Democrats Call Conservatives Hostage Takers, Villains, TerroristsJuly 29, 2011
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RUSH: So this Politico piece. Maybe it's an opinion piece. I said it was a news story, because it's bylined. But it may well be a column. The headline is "The Tea Party's Terrorist Tactics." Before I get to this, let me show you what a coordinated thing this is. We have a media montage of Democrats (no media in here) talking about the Tea Party. Listen.
STENY HOYER: (rotunda noise) The Republicans are holding hostage the credit of the United States of America.
DEBBIE "BLABBERMOUTH" SCHULTZ: ...our Republican colleagues to hold our economy hostage.
DINGY HARRY: The Republican Party is holding our economy hostage.
CHUCK-U SCHUMER: (rotunda noise) It didn't say, "Hold America hostage."
LOUISE SLAUGHTER: ...hold the debt ceiling hostage.
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE: One party is holding the country hostage.
JOHN OLVER: The debt limit has never before been held hostage.
BARBARA LEE: Republicans are holding our economy hostage.
EARL BLUMENAUER: ...willing to take hostage the debt ceiling.
JASON ALTMIRE: Stop holding America's credit rating hostage.
ROSA DeLAURO: The Republican majority continues to hold the American economy hostage.
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Let's not hold the entire American economy hostage.
JOHN LARSON: ...ideological HOSTAGE situation...
LLOYD DOGGETT: The only belt they're really tightening is right around the neck of those hostages.
JAMES CLYBURN: Holding the American economy hostage.
JESSE JACKSON, JR.: This President is being treated differently!
SPEAKER PRO-TEM: (gavel banging)
JACKSON: No other President has been stuck up, shook down, or held hostage!
RUSH: That's the Reverend Jackson, Jr. there bringing up the end. I don't know what he means, "No other president has been stuck up, shook down, or held hostage!" Now we come to this Politico terrorist piece: "The Tea Party's Terrorist Tactics -- It has become commonplace to call the Tea Party faction in the House 'hostage takers.' But they have now become full-blown terrorists. They have joined the villains of American history who have been sufficiently craven to inflict massive harm on innocent victims to achieve their political goals." This is William Yeomans writing. Mr. Yeomans, what in the name of Sam Hill do you think Barack Obama is?
You want to talk about the real villain in this country? It's Barack Obama! Craven, "sufficiently craven to inflict massive harm on innocent victims to achieve their political goals"? What do you call a 1.3% growth rate this quarter, a 0.4% growth rate in the first quarter, and 9.2% unemployment? What do you call that? You call that the architecture of a craven villain, Mr. Yeomans -- and the people you're calling terrorists are trying to stop it and save the country. That's what this is about. This is about saving the country, it's about preserving liberty -- and I don't care how corny that sounds. It is exactly what's going on. "A strong America has always stood firm in the face of terrorism. That tradition is in jeopardy, as Congress and President Barack careen toward an uncertain outcome in the Tea Party-manufactured debt crisis."
Tea Party-manufactured debt crisis? The Tea Party has been in office for all of six months! I don't want to hear any more crap from Democrats about "civility." I don't want to be preached to one more time by these holier-than-thou, better-than-everybody-else, smarter-than-everybody-else craven villains about "civility." I have to tell you, folks (and I know that I am not alone): I am mad as all get out. The Democrats and their cohorts and the Drive-Bys have collectively ratcheted up this divisive, uncivil, reactionary language to trash the Tea Party -- and, by extension, conservatives. We're not terrorists! We're not killing people. We are Americans who disagree with you! We're Americans who disagree with statism. We are Americans who disagree with socialism, communism and liberalism.
We're not holding anybody hostage. We are the hostages! We are equal time. We are paying the ransom all the time. We are the hostages. Our country has been kidnapped, and you're asking a ransom from us in the form of higher taxes and less liberty and less freedom each and every day -- and you dare to write pieces calling us terrorists! We don't fly jet planes into buildings. We're not killing people. We're not putting people out of work. We're not taking their money. We're not destroying their savings. We're not taking over the oil companies. We're not taking over the car companies. We are not the ones in the process of destroying the U.S. healthcare system.
