Conservatives in Revolt Over McConnell Proposal,So Imagine What'll Happen After a Full Cave!July 13, 2011
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RUSH: Eric in Tucson, as we go back to the phones, great to have you with us on the EIB Network. Hello, sir.
CALLER: Hey, Rush, it's good to talk to you. I've listened to you a long time and really appreciate your insights and your observations.
RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.
CALLER: I'm fired up today, really angry about this Mitch McConnell thing. I'd like to regress to that if we could for a minute.
RUSH: Fine. Feel free.
CALLER: I've been a lifelong Republican and a conservative, grew up in a greatest generation house. I'm your age. My first election I voted in was for Richard Nixon, and I've been voting that way since, but yesterday I made Zell Miller my idol and my role model.
RUSH: Okay.
CALLER: Zell Miller, former congressman --
RUSH: Yeah, I know him very well.
CALLER: Yeah. He wrote this book, Party No More. Yesterday I left the Republican Party over this Mitch McConnell thing.
RUSH: Oh, no. What did you do?
CALLER: I said I can't do it anymore. These guys have just continued to abandon the values that we have elected them for, and I can't take it anymore. I said, you know what, I'm not a Republican anymore. I'm conservative.
RUSH: Did you go deregister?
CALLER: I think I will. I'm gonna change my registration.
RUSH: To what?
CALLER: I'm not sure yet. I know you don't like independents, but I'm gonna have to vote independently because I can't vote for these party guys anymore. I think there are a lot of people as angry as I am.
RUSH: I know, I know, I know, Eric, this is not even a cave yesterday. Imagine what woulda happened -- you're, I think, an indicator, a leading indicator of what's waiting to happen out there. He is, folks, Eric is a leading indicator. And what happened, the McConnell plan didn't even cave because it doesn't have a chance of going anywhere, but it did portray a mind-set. This is what he doesn't like. And it portrayed, "Why we giving up? Why are we throwing in the towel?" That's what it felt like. Am I right, Eric, is that what it felt like to you?
CALLER: Yeah, it is, you know, and they could win me back, but they would have to be some real bulldogs and fighters and stand on the principles and quit caving. That's the only way.
RUSH: Well, I have my hopes, I think they will.
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RUSH: I want to go back to our caller who said he'd bail on the Republicans because of the McConnell plan, can't handle it anymore, doesn't want any caves and this kind of thing. I want to illustrate here that most everybody in the Republican Party is distancing themselves from the McConnell plan. The Republicans are not embracing it. I'm not saying this to comfort anybody or to soft sell anything; I'm just telling you. It was not embraced by the party. The Democrats did, but the Republicans didn't.
Here's Jim DeMint, this is an example, on the Early Show today, the cohost Chris Wragge interviewing DeMint, said, "A new proposal was announced last night," yesterday, "to allow the president to raise the debt ceiling three times through 2012. Scott Pelley said there seemed to be a sense of relief in Washington this morning at McConnell's proposal. Do you have that same sense of relief, and what are your thoughts on Senator McConnell's deal?"
DEMINT: Republicans weren't elected last November to make it easier to spend and borrow and add to our debt. The president, unlike what he just said, has not sent us a proposal. This idea that Republicans will not vote to increase the debt limit is wrong. I've been working with House members and senators. We're gonna introduce a plan that would give the president an increase in the debt limit, but it's contingent on cutting spending and capping spending over several years and giving the states the opportunity to decide if we're gonna balance our budget sometime in the next decade.
RUSH: All right, so it seems a fait accompli the debt ceiling is gonna get raised. But here's DeMint not signing onto the McConnell deal. Now, the debt ceiling is gonna get raised. I haven't spoken to Senator DeMint about it but I can tell you, he is in favor of raising the debt ceiling not because he wants to spend more, he wants to spend less. This is all about the full faith and credit of the US, the reputation. It's embarrassing for the world's superpower to go in default. These guys, that's what they want to avoid by not raising the debt limit. In DeMint's case and most Republicans' case in the House, it's not about the ability to spend more because the deal that they'll sign and agree to for raising the debt limit requires massive spending cuts and no tax increases, and that's the holdup, because Obama, all he wants is to raise taxes and spend more money. And they're no closer to a deal than they've ever been. So Wragge, the CBS info guy said, "The president says the Democrats are willing to touch entitlements, but Republicans are steadfast in their belief that you can't raise taxes. Are there any revenue measures in this new plan?"
