RUSH: Okay, now to the House committee looking into Jonathan Gruber. Ranking Democrat on the committee is Elijah Cummings, former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucasians. All of these ranking members get to make opening remarks before the interrogation begins. And we have a portion of Elijah Cummings’ opening remarks.

CUMMINGS: As far as I can tell, we are here today to beat up on Jonathan Gruber for stupid, I mean, absolutely stupid comments. They were responsible, incredibly disrespectful, and did not reflect reality, and they were indeed insulting. Dr. Gruber does not speak for me nor the chairman of the other committees who worked tirelessly on this bill. Never once did I believe or did anyone suggest that we were somehow hiding our goals from the American people. But worst of all, Dr. Gruber’s statements gave Republicans a public relations gift.

RUSH: You see, that’s the rub. Worst of all, not the lies. He may have told lies. Not the fact that he’s lying about what he told Americans. No, no. The worst offense that this Gruber guy did, and that’s why he’s there to be beat up — how about that lingo from a member of Congress? “As far as I could tell, we are here today to beat up on Jonathan Gruber for stupid comments.” (laughing) No, the real offense was he gave Republicans a PR gift. That’s why he’s being thrown overboard. That’s why he’s being keelhauled under the bus.

That’s why he’s just being destroyed today, ’cause this guy couldn’t shut up, and he had to run around and brag about how they did this, because they did mislead the American people, on purpose. Gruber has admitted that he was telling the truth when he said all that on those YouTube videos, that he was not lying. But the worst part of it all is it gave the Republicans a PR gift.

But Congressman Cummings, don’t sweat it. They’re not using it. The Republicans are not using the PR gift in any way, shape, manner, or form. Here’s the second sound bite. This is from Elijah Cummings questioning, and here he scolds Gruber for giving the Republicans a gift and asks him to answer to the Republicans.

CUMMINGS: I gotta tell you, they were insulting. They were especially harmful because they gave the opponents of the ACA a PR gift. Man, you did — you did a great job, you wrapped it up with a bow. My question is this. Sitting here today, what do you say to those people who are trying to eliminate the ACA?

GRUBER: I would say that I made a series of inexcusable and offensive comments —

RUSH: Right.

GRUBER: — where I conjectured —

RUSH: Uh-huh.

GRUBER: — with the tone of expertise —

RUSH: Right.

GRUBER: — to try to make myself seem smarter by demeaning others. And I apologize for that. But that my flaws as a private citizen, not a politician, not a political advisor, my flaws as a private citizen —

RUSH: Oh, my God.

GRUBER: — should not reflect on either the process by which the ACA was passed or the success of that law itself.

RUSH: Gee, you talk about a guy falling on the sword! (laughing) Here he’s got the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucasians leaning down on him, looking down on him (imitating Cummings), “You idiot, you reprobate. We are here to beat you up because you gave the enemies of the ACA a huge gift.”

(imitating Gruber) “You’re right, I was stupid, I was dumb, inexcusable, my comments were offensive, and I was trying to make myself seem smarter than I am by demeaning others. I apologize. I’m really not that much smarter than anybody else, maybe a little bit, not as much as I lied about, and I am flawed. Oh, as a private citizen, I am so flawed. I’m not a politician. I’m not nearly as good as you. I’m not nearly as adept as you. I’m not nearly as skilled as you. I’m not nearly as qualified as you. I have diarrhea of the mouth, Congressman, and I can’t stop myself talking about how wonderfully brilliant I am, when we all know I’m a stupid idiot.” That is the essence of Gruber’s answer to Elijah Cummings. But he wasn’t through. Here’s a portion of his opening statement.

GRUBER: I’d like to begin by apologizing sincerely for the offending comments that I’ve made. In some cases I made uninformed and glib comments about the political process behind health care reform. I sincerely apologize for conjecturing with a tone of expertise and for doing so in such a disparaging fashion. It’s never appropriate to make oneself seem more important or smarter by demeaning others. I knew better, I know better, I’m embarrassed, and I’m sorry.

RUSH: And I’m not worthy. I’m certainly not worthy of being a ranking member of the Regime. I’m not worthy of being a ranking member of the party. I’ll just have to make a go of it at MIT, where at least they respect me.

But now is when he’s lying. Now that he’s under oath, ’cause clearly he was happy insulting people. He was happy acting smarter than anybody else. He was happy bragging how they relied on what he thought was the stupidity of the American people.

