RUSH: I mentioned in the last hour a new Gallup poll out: Majority now say universal health care is not the federal government’s responsibility. This is a sunning reversal. And, by the way, this ABC poll that the Washington Post reports today that Obamas approval’s at 42% as well. It’s not just that if the election were today, Romney would win, Obama’s at 42%. I mean they are in panic, in the media, in the Drive-Bys, in the White House, and now this Gallup poll. You just don’t see massive changes in a trend line like this.

Role of the federal government in ensuring Americans have coverage. “No” is at 56%; “yes” is at 42%. That is a 14-point swing, and just last year it was 54-44 that the — I take it back. I hate charts. I just despise charts. I just despise ’em. Hang on. Okay, you gotta go back to 2011 to find a majority of people thinking that universal health care is the government’s responsibility. In 2011, that’s after Obamacare has been signed into law, it was 50-46, role of the federal government is ensuring that Americans have health care. Fifty percent thought the federal government should, and 46 said it shouldn’t. So in two years it has gone from 50-46 “yes,” government should run health care, to 56-42 “no.”

Now, what’s happened? Well, in these two years Obamacare has begun to be implemented, and the American people don’t want any part of it. I mean, this is a massive trend. If you go back to 2006, it was 69 to 28% that the government should run health care. Universal health care, government responsibility, “yes,” 69%, “no,” 28%. That’s 2006. And then it narrowed, and it was in 2009 that it basically became tied at 47, 50-47 “no.” And then the last two years it just boomeranged the other way. You know, this is stunning. In seven years, we have gone from 69% who think that health care is the federal government’s responsibility to 42% who think it is. But the real dramatic change in the trend line is the last two years, and that coincides with the rollout of Obamacare. Now there are people who are saying that this kind of experience could inflict irreparable harm to liberalism and the whole notion of Big Government and socialism.

There are many people out there saying just back out of the way and let this happen, and it’s gonna implode and so forth, and this would argue that there is some merit to that. And yesterday, they had a story about a bunch of Democrats abandoning Obamacare, Democrats up for reelection abandoning Obamacare, and the White House threatening them. The great Martha MacCallum on Fox today played that sound bite of me and then brought in Bob Beckel to react to it. This is the segment from yesterday’s program that she played for Beckel to reply to.

RUSH ARCHIVE: Democrats who are vulnerable in 2014 who are running away from it, and I think the Regime’s scared of this, I really do. The message has gone out, you better not run away from us, ’cause it isn’t just Obama. It isn’t just Obamacare. It’s your way of life. It’s liberalism. It’s Big Government. It’s gonna go by the wayside if you people abandon us and let this thing go down the tubes.

RUSH: And the Regime is saying that, and the media is saying that, and all of these Obama donors. We’ve even got a sound bite, Harvey Weinstein. Before I get to Beckel, let me find Weinstein. This is Friday night way back on Piers Morgan Live on CNN. This why nobody knew about this until today, ’cause it happened on CNN on Friday night. He’s talking to Harvey Weinstein, a big-time movie producer. I mean, this guy and Clinton are inseparable buddies. For example, when Bush unveiled the portraits of Bill and Hillary at the ceremony in the White House, Weinstein was there in the front row. I mean, he’s a big fundraiser, donor, cavorter, colingerer, he’s just everywhere with these guys. And now that the Clintons are out he’s moved in and he’s sidling up to Obama. The guy is just a huge, huge lib Democrat, fundraiser and all that.

So here he is on Piers Morgan on Friday night, they’re talking about Obamacare and Obama’s lie about if you like your insurance, you can keep it. Piers Morgan said, “You know, Harvey, it’s that repeated footage of him, not just once, but dozens of times telling the American people you can keep the plan, keep your doctor, when it looks like now he knew all along that wasn’t possible. It was just an outright falsehood, Harvey, and I can’t remember him doing that so blatantly, and I certainly couldn’t imagine Nelson Mandela ever doing it.” What the hell does Mandela have to do with this? Piers Morgan actually said to Harvey Weinstein, “I can’t imagine Nelson Mandela ever doing this.” Well, we’re not gonna get into what Mandela did. I’m not gonna go for the distraction. Here’s what Weinstein said.

WEINSTEIN: This is the only country in the world where we don’t have health care. Countries embarrass us around the world. And this is the only country in the world where we don’t have a gun law. I watched you, you know, talk about that, and, quite frankly, it’s embarrassing. Obama’s not embarrassing. The country’s embarrassing.

RUSH: Harvey Weinstein, ex-Miramax honcho. It’s not Obama who’s embarrassing; it’s the country that’s embarrassing. We’re the only country in the world that doesn’t have health care. Which is bogus. We got the best health care in the world. The only country that doesn’t have gun laws. It’s embarrassing. This guy typifies uber-elitist leftists, embarrassed of their own country, traveling around the world thinking that they are not properly respected because they’re Americans and so forth.

Okay. So that’s Weinstein and that’s his version of it. But after playing this sound bite of me reminding everybody that Obama and the media and everybody is warning these Democrats that, you know, if you abandon us on this, it’s gonna be the end of liberalism. So Martha MacCallum played that clip and then said to Beckel, “Is there that kind of fear among liberals that this huge initiative by the president may be in real trouble?”

