RUSH: We welcome to our program Dr. Arthur Laffer, ladies and gentlemen, who has prepared a research paper on the Obama health care plan. I’ve admired your work, Dr. Laffer, ever since I first heard of you back in the late seventies, early eighties. It’s great to have you here. LAFFER: Well, thank you very much, Rush. It’s a pleasure. RUSH: By the way, I want to share something with you. You may not know this, but you are partially responsible for Obama becoming a community organizer, from chapter 7, page 54 of his book, Dreams from My Father: ‘There wasn’t much detail to the idea of community organizer. I didn’t know anybody making a living that way. When classmates in college asked me just what it was that a community organizer did, I couldn’t answer them directly instead I’d pronounce on the need for change, change in the White House where Reagan and his minions were carrying on their dirty deeds.’ LAFFER: (chuckling) RUSH: You were a minion doing dirty deeds. LAFFER: A minion? Minion, minion! Oh, my gosh! RUSH: (laughs) LAFFER: I don’t know if you remember, Rush, but I was on your show in studio in Sacramento, California, many, many years ago. RUSH: Oh, that’s right. You know, you’re exactly right. LAFFER: You impressed me enormously then as well as today. RUSH: Well, I thank you very much for that. It’s mutual, then. I have a summary here of your findings. Let me just run through a couple bullet points and then you can take it and expand on this. ‘The current proposals being discussed in Washington, House and Senate, would raise the total federal government expenditures by 5.6% more than otherwise, adding $285.6 billion to the deficit in 2019, would increase national health care spenders by an additional 8.9%. After all this, it would still leave 30 million Americans uninsured.’ Fill in the blanks here for us. LAFFER: Well, you know, it’s a fairly straightforward thing. Without going through the specific numbers — although I’d be more than happy to do that — you know, whenever you separate people from the purchases they make… If you walked into a store and weren’t told what anything cost and you could pick out whatever you wanted free, you’re going to be squanders, you’re going to buy things that are way too expensive that you don’t want. I mean, one of the ways controlling costs is making people responsible for their own money, for their own expenditures and that is exactly what this program does not do. It makes the separation between the patient and the doctor and health services further and further removed, and takes away all control of costs. And, frankly, as P.J. O’Rourke put it, he said, ‘If you think health care is expensive now, just wait ’til you see how much it costs when it’s free,’ and that’s exactly what we’re doing here. https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2009/08/04/rush_interviews_dr_arthur_laffer/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: Greetings to you, music lovers, thrill-seekers, conversationalists all across the fruited plain. Man, oh, man. I have such a range of emotion flowing through my arteries and veins, going to my heart and away from my heart. I’m watching these people at the Biden inauguration. They think they got it all back. They think they finally have vanquished all of their opposition. And they haven’t the slightest idea. You can hear it in the words they’re saying to each other. You can hear it in the way they’re singing their songs. You can see it in the people that showed up for this inauguration who didn’t show up four years ago for the Trump inauguration, and I have to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, I just — (crowd chanting “We love you! We love you!”) Wait a minute. What’s this? That was obviously audio from a Trump rally, one of the many that occurred before the election last November. “We love you.” https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2021/01/20/the-establishment-thinks-they-have-their-power-back-but-they-know-its-tenuous/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: All right. So look at that headline right there: “Republicans and Democrats Clash Over Police Reform.” You know what this is about? This is about an actual piece of legislation that is being argued and debated in the United States Senate. And I did a double take because that’s not how laws are made in our country anymore. The Senate and House don’t actually do anything anymore ’cause they’re all afraid to. Our laws come from regulators, unelected bureaucrats and our judges, as has just been demonstrated by these Supreme Court decisions. Josh Hawley from Missouri got it exactly right when he was complaining about Gorsuch and the decisions on the sexual discrimination cases being lapped into the 1964 Civil Rights Act. You know, to put this in perspective, to show you how we conservatives — look, folks, I don’t want to dispirit you here. I’ve already got a story here of polling data — well, a poll shows that half of Americans are unhappy. Let me find the actual headline. Yeah. “Americans Are the Unhappiest They’ve Been in 50 Years.” Not half of Americans. The unhappiest they’ve been in 50 years. Does that not make