RUSH: Jack Welch up next. He was on MSNBC yesterday with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, and they had this exchange about President Obama.
WELCH: This guy is locked in another world and he’s throwing all these initiatives into this game in the middle of a crisis. Focus on the economy! It’s the economy. It’s getting the banks going. It’s a clear message to everybody, ‘All hands on deck. We have a crisis. Let’s deal with this.’ Not one day carbon tax, one day take the kids out of the Washington schools. I mean it’s — it’s crazy. People need a clear message.
RUSH: Now, what would you assume about Jack Welch? We have another bite, actually two more. What would you assume after hearing this? What would you assume, Mr. Snerdley? He really doesn’t like the way Obama is running things. He’s too scattershot out there. He needs to focus on one thing. You see… Again, I express my frustration over how few smart people actually understand liberalism, understand radicalism. Obama is taking advantage of everybody being distracted by the economy to ram through all these socialist-type proposals that are going to fundamentally alter the basic structure of the country. He’s doing it on purpose. And these guys think he’s just making some neophyte mistake, and needs to focus on the economy. He’s purposely not focusing on the economy. Now, you just heard Welch say he’s ‘locked in another world. He’s throwing all these initiatives in the game in the middle of a crisis. Focus, focus, focus! Get the banks going! We got a crisis. I mean, it’s crazy. People need a clear message,’ and then he said this.
WELCH: I love the guy. I think he’s great. I think he’s got a beautiful family. I think he’s a good man, but these — you bring up a comment about him, and all of a sudden you’re a pariah! You’re — you’re not American.
MIKA & SCARBOROUGH: (cackling)
WELCH: You’re a bad guy, if you even bring his name up.
SCARBOROUGH: Yeeeeah.
WELCH: My two trust fund daughters, if I bring his name up in anything other than a glorious —
MIKA & SCARBOROUGH: (cackling)
WELCH: They don’t have any critical thinking about it at all.
RUSH: Well, now we know. He’s getting beat up at home. He’s getting beat up at home by his — what did he call ’em? His two trust fund daughters. ‘If I bring up Obama’s name in anything other than a glorious way, they yell at me. They don’t have any critical thinking about (Obama) at all.’ Hey, Jack, you and I need to go have an adult beverage. (laughing) Yes, sir. One more example. (interruption) No. Not about women! No, no, I don’t mean about that. He says you can’t bring the guy’s name up without hell being sent upon you. That’s what I mean. Last night on Charlie Rose on PBS, he interviewed Traxis Partners hedge fund cofounder Barton Biggs, and Charlie Rose said to Barton Biggs, ‘What would you like to see from Washington today?’
BIGGS: I voted for Obama. I’m a fan of Obama. But I think that his tax program has really affected the market, and so I’d like to see him back off from raising the capital gains tax to 20%, the dividend tax to 20% and send a different signal. Don’t tax the real entrepreneurial, long-term investment part of the economy. The redistributionist part of his social agenda has bothered the market a lot, and so he ought to step back a little bit from that.
RUSH: I tell you, I throw my hands up here. All of these smart people, they get it, folks. They understand the disaster here. They just are gutless. They’re gutless to put any teeth behind what they really think. Well, I hope he changes this redistributionist part. I really, really like the guy. Did I tell you that…? I mean, is it wrong for a man to love another man? Is it wrong? I love Obama! I love the family! Why, it’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to America. His policies are wrecking the country. We don’t have much choice here. But I love the guy! My God, he’s the greatest thing that ever happened.
