{"id":37018,"date":"2010-12-07T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T00:15:28","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T00:15:28","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T00:15:28","slug":"the_tax_deal_what_do_you_think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2010\/12\/07\/the_tax_deal_what_do_you_think\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tax Deal: What Do You Think?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: Man, oh, man, oh, man, ladies and gentlemen, the left, what a bunch of racists! I mean they\u2019re all over MSNBC. They are all over the New York Times, the Washington Post. I have never seen such a collection of racists, all these liberals criticizing Obama on this compromise on the tax bill. Well, every bit of criticism of Obama\u2019s always been said to be racist, hasn\u2019t it? What a bunch of just undisguised racism we are seeing in America today. Normally they camouflage their racism pretty well, but I mean they can\u2019t, they\u2019re so upset. It\u2019s there for one and all to see. <\/p>\n

Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to do something today I rarely ever do, because I am in a peculiar position here. If I praise the tax deal the Democrats are gonna find it very hard to vote for it, and this is not done yet. On the other hand, as titular head of the Republican Party, if I attack the deal, the Republicans will have to oppose it. So what am I to do? I am so famous; I am so powerful, if I take a position on this I could end up causing nothing to happen. Well, I mean the most tempting thing to do is to praise it and make the Democrats vote for a deal that is backed by me. I mean, if you go back to my Wall Street Journal piece on January 29th, 2009, ‘My Bipartisan Stimulus,\u2019 let\u2019s cut taxes as I want and spend more as Obama would like and let\u2019s compare the two, see which ones work. The language in my op-ed is shockingly close to the words of Obama last night. We\u2019ll get to all that in due course on the program today. <\/p>\n

Whether or not this is passed, you know, Obama starts out his administration telling the joint congressional leadership, (paraphrasing) ‘Don\u2019t agree with Rush Limbaugh, that\u2019s not how things get done in Washington.\u2019 And yet on the surface it appears that Obama has caved to me, Bush, Cheney and Palin. But if I say that I\u2019d be jeopardizing things here. So here\u2019s what I\u2019m gonna do. Now, I\u2019ve already spoken to Snerdley about this. He knows what my position is. (interruption) No, I\u2019m not gonna talk about golf. I\u2019m not gonna talk about the NFL other than I told you what was gonna happen last night. And it happened. Well, I didn\u2019t predict the rout, but I didn\u2019t think there was any question about the outcome last night. Now, here\u2019s what I\u2019m gonna do. Snerdley, gonna be fascinated by this, too, because the reaction to this is running the gamut all over the place. I want to hear from you. See, when I say something, there\u2019s nothing left to be said. When I say something, all there is, is for people to call up and pretty much say, ‘Yeah, you\u2019re right.\u2019 So what I want to do, you people are the Tea Party, you are actively involved. You in this audience were fundamentally crucial in the election results at the outcome last November. Therefore I want to hear from you. <\/p>\n

I want to find out what you think of this without my having said anything about it, because, look, when I say something about anything, it\u2019s over. I mean there\u2019s a smattering of disagreement out there, but the vast majority of people say, ‘Oh, yeah, you know, I haven\u2019t thought of it that way,\u2019 and generally tend to agree with me. So we\u2019ll get to the phones quickly. Snerdley, start lining \u2019em up. And this is specific. I only want to talk to people who have an opinion about the deal. Now, there\u2019s one thing that I think you all need to know here. I just want to pass one bit of information on. I was somewhat confused about it earlier this morning until I did due diligence and research. It appears that the 99ers, those who have been unemployed for 99 weeks will not see their unemployment benefits extended. The AP has a story on this, ladies and gentlemen, that basically says that the people who are eligible for this are — here it is: ‘Under his plan, unemployment benefits would remain in effect through the end of next year for workers who have been laid off for more than 26 weeks and less than 99 weeks. Without an extension, 2 million individuals would have lost their benefits over the holidays, the White House said, and 7 million would have done so by the end of next year.\u2019<\/p>\n

