Yesterday, the Country’s preeminent conservatve talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, raked California Republican State Senator Bob Dutton over the proverbial coals for his brief but notable co-authorship of legislation to create a new state entitlement program, redistributing $500 cash into state accounts for every newborn child in the Golden State.
You can listen to Limbaugh’s report here (worth listening to!).
You can read the transcript here, though I will reprint the final paragraph of Rush’s comments below — as it is ‘classic Rush’ —
This is what I mean when I say I’m getting a little concerned as the Republican presidential campaign kicks off that conservatism is being redefined. This guy, Dutton, in California is a Republican. This is not a conservative idea for the government to give people 500 bucks when they’re born. Maybe if you want to give a kid 500 bucks when he’s born if his mother was talked out of an abortion, then maybe we could talk, because it’s a reward for having succeeded in being born. But other than that, it’s just patently absurd, and it is certainly not conservative and in very few places is it even Republican.
I will close by telling FR readers that Bob Dutton is a friend of mine, and while I strongly oppose this legislation on which he was briefly a co-author, I know him to be a good person with the best of intent. It is important to remember that it takes an act of political courage to realize you have endorsed a bad proposal, and reverse that decision. Now that he has done so, Dutton should be commended.