RUSH: To Greg in Scottsdale, Arizona. I’m sorry. We got interrupted. You were saying?
CALLER: Oh, no worries. Well, so my thing is that this public option keeps getting touted as, you know, ‘competition’ and there’s going to be ‘choice.’ It will drive down the price and the cost. But that is antithetical to the Dems’ ideology. I mean, competition and choice, those are fundamentals of capitalism — a mother’s milk to us. But they think competition is evil. I mean, they screamed about how competition destroyed the markets and the economy, and now they want to engage in it?
RUSH: I know. Competition destroys kids. We shouldn’t even keep score in intramural basketball, baseball, softball, football games because one side is going to lose and it will humiliate them. You’ve identified a good point. One of Saul Alinsky’s rules is that when you’re arguing and trying to put something over on people, you speak within the area of their understanding and expertise and what they’re familiar with. See, Obama knows full well that if he were honest about his plan, nobody wants it. I mean, maybe 25% of the country would want it so he’s gotta lie. So he’s gotta talk in terms that Americans understand: Competition. Lower prices. This is what Americans understand. This is what their life experience is. So Obama’s out there just lying through his teeth saying that’s what his health plan wants to be, wants to provide. ‘Well, we just want to add more competition.’ You’re exactly right. The Democrats don’t believe in that, and there won’t be any when Obama gets his government-run plan. Now, he just finished a radio interview with a conservative radio host out in Philadelphia, Michael Smerconish. I didn’t hear it because it was happening during this program, which means that very many of you didn’t hear it, either. But at one point the president lied again when he said that you get to keep your insurance. So he said it today, and he said it yesterday in the conference call with the National Council of Churches.
OBAMA: I’ve said this before. I want to repeat it so that every member of your congregations understand this: If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. Nothing that we’re doing obligates you to choose any plan other than the one that you have. If you like your doctor, you can keep seeing your doctor. We’re not going to interfere with that.
RUSH: It’s just not true. Last Friday, he said it wasn’t a sure thing.
OBAMA: Everybody here who still has — who has currently private insurance, you know, you would more than likely still be on your private insurance plan.
RUSH: ‘More than likely.’ It used to be definitely; now it’s ‘more than likely.’ Look, I really would like to move on from this. I know you probably get tired of hearing it. But we do have audience building here incredibly and there are new tuner-inners each and every day so bear with me if I repeat things you’ve heard me say. The way this is gonna work is they’re going to get their public option and they want one. There’s no reason for them to do health care reform if they don’t get a public option. The public option simply means they run it. That’s what Obama wants! He’s authoritarian. This is not about any sort of private sector reform. So what’s going to happen is in the House bill, it’s spelled out. Yeah, you keep your private doctor for a while, you keep your private insurance plan.
But the moment it changes in any way — if your premium goes up a dime, if you decide that you want to add to or subtract from the coverage that you have and pay for — you lose it! It’s in the bill. Another way you’re going to lose it is that many of your employers are going to opt out of private and go public to off-load the expenses. You’re not going to have a choice in this, and Obama has said he’s for single payer. He said it in 2003. He said it in 2007. He’s for single payer. He knows it can’t be done right off the bat. They have to ease into it. It might take 15 or 20 years, but that’s the objective. So you might be able to keep your private plan for a period of time while they get this going. Let me address one more question that seems to be a popular question I’m getting regarding my cousin Jim being named to an executive position at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The question: ‘Why did he take the job because going to be out of a job a month after Obama’s health care bill passes?’ Simple. Jim wants it on the resume, wants to be able to have the prejudice of being executive at the hospital, but he’ll off-load the work, too. (laughing) I’m just kidding. (laughing) I’m just having a little fun with this. My point is that all this private stuff that exists now is subject to major overhaul. That’s why this is being done. It’s the only reason it’s being done.