Apple Becomes an Enemy of the State

Rush Limbaugh on the radio:

This iPhone 4, I can't duplicate this reception problem, I know people are having the reception problem. I'm not denying it. But, folks, they've sold three million of these phones since the end of June. When did they go on sale, June 15th, 24th, whatever. Three million phones and the number of returns is infinitesimal, and yet the big news is how rotten the phone is. I remember saying on this program many, many times -- in jest, being jocular -- that Apple would report all this cash on hand. Apple was reporting all these profits, stock price going up.

I said, "Steve Jobs, you better be careful. You are becoming an enemy of the state." If you're gonna make a profit, don't brag about it. But they can't help it, 'cause they have to report it, to the SEC and to the Street. They've just painted a big bull's-eye on their backs -- and, lo and behold (it didn't take long, did it?) for a couple of schlubs in the media to raise a big ruckus about some problem that is not causing mass returns of the phone. And then today we have a story from Bloomberg: " Last year, Ruben Caballero," not to be confused with Guy Caballero, "a senior engineer and antenna expert, informed Steve Jobs that the iPhone 4's design may hurt reception, said the person who is not authorized to speak on Apple's behalf, and asked not to be identified." So somebody who's not allowed to speak and has asked to remain anonymous has just said that had Rubin Caballero, an engineer at Apple, went to Steve Jobs, "You got an antenna problem here," and, lo and behold, we got an antenna problem.

The iPhone is the worst piece of garbage that's ever been made and ever been released, and everybody's buying one is being screwed, by Steve Jobs personally and by Apple -- and since Apple hasn't responded to this suitably, Apple is in big trouble. Where's the fix? Where's the free case? Where's the free this; where's the free that? Apple's called a press conference tomorrow, nobody knows what they're going to say. The speculation is I mass recall, free cases. Then if you read further in this Bloomberg story, get this. "U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, issued a public letter to Jobs saying Apple's efforts to address the matter so far are 'insufficient' and asking the company 'to address this flaw in a transparent manner.'"

Then we had Consumer Reports, which is a worthless bunch of trash anymore, first saying the iPhone is the best product in its field and then suspiciously coming out and saying: Don't buy the thing, you can't hear a call on it. Folks, nothing is real. Now, as you know, I've got no brief for Apple, but I do love this country, and I love freedom, and I detest the tentacles of statist big government reaching into every nook and cranny and corner of this country and trying to tell everybody when and where they have to do what and how much. I am sick and tired of successful private sector companies and industries being enemies, perceived as enemies and being targeted by the American left. The irony here is that the people going after Steve Jobs are a bunch of liberals.

The people going after Apple are a bunch of liberals, in the media to one degree or another. Now Chuck-U Schumer piling on, a Senator from New York? New York? How close is New York to Cupertino, California, where the iPhone is designed? What the hell is Chuck-U Schumer got to say about this? "Oh, he's a US senator! Oh, yeah, we're supposed to have immediate reverence. A US Senator is demanding that Apple be transparent because they're screwing people." That's the news, that's the message: Apple's the latest company to screw people. If we could return Obama, how many returns do you think there would be? I guarantee you if we could take Obama back to the voting booth there would be a hell of a lot more people returning Obama than have returned iPhones.


BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, folks, as nauseating as it is, as nauseating as it is, try to imagining being Charles Schumer for just a minute, always on the brawl to attack, always out to smear, always out to control. You have to wonder what kind of mind this man has. You have to wonder what kind of life this man has. Rather than seeing what is great about this country and appreciating it, and recognizing all of these wonderful things that happen, despite of and in spite of him, he sits around and he's lurking in the corners and he's waiting for some situation to exploit, always tearing down this country, or tearing down a successful institution, company, or tradition in this country. Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer has produced nothing, not a single job, not a product, not one damn thing. He is perpetually in a hateful state of mind. These people are not well. The UK Telegraph is reporting that Apple has lost $9.9 billion in stock value after that bad Consumer Reports review. They'll get it back. This is a buy opportunity if you play the game that way.

All that aside, this all feels forced and trumped up. The only thing missing is consumer complaints. Everything else we've got. The media hasn't yet found one disgruntled customer. I know that the lawyers have tried to come up with a class-action suit, and they did that, and to prove what that's all about they tried to get the class-action suit up even before the 30-day return-the-phone-for-free period had expired. Something's not right here. This isn't real. Try as they might, they can't find a whole bevy of Apple customers willing to go on TV and rip the company or Steve Jobs or anybody else to shreds. They were able to come up with a couple of dunces who drove Toyotas who tried to blame Toyota for a brake pedal that acted as an accelerator when in fact we've now learned that these people were flooring the accelerator thinking they were hitting the brake -- a-ha, supposedly thinking they were hitting the brake. This whole thing's been a setup. Apple's too big a target. Apple's got too much profit. Apple's having too much fun. Apple is too loved. Apple is demonstrating an antidote to socialism. In the midst of one of the greatest recessions ever, look at the success Apple is having by providing a product so loved and so appreciated and so desired that people in the midst of a recession are buying it in record droves. We can't have that.

I guaran-damn-tee you, if three million people who had bought Apple phones couldn't make a phone call on them, or if they were dropping calls left and right, we would have heard about it from the people to whom it was happening, not a bunch of shrufs in the media and willing accomplices. Maybe they need to make a deal with the SEIU. Maybe Apple needs to call the SEIU, maybe that's Job's solution here, is to unionize. Somebody needs to tell Chuck-U Schumer the Apple store on the Upper West Side of New York City keeps its door open when they have their air-conditioning on. You know you can't do that in New York, there is a city ordinance you can't keep the door open when you have the air-conditioning on. It wastes money. It's in direct violation of New York regulations. Nine stores on the Upper West Side of Manhattan were fined just last week for having their doors open. Apple probably is like Bill Gates back in the old days, not paying enough protection racket to people like Chuck Schumer. But what must that man's life be like? What must it be like to live the life of a leftist, where you're always looking for evil, looking for enemies, and finding it if you have to make it up, never being happy. They tried to destroy Toyota. They tried to destroy Walmart. You take a look at the enemies list of Chuck Schumer, his party, and the American left, and it's every damned successful service or manufacturing company in this country


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