Transcript from rushlimbaugh.com:
So everywhere I'm reading that Obama is caving on the mandate in Obamacare
that Catholic churches -- well, not churches, but the schools and hospitals are
mandated to provide contraceptives and abortion-related services that they
religiously disagree with. What's happened here is that Obama's caved! He has
seen, he has heard, and now he's gonna shift that burden to the insurance
companies... Let me start with the AP
version of the Obama story. "Retreating in the face of a political uproar,
President Barack Obama on Friday will announce that religious..."
President Obama "on Friday will announce that religious employers
will not have to cover birth control for their employees after all, The
Associated Press has learned. The administration instead will demand that
insurance companies will be the ones directly responsible for providing free
contraception." And we're supposed to applaud this? We're supposed to think
that we have emerged with a big victory here? Obama can mandate that we buy
insurance, and now Obama can mandate what insurance companies must offer -- and
after mandating what insurance companies must offer, then Obama can mandate what
insurance companies can charge for it?
Freedom doesn't mean anything to this guy! Freedom doesn't mean anything to
this regime or this administration. To me, this is breathtaking. This is an
incredible sight to behold here. So Obama is said to "offer a compromise
proposal that is respectful of religious concerns," and everybody's applauding
today. Now, look at this. The right to religious liberty in this context is
unequivocal in our country and in the Constitution. It's right there in the
Bill of Rights. Since when does a president have the power to threaten to issue
a rule gutting religious liberty? That's the first thing. And, by the way, I
don't think any of this a mistake.
I don't think this religious kerfuffle is something that they overreached
on. I think roiling this country and distracting people, setting up these
extreme things like this and then walking them back to create the illusion,
"Okay, you know what? We're not gonna take your freedom," it's all BS, folks.
And this is being spun in such a way to make it look like the winners are
winning and the losers are losing, and they're not. The First Amendment -- the
Bill of Rights of the Constitution -- explicitly says that government shall have
nothing to do with religion. You hear, do you not, the left constantly
caterwauling, whining and moaning about "separation of church and state"?
When
do they do that? Whenever a religious Republican or conservative seeks
political office! They start worry about "the imposition of religious moral
values on people," and say, "This is untolerable! This is intolerable. It's not
permitted! It's a violation of the Constitution." So the left hates the
Constitution when it's an impediment to what they want to do. When it supports
what they want to do, they're the biggest constitutionalists in the world. So
they're all concerned about separation of church and state? No, they're not!
They are opposed to opposition. They will do anything to defeat opposition, and
if the Constitution is in opposition to them, they'll do whatever they have to
do there.
So here we have again from the top: Obama's gonna offer a compromise proposal
said to be respectful of religious concerns. He started this. He started it by
demanding that Catholic organizations provide birth control and other
abortion-related services. That's unconstitutional. He cannot do it. There is
an appropriate uproar. The regime says, "Okay, we'll walk it back and then
we'll make the insurance companies do it." He's still getting everything he
wants! He's getting mandated federal funding of abortion services -- and in the
process, trampling all over the Constitution. The right to religious liberty in
this context is unequivocal in our country. It's in the Constitution!
I'm gonna ask this again: Since when does a president have the
power to threaten to issue a rule gutting religious liberty and then claims the
power to make compromises on that issue? This is how, folks, we lose our
liberty. This is how we lose the Constitution. The suggestion that Obama has
the power to alter that which he doesn't have the power to do in the first
place, is simply unacceptable. The first thing he does he doesn't have the
power to do. He doesn't have, constitutionally, the power to mandate that
religious organizations provide -- free of charge or otherwise -- any
abortion-related service with which they disagree. He doesn't have the
authority. Then to supposedly correct it, he then engages in more authority
that he doesn't have!
"Okay, tell you what: I'll tell the churches they don't have to do it." It's
none of his business what the churches do! He doesn't have the authority to do
any of this. The very idea that Barack Obama has the power to alter that which
he doesn't have the power to do in the first place? This is two exercises of
power he doesn't have. The first exercise is telling the churches what they
have to do. The second exercise of power is then changing what he told the
churches they have to do. There's no compromise, no negotiation. There's no
phony balance here. Obama is simply not empowered to interfere with religious
liberty. No president is!
It's not no different than recess appointments when not in recess. There's
no "compromise" in his "compromise" here. It's all BS. And the media is
perfectly willing to support the notion of Obama having dictatorial powers now
because they support them. But this is how, folks, the public is dumbed down.
This is how he just hacks away at the First Amendment. Then, after there's an
uproar, said to be compromising his position when in fact the First Amendment's
being destroyed with both moves, with both efforts here!. So his effort to make
people think he's compromising and caving is working. The press is reporting
that. I even had friends of mine say, "Hey, we beat this back!" We didn't beat
anything back. In fact, it's far more complicated than what is actually being
reported.