In other words, those who have exhausted their two years worth of jobless benefits, the 99ers, will not be covered by this extension because they are not in the system. They are gonna have to reenter the system somehow. This does not retroactively start unemployment benefits for people who have already reached the 99 weeks, the two years. That\u2019s fundamental and I don\u2019t know if you knew that. (interruption) Well, that\u2019s true, if the 99ers are to get extended benefits they\u2019d have to be brought back into the system. They\u2019re now out of the system completely. They got their 99 weeks, they\u2019re gone. They are that group that may be looking for work or may not, but by definition they\u2019re not. It will require a new tier. It will require tier five, which they have been pushing for, but that hasn\u2019t gone anywhere in the House. <\/p>\n

From the New York examiner: ‘Obama\u2019s Deal on Unemployment Extensions Does Not Include Tier Five for 99ers.\u2019 There are only four tiers now. Tier five would extend unemployment benefits for the 99ers. ‘Donny Shaw of OpenCongress explained Obama\u2019s agreement succinctly this morning: ‘The filing deadline for federal unemployment insurance that provides benefits for people who run out of their 26 weeks of state-provided benefits without finding a job would be extended until January 2012. Essentially, this will make it possible for people who became unemployed in the past 99 weeks and still haven\u2019t found a job to collect benefits for the same length of time as people who lost their job more than 99 weeks ago. This would not add additional weeks of benefits — 99 weeks would still be the maximum amount of time that anybody could receive benefits.”<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s still gonna cost $56 to 60 billion. But before you start opining on this I wanted you to know that salient fact because some people are under the impression that this adds a full year of benefits for people who have already reached their 99 weeks, and it does not. So as I say, ladies and gentlemen, rarely do I refrain from telling you what I think about something. But in this case, as I say, there\u2019s a potential downside here that could end up killing the deal as either inspiring Democrats to vote against it or the Republicans to not support it, given that I am the titular head of the GOP. <\/p>\n

So we\u2019ll get your calls: 800-282-2882 is the number. Snerdley diligently working and, Snerdley, listen to me. No calls on the NFL, no calls on anything other than this for a while. We\u2019re not gonna do it the whole program, but just this. Because you people were part of the electorate that resulted in this deal happening last night. I want to know what you think about this. And where, oh, where I ask, as host of the most listened to radio talk show, where, oh, where is the celebration of bipartisanship here? Where was Obama\u2019s happy face? Where was the broad smile? You ever see an angrier compromise last night? Obama consented to extend the current tax rates for all taxpayers and he\u2019s calling it a stimulus. And this is key. I\u2019m gonna get to all this later on. I don\u2019t want to in any way unveil my thinking on this yet because that will taint what you say because everybody wants to be me and therefore wants to copy what I think. I mean who wouldn\u2019t? But I just want to know where were all the happy faces over compromise and bipartisanship? <\/p>\n

These Democrats, these leftists out there demanding compromise, demanding bipartisanship, saying that\u2019s what the election really meant, have you seen how livid these people are today? I mean you go to the Daily Kos website last night and there were six pages of incoherent, full-fledged, undiluted rage over this. I\u2019ve got some audio sound bites from people on MSNBC enraged over this that Obama sold \u2019em out. I\u2019ll tell you one thing that has happened here. For the last ten years we have been hearing about how worthless, how damaging, how costly the Bush tax cuts were. And now Obama has basically taken ten years of criticism off the table. This is akin to George Bush 41 promising not to raise taxes and then doing it, although this is worse, because the Democrats as a matter of identity have been ripping and bemoaning the Bush tax cuts as simply tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. They have been touting these tax cuts as harmful to the economy \u2019cause there is no trickle down. All the supply-side stuff is just a bunch of rhetoric, and they have staked their identity to this, and now all of a sudden Obama\u2019s calling it a stimulus. Obama\u2019s out there saying that this is a stimulus just to maintain tax rates where they are. <\/p>\n

