Callers Respond to Boehner's Plan
July 26, 2011
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We're starting in Atlanta, the home of school cheating where hardly anybody ever pays a price. David, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. Been cheering you on for 20 years, and I finally got upset today enough that I picked up the phone and called you.
RUSH: Thank you very much, sir.
CALLER: If you don't mind I want to vent on you just a little bit.
RUSH: Yeah, go ahead and vent. On me, you want to vent on me?
CALLER: Not on you, but I just want to vent for a little bit and you can be the recipient.
RUSH: Go right ahead.
CALLER: Listen, don't be bragging about cutting $30 billion earlier this year because that's chump change. That's nothing to be proud about, and $1.6 trillion over ten years betting on the come, that's a loser's bet there also. We've played that game before. I'm sick of these games that are being played, and I'm ready for us to get ready and play some hardball. Let's have the battle right now. Let's not kick it down the road any further.
RUSH: Yeah, I know what you're saying.
CALLER: And I heard DeMint last night, he was saying, look, if we'll just go back to 2007 spending levels, the budget will balance itself in ten years.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: Why can't we try that, lay it on the table? Congress right now has the power, the strongest power in Washington, and that is they have the power to say "no." They'll never have that power again, the way the situation is, and if they'll just hold together they can get this thing done.
RUSH: I know. Ten percent across-the-board cut would be easy, go back to 2007 or even 2008 spending levels.
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: Well, you heard the Speaker. He's very worried, all the retiring Baby Boomers are gonna put even more -- he doesn't think there's that much to cut, really, at least immediately and at one time.
CALLER: I think we're closer to crisis mode than maybe they think we are and that's what's frustrating.
RUSH: Well, I'll tell you what all this means. When you boil it all away, you strip it all away, we need to win more elections, David. We need to win more elections in the House. We need to win more elections the Senate. And we have to win the presidential race in November of next year. That's what this really means.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: We just need to win more elections.
CALLER: Thank you for letting me vent today, Rush.
RUSH: Well, you know, I'm a sponge for all kinds of people. I take on a lot of other people's stress. I got plenty of room for it. So I'm happy to provide the service. Thank you for the call. Appreciate it.
CALLER: Thanks a lot.
RUSH: Here's Cheryl in Newport Beach, California. I'm glad you called, glad you waited, great to have you here.
CALLER: Thanks. We don't have any global warming here today. It's beautiful here.
RUSH: Yeah, I was out there for one day last week.
CALLER: Oh, I hope you had a great time.
RUSH: Well, wasn't there long enough to have a great time.
CALLER: Well, we'll see you up at Pelican. That's a beautiful golf course.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: I have been wanting to ask you about Thomas Sowell but I was just completely absorbed in hearing you talk to Speaker Boehner so can I go over both these things if I hurry?
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: The first thing, when I listen to Speaker Boehner, I really admire him 'cause he's in a tough spot. I gotta say the truth, I wouldn't want his job. Even though we can birth babies, his job is pretty tough. But I read a thing, according to Forbes, a ratings downgrade would be even worse than a technical default, and that people from the S&P have told CNN that Boehner's plan would cause the US to lose its AAA credit rating because they said that Congress needs to show cuts of four trillion or more, and they said that his plan doesn't come close in real dollars. And I'm scared that, you know, at the end of the day when you start really reading the fine print, that Speaker Boehner and Harry Reid aren't that far apart on stuff, and it's kinda making me nervous.
RUSH: What do you mean they're not that far apart?
CALLER: Because it just seems like they're both saying the same thing.
RUSH: You mean they're not cutting enough?
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: Yeah. Well, you are right about one thing, and that is that these credit rating services are not making these threats relative to the debt ceiling. Everybody wants to think they are, but the credit rating is all going to be about our spending and whether we show any sign of getting a handle on it and reducing it. We're on an unsustainable path.
CALLER: Yeah, and that's what the shame is that we couldn't get anyone to push this Cut, Cap, and Balance. I'm nervous about that.
RUSH: Well, now, look, we tried that --
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: -- but this is what I meant. We need to win more elections. The Democrats run the Senate. They're not going to pass Cut, Cap, and Balance over there. It just isn't gonna happen.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Eric in Washington. Eric, thank you for waiting. You're next on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Yeah, hi, Rush. You know, this wasn't my original question or statement but it kind of segues into it. Are you saying or implying that there may be a crack in the Drive-Bys' unflagging support for our president? I know you mentioned David Brooks, and I never really saw him as, you know, a devout supporter of Obama, but I guess you mentioned a couple of others.
RUSH: Oh, yeah, he was. David Brooks? David Brooks is the guy who said, "When I saw the crease in his pants, I knew he was gonna be president -- and I knew he was gonna be a great one."
CALLER: Right. I do remember that now.
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: But the rest, Rush -- and this has been on my mind for a while. I'm convinced that people that pulled the lever for our president the first time are gonna have trouble not doing it again. It certainly wasn't me, but, you know, being in DC and in close proximity with many of his supporters.
RUSH: Well, that is one of the problems that you have living in DC. You are exposed to a culture that is not representative of anywhere else in the country. The closest that you could get to where you live now would be to live in New York or San Francisco, maybe Boston. Maybe. There's nowhere else. I understand why you think that. I understand why there is fatalism in abundance in Washington, DC, if you are a Republican or a conservative. That is its own distinct culture. That is why, by the way, so many solid, decent conservatives end up turning into Jell-O when they get into that town. The culture is so dominant.
And don't discount the importance of the social culture in that town for influencing the way people behave and the way they vote. I think it's not nearly as bad out there as you think. It's not automatic that the same people who voted for Obama will again. In fact, there's no poll that says so. Obama's not leading in any presidential poll right now -- and in the internal White House polls, it's even worse -- and by "internal," I mean "honest." Polls that they commission, polls that they pay for. You're just gonna have to buck up out there if you're gonna stay inside the Beltway. If you're gonna live there, you're gonna have to tell yourself constantly throughout the day that what you're seeing and hearing is not all reflective or representative of what's happening outside there in the rest of the country. Just trust me on that. Don't doubt me.
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Read the Background Material...
• Wall Street Journal: Big GOP Bloc in House Opposes Boehner's Plan
• New York Times: Congress In the Lead- David Brooks |