We're not the ones setting up death panels, if you want to talk about terrorism and killing people. Mr. Yeomans says, "As we stumble closer to Aug. 2, it has become clear that many in the Tea Party are willing to inflict massive harm on the American people to obtain their political objective of a severely shrunken federal government." A "severely shrunken federal government" is a pipe dream! We are trying right now to stop the inexorable growth of this monster that is strangling and squandering every asset in this country, including its people. Mr. Yeomans writes, "Their persistence in rejecting compromise, even as the economic effects of the phony crisis they have created mount, has taken their radicalism beyond tough negotiating, beyond even hostage-taking. ...
"As the markets dropped, families would watch their retirement and education savings and their dreams disappear. Rather than reject the unthinkable, the Tea Party harnessed this potential harm as its weapon of mass destruction." Oh, we're the ones? We're the ones destroying our own retirement and the education savings. We're the ones doing that? We're the ones? I think that's Barack Obama. You want to talk about craven villains? Look no further than the Oval Office. I guess Mr. Yeomans didn't get that memo after the Gabby Gifford service about the "new civility." So now anybody who disagrees with Democrats are terrorists, racists terrorists.
What is this American economy that's being held hostage? Isn't it us? It's our money. It's not Mr. Obama's money, Mr. Yeomans! The liberals do not own the wealth of this country. It's not theirs to distribute and redistribute. "Rather than reject the unthinkable, the Tea Party harnessed this potential harm as its weapon of mass destruction." Weapon of mass destruction. So, folks, they are cracking up. The left is cracking up, and it's the Tea Party doing it to them. We are now all Sarah Palin. As far as they're concerned, we are all Sarah Palin. They are scared to death of Sarah Palin. They are scared to death here of the Tea Party people, because the Tea Party in the House can't be bought and is not concerned about re-election. They're not playing the usual game.
Somebody tell me now why are we supposed to compromise with this? We're supposed to compromise with people of the same mind as William Yeomans at Politico? That's what we're supposed to do? This is the name of the game? We compromise with this so that we don't get blamed? We're going to get blamed no matter what happens! Even if wonderful, great things happen we're going to get blamed as it's rewritten and described as terrible. We want to hold onto some of our money. For that we're called terrorists. We oppose tax increases because we know that tax increases are not going to fix what's wrong with the country.
Taking more of our money is not the solution here. It ain't going to happen. Here's Obama lecturing us in Arizona after Giffords: "At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do," he said, "it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not in the way that wounds." Mr. Yeomans and the people at Politico, apparently, didn't get that, didn't hear that, or don't want to act on it. No. The truth is, Obama didn't mean it in the first place. Craven villains? Their language. That's who we're up against.
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RUSH: By the way, speaking of civility, ladies and gentlemen, Obama has just sent around to his foot soldiers the tweet handles for House Republican members on Twitter so they can stalk and harass them. So Obama's campaign is sending tweets out to the Republicans in the House. Boehner's doing the same thing. The Republican leadership is also tweeting. Obama's out there asking for phone calls. You and I know that you're the ones that are melting the phone lines.
Yesterday in the New York Times, I'm not sure when this happened, but to carry on the theme Nicholas Kristof compared the Tea Party sympathizers in Congress to al-Qaeda, and Thomas "Loopy" Friedman called the Tea Party sympathizers the Hezbollah faction in the GOP. I kid you not. In the Politico we're craven villains and terrorists. So some questions here for Nicholas Kristof and Thomas "Loopy" Friedman, is the Paul Ryan plan more like al-Qaeda or Hezbollah? Is Cut, Cap and Balance more like al-Qaeda or Hezbollah? Are you more like al-Qaeda or Hezbollah, or are you more like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Tell me, I don't know. You give me the similarities. The Paul Ryan plan Cut, Cap and Balance, the Balanced Budget Amendment plan, tell me, is it more like al-Qaeda or Hezbollah?
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