sense? https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/06/17/america-is-unhappy-because-of-the-epic-failures-of-liberalism/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: the Supreme Court rule today that states can no longer be judged by voting discrimination that went on decades ago. This is a decision that marks the end of a major civil rights-era reform, the Voting Rights Act. A 5-4 ruling, and it rewrites a key element of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which for 50 years has given the federal government unprecedented say in everything, from how states draw their congressional maps, to where they place polling locations. It was all rooted in the belief that southern states were highly discriminatory against blacks, not letting them vote, not letting them register, so the states were totally subservient to the federal government when it came to voting. https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2013/06/25/the_left_is_in_tizzy_over_the_supreme_court_ruling_on_the_voting_rights_act/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: (Northam impression) “I’ll tell you something else about old Ralph, Ralph Northam, Ralph Northam from Virginia. Ralph Northam, he doesn’t even think the Democrats really want him to quit. He thinks they’re just sayin’ it ’cause they have to. That’s what he thinks. He thinks they don’t really want him gone, and he thinks they don’t really want his lieutenant governor to sit in in the governor’s chair if they’re forcing him out. So he’s gonna hang on! “So he’s gonna hang on, ’cause ain’t no way ain’t no way some Amos ‘n’ Andy thing back in high school is gonna force him out when Donald Trump is sitting there in Oval Office after Stormy Daniels and Access Hollywood. Ol’ Ralph Northam ain’t leaving!” If they want to get Ralph Northam gone, stop all this blackface high school stuff and focus on what he said about killing babies after they’re born. (paraphrased) “Yeah, you make them comfortable, give ’em a pill, whatever you do to make an infant comfortable, and then you zap it.” That’s what Ralph Northam said. That’s what they covered up. Well, Steve Moore was on CNN brought this up. We have here Erin Burnett, we have Keith Boykin, we have April Ryan. So we got three people against one here, if you count the CNN infobabe, and listen to what happens. This is about a one-minute sound bite. Listen to what happens when Steve Moore brings up what old Ralph Northam from Virginia really, really did… https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/02/05/democrats-use-ralph-northams-racism-to-cover-up-what-he-said-about-abortion/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: Oh, do you know what I heard right before the program started? This is another great illustration of a point that I’ve been making for I don’t know how long. A quarterback in the National Football League — and I didn’t see it. It was not videotaped so I don’t know who it was. But a current quarterback in the NFL actually said, “Look, I don’t want to get political, but I would like to get back to work.” Now, when the hell did going to work become political? Right now — right here, right now — and who has made this possible? Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, all these mask-wearing freaks demanding that you use the symbol of fear, demanding that everybody wear the symbol of fear. I know why some people believe in masks, and it’s because of the success that we’ve had at grocery stores. You know, from the beginning of this, people have been able to go to the grocery store, and there has not been the widespread infections of coronavirus in grocery stores. People had to go there, and they had to go to pharmacies, and there hasn’t been a lot of infection spread. So those people in the grocery stores were all wearing masks and gloves and so the theory is that wearing the mask, wearing the gloves helped stop the spread. So if it worked in grocery stores, why not elsewhere? https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/05/27/democrats-demand-you-wear-a-symbol-of-fear/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: The Democrats now are admitting privately amongst themselves, they are admitting that they lost. Biden is out with a couple of doses of honesty that are going to be really challenging for his buds in the Democrat Party. Joe Biden in one story here says that he doesn’t think Hillary knew why she was running for president. “Vice President Biden believes Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election in part because she never figured why she was running for the nation’s highest office. ‘I don’t think she ever really figured it out,’ Biden told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published Thursday. ‘And by the way, I think it was really hard for her to decide to run.'” If you’re confused by this, just hang in. I’m gonna close the loop here and make it all make sense for you. There’s nobody better at translating these people than I am, so just be patient. https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/12/23/biden_trashes_hillary_and_democrats/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: And greetings to you, music lovers, thrill-seekers, and conversationalists all across the fruited plain. I am back again here in the saddle at the Excellence in Broadcasting Network. Three hours straight ahead. This is Friday, right? So let’s go. JOHNNY DONOVAN: And now, from sunny South Florida, it’s Open Line Friday! RUSH: Righto. Now, I have it on good authority that you people were really ticked off yesterday. I mean, those of you that called. I got an email: “Man, your callers today are great.” I haven’t — (highly overrated staff interrupts and starts singing Happy Birthday) Oh, yes, that’s right. Here we come. Happy delayed birthday. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. What kind of flavor is that? Looks like orange something or other? All right. Cool. I picked it out. So, yeah, I was 70 years old on — what was it? Tuesday? I don’t even remember. I have to back count to the 12th. Anyway, they have a delayed 70th birthday. https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2021/01/15/happy-birthday-el-rushbo-and-its-a-big-one/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: We’re gonna get to the Ukraine business, it’s gonna be the focus here. That happens to be the soap opera story. Actually, it’s not the soap opera story. This is Putin running rings around us. There’s no question what’s going on here. Vladimir Putin’s reassembling the Soviet Union. And this is something — I’ve got the sound bite — I predicted this back in 2008. And all the smart money in Washington, inside the Beltway — we’ve got these sound bites, too — they’re shocked that Putin is trying to reassemble the Soviet Union. They can’t believe it. Even Lurch — this guy, John Kerry, is shocked that Putin is actually conducting a ground war. Listen to this. Grab number 17. Let’s just get this out of the way ’cause I think it’s hilarious and it is indicative of how just outclassed we are. We’re clueless. This generation of leaders is literally clueless about our enemies. Remember something you were taught early on in this program. The purpose of any military is to kill people and break things. It’s not to advance anybody’s social agenda. It’s not a laboratory for the left’s social ideas or playgrounds. It is to kill people and break things, and the second rule is that the aggressor in any conflict sets the rules. And if they violate an existing rule book, then so be it. The aggressor sets the rules, and right now, Putin is setting the rules. I went back and did some research. In 1979 when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, ’79, ’80, they did it at Christmastime, when we were all distracted. Putin goes into Ukraine, after, by the way, colonizing Georgia. They got Georgia back now. Remember Shalikashvili and South Ossetia? Well, they got Georgia back and they’re marching now. And when did Putin do it? He sent the troops in during the Olympics that he hosted, that NBC televised and the world was watching. And then after that he continued this buildup last night during the Oscars. That is strategy. What it means to me is, in just that regard, if Putin actually made strategic decisions based on the American people being distracted it tells me that Putin believes that American public opinion still matters, in terms of impacting American leadership. https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2014/03/03/clueless_american_leaders_shocked_by_putin_s_attempt_to_reassemble_soviet_union/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: The Weekly Standard has a piece in it that, very, very rarely has this ever happened to me. In fact, I can’t ever remember it happening. I’m sure it has, ’cause it’s been 27 years I’ve been doing this. The headline of this — and it’s not a hit piece. It’s not a criticism. The headline’s gonna mislead you. The headline is: “No, Ted Cruz Did Not Invent the Term ‘Undocumented Democrat.'” Apparently Senator Cruz has been running around, after this spat with Marco Rubio on immigration and amnesty and legalization, Cruz has been using the term “undocumented Democrat” instead of “illegal alien” as a means of demonstrating what the Democrats’ interest in this whole thing is. So, now that you know that, here’s the Weekly Standard story. https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/12/22/i_ve_been_properly_credited_for_coining_the_term_undocumented_democrats/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: This is Rachel in Brooklyn. I’m glad you called, Rachel. How are you? CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thank you so much for all you’ve done for USA and we appreciate it and all the best to you. I’d like to tell you that I think President Trump has been a prince of a president, the best president the country ever, ever had. He never did anything criminal, never anything at all, and the other side has done all the criminal and illegal stuff, and it is unbelievable that they could get into all the courts illegally, change everything illegally, and he can’t go to court with his lawyers legally. Every door is closed to him. The 75-plus million people that voted for him — RUSH: Rachel, Rachel, wait a minute. I want to follow you. It’s unbelievable they could get into all the courts illegally. Who is “they”? CALLER: The lawyers of the lib Dems trying — not trying, but changing all of what was in place for safe and legal voting. Trump had