{"id":13164,"date":"2013-02-20T19:35:24","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T19:35:24","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2013-02-20T19:35:24","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T19:35:24","slug":"panetta_gets_optic_he_wanted_and_it_s_tough_not_to_get_sucked_in_by_the_premise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2013\/02\/20\/panetta_gets_optic_he_wanted_and_it_s_tough_not_to_get_sucked_in_by_the_premise\/","title":{"rendered":"Panetta Gets Optic He Wanted — and It\u2019s Tough Not to Get Sucked in by the Premise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: So, I want you to do something. Check out the Drudge Report right now. Log into the Drudge Report, Mr. Snerdley. Tell me what you see. Is that not the optic I told you was coming? That\u2019s why Panetta did this. There\u2019s your visual aid. Right now, on the Drudge Report, you have a big picture of Obama with his facial expression grimaced in pain, and the giant headline: “800,000 PENTAGON LAYOFFS,” and that\u2019s exactly what Panetta wanted. There\u2019s your visual aid.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just one of the things that\u2019s gonna happen with this sequester: 800,000 Pentagon layoffs. We are talking $44 billion in 2013. The entire stimulus is $85 billion. The amount of spending reduction we\u2019re talking about… I\u2019m getting blue in the face. You know what? I\u2019m so fed up with this. I\u2019ve been doing this for 25 years. This actually started with the budget battle of 1995, and it seems like every three months or six months it\u2019s the same damn crisis put forth by the same damn people, and we fight it in the same way.<\/p>\n

They put out their lies and distortions.<\/p>\n

We respond to it with the truth.<\/p>\n

It ends up not mattering.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t make a smithereens\u2019 bit of difference, and frankly I\u2019m fed up with it. How many…? I\u2019m blue in the face. It\u2019s $42.5 billion in spending cuts, and they\u2019re not even cuts. They\u2019re just reductions in the rate of growth. I just… I just can\u2019t take the lies, the distortions, the fearmongering — and it\u2019s not just at the federal level. The states do it. Local governments do it. You get to the local government, and they always tell you that the cops are gonna get cut and thieves are gonna have a heyday in your neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Then the teachers are gonna get cut and your poor little kids aren\u2019t gonna learn anything. The truth of the matter is, unless we get serious and start talking about trillions of dollars worth of cuts, we\u2019re just whistling Dixie here. We\u2019re playing pipe dreams and games. It\u2019s just the same thing again. It just keeps repeating, and the Republicans keep falling for it the same thing way. It\u2019s like I told you. What we\u2019re really up against here, folks, is that the ruling class inside Washington is not interested in limited government.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re not interested in reducing the size of government. They just want to take turns running it. They want to take turns controlling the Senate committee chairmanships. In other words, they want to take turns at controlling the money. They want to take turns in having the power to dole it out, give it away, and use it for whatever benefits they can. The truth either doesn\u2019t get out or, even if it does, it doesn\u2019t seem to matter.<\/p>\n

So if it\u2019s starting to bore me, I can\u2019t imagine how it impacts you hearing this over and over and over again.<\/p>\n

From the Republicans are gonna starve children, and talking about taking food out of the children\u2019s mouths… They\u2019re doing that with this, too.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Rich in White Plains, New York. Hi, Rich.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hey, Rush, how are you?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Just dandy, sir. Thank you.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I just thought of something funny. Have you ever seen the Geico commercial with Dikembe Mutombo where he goes around swatting everything in sight?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Not off the top of my head. I know who Mutombo is and I know what Geico is, but I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve seen that commercial.<\/p>\n