{"id":7638,"date":"2014-12-03T17:12:54","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T17:12:54","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-12-03T17:12:54","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T17:12:54","slug":"the_government_shutdown_myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2014\/12\/03\/the_government_shutdown_myth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Government Shutdown Myth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: The opining over whether or not the Republicans ought to, quote, unquote, shut down the government again is heating up, this time in the Washington Post. Now, the Washington Post has the Republican Party\u2019s best interests in mind, right? The Washington Post and the Drive-By Media, when they tell the Republican Party what to do, they really want the Republican Party to do well, right? <\/p>\n

When the Democrat Party, such as Chuck-U Schumer<\/a>, or the Washington Post in this case, or Luis Gutierrez<\/a>, when any of them tell the Republican Party, “You guys had better come out for amnesty. You had better support us on this. You had better support comprehensive immigration reform or you\u2019re never gonna win another election.” They have the Republicans\u2019 best interests at heart, don\u2019t they? Of course they do. <\/p>\n

Did the Republicans just win an election? It\u2019s getting harder and harder to tell. As you observe things happening in Washington, it\u2019s harder and harder to tell who won that election. The Republicans are acting like losers. They\u2019re acting like they\u2019re gonna continue to lose unless they continue to do what the Democrats want. It\u2019s stunning. It\u2019s amazing to watch this. <\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the Washington Post<\/a>. Here\u2019s why Republicans really shouldn\u2019t want a government shutdown in one chart. And the chart is not the election returns. No, no, no. The chart is the latest polling data. Yes, you see, we shouldn\u2019t shut down the government because there\u2019s polling data that says the American people will really hate the Republicans, the guys they just elected in a landslide victory, independents and moderate voters as well as Republican voters, mandated the Republican victory. <\/p>\n

The mandate is to stop Obama, is to stop this. There can be no other conclusion. And yet we\u2019ve got a poll here from the Washington Post saying these same people don\u2019t want the Republicans to do anything to actually stop Obama, including a government shutdown. And the Washington Post, we\u2019d have to conclude, has the best interests of the Republican Party in mind, right? Now, the Republican Party didn\u2019t follow the Democrats\u2019 advice leading up to the 2014 midterms, and they won a huge landslide. <\/p>\n

\"original\"“Congressional Republicans are brainstorming ways to punish President Obama for unilaterally deferring deportation for millions of illegal immigrants.” That\u2019s not what this is about, punishing President Obama. Those of us who do not want amnesty for millions has nothing to do with punishing Obama. It\u2019s all about the country. But, you see, even Republicans inside the Beltway are going to read this story and they\u2019re going to be obviously influenced why it, which is why it\u2019s written the way it is. <\/line><\/p>\n

By the way, the writer here is a guy named Scott Clement, and he begins the story, “Congressional Republicans are brainstorming ways to punish President Obama for unilaterally deferring deportation for millions of illegal immigrants. But GOP leaders seem to have ruled out a partial government shutdown a la 2013, according to The Post\u2019s Robert Costa and Ed O\u2019Keefe: The House GOP was still considering several possible funding bills as discussions continued, the leadership\u2019s favored Hill response to Obama\u2019s immigration moves, according to senior GOP aides familiar with the process — a strategy that would demonstrate the party\u2019s defiance while avoiding the shutdown theatrics and public disapproval that plagued it last year.”<\/p>\n

Yeah, that shutdown last year, does anybody remember that shutdown? Do you remember when the government shut down last December, folks? I mean, we were all alive, and we were all paying attention. No, I\u2019m serious. Do you remember when… (interruption) No, no. Do you remember when Congress closed? Do you remember when the DMV was? Do you remember when you couldn\u2019t get your welfare check? Do you remember when Social Security checks didn\u2019t show up? Do you remember when Medicare and Medicaid weren\u2019t working? Do you remember you couldn\u2019t get on the sleigh ride concession out at Yellowstone Park? That\u2019s my memory, all of that happened. <\/p>\n

