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April 11, 2007 - Rush Limbaugh Program
31:23
April 11, 2007, Wednesday, Hour #3
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Hi, how are you?
Great to be with you, ladies and gentlemen.
It's always a thrill and a delight, an honor even, and a privilege to be here with you each day and, well, most days, to be able to discuss the salient and important issues that shape and determine our future.
I, of course, Rush Limbaugh, highly trained broadcast specialist, veteran of 40 years service in this great industry, serving humanity simply by showing up.
Our telephone number is 800-282-2882, the email address rush at EIBNet.com.
Ladies and gentlemen, when we get new sponsors on this program, we always introduce them to you in the program content portion rather than during commercial breaks.
We'd like to introduce a new sponsor debuting today on the EIB network, The Justice Brothers.
Let's see what they do with that.
You know, there's a drive-by scandal happening out there.
Not many people making big whoopee over this in the drive-by media, but Katie Couric apparently has these essays, Katie Couric's notebook.
And I guess these are on the website.
I don't think these are part of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.
I haven't watched it since last September.
Good point.
Neither is anybody else.
Anyway.
Anyway, the way these things happen is that she's got a bunch of writers and they have meetings and they figure what would be a good topic and the writers write these things for it, and she goes on and I get, I don't even know what they.
I don't know if she records their video on her website or if they're.
Are they video or are they just?
Well yeah, because we got the audio.
Yeah, they are video.
Right there, it is well.
It turns out that this, this Katie Couric notebook, this essay on libraries, was practically 100% plagiarized from a writer at the WALL Street Journal.
So CBS has fired the producer that did this, but they're not naming him.
This is the Katie Couric notebook on libraries, and notice she doesn't write these.
Notice how this starts.
Hi everyone, I still remember when I got my first library card, browsing through the stacks for my favorite books.
For kids today, the library is more removed from their lives.
It's a last ditch place to go if they need to find something out, of course, if Google doesn't turn it up first.
Sure, children still like libraries, but books are not the draw.
A recent study found kids use them more for DVDs, story hours and computers than for checking out books.
Many kids skip the library altogether and head straight to the store.
Sales of children's books rose 60% from 2002 to 2005.
It's an encouraging sign that kids value reading, but many tech savvy kids never experience the joy of using the library shelves as a place to discover new worlds, and many students get to college clueless about the Dewey Decimal system.
Your local library is still worth checking out and, by the way, so are the books.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS NEWS yip, yahoo.
I still remember when I got my first library card, I went to the library with such a she didn't write it producer, did totally plagiarize it.
They've gotten rid of the guy.
Apparently these are videos and they run on local CBS affiliates.
They don't run on the network per se and they don't run on the.
What we did.
No, no, no, no.
We never do that.
Hang on just a second, folks.
They're talking to me here in the IFB.
I didn't see the memo on this.
No, We've never done this before.
Apparently, the sales staff promised the Justice Brothers two hits in program content.
I'm sorry.
Everybody's a winner with the Justice Brothers.
It's a hot chocolate.
HR just said, at least CBS is improving.
They didn't forge Katie Couric's essay.
Good one.
At least they didn't forge it.
No, they just plagiarized it.
Moving up in the world.
CBS News, the Tiffany Network.
All right, speaking of the Justice Brothers, there's an interesting story here in the Boston Globe by Rick Klon and Joseph Williams.
Obama's silence on IMUS alarms some blacks.
Candidate faces first test on handling issues of race.
With the Reverend Sharpton leading calls on Monday for the perp to be fired over racially insensitive remarks, Senator Barry Obama's presidential campaign avoided the controversy throughout the day.
Not until Monday night, five days later, did Obama weigh in saying in a statement the comments of the perp were divisive, hurtful, and offensive to Americans of all backgrounds.
Obama didn't address whether he thought the perp should be taken off the air.
The episode is the first test of how Obama, who is of mixed-race background, don't forget it's a drive-bys, the LA Times that has run two or three stories on the question of whether or not Barack is black enough.
And then they went out there and everybody went down to Selma for the anniversary of that march.
And Obama made the case that even though he wasn't in Selma, he was.
His heart was there and he can lead the movement.
He's down for the struggle, so to speak.
But now people are wondering if he's down for the struggle because he didn't jump on this.
He spoke five days after the incident.
Well, of course, the same thing can be said for the drive-bys.
