RUSH: You know what the meme of the day is today? “It’s over.” It’s over, and the reason it’s over is the Clinton bump. All of the polls that show… There’s another poll out. I don’t know which one it is. There’s another poll out that shows at least half, if not more than half, of the country thinks Obama’s better suited to deal with the economy than Romney.
And the reason why this is the case is the Clinton bump from the convention, and the Clinton bump from the Democrat convention is this (impression): “There is nobody who could have fixed this, not even I. There is nobody who coulda done any better than what Barack Obama has done. This was such a mess. There isn’t a single president that’s alive or dead that coulda done any better. And I’m gonna tell you right now:
“There’s nobody that cares more than Barack Obama. He’s working as hard as I ever worked to get this done for you, and he’s going to do it if you just give him more time.” That’s the Clinton bump, and that is said to have worked. Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard was on Fox this morning. He said that the polls indicate that most people believe Clinton when he said that nobody coulda done any better than Obama has done in reviving the economy. They think he works hard.
The Democrat convention worked, because the message from Michelle Obama and everybody else was, “Boy, this guy works hard because he cares.” That worked. Tom Brokaw said it’s gonna take a UFO for Romney to win. So that’s the meme of the day, and then I got an e-mail last night. Subject line: “So How Do We Explain This?” It’s early voting out of Iowa. And here’s the ratio. According to I think it was the Des Moines Register, 100,000 Democrats have early voted and 6,000 Republicans.
So the indication there is that the Democrats are far more enthusiastic than anybody knows, and the Republicans don’t care, and the reason the Republicans don’t care is that Romney’s campaign isn’t exciting anybody. That’s the theme for the day. That’s the media theme. That’s the narrative or what have you. That’s what’s out there.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: The theme is it’s gonna take a UFO for Romney to win. It’s over, as Tom Brokaw said. These polls, even if it’s not Obama eight, ten, 12, it’s over.
“Rush, come on. You have to admit…” I heard this all night last night, folks. “You gotta admit, it’s looking bad. Obama’s gaining ground. He’s gaining ground everywhere! The Clinton bump. The economy, economic news is bad, yeah, but people don’t care. They think he’s really trying. They think he’s working hard and just gonna take some more time. They don’t think anybody else coulda done any better, and besides that, what’s Romney doing to thrill anybody?
“Romney’s not jazzing anybody. Come on, Rush, maybe not be eight/12 points, but you know…” That’s the meme. Let’s just continue go to the Stack, okay, ripping things off the top. I didn’t put ’em any particular order. This is Weekly Standard, Jeffrey Anderson. “For all of the wishful thinking in the mainstream press about President Obama’s positioning 40 days before this election, Obama’s approval rating looks remarkably similar to what it was on this date in 2010 — shortly before his party lost a historic 63 House seats and 6 Senate seats.
“On September 27, 2010 — exactly two years ago — Rasmussen Reports showed Obama’s net approval rating among likely voters to be minus-3 percentage points (with 48% approving and 51% disapproving). Among those who felt ‘strongly,’ Obama’s net approval rating was minus-14 points (with 27% ‘strongly’ approving and 41% ‘strongly’ disapproving). Today, Rasmussen Reports shows Obama’s net approval rating among likely voters to be minus-3 points (with 48% approving and 51% disapproving).
“Among those who feel ‘strongly,’ Obama’s net approval rating is minus-14 points (with 28% ‘strongly’ approving and 42% ‘strongly’ disapproving). So, two years after the biggest Republican gains in the House since before World War II, Americans remain every bit as unimpressed with the way Obama is handling his job as president as they were then.” Well, I don’t know how that fits in with the fact that it’s over.
I don’t know how.
How do we plug this into “The Clinton bump,” and “voters overwhelmingly prefer Obama to fix the economy ’cause he really cares, and he’s working really hard; he’s very likable, and nobody coulda done any better”? How does that fit? I keep asking about 2010, by the way, “These polls with all these heavily weighted Democrat samples are using vote turnout in 2008 and even 2004. Well, why not 2010?”
They all come back at me and say, “Well, that wasn’t a presidential race, Mr. Limbaugh. You don’t know how we do our jobs here. You’re trying to find good news where there isn’t any, Mr. Limbaugh, and I appreciate that you have to do that for your audience but, really, you can’t look at 2010. No, 2010 has no relationship to what is happening now.”
“Oh, it doesn’t?”
“No, Mr. Limbaugh.”
Political professionals, my friends, are telling me this. I’m e-mailing them back and forth. I’m asking these polling professionals: “Why is nobody look at 2010?”
“Well, that’s because you don’t understand how we do things. You know, you’re good on the radio, Mr. Limbaugh, but you don’t really understand that we can’t look at 2010. It’s not a presidential race. There’s nothing about 2010 that tells us a thing about 2012.”
“Oh. Oh. Okay.”
So then I heard Steve Hayes today on Fox basically say, “Yep, the polls are saying that there was a big Clinton bump and that everybody thinks Obama really cares and he really, really, really is trying, and just needs more time. And nobody coulda done any better.”
What’s next in the Sack? Peel this away. See. This is Rasmussen Reports, trust on issues: “51% Trust Romney More on Economy, 44% Trust Obama More — Mitt Romney continues to hold a seven-point lead in voter trust over President Obama when it comes to the economy…” But that’s not the theme today. The theme today is that there was a Clinton bump. You mighta heard about this. Clinton did a speech at the Democrat convention in which he said (impression), “I tell you, folks, this is such a mess.