There wasn\u2019t any government shutdown. And they\u2019re calling it a partial shutdown now; they\u2019re calling it a partial shutdown then. Seventeen percent of government operations were shut down. This whole notion of a government shutdown is language that is being used once again to negatively impact the Republican Party and its fortunes. I ask anyone, do you remember when the government was shut down last December? Do you remember when whatever you need from government wasn\u2019t available? Do you remember a government office closed? <\/line><\/p>\n

No, what you remember is the incompetence of Obamacare in that rollout. What you remember is the usual incompetence of government bureaucracies, but you don\u2019t remember them being shut down, because they weren\u2019t. The government was shut down in 1995. Wow, man, that really hurt us. You can still feel the impact today, can\u2019t you? Right. <\/p>\n

That was a real shutdown in 1995. That one lasted a couple of months and Clinton worked with the government employees union to stack the deck on that one. They ended up getting their Thanksgiving turkeys. They got their back pay. Nobody lost a dime on that government shutdown. Even the Yellowstone Park sleigh bell concession, whatever, got reimbursed for whatever it was he lost. <\/p>\n

But I\u2019m just asking you. I seriously want you to think back and ask yourself, do you remember, has your life been so impacted, so affected by a government shutdown that you remember every moment of it, and it was so bad that you do not ever want to experience it again? I would maintain that not a single one of you, outside of the occasional government employee, can even remember the government shutdown from last December and you can\u2019t remember being affected by it. <\/p>\n

If you had to face an open question today about what part of the government was shut down and what happened as a result, you are clueless. I would wager nobody can answer this question. The only thing that you can remember about it is that the Republicans shut down the government, and the next thing you remember about it is the Republicans shut down the government because they hate government and they hate everybody depending on government. That\u2019s probably what you remember, if even you remember that. And the only reason you remember that is because that was the media template, that was the narrative. <\/p>\n

But in terms of real life, how many of you remember the government shutdown last year? My contention to you is that nobody does. If the government shutdown last year were as dramatic and negative and punitive and destructive and all those other descriptions you can come up with, if they were all of that and more, somebody explain to me how the Republicans, who got blamed for it, won a huge landslide last month. How did this happen? The polling data a year ago is identical to what the polling data is today. <\/p>\n

The polls say don\u2019t you dare do it. The polls say no way. The independents are gonna hate you. The Democrats are gonna hate you. I mean, the media is gonna hate you, gonna get ripped to shreds for shutting it down, better not do it. You Republicans, every time you do it, it never, ever works. You never accomplish what you want to accomplish. You always end up getting blamed for it. It\u2019s a hell to recover from. Right. Can anybody remember any of that from a year ago? <\/p>\n

<\/a>You may have some wonks in Washington, “Oh, yeah, man, I remember. I remember I tried to get to the congressional committee hearing on the offshore dingbat drill system that was set up for the anti-fracking forces, I remember that hearing got shut down.” But seriously. It\u2019s just mind-boggling to me. We\u2019re not even talking real shutdown. But before you even get there, do elections have meaning? Do elections have consequences? They used to and what just happened last month was an utter shellacking. <\/p>\n

The Democrat Party got beat up. The Democrat Party had the floor wiped with them. The president\u2019s approval numbers are hovering in the thirties now. The only logical interpretation of the meaning of the election is that people are not happy with the status quo, and they certainly don\u2019t want more of it. <\/p>\n

The only logical interpretation of the election results is that people who voted in mass landslide numbers for Republicans want all of this stopped. And, therefore, in the middle of this massive landslide election victory for the Republicans — let\u2019s characterize it differently. In the midst of this massive landslide election loss for President Obama and the Democrats, we have a poll published by the Washington Post which says that the absolute worst thing the Republicans could do would be to shut down the government just like they did last year. <\/p>\n

Something doesn\u2019t work here in the logical progression. If the Republicans got so much blame for such a drastic maneuver as shutting down the government last year, how in the hell did they win anything this year? I mean, why wasn\u2019t there hell to pay? Why wasn\u2019t there a price to pay? By the way, along the same lines, the Republicans did not come out and support amnesty before the election, how the hell they win the election? ‘Cause the Democrats and the media were telling them and everybody else that they never had a prayer.<\/p>\n

