RUSH: There’s a story in the Wall Street Journal today that’s got everybody in a tizzy, and the story is that McDonald’s is gonna drop its health care coverage because of Obamacare. Now, McDonald’s is issuing a halfhearted denial of this. The White House is issuing a halfhearted denial of this. But that’s not the point. The point that this is even a possibility, I mean we’re discussing it; the story is out there. McDonald’s may drop health care plan because of Obama. Now there are all kinds of denials. This is the United States of America. We have a major American corporation with a story in the Big Media suggesting, because of our president, they may drop their health care coverage. Whether or not the Wall Street Journal got the story right, the fact that McDonald’s has to ask the federal government for permission to continue with their health care plan for their employees is the problem. We need to get Obama out of our businesses. We need to get Obama out of our backyards, out of our light sockets, out of the gasoline pump. We need to get him out of the oil business and we need to get him out of our backyards and our lives, primarily. And the first stage of that process occurs on November 2nd.
It’s looking bad for the Democrats out there. All kinds of stories now suggest that there is no good news for Democrats, that it’s the Drive-By Media simply trying to suggest there might be good news for Democrats, but there doesn’t seem to be any at all. The Congress left town not voting on tax cuts, and it was a bipartisan desire to vote on tax cuts. Everybody’s always clamoring: ‘We need bipartisanship. We need the parties getting along. We need to bridge the divide,’ and it was said that Imam Obama was going to be the guy to do this, and, no, now he’s out there bashing Fox News again; he’s out there bashing talk show hosts again. He’s all for the First Amendment when it comes to the Ground Zero mosque but not when it comes to Fox News and not when it comes to me or certain other practitioners of the broadcast arts.
Arnold Ahlert has a piece today that’s a good summary of why the Democrats are gonna take it on the chin. The reason I like it is because it goes issue by issue by issue and explains it and there’s a great summary to it. You’ve heard it all before because you’ve heard me, but it’s still good to summarize it, and we will do it.
Now, one more thing about the McDonald’s business. Nobody’s denied that the memo was authentic. Nobody’s denied that the internal memo at McDonald’s about having to drop their health care plan for their employees — this is, by the way, exactly what the regime wants. They just don’t want it before an election. McDonald’s needs a waiver. That’s right. They need a waiver. Now, the regime wants companies like McDonald’s to drop health care coverage for their employees, but not until 2014, certainly not a month before an election and certainly not before Bam’s reelection effort in 2012. That’s why most of this stuff doesn’t kick in ’til 2014, but these companies have to be forward thinking and they have to look at the impact of this health care on their business. They’re already asking for a waiver. Nobody is denying the memo was authentic. We know — and we didn’t need the McDonald’s story — we know that companies are worried about this and we know that the facts are the facts.
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RUSH: Now, this McDonald’s story. Who works at McDonald’s? Who are they? They’re ‘hamburger flippers,’ right? And those jobs are genuinely derided by the left. ‘Hamburger flippers? Why, people are consigned to hamburger-flipper jobs, people who have gone to college! Why, what a tragedy. Hamburger-flipper jobs!’ People that do that kind of work are laughed at, made fun of, and impugned by the Democrats — and we’re also told that a hamburger-flipper job is minimum wage, you can’t support a family on it and there’s no health care. Well, if there’s no health care for a hamburger flipper then how the hell can 30,000 McDonald employees be facing the possible loss of health care?
Somebody needs to explain this to me ’cause I thought they were awful jobs that nobody wanted, that were somehow demeaning. Hamburger flippers. You notice that no Republicans ripped the jobs created under the Obama regime as ‘all hamburger-flipper jobs’ the way they did under Republicans. Every new job during Bush, the Democrats said, ‘That’s just a hamburger flipper job!’ During Reagan it was the same thing. When the job creation was booming under Republican administrations the Democrats were out there deriding the kind of jobs, ‘They are just hamburger flipper jobs.’ Of course, right now no jobs are being created at all. To tens of millions of Americans, a nice job with benefits at McDonald’s sounds pretty good!
It’s more of a job than Obama’s ever had in his life, when you get right down to it. Flipping burgers is more than Obama’s ever done. Flipping burgers will teach you more about economic reality than anything Obama’s ever done. But still somebody explain to me how it is that you deride a job with hamburger flippers and McDonald’s talks about maybe having to get rid of their health care plan, and all of a sudden we learn that those people have health care? So we’ve been lied to all these years by the media, by the Democrats. ‘No benefits, no nothing. They’re exploited! Hamburger flippers are exploited. Evil, mean McDonald’s is paying people virtually nothing.’ Same thing with Walmart. So all kinds of things popping up.
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RUSH: This is Dale, Ventura, California. Your turn on the EIB Network.
CALLER: Thank you for taking my call, Rush. Pleasure to talk to you on my 53rd birthday.
RUSH: Wow. Congratulations, sir.