Where the hell were they on the day this happened or the day after?
The drive-bys and these perpetual guests in the perp show, they didn't say anything until all hell broke loose a number of days later.
Melissa Harris Lacewell, a professor of politics and African American studies at Princeton, said that Obama missed an opportunity to prove himself to blacks and to white liberals who would have wanted Obama to take the lead in denouncing the perp.
Melissa Harris Lacewell said this was so easy and his unwillingness to touch it tells me this is going to be his third rail and race never goes away in politics.
Black people want to love Barack.
They're doing everything they can to love Barack.
We want to believe that Barack is better than this, but they will turn on him.
My God.
They're actually judging him on this.
Barack, he's better than this.
He shouldn't have let five days go by.
Obama's promise to take up the mantle of past civil rights activists and his showing in the polls have not assuaged the concerns of some black leaders, including Sharpton, that Obama isn't sufficiently committed to the causes.
He's not down for the struggle.
With Mrs. Bill Clinton also earning significant black support and her husband, the first black president, still widely popular among black voters, those qualms among prominent blacks could have electoral consequences for Obama.
Sharpton has repeatedly said Obama didn't learn the lessons of the civil rights movement, including the value of bold stands and dramatic action.
He's not down for the struggle.
I agree with him that we're part of the Joshua generation, but Joshua came from the ranks of Moses to continue the struggle and not to abandon the struggle, Sharpton told the Washington Times last month.
Being a part of the Joshua generation is based on your work and not your age.
He's not down for the struggle.
Reverend Jackson has lined up behind Obama two weeks ago.
Sharpton has pointedly refused to endorse Obama.
Harris Lacewell said that it's just that she's the Princeton Professors.
It's just unfortunate that Obama's willingness to cede the spotlight to Sharpton on this issue could leave such veteran activists more confused than ever.
It's Obama being hit on this now.
Quick timeout, ladies and gentlemen.
Be back and continue after this on the EIB network.
By the way, what do you bet?
What do you bet that Katie Couric's next book is called It Takes a Village?
And what do you bet that she goes on the IMAS show to hawk it?
Greetings, my friends, and welcome back.
Rush Limboy here serving humanity, the EIB Network, and to Jacksonville, Florida.
This is Alex.
Welcome, sir.
Nice to have you with us.
Oh, Rush.
Thanks, man.
Mega, good ones to see you, man.
Like I told you, screen caller, man.
I'm one of your light Republicans here in Jacksonville, Florida.
Well, I'm glad to have you out there.
You're on a cell phone.
It's a little bit difficult for me to hear you, but plug away.
Yes, I was just telling the back my support behind that Justice commercial, sir.
I mean, I think I might have to use them one day if I have to run into some problems where people think that they're trying to offend me or anything like that.
I might have to sit them boys on them.
Do you think the Justice Brothers commercial is an effective commercial then?
Yes, yes.
I think it's somebody else people who want to use them that rush.
That's why you advertise on this program to get results.
That's right.
You know, like you said, you're the consensus of a man after many people listening to your rush.
I started listening to you about two years ago with a challenge from a friend.
And I tell you, when I started listening, I started realizing, man, I've been this way for a long time.
I've just been listening and going by, you know, other means and other ways.
The other people have been, you know, somewhat trying to, you know, persuade me and, you know, not really getting into the facts.
But the more I listen to your rush, the more I start getting into the facts.
And I tell you, man, you're fool for the brain, man.
I tell you, your information is great.
Well, I appreciate that.
You're very nice to say that, and I thank you very much, Alex.
All right.
Thank you for your noontime information.
And as a trucker, I'm going to keep on trucking for you, Rush, and for Republican issues.
You're trucking?
Are you in your truck now?
I'm in my truck now, heading back to Jacksonville, just passing through the beach.
All right.
All right.
10-4, good buddy.
All right, Rush, be safe out there.
All right.
I tell you what, as a special bonus to Alex in Jacksonville, we're going to play the Justice Brothers again because he said he might need them someday.
It's an effective commercial.
And we'll back that up with just for Alex.
We do dedications here now and then.
Alex in a truck on the way to Jacksonville.
We've got Reverend Sharpton singing Respect after the Justice Brothers commercial.
Here it is for the third time.
Have you noticed?
He never finishes the song.
He starts protesting in the middle of the lyric line.
