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February 28, 2008 |
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Story #1: Howard Dean: Republicans are Old, White, Corrupt
RUSH: Howard Dean showed up to talk about Black History Month at Georgetown and ended up talking politics. It was Tuesday night and he ended up basically saying that, with a woman and an African-American as the two front-runners, the Democrat field looks like America, while the all-white-male Republican field looks like the 1950s and talks like the 1850s.
Anyway, I think this is just Howard Dean trying to talk about how young and energetic his team is and how old and decrepit our team is. This whole notion we need a cabinet that looks like America. That's a line that Clinton used in '92. (doing Clinton impression) "That's right, Limbaugh, we're going to have a cabinet that looks like America." If the definition of looking like America is having a bunch of people of color in there, that would be George W. Bush far more than William Jefferson Blythe Clinton. But, see, this is the divisive politics of Democrats. We don't look at it this way. We don't look at people by skin color and categorize them; the Democrats do, liberals do. Here's Howard Dean, "Our ticket looks like America, a black and a female. That's America. These old white guys, that's not America, that's the America of the 1850s." So Howard Dean is engaging in anti-white racism, is what it sounds like.
 Story #2: Barry Gives Deft Answer on Boxers or Briefs
RUSH: Barack Obama was asked a question by a magazine interviewer, boxers or briefs? And Obama's answer was, "I don't answer those humiliating questions, but whichever one it is, I look good in them." A little swipe there at Bill Clinton and a deft answer. The faithful will flock.
Story #3: Obama Served with Terrorist on Anti-Israel Board
RUSH: This is from the JewishPress.com: "Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Barack Obama served as a paid director on the board of a nonprofit organization that granted funding to a controversial Arab group that mourns the establishment of Israel as a 'catastrophe.' (Obama has also reportedly spoken at fundraisers for Palestinians living in what the United Nations terms refugee camps.) The co-founder of the Arab group, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, is a harsh critic of Israel who reportedly worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization when it was labeled a terror group by the State Department. Khalidi held a fundraiser in 2000 for Obama's failed bid for a seat in the US House of Representatives. In 2001, the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based nonprofit that describes itself as a group helping the disadvantaged, provided a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network, or AAAN, at which Khalidi's wife, Mona, serves as president. The Fund provided a second grant to AAAN for $35,000 in 2002," and Obama was a director of this fund. "Obama was a director of the Woods Fund board from 1999 to Dec. 11, 2002, according to the Fund's website. According to tax filings, Obama received compensation of $6,000 per year for his service in 1999 and 2000."
So you might be asking, "Rush, what's the point? Okay, so he served on a board that gave money to PLO groups."
Yeah, that's right. What's the point? What's the point? Why bring all this up? This is just divisive. I'm sorry, folks. One thing it does do. It does say that Obama's got some experience. Everybody's out there saying old Barry has no experience. He's got some experience. I fully expect Senator McCain will apologize for me, when he learns that I reported this story to you from the JewishPress.com website.
Story #4: Wind Power Caused Texas Grid Shutdown
RUSH: "A drop in wind generation late Tuesday coupled with cold weather triggered an electric emergency that caused a Texas grid operator to cut service to some large customers." Wow, loss of wind caused a power grid emergency in Texas. Yes, siree, Bob, folks like this all-clean wind power because we all know we humans can control the wind. Another example of this liberal feel-good stuff on display.
Story #5: Dems Raise Millions in Supposedly Bad Economy
RUSH: I just saw this story on Politico.com, and I'm really curious about this. "Hillary Clinton's campaign is set to announce later today that she's on track to raise roughly $35 million in the month of February, a huge month by any standard measure of political fundraising and her best of the campaign." Now, "Obama raised $36 million in January, and appears to be on track to surpass that figure this month." So $35 million for Hillary; over $36 million for Obama. We're looking here at $72 million! Where in the hell is this money coming from? We've got a story here that economic growth came to a screeching halt in the first quarter. Was it the first quarter, or adjusted fourth? What did I do with the damn story? It's 0.6%, whatever it is. The economy has come to a screeching halt. It's time to slit our wrists! We're headed to a recession. The point is, whether it's true or not, the American people think we're headed to a recession. We had poll data from Quinnipiac yesterday that documents this.
