RUSH: From Washington, AP: ‘A growing chorus of conservative criticism is prompting some House members to rethink the $850 billion package of tax cuts and extended jobless benefits that President Barack Obama negotiated with top Republicans in Congress. The attacks are unlikely to derail the measure, which now goes to the House after the Senate passed it Wednesday, 81-19. But they underscore the difficulty of building centrist coalitions after an election in which Tea Party conservatives ousted many Democrats and some veteran Republicans who were seen as too willing to compromise with opponents.’
Now, this is AP’s language, but the ‘conservative criticism…underscores the difficulty of building centrist coalitions.’ Who in the world’s talking about ‘building centrist coalitions’? That wasn’t what this election was about! This election wasn’t about empowering this No Labels bunch. You see now, Snerdley, why I spent so much time on it yesterday? Right here we have it in AP: ”conservative criticism…underscores the difficulty of building centrist coalitions after an election in which the’ blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Who cares about centrist coalitions? This election was about defeating centrist coalitions!
This election was about defeating people who believe in ’em like Mike Castle and Bob Bennett, and the list goes on and on and on. This election was about sending ‘centrists’ to the ash heap of history. Not building coalitions with them. This remains the wet dream of people in the media and the Democrat Party and this No Labels bunch. Centrist coalitions? And if you want to get down to brass tacks, who’s to say the Tea Party isn’t one? This whole notion… You know, I said yesterday: ‘What if you and I are the actual middle in this country?’ Who is it that’s been defining the ‘middle’ anyway? The left, isn’t it? The Democrats, the media.
They’ve been telling us what this revered and respected middle is. What if we’re it? You and I are much closer to the middle of this country than anybody on the left or the far right happens to be. I don’t even like that term ‘far right.’ There aren’t that many people out there. Who’s to say we’re not the middle? Who’s to say that we aren’t the centrist coalition? Look at the polls. The Tea Party. We, we are the center. Building centrist coalitions? What does that mean, then? ‘Building centrist coalitions’ means forging agreements with liberals, forging agreements with the people that lost. Let’s take the people that lost and give them some is say-so here. That’s what the AP so desperately wants.
Conservative criticism is making sure that liberal participation is being denied. Conservative criticism is seeing to it that the losers stay out of the way. Conservative criticism is making sure that the losers don’t have a say-so, and the AP is just terrified by that notion. And, of course, who do you think is leading all of this? It is I, El Rushbo. ‘Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and the Tea Party Patriots have denounced the tax plan, which previously was criticized mainly by liberals as a giveaway to the wealthy. The new reproach from conservatives is that the package would swell the federal debt while failing to make permanent the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 by then-President George W. Bush.’
Yup. Pretty much right.
‘Capitol insiders predict the full Congress will pass the tax plan before Jan. 1, when almost every American’s income tax rates would go up if a new law isn’t in place.’ You mean middle class taxes would go up? How can the middle class tax rates go up? I didn’t think there was a middle-class tax cut. You’ve been telling us the last ten years the Bush tax cuts were only tax cuts for the ‘millionaires and billionaires.’ Now look what we learning. ”The longer we wait, the harder it’s going to be,’ said Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican who is leaning against the package. He said House leaders probably are close to assembling enough support to pass it, but many GOP lawmakers are hearing from constituents who follow commentators such as Limbaugh.
‘The radio talk show host says the package should cut taxes, not leave them at the Bush-era levels.’
From The Politico: ‘With the tax-cut deal poised for Senate passage Wednesday at noon, House Republicans trying to tamp down discontent in their ranks from fiscal conservatives are issuing a simple message: This isn’t the bill we would’ve written, but it’s good enough. … House GOP leaders expect only 15 to 20 conservatives to vote against’ it without changes like the estate tax increase. Mike Pence came out forthrightly against it yesterday. ‘House GOP leaders expect only 15 to 20 conservatives to vote against President Barack Obama’s tax-cut compromise…’ There we go: ‘Obama’s tax-cut compromise.’ Obama’s tax-cut compromise? First it’s not Obama’s. Two, it’s not a tax cut.
That ‘would mean that only 60 out of 255 Democrats would have to vote for the legislation to secure passage — not a heavy lift, the majority says. The White House Tuesday said Obama and his economic team was making calls to House lawmakers to line up support for the plan.’ So there you have it, folks. It’s the Obama tax cut plan. It’s poised for passage. There are just 15 or 20 wacko conservatives opposed to it. That’s because of Limbaugh, who really thinks there ought to be tax cuts in it. Here’s Obama this morning in Washington at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
OBAMA: I am absolutely convinced that this tax cut plan, while not perfect, will help grow our economy and create jobs in the private sector. I know there are different aspects of this plan to which members of Congress on both sides of the aisle object. That’s the nature of compromise. But we worked hard to negotiate an agreement that’s a win for middle-class families and a win for our economy. We can’t afford to let it fall victim to either delay or defeat.