And the chorus just keeps singing.
And we're back.
Let's squeeze another call in here before we have to go to the break.
It's Frank in New Orleans, and you're up, sir.
Welcome.
Hello, Rush.
This is Frank.
Yeah, hi, Frank.
Welcome.
Nice to have you with us.
Thank you, Rush.
Well, like a little while ago, you brought up fuel prices, and I was wondering, do you think that between $10 and $20 billion a month is profit enough?
I think it's obscene.
And I think the first candidate that asks for some sort of...
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Whose profit are we talking about here?
The oil company.
Oh, give me a bit.
Exxon.
Oh, come on.
You can't.
What are they making them?
This distresses me because, well, I'm trying to be polite.
You're ignorant about what you think you know about oil profits.
You have no clue how much they lose over the course of any number of years.
You have no clue how much they plow back into research and development.
You try to go to the gas pump without the oil companies and see where you end up.
You have the government do it for you.
These people are penalized.
These people pay more in taxes than you can possibly imagine.
So do we, as we use their products.
The government is reaping obscene profits from the sale of oil products, including gasoline.
Oil profits are not excessive.
You're falling prey to a bunch of reporting for the drive-by media that wants you to hate them just because they're there.
A man, a living legend, a way of life.
Learn it, love it, and live it.
Rush Lindball with talent on loan from God.
Hey, Mike, grab Bites 16 and 17.
We're still waiting for the press conference down in Durham, North Carolina to start.
We're not going to jip it because it won't take long to learn what's happening.
You think we should jip it?
No.
The press conference?
I know we sent our microphones down there, but well, I'm not going to land.
I'm not going to stay with this long enough for questions.
I mean, once we get the news, it's the news.
I'm not going to make one of these things to stand around.
Okay, we are dropping all charges.
And 45 minutes later, they're still asking questions about it.
I mean, we know that's going to happen.
I'm not going to get sucked into that.
Whatever the news.
All right, we'll think about jipping it.
Stand by.
I know I got a microphone down there.
We purchased podium space, but regardless, before we get to it, these things are always late.
Last night on Fox News, the big story, John Gibson interviewed via phone, Monty Johnson, who is a proud Republican and an Edwards neighbor, a neighbor of John and Elizabeth Edwards.
And of course, John Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, said he's a gun-toting Republican.
I don't want my kids getting anywhere near him.
His property is like a slum.
And he's, look, I'm just, you know, my property taxes have gone up twice in value here.
They've doubled because they built this big house across down the road from me.
It's raised everybody's property value, and I can't afford to live here anymore.
And I've got to move out and so forth.
So Gibson said, Monty, she says she's scared of you because you pulled a gun on some guys who came on your property.
What's the story with this?
I don't have any idea what she's talking about.
She hasn't been here long enough that she doesn't know me.
She's never been on my property.
She never spoke with me.
Occasionally they'll send somebody over to find out what I'm doing, but that's the extent of it.
I don't have any idea what she's talking about.
Gibson said, well, she also evidently complains that your property is kind of ramshackle and it's a mess, while hers is all neat and tidy.
Well, therefore, you know, I don't have millions of dollars.
I just have to fix as little as I can.
But I think I have a beautiful place.
I have it maxed out as far as landscaping and scrubbing, and I work on it continuously every day long.
There you have it.
That's Monty Johnson, who's just a salt-of-the-earth guy, apparently, a proud Republican, probably a ditto head.
We'd roll a dice here and say he's a ditto head.
And being attacked here by Elizabeth Edwards is a gun-toning maniac that frightens her kids.
And John Edwards was asked about this at a press conference.
Well, you go, okay, let's get ready to jip the press conference down in Durham, North Carolina.
Let me give you a countdown here.
Three, two.
All right, go ahead and jip it.
Caroline in the rain, but welcome anyway.
Well, that's a nice way to begin.
On January the 13th of this year, I accepted the request of the Durham County District Attorney to take over three Durham cases.
At the time, I promised a fresh and thorough review of the facts and a decision on the best way to proceed.
I also said that we would have our eyes wide open to the evidence, but that we would have blinders on to all other distractions.
We have done all of these things.
During the past 12 weeks, our lawyers and investigators have reviewed the remaining allegations of sexual assault and kidnapping that resulted from a party on March 13th, 2006, in Durham, North Carolina.