Remember Chuck Schumer, you guys don\u2019t have a prayer with the Hispanic community. You\u2019re never gonna win beans, especially not gonna win the White House again if you don\u2019t get on board amnesty right now. Comprehensive immigration reform, if you don\u2019t do that, you don\u2019t have a prayer. Here come the elections, it\u2019s a landslide loss for the guys telling us what we gotta do to win. <\/p>\n

So now here we are, and what\u2019s really happening is the Democrat Party, a branch office of which is the Drive-By Media, is doing everything they can to intimidate the Republicans from acting on their victory. That\u2019s what this is. And they\u2019re using years and years of fear of the media, fear of media polls, and fear generally. You better not act like you won. You better not do anything that\u2019s based on your victory \u2019cause you\u2019re going to be hated for it by the people that elected you. That makes a lot of sense, doesn\u2019t it? <\/p>\n

<\/a>You better not do anything with this with this victory. You better not stop president Obama. You better give him what he wants. You better sign on to all of this, otherwise you\u2019re gonna pay the price and there\u2019s gonna be hell to pay. Really? This after winning? I can understand all this if the Republicans got shellacked themselves, but that didn\u2019t happen. So the Washington Post come out openly in this story and they say it\u2019s not about who won the election. This is all about the polling data. It\u2019s about the poll here, the poll there, the poll over there. And they remind the Republican Party their disapproval climbed to 74% after the government shutdown last year. <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s put that in perspective. It wasn\u2019t a government shutdown. Once again, you have a poll stacked, questions structured to get the desired result. So the media runs around and asks people who don\u2019t even know the government\u2019s been shut down, they\u2019re not even affected by it, and they ask them a loaded question about the government shutdown, and of course what does that mean to people? It means hell, Washington\u2019s closed, it means nothing\u2019s happening. <\/p>\n

Of course that\u2019s not what it means, but you go ask people this, particular the low-information crowd, “Oh, yeah, Republicans, did they do it? I strongly oppose.” And so the blame is set up, the poll comes out to affirm the blame, the Republicans look at the poll, “Oh, my God, we shut down the government. Oh, look, we\u2019re getting beat. Oh, my God.” And then they think it took them a year to recover. When in fact it\u2019s bogus from the get-go. What government shutdown? I defy anybody to tell me how it affected you, how it affected the country. We\u2019re still here, aren\u2019t we? <\/p>\n

What has done more damage to the US economy, shutting down the government or Barack Obama and his policies? What has done more damage to your job prospects, shutting down the government or whatever they\u2019re calling it, or Barack Obama\u2019s economic policies? What has done more damage to your future job prospects, shutting down the government or Obama\u2019s amnesty, opening the doors and the floodgates to illegal immigrants from all over Central America to come in here and take your job for much less? Who is doing more damage to you and your kids and your future, a misnamed, hard-to-find government shutdown or Barack Obama? The people that voted in November answered that.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: I remember two things about last year\u2019s government shutdown, and I think both of them ended up in outrage at President Obama and the Democrats. The first thing I remember was, World War II vets finally had a memorial in Washington, and a number of them had planned a trip from all over the country to visit the memorial to them. Given their age, most likely it was going to be the only time they would ever be able to visit it. <\/p>\n

Barack Obama shut it down.<\/p>\n

<\/a>It was his decision. It was his discretionary move to shut down the area where the World War II Memorial was, and therefore those veterans were not allowed to go. But that\u2019s only half the story. You know who was allowed to use that area? A bunch of protesters demanding amnesty. Immigration reform groups were allowed, during the government shutdown, to access areas close to the area that World War II vets were denied. <\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m here to tell you that if there was any lasting memory that held political consequence after those two events, it would have been the American people angry at Barack Obama and the Democrats for the government shutdown and the tricks they employed politically during that period of time. <\/p>\n

Yet everybody wants to run around and assume, because of mainstream media polling data, that the Republicans always pay the price, and they never recover from it, and it\u2019s just silly to engage in this kind of activity. It\u2019s stupid. Nobody wants a government shutdown, and Republicans always get blamed. <\/p>\n

