RUSH: By the way, folks, according to the Census Bureau it’s 49% of Americans. Romney was wrong. He underestimated it. “Forty-nine percent of Americans in the second quarter of 2011 lived in a household where at least one member received a government benefit.” The total population at the time was 305 million. So a little over a year ago, 49% of Americans lived in a household where there was at least one member getting a benefit, and that’s “up from 30% in the 1980s and up 44% from the third quarter of 2008.”
And I have to tell you something: Mitt Romney did not make any of these 49% dependent on the government. Well, wait a second. He might have with his health care in Massachusetts. We could throw them out, but you get the point. Romney wants to lift everybody he can out of government dependency. You know, folks, I just saw Dorothy Rabinowitz from the Wall Street Journal on Fox talking about Romney.
I just caught the tail end, but she was talking about how Romney comes across to people stiff, distant, uncaring. Look, that all may be true; I couldn’t care less. What’s the objective? The objective is we are voting to stop Obama, and we are hoping that a majority of Americans agree with us. By the same token, Obama compassionate and cool and attached and all this? I mean, so what if Romney’s stiff. “Everybody says Romney’s stiff.” So what?
What does that matter, given what we face? I know. I know. I know. We’re talking about low-information voters and how they make judgments and all that. But you’re not gotta be able to turn Romney into something he’s not. He’s not some loosy-goosy, happy-go-lucky guy. It just isn’t gonna change. You could sit here and complain about it. That isn’t gonna change it. It isn’t gonna get anything done. He comes off that way. The way he comes off to me is he didn’t make any of those 47% dependent.
He wants to lift people out of it. Mitt Romney has a history, he has a story of creating jobs, growing businesses. What’s Obama’s story? What’s Obama’s history? Creating dependency and growing government and regulations that make it hard to do business. Barack Obama is punitive toward small-business people. Mitt Romney’s not! The choice here is easy.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Tampa, Florida. Jason you’re next. Great to have you here, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Hey, mega dittos, Rush. Longtime listener since 1989, but first-time caller.
RUSH: Thank you very much. You’re almost a lifer.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: 1988 was the first year, and you came in year two. It’s almost the whole time.
CALLER: Junior year of high school on campi Los Angeles.
RUSH: Whoa. Whoa. That’s big. I look back, we’re in the 25th year now. Sometimes I wonder if I could do it all over again if I were just starting. Anyway, I won’t belabor the point. Why do we have you here today? Why did you call?
CALLER: Well, obviously I’m calling about the Romney audio clip, and I completely agree with you. I think it’s a golden opportunity for us to have a discussion about, you know, what I believe is really the central issue in this campaign, and it really is what direction do we want our country to go in. I mean, you think about how the Democrats always talk about the social safety net and love to talk about how the Republicans want to do away with that. You know, what’s implied in the idea of a social safety net is that, you know, it’s the idea that you would break people’s fall if they’ve actually made an attempt to achieve, and it’s something to break their fall to help them get back on their feet. And unfortunately, you know, what it’s turning into in this country — I think this is kind of what Romney was getting at — is that, especially with the election of Barack Obama, people are no longer even attempting to achieve. People have lost hope. I mean, it’s acceptable, the news media, the president, and this administration are sitting there telling us that it’s okay that 90 million people have dropped out of the workforce, that 16% unemployment is acceptable, and I mean, frankly, it’s tragic that that’s where we are as a country.
RUSH: Exactly right, and that’s why this is a golden opportunity. And I gotta tell you, it’s not scientific, but CNBC has been running an online poll about whether or not you agree with Romney. Seventy-five percent out of 10,000 respondents agree with Romney. This is not a losing issue for him, I don’t think, if he plays this right. That’s your cue to continue.
CALLER: Yeah, I mean, I think you’re absolutely right. He needs to just play it the correct way and point out that there’s two directions that we can go in as a country. We can continue the drain that we have, you know, of over 50% of the country collecting and 10% of the country footing the bill. Or we can take a different course where people take the approach of achieving, attempting to get a job in the greatest country on the face of the earth, and I think step number one obviously is getting rid of Barack Obama so we can get back to work in this country.
RUSH: Exactly right. Exactly right. That’s what this election’s always been about: stopping Barack Obama and the Democrat Party. Let me ask you a question.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: I’ve got a big prize closet. I’m gonna give you something. You’re a lifer. You’ve been here since 1989, and you are a smart guy, and your definition of a social safety net is pretty close, pretty close. So I got three things here, door number one, door number two, door number three. You’re either gonna have a brand-new MacBook Pro Retina display, 15-inch.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: I’m not gonna tell him what door they’re behind.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: You got an iPhone 4S, I’m sorry, it’s brand-new but as of Friday it’s the old phone, and an iPad 3, brand-new, engraved, EIB signature iPad 3. Door one, two, or three. You tell me which door and whatever’s behind there is what you get.
CALLER: We’ll do door number one.
RUSH: Door number one is the engraved iPad.
CALLER: Excellent.
RUSH: You don’t sound happy. You already have one?
CALLER: I do, but I’m happy with that.
RUSH: No, I’ll tell you what, ’cause all you’ll do is give that away. You’d have to gift it. Of course it’s worth that, but you already got an iPad. So I’m gonna use the power invested in me as host… do you have a Retina display MacBook Pro?
CALLER: I do not, no.
RUSH: Well, then we just moved that to door number one.
CALLER: Outstanding.
RUSH: Wait ’til you see this thing. Wait ’til you see this baby, and it’s the fastest computer Apple has ever made. You’ll be blown away by it.
CALLER: Unbelievable.
RUSH: I know. Jason, thanks much. It’s great that you’ve been out there that long. I really appreciate it. Now hang on, ’cause we will get the address that we need to have in order to FedEx this to you. We don’t mail things. It’s not because we’re opposed to the mail; it’s just that we’d have to take it to the post office. That’s a job beneath my staff; they just won’t do that. FedEx will come here and pick it up. So it’s gotta be FedEx. Snerdley will be along here in just a second to get your address.
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