{"id":18717,"date":"2011-04-07T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-07-20T00:21:24","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-07-20T00:21:24","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T00:21:24","slug":"democrats_think_they_re_winning_the_fatuous_shutdown_pr_game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2011\/04\/07\/democrats_think_they_re_winning_the_fatuous_shutdown_pr_game\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Think They\u2019re Winning the Fatuous Shutdown PR Game"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: In his weekly press conference this morning, Speaker Boehner said there is no agreement on a budget number. This is all so fatuous. Do you realize we\u2019re talking the difference of $70 billion and $40 billion for a week? I mean that\u2019s the spread on this. This is so inconsequential. And Andy McCarthy, my old buddy at National Review Online, had an interesting post yesterday. Why have we gotten ourselves into a circumstance here where we\u2019re debating time? We are in a debate with these guys over time. We need to get another continuing resolution for another ten days, another week. Well, why aren\u2019t we talking about the money specifically? Why are we allowing them to make the rules and hold us hostage to some timeline? Which I think is an argument that has some merit. Boehner said there\u2019s no agreement on a budget number. In fact, he said that they were closer to a deal last night than they are this morning, which makes me wonder about the internal polls. <\/p>\nI mean if Boehner\u2019s gonna sit here and say they were closer to a deal last night than this morning, it means the Democrats are hardening their position, which means the Democrats could have internal polling data showing that the Republicans are gonna end up the majority that get the blame for the shutdown, if it happens. I\u2019m getting bored with it. I\u2019m getting bored with the whole thing. In fact, I\u2019m not gonna mention any names here but a well-known broadcast engineer just approached me and asked me a question. “Is it true tax refund checks might not be mailed during the shutdown?” I said, “Yes, very true.” And I said it\u2019s outrageous what also isn\u2019t gonna happen is military pay. And I\u2019m gonna tell you, Social Security checks are gonna go out. <\/p>\n

Now, Obama has sent troops all over the world into battle, and they\u2019re not gonna get paid, and I understand, speaking of Boehner, that Boehner has a separate bill that he\u2019s brought forth that would do nothing but compensate uniformed military personnel around the world that are tied up in these conflicts and put the pressure on the Democrats to oppose that. We\u2019ll see what manifests itself out of that. (interruption) Yeah, Harry Reid said it\u2019s not acceptable. Well, that, again, tells me that the Democrats are being told by their pollsters that they are winning the shutdown PR game. If Harry Reid is gonna sit there and say, “This bill to pay the soldiers, why, not good enough.” Then they must have polling data to back up their tough stand. We\u2019ll see, as time unfolds.<\/p>\n

On this refund business. When I was 25 years old I was working for the Kansas City Royals, and I was a neophyte. I didn\u2019t know diddly-squat. And there were a lot of coworkers, friends of mine who started bragging about their big refunds every year, how they were screwing the government. So I wondered what I was doing wrong. How come these guys are screwing the government and getting multiple thousand-dollar refunds? I\u2019m making $12,000 a year and if I got a refund it was like $75 or some such thing, if at all. My father\u2019s secretary did my taxes. I would send her every credit card receipt. I did what I thought you had to do, send in all these expense vouchers and so forth and she finally told me, “That doesn\u2019t matter. You don\u2019t earn enough money to have deductions. We\u2019re just gonna take your W-2. We can do your return in five minutes. You don\u2019t need to bother sending me all these credit card receipts and stuff.” I was further deflated. <\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until much later that I found out the only reason people were getting big refunds is because the government was screwing them. People were over-withholding. Some were doing it on purpose. Some it was accidental, but they over-withheld so that they would get the refund. They wanted a lump sum of thousands of dollars to go out and buy a refrigerator or to brag that they got a big refund or what have you. But it didn\u2019t take me long once I started looking into this to figure out that if you get a big refund you\u2019re getting screwed because the government\u2019s keeping your money all that year. You\u2019re not getting any interest on it. You\u2019re not getting any use of it. You\u2019re just allowing more to be withheld than what\u2019s necessary. So my tax philosophy is to owe a little money every April 15th. Damn straight. <\/p>\n

