RUSH: It was a teachable moment, although I think fewer and fewer people need to be taught. One day last week the regime launches into John Boehner. Obama’s in Ohio, launches into John Boehner. A couple days later the New York Times with a major, major hit piece on John Boehner. And then on the CBS Slay the Nation show yesterday with Bob Schieffer, CBS obviously working with the Democrat Party, tried to get Boehner on the record for being against tax cuts for the so-called middle class. The Democrats had already made commercials that they intended to roll out today attacking Boehner for what they thought he was going to say but he crossed ’em up. What does it say, though, 
that CBS, the New York Times and the rest of the media work so closely with the Democrats’ campaign? Not just with the Democrat Party, but now with the Democrat campaign! And have you noticed the Bush tax cuts are going to be called the Obama tax cuts? We are going to re-gift. They’ll be re-gifted as the Obama tax cuts. Now, keeping the Bush tax cuts on the middle class means very little if you raise taxes on small businesses and others who hire people in the middle class. So once again the supposed beneficiaries of all of this wonderful compassion, ‘The Little Guy,’ gets shafted again.
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RUSH: I have a little chart here. This has been put out by the Associated Press. Tax scenarios: ‘The most sweeping tax cuts in a generation are due to expire at the end of the year. Congress is set to take up the issue this month. If Congress does nothing, families at every income level face tax increases next year.’ Now, we’ve been told all along these Bush tax cuts were tax cuts for the rich. Now, I know numbers are sort of hard to follow on radio, but 2011 income: If you make between 40 and $50,000, about 13 million such taxpayers, they will have an increase of a thousand dollars, 923 bucks. If you earn between 50 and $75,000 (that’s 24 million taxpayers) their taxes go up $1,100. So what are we up to now? To 36, almost 37 million taxpayers from $40,000 to $75,000. Now let’s go 75 to a hundred thousand income. Fifteen million taxpayers, their taxes go up about $1,800. So we’ve got 36, 15, 51 million tax returns from $40,000 to a hundred thousand. Let’s go $100,000 to $200,000, 17 million tax returns. Those people’s taxes annually go up by $3,600. So, looking at 67 million taxpayers. I better write that down so I don’t forget it. I’m doing this manually in my head. Now if we go from $200,000 to $500,000 you got 3.7 million. So that puts us up to 71 million taxpayers between $40,000 and $500,000 a year. Between $500,000 to one million, 608,000, that takes us to $71, 71.8 million, and $1 million and over 315,000 taxpayers, why, that takes us to let’s say 74 million.
So from income $40,000 to $500,000 a year, 72 million taxpayers. Five hundred thousand dollars to a million and over adds three million. And $500,000 and over adds not even one million. That’s a small number of taxpayers and we’re only gonna raise taxes on them. Now, if you are 200 to 500 grand a year taxes are going to go up $7,000 a year. If you’re one million and over, your taxes go up a minimum of $101,000. Now, I haven’t even touched on the income of $10,000 to 20,000. There’s 24 million of those. Twenty thousand to $30,000, 18 million of those. It proves the old point: You could confiscate — not just tax, you could confiscate — all income over a million dollars in this country and you could run the country for a day or two, if that. So it’s all class envy, it’s all smoke and mirrors, and now they’re trying to say that Boehner is against tax cuts for the middle class. They expected Boehner to totally oppose any tax cuts if it didn’t include the rich. They already had commercials produced ready to go but he crossed ’em up on that out there, and so now he’s getting hit from the Republican side for not having the fortitude to go all-or-nothing.