RUSH: Why is it ‘a win for middle-class families’? It’s a win because their taxes aren’t going up. Really? Well, now, again I must point out that for the last ten years there weren’t any middle-class tax cuts. The Bush tax rates were only for millionaires and billionaires. Now all of a sudden when the rubber meets the road, when the pedal hits the metal, all of a sudden there are middle-class tax cuts, and if this is allowed to expire, guess what? Their taxes go up. We can’t have that. So now we have ‘the Obama tax-cut compromise.’ Here is a media montage of all these people out there who are reacting to the news that I am leading the opposition.
JESSICA YELLIN: Critics who have come out on the far right against this compromise include Rush Limbaugh…
ROBERT B. REICHHHH: Rush Limbo (sic). A lot of the Republican caucus are now coming out…
TAMRON HALL: …Rush Limbaugh and some other conservatives chiming in now.
BRIAN KILMEADE: Rush Limbaugh. Totally against it.
CARL QUINTANILLA: Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin don’t like it.
EZRA KLEIN: Republicans are running away from this. Limbaugh, Palin, Romney.
MARTHA MacCALLUM: Rush Limbaugh’s very much against this tax plan.
RICHARD WOLFFE: We’re now in a situation where Rush Limbaugh and MoveOn[.org] agree with each other.
RUSH: (doing impression) ‘Each oth-ah.’ That’s Richard Wolffe in the take, in the can with Obama over there. So, yeah. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I, El Rushbo, am the extremist. I am the far right extremist. (laughing) What am I standing for? I’m standing for tax cuts. I mean, ‘Obama’s tax cut compromise,’ that’s impressive even for AP. Every word’s a lie. Every word is a lie! ‘The Obama tax cut compromise,’ and of course Limbaugh’s opposed to it, but he doesn’t have any real sway. Only 15 to 20 House Republicans are opposed to the bill. ‘The Obama tax cut compromise’ is poised to see the light of day. Last night on Hardball, Chris Matthews talking about the tax rate compromise, said this.
MATTHEWS: Here’s Rush Limbaugh this Friday saying where he stands. Wuh-wuh-wuh… Here’s Rush Limbawww. Let’s listen.
RUSH ARCHIVE: I now hope this deal fails. I say it directly and officially. [edit] Let the tax rates go up on January 1st. Let ’em go up. Wait for our cavalry to show up and deal with this the right way.
MATTHEWS: Exactly! That’s what the president was worried about, what Rush Limbaugh beautifully put. What he wants to happen is nothing gets passed this year, the cavalry — I think he stole that word from me, meaning the Republicans. They control the House, are effectively gonna have control of the Senate on this issue if you count the numbers.
RUSH: Matthews, he knows what’s going on here. The Republican winners in November are being aced out, having no say-so in this. It passed the Senate just now. ‘The Obama tax cut compromise’ passed the Senate 81-19. The Obama tax cut compromise. So here’s Matthews: ‘Yay! That’s Rush, exactly right. That’s what the president was worried about. Rush Limbaugh put this beautifully.’ So the same show last night, Matthews spoke with former Democrat National Committee chairman The Punk, Terry McAuliffe, about all of this, and Matthews says, ‘Let me ask you about Rush Limbaugh. We’re all looking at the same facts. Rush was just on the radio. Here he is saying, ‘I wish they didn’t have a bill. I wish cut a deal because I’m hoping let the taxes go up again January 1st. Then the Republicans come in, own the House,’ effectively I think they would have the vote in the Senate, too, ‘and the ones that cut taxes,’ he called it ‘the cavalry,’ same image I used. Isn’t that a good argument of the progressives that both presidents had to do this, otherwise the cavalry would come in in January and jam this down the throats of the country?’
MCAULIFFE: This is what you gotta respect about President Obama, and you gotta give him credit for moving forward with this. It wasn’t about politics. It was about doing something immediately now with our economy in such a very difficult position. Put all the politics aside, let us move forward, let’s do it jointly. The public wanted to see, you know, our politicians working together. They’re sick of the fighting. So I give President Obama tremendous credit.