Now, I, like many Americans, file quarterly. I don\u2019t have anything withheld. I am my own enterprise so I have to pay my own taxes. And if you do, you understand, you have a little bit more awareness and emotion attached to the whole tax code than if you have your income taxes withheld. But to have to write that check four times a year and to whatever state and city, if they have taxes, no longer the place applicable for me, but in New York it was a state, federal, and city when I lived in New York. So now I try to see to it that I owe a little bit every April 15th. <\/p>\n

Harry Reid with a press conference, Durbin up there, the polling data has to show \u2019em on the winning side of this. The GOP has made the decision to shut down the government. And, of course, the willing accomplices in the press are on their side. Remember, the only reason we\u2019re here is because these guys did not do a budget. They didn\u2019t do a budget for this year in 2010. They purposely avoided doing a budget because it was an election year, and they did not want to further alienate voters any more than they already were by being crystal clear about what their spending plans were. GOP\u2019s made the decision to shut down the government. <\/p>\n

Boehner does not want to shut down the government. That\u2019s the dirty little secret here. He\u2019s petrified of shutting down the government. That also could be a factor in these guys\u2019 full-court press here. Durbin and Reid now claiming that there\u2019s definitely gonna be a shutdown, could be a ruse to panic Boehner, because Boehner basically went out and admitted that there wasn\u2019t gonna be a shutdown. The Republicans weren\u2019t gonna do it and still he\u2019s demanding all these things. It\u2019s kind of like showing up at the 7-Eleven saying you\u2019re gonna rob the place, you call \u2019em up, “Okay, I\u2019m coming in and I\u2019m gonna rob you. I\u2019ll be there in ten minutes.” You show up with an unloaded gun. It\u2019s sort of the approach here to claiming we don\u2019t want a shutdown, we don\u2019t want a shutdown but we\u2019re gonna really go to the mat here over this $30 billion spread in the differences that we have. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: This is Boehner. This is this morning in Washington. He held his weekly presser, and during the Q&A a reporter said, “Speaker Boehner, last night Harry Reid said he was optimistic that you\u2019d reach a deal. Then this morning seemed to indicate that you moved further apart, that the discussions had deteriorated. Do you agree with that? What seems to have happened over the last 12 hours?”<\/p>\n

BOEHNER: We made some progress last night. Or at least I thought we did. But, you know, when I see what the White House has to offer today, that\u2019s really just more of the same. We\u2019re gonna have real spending cuts, and I don\u2019t know what some people don\u2019t understand about this. There is no agreement on a number. In fact, I think we were closer to a number last night than we are this morning.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, both sides agree they were closer last night than they are on a number this morning. You and I both know that the numbers on both sides are a joke. I know you have to start somewhere. Folks, $40 billion, $70 billion, we\u2019re talking about interest that accumulates has to be paid over a couple of days here. Now, when you start talking trillions, as Paul Ryan is talking, now you\u2019re talking real dollars. And we\u2019ve got ourselves hemmed in on a timeline. Gotta get this done by midnight tomorrow. Why? Why are we looking at a timeline? I really like this point. Why are we getting hemmed in and having all this pressure brought down on us by the timeline? <\/p>\n

Why shouldn\u2019t the focus be on the size? I know it is partially, but as long as we\u2019re doing this — I know, everybody on our side is afraid of a government shutdown. I\u2019m not in their business so it\u2019s easy to look from afar here and say you\u2019d do it differently if you were in their shoes. But I\u2019m not governed by the fear. Fear kills. CNN, countdown clock, by the way, 35 hours and 15 minutes. Well, 12 minutes now. And they are reporting that the first furlough notices have gone out to congressional staffers so that they can prepare for a shutdown. My heart breaks. Let\u2019s get the Stradivarius out and let\u2019s start singing the tunes that bring on tears. How do they prepare for a snow day? Do they send out furlough notices for the three-day weekend? Which is essentially what this is gonna end up being.<\/p>\n

END TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

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RUSH: In his weekly press conference this morning, Speaker Boehner said there is no agreement on a budget number. This is all so fatuous. Do you realize we\u2019re talking the difference of $70 billion and $40 billion for a week? I mean that\u2019s the spread on this. This is so inconsequential. 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