This is a rush transcript from “Hannity,” July 26, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: From closing Gitmo to putting Americans back to work the list of broken promises President Obama has racked up in his first 18 months in office is long and illustrious.
And it’s not just average Americans who are upset with him. His left-wing base is revolting as well. At a liberal blog convention in Vegas last week comedian-turned-Senator Al Franken said there is a whole host of reasons why the left should be disappointed in the president.
Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM JULY 24)
SENATOR AL FRANKEN, D-MINN.: Like you, I wish we’ve gotten the public option. I wish we could do education reform and immigration reform this year. I wish we could have public financing in time for this year’s election.
So yes, we can all be disappointed sometimes.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, Franken was not alone. It seemed like everyone at the event had a gripe with the administration. A student in attendance said, quote, “Most disappointing for me has been his refusal to stand for a core Democratic principle of a woman’s right to choose.”
Liberal radio host Ed Schultz accused the White House of replacing the situation room with a, quote, “sissy room.”
And Phil Klein of the American Spectator told the Journal’s John Fund, quote, “I’ve definitely never heard more cursing by speakers at a political conference.”
At the other end of the political spectrum thing are a bit more cohesive. Candidates are shattering fundraising records and momentum appears to be on the GOP side with only 99 days to go.
All right, joining me now to talk about this are two of the candidates leading the way for Republicans, Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio, and Connecticut Senate candidate Linda McMahon.
Guys, welcome back.
SENATE CANDIDATE MARCO RUBIO, R-FLA.: Thank you.
SENATE CANDIDATE LINDA MCMAHON, R-CONN.: Thank you, Sean. It’s good to be back.
HANNITY: All right. Well, you both have interesting situations. First of all, what do you make of the rebellion on the left, Marco?
RUBIO: The rebellion on the left is funny because imagine — they have 59 votes in the Senate. Imagine if they had 60 or 61, the things they could accomplish. I mean Al Franken in his speech kind of laid out where they want to head and where they want to go, and why it is so important.
Not only do Republicans continue to make gains in the Senate but hopefully have a majority.
HANNITY: Yes —
RUBIO: And not just to stop this agenda.
HANNITY: How big is the Charlie Crist issue for you in Florida now?
RUBIO: Well, I mean, he’s really going to become indistinguishable from the Democrat candidate that’s running. I mean I tell people the choice in Florida is pretty straight forward. If you like the way things are going you can vote for one of the two other people that’s running for U.S. Senate here in Florida.
But if you want to send someone to Washington that will act as a check and balance I’m the only one running that’s going to do that. And I think that choice is becoming clearly apparent now here in Florida.
HANNITY: All right, and Linda, you’ve got an interesting situation where you’d be replacing Chris Dodd who himself has had a lot of ethical problems. We’re talking about that in the last segment here. But you also have — you would now have — apparently Simmons was out, now he’s getting back in.
Do you still have more Republican challengers you’ve got to battle?
MCMAHON: Well, we still have a primary. August 10th is the primary, I’m the endorsed Republican candidate out of the convention, but by Connecticut rules, Simmons is qualified. He left his name on the ballot all through the preconvention time.
And he said that he wouldn’t primary if he didn’t get the endorsement at the convention but he’s kind of on again, off again. So August 10th, we have a primary. I’m looking forward to that. I don’t take it for granted by any means, you know, whatsoever. But I’m looking forward to getting past August 10th.
HANNITY: All right. I guess the question, maybe, is for — I was discussing with Frank Luntz in the last segment, and Marco, I’ll ask you. You get elected, what is going to be the difference from day one?
RUBIO: Well, I hope the difference is going to be that we’re going to have a clear agenda to do three things. Number one, keep America the strongest country in the world because the world is a safer place when America is the strongest country in the world.
Number two, have a real plan to deal not just with the runaway government spending but the structural problems in our entitlement programs that will bankrupt our country. And number three, have a pro-growth agenda. That doesn’t just mean the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts becoming permanent, that’s important.
There’s a host of other things we need to do so that once again the private sector will start businesses and expanded existing ones because that what gets people to work.
HANNITY: Linda?
MCMAHON: I couldn’t agree with Marco more. As a matter of fact, I think what we need to see is putting the private sector back to work. The 70 percent of the jobs in this country are created by small businesses. And that’s what we really have to focus on.
And a lot of the things that Marco was talking about obviously come under what I would want to do right off the bat, and that’s push for a balanced budget amendment.
We have to know how much money we’re dealing with. We have to know how much we’re spending. And we cannot spend more than we’re bringing in. I mean that’s just kind of common law, I would think.
HANNITY: Yes.
MCMAHON: And I hear from all over the — all over the state, the people of Connecticut are constantly telling me they are concerned about our economy. They want to get back to work. They’re concerned about the debt that is being racked up on a — continually on a daily basis.
And I hear them say stop the spending, stop the spending, we can’t afford it. And I’m worried about my children and my grandchildren. And that’s where I think the focus is in this country.
HANNITY: You know, I was saying this to Frank, and I want to see the Republican Party put these items — it doesn’t have to be a contract. I don’t care what call it, commitment to America, promise to America, contract with America — it doesn’t matter to me.
But it seems to me that there is a distrust of politicians and people in Washington and the way they do business.
You know, how do you like the idea, Marco? Look, for example, I know you have 12 simple ways to cut spending. I got your printout right here. What about 12 items that we promise to pass, as a party, if elected? Is that a winning formula?
RUBIO: Agree. Absolutely. You know I did that in Florida when I was becoming speaker.
HANNITY: What would that be? What would the top five be?
RUBIO: Well, I think the top five is a combination of what needs to be done for pro-growth tax policies. I think we need to appeal Obamacare. We need to make a solemn pledge that we will never allow an energy tax or card check to pass.
I think we currently need a balanced budget amendment. We need to take unspent TARP money and unspent stimulus money, use it to pay down the debt. Roll back the budget to 2008 and freeze it. And entitlement reform. Not to mention making the ’01 and ’03 tax code — tax reductions permanent.
These are — these are just a handful of things that we should be doing that I think will get the economy and America growing again and generate the revenue we need to pay down this debt.
HANNITY: Yes, look, I think some very simple items. I like what John Boehner has been pushing. Read the bill. It’s got to be mandatory. If you pass the bill you’ve got to actually read the thing.
MCMAHON: Absolutely.
HANNITY: And give the American people time. So accountability, transparency and you can put that in writing. I think balanced budget, I think, Linda, that’s a good idea. But I also think shouldn’t the Republican Party be the party that eliminates earmarks?
And I like the idea what Marco was saying, go back to — Bob McDonnell did this. Go back to 2006 spending levels. Is that a possibility?
MCMAHON: Well, I think that’s exactly what we should do. Earmarks, I am all for eliminating. You know we are — as senators we all want to bring money home to our states but they should be — you know, they should be transparent.
They should be either grants. They should have proper appropriations. I don’t think they should be stuck on to bills that — that they have nothing to do with. You know that — I think that’s what’s partly wrong with our government today, is that we stick on earmarks and pass through budget items when we don’t really see where the money going or how it’s being spent. So I think we have to have total transparency with that.
HANNITY: All right, guys. Good to see you both.
And 99 days to go, I bet you guys are breathing a collective sigh of relief. The 100-day countdown is here. Thank you both for being with us.
RUBIO: Thank you.
MCMAHON: Thank you, Sean.
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