They just won a landslide election! The shutdown last year, if anybody got mad, it was people being mad at Obama and the Democrats — and it was probably lasting anger as well. After the 1995 government shutdown, we only lost nine congressional seats after that shutdown. All of this is a big myth, folks.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: After the government shutdown in 1995, which was a big one, I mean, that really was, the Republicans lost nine seats in the House, but picked up two seats in the Senate. Net loss of seven in the Congress. Now, that\u2019s nothing you want to advocate for, but that\u2019s not huge. That\u2019s nowhere near what happened to the Democrats this time. The Democrats lost control of the Senate. They lost 12 more seats in the Senate to go with the ones they\u2019d lost previously.<\/p>\n

By the way, let me stress something here because Snerdley asked me during the break, “Why are you agitating for a government shutdown?” I\u2019m not. It\u2019s not about a government shutdown. That\u2019s another thing. It\u2019s a diversionary move, this whole label to describe legitimate constitutional legislative action that the executive branch can take to stop an out-of-control president is not shutting down the government. It\u2019s a loaded term, it is an incendiary term, it is not apt, it is not a legitimate description of what happens. <\/p>\n

Eighty-three to 85% of the government continues to operate. It is not a government shutdown. But I\u2019m not advocating for that anyway. What everybody simply wants to happen here is the Republicans to get some gonads and act like they won this and understand what they were elected to do. They were elected to stop the policies of the Democrat Party and President Obama, plain and simple, not kick the can down the road every time they get together and promise to deal with it later. And it\u2019s become apparent that that desire doesn\u2019t exist. <\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t look like the Republicans want to actually do what it would take to stop Obama. That\u2019s the frustrating thing. But nobody I know, certainly not myself, is actually advocating for a, quote, unquote, government shutdown. That\u2019s what the media is going to call it. What we\u2019re advocating here is the Republicans stand up and avail themselves as every opportunity presents itself to stop the implementation extraconstitutionally of the Barack Obama agenda. <\/p>\n

Betsy McCaughey<\/a> is out today in the New York Post with yet another ream of examples of Obama wantonly changing Obamacare while nobody is looking in ways that he is not constitutionally empowered to do. He\u2019s just making changes here, changes there, that affect who\u2019s available, who qualifies, who doesn\u2019t, what government and business must do to make health care available. It\u2019s a never-ending list of things, that while everybody is arguing about Ferguson, more executive orders or executive actions are written and implemented, nobody finds out \u2019til after it\u2019s done. <\/p>\n

So you get sidetracked on this construct here of a government shutdown, which really isn\u2019t a government shutdown. The things that happened a year ago were all because Obama took specific action, like closing the World War II Memorial, specifically to World War II vets but yet allowing the area to be used. I mean, this was a purposeful slap in the face, which is how Obama operates. (imitating Obama) “Oh, you gonna shut down my government on me? All right, is that what you\u2019re gonna do? Okay, well, then take this.” While area is still functioning, it\u2019s not shut down by virtue of what happened, he closes the World War II Memorial. He and he alone decides to shut it down, making it impossible for people to visit. And then he decided randomly to open it up for illegal immigrant activists. <\/line><\/p>\n

He also, if you\u2019ll recall, shut down tours of the White House, even though the Secret Service was still fully staffed. The Secret Service was still fully functioning, but he closed down the White House tours. There was no need for it. The Secret Service was fully funded. It was just done to punish people, which is how Obama and people like him behave when they don\u2019t get their way. Poll after poll after poll shows that it is President Obama who is unpopular. Poll after poll after poll shows that it is the Democrat Party that is a little more unpopular right now than the Republican Party. It is just incredible the way real public opinion is being massaged and bent and flaked and formed here to bend to the will of the Democrats and their allies in the Drive-By Media. <\/p>\n

