RUSH: Here is Baghdad Jim McDermott. Now, this sound bite kind of goes with what Ian was saying about how people dependent on government, our message can’t be something that’s gonna make them think they’re alone. Our message can’t be something that’s gonna make them feel vulnerable, gonna do everything for themselves.
This is C-SPAN’s Washington Journal today, and a caller called in, guy named Dennis in Maryland, and said, “How is it that the Republicans can get people to vote against their own interests?” How is it, Baghdad Jim, that Republicans can get people to vote against — now, what he’s talking about, their own interests is voting for government, voting for Obamacare, voting for all kinds of government programs. How can the Republicans convince people to vote against themselves? And here’s what Baghdad Jim said.
MCDERMOTT: People have been subjected to a hundred million-dollar campaign for the last three years, including the presidential campaign, saying Obamacare is bad for you, and if you keep pounding on people and they don’t have any other information, they respond to it that way. They’re gonna find out when other people are benefiting from it. When the guy down the street has health insurance and doesn’t lose his house when he gets sick, they’re gonna say, “You know something? We ought to have that.”
RUSH: See? Okay. When the guy down the street has health insurance and doesn’t lose his house when he gets sick, then everybody else is gonna say, “You know what? I want that! I don’t want to lose my house when I get sick.” Well, who is? See, this is the thing: Who is losing their house when they get sick? I would venture to say nobody is losing their house when they get sick.
But this is what, I guess, we’re up against. We gotta deal with a bunch of lies, essentially, propaganda that people have been inculcated with and that they believe it now. Now “getting sick” equals “bankruptcy,” and therefore we need Obamacare. And if you have Obamacare and you get sick, you will not lose your house and you won’t go bankrupt. But everybody that doesn’t have Obamacare will lose their house.
You don’t want to be one of those people. (interruption)
See, Snerdley, if you start talking about it to anybody like that, you’re gonna lose ’em. See, if you start saying, “Yeah, but if you sign up for Obamacare, you’re not gonna have any money for anything else and you’ll starve to death,” or, “If you sign up for Obamacare, the hospital you go to may not be in the network and you may not be able to find a doctor that will treat you,” you’ll lose ’em.
That’s Ian’s point. You lose ’em with facts and truth. Those do not work anymore. Facts and truth scare people. Facts and truth equal “doing it on your own.” Facts and truth equal: “You mean I gotta work? To hell with that!” Facts and truth make you frightened. Facts and truth scare you. Facts and truth make you feel vulnerable. Facts and truth make you think you’re on our own, that nobody’s gonna care for you. Everybody’s gonna hate you, and you’ll be all alone, and you’re gonna get stomped on.
(interruption) “Put on your big boy pants and deal with it!” You scared ’em even more when you say that. “Put on your big boy pants and deal with it”? You’re really scaring them now. You’re really making ’em feel vulnerable. You’re really making ’em feel insecure. They’re really gonna vote Democrat now when you tell ’em, “Put on your big boy pants,” ’cause now insulting ’em and you’re calling ’em sissies — which they are, but you can’t say that. You’d be in trouble.