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Rush Limbaugh

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RUSH: The Obama campaign must be listening to the program. They just tweeted the following: “I’m putting forward a practical, five-point plan to create jobs and rebuild the middle class.” So we’re gonna get some specifics now? We’re not gonna get specifics! How many years have we been hearing this? How many promises has Obama made to “create jobs and rebuild the middle class”?

And this is the point. While he makes his promises, and while he claims to have these ideas and plans, it all continues to deteriorate. “Low-Wage Workforce Grows 30% as the Number of Jobs Shrinks — Low-wage workers in Chicago are better educated, older and rely more on that income these days to meet basic needs than 10 years ago.” Again: “Low-wage workers in Chicago are better educated,” because they’re formerly middle class, “older … And there are substantially more of them.”

People are leaving the middle class and slipping downward. There is no upward mobility. There is no growth. There is nobody improving. Oh, an individual here and there, but I’m talking about the whole country. There’s no growth. Obama isn’t doing anything for anybody. “Household Incomes Fall in August, Off 8.2% Under Obama.” This is a story from Investor’s Business Daily. “In another sign that the economic recovery under President Obama is not producing gains for average Americans, median household incomes fell” another 1.1% in August.

That’s almost $5,000 from the average household income since Obama took office. That 8.2% is $55,000 to $50,600. Now, folks, the media today — as you well know — will tell you that there’s a recovery underway. But there is no recovery underway. There’s no indication that there’s a recovery underway. The media have been saying for two years that we’re in a recovery. The same media that will not examine Obama’s record, the same media that instead covers for him.

The media is no longer about truth.

It’s not about informing.

The media is now part of the propaganda machine. They are part of the Democrat Party. They are Democrats with bylines. They’re pretending to be objective. They’re pretending to be inquisitive and professional. But they’re not. They have thrown in with one side. They have thrown in with the Democrat Party. They have thrown in, all-in, with Obama. That’s been the nature of the media for a long time now. They can be overcome. Ronaldus Magnus overcame the media — and, folks, we can, too.

My point here is we already know this. You and I know we can overcome the media. This program has done it. Any number of other so-called New Media have overcome it, and we win elections. We don’t lose every election. We win more than we lose. It’s important. With the free media support Obama gets — whether it’s 60 Minutes, The View, the Today show, MSNBC — and all that paid propaganda that Obama pays for, it’s important that your enthusiasm not be blunted.


This is a turnout election, and I tell you: These two polls that have been released today are designed to do so many things. Dispirit you, depress you — and you know what else? They’re designed to get you to stop giving money to Romney. “Why fund a loser? Why pay a loser? Why give money to somebody that’s already lost?” They’re all-in! It’s all in. They are, as of today. They’re trying to tell you this election’s over. That’s what these two polls are about. That’s what they’re saying as they report these polls on various TV networks. It’s essentially over. Romney’s task now is said to be impossible.

Too many people have made up their minds now. If Romney’s gonna win, he’s got 50 some odd days or 40, whatever it is, to change Obama voters’ minds. That’s what they’re all out there saying now. Nothing can stop Obama. They want you to believe that there’s nothing you can do, that there’s nothing anybody else can do. The truth of the matter is, we’re gonna have an election in November and the reason we’re gonna have an election is this is not over. It’s not over by any stretch of the imagination. They cannot stop us. They cannot stop our turnout. They’re giving it everything they’ve got. But this election is like few others. I know everybody says, “This is the most important election of my lifetime.” It is a cliche that many people say during every campaign. I’m gonna tell you, this election really is about how we wish to live as a people.

Do we wish to live free where we tell our representatives how we expect them to govern? Or do we wish to live as politicians and bureaucrats tell us we have to live? They govern us, we have no say? Because that’s where we’re headed, that’s what the Obama administration is all about. We are told how to live. We are told what we must do to get X, Y, or Z. We are going to be fined if we don’t do certain things, such as have health insurance. That’s just one example. This election is gonna determine whether we want to be free and prosperous, or whether we’re gonna be bullied for the rest of our lives. This election is going to determine whether your kids — I don’t have any. I have nephews and nieces, though. Our kids and grandchildren, it’s gonna be about whether they will enjoy the freedom and opportunities of past generations that you and I have all had.