“This economy is such a mess there isn’t a sitting president, there isn’t a former president, there’s not a dead president who coulda done any better. Not even I! No, not even I. And I had one of the greatest economies ever. You know that. I had growth. You remember that. Not even I coulda fixed this, and there’s nobody working harder than old Barack and nobody — nobody! — nobody cares more.” (deep sigh) Clinton bump. “51% Trust Romney More on Economy, 44% Trust Obama More.”
“Yeah, but, Rush, the Romney campaign is such a bore. It’s just dryball. There’s nothing exciting people. It’s really over, Rush.”
Okay, I get it. What’s the next one here? CNN: “Workers Give Up in Los Angeles — The unemployment rate has been falling lately in Los Angeles County, but not for the right reasons. Last month, the jobless rate for the county fell to 11%, down from 12.4% a year earlier. While that’s far higher than the 8.1% unemployment rate for the nation as a whole, it nevertheless seems to show progress for [LA]… right?
“Wrong. In Los Angeles, the falling unemployment rate is slightly misleading, just as it has been for the country overall. When surveyed by the government, fewer LA residents say they’re unemployed compared to a year ago. But it’s not because they’re finding jobs. It’s because they’re dropping out of the labor force altogether.” Oh. “Just over 100,000 of workers have left the Los Angeles labor force since the beginning of the year, according to seasonally adjusted data from the California Employment Development Department.”
So workers, they’re leaving. They’re leaving the job market. That’s why unemployment is falling. Nobody’s getting jobs; they’re just leaving. Some are leaving the state literally. Some are just leaving the job market. I had a story the last show and I didn’t get to it. What is it? Comcast is shutting down thousands of jobs in California and leaving because of business conditions. And Governor “Moonbeam” Brown moved into action and chastised Comcast. (paraphrased exchange) “You better not blame the state economy for that!”
Comcast reissued a statement and said, “We’re not leaving because of business climate here. We’ve got different opportunities in a different state.” California put out a statement, “It’s good that they clarified that they’re not leaving because of lousy economic conditions in the state,” but they are. So Comcast is shutting down in California, and Campbell’s soup is shutting down thousands of jobs in Sacramento. That was announced yesterday. They’re leaving.
But the Clinton bump!
Nobody could do any better.
No, the American people are fully on board with Obama here on the economy.
Romney doesn’t have a prayer now.
It’s over.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: From the top of the Stack here (I’m just ripping things off, didn’t put anything in order today), the Weekly Standard: “Americans’ Incomes Have Fallen $3,040 During the Obama ‘Recovery’ — Americans must be wondering how much more of this ‘recovery’ they can afford. New figures from the Census Bureau … show that the typical American householdÂ’s real (inflation-adjusted) income has actually dropped 5.7% during the Obama ‘recovery.'” It gets worse: “[I]ncomes have dropped even more during the ‘recovery’ than they did during the recession.”
The average American income is off $3,000 during the Obama recovery, but, boy, there’s the Clinton bump! Obama cares, and he’s really been working hard, and nobody coulda done any better. Under any president you woulda lost the $3,000, so that doesn’t matter. And since Obama cares and works hard, that’s why we’re told today that it’s over. The American people vote Obama when it comes to the economy, even despite news like this.
Exactly.
And, by the way, Jay-Z, Jay-Z said (paraphrased), “You know what? We need a smaller government. I believe in a smaller government, but I’m with Obama ’cause he black. I gotta respect a man who is the first black president ever.” That’s Jay-Z. You know what? Obama didn’t even have to give him a phone.
WOMAN: Obama!
REPORTER: You got an Obama phone?
WOMAN: (screaming) Yes! Everybody in Cleveland, low minorities, got Obama phone. Keep Obama in president, you know? He gave us a phone!
REPORTER: He gave you a phone?
WOMAN: He gonna do more!
REPORTER: How did he give you a phone?
WOMAN: You sign up. If you’re… If you on food stamps, you on Social Security, you got low income, you disability…
REPORTER: Okay, what’s wrong with Romney, again?
WOMAN: Romney, he sucks! Bad!
RUSH: That’s exactly right. Exactly right. So, by the way, back to this Jeffrey Anderson Weekly Standard story reporting the average American income has fallen $3,000 during the recovery. In fact, “incomes have dropped even more during the [Obama] ‘recovery’ than they did during the recession. … Two of the groups hit hardest have been ones that turned out in abundance for Obama in 2008: black Americans and younger Americans (those between the ages of 25 and 34).
“During the first three years of the Obama ‘recovery,’ the real median household income for black Americans dropped a whopping 11.1%.” But he’s black, and he’s getting their vote. Cell phones or whatever it takes. That income drop of 11%? Bush did it. Bush did that. And, you know what? There’s nobody working harder and nobody cares more about reversing this than Obama. Three and a half years is just not enough time. He’s gonna work even harder on it. It’s just gonna take maybe three, four, five more years, and Bill Clinton — the Clinton bump! — says, “There’s nobody who could have done any better.”
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RUSH: From the Wall Street Journal again, here the top of the Stack: “Chicago Business Barometer Falls Below 50 for First Time Since 2009 — US manufacturers suffered a slide in new orders during September, sending the keenly watched Chicago Business Barometer down to a seasonally adjusted 49.7 from 53.0 in August, the first contraction in three years.” But nobody cares about that.