In truth, let me say again, what Gruber was really doing was admitting the American people would have figured it out so they had to lie to the American people. He really, when you get down to it, was afraid. He was afraid the American people would understand exactly what the scam was and that’s why they had to lie. He’s out there talking about how they used the economic stupidity of the American people in order to make this thing happen. But he knew full well, just like every one of these Democrats know, if they ever go public with full honesty about their agenda, they’re toast.

Even now, even after six years of Obama, they’re toast if they’re honest about it. They have to misdirect. They have to cover up. They have to deflect. They have to lie about who they are and what they really want to do. I mean, if he was relying on the stupidity of the American people, he’d be bragging about how they were honest. “Oh, yeah, we came out, we were honest. We told people your taxes are gonna go up. You’re not gonna be able to keep your doctor. You’re not gonna keep your plan, and they still voted for it, these idiots.”

But that’s not what happened. He had to lie to ’em. This guy is in so deep, as all narcissists end up being, that he doesn’t know where to go. So he’s just taking his medicine now. And he’s relying on his counsel to answer questions about how much money he was paid and all that.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Who’s next? Dan in Monroe, Georgia. You’re next. Glad you called, Dan, and welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Thank you, Rush. It’s honor to talk to you.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: As recently as 25 years ago, lying was a death knell. Going way back, it was the end of your career. You maybe had to change schools for your kids; you didn’t get a job in that field again. Lying was it, you know? A man’s word is only as good, blah, blah, blah.

RUSH: Well, now! Wait, wait, wait, wait! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! I want to get examples of what you’re talking about.” Twenty-five years ago, lying was a death knell, and it could have been the end of your career.” Who? What kind of people.

CALLER: There were a few incidents with reporters when they were found out, and they were terminated. I don’t know if they ever worked again. They didn’t get their job back where they were working.

RUSH: Oh.

CALLER: When a teacher, say.

RUSH: Okay. So you’re talking about I remember like the Stephen Glasses and the Janice what’s-her-faces —

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: — like they did plagiarism or totally made it up their papers fired ’em.

CALLER: And that was it for you. If you did it in your workplace.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: If you lied, and then your report came out or your audit, everybody connected was gone. Everybody in show business, if you were caught plagiarizing something or if you just said, “I made this stuff on my own,” you were done. Jokes? People used to get on there. Now it’s everywhere! Everyone is lying. They’re lying to us; they know we know they’re lying. They have coaches to help ’em lie. All of the news is like Comedy Central without the laughs. Everything is a lie.

RUSH: Well, wait.

CALLER: It’s overpowering.

RUSH: Comedy Central doesn’t have any laughs either.

CALLER: Or Saturday Night Live. (chuckles) That was my other option was Saturday Night Live. But the point is we know they’re not telling us all the truth, and back in the day the government… Okay, they didn’t tell you everything, but, oh, what they told you was as close to the truth as they could get.

RUSH: Weeeeell, yeah.

CALLER: They just left it out. What I’m saying is, ever since, I don’t know, maybe there was a president who just lied and smiled. They do everything but wink at you when they’re telling you this. You know Gruber’s been in contact with ’em. He won’t say it; they won’t say it. You know he was in the White House.

RUSH: Gruber is going to get away with it.

CALLER: It’s not just them. It’s everywhere.

RUSH: There’s no question. Gruber’s gonna get away with it. Look, I know what you’re talking about. I can’t think of any… I think I mentioned one yesterday or the day before, one of these examples in the past and how it’s vastly different today. There’s no stigma to lying or making things up in journalism today like there used to be, and there’s no stigma to…

Oh, I was talking about victimology. That’s what it was. In the old days, people would openly say, “I’m not playing the victim. I’m not.” It was embarrassing. You were scorned if you whined and moaned and complained to be a victim of something, and the reaction used to be, “Well, gut it up! Buck up, man! Don’t play the victim,” and people didn’t.

Just as being on unemployment compensation or welfare not too long ago was not something you bragged about. You didn’t want people to know. There was a stigma to it. Now being a victim is to be heroic. Being a victim is a ticket. Victimhood opens doors. It’s almost as though there is valor. It’s almost as though there is valor attached to being a victim because you’ve been victimized by the true enemies in this country.

Anyway, Dan, I appreciate it the call. Thanks very much.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Screw the Gruber sound bites. You don’t need to hear any more of these things. It’s more of Gruber, “Yes, I’m worthless. Yes I’m not worthy. Yes, you’re much smarter than I am. I’ll stick it in my tea, didn’t mean anything by it. I’ll spank myself. Sorry all the trouble I caused. Obamacare’s great and I didn’t lie about it, and the American people are brilliant.” Whoop-de-doo.