I get the hell beat outta me at home by my trust fund daughters whenever I bring his name up. I love the guy! He’s destroying our economy. What a great guy! Barack Obama! (sigh) I know. I know, Snerdley. Snerdley says, ‘You know, you gotta have a little humility here, Rush. You gotta have a little compassion, have a little understanding. These guys can see what they’re doing to you, and these guys don’t want to go through what you’re going through.’ Is that your point? (sigh) Here’s the answer to that. You know what the answer is? If more people just speak up and be honest, there wouldn’t be just one to focus on. You can tell from these comments…
You can tell from Buffett, you can tell from Welch — and these guys are business people, and there’s not one like them anywhere in Obama’s inner circle of advisors on the economy. And you can tell from Barton Biggs. You can tell they don’t agree. They don’t like anything that’s happening here in terms of policy, ‘But, God, what a guy! What a great family! I love the guy. Oh-ho! I’ve never been happier with a guy. Is it wrong for a man to love another man?’ If these guys would just open up, there wouldn’t just be one person to fire at. We’re talking about the future of the United States of America! ‘I really wish he’d change his redistributionist policies. A real entrepreneurial long-term investment plan for the economy, that’s what’s needed. I voted for the guy. Big, big, big fan! Tax program sucks, he’s got a bunch of problems — I love the guy! Oh, I’ve never seen a better-looking guy. Is it wrong for one man to love another man? They have ceded the territory to me. C-e-d-e-d, for those of you in Port St. Lucie.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I wonder if James Carville and Paul Begala and Stan Greenberg are, even as we speak, conducting another one of their famous phone polls. This here Carville on the phone (doing Carville impression) ‘I just have a simple question for you. Yes or no. Do you loathe Warren Buffett? Is Warren Buffett a danger and a risk to America? Yes or no?’ The same thing about Jack Welch. ‘Is Jack Welch a crook? Jack Welch a crook or is he a good guy, you tell me right now.’ And then they’ll release the polls after they figure out how much damage Welch and Buffett are doing. Look, we’re on a roll here, folks, we may as well stick with this. Jim Cramer, who, as you know, I came to his defense yesterday after he expressed stunned shock and dismay that his buddies in the Democrat Party, liberal wing, would target him and try to go after him. He was dismayed that I would defend him. He’s dismayed that people who disagree with him a lot, but have one thing in common, might come to his defense. So last night on Mad Money — that’s the title of Cramer’s show — he had this to say about me and Obama.
CRAMER: Rush Limbaugh defended me as a wayward leftist who has seen the light. Hey, I’m thrilled to have allies and defenders. Lord knows I need ’em. But the truth is I actually agree with almost all of Obama’s agenda right down to having the rich pay more taxes. I just think it’s the wrong time. We need to declare war on unemployment and solve it before it gets out of hand. We need stop house price depreciation. Nothing Obama’s done so far will defeat either enemy, and all the initiatives he wants to rush, like the tax hikes, changes in health care, take away the mortgage deduction, I mean good grief, he wants to take away the mortgage deduction right in the midst of the worst housing downturn in history. The tough cap-and-trade rules. Any of these could derail any chance of the economy turning around.
RUSH: After saying he disagrees with almost all of Obama’s agenda, he then trashes it. You know what we’ve got here? I’ll tell you what we have here, folks, speaking bluntly as is the only way I know how, these guys cannot admit that they made a mistake in supporting and voting for Barack Obama. That’s what they don’t have the guts to admit, not yet, not right now, they just can’t make themselves do it. It’s either that or they are afraid of their women at home, or they are afraid of the media who will ascend on them like the birds in the movie The Birds. They won’t even be safe in phone booths. Either way, these people are a bunch of wusses. No wonder business in this country is in the crapper with leaders like this. For crying out loud, if they will cave to the right thing to do on something like this, imagine what goes on in the boardrooms or what has gone on in the boardrooms.
And, by the way, here’s another thing. Drive-Bys, are you listening? All of a sudden now, starting yesterday with Buffett and moving forward into today, a problem with the economy is the equivalent of a war, right? It’s a war and we have one commanding general, and that is Obama, one general, one war. It’s a war now. We gotta focus everything on winning the economic war, right? What time is it? Well, I don’t know what real time it is because our clocks are on a delay. Suffice to say it’s around nine minutes to one Eastern Time on March the 10th, and I, El Rushbo, proclaim this war is lost. If this is a war, if our battle with the economy to straighten it out and Obama is our general, this war is lost. You may quote me. Here’s more from Jim Cramer last night on Mad Money. He continued, after saying that he loves Obama, agrees with most of his agenda and then trashed it the rest of the sound bite, he continued with this.
CRAMER: I am taking enfilading fire from people I like, people I admire, people I agree with while being defended by, of all people, Rush Limbaugh, the standard-bearer for conservatives, someone who I respect as a radio personality, but whose views are virtually antithetical to my own. How the heck did I get dragged into this mess, becoming the target of the wrath of Obama’s fans and the darling, albeit surely momentarily, of his critics?
RUSH: You mean temporarily.
CRAMER: It’s not like my criticism of Obama’s handling of the crisis is any more pointed than my criticism of the job the previous Republican administration was doing, or with its pernicious laissez-faire attitude toward Wall Street. So what gives here? The answer, I think, lies in the way the two administrations approach criticism. The Bush administration never questioned their beliefs, therefore never answered to anyone — not Congress, not the press, certainly not me. They simply chose to ignore my warnings.