But the piece de resistance is the Washington Post story telling us to ignore the election results. They don\u2019t tell you the story. The election results don\u2019t mean anything. The only thing that counts is our poll here. Here\u2019s what it says. “Disapproval of Republicans grew from 63% immediately before the shutdown last year to 70% during the shutdown\u2019s first week and 74% the following week.” Oh, my God, do you remember that? Seventy-four percent disapprove of the Republicans during the shutdown, and they don\u2019t want to go through that again, oh, my God, no. Oh, oh, no, what\u2019s the Chamber gonna say about us? Oh, my God, what are our big donors gonna do? They\u2019re gonna kick our butts for being so unpopular. Oh, my God!<\/p>\n

They come back and they win a landslide election. My contention to you is, and I asked you in the last half hour, search your memory bank, what do you remember about this shutdown? I\u2019ll bet you remember the World War II shutdown. I\u2019ll bet you remember the same area being opened up for illegal immigrant activists. I\u2019ll bet you remember the White House tours. I\u2019ll bet you Obama acting petulantly is what you remember, but you don\u2019t remember being personally impacted. You don\u2019t remember your life being damaged. You don\u2019t remember being harmed beyond your ability to recover because of whatever government shutdown happened. And yet that is the story that is presented. <\/p>\n

After the shutdown, by the way, a separate ABC\/Washington Post poll found 53% saying the Republicans in Congress were mainly responsible for the shutdown. So, in the second week of the shutdown, 74% disapprove the Republicans. After the shutdown, 53% blamed the Republicans for it. And then 10 months later, the Republicans won an electoral landslide, the premise of which was to stop President Barack Obama and his implementation of his agenda, extraconstitutionally and legislatively, and the Democrat Party as well. That\u2019s what happened. <\/line><\/p>\n

And yet we\u2019re being told here today the big lesson of last year is not the election, oh, no, don\u2019t be infantile, Mr. Limbaugh. Mr. Limbaugh, this illustrates why you are not ever be going to be an accepted member of the establishment. You\u2019re just not an advanced thinker, Mr. Limbaugh. You don\u2019t exhibit the traits necessary to be a member of the establishment. You have to know what\u2019s important. What\u2019s important is the polling data. ‘Cause the polling data is what we raise money off of, and the polling data is what our consultants devise our campaigns over. And what you have to understand, Mr. Limbaugh, is that the media is able to make the public hate us, and you\u2019re not helping, Mr. Limbaugh. <\/p>\n

Right. There\u2019s so much hate for the Republicans, they won in a landslide. And even if you acknowledge that the election was an anti-Democrat, anti-Obama election — which it was — the Republicans are still the guys that got the votes. If they were so hated and so despised, that wouldn\u2019t have happened. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t care how you want to look at this election, there is not a single shred of intelligent analysis or evidence anywhere that says, “Well, what the voters really want now, they want Republicans to help Obama and work with him on the implementation of his agenda. They are tired of the gridlock.” That\u2019s why the Republicans won in a landslide, to help Obama and stop gridlock? Why didn\u2019t they just throw the Republicans out then? Because the media\u2019s been telling everybody that the problem is gridlock and the reason Obama\u2019s in some trouble is because Republicans are mean and extremist Tea Party people that don\u2019t want him to succeed and so forth. <\/p>\n

Well, why not get rid of those guys, if that\u2019s the correct portrayal? Why not just vote against all the Republicans, give Obama every Democrat he wants, like he had the first two years of his term, and then let\u2019s all just sit back and enjoy our trip to utopia. Why didn\u2019t that happen? <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not inside the Beltway, and I don\u2019t know how many of you are, but it\u2019s really fascinating to watch all this from afar and to observe the almost monolithic, for all of the brilliance that exists inside the conservative movement and all the brilliance that is said to exist in the Republican Party, to watch the monolithic political analysis, it\u2019s stunning to me. Everybody there says, “Oh, no, we can\u2019t shut down the government.” Why can\u2019t one person stand up, besides Ted Cruz, why can\u2019t somebody stand up and say, “No, we\u2019re not even talking a government shutdown, Mr. and Miss America, ladies and gentlemen, of America, this is not even a government shutdown. That\u2019s not what\u2019s being discussed here.” <\/p>\n