The objective has always been that the next generation lives better than the current generation. That’s out the window, as of this election. It isn’t gonna be mathematically or economically possible. Because we’re headed to a certain economic collapse. And when that economic collapse happens with Barack Obama and liberal Democrats in power, that’s when they totally cement their control over government. It’s not when they’re thrown out. There won’t be an opportunity to throw them out. That’s when they cement their control. At the moment of collapse, the only place anybody’s gonna have to be able to get anything is gonna be government. They know it and they can’t wait for it.

Just as they have salivated over health care all of these decades, and for that very reason, control, power. It’s not compassion that they have. Is anything happening now the result of compassion? Is the unemployment situation, did Democrat’s love and understanding and tolerance and compassion for everybody, is that what delivered us to this day? Is that why your home values are plummeting and is that why gasoline prices are skyrocketing, because of compassion? I hear all the time, I get so worn out, frustrated hearing all the time, Obama cares, Romney doesn’t care. Romney’s a Republican. Republicans don’t care. And you know it’s just the exact opposite.

It is precisely the exact opposite. Where’s the evidence of the compassion? Where’s the evidence of all this concern? You hear somebody like Romney or any Republican or conservative talk about how they want your life to be better, they really do. They want you to make it better. They want you to have circumstances and opportunity to make your life better. Nobody else can. It’s your life and you only get one. You have to maximize it. Waiting for somebody else is silly because there’s nobody else who cares as much about your life as you do. And it is not selfish to care about your life. It’s not selfish to be self-interested. It’s not selfish to want to do well so that those that you support also do well. It’s not selfish that you want to teach others to do well.

We don’t live in a zero-sum game where if you get a raise, somebody has to lose some money. We don’t live in a zero-sum economy where if you get hired, somebody lost a job. We live in a country magically that grows and can grow, where everybody prospers and benefits based upon how much they want to put into it. But that situation’s not gonna happen with Obama and the Democrats in power. The opportunities aren’t going to be there. The growth isn’t gonna be there. The opportunity for growth isn’t gonna be there. The money, the pie, the pool is being taken away from everybody little by little. Tax increases, more regulations, Obamacare, all the money’s gone to government.

Redistribute wealth. That sounds fair. I want to remind you, you can only do that one time. Redistribution cannot be an ongoing thing because the people from whom you have to take the money are gonna stop earning it, once they figure out that most of what they earn gets taken away via taxes. Why go to the trouble of earning it when it’s gonna be taken away and give given to somebody else? So you can do it once. And then where are you? Then there’s nobody producing anything to take ’em from. So all these things that sound so wonderful and filled with compassion, love, concern and so forth, I ask you, a little over 3-1/2 years, where are you? How’s your life better? What’s Obama done for you?

He’s got a five-point plan to rebuild the economy, five-point plan to create jobs, five-point plan to lower the deficit, 3-1/2 years, where’s it been? Three and a half years has caused all of this that need such policies. That’s where we are. So whether you’re African-American, Hispanic, female, male, white, Asian, black, I don’t care, you ask the question, “What’s Obama done for you?” Another question is, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” However you want to ask the question, you’re not better off. He hasn’t done anything for you, and doesn’t intend to. He wants you to think the opposite. Fact is, he can’t. No president can. It’s up to you. But you have to have the opportunities unfettered as much as possible, and that’s what’s being taken away.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT


RUSH: We’re starting in Philadelphia, and we’ve got Jason. Jason, I really appreciate your patience. I’m glad you held on out there. Hello.

CALLER: Rush, it’s an honor to carry the mantel of the first caller of the day.

RUSH: In the third hour of the program. (Laughing)

CALLER: Hey, I want to take a crack at these polls, because apart from this New York Times poll, there’s some really good information for Romney voters within one of the polls that came out on Monday, which is the Politico/George University poll, which is not a conservative poll. And in that poll Obama’s up 50 to 47 by three points, right? Now, that looks like a typical, you know, slight lead for Obama poll out there. But then you dig into the numbers, and Romney’s winning middle class voters in that poll by 14 points, 55-41. He’s up by independents in that poll by two, married voters by 14, veterans by 20 when Bush only won ’em by 16. His Hispanic support is up to 40%, and he’s actually winning Catholics by 51% —

RUSH: So, where is Obama ahead by three? How does that happen?