RUSH: Bush ignored him. No, Bush didn’t decide to target a private citizen, Jim. The Bush administration remained above it. They did have their ideas. They’re not running around responding to critics because, in their view, you weren’t effective. The reason Obama’s responding to you, Jim, is because your criticism of them is effective, you stand in the way. That’s why they’re coming after you. This is what guys on your side do, Jim. I’m only trying to help. It continued, ladies and gentlemen, this morning, back to Scarborough’s show with cohost Mika Brzezinski. They have this exchange once again about me. They play a clip from yesterday’s program and asked Cramer to respond.
SCARBOROUGH: There you go.
BRZEZINSKI: Okay.
CRAMER: I’ll take the 50 G’s I gave to Rendell back. How about the 20 G’s I gave to Spitzer in that first campaign? I want that back. The money I gave to Corzine, I want that back. The Cory Booker money, I want that back. How about the hundred G’s I wrote to the party to have a cup of coffee with Clinton? I want that back. I demand it. There should be like some sort of, you know, guarantee, because when they attack you, you should get the money back.
BRZEZINSKI: Ah.
CRAMER: How much — how much dough I gave to that darn party, I want the money back. No, it’s fine. I mean, you look, they want to attack me, they should really — they should lighten up.
RUSH: So last night he’s all upset that I’m defending him. Today, he demands his money back from the Democrats because they’re attacking him. So wherever you look, you will find Democrats and business leaders of one degree of prominence or another all denouncing every fundamental aspect of the Obama economic policy and agenda. I love the guy. He’s so good-looking. Why, so svelte, so debonair. Oh, man, and the wife, you seen the kids — oh, ho-ho-ho-ho. Is it wrong for one man to love another man? Economic policies are going to destroy the country. But damn, I love the guy, what a great guy.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Look at how the media, look at how the libs, look at how the Democrats, look at how they cow people. They literally intimidate ’em and frighten them to death. Not me, of course, but all these other people. You have to bow down to Obama as though he’s a god, as though he’s a king, before daring to question the policy. Well, again I say, if our struggle with the economy is a war, this war is lost.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Reed in Charlotte, North Carolina, hi, and welcome to the EIB Network, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Rush, thank you for your production staff bringing some of those nuggets of truth that the liberals really never get to hear from Charlie Rose and CNN and Mika Brzezinski.
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
CALLER: People like that, they hear this stuff at cocktail parties.
RUSH: No, no. It’s Mika Bz’zinski, not Zuh-zinski.
CALLER: I’m sorry. I thought that’s —
RUSH: She’s very sensitive about the pronunciation of her name and if you can’t say it the way it’s properly pronounced in Poland — which is Bz’zinski — then Br’zezinski works.
CALLER: The sound bites last night from Barton Biggs, the ultimate bear of all time when he came out of hibernation on Charlie Rose, it’s priceless. But the nugget at the end, Rush, I was wondering if you heard it, where he broke down to a 50-50 coin flip. Charlie Rose asked him how this would work out, and he said, ‘It’s 50-50. A 50% chance it goes good and 30% chance we’re in the doldrums like Japan for nine to 12 years, and 20% chance it’s catastrophe.’ Nice! But don’t worry, Rush. He followed that interview up with David (sic–Steven) Chu, the new energy secretary who talked about cap and trade and how it was going to help us out.
RUSH: (laughing)
CALLER: (groans)
RUSH: Cap and trade is a disaster.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: You’re welcome. I did not see the entire interview with Barton Biggs, but that’s even better. Grab Barton Biggs. I wish…? What number is Barton Biggs? What number we have? Time is tight. What’s the number? What’s the number of Barton Biggs? Ah, we’re not going to run out of time. Barton Biggs! Barton Biggs, number three. Yes! Audio sound bite number three, Barton Biggs. You ready? Let her rip.
BIGGS: I voted for Obama. I’m a fan of Obama. But I think that his tax program has really affected the market, and so I’d like to see him back off from raising the capital gains tax to 20%, the dividend tax to 20% and send a different signal. Don’t tax the real entrepreneurial, long-term investment part of the economy. The redistributionist part of his social agenda has bothered the market a lot, and so he ought to step back a little bit from that.
RUSH: Yeah. ‘I love the guy! I voted for the guy! He’s going to destroy us, though. There’s a 20% chance that this plan will lead to catastrophe. But I love the guy. Is it wrong for one man to love another man? Because I voted for Obama, I love Obama, but there’s a 20%…’ Oh, God help us.