The American people are feeling very pessimistic about the overall economy, even though they're robustly optimistic about themselves. I know it's a disconnect. The attitude's the attitude. Now, where in the hell is this money coming from? We got gasoline heading to four bucks a gallon; it's already there in some places. We have people who can't pay their mortgages and are being foreclosed on. We got people now can't afford food because of biofuels and the cost of wheat and the cost of corn. How in the world are people giving $70 million in one month to two Democrats? Where is this money coming from and how come these Democrats out there raising all this money aren't saying, "Don't give the money to me! Keep it for yourself because we're in a recession and you're going to need it to buy gasoline and food, and you're going to need it to pay your mortgage." Why aren't they saying that? They're begging people for their money, in the midst of all this malaise, supposedly. But I still want to know where it's coming from, because they say it's being raised on the Internet.
This is awfully curious to me. You mean to tell me that in the midst of what people think is a failing economy, that they're still running out to give money to Hillary and Barack? Well, they may be. You might have the janitors or the dishwashers in Chinatown. They might be flourishing. That's my point. Where is this coming from?
Story #6: Drive-Bys Hope Gas Hits $4 Per Gallon
RUSH: New York Times: "Gas Prices Soar, Posing Threat to Family Budget." Right here. I have it right here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers. "Gas prices, which for months lagged behind the big run-up in the price of oil are suddenly rising again with some experts saying they could approach four bucks a gallon by the spring. Diesel is hitting new records daily. Oil settled on a record high of $100.88 a barrel on Tuesday. The increases could not come at a worse time for the economy. With growth slowing, energy increases that were once easily absorbed by consumers are now more likely to act as a drug on household budgets," and yet they are still sending money in droves to the Democrats! "Leaving people with less money to spend elsewhere," except on politics. "These costs could worsen the nation's economic woes, piling a fresh enemy shock on top of the turmoil in credit and housing," and still people send money to the Democrats.
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Story #7: McCain Screwed by Campaign Finance Rules?
RUSH: From the New Republic today, the New Republic blog, Noam Scheiber. I mentioned this earlier in the program, and I mentioned this last week. Headline: "John McCain May Be Screwed -- And it has nothing to do with a lobbyist... It has to do with this campaign loan story. Basically, McCain secured two loans totaling about $4 million last fall, apparently using as collateral the federal matching funds he'd receive if he opted into the public campaign-finance system. But simply by using potential public money as collateral, McCain effectively did opt into the system. That means he effectively agreed to cap his campaign spending at $54 million prior to the GOP convention in September. Alas, McCain had spent $49 million as of January 31. So we're looking at more or less zero permissible spending between now and September." He's got about five million bucks he could spend, and they're saying zero because he has "surely spent $5 million since January."
 "In his defense, McCain's lawyers argue that it wasn't potential public money that they used as collateral; it was McCain's overall fundraising potential. Which is -- how to put this? -- not exactly straight talk," says the New Republic. "Take it away, Washington Post: '(McCain lawyer Trevor) Potter said the campaign offered as collateral its assets, including McCain's massive fundraising lists and his willingness to keep raising from them. But that may not satisfy the FEC, which requires that politicians borrow using only terms that assure repayment. "If the bank is saying they lent him money on the basis of future receipts, well, in presidential campaigns, their future receipts can be zero or millions," said Marc Elias, an election lawyer who arranged a loan in 2003 for the presidential bid of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). "The idea that this would be a dependable source of collateral is preposterous."' Agreed," says Mr. Scheiber of the New Republic blog. Losing presidential campaigns ... aren't exactly known for their fundraising potential. In fact, there's a bit of a catch-22 here: If McCain's fundraising lists were worth something, he wouldn't have needed a loan. (At least not a big one.) And if they weren't worth anything, he'd have needed the loan, but the lists wouldn't have worked as collateral. I'm not sure how you square that circle."
Here's the "Bottom line," according to the New Republic: "Either McCain used the promise of public campaign funds as collateral for his loan, in which case he's locked himself into the public campaign finance system (and its strict spending limits) and is massively screwed until September. Or he didn't use potential public funds as collateral, which means he didn't have anything to offer as collateral, which means he received an improper loan. Neither one of those scenarios is very good for the Straight Talk Express."
Story #8: George Will Column Excoriates Senator McCain
RUSH: I'll just give you the last paragraph from George Will's column today. "Although [McCain's] campaign is run by lobbyists; and although his dealings with lobbyists have generated what he, when judging the behavior of others, calls corrupt appearances; and although he has profited from his manipulation of the taxpayer-funding system that is celebrated by reformers -- still, he probably is innocent of insincerity. Such is his towering moral vanity, he seems sincerely to consider it theoretically impossible for him to commit the offenses of appearances that he incessantly ascribes to others. Such certitude is, however, not merely an unattractive trait. It is disturbing righteousness in someone grasping for presidential powers." McCain is taking it from both sides of the aisle today.
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