There are no income tax cuts. There is a new rate on the estate tax, and there is a slight reduction, payroll tax holiday of 2% for one year, what is it, 6.4 to 2.4%, something like that. So that\u2019s where we are on this. I\u2019m amazed at the racism that\u2019s out there on the left, and I\u2019m amazed at the anger, when we got all this bipartisanship and compromise. Obama, where was the happy face? He was frowning so hard he\u2019s gonna bust the stitches in his lip. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right, we\u2019re gonna start on the phones. Jersey City, New Jersey, Jill, you\u2019re up first. What do you think of the deal?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Mega dittos. Mega food police dittos from the land of Chris Christie, Rush. I love… I\u2019m happy with the deal, but it was just bliss to see the man-child-in-chief in that suit that\u2019s growing larger by the second have to talk to us and settle on this deal.<\/p>\n

RUSH: What do you mean? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What do you mean the suit growing larger by the second? You mean he\u2019s shrinking?<\/p>\n

CALLER: He looks smaller. Does he look smaller to you? He looks like he\u2019s shrinking.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019ve always thought he looked small and cold.<\/p>\n

CALLER: The man-child-in-chief. <\/p>\n

RUSH: Yep.<\/p>\n

CALLER: He is.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. So you liked the deal. What do you like about the deal?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I like that he… (sigh) Gosh, Rush, I like that Obama had to… I don\u2019t like the word ‘compromise,\u2019 but he had to actually talk to the Republicans. He\u2019s having to talk to them after, what, two years in office? He\u2019s finally recognizing that.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right. So we could say that you like the deal \u2019cause you think Obama had to eat it?<\/p>\n

CALLER: He had to eat it big time.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Big time. And for the first time in my…<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I can understand satisfaction in the notion that Obama had it stuck to him. We\u2019re gonna run into all kinds of reasons for people who like it and don\u2019t like the deal. I want you to hear this, folks, before I weigh in on it. Thank you, Jill. Eric in Napa, California. What\u2019s up? What\u2019s your opinion of the deal?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hey, 24\/7 dittos from Napa, Rush.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hey, looking forward to seeing you on The Golf Channel coming up also.<\/p>\n

RUSH: January 11th is the debut.<\/p>\n

CALLER: You like the plug I gave you?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you, sir. Yes. (chuckles)<\/p>\n

CALLER: (chuckles) Hey, I was calling, I told Mr. Snerdley, because I think this is an absolutely atrocious deal for us. You\u2019ve hit on it. The biggest thing going into the next election cycle, and forget the — or not forget but setting the presidential election aside is the number of Senate seats that are up and the number of Democrat seats that are in play, and I don\u2019t think that we can go into the next election cycle without our guns blazing. And I think what this deal did is it really chopped us off at the knees because the taxes expire in two years.<\/p>\n

RUSH: So that\u2019s a big deal: Taxes expire in two years. That to you…?<\/p>\n

CALLER: They put it right in the middle of possibly the biggest Senate election in my time, and I\u2019m only 40 years old.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, interesting. Why do you think that the deal, the tax cuts expiring in two years, during an election year, is good for Obama\u2019s reelection?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, it puts the Republicans… It\u2019s damned if they do and damned if they don\u2019t. If things work out, Obama gets credit. If they don\u2019t work out, Republicans can get the blame.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I see. All right. I appreciate your thinking on this. Thanks, Eric. Vinny… (chuckling) Vinny in Queens. You like the deal or not?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Ahhhh! Dittos, great one. I love the deal. It\u2019s a win-win for us. First of all, we all knew the Republicans were not going to deny unemployment benefits, especially around Christmas. We know them well enough to know what they\u2019re gonna do regarding that. However, this puts to lie the Democrats\u2019 claim that lowering taxes doesn\u2019t stimulate the economy at all. Well if that were the case, why are they going for it? Although we have yet to see if they\u2019re going to go all the way.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, now, wait a second. We haven\u2019t lowered taxes.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, no —<\/p>\n