Let’s go to the audio sound bites and listen to a little bit of this. Face the Nation yesterday, Bob Schieffer in a setup. Schieffer and the Democrat campaign had already spoken. ‘Here’s how we’re going to go after Boehner.’ They take the lead of the New York Times. ‘You know, Boehner’s had relationships with lobbyists?’ Really? ‘Yeah. John Boehner, a Republican member of Congress, has relationships with lobbyists! Yeah, really scandal-plagued, Boehner is out there.’ I mean it was a full-fledged hit piece. It hasn’t gotten a whole lot of traction. But the whole thing is coordinated from the White House on down to Democrat campaigns to CBS and the New York Times, which they’re already united in their polling unit. So here’s Bob Schieffer’s trumped up question: ‘You’re saying you would vote for the middle-class tax cuts if that’s all…’ That’s not what Schieffer wanted to hear. Schieffer’s question was: ‘You mean if you don’t get tax cuts for the rich you’re gonna oppose tax cuts for the middle class, too?’ That’s what they were hoping that Boehner would say. He didn’t say that. Here’s his answer.
BOEHNER: If that’s what we can get done, but I think that’s bad policy. I don’t think that’s going to help our economy. And I think the other thing that has to happen is that we’ve got to cut spending. If we cut spending, we will help our economy. We will send signals to the markets. We will send signals to the business community that Washington’s attempting to get its fiscal house in order. That’s why the two things that I called on the President to do this week was to extend all of the current tax rates and let’s do a spending bill this month, not after the election.
RUSH: So they took one thing there that he would go along with, but he would not support tax cuts for the rich to try to get him in trouble with the Republicans when their original effort was to get him in trouble with the whole country. Now, all these tax cut numbers — and it’s hard to follow on the radio, I know. That’s why I summed it up. You could confiscate all income over a million dollars — just take it, a 100% tax rate on all income over a million — and you could run the country for a couple days. It hasn’t changed. The vast majority of income in this country is middle class income, and yet while all those numbers are fascinatingly interesting, one of the main focal points on Face the Nation yesterday was that Boehner smokes. Boehner smokes cigarettes. So does Obama, but we don’t hear much about that anymore. But Boehner smokes cigarettes. Yeah, Bob Schieffer on the case: ‘Mr. Boehner, I’m going to ask you this question because I’m not objective about it. I’m a cancer survivor. I used to be a heavy smoker. Do you still smoke?’
BOEHNER: I do.
SCHIEFFER: You have taken $340,000 from the tobacco industry. They’ve been the largest contributor to your political campaigns over the year. How do you square that with the fact that cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in this country? 435,000 people, their deaths are linked to cancer. That’s one in five. How…? How…? How do you…? How do you justify that in your own mind?
BOEHNER: Bob, tobacco is a legal product in America and the American people have a right to decide for themselves whether they want to partake or not.
RUSH: Yeah, and it’s going to remain legal because of the tax revenue that is generated by its sale. Now, Boehner’s answer, I kind of like it: Hey, it’s my life, it’s my business; if I want to smoke, screw you! It’s a legal product. But have you ever heard them go after Obama on this? When it comes to Obama and his smoking, oh, oh, he’s really trying hard to quit! Why, he doesn’t smoke in front of the kids. He’s got so much pressure on him, but he’s trying to give ’em up. (imitating Schieffer) ‘You still smoke? 435,000 people dead every year!’
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RUSH: By the way, Schieffer wasn’t through with Boehner on this smoking business. You know, Boehner said (paraphrase), ‘Well, look, it’s a legal product. People have a right to do with whatever they want.’ Schieffer was not satisfied.
SCHIEFFER: Well, I mean they…they have a right to shoot themselves if they choose to, but I mean, uh, shouldn’t we do something to try to encourage ’em not to? I mean, do you think that’s a good example?
BOEHNER: Well, listen, I wish I didn’t have this bad habit, and it is a bad habit. You’ve had it, you’ve dealt with it, but it’s something that I choose to do. And, you know, at some point, maybe I’ll decide I’ve had enough of it.
SCHIEFFER: Well, I mean, if — if you should become Speaker, uhh, you could set a good example by, for the country, by, uhhh, saying, ‘I’m… I’m gonna try to stop smoking.’ Maybe you could get the president. I understand he smokes, too.
