RUSH: Here’s another sign, ladies and gentlemen, that I think they’re getting desperate on the Democrat side. Obama went out today to a construction company. The M. Luis Construction Company. He was in Rockville, Maryland. And in this speech this morning, Barack Obama warned seniors that their Social Security checks might not be forthcoming if this keeps up. He spent much of his speech this morning warning that while the ongoing government shut down was damaging, failure to raise the debt ceiling by an October 17th deadline would be even worse.

The president said, “In a government shutdown, Social Security checks still go out on time. In an economic shutdown, if we donÂ’t raise the debt ceiling, they donÂ’t go out on time. In a government shutdown, disability benefits still arrive on time. In an economic shutdown, they donÂ’t.”

Now, to veteran observers of the Washington scene, and I count myself among them, this was entirely predictable. Only a matter of time before Obama threw the Social Security card if things were not going his way. In the past two days, the president of the United States, I think in an unprecedented way, has attempted to frighten the stock market and talk it down, and for a while it was under 15,000 and down 180. He did scare the stock market tremendously.

Now it’s the old trump card, it’s the oldest card in the book. This is threatening the seasoned citizens with losing their Social Security checks. Here’s why the Democrats have a problem with all of this. At the root of all of this is the implementation of Obamacare. Don’t forget now, the vast majority of the American people oppose it, do not want it. The reporting on Obamacare’s been pretty up front, all the waivers, all the freebies, all the exemptions, all the subsidies that members of Congress get.

I mean, these things have added up, there’s been a cumulative impact. People of the country know that friends of Obama and members of Congress are getting special deals that they can’t. This is known. In addition to people not supporting Obamacare, there have been numerous pundits for years warning Americans it was gonna be a boondoggle. Distinguished Americans like me have been warning Americans that Obamacare was a disaster waiting to happen. That the federal government isn’t competent and has no business running something this massive, no matter how much they care, no matter how much compassion they pretend to have, no matter their good intentions.

Well, guess what? Distinguished Americans like me are being borne out by real life. People living real lives are going to sign up at these exchanges, and they’re encountering an absolute nightmare. It isn’t being reported. The AP is talking about how good the demand is. Oh, yeah, AP says, why, this is a great sign. It shows how much interest there is. Which is journalistic malpractice. This is not a question of interest. People have to do this as a matter of law. If they don’t, the IRS, we now learn, can literally take the fine right from their bank accounts. Did you know that? That’s the news today.

If they can get your fine from your refund, they’ll do that, but if they can’t, if you’re not owed a refund or whatever, they can go to your bank account and get the fine. I kid you not. Now, in all of this, I’m just telling you, the Republicans are not being blamed. The Republicans didn’t ever support any of this. The Republicans are the ones warning about it. So there are a lot of reality checks taking place out there, and of course you’re not gonna see the inside-the-Beltway media tell you about this. The reporting on this is gonna be nonexistent.

Now Obama’s out there demanding the debt ceiling be raised or else seasoned citizens aren’t gonna get their checks. I think this is a sign of desperation. This is October 3rd. We still got two weeks until this October 17th deadline. You got Chuck Schumer and a number of other Democrats that can’t stop talking about Ted Cruz. Well, I know they’re trying to destroy Ted Cruz, but again, this is a win for Ted Cruz. Now, if you’re inside the Beltway, you might not think so. If you’re in the Republican Party, you might be tempted to blame Cruz ’cause you don’t like all this negative press. But the negative press is coming from places that have audiences of 100,000. CNN. In the daytime Fox’s audience is a million people. Folks, we’re not really talking mass appeal here.

I always tried to caution people not — and it’s very hard, I have to fight this, it’s not even a temptation, it’s a vacuum, it sucks you in. You have to fight daily and consciously to avoid being sucked into the template every day that is so-called news. You know, what is the news of the day? The news of the day is whatever the Democrat Party thinks they have to do to get their agenda advanced. That’s all it is. That means you gotta rip Republicans to shreds. It means you gotta lie about how great Obama is. You have to lie about what Obamacare is, whatever it is, that’s what the news is. There isn’t any news. The news is what’s happening outside of Washington, and they’re not talking about that ’cause they don’t live anywhere but Washington. That’s all that matters.

News media, folks, do things for two reasons: either to advance the agenda or to talk to themselves. They do stories for each other or to advance the agenda. But they’re not trying to meet the expectations of an audience, per se. They don’t really care. I’m just telling you to keep a sharp eye here. Obama already threatening seasoned citizens with the loss of Social Security checks. Now, I want to warn you, there’s gonna be plenty of evidence that I’m wrong. If you continue to watch this inside-the-Beltway news all day and don’t do anything else, you’re gonna see, there will be some Republicans and some so-called conservatives stand up, “We cannot allow ourselves to be blamed for Social Security checks being held up. We must tell Cruz to back off. We must get rid of Ted Cruz.”

You’re gonna hear Republicans continue to say this. Linguini-spined Republicans inside the Beltway go on TV and say we’ve gotta cave, we’re being irreparably harmed and damaged by this. It would be a terrible error if that actually happened, but you’re gonna hear it, and you’re gonna have to actively fight to reject it.