{"id":31679,"date":"2009-02-12T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T02:45:21","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T02:45:21","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T02:45:21","slug":"drive_bys_giddy_over_the_porkulus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/02\/12\/drive_bys_giddy_over_the_porkulus\/","title":{"rendered":"Drive-Bys Giddy Over the Porkulus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: Let me ask you a question. Except when I\u2019m here doing the program, I don\u2019t watch any news. I don\u2019t learn anything from it anymore, and it makes me mad when I watch it. But I watch it when I\u2019m here. News, financial, cable, whatever it is. As I have watched the reporting — and I\u2019ve mentioned this a couple times previous to today, but as I have watched the reporting — on the Porkulus bill, I get a sense of giddiness and happiness from all the talking heads reporting it. They don\u2019t care what\u2019s in it. They have not deigned to even investigate what is actually in this. They\u2019re just giddy. They are just happy to report it. It\u2019s just \u2019cause it\u2019s so novel to these reporters. It makes not a whit of difference whether it\u2019s good or bad for the country, just that it\u2019s good or bad for Obama, just that it\u2019s good or bad for Democrats and that it is happening. We\u2019ve never spent this much money at one time so it\u2019s novel. ‘Ooooh, it\u2019s exciting,\u2019 and they\u2019re literally high on the story with no knowledge of what they\u2019re even talking about, no knowledge whatsoever, no curiosity about it. And this being high on the story and being giddy and excited I\u2019m having something to report gets in the way of them finding any objectivity or expressing any interest in the details. I use that to set up the next series of sound bites. We start late yesterday on CNN Live with the anchor Rick Sanchez. He has this exchange with the editor of CitizenJane Politics, Patricia Murphy.<\/p>\n

SANCHEZ: Tell us how Republicans go back now to the Rush Limbaughs of the world and explain to them why they did something that he didn\u2019t want them to do, since some of these, uh, talking heads in the, uh, GOP or very right-wing media have been hard on these guys of late.<\/p>\n

MURPHY: I think the three Republicans who we\u2019re seeing come out of the woodwork to report this are not Rush Limbaugh Republicans. They will classify this as just an effort by Democrats to pick off three weak, non-conservative Republicans, and I think that\u2019s how they\u2019re going to paint it — <\/p>\n

SANCHEZ: Ha! (snorting laughter)<\/p>\n

MURPHY: — and I think that Rush Limbaugh will declare victory, quite honestly.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Sanchez could not understand this for the life of himself, which I totally understand because her answer doesn\u2019t fit the giddy template here of Democrat victory.<\/p>\n

SANCHEZ: How can he declare victory? I mean, it sounds like they\u2019ve got a stimulus deal. It\u2019s exactly what he didn\u2019t want Republicans to go along with.<\/p>\n

MURPHY: What we\u2019re seeing with this whole process is Republicans have actually gained strength from this. They feel like they\u2019ve found their voice, and opposing Obama is where they want to be.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Exactly right. Rick, let me help you out. I know it\u2019s going to be in vain. If you show too much intelligence, CNN will move you over to Headline News and nobody will ever see you. But this was a clear victory for the Republican Party. Snowe, Collins, Specter? Rick, if you would listen to this program, I predicted back in November-December the Democrats didn\u2019t need 60 votes because they\u2019ve got at least two of these three on every piece of legislation. So they don\u2019t have to worry about what happens in Minnesota. They\u2019re going to have 60 votes because you\u2019re going to have a number of RINO Republicans. I said earlier today it\u2019s great to flush \u2019em out get \u2019em outta there let it be known that they are not Republicans. The Republicans lost seats in the House precisely because we\u2019re cleaning up we\u2019re getting rid of the Republicans in name only. <\/p>\n

This is a clear victory for Republicans in the sense that they are establishing an identity, an identity based on opposition. When this bombs out, Rick, when it doesn\u2019t work, there aren\u2019t any Republicans that can be forced to take the blame for this. Barack Obama owns this one, baby! He owns it first, last, and always. This is like a 100% Barack Obama bill. It\u2019s a 100% Democrat Party bill. Let me ask you people something. If this bill, if this Porkulus bill is so magnanimous and if it is so worthy of all the giddiness and happiness from these brain-dead media people, why do they even care that they have Republican support in this? I would think that if this is so magical and if this bill is going to do what everybody says and create or save — by the way, this save four million jobs?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s like me saying I may or may not eat tonight. I can\u2019t lose! If I eat, I win. If I don\u2019t eat, I win. I may or may not eat tonight. ‘I\u2019m going to create or save four million jobs.\u2019 Somebody tell me how we\u2019re going to calculate a ‘saved\u2019 job? You people in the media don\u2019t care about any of these details. ‘It\u2019s just so exciting! We got rid of Bush, and we\u2019re going to get something done now with the Democrats! Obama, The Messiah, is finally getting what he wants!\u2019 Well, yeah, he owns it. I would think he wouldn\u2019t want any Republicans, Rick. Because if this thing works as promised, this would be the end of the Republican Party, if they don\u2019t go along with it, right? If this doesn\u2019t work, then it\u2019s the Democrats on the hook. <\/p>\n

