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RUSH: We start on the phones in Pullman, Washington. Jeff, great to have you, sir. You’re on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Good morning, Rush. It’s a pleasure to talk to you.

RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.


CALLER: Yes. I’m calling in regard to the debates, and I thought it was very interesting postdebate, Gasparino was making comments and —

RUSH: Oh, yes. You know, I’m glad you made this point. I saw that last night. I was going nuts. Let me guess what you’re talking about, the subject of bailing out a hypothetical Bank of America.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: Bailout, and Jeb and Kasich got into it with Cruz and Trump, primarily Cruz, over what to do about this. Charles Gasparino is a business correspondent, Fox Business Network. Postdebate he said he couldn’t believe it: Two candidates on that stage who actually worked in the banking business hadn’t the slightest idea what they were talking about, given the circumstance that was set up. The hypothetical problem: Bank of America in trouble and having to be bailed out. They didn’t know what they were talking about, right?

CALLER: Yes. Yeah. That’s… I thought that was an interesting comment. And then I… Also later, they were having one-on-one interviews with both Cruz and Kasich, and Kasich mentioned how he was distressed at the idea that these banks — big banks — would not be bailed out, because of what it would do to the depositors.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: And then Cruz came along later in his one-on-one interview, and the same thing was brought up with him, and he said in regard to the depositors, “Well, they’re insured through the FDIC.”

RUSH: Exactly. Exactly. You know, there are times I scream at the TV during these things. I was screaming at the TV a lot when Kasich was on last night, and when this… Oh, what was he doing to make me scream? I’ll get to that in a minute. But I want to close the loop on this story, because this is a good point Gasparino made. Both Kasich and Jeb Bush worked at banks in the bridge period between political jobs. You know, Jeb’s governor and sits on boards here and boards there and works at a ban.

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And Kasich did the same thing, and he doesn’t know the first thing about how banks operate. So here comes a question: If Bank of America is teetering on the edge, would you bail ’em out? It’s business network guys asking the question. By the way, the business network guys all think the bank they established must be bailed out. They’re too big to fail. You’ve got to save it — and Kasich, of course, agreed. (paraphrased) “My God, you can’t… Oh, my God, it’s just crazy!

“You people, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t have any idea. I’ve done it. I’ve done it. I have run for office, and I’ve been governor. My dad was a mailman! My uncle was a coal miner! I have served. I know the families, and I know suffering, and you guys, you have your conservative philosophy and it’s great and it’s great and it’s great. But until you get in office? You’re gonna find out it’s worthless. You gotta be a good liberal like I’ve become in order to govern; you guys don’t know the first thing about it!

“You can’t let the families go belly up like this. You have to bail them out. You have to bail out the families, the mailmen. I’m gonna…” And I’m shouting at the TV, “They’re all insured, Governor! The FDIC insures deposits!” (interruption) What? The FDIC insures every depositor up to $250,000. If you don’t bail out BofA, the depositors at least get something. Most people are gonna get everything they’ve got in the bank up to $250,000, but they’re not left dry. Kasich didn’t know it, and even after it was pointed out, he kept going.


He didn’t change his position and stayed locked on the, “You can’t! You can’t! You’ve gotta bail ’em out. You can’t let ’em fail. The families! Oh, my God, families! Oh, jeez, the mentally ill and the sick, the hungry, the thirsty. Oh, my God, I’ve worked with ’em, I’ve dealt with ’em. Screw this philosophy. You talk philosophy all day, and I don’t like that line welders make more than philosophers! I’ll take welders any day. Mailmen, coal miners, whatever the hell.

“But I’ve done it, and you haven’t. I know! What am I doing here. You people are stupid. You’re ruining our party. What happened to our party? What happened to conservatism?” And the people on the panel are saying, “No, what happened to you?” But the caller here is exactly right. Is that what you were looking for? And Jeb didn’t know it, either. And they both worked at banks. Now, what does it tell you? No-show jobs, like Michelle’s at the hospital?

She didn’t have to show up at this gig for 300 grand while, you know, Obama’s sucking down, what, 12,000 as a state senator. So they have to get there and make some money and she gets a no-show job based on the power and influence of her husband. She’d have to show up maybe once or twice a month. Well, the elites take care of each other with no-show jobs. You’ve heard of no-show jobs many times. You ever seen a union job? (chuckling) Many of… Just kidding. Just kidding. I like my kneecaps.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here’s another thing about Jeb. They have to know at the Jeb campaign why Trump is leading, and in the national polls Trump still is leading. They have to know it’s immigration. They have to know that they, the Bush campaign and the candidate himself, Jeb, they have to know that they’re on the wrong side of that issue when it comes to Republican primary voters. They have to know that, do they not?

Now, I know that Jeb and his team have said that their goal was to win the nomination without the base, to win the nomination and not win the primaries or some such thing. The way you do that is with money. You just get all the money from all the donors. You deny money to everybody else and you just outlast ’em. You get all the conservatives running against each other, divy up the support to each and money to each and you get rid of ’em that way. But by this time Jeb’s sitting there three, four points, and he’s not moving. Anybody else at three, four points this long would be gone. But they’re still hanging in there because they’re in a state of denial.