CALLER: Well, that’s what I’m talking about. I mean, if you take these numbers, you know, you look at the underlying numbers in the poll, you take a look at the fact that, you know, Obama’s crown achievements have been stimulus and Obamacare. And in this poll, two-thirds of the voters said that they’re gonna vote economy first, and 57% of those people disapprove of Obama’s handling of the economy. I don’t get it.

RUSH: Well, you see, in the New York Times poll today, 53%, I think, say that Obama is better suited to handle the economy, and he’s up 25 points with women in the New York Times/Quinnipiac poll in Ohio. Who believes that?

CALLER: He only won Ohio by, what, two or three points in the 2008 election, and he only one Florida by a point and a half in 2008. So the polls are basically suggesting that Obama’s going to quadruple his support in this election.

RUSH: Which doesn’t jibe. I mean, 2010 is the most recent election. How did Obama do there? How did the Democrats do in 2010? What the hell has changed? What’s gotten better? Where is the evidence to support these assertions in this poll, or any of these polls? I think it’s maddening. I’m just gonna tell you this, though, Jason. If these two polls today, the Washington Post poll and the New York Times poll, if they’re right, it is over. If Romney’s down ten points in Ohio now, I don’t know how you overcome. If that’s real. It doesn’t look like it possibly can be with their sample, but they’re trying to make everybody conclude that it’s over. They’re all-in on this today. I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.

CALLER: If I could just say something quick about my kids. You were talking about how this is about our kids now. I’m 36 years old. I’m an admitted Rush Baby. I used to listen to you in college and that’s actually when I turned Republican, and, you know, I used to look at issues differently then, and now that I’m 36, my wife and I, we have two kids, we adopted those kids from China, and as if a dad didn’t love his kids enough, I have a special sense of protectionism right now because of where they come from. And if these are the polls right now, that’s a real sad state of affairs, and anyone who’s a Romney voter out there, if they’re just sitting on their butt, not donating, you know, donating their time, we’ve gotta start getting this thing turned around because it’s important.

RUSH: I know. You know, here’s the deal. I’ll use my dad in this example again. I’ve told you all how my father, up until 1992, just a year before he died… He died at age 72. So up until age 71, he thought he had failed, as a father, with me. His sole objective, which is the case with every parent, is you want your kids to do well. You want them to make something of their lives. It’s something that’s distinctly American, but I think people around the world have the same human desires in this regard.

But in this country, it’s something that’s been always possible to the point that it was expected. My dad had his various philosophical beliefs because of the things that he endured when he was young. And those were the formative events — Great Depression, World War II and so forth — and there were certain things you had to do to succeed. And as far as he was concerned, he had to convince me to do them. And he was devastated I didn’t. He thought I was going to make a total mess of my life.

I was destined to fail. And it was not just failing, but he viewed it as that I was squandering one of the best opportunities a human being could have. He simply didn’t understand what I loved and how it worked and so forth. But that’s not the point. The point is, every parent is like him. And I think every parent alive today, seeing what’s happening to them — every mom and dad who see what’s happening to them — have to be asking themselves: “What in the world is the future gonna be like for my kids?”

That becomes one of the most important questions they ask themselves. Parents today are equipped to take care of themselves and (if they’re lucky in this economy) to be able to care for their kids. But at some point, the kids have to strike out on their own. And you look at circumstances today. You look at the unemployment. You look at the amount of money that is available for the jobs that do exist, and the potential? It’s just not there, it’s not what it was, and it’s happened almost overnight.

Nobody had these fears in 2008.

Nobody had these fears in 2004.

Not en masse. Not like this.

Just stop and think that in 3-1/2 years it’s happened. There have always been parents with a sense of foreboding, but that’s been largely because maybe didn’t have faith in their kids. Like my dad didn’t think I was doing the right thing. They never thought the country was going to cease to provide opportunity. And in 3-1/2 years, that is what has become a reality for a lot parents, that the opportunity — no matter how well the kid prepares — just isn’t going to be there. The future tax rates necessary to pay for all of this debt (that’s gonna have to be dealt with at some point) won’t allow it.

I can’t intellectually understand that a majority of these people think Obama’s the answer to this fear they’ve got.

He’s the cause of it!

I guess we’ll find out.

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