RUSH: Hey, Face the Nation has officially become a debate now — over morality! Can you imagine? Bob Schieffer, a far-left fringe news guy is attempting to impose his morality on Boehner? Boehner said (paraphrase), ‘I like it. I like smoking cigarettes.’ By the way, I got these electronic cigarettes here? They’re trying to put ’em out of business because there’s no tax revenue raised when you go out and buy them… I mean, there’s not the exorbitant taxes that are placed on tobacco.
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RUSH: You know, John Boehner and a lot of smokers are actually funding children’s health care programs. I have made this point throughout the whole period of time that there have been attacks on smoking. At some point, you know, we keep raising taxes on tobacco products and the money is going to what? It’s going to things that people consider seriously important. Children’s health care plans, education, and what have you. So what if we were really serious about eliminating smoking? What happens if we have a 100% successful campaign to get everybody to quit smoking? Do you realize the number of government programs that would be funded with zero? You’d be stunned.
Now, nicotine is the most addictive drug on the planet. Nobody has a pleasant first experience with it, unlike most other drugs. Have you ever seen somebody take their first inhale of a cigarette? They have a coughing spasm and they vow never to ever do it again. Just like somebody who gets drunk and throws up, they vow never ever to do it again — and within minutes they’re back at it. Well, it’s the same thing with people that smoke cigarettes. You get started and it’s a very addictive drug. So totally wiping it out would defund… I’ve said in a half-serious way numerous times, ‘Smokers deserve medals because they are risking their own lives for the children. They’re funding children’s health programs,’ and of course that impeccable logic is met with the usual derision. But stop and think if we were ever really successful and ask yourself if government really does want to eliminate smoking. The product remains legal. It’s a cash cow for lawyers; it’s a cash cow for states; it is a cash cow for federal governments and agencies. There’s no way they’re gonna ever make tobacco illegal.
So when moralists like Bob Schieffer come along they gain a lot credit for compassion by suggesting we do everything we can to make people stop smoking, but the people that are putting taxes on cigarettes and making all these anti-smoking cigarette PSAs are not really serious about it. If they were, we’d ban the product just as we’ve banned other things we don’t want people to do and we’d start chasing people who do it. There was a lot less anger out there when people smoked. I’ll tell you something, I recently discovered these electronic cigarettes. I occasionally puff one here with the Dittocam on and I get people saying, ‘I can’t believe you’ve succumbed! I thought you quit cigarettes. Oh, no, what have you done?’ They’re electronic. There’s no tobacco in these things. They’re purely electronic. Here, you can watch on the Dittocam. This is an apple-flavored electronic cigarette. (interruption) What are you smirking at, Dawn?
I have a little story here. Inside this green what looks like the filter, that’s where the nicotine is in a liquid. There’s an atomizer in there and the long part that looks like the cigarette itself is a battery. And when you start sucking on this thing, the atomizer creates water vapor. It looks like smoke. It’s fun. You know what I love to do? I love whipping one of these things out in an elevator. Folks, you know me. I love irritating the status quo. I love irritating the politically correct. It is really fun to whip one of these things out at a bar. It doesn’t take long before the manager comes up, ‘Mr. Limbaugh, there have been some complaints. We really have a no smoking policy here at such-and-such bar. We do.’
I said, ‘It’s not a cigarette. Here, look,’ and I demonstrate it. ‘Here, let me blow this in your face.’
So I suck on the thing, I blow it in their face and they actually go, ‘Oooh, that does smell kinda like vanilla. Smells kind of like chocolate or apple,’ and they smile and they go away.
And it happens more often than not the guy comes back and says, ‘Mr. Limbaugh, you’re still upsetting people.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, it looks like you’re smoking a cigarette, and it’s making them uncomfortable.’
‘Well, why? It’s not hurting them.’
‘I know, but would you please just not do it? Smoking’s not allowed.’
‘I’m not smoking. I’m water-vaporing. It’s no different if you put a vaporizer with Vick’s VapoRub in it here on your bar.’
‘Well, Mr. Limbaugh, I understand, but some of our…’
So I look around, ‘Who are these nattering nabobs?’