I still think at the Bush campaign they don’t think Trump’s real. I don’t think they believe any of this is really meaningful. This is all something weird and odd. It isn’t gonna be Carson. It isn’t gonna be Trump. I think that’s what they’re telling themselves in the bowels of the Bush campaign. It’s not gonna be those two guys. This is unreal. This is sick. These guys are not professional politicians, not establishment types, donors don’t like ’em, this isn’t gonna work. So they think they’re gonna bomb out, go away, something’s gonna happen.

Even so, why in the world would you, knowing full well that you’re sitting where you’re sitting in large part because of your immigration position, it’s a Republican primary, why would you say something like Jeb said? “They’re having high fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this.” What were they hearing? The Republicans were having a discussion about stopping illegal immigration. The Republicans were having a debate about the economics of illegal immigration. Not the civil rights aspect of it, and not the compassion for the poor, unless you want to talk about compassion for the America worker who gets screwed because of all these newly arriving unskilled, low educated workers that will work for dirt cheap. In that sense you could say it’s a compassion issue, but for the American worker.

Cruz made it clear here that this is not a civil rights issue and people are not anti-immigrant. It’s an economics issue and it’s a legal issue. We’re a nation of laws. We got immigration laws and Jeb’s openly talking about how over on the Democrat side, when the Republicans talk about enforcing the law and protecting American jobs and raising American wages, the Democrats and Hillary are applauding? Somehow the Republicans were killing themselves? The Republicans, in Jeb’s eyes, were hurting themselves standing up for the American worker, standing up for the rule of law. Does Jeb really think these laws just should be ignored?

Does Jeb think we ought to get rid of these laws? Does he think enforcing them is a terrible thing? You know, that’s what the liberals think, like these clowns at the University of Missouri. What they really don’t want is laws enforced, laws that they don’t like equal prison or injustice or lack of justice, lack of freedom or what have you. And then Kasich got in on it at the same time. Kasich starts talking about (imitating Kasich), “Think about the families, come on, folks, come on! Who are we? Come on, think about the families, we’re not gonna send 11, 12 million people home, coooomeee on! Come on, this isn’t real, what am I doing here? You people are all idiots. I’m the only guy that’s conservative as a candidate and liberal as a governor. I’m the only guy here that has a heart. I’m the only guy here that has feelings. I’m the only guy here who knows the pain and suffering of mailmen and coal miners, my God, what am I doing here? You people don’t know a thing, ah, it’s embarrassing, what happened to our party? What happened to our movement? Oh, my God, oh, my God.”

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He and Jeb, I just don’t get it. Well, I do. I understand what they’re trying to. They’re running against the will of the people trying to establish themselves with much bigger hearts and much more compassion. They’re running as Democrats. Jeb and Kasich may as well have been espousing the Democrat Party position last night during the Republican debate and they’re wondering why things aren’t working out.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Oh, yeah, yeah. That’s one other thing about Kasich last night, talking about this hypothetical Bank of America failure. Kasich said some people can afford to lose. He would means test… You know, Cruz was saying that there are mechanisms here if banks fail to take care of the depositors beyond the FDIC and Kasich was up there waving his arms. (impression) “Listen to me! Listen to me! I’m the one who knows what I’m talking about. I’m the only one who’s done it. Yeah, you guys are philosophers and theoreticians.

“Theory isn’t gonna buy a carton of milk for the mailman! It isn’t gonna get a damn thing. I’ve done it. I’ve worked hard. I’ve worked with ’em. I’ve worked with people. I’ve compromised. I’ve got people agreeing and disagreeing, and I found ’em, and I put ’em together, and I’ve done it all. And all this theory, and all this philosophy, I’m sorry, it’s crazy! What am I doing here? This is crazy! You people don’t even know what you’re talking about. I’m the only one up here who knows what I’m talking about.

“You talk about a bank failure? Screw it! You know what? You know what? Some families, they can afford to lose it.” Oh. I stood up. That’s the kind of talk you get from people like Dick Gephardt and Hillary Clinton. “Some people can afford to lose it,” or whatever he said. I mean, that was the point that he made. “Well, some people don’t need a bailout. They lose everything in a bank going under? Okay, they got enough.”

It’s really… You people may not know it. John Kasich used to be a carbon copy of Newt Gingrich back in the ’90s, and for those of you that don’t know, that’s why this is so shocking to a lot of people, is who Kasich used to be. And he still thinks he is! That’s the thing. But what he’s essentially saying is, “Oh, yeah, I can be as conservative as anybody talking about it. Damn right! I’m as good a conservative as anybody. But you can’t govern that way.

