RUSH: This is from the Washington, DC, CBS affiliate. This just spells out one of the results from the latest Pew Research study. This is not good. The Pew Research study is the one that shows Democrat voter enthusiasm way, way up all of a sudden, in the swing states. And the story from the Washington, DC, CBS affiliate headline is: “Only 15 Percent Of Democrats Believe Economic News Is Bad — According to a recent study from the Pew Research Center … new data found that just 15 percent of Democrats believe that recent economic news is mostly poor, a percentage that took a significant drop from the 31 percent of Democrats polled last month who did think that economic news was mostly bad.
“According to the study, the 15-percent clip is among the lowest percentages during President Barack ObamaÂ’s nearly four years in office. Sixty percent of Republicans find that most of the economic news is bad. Among independents, the percentage is 36 percent,” who think the economic news is bad. And both of these data sets remain virtually unchanged from a month ago. I mean, you can fool some of the people all the time, but the good news here is that the Drive-Bys are not fooling anybody but the fools. I mean, they’re not creating new fools. They’re not converting people into fools. All they’re doing is preaching to the fools.
Do you believe only 15% of Democrats think the economy’s in bad shape? Why would you say that? If you didn’t care what the state of the economy was, then you probably would think it’s okay. And I’d venture to say that there’s a heck of a lot of Democrats who probably don’t care, ’cause they don’t depend on the economy. They depend on the government, and the government’s always there regardless what the state of the economy is.
No, I’m not just saying that to be provocative. There’s a huge partisan divide in this country, issue by issue or category by category. Look, 85% percent of Democrats think the economy’s fine. What does that tell you about those people? We are at depression era growth rates, shrinkage rates, however you want to categorize it. Sixty percent of Republicans think that most of the economic news is bad. So there are 40% of Republicans who think it’s okay.
Somebody sent me an e-mail during the break. “Rush, why would a president want to be photographed and seen with all of these rich people when he’s supposed to represent the little guy?” You know, I thought, that’s an interesting question. I wanted to think about that. Off the top of your head, Snerdley, why? Here’s Obama; we’re in the midst of, I guess maybe Obama knows only 15% of Democrats think the economy is bad, but let’s just say, why would Obama, Michelle, why would they do all these vacations? Why would they live the opulent lifestyle? Why would they hang around ostentatiously, highly consuming people, rich people, wealthy, with all the trappings, Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club with that giant pyramid of champagne, why would Obama do this if he wants to be seen as a man of the little guy, representative of the little guy, why would he do it?
Okay. Snerdley’s answer is that the little guy likes reality celebrity shows. I have a different theory, that of course is far more devious and far more cynical than your theory. If you are President Obama, and if you are going to make your bones on taxing the rich, if your entire reason for getting elected is to tax the rich and to focus on them, and they’re not paying their fair share, what better could you do to illustrate it than hang around ’em amidst all their opulence? Why, look at that, look at that. You don’t even have to point it out. It speaks for itself. Look at the that house of Obama’s. Look at the cars there. He’s right, those people aren’t paying their fair share. The rich aren’t being hurt at all. That’s right, go nail ’em, Barack. That’s my take. That’s my take on it. That’s Hollywood, baby. That’s Jay-Z. That’s “Green” Ivy, the baby.
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No, not the Obamas. They see the opulence. Maybe not the rich in terms of the enemy, but it doesn’t have to be just the Hollywood people he’s hanging around with. A lot of these fundraisers he goes to, Sarah Jessica Parker’s place or Anna Wintour, certainly not the dregs, where he’s hanging out. If you want to make the point that there are plenty of rich people with a lot of money who could afford to pay more why not hang around and illustrate how they’re living? Have the cameras accompany you around and there you go. You’ve got Jay-Z and you’ve got Beyonce, you’ve got the golden champagne bottles. I understand they covered a few of ’em. The whole pyramid was not available. But the point that you want to make, if you’re Obama, there’s so much money out there, and these people aren’t paying their fair share.
Now, Obama doesn’t say this while he’s with those people. Don’t misunderstand, this is pure optics. This is just creating the impression or cementing in these people’s minds the reality there’s a lot of rich people, and they aren’t paying their fair share. Even more than that, they could afford a tax increase on them. I mean, to these people, higher taxes are nothing. These rich people live alike, they blow their money like it’ll never run out, so make it look like it will never run out. In the midst of this economic downturn, show people who have endless money, huge houses, lots of cars. It’s another way of countering the whole idea that the economy is in bad shape. It isn’t for these people. It’s only for the hoi polloi, and guess who’s looking out for them? “Barack Hussein Obama! Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!” I think that’s why he’s doing it. That and to raise money, of course. No question. I mean he’s out there doing it to raise money, but there’s also the optics of this.