I can spot ’em in an instant. I can spot the people shooting daggers at me. I know who they are, and you know what they’re upset about? What do you think they’re upset about, Brian? They’re upset that I’m enjoying it. They are upset that I’m having a good time. The fact that there are no carcinogens; the fact that there’s no odor; the fact that there’s nothing offensive about it other than the way it looks to them doesn’t matter to them. They still want to wade in there and stop me from doing it.
By the way, guess who’s trying to put these people out of business? There’s a bunch of different manufacturers and sellers of the electronic cigarette, and the big pharmaceuticals are lining up against them. The FDA is now going to conduct hearings on this and whether or not it’s feasible, whether it’s healthy. They’re going to try to find some health concerns here with water vapor. But it’s all because they’re cheaper than cigarettes. With the taxes on cigarettes now, they’re cheaper than cigars. They’re cheaper than Nicorette gum. They’re cheaper than the patch, depending on how you use ’em. But there’s no tobacco tax on ’em. So you see my whole point with this is, for somebody trying to quit smoking, the electronic cigarette’s a good way to do it.
And they don’t really want that because there’s no tax revenue with these things. I guarantee you, if they find a way to attach equivalent taxes to tobacco taxes to the electronic cigarette, everybody would be fine with it. I guarantee you. I don’t know if Indian reservations are in the e-cigarette market or not, ’cause they don’t charge any sales taxes. They don’t have to charge sales taxes on their cigarettes. I don’t know. I don’t know if you can buy an e-cig on a reservation or not. I’ve not actually tried. I just find all this moralizing, all this proselytizing, all this I’m-better-than-you stuff
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RUSH: You know, that’s right. You go to a ballpark anywhere in public and somebody lights up a joint, nobody says a word. Nobody says a word because nobody wants to be thought of as a narc. But you let somebody light up a cigarette and 49,000 people will have a conniption fit. It’s true. It’s true. Not one person will care about a joint. They may say, ‘Can you believe somebody is smoking a joint?’ but nobody will call the authorities. But somebody will light up a Marlboro and all hell breaks loose.
Have you seen these DirecTV commercials? These DirecTV commercials are fabulous. This is when the cops are allowed to Taser people. In the one I saw yesterday a waitress… There are some guys in her diner who are just enjoying the hell out of themselves. They’re watching DirecTV. They’re watching the NFL Sunday Ticket on their iPads and their mobile devices at their table and they’re just having the greatest time and they’re enjoying themselves, and the waitress at this place just can’t stand it that they’re enjoying themselves. So she puts dirty dishwater into a pitcher of iced tea and then stirs it up with her fingers and takes it over and serves them. Of course they’re clueless, but this is her way of getting even with people having a good time, because they’re watching their favorite football teams wherever they want because they have DirecTV Sunday Ticket.
The reason I think that ad is good is because it illustrates that there are just some people, liberals in this country, who do not want anybody to enjoy themselves. Nobody’s going to have a good time, not when there’s so much suffering and not when there’s so much economic turmoil and angst, and people having a good time, especially people who may not be suffering from economic angst, I mean obviously if you can afford the NFL Sunday Ticket on your mobile device and go to a diner when the football games are on and watch with your buddies at a restaurant rather than have to go to the stadium, sure, a lot of people are going to be mad at you. So kudos to DirecTV for putting that in the ad.
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RUSH: You know, it’s kinda fascinating to me, John Boehner smokes. Bob Schieffer knew that. Did you know that Boehner smokes? Did you know it? You ever seen him smoke? How did you know it? Well, you’ve seen him, Snerdley, but the point is Bob Schieffer did not know that the Justice Department had dropped the case against the New Black Panthers. That was not on his radar. He did not know that defendants are not going to be pursued by the Obama Justice Department. He knew that Boehner smoked. Imagine that.
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RUSH: Altoona Pennsylvania. Kathy, nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. It’s a pleasure to speak to you.
RUSH: Thank you very much.
CALLER: I’m from Pennsylvania where we cling to our Bibles and our guns. I just wanted to say it’s been bothering me ever since Obama got into office: He’s a smoker, so aren’t federal buildings supposed to be off limits to smoking? So would that also include the White House? Does he go outside?