RUSH: I don\u2019t want to say too much, but we haven\u2019t lowered taxes.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, keeping them current, keeping the rates current. I mean, haven\u2019t they been complaining for ten years now that the tax cuts were only for millionaires and it did nothing to stimulate growth, it did nothing for the middle class? Yet here they are. They\u2019re going to extend it for two years. <\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, so do you think Obama got anything in the deal? You say it\u2019s win all the way around. Do you think Obama got anything.<\/p>\n

CALLER: No. The best thing is to watch all the kooks is the MSNBC, especially the best looking man on television over there on MSNBC, what\u2019s her name, pull their hair out of their heads. Okay? They are going to go absolutely apoplectic about this deal. And the payroll to Social Security, the reduction, that came outta nowhere. <\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I didn\u2019t hear anything about that from anybody.<\/p>\n

RUSH: And that\u2019s Obama\u2019s idea.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: If you\u2019re just tuning in I\u2019m asking the audience what they think of the economic compromise that was reached yesterday because I\u2019m in a really peculiar position. If I praise it, the Democrats could find it very hard to vote for it, not wanting me to be happy; and, as titular head of the GOP, if I attack it, the Republicans will feel pressure to oppose it. So something this is very, very rare: I am withholding my view and instead asking yours to see what you think of it. Because believe me, opinions running the gamut on this from both sides of the proverbial aisle, and you are the people who made all of this happen, really, with your votes last November. Elections have consequences. I want to know if this is what you had in mind when you wanted the Republicans to win. Eric in Raleigh, North Carolina, you\u2019re next. Hello, sir.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hey, Rush, big-time fan. I\u2019m against it. If these last elections showed one thing, it\u2019s that we don\u2019t want to compromise with the Democrats. We simply want to defeat them. Extending these unemployment benefits, all that\u2019s gonna do is add to our debt. From what I understand, it\u2019s not being taken from the stimulus money that\u2019s still available. So again, it\u2019s just gonna add to the country of debt. I believe we could have gotten the Bush tax cut extended without having to compromise with the Democrats.<\/p>\n

RUSH: How about actually getting income taxes cut rather than just the rates extended? Do you think that was possible?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Not at this time.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Not at this time. But you think it was possible at this time to get a better deal on the unemployment extension? Remember, now, this does not extend to people whose benefits have already ‘perspired\u2019 after 99 weeks. This does not add a third year to those people.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I understand that, but it\u2019s also not paid for, either, through stimulus money that\u2019s unspent.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right. The election was about spending. There\u2019s no question about that.<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. So you don\u2019t like the deal. What are you gonna do about it?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, we\u2019ll have to wait for the next election cycle and send another message.<\/p>\n

RUSH: (laughing) That\u2019s serious. That\u2019s serious. Eric in Raleigh: Not happy about this. (interruption) Snerdley is upset that I have deferred my opinion. You gotta look at this as courageous restraint. What\u2019s the question? (interruption) Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm. All right. I\u2019m not gonna… Snerdley, I\u2019m not gonna put your opinion out there and I\u2019m not gonna put mine out there still I\u2019ve had sufficient response from the audience. Tracy in a truck in Arizona, somewhere on the highways and byways trying to outrun the illegals. How are you?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Pretty good. Pretty good, Rush. Mega dittos. It\u2019s a great pleasure, sir.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you, sir. <\/p>\n

CALLER: (radio echoing exchange)<\/p>\n

RUSH: Tracy, do me a favor: Turn your radio down.<\/p>\n

CALLER: It is down.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh, it\u2019s the phone?<\/p>\n

CALLER: It\u2019s just… It\u2019s background noise.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh, okay.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I apologize for that.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I\u2019m out in the middle of the wilderness of Arizona, not much I can do about it.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I appreciate that. I appreciate the effort trying to get through in the wilderness.<\/p>\n

