RUSH: You want to hear something hilariously funny? This is from the Associated Press, State-Run out of Montana. Let me give you the headline: ”Tea Party Vision for Montana Raising Concerns’ — With each bill, newly elected tea party lawmakers are offering Montanans a vision of the future. Their state would be a place where officials can ignore U.S. laws, force FBI agents to get a sheriff’s OK before arresting anyone, ban abortions, limit sex education in schools and create armed citizen militias. It’s the tea party world. But not everyone is buying their vision.’ Now, this is not an editorial. It’s supposed to be a news article. And when the AP writes that not everyone is buying their vision, or something, that means they disapprove of it and they manage to find a couple of people to quote who share their disapproval. It means the disapproval starts with AP, their premise and their narrative starts with them, and then they go out and try to find a couple people.
‘Some residents, Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer and even some Republican lawmakers say the bills are making Montana into a laughingstock. And, they say, the push to nullify federal laws could be dangerous.’ Well, really? Well, where are you, AP, on the defense of marriage and this regime simply choosing to ignore laws it doesn’t like? How about when a president ignores various federal court rulings? A federal judge has ruled Obamacare unconstitutional. No big deal, we’re gonna keep implementing it. And you’re worried about lawlessness in Montana? We’ve had an administration that’s come out and said, ‘You know what, this Defense of Marriage Act, it’s been around since the Clinton years, we don’t like it. We’re not gonna defend it anymore.’ Lawlessness! The president does not have such authority, and yet the AP wants to tell us how off the tracks and wacko they’re getting in Montana.
”We are the United States of America,’ said Schweitzer. ‘This talk of nullifying is pretty toxic talk. That led to the Civil War.” It would probably be pointless to point out to Governor Schweitzer that the so-called nullification crisis of the 1830s was actually resolved before the Civil War began. It probably wouldn’t do us any good to point out that his analogy is flawed. ‘Whatever their merits, the ideas are increasingly popping up in legislatures across the nation as a wave of tea party-backed conservatives push their anti-spending, anti-federal government agenda,’ as though somehow that’s criminal, anti-spending, anti-federal government. ‘Arizona, Missouri and Tennessee are discussing the creation of a joint compact, like a treaty, opposing the 2010 health care law.’ It’s already been declared unconstitutional, AP. ‘Idaho is considering a plan to nullify it, as is Montana.’ Why, how radical. All of this is happening within the bounds of the law. They’re passing legislation to do this. They are not unilaterally implementing things, such as our president is doing. This is almost as radical as ramming health care reform through Congress via budget reconciliation. That was not intended to be used for actual legislation, either, budget reconciliation wasn’t, but they tried it.
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RUSH: Jim in Billings, Montana, hello, sir. It’s great to have you on Open Line Friday.
CALLER: Hello!
RUSH: Yes.
CALLER: Hello, Rush, good to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you very much, sir.
RUSH: Damn right.
CALLER: And I don’t know if you were aware: Brian Schweitzer, of course, is a Democrat governor. But our lieutenant governor is a Republican. Were you aware of that?
RUSH: I was not aware of that ’til just now when you told me.
CALLER: Yeah, he caught a lot of flak for it back during the campaign but, nevertheless, he won anyway. And historically, over the last couple of decades here, our local state legislature, the Democrats have been more conservative than our Republican delegates up there. You know, everything goes down to local, of course, in the state level. But, you know, we’re relatively pleased with Schweitzer.
RUSH: You are relatively pleased with Governor Schweitzer?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Well! How about that civility? Civility on display from Montana, and you just had an AP story written about you guys as though you’re a bunch of Neanderthals.
CALLER: I know that, and that’s kind of okay, too. We’d love for everybody to kind of stay away and leave us alone.
RUSH: Yeah, yeah. I’ve been to Montana a couple times.
CALLER: Well, welcome back any time you want to and I’ll be happy to be a guide for you through Yellowstone if you like.
RUSH: Well, I appreciate that. Thank you very much. I’ve been to Ketcham. No wait a minute, wait a minute, I’m thinking Idaho. Where have I been in Montana? (muttering) Oh, darn it. A couple summers ago I played golf at a great, great course. I’m having a mental block. But it was blue skies flying all over the place when I saw it. I do need to go there more. You’re absolutely right.
CALLER: It’s a wonderful place to live.
RUSH: I’m sure it is. It really is. To be able to shoot people you don’t agree with, that’s just… I’m just kidding. We have a parody saying that. You know, Walter Brennan talking about Little Luke and so forth going off on the wrong path. Anyway, Jim, thanks. I appreciate the invitation, I really do. It’s the end of the day, folks, and the end of the week. We get a little giddy here.