RUSH: Yeah, but, you know, the president is exempt from all this stuff. Nobody’s going to tell him he can’t — other than Michelle, who probably does. But he can sneak off. You know that nobody’s gonna tell him he can’t smoke.
CALLER: Is that perhaps why they constructed the white tent outside so that that would be his smoker’s tent?
RUSH: It could well be. I mean, a white tent outside the White House, I think that’s for parties where people sneak in. That’s where the intruders are. Yeah, the Salahi’s. They misdirect them once they sneak into parties. Obama wouldn’t go to a tent to smoke.
CALLER: The big white drape that they draped over the White House here, a month or so ago —
RUSH: Well, now, that could be they fumigated the place. I mean, the whole White House was covered. The West Wing was covered in tarp.
CALLER: Well, that’s the other thing. What happens whenever they go to move out, which hopefully will be very soon, like in the next two years? Won’t we have to pay extra to clean the smoke off the drapes and carpets?
RUSH: Assuming he’s smoking in there. We don’t know that he’s smoking in the residence. Do you have any proof that he’s smoking in there?
CALLER: No, but do we have proof he’s going outside?
RUSH: I smoked in the White House with Bush. I smoked a cigar in the Treaty Room up at the residence.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: The president can do what he wants to do whenever he wants to do it. I mean, nobody’s gonna tell him no.
CALLER: Well, perhaps we should put Bob Schieffer on to this.
RUSH: Well, Bob Schieffer doesn’t care. Bob Schieffer probably wouldn’t believe it if he was told.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: This whole thing with Boehner is orchestrated. It’s all part of a plan. Last week the White House says they’re gonna start targeting Boehner; a couple days later here comes a hit piece in the New York Times, and then Bob Schieffer tried to set Boehner up yesterday because Democrats already had produced ads with Boehner against tax cuts for the middle class. They hoped Boehner would oppose extending the tax cuts to everybody if the rich weren’t included and he crossed ’em up. So now the Republicans are mad at Boehner for not holding out for tax cuts for everybody when he did. Here’s Obama, by the way, on this back in 2009 at the White House, a little news conference out there. McClatchy newspaper, Margaret Talev, said, ‘How many cigarettes a day do you now smoke? Do you smoke alone or in the presence of other people, and do you believe that the new law should help you to quit?’
OBAMA 2009: Look, uh, I’ve said before that, uh, as a former smoker I constantly struggle with it. Uhhh, have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes. The…uh… Am I, uhh, a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No. Ehh…ehh….uh… I don’t do it in front of my kids. I don’t do it in front of, uh, my family, uhh, and, eh, uh, you know, I would say that I am, uh, 95% cured.
MEDIA: (guffawing)
OBAMA 2009: But there are times where… (laughter) There are times where I mess up.
RUSH: Oh, yeah, it’s laughing matter when Obama messes up, but Boehner, ‘Do you think maybe you ought to stop? Do you think maybe you’re encouraging people — 450,000 people die every year, you think maybe you’re responsible for people dying of cancer? What do you have to say for yourself, ‘Mr. Speaker’?’
‘Well, occasionally I screw up.’
‘Ha-ha-ha, way to go, Mr. President! He’s trying, trying real hard.’
Let’s go back, March 1st, 2010, White House press briefing, Robert ‘Fibbs’ got a question from Jacob Tapper. ‘There was some talk about the president’s cholesterol being a little higher and the smoking cessation needing to continue. Is there anything for all of the Americans struggling with both cholesterol and cigarettes that you or the president wanted to say about either of those?’
GIBBS: On the smoking the president continues to chew nicotine gum. He — occasionally falls off the — of the wagon when it comes to that and like many who have struggled with kicking that habit.
RUSH: ‘Don’t you think, Mr. Boehner, that you are providing a bad example, 450,000 people related smoking deaths every year. Don’t you think you could set a better example by quitting?’ ‘President, nicotine gum, occasionally falls off the ladder, like many people, ha-ha-ha-ha.’ It’s not gonna work. I mean this double standard stuff, they’re not gonna succeed in pulling this off.
