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RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, I am required to do this so rarely that whenever I do do it, I always call great attention to it, precisely because it is such a rare occurrence. But I must say that I was wrong, and this is going to detract from my opinion audit. At present I am documented to be almost always right 99.5% of the time. But I rendered an opinion on this health care summit -- that is the Republicans should not go -- and I was wrong. I want to announce this, not only to the Republicans. (interruption) I don't think it's... (interruption) Well, Snerdley is saying, "There are still three hours to go here. This might be a little premature." At this stage, I'll reserve the right to retract my announcement that I'm wrong. I do want to make it at this stage of the game, halftime of the health care summit. I want to announce to the media: I was wrong.
I want to announce to the Republicans that I was wrong. I want to announce to all of you in this audience that I was wrong when I advised the Republicans to skip this summit. (interruption) What's unseemly, for me to admit that I was wrong? I know. It's very difficult for people to deal with this. (interruption) Well, I'm not a slave to my accuracy rating. I don't do things just to keep the rating up. You know, I'm not concerned about polls. I just report what our opinion audit is. But the Republicans need to be commended here for having a pretty good strategery of going up there and ramming this down their throats and not rolling over and playing dead, not rolling over and talking about bipartisanship and not saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mr. President, we really want to work with you. We want to get along." They are taking it to him.
I mean, the president here has been slapped around the room -- rhetorically, politically. The president and his team and the Democrats know it. I mean, when we're reduced here to Louise Slaughter! Isn't it cool how she can automatically turn on a Mississippi accent any time she wants even though she's from New York? When Louise Slaughter (who apparently forgets there's something called Medicaid out there that helps people with teeth, poor people), "Oh, can you believe there's a woman in my district who's wearing her dead sister teeth? Of course it's uncomfortable! And they don't fit. Do you ever believe something like this ever happened in America?" My friends, I was wrong. It is the Democrats, Harry Reid, Pelosi, Obama, Biden, who are coming off like the most unlikable, mean, petulant people that they are. The media can't cover for them in real time. This is on display for whoever it is that's watching this.
I want to commend the Republicans for, at least up to now, sticking to the high arguments of this and making hash out of Obama and the Democrats. So let it be noted that on February 25th at 1:35 Eastern Time: I, Rush Limbaugh, acknowledged being wrong about the Republicans attending the summit. I thought they shouldn't go. And one of the reasons I thought they shouldn't go, if you recall, was the polling data. They're worried about being called the party of "no," then we were happy to be the party of "no." Fox News/Opinion Dynamics on health care: 47% say start over; 23% say do nothing; 23% say pass the current bill. So if you add it up, 70-23 against the current bill. CNN/Opinion Research: 48%, start over; 25%, don't do anything; and 25, pass the bill. So in the CNN poll, 73-25 against the current or a similar type bill. The American people do not want this in any way, shape, manner, or form. Now, along the lines of my acknowledging that I was wrong, last night on Campbell Brown's CNN, she had this little exchange with John Barrasso, Republican Senator from Wyoming.
BROWN: You heard top Republicans like John Boehner, Rush Limbaugh, all saying that this is a trap by the Obama administration. But given you've had your cards on the table, the White House has had its cards on the table -- for months, essentially -- how can this be a trap?
BARRASSO: Well, I'm hoping it's an opportunity to compromise. The president said, "You know, please, make a good-faith effort," and that's what I want to do. I was surprised last week when he said, "Well, I'm going to come out with a bill," and he did just three days before this summit, which is supposed to be to get the best ideas the Republicans had to offer and then get them incorporated into a bill. And then for Harry Reid yesterday to say, "Well, I'm going to ram it through no matter what," that makes me wonder if there's an agenda behind this.
RUSH: And we now know that there is because of The Politico story today, an exclusive, that on Monday they're going to start the reconciliation process. The theme of the summit here is, "The American people are tired the process and just want the bill," which they don't. So, it was a trap. It's still a trap! And the trap is, the Democrats admit it, put the face on gridlock. And they had that face to be mine, and Boehner's and the Republicans' up there. And it just isn't working out that way.
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RUSH: Gail in Pahrump, Nevada, great to have you on the program. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. It's a great honor to speak to you.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: What I have heard and noticed today and through this whole week, Barack Obama says, "Okay, this is our benchmark. We're gonna start with my plan." But what has happened is, he didn't count on the Republicans coming in and saying, "Okay, let's start with your plan. We don't like this, this, and this." So what it is is he's just dumbfounded that they even know what they're talking about, that the benchmark that he set is exactly where they started from. He doesn't want them to talk about that. And I think they're coming out wonderful, because I agreed with you. I didn't want them to go. I'm glad they did.
RUSH: I am, too. I had to admit moments ago I was wrong.
CALLER: Yeah, I know. I put that down as one.
RUSH: (laughing) Yes. Yes.
CALLER: What they were ready to do is they wanted to discuss the differences, what they disagreed with. That's not what he wanted to do.
RUSH: Yes, but it is. See, he's being caught in his own lie because he said let's come up and see where we can find common ground, and he said, but we're not starting over. The starting point, you're right, the baseline is my bill, but he doesn't even know what's in it compared to our guys, so that's a great analogy that you had there. The Republicans are doing exactly what Obama asked them to do and he can't keep up. And now his own network -- folks, you may think it's a contract with the Olympics. Ha. For women's hockey? (laughing) His own network's bummed out of this thing. You gotta go to C-SPAN, even Fox gave up on it. Folks, it's so bad we turned our microphone off. We can't even JIP it. We join the crowd in pulling out of there. The only place you can watch this now is C-SPAN. Has CNN got it on? They ditched it, too? Well, that's a sure sign it's not going well for the Bamster, folks, sure, sure sign.
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