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CALLER: Well, I get nervous because I feel like the same thing is gonna happen when everybody was saying vote for McCain, because McCain is electable, then we vote for McCain, and he didn\u2019t even get elected. I don\u2019t see how so many people can be misled.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Yeah, there\u2019s a lot of emotion here on both sides.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Well, if people break it down, you know, they watch what\u2019s going on and try not to listen to everybody trying to —<\/p>\n
RUSH: Yeah, but, see, you are cast in stone, and, furthermore, you don\u2019t understand why everybody else doesn\u2019t see it. And yet, a lot of people don\u2019t see it the way you do. That\u2019s gotta be an interesting position to be in. You know, I sometimes ask myself, why do people not see Obama for what he really is? And I have to realize, 40% of the country want what he\u2019s offering.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Ed, you\u2019re up. Welcome to the program.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Yes, sir. Rush, great to talk to you. Look, I just do not believe that Romney can beat Obama. When he gets up there on that debate stage with Obama, it\u2019s gonna be pitiful. Every time I\u2019ve seen Romney in these debates, and I\u2019ve watched nearly every one of them, he looks panicky to me. He looks like he\u2019s breaking out in a sweat. I just don\u2019t see how.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Now, wait a minute.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Well, if he gets the nomination, we\u2019re going to have four more years of Obama.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Wait a minute now.<\/p>\n
CALLER: I just believe that.<\/p>\n
RUSH: I haven\u2019t seen Romney look like he\u2019s about to break into a sweat.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Eh, he panics, though. He just looks like he\u2019s on the verge of panic. In other words… Well, on top of that, he has not really said much about what he wants to do. He\u2019s got a 67-point plan of some sort —<\/p>\n
RUSH: No, it\u2019s 59.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Oh, it\u2019s…? Well, whatever. Who needs 59? What we need is about six or seven, eight basic things that need to be done.<\/p>\n
RUSH: There\u2019s a couple interesting pieces. Art Laffer has a piece in the Wall Street Journal today. He was one of the architects of laying tax policy, and Art Laffer is saying: You know what, folks? There\u2019s something really missing here from the Romney campaign. I don\u2019t hear the guy talking about tax cuts. I don\u2019t hear him proposing tax cuts. I don\u2019t hear him talking about flat tax rates. I don\u2019t hear Romney talk, and I\u2019m worried about it.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Amen. That\u2019s exactly right.<\/p>\n
RUSH: I knew you\u2019d like that.<\/p>\n
CALLER: And on top of that, I\u2019m sick and tired of hearing these guys cut each other. You know, just say all sorts of bad things about Newt; Newt saying bad things against Romney and so forth. And to Santorum\u2019s credit, he has been very much more not in that vein than the other two.<\/p>\n
RUSH: That\u2019s true.<\/p>\n
CALLER: But I\u2019m getting tired of hearing that. I want to hear what the hell they\u2019re gonna do to get this country fixed, and I don\u2019t hear that from Romney. I do hear a lot of that good stuff from Newt about cutting taxes.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well, let\u2019s go to back to your original point. Your original point is: If Romney wins and there\u2019s a debate — there will be three debates with Obama — you think he\u2019s gonna fizzle?<\/p>\n
CALLER: I just don\u2019t believe he\u2019ll… I just don\u2019t think he can handle it. I think he\u2019ll get his lunch “eat.”<\/p>\n
RUSH: Like on what? Health care?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Well, he has that Romneycare, and he sent two of his underlings down to Washington to he\u2019p Obama work out his details. And he\u2019s a big supporter of abortion. I\u2019ve heard some of the things that he said about he\u2019s gonna support abortion for 18 years old and for those young ladies under 18. If the parents don\u2019t agree, then they can take it to a court and the court says, “Go ahead, you little 14-year-old girl. Get an abortion.”<\/p>\n
RUSH: All right.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Well, hey, that is a big, big killer in my opinion.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Okay, look, I appreciate the call out there, Ed. I love these passionate callers; you\u2019re definitely passionate. You\u2019re very confident. Contrast the last two calls. We had the guy, “I just don\u2019t see how anybody… I don\u2019t see how anybody…” By the way, I don\u2019t know that Romney supports abortion. That\u2019s new to me. I know, I know it\u2019s on the Gingrich ad, but supporting abortion? Advocating abortion? Ehhhh, I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s a symbol of what\u2019s going on. It\u2019s an example. But the previous caller was saying, “I don\u2019t see how anybody can not support Newt!” This guy went about it a different way. “I don\u2019t see how anybody can support Romney. I just don\u2019t see it!” On health care, the reason I asked him about health care specifically…<\/p>\n
You know, this mandate is gonna be a challenging thing for Romney in the debates because Romney has stood up for the state mandating that you buy insurance. He just said the Feds shouldn\u2019t be able to do it. And this whole mandate stuff, the reason so many conservatives got caught in this when it first was proposed — way, way, way back in the nineties — is because if you don\u2019t look at it carefully and if you agree we\u2019ve got a problem with free riders and people ought to pay their own way and as conservatives you think people ought to accept their responsibilities for themselves. Then in the midst of this health care debacle we\u2019re in somebody comes along and suggests that the way outta here is to make sure everybody pays their own?<\/p>\n
Hey, that makes sense to us! That is very conservative: Accepting responsibility, self-reliance.<\/p>\n
Then you figure out that the “responsibility” in the proposal is the government forcing responsibility, mandating that people go buy it. Then you say, “Wait a minute, that\u2019s unconstitutional.” So you realize, after the fact, the mistake. So the Heritage Foundation people, this is clearly what happened. And they long ago swore off the mandate. Newt, as recently as 2009, was speaking of the mandate as a sensible thing. He\u2019s gone back and forth. Romney is on record as having implemented a mandate in Massachusetts. His way out is (paraphrased), “Well, in states there\u2019s all these individuals laboratories out there to experiment and try things and see which ones work and that\u2019s what I did.” He said, “There are only… You know, 92% people had their insurance. We were only talking about 8% of the people in Massachusetts.”<\/p>\n
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<\/a>No, you\u2019re talking about all 100% when you have a health care bill that requires people to have their health insurance. It doesn\u2019t matter when 92% already do. You\u2019re mandating that everybody have it, and so it is thought that he\u2019s gonna have trouble. Everybody knows Romney\u2019s gonna have a little bit more trouble opposing Obamacare in a debate because his guys did help the White House put their Obamacare together with Romneycare as a model for it. But then, as we mentioned yesterday, I raised the specter that the way Romney\u2019s going after Gingrich ain\u2019t gonna happen against Obama. I\u2019ve had a lot of people tell me, “You don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about! This Romney guy is ruthless, Rush. That\u2019s the difference in Romney now and Romney 2008. Romney\u2019s ruthless.<\/p>\n