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RUSH: Judy, Albuquerque, New Mexico, you’re next on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hi.
CALLER: Mega dittos and greetings from my brilliant artist husband who coined the phrase ‘Obama hides behind a mosqueraid.’ But you blew the call on the DirecTV satellite ad for the waitress.
RUSH: Why me, what did I get wrong? This is very, very dangerous ground for you to be on to be so bold in accusing me of missing the point.
CALLER: The point is this is a diner in Texas, and there’s a big Dallas Cowboy poster on the back wall.
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: And that waitress is like any true Texas woman, loyal to her man, and her men in this case are the Dallas Cowboys, and so she’s going to get even with these guys who have no respect at all for daring to sit there and root for the Eagles in front of her Dallas poster.
RUSH: Oh, somehow, you know, I did miss that. How do you know that this woman’s a Cowboy fan? I must have caught the ad halfway through it.
CALLER: Well, I had to catch it twice to get it, but I thought it was brilliant once I got it.
RUSH: But she’s still upset —
CALLER: She has the right accent; she has the right hairdo. I’m privileged to know a lot of Texas women.
RUSH: Wait a minute, now.
CALLER: And they’re talking about the Eagles —
RUSH: Wait a minute, now.
CALLER: Yes?
RUSH: You know a lot of Texans, she had the right accent?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: The right hairdo? What does that mean? What is the right Texas hairdo? You’re telling me I don’t get it.
CALLER: The stereotype that they use for bubble hairdos.
RUSH: That looked like a standard beehive to me. It looked like a standard 1960s beehive, looked like a hairdo you might see in Mad Men.
CALLER: No. Come on, Rush, you go see that ad again. You’ll enjoy it once you really understand.
RUSH: I enjoyed it the first time out there, Judy. And I still say I’m right about it. She was still mad these guys are having a good time.
CALLER: No, she’s mad because they’re being disrespectful and they’re watching the Eagles —
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: — and they should be watching the Cowboys.
RUSH: But the point is they’re able to watch the Eagles in Texas at a diner because with DirecTV you can watch your favorite team wherever you happen to be. They’re trying to sell the Sunday Ticket package, means you can watch it on your remote device and these guys are having a great time. It’s because they’re not Cowboy fans and Eagle fans doesn’t matter, she’s mad, so she puts her fingers in their iced tea.
CALLER: She’s mad ’cause they’re not watching the Cowboys. They’re being disrespectful —
RUSH: Doesn’t matter.
CALLER: — to her Cowboys.
RUSH: That doesn’t matter. We’re splitting hairs here.
CALLER: Well, not —
RUSH: Doesn’t matter the hairdo; we’re splitting the hair —
CALLER: Not for her it isn’t.
RUSH: She’s still mad they’re having a good time.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: Anyway, did you see the Nissan ad with the polar bear?
CALLER: I’m afraid so.
RUSH: Now, tell me how I got that one wrong.
CALLER: No, no, not at all. I lived in Alaska. I can almost see — see — well, never mind. But, no, I understand how idiotic most of this stuff is.
RUSH: Yeah, you know why it works, though. People actually believe that the polar bears, some Nimrods actually think the polar bears are appreciative of our efforts to save their habitat. So I have a question. Does a fish know that it’s in water? Any fish. (interruption) Don’t give me what kind of fish. Does any fish know that it’s in water? Dolphins don’t know that they’re in water. (interruption) That doesn’t matter. They don’t know they’re in water. They’re mammals, I don’t care, whales, they don’t know what water is. I asked Punkin, my cat, ‘Do you know you’re an Abyssinian?’ I have to laugh at myself. She doesn’t even know she’s a cat, much less what kind. But this is what we do with our pets, you know, we humanize them. We love to do that because that’s what’s great about pets, but a polar bear is not a pet. So this Nissan commercial, folks, I just want to warn you, if a polar bear shows up in your driveway, don’t hug it. It will take your head off.