nobody on his side, not the FBI, not the CIA, not the DOJ, not his AG, not the Supreme Court, not his lawyer Cohen. He was called Nazi and Hitler every other day when he is a gem of a person, a very, very loyal person to this country. A very, very loyal person, and all they did was beat him up. He was impeached. The Russians, Avenatti, everything, every day, but he stood strong. I don’t know how he did it, because it’s not even humanly possible. They were the ones that tried to have this coup year after year after year, story after story. And he withstood it, and he’s shown, and he did more than any other president. I am very proud of him. I will not ever think of what happened yesterday was his fault. There were hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Americans there gathering together because they needed comfort from what happened, and he did win the election — https://live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io/daily/2021/01/07/they-want-to-make-you-denounce-trump-and-the-maga-movement/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: Hey, folks, it’s great to be back. Really great to be back, and I need to ask you a favor. I need to you to give me a few minutes here just to get my sea legs. This has been a very, very bad couple of weeks for me. I don’t want to get into any more detail about it. Those of you have been through this know exactly what I’m talking about. But it has not been a break in the sense that it hasn’t been restful or relaxing or any kind of what people would call a vacation. But I wanted to get back, and here we are behind the Golden EIB Microphone, the Rush Limbaugh program where every show seems like the most important show, where every caller matters, every caller, people moved to the edge of their chairs to hear what the caller says, and every program reverberates with the truth that the country we are born in is the best. Great to have you with us. Telephone number is 800-282-2882. And I’m sure that numbers of you want to weigh in, and we’ll do our best here to get to as many people on the phones today as possible. If you want to send an email, the address is ElRushbo@eibnet.us. First thing I want to do, folks, I want to go back to audio sound bites. And, by the way, part of getting my sea legs today is I’m gonna be hitting this cough button a lot, not to cough, but to do other bodily things that would sound rude to do on the air. So there’s gonna be a little dead air during the program today. But that’s not a major thing. Nothing to worry about. I just want to prepare you for the fact that that is… (interruption) No, I’m talking about blowing my nose. Don’t go there, Snerdley. I’m just talking about blowing my nose. Not about other stuff. Anyway, the primary — well, it’s hard to say “primary.” So many people want to weigh in on so much today and I don’t really blame you. There’s gonna be an infinite number of emotions and explanations today, and I’m gonna be weighing in myself on all of this. But I want to take you back to October 10th, 2016. This is before the election in 2016. This is before Donald Trump stunned the world in 2016. And the reason I want to play the sound bite for you is that I warned everybody of the very real possibility of what we are living through today. And can I tell you what we’re living through today? https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2021/01/07/i-warned-you-about-what-were-living-through-today/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: Here’s another think piece for you. From the Associated Press out of New York: “Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday proposed cutting the penalty for public possession of a small amount of marijuana, a change in state law that would defuse some criticism of the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy in minority communities. With three weeks remaining in the legislative session, Cuomo said his bill to reduce the criminal misdemeanor to a violation with a fine up to $100 would save thousands of New Yorkers, disproportionately black and Hispanic youths, from unnecessary arrests and criminal charges. https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/06/06/defining_deviancy_down_in_new_york/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: Paula in Hartland, Wisconsin, I’m glad you waited. Welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program. CALLER: Rush, so cool to talk to you. Anyway, I’m gonna get right to my point like I was instructed. Rush, I had a thought doing some reading this morning. I understand that Harry Reid and some Democratic senators are gonna try to push through some changes in the filibuster rules. And as I got thinking about it, I said, ‘Man, I hope I can get Rush today because I need his input on this,’ and I’m thinking, ‘Well, the House is now Republican so it’s really not gonna matter as far as legislation goes,’ but I’m thinking, ‘The Senate does all the judicial and federal nominations, approves them,’ and I’m thinking that since Obama’s agenda is really going nowhere legislatively, that the Democrats are looking at this as a way to load the courts with as radical judges as they can to try to keep their agenda moving forward. RUSH: Well, now — CALLER: What do you think? RUSH: — you know, you are incredibly shrewd, and I mean this. You are incredibly shrewd. I just want to bring one small correction. Their desire to get rid of the filibuster in the Senate goes beyond judicial nominations. They really want to get rid of it. They’ve lost and the filibuster is now an obstacle. So of course, ‘It’s outdated, it’s outmoded, it’s a fetish, and we have to get rid of it. We’ve gotta get rid of this requirement that says we have to have 60 votes to get anything done. That’s just antiquated.’ It held them back. So they’re serious about it in terms of legislation. But the way this breaks down legally is quite fascinating, and a lot of people are calling Republicans hypocrites for opposing the change in filibuster rule, and the reason… https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2011/01/05/senate_dems_target_filibuster_rule/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: This is Keith in Atlanta. It’s great to have you, Keith. How are you doing, sir? CALLER: I’m great, Rush. Thanks for taking my call. RUSH: You bet. CALLER: I’ve been a listener since the early nineties and I’ve always been a fan of your nicknames. I think you and Trump have a unique talent for that. And one that I’ve always gotten a chuckle out of that I almost feel like it’s a private joke because I’m not sure that everybody gets it, is Dingy Harry. I’m pretty sure I know the origins of it, and I was wondering if you’d indulge me. RUSH: Sure. Harry Reid to me was dirty. This is a guy lying about Mitt Romney not paying his taxes. This is the guy who tried to get me censured and apologized for, for claiming I was opposed to the U.S. military by creating a phony soldier. And, by the way, we raised $4 million off of the letter he wrote. The guy that was running Clear Channel at the time was Mark Mays. And you want to talk about a brave CEO, Mark Mays, he’s one of the sons of Lowry Mays, the founder of Clear Channel. https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/11/01/how-did-you-come-up-with-the-name-dingy-harry-rush/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/12/23/from-the-remco-caravelle-to-a-household-name-in-all-four-corners-of-the-world/ From the Remco Caravelle to a Household Name in All Four Corners of the World Dec 23, 2020 RUSH: Greetings and welcome back, my friends. It’s great to have you here. This is Rush Limbaugh, the most-listened-to radio talk show in the country. You made it so. I have eternal, never-ending gratitude for all of you for so much. You have meant so much to me. You’ve meant so much to my family. You have meant so much to the happiness and joy that I have been able to experience. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/02/07/what-a-week-im-one-of-the-luckiest-people-alive/ What a Week! I’m One of the Luckiest People Alive Feb 7, 2020 RUSH: What a week. What an incredible week. I mean, from beginning to end. And it’s still going. And there is still winning that’s happening today. Just incredible. And I’m gonna tell you something, folks. One of the things I’m gratified about — you know, I don’t like to brag, and I don’t like to say, “notice me.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/02/18/a-big-thank-you-to-chrissie-hynde/ A Big Thank You to Chrissie Hynde Feb 18, 2020 MUSIC: (My City Was Gone) RUSH: This song that you’re hearing is a looped version of the intro to a song by Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders called My City Was Gone. I’m calling attention to this because I haven’t talked about this song in many, many moons, and I don’t know how many of you know where the song is from. You so identify it with this program — understandably so, after 30-plus years. But this song is used with the permission of one of the most legendary female performers in rock, Chrissie Hynde. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2018/08/01/a-trip-back-to-pittsburgh-and-sacramento/ A Trip Down Memory Lane Through Archival Sound Bites Aug 1, 2018 RUSH: Now, I said at the beginning, we don’t have a lot of audio from way back. We’ve done all that for the 10th anniversary, the 20th anniversary, and some for the 25th. But we do have some things here that I don’t think that we’ve aired — and if we have aired them, it’s been so long ago that I don’t even remember. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

RUSH: Here is Vaughan in Columbiana, Ohio. Great to have you on Open Line Friday. Hi. CALLER: Good afternoon, Rush! How are you, sir? RUSH: I’m doing well. Thank you much. CALLER: Well, good. Mega dittos from a longtime listener since the early nineties. Hey, as I’m standing here lookin’ at the snow and contemplating the season, a question comes up that I could only ask you probably on Open Line Friday. So here goes. Back in the early or mid-nineties, you introduced your audience to Mannheim Steamroller, and I’ve amassed a collection of their Christmas music and just absolutely loved it. I’m about it year older than you, Rush, and, like you, I have come to acquire a fair amount of hearing loss. https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2018/12/07/how-your-host-hears-music-with-a-cochlear-implant/ Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.