And I submit to you that this is how we end up losing [freedom], slowly but surely
and in ways that people don't even recognize, in ways that people don't even see
it. And during all of this, we have to listen to the media and we have to
listen to the president and the Democrats tell us that we're the party of "no"
and that they are the party that liberates people. And we're the ones, the
old-fashioned conservatives, we want to deny people a good time, we want to deny
people fun, we want to deny people all these things in life. So we have yet
another example of life in America under the thumb of an ever-expanding state
with central planning, otherwise known as "well-intentioned liberalism."
From violating religious rights where there is no power permitted to do so,
to mandating the purchase of products, to now mandating insurance companies sell
certain products at a price that's also mandated -- from czars to denying the
right to travel -- it's all here. We're living in a country that's becoming
unrecognizable! Who is the party of "no"? Want to throw a football in a public
beach? It's the Democrats that say "no!" Can you believe it? You can't throw a
football or a Frisbee on a beach in Los Angeles County, only a volleyball!
Why? Did somebody get hit? Why can't you throw a football on a beach? Or a
Frisbee, for crying out loud?
Who's the party of "no"? You want to exercise your religious rights, provide
health insurance to employees that respect those rights? Democrats say, "No,
you can't do that!" You want to buy a health insurance policy when you want buy
it? No! Democrats say, "You can't do that." You want your government to
operate on a budget. The Democrats laugh at you and say, "We don't need no
stinkin' budget. Wait 'til Republicans are in charge of and then we'll need a
budget." You want to flatten the tax code, get rid of the crony capitalism,
Democrats say, "No, we're not gonna give people more access to their hard-earned
money!"
You want to reform entitlements that are eating away your kids' and
grandkids' future? Democrats say, "No, we can't touch any of that!" You want
to become energy independent using America's natural resources and the resources
of an ally that borders our country with a pipeline, bringing much-needed oil
right to our Gulf of Mexico? Nope, can't do it! Democrats say, "No." And we're
"the party of 'no'"? We're the party trampling on people's liberties? Want to
travel freely about the country? Democrats say, "No." You want the border
tightened and shut down so that people cannot get in here illegally? No! The
Democrats say, "No." You're the governor of a state that tries to enforce
federal immigration laws? Democrats say, "No," and the President sues that
state and the governor of that state!
Now,
the Republicans want to privatize the Transportation Security Authority, the
TSA, and Democrats say, "No! You can't do that. We gotta keep this in the hands
of our union buddies." So each and every day, little by little, Barack Obama
tramples on the Constitution, usurps authority that he doesn't have, in the
midst of an uproar. He might surrender a little bit of it where everybody thinks
that they're winning and they beat back the ugly collectivist, when in fact the
collectivist and the central planner has solidified his claim to power that he
doesn't have over the Constitution. He's out there saying (paraphrased), "Yeah,
I never saw this as a political issue. This mandate, health insurance mandate on
Catholic Churches and abortion, I never saw it as a political issue. No, no, no
way!"
So the insurance company is now gonna have to give out free contraception.
The insurance company is gonna have give out free abortion pills. And, by the
way, it isn't gonna be free. So no religious organizations will have to pay for
the coverage now. But somebody's gonna have to. It's being mandated. And
somebody's gonna have to make it available. It's being mandated. And
somebody's gonna have to pay for it. Whether they see it's free to the end user
or not, it's never free to the end user. He's not taking any questions about
this.
I was
basically responding to the president. I didn't need to hear what he's saying.
I know what he's doing. He is usurping constitutional authority he does not
have. There's no "compromise" here. The president didn't cave. He's not
giving anything back. The evidence is on MSNBC, they immediately went to a
spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood -- who's delighted!
The Planned Parenthood babe, person was delighted, and why shouldn't she be?
Because, guess what now's been codified? Insurance companies have to pay for
birth control and abortions! This is a huge achievement for Obama. This is a
major accomplishment. Doesn't matter to him if, okay, the churches don't have
to but now the insurance companies do. Birth control and abortion pills have
just become a right! This entire health care plan is unconstitutional based on
that mandate that requires everybody to buy insurance or pay a fine if they
don't. That renders this whole thing unconstitutional, I don't care what the
Supreme Court says. But now look what's happened. While everybody's celebrating
here Obama "caving," he has just succeeded in mandating, in telling... He does
not have the right to tell insurance companies what to sell. He doesn't have
the constitutional authority to tell 'em what to charge for it. He just did,
and people are out there applauding, like Planned Parenthood.