DEMINT: History tells us the only way to raise revenues is to get the economy going again, and one of the worst things you can do to the economy is increase taxes on small businesses, which is the group that's in this category that the president's talking about. The top wage earners in America are already paying the highest portion of national taxes of any country in the world; 10% pay over 70%. And what the president's proposing will bring in such a small amount of revenue, it doesn't even deal with the problem. So his proposal is totally political, and, again, he has not made any proposal in writing to deal with entitlements and to deal with any specific cuts. So the president talks a lot but we can't vote on a speech.
RUSH: We can't vote on a speech; we need to see a proposal. You don't just get to sit there and play smartest guy in the room when you're anything but and act like you had nothing to do with making this mess. Let's see your proposal, and Boehner echoed that again yesterday.
To Austin, Texas, next. This is Paul. Great to have you on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hi.
CALLER: Rush, it's a great honor from Austin, a liberal surrounded by conservative counties. I feel like the lone conservative artist in the whole Texas. When I heard McConnell throw out this proposal to give Obama Caesar-like power over the federal debt, I mean that just floored me. I could not believe it. When I heard that, you know, I wrote my senator and asked him, "Are you guys drinking something up there?" This is unbelievable.
RUSH: Well, I know. Here's the thing. I 'splained this in great detail the first hour. I just got an e-mail from some guy named Wycoff who's just livid at my mispronunciation of words. Well, he said it was funny for a while but he's getting tired of it, wants me to stop it. Well, like saying sczedule instead of schedule, or saying 'splain instead of explain. He doesn't know why I'm doing it. It just bugs him. I get e-mails like that. Now, Paul, what's behind this as I 'splained in the first hour of the program is that McConnell, they're nervous. I can't tell you how nervous they are. They are so nervous. They think it's 1995 all over again when Newt and the boys got snookered by Clinton. They do. No matter what we say out here. No matter what the Gallup poll says, they think they're about to get steamrolled again. They're scared to death.
I guarantee you, McConnell is livid that Obama's getting away with this. I think the point of his plan here was, "Okay, you want to raise spending, it's all yours, buddy. Here it is. Here's a plan. You want to raise the debt limit, it's all yours. You can go do it three times between now and 2012. You want to raise spending, you go right ahead. It's gonna take two-thirds of us to say, 'no, you can't.'" It was an attempt to put the onus all on Obama, the spending, and hold him accountable and shift the blame because they are sick and tired. And you gotta be able to understand this. If you're an elected Republican in Washington, you have to deal with this media for the last 30 years this way, the rampant, I mean just boil it down to the simple unfairness of it all.
And I'm not crybabying about it; I'm trying to tell you, 30 years of this, you'd be frustrated, too. So they throw the card, senior citizens and the military aren't gonna get their checks. All right, to hell with it, you want to raise spending, go ahead, it's all on you. I think it's an indication of the frustration.
Let me tell you something, living in the residence quarters of the White House is a woman known as Obama's mother-in-law, Michelle Obama's mother. She's 74. That means that she is on Social Security. Do you really believe that Obama's gonna go home after work and tell his own mother-in-law that she's not getting her Social Security check? Well, before you say no, he would, if he could blame it on the Republicans. If he threw his own mother under the bus, if he threw grandma under the bus, typical white woman. I'll tell you, if his mother-in-law eating dog food a couple days would move the case forward, hell, no problem.
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RUSH: Janet in Illinois, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hello, Last Man Standing.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: This is your fellow neighbor in Realityville, and you need to do something. You've been giving tough love to the Republicans in Congress, but you need to give it to the Republican base. They're going wobbly, Rush. They're calling you and they're playing right into Obama's hands.
RUSH: Wait a second, now.
CALLER: Yes?
RUSH: What do you mean?
CALLER: What I mean is Mitch McConnell has played the Krauthammer option. This is what Krauthammer suggested a couple days ago, and he's done it.
RUSH: Wait, I thought you said that the Republican base is going wobbly.
CALLER: They are! They are -- and listen to me. We're in this battle --
RUSH: Wait. Are you suggesting --
CALLER: I am suggesting that we're in this mess because they didn't listen to you in 2006 when the Mark Foley scandal came out. You told them not to stay home. I know because I listened to you -- and that was a trick by the Democrats because they know how to get the base, and what Obama's doing right now is to get the base. The base is the strongest thing in this country right now. It's the only thing poised to save this country.
RUSH: Tell me how they're going wobbly.