The reasons why things aren\u2019t done continue to befuddle me as much as the reasons are done. Meanwhile, Mitch McConnell, grab audio sound bite number 22. I\u2019m getting to that point I got papers scattered all over my desk, I don\u2019t know what\u2019s where now, so I\u2019m lucky that an obscene profit time-out\u2019s coming up where I can get back to some semblance here of structure at least in what\u2019s coming. <\/p>\n

Mitch McConnell yesterday, this is the 2014, Wall Street Journal CEO council annual meeting. This is the thing Boehner — wait a minute, now. Oh, I had a sound bite from somebody that went to this thing yesterday — I don\u2019t remember. Anyway, McConnell\u2019s at it, a bunch of CEOs. Many Democrats, by the way. A lot of Democrat CEOs. In fact, probably more Democrat CEOs than Republican CEOs today. And the Wall Street Journal has an annual confab for them. I guess these are the people get left out of Herbie Allen\u2019s thing at Sun Valley every year so they do their own thing \u2019cause they don\u2019t invited to the big clique\u2019s party. And so here is what McConnell said. Now, get this.<\/line><\/p>\n

MCCONNELL: If you look at the way the president\u2019s reacted to what could only be described as a butt-kicking election by any objective standard… The president got crushed in this election! So I\u2019ve been perplexed by the reaction since the election of sort of in-your-face, dramatic move to the left.<\/p>\n

RUSH: This is the second time that Senator McConnell has told us he can\u2019t believe what Obama\u2019s doing. He can\u2019t believe Obama\u2019s moving to the left after such a huge defeat. He just can\u2019t believe it. Why can\u2019t he? If he really means this… That\u2019s another story. If he really means this or he\u2019s just saying it for consumption, we don\u2019t really know. But if he really means it — and I have such a tough time believing he really means this, \u2019cause I can\u2019t believe McConnell doesn\u2019t get what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

But I guess it\u2019s possible. But if it does, if it means he doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s going on, it\u2019s an illustration of how our guys are stuck in a bygone era when elections mattered in this way. Elections were the people speaking. What the people thought mattered. Politicians, political parties were deferential to public opinion. Those days did exist. McConnell remembers them. <\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t that long ago, this bygone era, when after an election loss like this, the losers would at least talk about the need to move to the center or even fake everybody out and do it with a couple of things. I think what\u2019s going on here is, once again, the Republicans are relying on a force that no longer exists to do their work for them. In this case, they\u2019re thinking that this expression of popular opinion alone will be enough to stop Obama, that Obama will see this degree of disapproval and it will shock him into stopping the things he\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n

Meaning the Republicans won\u2019t have to do anything because public opinion will be enough. But that\u2019s not the case with Obama and the Democrat Party. They view the general population with contempt. They view the general population as a bunch of dunces that are basically ignorant, don\u2019t understand how things really work in the big show: Washington politics. “No way they could ever understand it. They don\u2019t even know how to live their lives the right way, don\u2019t even know how to do what\u2019s best. That\u2019s why we need Democrats to do that for them.” <\/p>\n

So the opinion, the collective opinion of the general population, matters not a whit any longer. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: I want to go back to the McConnell stuff. I still can\u2019t believe this. Well, I am kind of backtracked into this whole government shutdown charade, which is what that is. Anyway, greetings, my friends, and welcome back. Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network. 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program, and the e-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com. Is it in fact number 22? Is that the McConnell sound bite? Yeah, here I\u2019ve got this, yeah.<\/p>\n

This is Mitch McConnell. Now, he\u2019s at the Wall Street Journal CEO council. We played a sound bite of Jeb Bush<\/a> at the CEO meeting. Wall Street Journal does this thing. I think, folks, it\u2019s for all the CEOs that don\u2019t get invited to Herbie Allen\u2019s big media mogul event in Sun Valley every summer. <\/p>\n

I mean, that\u2019s a big invite, and a lot of guys don\u2019t get invited to that, so they do their own. It\u2019s like guys set up a golf club. If Augusta won\u2019t ask \u2019em to join, they set up their own golf club. This happens. And of course there\u2019s a lot of Democrat CEOs in any group of CEOs. It\u2019s not any more traditional that Big Business men are Republican or even conservative. But this is the second time Senator McConnell has alluded to this surprised view he has of President Obama. It just boggles my mind. So I want hear this again. It was yesterday in Washington at the Wall Street Journal CEO council annual meeting. <\/p>\n