Let me tell you what's just happened here. The regime, Barack Hussein
Obama... I don't know how many of you people think Obama caved. I'm simply
reacting. I got a bunch of e-mails, "Hey, Rush, we won, man! We won! Obama
caved." He didn't cave on anything. That's what I'm reacting to here. All
that's happened here... The Obama regime, they didn't see they don't have the
power to force the Catholic Church to give up its religious views. They just
said, "You know what? We changed our mind. We're not gonna make the Catholic
Church do it. We're gonna make the insurance companies do it."
Big win. Biiiig win. Right. "We're not gonna make the Catholic Church,
right now, 'cause you people don't quite understand. So, okay, we're not gonna
make the Catholic Church give out abortion stuff but we'll make the insurance
companies do it." So now people who oppose abortion pills are going to be
paying for them. Do you think the insurance companies gonna reach into their
personal back pockets and pick up the charges for this? Insurance premiums are
gonna go up to cover the increased cost associated with Barack Obama, the
president of the United States, telling them: What they have to sell, what they
have to include, what they have to cover. The president of the United States
has just told the insurance companies, "You know what? I changed my mind.
"I'm
not gonna make the church do this, I'm gonna make you do it." They say, "Okay,
fine." The insurance companies, they don't have a beef about anything, so
they'll just raise their premiums. So Obama now mandating that private
companies charge other citizens for the cost of abortion pill. This
unprecedented as far as I know. It's completely unprecedented. And don't for a
minute think that the administration has given up trying to tell the Catholic
Church what it will and won't do. That'll come later. They'll come back for a
further bite of the apple. They'll do something.
I want to spend a little time, not much, on what Obama just did here. And I
first saw this being alluded to in a flash report by our old buddy Jacob Tapper
at ABC News. And Jacob's story was headlined: "White House to Announce
Accommodation for Religious Organizations on Contraception Rule -- With the
White House under fire for its new rule requiring employers including religious
organizations to offer health insurance that fully covers birth control
coverage, ABC News has learned," because the White House called them, "President
Obama will announce an attempt to accommodate these religious groups. The move,
based on state models..." That's where the rub of this is.
"The move, based on state models will almost certainly not satisfy bishops
and other religious leaders since it will preserve the goal of women employees
having their birth control fully covered by health insurance," in a mandate that
Obama doesn't have the power to issue. Jacob didn't say that; he never would.
I'm throwing that in. "Sources say..." This is Jacob writing here. "Sources say
it will be respectful of religious beliefs but will not back off from that goal"
of mandating abortion services being provided for in Obamacare. Now, so we go
to the AP story on this: "Retreating in the face of a political uproar,
President Barack Obama on Friday will announce that religious employers will not
have to cover birth control for their employees after all...
"The administration instead will demand that insurance companies will be the
ones directly responsible for providing free contraception." Right. Okay. They
get it right here. But to say that Obama is retreating? It's not a retreat
whatsoever. Obama simply took a sidestep. And then later in the AP story: "By
keeping free contraception for employers at religious workplaces -- but
providing a different way to do it -- the White House will assert it gave no
ground on the basic principle of full preventative care that matters most to
Obama." Right. What if I said, "You know, we need to mandate helmets for
bicycle riders!" What is it about contraception? What is it about abortion that
makes it sacred? Birth control pills, RU-486, what is it that makes this
sacred?
It's because that stuff is the sacrament to the religion of liberalism. And
then later on in the AP story, it says, "The White House consulted leaders on
both sides of the debate to forge a decision. And officials..." These are
unnamed officials, by the way. "And officials said Obama has the legal authority
to order insurance companies to provide free contraception coverage directly to
workers. He will demand it in a new rule." He does not have legal authority! Do
you realize, folks, if Barack Obama has the legal authority to order insurance
companies to provide free contraception coverage directly to workers, he's got
legal authority to demand anything. He's got legal authority to make you go guy
a Chevy Volt. He's got legal authority to make you stop voting Republican.
If he's got the legal authority to demand this, he's not bound by any
restrictions whatsoever. And the simple fact of the matter is he does not have
this authority. He does not have this power. It's the First Amendment, the
Bill of Rights. This whole separation of church and state issue? You notice how
it's vanished now? Separation of church and state doesn't matter anymore? I
think this is outrageous what is happening. I don't think this is traditional politics at all. I don't think
traditional politics has anything to do with why Obama's doing this. This is
about fundamentally transforming this country from a representative republic to
a pure, straight democracy with the president assuming he's the majority and
therefore can do whatever he wants to do. We're not dealing with the average,
"Okay, the Democrats won the White House. They're gonna have it for four or
eight years. We gotta try to stop 'em however we can and we'll get power
back."
There's something unprecedented going on here.
Woodrow Wilson dreamed of this.
FDR dreamed of this.
Obama is doing this.