CALLER: Well, who was that caller that you just said that said the Republicans have lost him now with McConnell's deal. McConnell just played an option, a test balloon. It was never gonna go anywhere. I really don't believe Obama of his going to sign it. I do believe he's not going to sent out Social Security checks.
RUSH: But, but the reason... You're ending up at the truth here. So why present it? The House wasn't gonna sign it, Obama's not gonna sign it, so why present it? It's presented, and it looks like a white flag.
CALLER: Oh, I -- I -- I --
RUSH: It looks almost like surrender.
CALLER: Yeah, I know. I know that. I agree with that.
RUSH: Well, that's all the guy was reacting to.
CALLER: (giggles) But, listen, we've got to hold the line here! We've got to prove we're big game players. Come on! We don't want to be defanged. Obama is trying to crush us. That's what's going on. We're the target, not granny. He's already got her lined up for death panels, and now he's pulling her check. Well, hey, he's gonna pull the plug in two years. Let's wake up, America! Let's hang tough! Let's get behind Mitch McConnell!
RUSH: Wait a second, now. With all due respect, I just read you the Gallup poll data, and that poll is replicated in other polls. The American people are up to speed. The base isn't going wobbly. You're reacting to this guy. This guy told me he'll be back. He wants to be won back. He just --
CALLER: Oh, I know! I'm sick and tired of these people that need to be wooed! We don't need to woo people. You don't woo people when you're going off a cliff.
RUSH: He's not gonna vote Democrat. You --
CALLER: No, he's gonna stay home, Rush, or he'll go third party! Oh, yeah, that's really gonna work. I'm being purposely sarcastic; I'm trying to gin up the base, okay?
RUSH: I understand. I understand what you're doing. I just don't think the base has gonna wobbly. There may be, you know, an example here and there. You know, Snerdley goes out and finds one, and you're having a fit.
CALLER: No... Yes, okay. (giggling)
RUSH: I don't think the base has gonna wobbly.
CALLER: Rush, you gotta be a tough-lover, okay? Come on! (giggling) We gotta hold the line here. Boehner, Eric Cantor, they've got to go for it. We've gotta take it to Obama's throat without Obama crushing the Tea Party.
RUSH: I know.
CALLER: That's the trick. That's the fine line we've gotta thread. That's the needle -- and there's only one guy in America that knows how to do it, and I'm talking to him.
RUSH: I don't think Obama can crush the Tea Party. I don't think Obama has the slightest bit of credibility with the Tea Party to be able to destroy 'em. In the way that you mean. Anyway, it's a good call. I'm glad you took the time.
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RUSH: I'm going to boil it down to something very simple. Republicans gotta get back and focus on fixing the problem and not trying to fix the blame. I knew that what was behind Senator McConnell's effort was fear. They've not gotten over the budget battle of 1995. They just haven't gotten over it. Clinton snookered 'em, Newt and the boys thought that they were gonna win that one hands down, and they didn't, although the Republicans got reelected after that, so did Clinton. But the Republicans didn't lose the House after it. It was not nearly the disaster that they think it is to this day, but they have never gotten over it. It's like the formative experience in their lives, those Republicans that are still in Washington who were there for that budget fight in 1995. They don't want to do anything that reeks of a government shutdown, and a default can be characterized by the Democrats and Obama as a government shutdown, and they think they lose in a government shutdown, so they don't want any part of it.
Now, I got a note. I didn't read this, but I got a note saying that the last caller, our last caller who thought the base is going wobbly, meaning you, was right that McConnell's plan is exactly what Charles Krauthammer suggested in his last column. Now, I haven't read that Krauthammer column, or as Henry Kissinger once said to me, (doing voice) "the Krauthammer column." I've never forgotten it. "The Krauthammer column." And I didn't read it, so I don't know what this is, but the note says that Krauthammer said that we need to do to the Democrats what they did to the Ryan plan, whatever that is. I guess that's rip it to shreds, and I guess do nothing and make the Democrats come forward with their cuts. That was apparently what Krauthammer's idea was, make the Democrats put something on the table here. We go up there, we got all these ideas, they leak what the ideas are, Obama acts in that arrogant, condescending way. That's what this was all about, and sadly it had the effect of throwing in the white towel.
I'm sure McConnell's also ticked off the Senate has not had a budget. The Senate, the Democrat Senate has not put a budget on the table for over 800 days. Now, what makes anybody think that they're gonna change? What possible pressure could anyone bring to make the Democrats in the Senate bring forth a budget? There's nothing. There's nothing that's gonna make 'em do that, pure and simple.
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