MCCONNELL: If you look at the way the president\u2019s reacted to what could only be described as a butt-kicking election. By any objective standard the president got crushed in this election. So I\u2019ve been perplexed by the reaction since the election of sort of in-your-face, dramatic move to the left.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: Did anybody have any expectation — this is what boggles my mind — has Obama ever triangulated and moved to the center? Is there anything about Barack Obama, has he ever moved to the right, which is the direction he\u2019d have to go to get to the center? The thing that I guess stuns me about this is the expectation. How can you have the expectation when there\u2019s no evidence? It\u2019s not as though Barack Obama is a mystery. He\u2019s been president for six years. He was a senator for a couple of days before that. He\u2019s written a couple of books. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s an open book! The man is an avowed leftist. There is no other conclusion. There\u2019s no mystery. And yet here\u2019s the new Senate majority leader expressing, openly, in public expressing surprise that Obama hasn\u2019t tacked to the center because he just lost big in an election. When in fact what Obama is doing — see, this is what I can\u2019t believe people don\u2019t see. I just can\u2019t believe it. I can\u2019t believe people don\u2019t see this. I can\u2019t believe that you and I, folks, are the only ones that see this stuff. <\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s got two years. He\u2019s already demonstrated a fondness and an eagerness to govern outside the Constitution. He has demonstrated that he will happily violate the Constitution. He takes losses personally. People that don\u2019t agree with him, he wants to rub their nose in it. He\u2019s not gonna tack to the right in humility. There is no humility here, in Obama. He\u2019s a narcissist. Humility is not in his vocabulary; it\u2019s impossible. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s got two years left, and these two years, I\u2019m telling you, are very scary, because he\u2019s gonna double down and move further and further to the left, and he\u2019s gonna dare these guys to stop him, and they are making it abundantly clear that they\u2019re not interested in stopping him. They think that he\u2019s gonna come stop himself. That\u2019s what frightens me about this. They really think Obama\u2019s gonna stop himself and move to the center \u2019cause he lost an election? <\/p>\n

In Obama\u2019s world, he didn\u2019t lose anything. He wasn\u2019t on the ballot. A bunch of hapless, stupid Democrats that didn\u2019t even want him around lost the election. He didn\u2019t even lose it. He\u2019s not even responsible for the loss, in his world. I guarantee you when Obama gets together with Valerie Jarrett and maybe Michelle if they let her in the meeting, they sit around and they start bitching about how stupid and unappreciative the Democrats are. <\/p>\n

And I guarantee you, he took personally the fact they didn\u2019t want him around in their reelection campaigns. He might publicly say that he understands, but this is not the way you treat somebody who thinks as highly of himself as Obama thinks of himself. You don\u2019t do this. You don\u2019t cast him aside. You don\u2019t publicly indicate that he\u2019s bad news for you. You do not publicly indicate you don\u2019t want Barack Obama around. And if you do, there\u2019s gonna be a price to pay. <\/p>\n

And now Schumer and Harkin out there saying Obamacare, worst mistake we ever made. I guarantee you in the White House, those guys have horns on their pictures, and they\u2019re on the wall, and Josh Earnest and the boys are throwing darts at \u2019em. But to expect Barack Obama to stop himself, to expect Barack Obama to say, “Oh, you know what? I guess the American people don\u2019t like my agenda. Okay, well, I better give the people what they want.” They don\u2019t possibly really believe that, right? Can\u2019t possibly. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s a bygone era in politics where losers responded to public opinion and tried to get back in the good graces of the public. Those days don\u2019t exist anymore. Hell, not even on our side. I just had to play that again because it\u2019s a second time. I forget what the first McConnell quote was, but it was the same thing. He expected Obama to tack to the middle after the election. I think he said this either election night or within a couple of days afterwards. <\/p>\n

But you strip it all away, what it translates to is, they expect Obama to stop himself, that they really don\u2019t have any interest in stopping him themselves, which is what their mandate is. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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