘What would our voters do?’ and if you know your voters don’t want you getting involved in these PR shows for ‘civility,’ then don’t do it. But there’s two years for the voters to forget — and Tucson? Tucson? This is all falling into place. I have been asked to speak to a (sigh) large number of members of the House very soon, and I told them that I would do it. I just wonder if that will actually happen now, given the program today. But I did promise. I did commit. So I said that I would do it, and I will take full advantage of the opportunity. I’ll tell you after it’s all happened and so forth, but dance with the guy who brung ya.
So look at what’s happened here. The Democrats didn’t lose. Tucson happened because the Republicans and the talk radio people and Sarah Palin are too angry and loud. The Democrats still run the House. Obama’s running the show. Everybody’s reacting to what Obama wants to do, the Democrats had this idea everybody is sitting together and everybody’s going along with it, and the people who elected this majority are scratching their heads, saying, ‘What the hell?’