BECKEL: You can’t go through day by day and listen to the news reports and listen to the reality of whatÂ’s happening here and not be concerned about it. The issue is when Rush says you’re supposed to circle the wagons, well, of course youÂ’re going to circle the wagons, ‘cause whatÂ’s your choice? The idea that somehow you can distance yourself from a president in the midterm of a second term election which in and of itself historically has been a rough election for the party in power. If you voted for this thing and your on record on it, then youÂ’re going to have to pay some consequences for it, but, I continue to repeat, when I hear things like “this is the death of liberalism,” you know, IÂ’ve heard this historically over the years where the death of conservatism was as late as 2008. And yet conservatism came back.

RUSH: So Beckel basically says that Democrats will pay the price for Obamacare, but it’s not the end of liberalism. Just like it’s never the end of conservatism, it’s not the end of liberalism. Look, he’s probably right. I mean, if there was ever gonna be an end to liberalism, it would have been Reagan. But this may be a little bit more powerful. The power of Reagan was people living prosperous lives in a robust economy and feeling patriotic. This is different because this is pain. This is deceit. This is out-and-out lies. This is a lie about something that the Democrat Party itself has made the most personally important thing to most people in their lives, and that’s their health care.

I mean, the Democrats made this bed, folks. They’re the ones that went out and told people that they’re just a paycheck away from bankruptcy, paycheck away from homelessness, paycheck away from this, paycheck away from that, getting fired, losing their health care and being bankrupt if they get sick, and they’ve made people think that the only important thing in life is health insurance. So people have structured their lives around it. They take jobs for less pay based on the health benefit. People have ordered their lives around this ’cause they believe this panic. They believe in the fearmongering that getting sick could ruin their lives financially.

So then Obama comes along and lies to them about his reform for this to make it even better, and he lies big time, and they can’t keep what they like, and they can’t keep their doctor, and their doctors are pulling out, and the insurance companies are canceling ’em. Then they find out that Obama knew all along and lied to ’em. That’s powerful. ‘Cause Obama is who? He’s a Democrat. They may not know liberal from conservative to Trotskyite to Bolshevik, but they know Democrat.

And they know that the Democrat Party lied to ’em, and it’s massive pain, and this is why there is fear on the left that this could be a near fatal. I don’t think anything could ever be fatal. They own too many institutions for… (interruption) What do you mean by “liberals”? “Are some of these liberals questioning…”? You mean voters, or these…? (interruption) That’s the fear. The fear that the liberal elite is having is that the low-information people are gonna conclude that government can’t do everything.

That’s their fear. I mean, they’ve created almost half the country depending on the government, and now here right in front of their noses is, “Government can’t do it.” So there’s a genuine fear that it could provide irreparable harm to one extent or another to the whole notion of Big Government — forget liberalism — Big Government compassion, what have you. Beckel says, “Well, the Democrats are gonna pay a price for this ’cause this is big stuff, but it’s not the end of liberalism,” and he continued.

He wasn’t quite through. He wanted to make another point, which was that he would advise candidates to take Obama’s money but run away from him. By the time the election comes around, people who’ve lost insurance will have made arrangements so they won’t be as agitated. That’s what he’s hoping.

BECKEL: One of the problems we’ve got in America in the American political analysis for all this. We take the events of today and sort of transport them 12 months down the road to an election and assume that what’s going on today is gonna be going on then. By then, I assume that most people who’ve had their policies canceled will have made arrangements. You can’t go through this day by day drumming on the Affordable Care Act and not assume that it’s gonna take political damage; and it has. Now, for Democrats, they’re running scared. If I were still a political consultant, I would say to my candidate, “I would not campaign with Obama out in the field. I would take his money. Certainly that’s always been helpful.” That’s the cards that have been dealt to them; that’s the ones they got to play.

RUSH: He doesn’t give them money, Bob, and he doesn’t raise much money for ’em, when you get down to brass tacks. He raises it all for himself. Harvey doesn’t even raise money for them. Harvey raises money for Obama. So Beckel’s theory is, “Eh, you’ll lose your health insurance today and get mad at Obama today, but a year from now you’re gonna have made arrangements.” Really? What are they going to be?

What are these “arrangements” to make sure you don’t go bankrupt for getting a cough, (which is what the Democrats have told people)? Look, I don’t think this can be overemphasized. They have made their bed on this. They have. They have got a whole country convinced that having to go to the hospital for a couple days could ruin them if they don’t have insurance. They’ve got people scared to death of this. It’s an amazing thing, as a casual observer, to watch this.

Sorry, not “casual” observer. But I’m looking at this as a socialist would, and I’m stunned here at how successfully they have pulled this off — meaning, people really don’t think they can get through the day if they don’t have a health insurance policy. I mean, it’s almost more important than food, and now what “arrangements” are they gonna make? Medicaid? That may be all that’s available to ’em if this thing folds out like Obama wants to.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: No, no. Don’t misunderstand, folks. I’m not saying the Democrats are lying to you. They have also created the reality that if you have to go to the hospital, you could be bankrupt. Why do you think it costs so much? We’ve been through this I can’t tell you how many times. But there’s a middleman — two middlemen. There’s the government and the insurance companies in the middle of you and your health care, and two of those entities, at the end of the day, don’t care what it costs.

You do, but you don’t have any power in this. This is what has to change in all this. I’m just saying, they’ve made their bed. They gotta lay in it now — and look, I can’t tell you, everywhere I look in the Drive-Bys — and I’m not convinced it’s happening yet. Very guarded. But there are story after story after story about the unraveling of the Regime, the unraveling of the Obama administration. There’s some genuine fear in the polling data on all of this, of second term hexes, all that sort of stuff people are writing about.

But they’re worried in the Drive-Bys about this, because this is not something they can save him from.