CALLER: The tax cuts, from a small business standpoint, they\u2019re not letting me see down the street, let alone on the horizon. I appreciate \u2019em letting me keep the cash, but the emphasis is on ‘keep.\u2019 Anybody in a business of any sort, size, is gonna keep the cash. We\u2019re not gonna invest it. I\u2019d like to be able to invest and upgrade some of my equipment.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. Why?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, what kind of forecast can I do in two years? Look how much has happened in the last two years. What\u2019s gonna happen in the next two years?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, okay. Let me play devil\u2019s advocate with you. Are you ever…? <\/p>\n

CALLER: (call echoed)<\/p>\n

RUSH: How often are you guaranteed that tax policy is gonna stay steady for five years, six years, ten years?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, with this group that we\u2019ve got and probably the group that\u2019s coming on, probably never.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right. So the deal doesn\u2019t inspire confidence in you?<\/p>\n

CALLER: No, it certainly doesn\u2019t. No. No. As far as — and I agree with your last caller on the unemployment benefits, and I would also toss out: Where\u2019s the work requirement here?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n

CALLER: How many of these communities out there could be tapping into that —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: — that labor force to be able to get done what they need to have done in their communities and don\u2019t have the cash for it?<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: It would be a great way for those people to pay back their communities for helping them out in a time of need.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right. So here\u2019s the moral component being introduced into this by Tracy in Arizona, upset that there\u2019s no moral component here. Very, very interesting. By the way, I need to add: This does add a year of unemployment benefits to those who are in their 98th week. It\u2019s 26 to 99. Anybody who\u2019s greater than 26 weeks or less than 99 weeks gets an additional year, gets the extension. So if you\u2019re at 97 or 98th week of unemployment, you do get another year added — 99 is the cutoff. Tony, College Station, Texas, welcome, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network. What do you think about the deal?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, Rush, dittos. Dittos, of course. I don\u2019t agree at all. We\u2019re finally starting to live the reality of all the left\u2019s dreams, all the stuff they\u2019ve been promising. I think it\u2019s time we let \u2019em own it. I\u2019m tired of arguing with socialists about things that are going on, and whenever you start to throw facts at them, they start to get real hypothetical on you, and they can\u2019t ever nail it down. I think it\u2019s time we take what we have and beat \u2019em over the head with it and make \u2019em face it. Obama, for instance. Okay. He knows now that the economy is gonna keep going down if he doesn\u2019t do something with the taxes. But his ideology, everybody he\u2019s with they\u2019re totally against that. If he has to say on his own, ‘We\u2019re gonna do this,\u2019 then that makes him betray everything that he\u2019s stood for his whole life. And, you know, it\u2019s… Yeah.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right, but what about the specifics of this deal? What are they that you don\u2019t like?<\/p>\n

CALLER: The jobless benefits is the biggest one. I haven\u2019t seen any deal come out of this administration that wasn\u2019t tangled and harried. I wouldn\u2019t have anything to do with it. I don\u2019t care if they say everybody\u2019s gonna get a gold bar, there\u2019s probably something hidden in there that\u2019s gonna take two gold bars away from me. <\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, but why? What specifically are you opposed to with the unemployment extension?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I\u2019m opposed to people not being incentivized to go out and work more.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right. So we\u2019re getting a good cross section here. We\u2019re conducting a study group just like Obama. (interruption) Oh, no, I\u2019m nowhere near ready to weigh in. Why would I weigh in now? I\u2019ll tell you my informal survey: I think it\u2019s about five to one opposed to this right now. What have we had? One person, maybe two people that like it? Let\u2019s try Mike in Virginia Beach, Virginia. What do you think about the deal?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Mega dittos. Longtime fan. I\u2019m still holding a little bit of judgment on whether I like it or not but I\u2019m very concerned about the payroll withholding reduction.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Why are you concerned about that?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, going into the 2012 elections, I believe, you know, they didn\u2019t reduce the tax rate for those individuals but they reduced the withholding.<\/p>\n