RUSH: So now we have the entire meaning of the November election being rewritten, too. This was all about people working together. By God, what a victory Obama had in November! What a brilliant guy. Man, he got out in front of this. Why, it wasn’t about politics! (stifling laughter) Of course not. No. It was for the good of the country. Right. The good of the country would mean Obama resigns. Short of that, everything that continues to happen is not for the good of the country. That’s the only thing that’s gonna help this country is if he resigns, and we know that isn’t gonna happen. But now look: It’s ‘the Obama tax cut compromise’ and the meaning of the November election was that we wanted to see these guys in Washington working together led by President Obama.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: One other little item on this before we get to your phone calls. The tax bill has just passed the Senate. The Obama tax cut compromise just passed the Senate 81-19. Do you remember how this all got started? The White House dispatched Bite Me over to talk to Mitch McConnell about this. And, in fact, the National Journal reports: ‘The bill, the product of an agreement reached by the White House and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., would extend all Bush-era tax cuts –‘ blah, blah, blah. That’s not how tax bills happen in the Constitution of the United States. Tax bills happen in the House of Representatives. Every tax-and-spend piece of legislation originates in the people’s House. Obama sent Bite Me over to Mitch McConnell to talk about this and it’s a problem. One, it’s not kosher with the Constitution.
Number two — ah, jeez. Well, let’s face it. There are a bunch of Republicans who really want to try to get as much of this stuff out of the way before the cavalry arrives. A lot of Republicans are not happy that the Tea Party people are showing up in January. So let’s get this out of the way so they can’t affect it, a bunch of Republicans that don’t want to fight; a bunch of Republicans who don’t want to try to repeal Obamacare. They don’t think they can. They’re not gonna control government, so let’s just shut this down as quick as we can. We’re not gonna run the government; we’re not gonna have the power; we don’t want these Tea Party people coming in here; they don’t know how this place works; let’s not have them coming in here and have a whole lot of say so about what’s going on.
So the White House calls the Senate, ‘How about you guys and I come to a deal on this and screw the Tea Party?’ ‘Okay, we can talk about that.’ This is not how this is supposed to happen. Tax bills, spending bills originate in the House of Representatives. You can look it up. I mean if Republicans in the House want to oppose it for that reason and stand by that, they could. Don’t have to listen to me. (interruption) No, I don’t expect them to. I’m a purist. Constitution matters to me, but that’s just me. I’m just an old fuddy-duddy. ‘Do you believe this guy Limbaugh actually still believes the Constitution crap? Ha-ha-ha. Still reads that stuff? My God. No wonder what we’re up against, ah, gee whiz, he still really thinks that matters. Limbaugh still thinks that matters, no wonder we got a problem. All right, well, look, yeah, send somebody in the White House down here and we’ll take care of this.
So there you have it. All right, now, I fully intended to get to phone calls in that segment, but it didn’t happen. Oh, yeah, it’s setting up to be a fun two years. You know, we’ve often heard that journalism’s the first write of history. Journalism is the first revision of history. Journalists are trying to tell us that what happened in November didn’t happen and that what happened didn’t happen for the reasons it did.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: This is Janet in Cleveland. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Rush, I love you as much as I do my husband. I want to talk to you about Sherrod Brown. He said he would vote ‘no’ on this tax bill and in today’s newspaper he said that he was going to vote ‘yes’ after he talked to his minister. Hello, do we talk maybe like for forgiveness? And also reading constituent concerns, the voters’ concerns, I’ve already sent three e-mails to him and the fourth one is on its way. His name is on the naughty list not only for Santa Claus but for the voters of 2012. He has nothing but a hook in his nose and he follows the powers that be wherever they go.
RUSH: Well, you’re talking about Sherrod Brown here?
CALLER: Yep.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: Loud and clear.
RUSH: He said he was gonna vote against it and then he went and talked to a man of the cloth?
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: Yeah, he knows one?
CALLER: (laughing) I doubt it. Did he talk to the White House man of the cloth?
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: I have no idea.
RUSH: You’re not surprised, are you?
CALLER: No.
RUSH: This guy’s been whatever he is —
CALLER: No.
RUSH: — for who knows how long.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Well, 2012, that’s the magic year for Sherrod Brown and a number other of these people. They do not know what they’re dealing with here. This arrogance, I’ll tell you, they keep this up and there aren’t gonna be any Democrats left in this government, they keep this up. Well, a few Republicans, too, but I mean this is spitting in the face, this is urinating in our pool, folks. I cannot describe what these people are doing here. And they think they’re sneaking this through, they think you’re out there Christmas shopping and reveling it up here and waiting for old Santa to come down the chimney.