CALLER: Thank you. About the McDonald’s, I can fully believe that. Word just came down to us. I live in California. The four largest insurers in this state have all got increases in premiums of approximately 20% recently.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: Our company informed us that they fought and fought and fought but specifically because of the Obama health care plan —
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: — our insurance premiums are gonna skyrocket —
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: — our copays are going to skyrocket —
RUSH: By design.
CALLER: Yes. Our pharmacy copays are going to skyrocket. And if we were to go to the emergency room now, instead of the hundred dollars that we have to pay now, it’s going to be a thousand dollars a trip. Now, my wife, her medical costs are approximately $200 a month for right now, just for medicine as well as doctor visits. When those premiums go up, I’m in the construction industry, supply, and there’s no construction going on really out here.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: So when those costs go up as well as the costs that are passed on to myself and my wife —
RUSH: Okay.
CALLER: — our choice is going to be —
RUSH: Dale, let me ask you a quick question because time is dwindling away.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Given all this, what’s your reaction to the so-called controversy that Meg Whitman hired an illegal maid?
CALLER: You know what? I am fully behind Meg Whitman on that. If the person was deceptive, she deserved to be fired. And I’ve got a friend that says, ‘Oh, but she shoulda helped her.’ I’m sorry. You don’t break the law to help somebody breaking the law.
RUSH: The bottom line is, when you’re faced with all these skyrocketing insurance premiums, whether or not Gloria Allred’s got the goods on Meg Whitman’s illegal maid kind of doesn’t matter, does it?
CALLER: No, it doesn’t.
RUSH: And to the extent that it does matter you’re suspecting a rat on the Democrat side cause that’s how they play this game. Meg Whitman is saying the maid lied to me. But in the big scheme of things, you’re facing a hundred-dollar payment at the emergency room now going up to a thousand dollars and the Democrats hit you with news that Meg Whitman has an illegal maid, or did. Yeah, so? We got bigger problems in this country than whether Meg Whitman’s maid was legal or illegal, in terms of whether or not it matters to me about Meg Whitman. At any rate, I’m glad you called out there, Dale. Thanks much.
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RUSH: I want to go back to this McDonald’s business for just a second. We went back to our archives for a brilliant audio sound bite. Fort Myers, Florida, February 10th, 2009, not long after Obama had been immaculated. He had a town meeting in Fort Myers. Now, the news today is that McDonald’s may drop their health insurance for 30,000 hourly employees. Who knew? Who knew that McDonald’s hourly employees had health care? McDonald’s is denying it. The White House is denying it. But it’s still being talked about. And McDonald’s has never, ever talked about dropping their health care prior to Obama. Nobody talked about dropping health care coverage to this extent, anywhere near this extent, prior to Obamacare being passed. So at this town meeting in Fort Myers in 2009, February 10th, here’s an exchange between Julio, who worked at McDonald’s, and he was thrilled to have Obama in town.
OSEGUEDA: Oh, this is such a blessing to see you, Mr. President! Thank you for taking time outta your DAY! (gasping) Ohhhhhhh, gracious god! Thank you so much! Oh! (gasping for air)
OBAMA: All right. What’s…? What’s the question? (chuckling)
OSEGUEDA: All right, Mr. President — heh, heh, heh — my name is Julio Osegueda. I’m currently a student at Edison State College in my second semester, and… Okay, I’ve been at the same job, which is McDonald’s for four and a half years because of the fact that I can’t find another job. Now, with the fact that I’ve been there as long as I’ve been there, do you have any plan or any idea of making one that has been there for a long time receive any better benefits than what they’ve already received?
RUSH: All right, is this not great? So February 2009 Julio shows up, ‘Oh, my god! Oh, oh, oh, gracious god, thank you so much for showing up! Do you have a plan to help me get more benefits? I’ve been at McDonald’s. I can’t get a job anywhere else. Do you have a plan to get me more benefits?’ and less than a year and a half later, poor Julio, if he’s still there, because of his ‘oh, gracious god, I’m so glad you’re here!’ he now faces possibly the loss of one of his benefits at McDonald’s, and that would be health care. This is the same town hall meeting where Henrietta Hughes asked Obama for a kitchen. Henrietta Hughes asked Obama for a kitchen, a new kitchen. And it turns out, I guess, Obama’s not so gracious after all ’cause poor Julio, Julio Osegueda been at McDonald’s four and a half years because he can’t find a job anywhere else asks Obama to do something about the benefits, and Obama came through.
There aren’t going to be any more.
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RUSH: You know what Obama said to Julio Osegueda? (imitating Julio) ‘What are you going to do, oh, gracious God, oh, gracious God, I’m working at McDonald’s, can’t get a job anywhere else, oh, gracious God.’ Obama said, ‘I assume that you’re getting health care through your job, so one of the things we want to do is reform the health care system so you’ll have access to health care in your job.’ That’s what Obama said to Julio Osegueda, and now Julio, if he’s still there is facing the possibility after a year and a half of Obama of no health care at his job. Obama said he was going to improve the guy’s health care.