RUSH: For one year.<\/p>\n

CALLER: The 2012 tax refunds will be a lot lower, and I know many people — dozens and dozens of people — that rely on that is almost like an April, early-year bonus, and if the —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait a minute. I want to make sure I understand this. You don\u2019t like the one-year payroll reduction because it\u2019s gonna lead to smaller tax refunds?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, it\u2019s not the payroll reduction. In my opinion it should be a payroll… It should be a tax reduction, not a payroll withholding reduction because I think what\u2019s gonna happen is if you withhold less taxes in 2011, the same amount of tax is gonna be due when they file their tax returns for 2011 in early 2012. So the tax refunds for all these folks are gonna be much lower, and I believe if the Democrats can tie the lower tax refunds to the Republicans are gonna get a huge victory in the 2012 elections if they can link the Republicans to the middle class, getting lower refunds —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait a minute, I\u2019m confused.<\/p>\n

CALLER: — from this whole tax plan.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You\u2019re confusing me now.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You\u2019re opposed to the deal, yet you say the Republicans are gonna get a huge victory. Are you a Democrat?<\/p>\n

CALLER: No. Democrats are gonna get victory, I believe. If you lower withholdings but you don\u2019t lower the taxes, then when people do their tax returns in 2012, they\u2019re not gonna get the same tax refund that they\u2019ve typically gotten. The people depend on that $3,000 refund or the $5,000 refund and, if it\u2019s not that same level, I think the Democrats are gonna be able to blame the Republicans because of this whole tax plan.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh. People are gonna perceive —<\/p>\n

CALLER: In the 2012 election they can say, ‘Republicans argue to extend tax breaks for the wealthier.\u2019 <\/p>\n

RUSH: I will admit I hadn\u2019t factored in the income tax refund angle of this. I gotta say, I hadn\u2019t factored that in and how that could benefit the Democrats because people\u2019s refunds will be smaller and they\u2019ll blame Republicans for a tax increase. I hadn\u2019t factored that in. But that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing here, folks. We\u2019re getting people\u2019s opinions on all of this before I weigh in and tell you what the truth is. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: So the White House just announced that Obama is gonna hold a news conference at 2:20 this afternoon in the briefing room. So either he\u2019s gonna announce a deal or he\u2019s going to defend his caving. Well, I\u2019m thinking of waiting until 2:20 to announce my opinion of the deal. Well, if this guy is gonna conduct a press conference during my program I\u2019m gonna wait and tell people what I think of all of this until he starts. If he wants to set up a little competing thing here I\u2019ll be glad to go along with this. (interruption) Well, what do you mean I\u2019m adding to the uncertainty? Yes, I\u2019m adding to the uncertainty here as I withhold, defer my opinion on this, but that\u2019s because I\u2019m in a no-win here. It\u2019s a case of being too powerful and too famous.<\/p>\n

Annette in Knoxville, Tennessee, thank you for calling, and welcome to the EIB Network.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Longtime listener.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Doesn\u2019t sound happy.<\/p>\n

CALLER: (laughing) Well, I am just confused as to why you\u2019re not giving your opinion right away. I mean that\u2019s what people listen to you for.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Did you not hear me explain, or do you not believe what I said?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, you\u2019re withholding because you feel like you\u2019re in a no-win situation. But I don\u2019t see that. I think that people tune into your radio station to get your opinion —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: — on what is going on in this country and you\u2019re withholding —<\/p>\n

RUSH: No, no.<\/p>\n

CALLER: — and that confuses me.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019m deferring. <\/p>\n

CALLER: Why?<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019m not keeping it a secret. I\u2019m gonna get to it eventually. The reason I\u2019m doing this is exactly what I said, plus as I have examined people\u2019s reaction to this, it runs the gamut. There are Republicans who want this thing killed. There are Republicans who are organizing in the House official opposition. There are Democrats who want to impeach Obama. On our side, the election, you know, elections have consequences. The people who voted and created the shellacking of Obama and the Democrats, many of them are in this audience. I want to find out what they think. This is essentially the first such deal. And, remember, we\u2019re still in the lame duck here. The Democrats still run the show in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, and I want to know what people think without having been affected, having their opinions affected one way or the other by hearing what I think. I\u2019m gonna get to it at some point.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, you know, a lot of people in this country are obviously frustrated with what is taking place, and I don\u2019t understand why the Republicans don\u2019t step up and say, ‘Look at what Obama has done and the Democratic administration,\u2019 and here they have done it again where half the party is upset with the fact that he\u2019s compromised with the Republicans on this deal, with the unemployment, extending the unemployment benefits and then you have on the other side of it the Republicans trying to push, obviously, the — sorry, I\u2019m nervous.<\/p>\n