But if it does and if it\u2019s so magical, why, when it works all the Democrats have to say at reelection time is point out every Republican that voted against it and they\u2019re dead. But see, Rick, it never has worked. There\u2019s no evidence that these things have ever worked in the past. This one will not. And, as a means of further education for the Ken and Barbie dolls that suffice as news anchors these days, we go to a page here in The Politico, Politico.com: ‘Polarization Plagues New Administration.\u2019 Now, Rick, you ought to read this. It\u2019s by Charles Mahtesian and Patrick O\u2019Connor, and when you read this piece published today, why, you would think Obama lost! ‘Not a single House Republican crossed the aisle to vote for the stimulus package, and just three GOP senators made the leap. <\/p>\n

‘Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi brushed off calls for a bipartisan consensus as mere ‘process,\u2019 hardly relevant to the passage of the $800 billion-plus plan. … So despite Obama\u2019s campaign call for an end to ‘the smallness of our politics\u2019 and his criticism of the ‘preference for scoring cheap political points,\u2019 that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happened during the first big legislative test of his administration. The tooth-and-nail scrapping among legislators makes clear that, Obama era or not, almost everyone in office is still considered fair game.\u2019 Why, read this piece, it\u2019s like Obama lost. He didn\u2019t get his bipartisanship. He didn\u2019t get any Republicans to go along. It\u2019s almost like Obama lost. This story is sad. <\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t able to deliver on getting rid of the smallness. He wasn\u2019t able to bring bipartisan leadership. They\u2019re all upset there weren\u2019t any Republicans, real conservatives that voted for this. Now, Rick! I suggest you do something else. Go to Real Clear Politics today, and you will find a column by the estimable Morton Kondracke. Headline: ‘Believe it or Not, Rush Limbaugh Was Right on Stimulus.\u2019 Mort says, ‘I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m writing this, but Rush Limbaugh actually has (or had) a good idea on the stimulus. Or, at least the germ of one. On his radio show Jan. 26 and in the Wall Street Journal Jan. 29, America\u2019s arch-polarizer…\u2019 (laughing) Mort loves me so much. I saw him at the White House Christmas party, shortly after he\u2019s written a piece saying the Republicans need to stop listening to me. He said, ‘Hey, I didn\u2019t say they should stop listening! I didn\u2019t say it!\u2019 It was about immigration. <\/p>\n

I said, ‘Mort, write what you want. Write what you want. It\u2019s good to see you.\u2019 I hadn\u2019t seen him in a long time. He looks great. He\u2019s been around Washington for a long time, and it doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019s aged at all. I think Mort secretly likes me here, but ‘… America\u2019s arch-polarizer — amazingly enough — proposed the outlines of a reasonable bipartisan stimulus package of both spending and tax cuts. It may be moot now … but Limbaugh\u2019s contribution illustrates how decision-making on the stimulus might have proceeded usefully — and how to think about fighting recessions,\u2019 and he quotes my plan which is basically use the election returns and give Obama 53, 54% of a trillion dollars, the stimulus package, whatever it is.<\/p>\n

He gets 54% to do his way, and 46% voted for McCain. So we get 46% of it to do our way with tax cuts, and we compare \u2019em, side by side. Let the Keynesians go ahead and just flood the market with government spending; let us do some tax cuts to the tune of our 46%, and then side by side compare. Mort writes favorably of this, and he said, ‘The reasons for adopting a Limbaugh-like idea go beyond post-partisan atmospherics. The fact is that, in spite of the certitude expressed by politicians and op-ed writers, no one can be certain if the best way out of this Great Recession is Keynesian government spending or supply-side tax cutting. So why not, as Limbaugh suggested, try both? The Keynesian case, as expressed by Obama and liberal economists such as Robert Reich and Paul Krugman…\u2019 He goes on to explain the government spending, and then he says, ‘Both Republicans and Democrats are citing work by Obama\u2019s chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer. <\/p>\n

‘She wrote in a 2007 paper that tax cuts ‘have very large and persistent output effects\u2019 and Republicans assert her model shows that $1 of tax cuts produces $3 of growth.\u2019 She\u2019s revised that now on Obama\u2019s website. One dollar of spending produces a buck-and-a-half of output, whereas tax cuts only produce a dollar. It\u2019s a net-net loss, or no gain. She\u2019s changed her opinion. He says, ‘Who knows who\u2019s right?\u2019 Mort, why do you think she altered her conclusions? (laughing) She makes the point about the success of tax cuts using empirical data from the Reagan years, and the Kennedy years, then signs up with Obama and has to change. He goes on and basically praises the plan, and then he quotes me as I ended the piece. He said, ”The American people are made up of Republicans, Democrats, independents, and moderates, but our economy doesn\u2019t know the difference. This is about jobs now.” That\u2019s what I wrote in the Journal. Mort Kondracke\u2019s last line: ‘Obama couldn\u2019t have said it better.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Let me ask you a question. Except when I\u2019m here doing the program, I don\u2019t watch any news. I don\u2019t learn anything from it anymore, and it makes me mad when I watch it. But I watch it when I\u2019m here. News, financial, cable, whatever it is. As I have watched the reporting — […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDrive-Bys Giddy Over the Porkulus - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2009\/02\/12\/drive_bys_giddy_over_the_porkulus\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Drive-Bys Giddy Over the Porkulus - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: Let me ask you a question. Except when I\u2019m here doing the program, I don\u2019t watch any news. 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