“You have to be liberal, you have to be moderate, you have to understand people’s feelings. I’m gonna work with people! People are human beings. I work with human beings. We can’t harm ’em. We cannot harm ’em. We can’t let ’em get hurt, human beings,” and the implication is that conservatism is unkind to human beings. It really is just a big disconnect. I don’t know that he understands it. Cruz was pointing out that the Fed issues, emergency loans…

And that’s what Gasparino’s point was after the debate that the two guys that worked in the banking industrial supposedly didn’t know any of these things.


The minimum wage came up again in the debate last night, and the greatest — one of the biggest obstacles to the concept of rising wages is the minimum wage. It stands right in the way. When you establish a minimum wage, so many things happen. The first thing that happens is you have just established the floor, arbitrarily. And when you establish the floor, then all of those not qualified to earn that amount of money, they’re not gonna be hired. The second thing is — and this is what people don’t think about.

When you have a minimum wage, whatever it is… I think they’re talking $15 an hour. Okay, then that’s it. That’s all anybody’s gonna be making, until they mandate the minimum wage go up again. Unless the employee just happens to be so good and gets so noticed that he starts getting raises, he or she. But the minimum wage, the unions want it because it does establish a new floor. They say, “Well, if you’re gonna pay these people don’t know what they’re doing 15 bucks an hour, you gotta raise us.”

But again, it’s a phony issue.

It’s almost a hoax, too. But it’s a great way to prove you’re compassionate. Supporting the minimum wage is a great way to prove that people who oppose it are heartless and mean-spirited, and if you’re in favor of raising the minimum wage you’re a big heart, compassionate. You love people, and you’re concerned about the families and so forth. It’s used in that fashion, but economically it is a loser and has been proven to be a loser over and over again.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here’s Jim in Mentor, Ohio. Hi, Jim great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Yes, Rush, I’m a big fan. Hey, I know Kasich didn’t have the best debate, but I’m from Ohio, and like I told Snerdley: He’s the best thing that happened in Ohio in a long, long time. And I think Ted Cruz is nothing but a showboat. I’m very conservative, but he’s not on my short list, because he hasn’t done anything. You compare him to Kasich. Kasich’s record is way, far better. Especially as a governor versus a senator.

RUSH: Yeah? Well, okay. Since you’re here, you say that Governor Kasich is the best thing to happen to Ohio many years. Why? What has he done?


CALLER: We had a deficit when he came in. Now we have, like, 300-some million in surplus. We have plenty more jobs, and they’re not Obama jobs where nobody makes any money. He’s bringing in good jobs for skilled people. So apparently he’s doing a good job. I can’t say he’s doing a good debate. I’m not even saying I’m voting for him for sure. But he’s on my short list. But I don’t think Cruz has done anything. I think Cruz is a showboat. He tried to play up to the conservatives but I don’t see him doing anything.

RUSH: Wait a minute? What’s your gripe with Cruz? Cruz doesn’t say anything about Kasich. It’s Trump that… I mean, Trump’s out there saying, “You haven’t done diddly-squat. If it weren’t for fracking, nobody’d have a job in your state.” Why aren’t you mad at Trump?

CALLER: Well, Trump… I mean, I give it to Trump. I like him. You know, he’s… You know, he’s feisty and all that. I don’t think he’s gonna win, but Cruz gets me because he’s always grandstanding but he never delivers. I mean, he wants to be the darling to us, but I don’t see any delivery. And that’s just my… That’s the way I take him.

RUSH: This is, to me, a very interesting and fascinating case study.

CALLER: But Kasich is —

RUSH: Other than the bank bailout hypothetical last night, Cruz hasn’t said much about Kasich at all. But Trump has mocked him, made fun of him, ridiculed him. And you think, “Well, that’s just Trump. He’s just feisty.” And then when Cruz’s name comes up, I mean, you launch.

CALLER: You probably don’t think that’s conservative, but I did like Cruz before.

RUSH: No, no, no. It’s not that

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CALLER: I’m a conservative. I —

RUSH: No, it’s not that. It doesn’t matter whether I think you’re conservative or not. That’s has nothing to do with what I’m asking. I’m just… It’s a human-nature question. I mean, the guy that really makes fun of and laughs at the guy you like is Trump, and he gets a pass, and Cruz barely mentions Kasich and the long knives are out for Cruz. I mean, you’re more than welcome to say it. I’m not even arguing with you with it. I’m just curious.

CALLER: All right. Well, I listen to you every day, Rush, and it seems like you lean towards Ted Cruz. That’s why I’m saying it.

RUSH: Oh. Well, that’s gonna come as a surprise to all the people who think that I’m secretly trying to elect Trump.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: I mean, you know there are people out there think that, too. I just thought Cruz — and I did. Look, I’ll admit. I’ll repeat it. I thought Cruz had the point of the night last night. And there were many good ones, but I thought Cruz had the slam-dunk point of the night. And the reason I thought so was ’cause it’s so obvious. I just assume everybody understands what he said, but the media was so shocked when they heard it. It made me realize, they don’t even look at this the way we do.

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