We've carefully reviewed the evidence collected by the Durham County Prosecutor's Office and the Durham Police Department.
We've also conducted our own interviews and evidence gathering.
Our attorneys and SBI agents have interviewed numerous people who were at the party, DNA and other experts, the Durham County District Attorney, Durham police officers, defense attorneys, and the accusing witness on several occasions.
We have reviewed statements given over the year, photographs, records, and other evidence.
The result of our review and investigation shows clearly that there is insufficient evidence to proceed on any of the charges.
Today, we are filing notices of dismissal for all charges against Reed Selichman, Colin Finnerty, and David Evans.
The result is that these cases are over and no more criminal proceedings will occur.
We believe that these cases were the result of a tragic rust to accuse and a failure to verify serious allegations.
Based on the significant inconsistencies between the evidence and the various accounts given by the accusing witness, we believe these three individuals are innocent of these charges.
Wow, now that's the understanding that rape and sexual assault victims often have some inconsistencies in their account of a traumatic event.
However, in this case, the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred in that house on that night.
This is big.
Now, the prosecuting witness in this case responded to our questions and offered information.
She did want to move forward with the prosecution.
However, the contradictions in her many versions of what occurred and the conflicts between what she said occurred and other evidence like photographs and phone records could not be rectified.
Our investigation shows that the eyewitness identification procedures were faulty and unreliable.
No DNA confirms the accuser's story.
No other witness confirms her story.
Other evidence contradicts her story.
She contradicts herself.
Next week, we'll be providing a written summary of the important factual findings and some of the specific contradictions that have led us to the conclusion that no attack occurred.
Now, in this case, with the weight of the state behind him, the Durham District Attorney pushed forward unchecked.
There were many points in this case where caution would have served justice better than bravado.
And in the rush to condemn, a community and a state lost the ability to see clearly.
Regardless of the reasons that this case was pushed forward, this was wrong.
This does not happen much longer.
Today, we need to learn from this and keep it from happening again to anybody.
Now, we have good district attorneys in North Carolina who are both tough and fair.
And we need these forceful, independent prosecutors to put criminals away and protect the public.
But we also need checks and balances to protect the innocent.
This case shows the enormous consequences of overreaching by a prosecutor.
What has been learned here is that the internal checks on a criminal charge, sworn statements, reasonable grounds, proper suspect photo lineups, accurate and fair discovery, all are critically important.
Therefore, I propose a law that the North Carolina Supreme Court have the authority to remove a case from a prosecutor in limited circumstances.
Whoa!
Whoa!
This would give the courts a new tool to deal with a prosecutor who needs to step away from a case where justice demands.
I want to thank everyone in the North Carolina Department of Justice.
I want to thank the investigators, our SBI agents, and especially attorneys Jim Comen and Mary Winstead for their hard work in this matter.
Do we get an apology for being aware of that?
Next week, we will be distributing a fact summary sheet, and you will have that then.
But I'll go ahead and take some of your questions now.
You want?
College.
Considering what you just said about DA and about the accuser, what would you say to the three men who were charged?
Well, I'm telling them what I tell everyone in North Carolina.
We have looked at the charges.
We have looked at the law, and we have cleared them of all of these charges.
And it is important to note that the Durham County District Attorney is now facing ethics charges with the North Carolina Bar Association.
Mr. Kruber, do you feel like, do you feel the need to apologize in any way?
I mean, in terms of what happened here?
Well, you know, I think a lot of people owe a lot of apologies to other people.
I think that those people ought to consider doing that.
Yes.
Now here.
Okay.
Yes.
What do you think District Attorney Mike Nifong was thinking now that you've reviewed all the evidence from these interviews?
How do you think he came to the conclusion he came to the conclusion?
Well, I'm concerned, although our investigation did not concentrate on this, but I saw the statements, and now we've done the investigation.
I'm concerned that statements were made publicly about things that turned out not to be true.
That's a concern, and right now I think it's appropriate that the North Carolina Bar Association is looking at these ethics charges.
Okay, we've got to bump out of this, but there were some things said by the Attorney General here.
By the way, the press conference was in Raleigh and not Durham, but some of the things he said here were profound that you do not hear from law enforcement.
He just didn't say they were dropping charges.
He said they were innocent.
He didn't even use the term not guilty.
He said they were innocent.
He didn't just say there was insufficient evidence, we can't move forward.
