RUSH: Now, the budget deal. I railed against this budget deal earlier in the week, and I made a point about it that a lot of people were curious about. I got a lot of e-mail. I said this budget deal basically elects Hillary Clinton president. It was a bit of an exaggeration, but I wanted to make a point. People said, “What do you mean, why does this budget deal elect Hillary?” And I said it’s a two-year budget deal, it gives the Democrats everything they want, except it’s the Republicans who have written it.
This expands the national debt all the way up to 19 and a half trillion dollars. It blows the deficit sky-high. It expands spending. It blows through Republican spending caps, and it’s a two-year budget. You know what this is? The Republicans have essentially, with this budget deal, given us Barack Obama’s ninth year. The first year of the new president’s term is going to be a budget signed into law by Barack Obama. And he loves everything about it. He loves this budget. It’s pretty much his. And my point is, when you take away that big a weapon in your campaign arsenal, that it’s the Democrats are the big spenders, that it’s the Democrats spending us into oblivion, that it’s the Democrats busting the budget, that it’s the Democrats spending your grandkids’ tax revenue, when you take that out of the Republican arsenal, I mean, that’s one of the primary reasons you go to the electorate and say, “Elect us, we’re gonna be responsible. We’re not gonna allow that kind of spending. We’re not gonna allow those tax increases. We’re not gonna allow government to get so big.” That’s gone. We cannot campaign against Hillary Clinton as a big spender.
That’s not to say we won’t try. I guarantee you that even after authoring this budget, the Republicans will run against Hillary as this big spender and they’re gonna be the ones to stop her, and they’re gonna count on the fact that nobody knows really what’s happened in this budget deal, which is why I’m making such a big deal out of it, that it is the equivalent of Barack Obama’s ninth year. Let’s go to the audio sound bites on this. Rand Paul promised to filibuster this at the Republican debate, and he did. His filibuster lasted about 20 minutes. Here is a brief sound bite yesterday afternoon on the Senate floor. It’s number 11. Sound bite number 11 in three, two, one.
PAUL: Rush Limbaugh says, the Republican Party cannot campaign by running around blaming the Democrats for destroying budget, for overspending, for threatening the very fabric of the country. They can’t do it because they’re now complicit. Here’s the thing. We can’t point fingers and say the Democrats are the big spenders. We now, by this deal, become complicit. We become equally guilty of supporting new debt.
RUSH: Bingo. That’s exactly right. And we have thus removed one of the primary differences between us and them in a campaign and in governance. It’s a big deal. It’s being promoted as, “Well, this is Boehner’s gift to the new Speaker, Paul Ryan. He’s giving him a clean slate, ’cause Ryan’s fingerprints aren’t anywhere on this, so his Speakership cannot be held to account or blame anything. The Republicans wanted this deal.” See, the big thing with the Republicans, the reason they’re excited, they have seen to it, yes, they have, that there won’t be a government shutdown, (gasping) yes, and because of that they think that they’ve got a major victory, because there won’t be a government shutdown and there won’t be a threat of a government shutdown, and that means they have a chance to win presidential election. That’s how convoluted the thinking has become.
They basically write a Democrat budget, a budget that Obama loves, and they think that eliminates any chance of a government shutdown. And a government shutdown is like showing Dracula the cross. The fact that that’s not gonna happen is why they think it’s such a big deal. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. Do you think any of this is going to stop Harry Reid or Pelosi or take your pick, any of them from running around saying the Republicans are trying to shut down the government. If it’s nothing for Harry Reid to lie about Mitt Romney not paying his taxes for ten years, how hard do you think it’ll be for the Democrats in the presidential campaign year to run around say the Republicans want to shut this government down. They want to cut Social Security. They want to cut Medicare.
Even though the budget has just been blown through the roof for two years, do you think the Democrats will not lie about it now?
This is what’s never made any sense to me about writing and implementing policy designed to get Democrats to shut up. They never do shut up. They’re not gonna stop the accusation. Anyway, Ted Cruz was also on the Senate floor last night. Three sound bites in order. Here they are.
CRUZ: This is the combined work product of John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid. The entire time Republican leaders have been promising, “We’re gonna do something on the budget. We’re gonna rein in the president,” they have been in the back rooms negotiating to fund every single thing President Obama did. I’m reminded it wasn’t too long ago we saw El Chapo dug out of his prison cell. One of the first things you realized when El Chapo was dug out is that tunnel wasn’t dug overnight, that the drug cartels had spent many weeks or months digging that tunnel.
RUSH: So Ted Cruz essentially accuses Mitch McConnell of working for the Democrats. Ted Cruz goes on to say that Mitch McConnell spends more time on how to defeat conservatives than Harry Reid ever did. Here’s the next bite.
CRUZ: When I said Majority Leader McConnell is the most effective Democratic leader we’ve seen in modern times, you know what? Harry Reid didn’t spend that much time thinking about how to beat defeat Republicans. Later McConnell spends more time focused on how to defeat conservatives than Harry Reid ever did. That is the problem. It is our own leadership that cooks up deals. Why do you think, Mr. President, we’re voting at one in the morning? Is that an accident? It is by design. One in the morning. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Pay no attention to another $85 billion in debt.
RUSH: And that is why they hate Ted Cruz in the Republican establishment, inside the Beltway, wherever you find the Republican commentariat, that’s why they hate Ted Cruz. And make no mistake, they do. If you’re just joining us, in the first half hour of the program today, I played some sound bites, you know, Brit Hume during the debate on Wednesday night, paraphrasing again, tweeted, “Well, it’s great that Ted Cruz talks about all these fights that he’s led, but how many has he won? The answer, none.” The next night Ted Cruz is on Fox, and he’s asked, “Okay, you’ve led a lot of fights, but how many have you won?” And he lists off three. One, two, three, bam, bam, bam. And then they said, “Ted, one of the big problems is you’re such a divisive figure.”
