Brett from Philadelphia on the Economy and Donovan McNabb

RUSH: All right, to the phones, Philadelphia. Brett, glad you called, you’re up. Hello.

CALLER: Hey, Rush. Dittos here from one of the few Jewish conservatives out in Chester County right outside Philadelphia, and I appreciate you taking my call.

RUSH: You bet.

CALLER: Last hour you touched on the media-created, media-driven swine flu. And I wanted to take it further here and really relate that to the economy and the recession as a whole, which might not entirely be media-created, but I strongly believe it is media-driven. I see a couple things I observe personally every day which contradict greatly what is reported in the news.

RUSH: Now, wait, wait. Hold it. Hold it just a second here, now.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: I want to understand your premise. Your premise is the economy is better than it really is and that the media is hyping how bad it is?

CALLER: Correct. But I’m calling because I’m usually pretty sure of these things but I’m actually calling for your advice here —

RUSH: Good, because you need it.

CALLER: — your guidance on this important matter.

RUSH: Because it’s the exact opposite. It’s the exact opposite. The media is going out of its way, their way to not report the truth.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: Look at the unemployment numbers today. We lost another huge number of jobs. It just wasn’t as many as they expected. They spin it as good news. The truth is unemployment is going to continue to go up. Real unemployment is 16%. There’s no way to say this is good. They try as hard as they can. There’s a story in the Financial Times today: Problems all over the world for Obama! None of them his fault, by the way. None of this is his fault? It’s all his fault! No, I’m sorry. Look, I gotta take a break here and I rudely interrupted you. I want to get your point anyway because I did not get the whole thing. So if you can hang on through the break —

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: — I’ll listen to your explanation and your anecdotal evidence, okay?

CALLER: I appreciate that. Thanks, Rush.

RUSH: That’s why my audience loves me. I never shaft ’em.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, Brett. Back to you in Philadelphia. Thanks for holding on. Brett believes that the economy is not as bad as it really is; that the media is hyping the bad economy. Okay, go ahead and tell me why you think that.

CALLER: Okay, well, I didn’t disagree with anything you said before — and if I’m wrong I certainly appreciate you setting me straight. I was going to say this. When George Bush was president and you had the media day in and day out reporting the economy much bleaker than it really was for obvious reasons —

RUSH: Bleaker? They tried to have everybody thinking we were in a recession in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.

CALLER: Right. And it was obvious to everyone why they were doing it then when Bush was president, and it wouldn’t be so much obvious now that Barack Obama is. But what I was thinking is that if they create or paint this picture of a bleaker economy than it really is, I thought, ‘That would open the door for the current Democrats, the current Congress, to push through more and advocate more liberal policies.’ It’s kind of what they’re doing, what they’ve already been doing. And I think that if the media continues to create a panic —

RUSH: I understand your thinking.

CALLER: — then I think people will feel the need, and be much more lenient with letting the current administration push through policies —

RUSH: I understand your thinking.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: But understand this about Obama and the Democrats: They don’t care what anybody thinks or wants or doesn’t want. They are forcing all of this on us. I mean, the vast majority of every Obama issue, public polling shows a majority of people — including the precious independents and moderates — are overwhelmingly opposed. It doesn’t matter. They’re gonna do it regardless.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: Whether the media was on their side or not, they’re going to do it regardless. Now, what they’re doing the media is starting to get a little antsy about the unemployment ’cause it isn’t working winning. The stimulus, the vaunted stimulus plan isn’t working. Except that it is. The exact goal is being achieved: Chaos, dependence, people showing up having expectations of Obama handouts. This is exactly what he wants! This is how you grow government. This is how you dumb down people. And the media is saying, ‘We gotta get working here on the economy.’ We had these three columnists on Monday, ‘Does Obama have a backbone? Does Obama have the guts? Is he willing to lead?’ and so forth. So they’ll go out and start talking about a second stimulus, yeah! Make it look like they’re really on the case here.

But anybody with half a brain economically knows full well that to grow an economy, to create jobs, you don’t do one aspect of any Obama plan so far. So they are underselling how bad the economy is. They have to. They cannot make their guy look bad. They have to prop him up. They have to blame it on Bush. Just like I predicted: The Olympics go south, the bid, it’s Bush’s fault! It’s residual hated for Bush, Bush’s fault. So you can find pockets of the country where people are not in dire straits but when you’ve got a real unemployment rate of 16% and rising, this is a disaster. These are dark days for our country, because there are not the votes in Washington on the opposition party side to stop any of this. By the way, Brett, are you still with me out there? Did he go?

CALLER: No, no. I’m here, Rush.

RUSH: Are you a football fan?

CALLER: I am a football fan.

RUSH: You like the Iggles?

CALLER: I do like the Eagles. I do not like the current quarterback for the last few years but I do root for them.

RUSH: Now, now, now, now. Too many people have dumped on McNabb too much. You know, I think it’s been really unfair all these people dumping on McNabb over the years. You ought to —

CALLER: Well, I think an initial analysis your take on it a few years back was pretty accurate, and —

RUSH: My comment was on the media and their treatment of McNabb. McNabb’s a fine man. Look, he had his press conference yesterday, his Wednesday press conference yesterday, and a reporter asked him this: ‘Rush Limbaugh says he’s interested in buying a football team. How do you feel about that? Do you think NFL players will embrace him?’

MCNABB: If he’s rewarded to buy that, congratulations to him. I won’t be in St. Louis no time soon.

REPORTER: You wouldn’t play for the Rams?

MCNABB: I’ll be here.

RUSH: So McNabb has rejected a potential job offer before one was even made.

CALLER: (chuckles)

RUSH: I guess I know where I stand with McNabb. But let’s not forget this. December 1st, 2003, Monday Night Countdown on ESPN had Stuart Scott was the host, he had McNabb on there. He said, ‘You said before the that the comments Rush Limbaugh made on this network did not affect you at all. How could it not impact even a little bit in some way?’

MCNABB: I think, you know, with — with everything that’s went on I will probably hire Rush Limbaugh as my marketing agent, uh —

SCOTT: (laughing)

MCNABB: — because it’s done wonders for me.

RUSH: Donavan is a little conflicted even now. He’s going to play this Sunday, though. He’s coming back. Who do the Eagles have? Some chump opponent, I can’t remember who. (interruption) That’s right. I knew it was a chump opponent. Tampa Bay.