RUSH: Ted Cruz announced he’s gonna run for president. As you know, he’s pledging, if he’s elected, to repeal Obamacare word-for-word. He’s gonna just repeal the whole thing, and he’s become known for, among many other things, that stance. So, he announces he’s gonna run for president, and his wife, who is a very accomplished financial wizard at Goldman Sachs, announces that she’s stepping aside temporarily from that job to join him in his quest for the presidency, the Republican Party nomination. She’s gonna be out there on the campaign trail with him and so forth.
It turns out that the Cruz family got their health care from her employment at Goldman Sachs. So the moment she stepped down, and from what I understand, the value of the health care package at Goldman Sachs is about 20 grand. That’s the value of the benefit, the health benefit that they provide to their masters of the universe there, and she was one of ’em. So now the Cruz family doesn’t have health care, and that places them in jeopardy of being in violation of the law, because the law says you have to have Obamacare. You have to have insurance. If you don’t have insurance, then you have to pay a fine. And I don’t think somebody running for president wants to be on the list of people paying a fine.
The law is the law, whether you disagree with it or not, you’ve gotta have Obamacare. You’ve gotta have health insurance. One of the things Cruz is doing is illustrating this by going out and signing up. He said he’s gonna go to HealthCare.gov and sign up. He’s gonna find a policy and he’s gonna get it, and he said if he qualifies for subsidies, he’s not gonna take them. As anybody running for president would have to claim, “I am not going to accept anything in the form of subsidies. I’m not gonna have my fellow tax-paying citizens help me defray my costs.” Even though that’s what the law permits, couldn’t very well do it.
Well, the Drive-Bys don’t know what to do with this now because, on the one hand, here’s the guy who has vowed to repeal the whole thing if he’s elected president, signing up for it. They think he’s a hypocrite. They think he has blown it with his base. They think that he is advocating now, whether he likes it or not, that he is making the case for Obamacare. They think that he has just disqualified himself, because after all of these months promising to get rid of it, what has he done? Why, he signed up for it.
So he’s appearing with some of these Drive-By types to talk about it. We have some sound bites. This is last night on CNN, Jake Tapper’s show, Dana Bash actually interviewed Cruz. Question: “You and your family have been getting your health insurance from your wife’s job at Goldman Sachs. She’s now left that to help you with your campaign. So where are you getting your health insurance now?”
CRUZ: She’s taking an unpaid leave of absence from her job and so we’re transitioning. We’ll be getting new health insurance and we’ll presumably do it through my job in the Senate, and so we’ll be on the federal exchange like millions of others on the federal exchange.
BASH: So you will be getting Obamacare, effectively?
CRUZ: It is one of the good things about Obamacare, is that the statute provided that members of Congress would be on the exchanges without subsidies just like millions of Americans, so there wouldn’t be a double standard.
RUSH: Meaning he doesn’t get any subsidies. That wouldn’t look good. It’s thought that members of Congress don’t need any help. They don’t need any subsidies. So he’s gonna basically be signing up for Obamacare. Now, the hate that they have for Ted Cruz — and, by the way, it’s not just them. It’s not just people on the left. Just as there were Sarah Palin haters on the right, there are Ted Cruz haters on the right. They’re there and they’re loud, I don’t know how numerous they are, and they make up both members of the Republican establishment and even some who think that they’re conservative.
I’ll tell you the reason why they hate Cruz is — well, there are two main reasons I’ve been able to deduce why these conservative, slash, establishment Republicans hate him. Number one is, well, both reasons are rooted in they don’t think he can win. The first reason he can’t win is because the media has already destroyed him just like they destroyed Palin, and it makes it impossible for them to support him because they fear that if they support him, the media’s gonna come after them, and they don’t want the media coming after them.
In other words, these people are allowing, whether they look at it this way or know it or not, they’re allowing the media to once again determine who they will or will not support in the Republican presidential primary. The second reason that I’m hearing why they hate Cruz and oppose Cruz, also rooted in the fact they don’t think he can win — are you ready for it? — because he doesn’t have enough experience. (laughing) What he thinks, what his policy proposals are, don’t seem to matter. And I’m talking about people on the right.
Now, the conversation between Dana Bash and Ted Cruz continues. Every question that he gets from these people is accusatory. The contrast is amazing. Obama never gets an accusatory question, never, ever. In fact, did you see the other day Mrs. Clinton shows up somewhere — I have the story in the Stack. I forget where it was. She showed up somewhere, it was an audience of journalists, and they gave her a standing ovation when the notion of her server came up.