(paraphrasing) “What do you mean divisive? All I do is oppose what’s happening here in Washington. You can’t oppose what’s happening without being divisive. If you’re not being principled you’re not being — of course I’m divisive. I’m opposing on principle what’s happening in this town, like the rest of the Republicans ought to be as well. But, look, they’d rather not be called divisive. Well, what is the opposite of divisive mean? Cooperating. I’m not gonna cooperate with the Democrats in their efforts here to transform this country. So, yeah, call me divisive.” But they don’t mean divisive in a good way. They mean this guy can’t get along with anybody. This guy, he slashes, he dices, he just cuts people up, he doesn’t want to work with anybody. And they want to say that that’s why we can’t have Cruz. And then he goes out and says Mitch McConnell spends more time trying to defeat me and conservatives than Harry Reid ever did. And here come the long knives on the Republican side. Here’s the next and the final bite of Ted Cruz on the Senate floor, and again, this is last night.
CRUZ: What are the terms of this budget deal? A bill that adds $85 billion in spending increases, $85 billion to our national debt. It’s more than the Senate negotiated with the House when Harry Reid was majority leader. When Harry Reid was majority leader, the Ryan-Murray budget agreement, which was a flawed agreement, an agreement I voted against, increased spending by $63 billion over two years. Now, Mr. President, what does it say to you that a supposedly
Republican majority of the United States Senate negotiates a bigger spending bill than Harry Reid and the Democrats?
RUSH: Well, what it says is that the Republicans have given away over half their ammunition in a presidential campaign, in exchange for what they think is a new reality in which no one can accuse them of wanting to shut down the government.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here’s Bob in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Great to have you on the program, sir.
CALLER: Thank you, Mr. Limbaugh, and I appreciate all the knowledge you give me. It keeps me knowing how to read the grain in the green.
RUSH: Well, thank you, sir (chuckles), very much.
CALLER: I pulled up this morning, I turned it on C-SPAN and I sat here and watched Mr. Cruz. It was the most impressive speech I’ve ever seen. I haven’t seen anybody speak like that in many, many a year. He laid it out. He opened up the curtain and exposed the man behind the curtain and how everything operates there. He had pie charts out. And I would, you know, suggest — or if I could recommend — to anyone out there listening, “If you want to see what a presidential candidate really looks like, look up this video on C-SPAN today.” It was very moving, Rush. It sent chills up my back. I’ve never see anyone speak like this since Ronald Reagan. As you can hear —
RUSH: Was this your first time seeing Ted Cruz in action like this?
CALLER: No, I’ve seen him, but I listened to the whole thing, and he cut right through it. I mean, he cut right through it. I’m watching all these debates with, you know, everybody’s talking about Trump. Don’t get me wrong, I love Trump. I love what he’s doing. I love him sticking his finger in their eye. But he can’t do what that guy does. He’s showing ’em how to fight ’em. But this gentleman here, he’s the real deal. I — I — I just can’t say any more!
RUSH: Well, let me ask you a question, then, since you are really paying attention, and you’re really attuned here. I mean, you’re dialed in. You’re focused. You said you like Trump and you like what Trump’s doing, but Trump ain’t that. What is the difference in Cruz and Trump in your mind, do you think?
CALLER: Well, there’s a club champion and then there’s a tour pro.
RUSH: Yes, of course, but what constitutes the difference? Why is one of them a club champ and the other a tour pro?
CALLER: This guy, he speaks so well, he’s so smart. Nobody on that stage, Rush, could touch this guy. I mean, I like… Sorry, I like what Trump’s doing and I’m keeping an open mind. There’s been only two guys for me. And, you know, Cruz is the smartest guy in the room. I mean, there’s just no two ways around it. Mr. Trump, I don’t want insult any of the Trump people. This guy is just… He’s just two notches above.
RUSH: Yeah, but there’s still something else, Bob.
CALLER: Well, I agree that they don’t want the… See, I don’t consider him an insider. He’s in there, but he’s an outsider.
RUSH: There’s still something else.
CALLER: I just think he’s good. I think he’s the guy, Rush. The other day at the debate, when I heard him do what he did? Nobody else was that fast on their feet to knock them out. He’s the one that knocked them guys on their butts, and what he did yesterday, if anybody wants to see that, go look at it, bud.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: Rush, I appreciate everything that you do.
RUSH: No wait. Wait, though. What’s the difference in…? You’ve given us the behavioral differences, and you have given us what you think are differences in speaking ability and talent. But what is it that enables Cruz to do all that he does so well that really appeals to you that even other people you like don’t quite reach you the way Cruz does?
CALLER: He’s knowledgeable, completely, on the workings of DC.
RUSH: Getting warmer.
CALLER: Getting inside out, upside down, backwards.
RUSH: Getting warmer.
CALLER: He knows the whole deal. Mr. Trump, I like Mr. Trump. But Mr. Trump does construction; he makes the call. He doesn’t have to deal with the 435 union they got sitting up there. This guy knows it inside and out, knows his way around.
RUSH: Well —
CALLER: What I was this morning —
RUSH: Wait. Now, let me step in. Because Trump does deal with the 435, and they all love him.
CALLER: But he has the final say, to me.
RUSH: Yeah. But you were getting warmer. Now you’re getting a little chillier. You’re moving away from it. I mean, there’s one answer to my question. There is a right answer. And it’s not any big deal that you’re not getting there, ’cause it’s a modified… It’s not a trick question, but some might think it is. Let me… (chuckles) It’s… Okay. Okay. Just calm down. Everybody calm down here.