RUSH: Now, folks, I have opined today, and I have opined earlier in this week, that Obama is in trouble. These polls are narrowing. They’re getting tight. Despite the stories… (laughs) There’s actually a story out today that Drive-By network executives are really concerned that this is going to be such a landslide, the election is over before most of you eat dinner, and they’re worried about how to keep you watching all night.
Of course, you’ve seen all the other evidence that the Drive-Bys think this is over. But these two important polls are tightening up. Now, I just saw something, and it’s about Obama today in Roanoke, Virginia. This tells me that he is definitely in trouble. He has pulled out a page from the 30-year-old Democrat playbook: John McCain will cut Medicare. All of a sudden Obama’s pulling that? He’s supposedly up six to ten points. He’s supposedly in a prevent defense. He’s supposedly coasting, trying to make no mistakes. The race is over, and he’s out saying John McCain will cut Medicare? What’s next, ‘John McCain’s going to cut your Social Security’? These are items from the Democrat playbook.
Here’s the AP-Obama story: ‘Barack Obama is accusing John McCain of wanting to cut $882 billion from Medicare, and claims that would mean seniors pay more for drugs, receive fewer services and get lower quality care. In remarks prepared for a rally in red-state Virginia, Obama said McCain … is seeking the cuts in order to pay for his health care plan. ‘It’s entirely consistent with Senator McCain’s record during his 26 years in Congress where, time and again, he’s opposed Medicare,’ Obama said in his prepared remarks. There was no immediate response from the McCain campaign.’ This is the surest sign yet that he’s in trouble. This is a standard. This is what you do at the last minute when you’re having all kinds of trouble because this stuff hasn’t worked in a long time. And then, from the Los Angeles Times…
You know how I’ve been saying for the longest time to people who call, ‘We can’t afford Obama.’ We can’t afford Obama in this way, that way, or this way. ‘Obama today criticized …McCain’s healthcare plan, saying that if enacted it could lead to [all these] cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. In a TV ad called ‘It Gets Worse,’ to air in key battleground states, the Obama campaign cites a Wall Street Journal report that McCain would finance his healthcare plan in part with ‘major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid.’ The ad concludes, ‘John McCain, taxing health benefits, cutting Medicare. We can’t afford John McCain.” They’re responding to this program, ladies and gentlemen, where we have said, ‘We can’t afford Obama.’ So it won’t be long before we’re going to ‘cut Social Security’ as well, and then we’re going to ‘cut school lunches.’ We’re going to start hearing that McCain is going to cut all kinds of programs. This is not what you do when you’re six to ten points up.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: This afternoon in Roanoke, Virginia, at a campaign rally. Here is Obama. Here it in his own words. This tells me that he knows he’s in trouble. When they go back and grab something 30 years old from the Democrat playbook, ‘McCain is gonna cut Medicare,’ they’re in trouble, and he knows it.
RUSH: Come on. (laughing)
OBAMA: Forty times —
RUSH: Nobody’s done that.
OBAMA: — he’s failed to stand up for Medicare.
RUSH: Nobody!
OBAMA: So what would Senator McCain’s cuts mean for Medicare at a time when more and more Americans are relying on it? It would mean a cut of more than 20% in Medicare benefits next year. If you count on Medicare, it would mean fewer places to get care and less freedom to choose your own doctors. You’ll pay more for your drugs.
RUSH: Oh, my!
OBAMA: You’ll receive fewer services. You’ll get lower quality care.
RUSH: He’s describing the Hillary plan!
OBAMA: I don’t think that’s right. In fact, it ain’t right.
RUSH: He’s describing the Hillary plan! You won’t be able to choose your own doctor, fewer places to get care? Voted against Medicare 40 times? The audience, I didn’t hear ’em much. It was a pretty muted reaction.