Everybody, I remember last week and the week before there were people on our side, I got the e-mails from ’em, I talked to ’em out on the golf course, “Hey, we got Hillary now. This server business, she’s not gonna be able to come back from that. Have you seen all these Drive-Bys jumping on her?” And I even pointed it out. It was amazing the number of Drive-By Media people that were jumping on Hillary over her server.
Well, what’s happened is that she appears to have survived it. No damage. So she shows up somewhere where there’s an audience of Drive-By Media types, she gets a standing O from journalists. Ted Cruz will never get a standing O from journalists. Everything they ask him is accusatory. He’s the continuation of the Obamacare bite he was having with Dana Bash.
BASH: The irony is just kind of unbelievable, that you have made your name fighting against Obamacare, and you now are going to sign up to get your insurance through that very process, Obamacare.
CRUZ: Listen, it was the case before Obamacare that federal employees could get health insurance through their jobs. That’s not a new development, so, yes, I’ll get my insurance through my job like millions of other Americans.
RUSH: But she is outraged at that. She thinks he’s a hypocrite. And so she continued.
CRUZ: We will follow the text of the law —
BASH: That means you are gonna take a government subsidy?
CRUZ: I believe we should follow the text of the law.
BASH: The law that you want to repeal?
CRUZ: Yes. No, I — I believe we should follow the text of every law, even laws I disagree with.
RUSH: Yeah. So Snerdley, let me ask you, what did you think? When you first heard that Ted Cruz was signing up for Obamacare — tell me the truth now — what was your gut, your first gut reaction? (interruption) You laughed? It was hysterically funny? Why did you think it was hysterically funny that Ted Cruz was signing up for Obamacare? (interruption) Oh, you think it was brilliant that he signed up for Obamacare. (interruption) Hmm. (laughing)
Okay, so Snerdley’s theory is that if he’s ever elected and the day comes where he authors the repeal of Obamacare, he can do it and say, “Hey, I signed up for this boondoggle. I’m like everybody else, I was forced to sign up for this POS and I’ve done it and now I’m getting rid of it.” So you think it’s a brilliant, brilliant move.
Ron Fournier has been in the sewer of depression over the plight of Hillary Clinton. This e-mail server business has had Ron Fournier bamboozled. He has been among the few in the Drive-Bys who believe that it was going to spell the end of Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy, and he has been revived. Ron Fournier has been reborn, not to be confused with Christianity. He has come back to life. He is enthused again because he thinks Ted Cruz has been profoundly humiliated. He believes that Ted Cruz is now sucking hair. He thinks that Ted Cruz has been shown to be the biggest hypocrite because he had to sign up for Obamacare.
FOURNIER: He’s decided to take Obamacare, which is, you know, rich in irony, and one of his supporters told me, “Well, you know, it’s better than nothing.” I said, “Well, that’s the point. Obamacare is better than nothing.” I think it’s great. We should have as many people as possible sign up for Obamacare and really judge, is this better than nothing or not. He’s doing this to follow the law. Well, that’s BS, can I say that on the air?
KING: You just did.
FOURNIER: Because there’s other things he can do. He doesn’t have to sign up through Obamacare.
RUSH: It’s BS? Cruz said that he had to follow the law. So he’s calling Cruz out. He says Cruz saying he’s doing this to follow the law is not true, Cruz isn’t being honest, he’s not being honest, there are plenty of other options. Well, all the other options are in the law. You either sign up or you pay a fine. That’s also in the law. And here is Chris Cuomo over on CNN’s New Day, and he had this to say about Cruz signing up through the federal exchange.
CUOMO: I know you think you know Ted Cruz, but when you hear what he said that he’s going to do now, after everything that this man has said about Obamacare, you will not believe a position he has just taken. This is the point in the conversation you hear the needle drag across the record, and you come to a full stop. The nice thing about Obamacare? Ted Cruz hates Obamacare, doesn’t he? He compared it to the Nazis, what green eggs and ham was like was nothing compared to how bad this is, that it needs a tsunami, and he was gonna bring it. What is going on here?
RUSH: And now they’re glomming on, “Hey, a Cruz aide said it’s better than nothing,” and Ron Fournier says, “Isn’t that the point?” Is that how low the standard has now sunk? So Obamacare can now be promoted by pointing out that it’s better than nothing and that that’s the point of Obamacare, that it was to be better than nothing? I thought they had loftier goals for Obamacare than that.
