It Can’t Happen in America?

RUSH: I was just perusing the e-mail during the top-of-the-hour break out there, ladies and gentlemen, and I have an e-mail here from somebody in North Carolina who thinks that I have lost my sanity today. I guess it’s at least positive he thought I was sane at some point. You can’t lose your sanity if you don’t have it to begin with. Greetings. Welcome back, Rush Limbaugh and the EIB Network at 800-282-2882. The e-mail address is ElRushbo@eibnet.com.

‘Hey, Rush, I think you’ve lost your sanity today. President Obama cannot alone just say that he wants to continue in power. The president does not have that authority in the United States. You’re trying to put fear into your listeners’ heads. You’re becoming very dangerous. Be very careful.’ Can’t happen, huh? Can’t happen here, president doesn’t have that authority. I didn’t say that it would be unilateral waving a magic wand. I said there might be a move on the 22nd Amendment. I said his cult-like followers might demand that he stay on. He’s too important not to rule, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

This whole notion, though, that the president can’t do it, the president doesn’t have that authority. Sir, in North Carolina — I’m not going to mention your name because I don’t want to cause you any trouble — but there are already a whole lot of things happening in this country the president does not have the authority to do that he’s doing. The establishment of czars, 13 or 14 czars that are not subject to confirmation hearings by the United States Senate. He pays them whatever he wants them to be paid. He tells them what to do. They have more power than his cabinet secretaries. ‘It can’t happen. The president doesn’t have the authority.’ Nobody is stopping him. The president of the United States is firing chief executive officers of automotive companies. ‘That can’t happen in the United States. That just can’t happen. The president doesn’t have that kind of authority.’ The United States government owns Chrysler and General Motors and bequeathed a majority stake of Chrysler to the United Auto Workers. ‘That would never happen in America, Rush, that can’t happen. The president doesn’t have that kind of authority.’

People who can’t pay their mortgages are being sustained in their homes and it’s being called affordable housing. ‘That can’t happen in America. Can’t happen, Rush, president doesn’t have that kind of authority.’ Banks were threatened to buy other banks, banks were threatened. We know this to be true. Banks were threatened. They were called into Henry Paulson’s office and they were told they were going to sign the paper accepting TARP money whether they needed it or not. ‘That can’t happen, Rush, the president doesn’t have that kind of authority. Just can’t happen.’ Why is there a 22nd Amendment? If you’re over 30 and have been educated — well, if you’re over 40 — maybe 50 — I’ll say if you’re over 45 and you were educated in the American public school system, you know the answer to the question, why is there a 22nd Amendment. If you are under 40, you may not know why there is a 22nd Amendment limiting to two the number of terms the president of the United States can serve.

Rachel, let me just use you as a guinea pig here. Do you happen to know why — I’m not trying to, you’re proving a point here. There’s no wrong answer. (talking to Snerdley) Did you tell her? Okay, why is there a 22nd Amendment in the United States limiting to two the number of terms the president of the United States? Her answer is so he doesn’t get too much power. Why were people worried that the president might get too much power? Something had to cause it. Have you ever heard of Franklin Delano Roosevelt? By reputation, one of the greatest if not the greatest presidents we’ve ever had. He wouldn’t go away. He was packing the Supreme Court. ‘Can’t happen in America, Rush, it just can’t happen here, president doesn’t have that kind of authority.’ He was gonna serve for life. He was going to become like an African colonel himself, Colonel Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he wouldn’t go away, four terms. We said, hell no! Hello 22nd Amendment. ‘Can’t happen in America, Rush, why, president doesn’t have that kind of authority.’

How about the cap-and-trade bill passed in the House of Representatives? Do you realize, ladies and gentlemen, that if this bill becomes law, every home in America, every new home will have to meet California’s building codes? Immediately upon enactment, this Democrat bill would demand a 30% increase in energy efficiency for new construction. Two years after it’s enacted, the Democrat bill would require an additional 50% improvement. ‘It can’t happen in America, Rush, people don’t have this kind of authority.’ A couple of more items from the cap-and-trade bill. ‘The Democrats’ bill imposes new mandatory regulations and civil penalties for homebuilders. If your state refuses to accept the stringent and costly California building codes, the federal government may assess penalties. And don’t get too comfortable with the new mandatory regulations because the Democrats’ bill allows for ‘consensus-based’ codes to supplant those outlined in the bill. So, as soon as you’ve invested your hard-earned money to comply with the bill’s mandates, the rug could get pulled from underneath you. Translation? You’ll pony up more and more money.’ ‘Rush, it can’t happen in America, they don’t have that kind of authority.’

As we mentioned yesterday, if you’re having a hard time selling your house, here’s another hurdle you’re going to have to jump if this bill actually becomes law. ‘All homes sales are conditioned upon an energy audit and a new energy rating assessment and energy labeling program for your home that’s outlined in the Democrats’ bill. And if you thought you could improve your property with a fresh coat of paint and some granite counters? Think again! Now your home will be subjected to a new energy rating assessment and energy labeling program that will penalize you for older windows, original fixtures, and dated appliances. So the Democrats’ bill would bring down the value of your home!’