He proclaimed them innocent.
He then ripped Nyphong, didn't mention his name, but he made it clear that this was an abomination of a case that should have never gone forward, proposed a law saying that North Carolina Supreme Court can, in certain circumstances, take a case away from a prosecuting attorney.
This is unheard of.
This is simply unheard of.
You're talking about prosecutors that have limitless kind of power once a case gets started and so forth.
And people were asking during this, what can be done?
And it turns out here that nothing was done other than the news quickly leaked out of the flawed elements of this investigation.
And Nyphong had to recuse himself.
And that brought in the investigatory bodies from the Attorney General's office.
And then, and I wondered about if they're going to apologize, and maybe for civil liability down the road, and I could actually do that.
But he clearly said, the Attorney General, that the people need to be doing some apologizing, and he clearly is referring to Nyphong and the accuser, if you ask me, and maybe even the media, and maybe even these 88 professors at Duke that signed that letter suggesting these were reprobate kids and he needed to be kicked out, apologized to the whole Duke La Crosse team, apologized to the coach who got fired.
There are a boatload of apologies that are required here, and he was suggesting that this happens.
And I'm struck by one thing before I go to the break.
I remember this Rutgers press conference yesterday, where one of the basketball team members, one of the students, said that she might probably be scarred for life by the words that were used on that radio show.
I'm just wondering how scarred for life these three Duke lacrosse players will be for the rest of their lives by false allegations.
Like this.
I just wonder if they will be or will they not.
It's an interesting, just to, you know, because I always say, words are words.
Yeah, they mean things, but words are words.
But actions and deeds, that's substance.
Quick time out.
Back in just a second with much more on the EIB network.
I have never seen a press conference like this.
I have never in my life seen a law enforcement figure say this about another law enforcement figure.
I've just, everybody has the experience of these groups, whatever they are, law enforcement, whatever, they hang together.
They protect their own.
And even in a situation like this, they try to save one of this.
Nifwong has been thrown overboard.
He is thrown under the bus.
The Attorney General of North Carolina referred twice, at least when we were listening to the procedure here before the Ethics Committee of the North Carolina Bar.
This is this profound.
You just don't hear things like this.
Of course, this could be a case.
We're all speculating here.
We're wondering during the break if this is an opportunity for the Justice Brothers, a new sponsor here at the EIB network, to get into gear.
And we conclude here that this may be one of the first ethical dilemmas faced by the Justice Brothers.
But I assume since they are sponsors, that they will let us know first of any future plans they have in regard to this outcome today.
Cora in Durham, North Carolina, welcome to the EIB Network.
Hey, Rush, how are you doing?
I'm never better.
Thanks for the call.
So I just wanted to say congratulations for coming last fall saying that the truth in this case was going to come out slowly.
And that's exactly what happened.
You compared it to what happened with Clinton.
And I have told everybody this for six months.
This is going to end.
Rush said it, and it's happened.
So congratulations.
Were you confident it was going to end this way?
Yes, absolutely I was.
I live in Durham and have been very disgusted by what I've seen happen here.
Why do you think it happened?
I mean, you're a Durham resident.
What do you think was going on here?
Well, I do think that the campaign had a lot to do with that.
There's a large African-American population in the city.
Yeah, but no, we know all that, but let me focus the question because of time.
Here you had a DA who obviously knew everything he was doing was trumped up, and yet he thought there was no way he couldn't get away with this.
I really and truly think he never thought it was going to be this big.
I don't think he thought the national media was going to get involved with this.
And I think he thought this was going to be a small town southern slipping under the rug.
These boys are going to go to jail.
That's how it looked to me.
And when it exploded, he kind of got his hand caught in the cookie jar, and it backfired on him.
Interesting thought.
I mean, it's possible.
I don't know how somebody who runs for elective office could be that naive about the elements of this case and the fact that those elements would take this far beyond the city limits of Durham.
Anyway, I'm glad you called, Cora.
Well, you got a pep in your voice.
A lot of spunk, a lot of energy there.
It's infectious.
It's great to talk to you.
Be back and close it out after this.
All right, folks, have to have to hit the trail.
I've got to do a little audio blurb for a Family Guy TV show coming up, playing myself, and then wing my way northward to New York, a Northern Command.
Got a big cigar dinner Thursday night in New York.
So on the air there tomorrow, and see you then.
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