I thought Obamacare was supposed to be a panacea. It was supposed to be 10 steps on the road to utopia. Obamacare was gonna equalize all of the unfairness and discrimination in our society. Nobody was gonna be treated better or worse. Everybody was gonna get the absolute best health care. Nobody was gonna be denied. The uninsured were gonna be insured. And now the measure of Obamacare is, it’s better than nothing?
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RUSH: You know, I tell you what. If “it’s better than nothing” is the new selling point for Obamacare, I think a bunch of people ought to pick up on it. Can you imagine Taco Bell saying, “Hey, it’s better than nothing.” McDonald’s: “Hey, you may not think it’s the best food, but it’s better than nothing.” If this has become the new selling point for Obamacare, “it’s better than nothing”? What a standard. What a plunge this lofty law has experienced.
And isn’t it fascinating, here’s Ted Cruz, we’ve got a law in this country, you have to have health insurance. And you have to have some form of it approved by Obamacare. He’s gone out, he has obeyed the law, and the Drive-Bys think he’s being a hypocrite. He said, “I obey, you have to try to obey the text of every law.” Now, compare that to Obama, who’s doing everything he can to avoid laws he doesn’t like. We’re 180 degrees out of phase. A guy who says he’s following the law of the land is mocked and ridiculed, and the people who swerve and weave their way around the law are applauded and supported and encouraged, such as Obama and take your pick of any of them.
All right, let’s go to the phones. I’m interested to hear what you have to say about this, ’cause I think I know what we’re gonna get here. I think we’re gonna run the gamut on responses, but I’m curious to see if there is a — I’m looking for a particular response here. I’m not gonna tell you what it is, ’cause I don’t want to tip anybody to calling and saying, because they’ve heard me say this, what I expect, but I have an expectation about this. Let’s just put it that way.
Let’s start in Miami with Danny. Your thoughts on Cruz and Obamacare.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. Longtime listener. I appreciate you taking my call.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: I’m as Republican as they can come. I have a question for you because I’m a little bit confused. He’s currently forced to take Obamacare, but did he have any other options, such as taking COBRA? ‘Cause when a person takes a leave of absence, such his wife did, did they have that option of taking something besides Obamacare? And, by the way, just to put it out there, I do not believe in Obamacare. I’ve seen too many horrible problem stories. I think it should be repealed as soon as possible. I think we should fix the current system, which is —
RUSH: Let me rephrase your question. Let me ask your question to me, ’cause I think I know what you’re asking me. May I try that?
CALLER: Absolutely. Absolutely.
RUSH: What you’re asking me is, hasn’t Ted Cruz basically wiped himself out with this? There are plenty of other ways he could have done this. You cite COBRA. But doesn’t this make him look like a giant hypocrite? Isn’t he tacitly advocating Obamacare by not —
CALLER: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don’t believe that. I believe that he’s doing this basically to show that he’s forced to take this, to take Obamacare. That’s what I believe. I don’t believe that he’s doing it because he wants to. He’s doing it because he has to. But I just wanted to know, did he have any other options?
RUSH: Well, there are other options. You mentioned COBRA. COBRA is damned expensive. I mean, it’s not a way to save money. COBRA is not a deal.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: COBRA just is a way to stay insured when your evil employer cuts you loose. The other thing he could do is opt to pay the fine. But, see, he’s got a family. What it’s gonna boil down to is if he opts to pay the fine, he doesn’t have insurance. He’s got two young girls. He’s got a wife. What if something happens and they need health care? Does he have enough money to pay for it out of pocket? And if he does have enough money to pay for it out of pocket, is that how he wants to spend his money? So he’s obviously said, “You know what, I don’t want to pay the fine because that means whatever the health expenses my family needs is gonna come out of pocket.”
He either has it or doesn’t, based on costs, procedures, whatever unknown would be necessary. Or insurance. Those are the options, under the law. Now, there’s a third option. You can do nothing and wait to be discovered that you have done nothing, at which point the IRS when they find you will keep your tax refund and collect your fine from you that way. Those are the three things off the top of my head that he could do.
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RUSH: What do you think the Drive-Bys would have done if Ted Cruz had opted not to insure his family, had gone the fine route? They’d call him a dangerous lunatic. They’d call him a monster. They’d call him selfish if he decided not to insure his family.