RUSH: The tax rate extension.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, so where do you come down? Do you like it or not? What\u2019s your instinctive reaction, what was your first reaction to it?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, I don\u2019t like the fact that we have extended unemployment benefits. We\u2019ve already extended over and over again so there we are adding to our deficit with that, and then —<\/p>\n

RUSH: It seems to be a recurring theme today amongst all the people who have called.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes. And on the flip side of it you\u2019ve got the Republicans with the tax cuts for the wealthiest, but also that helps small businesses, so I don\u2019t know why they don\u2019t reiterate that, you know, small businesses make this and you\u2019re hurting the unemployment rate with not having those tax cuts.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, yeah, okay, you\u2019re right. There haven\u2019t been any tax cuts. There are no tax cuts here. These are tax rates that have been extended.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: In fact, why is this even considered a victory? It\u2019s because the way the table was set. For the last, what, year and a half, the debate has been extending the Bush tax cuts, as they\u2019ve been called, or not. The option on the table has been a tax increase, which they haven\u2019t properly phrased it that way, the media, or no change. Never did anybody start talking about tax cuts. Tax cuts have never been proposed by anybody. Now, most people who pay scant attention are finding that hard to believe. They think this is all about tax cuts. There hasn\u2019t been one dime of tax cuts here. So because of the way the table was set there is an apparent victory here, an apparent victory for the Republicans. There is an apparent victory because of the way the table was set. Because Obama has spent all this time saying, ‘I\u2019m opposed, I\u2019m opposed, I\u2019m opposed, we\u2019re not gonna extend \u2019em, we\u2019re not gonna extend \u2019em,\u2019 and then all of a sudden there\u2019s a supposed cave where we keep everything as it is. Nothing has changed here. We were only dealing with the threat for the last year of the tax rates expiring. What\u2019s really changed here?<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Alexandria, Louisiana, this is Roger. Your thoughts on the deal, sir.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I don\u2019t like the deal at all, Rush. I don\u2019t think we shoulda took it. Every politician worth his salt knows that there was no way Obama was gonna allow taxes to go up on middle-class and low income. So we had the leverage there, and instead we extended for two years, and now we\u2019re gonna have to fight that battle again in 2012. We had better leverage than that. We coulda got \u2019em extended permanently. He was not gonna allow \u2019em to go up on low-income people because if he did, after 2012, there wouldn\u2019t be enough Democrats in Washington to fill up a Volkswagen.<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right, now, that would be wonderful.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes.<\/p>\n

RUSH: If it were true. But what about the notion that — devil\u2019s advocate here — do you think the Democrats with their media buddies coulda succeeded in painting or tarring the Republicans as opposing tax cuts or continued rates for the middle-class because they\u2019re holding out for their rich buddies \u2019cause Obama was in the process of trying that.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, I agree that he\u2019s got the media on his side, but after we become Speaker of the House, we\u2019re gonna get some access to some media ourselves, and we can say, ‘Hey, we wanted to extend them. He was the one that didn\u2019t want to.\u2019 And after January, we coulda sent a bill to him saying extend all of them and let him veto it, and then we could say, ‘Look, we tried to do it and he vetoed it.\u2019<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I hear you. I\u2019m sympathetic to your point of view on this. You happen to be in the majority of people I\u2019ve spoken to. I\u2019ll just tell you, folks, the vast majority of people I\u2019ve talked to hate this, they don\u2019t like any aspect of it, not one, both Republican media buddies of mine and just friends. Not a whole lotta love for the deal, just telling you. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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