Now, home sales are critical for the recovery of the American economy. Why put this garbage in the cap-and-trade bill? He said it’s a jobs bill. It’s a jobs killing bill. It is a jobs killing bill, is what cap and trade is. ‘Rush, the president doesn’t have that kind of authority. He can’t just do these kinds of things, doesn’t have that kind of authority.’ How many trillions of dollars of wealth have been lost? How much of the private sector has been grabbed by the federal government, just grabbed? The mortgage industry, the banks are being told what to do. We’ve got all these czars that I mentioned. ‘Rush, it can’t happen in America. Presidents, they just don’t have that kind of sweeping authority.’ While you say, or while you think presidents don’t have this authority, and you think that a president couldn’t say, ‘You know what, screw the 22nd Amendment, I’m going to do away with it, I’m too important.’ Think again. It’s happening all around us. Dictatorships are popping up all around us.

In Europe it’s the opposite. Merkel coming out for tax cuts. Hungary coming out for tax cuts. Merkel says we need growth, we need growth in Germany. She’s gonna cut taxes. But in our hemisphere the Marxists are rising to power and they are being supported by the president of the United States. ‘Yeah, Rush, come on, the president of the United States doesn’t have that kind of authority. It can’t happen here.’ There’s a lot of stuff that you didn’t think could happen here that’s happening right before your very eyes and it’s not happening according to the Constitution. The President of the United States is threatening and firing CEOs. The president of the United States with a compensation czar. The president of the United States, not the US Congress, the president of the United States wants to determine how much everybody in this country can earn per annum. ‘Ah, Rush, presidents don’t have that kind of authority, can’t happen here.’ Folks, getting rid of the 22nd Amendment is chump change compared to what this man’s already achieved that nobody thought could happen.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, ‘Rush, presidents don’t have that kind of authority! It just can’t happen here. It would never happen here.’ Some of you I’m sure know this. I haven’t mentioned this previously because the guy that did this is an absolute nut. But, you know, most of the House Democrats are nuts. Most of the Democrats in the House are as far left as… Well, as we’ve ever had in this country, literal Looney Tunes. Jose Serrano (I believe Jose is from Nueva York) introduced in January HJ res 5, resolution 5, to repeal the Twenty-Second Amendment. A Democrat has already made the move. ‘Eh, Rush, it can’t happen here. Presidents don’t have that kind of authority.’ No, he’s a nut, but they’re all nuts! You gotta be a nut to vote for cap and trade. You have to be a nut to conceive of it. You have to be a whacked-out environmentalist nutcase fraud to think that cap and trade is going to help anything. You have to be practically insane to believe that man has an effect on the climate of this planet.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: To Saratoga Springs, New York, and Michelle. Nice to have you here. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. It’s an honor to speak with you.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: You mentioned before a couple of breaks ago that, based on this new cap and tax bill, that the government is now going to be putting an energy efficiency rating on your home when you put it on the market. I’m wondering if now will your prospective buyers be constrained by banks for a mortgage rather than because of their credit but now because they want to buy a home that isn’t energy efficient?

RUSH: Well, the way I read this is that they won’t be allowed to sell, you won’t be allowed to sell an energy inefficient home.

CALLER: Oh, my gosh.

RUSH: Before you can sell it you’re going to have to modernize it, according to Obama’s standards, with the proper kind of windows and drains, even if you’ve got a microwave oven that’s not energy efficient, or a stove, you may not be able to sell the house until you make these improvements. But, this is the point. In the bill, these mandates can change on a whim. The bill allows for the stated mandates to be changed any time somebody thinks that it’s important to do so. So you could embark on a plan, according to the law, to make your home energy efficient so you can sell it, and after you do all that, they could just at some point down the line change it and make it even more stringent and force you to go back and do even more, and you build that into the sale price of the house, which is going to make your house attractive to fewer buyers, the more houses cost the smaller the universe of people that can afford them.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: ‘Now, Rush, this can’t happen in America, come on, presidents don’t have the kind of authority, can’t have this kind of power.’ It’s happening. It happened in the House of Representatives. All it’s gotta do is pass the Senate, and it’s law, folks. That’s all that has to happen. All that has to happen is this stupid thing has to pass the Senate. Which is also run by Democrats, and we’ve got our share of squishy RINOs in there who buy into this environmentalist wacko garbage. This is serious stuff. Can’t happen here, but it’s happening. When I say what I have to say, there’s nothing left for them to say. They’re just sitting there with their mouths open in awe. Well, it’s partly that. It’s partly they can’t believe what I just said. When they realize what I just said is true but — or they fainted, one of the two.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Pay dirt, folks. Pay dirt. TIME Magazine’s Mark Halperin on his blog at TIME Magazine already has the full transcript of my salient comments on the potential for President Obama to serve beyond 2016, and the headline at TIME Magazine: ‘The Nightmare or the Dream?’ (laughing) People are dreaming about it! (laughing) That’s my whole point. At any rate, pay dirt. All right. This is how we get things in the Drive-By news cycle. There will be discussions on this with me being proposed as a lunatic, but yet they will discuss my idea (laughing). They’ll call them the rantings of a madman and then they’ll start talking about it seriously and they’ll get two or three days out of this on the cable networks. They ought to be paying me.