RUSH: This is Bob in Pittsburgh. It’s great to have you on the program, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Nice to talk with you.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: What I’m calling about is, I am in the laundromat business here in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, and I’m actually selling ’em because I can’t deal with the people, and the police just can’t do anything anymore. They’re afraid to. Everyone around me, I feel like I’m drowning in all… Everybody is on welfare, and my question is, “Why isn’t welfare reform being talked about the in the debates?”

RUSH: Well, as a general answer to your question — a broad-based generality — I would say that at this stage of the campaign, there isn’t a candidate in the world who wants to be accused of criticizing voters. And when you started talking about people on the welfare rolls and being dependent and so forth, the media could portray that as heartless, mean-spirited, extremism toward the less fortunate. And at this stage, my guess is — to the extent that they’re ignoring it — that would be the primary reason.

You know what’s depressing about this? We had welfare reform. Clinton, after vetoing it a number of times, was forced to sign it in order to get reelected 1996. And it was working, and guess who came along and tore it down? Barack Hussein Obama. One of the first things Obama did in his first term was to just tear apart welfare reform, on the grounds that it was discriminatory and unfair. Just like he shut down school vouchers in Washington, DC, where poor people could send their kids to decent schools. He got rid of that almost overnight.

CALLER: Is it a subject that you think will be brought about further on down the road?

RUSH: I don’t know if it will be, but, Bob. It’s so widespread now, it’s not just welfare. The unemployment news today… This is another thing that that that is back ass-wards. The economic news: 276,000 new jobs created. We’re acting like this is nirvana! We need that many jobs a month for four years to replace what Obama has lost. We’re nowhere near even replacement levels and they’re go, “Yay! Look at the jobs report! The unemployment rate’s down to 5%!” This insults my intelligence.

We don’t have 5% unemployment. We’ve got 20% unemployment. Bob, we have 94 million Americans not working, not in the labor force. They’re all on welfare, Bob, one way or another. You are talking about vandals basically coming in and ripping you off at the laundromat. Half of this country is on welfare, Bob. That’s another reason why people aren’t talking about it. Half the country that votes is on welfare, and they vote for Santa Claus, Bob. And to them, you’re Santa Claus. And you’re…

I can understand exactly why you want to sell the business and get out of there. It’s probably being stolen from you. Customers in there get harassed by people that want to commit vandalism or crime in there. I have total understanding, relatability, sympathy for what you’re going through. But we’ve succeeded in letting so many people… Bob, 94 million Americans not working, and they all have an EBT card. They’re all getting food stamps. They’re all getting some form — many of them — of disability.

They’ve all probably got cars, Bob. That’s how they get to the laundromat. They have big-screen TVs. I mean, it’s too many people that vote. It’s a serious problem. As to whether it comes up? It depends on, Bob, whether or not — as it always does — just how conservative our nominee is, because we’re talking about a human dignity issue. Welfare and dependency destroy human dignity and potential. And if we don’t talk about it, nobody will. So it remains to be seen. I mean, I don’t run any of these campaigns.

So I can’t tell you if the issue is gonna hit the forefront. But we all have our… We all have our pet issues. We all have our… I mean, I’m about to blow this town up. You wouldn’t believe the obstacle course getting to work every morning now. It is just… I’m thinking, the past 10 days driving, “Who do I call, who do I call and unload on?” and I realize, “Nobody. Nobody’s gonna listen. Nobody’s gonna care.” It’s just… So everybody has their issue. I’m not saying traffic is mine, don’t misunderstand. Welfare reform is yours, and everybody has their own that affects them personally more than any other. (interruption) Well, no, no. I’m serious. It’s bad out there. It’s just… I mean, we got. Never mind. Who cares? You know, I know nobody cares!