It's Rush Limbaugh, your highly trained broadcast specialist, serving humanity simply by showing up.
Great to have you with us.
Telephone number is 800-282-2882 and the email address lrushbow at EIBNet.com.
Had a number of people email today during the course of the first hour of the program, ladies and gentlemen, expressing anger and dissatisfaction with the callers on today's program, claiming the caller is callers have not been up to the usual caliber and so forth.
Others are writing to express their confusion over the program today.
Let me just give you, and I address all this, by the way, to those of you who are new to the program, because here's an example.
This is just one sample.
Dear Rush, I'm a fairly new listener and I'm confused.
I thought I understood your message about Obama getting all the credit for each step of the rescue.
In fact, there's one aspect of the rescue that the Obama administration has not been properly credited for, and it's a big one.
And I want to be the first to bestow upon our brave new president the credit for this operation, because if this hadn't happened, none of the rest of the operation could have.
Remember when the ship's captain ordered and offered to trade himself as a hostage to the pirates if all the other crew would be released.
And that happened.
And so what has not been properly bestowed upon our brave new president is when he gave that order to the captain to trade himself to the pirates, the merchant marine organizers, so that the rest of the crew could be released.
I mean, that's a fundamental aspect of the story.
It's not just that Obama personally ordered the shooting to start.
He gave the order to fire.
But had President Obama not given the order to the captain to offer himself in exchange for all the other crew members that were hostages, then we would not have been able to have the operation that we had on Sunday.
The operation on Sunday required only one hostage.
Obama knew this a week ago.
Everybody is complaining that Obama took a week to disfigure this.
No, no, no, no.
What's happened here is somebody in the White House has not gotten the story out to the stenographers in the drive-by media.
Because had Obama not given the captain, Mr. Phillips, the order to trade himself for all the rest of the hostages, then it would have been impossible for the Navy snippers to commit snipper fire on Obama's orders.
Could only be one guy there, and he had to get himself out of the way.
So it's a brilliant, brilliant thing here that President Obama pulled off.
And that's one aspect here that hasn't been reported.
Back to the confused email.
Dear Rush, I'm a fairly new listener and confused.
I thought I understood your message about Obama getting all the credit for each step of the rescue, but then those two callers yelled at you.
It seemed to me they didn't get your point, but you didn't set them straight.
You didn't explain the sarcasm.
Now I'm not sure if I understand as well as I thought.
Signed, June.
I don't want to mention her last name because she's confused and I don't know where she lives.
She didn't say so.
To all of you new listeners, hang in there.
What's happening today on this program is sort of common.
I mean, it's You can't listen to just a half hour or an hour or two hours or even a day and have it all figured out unless you have not been poisoned by our popular culture and its media.
Now, June here is wiser than she knows, but she doesn't know how wise she is at all.
Because June says, I thought I understood, but then those callers started yelling at you.
That's exactly right, June.
And who were those callers?
If you're just joining us, we started out by agreeing with Jonah Goldberg at National Review Online that when President Obama does great things, we have to acknowledge it.
We can't sit here and act unhappy and upset that President Obama excelled at something.
We can't do that.
So here we have to, and we know that he's fully, totally responsible for all that happened here.
He gave the order to the SEALs to shoot.
That was on ABC at the top of the hour.
He planned the rescue strategy, the timing and so forth.
But who is it that's calling here?
Who is it calling yelling at me about this?
Well, it's none other than Obama's supporters.
None other than people who voted for Obama.
A couple of them have come from Chicago.
But these people calling and yelling at me and insulting me and telling me that I've lost my mind, these are people that voted for Obama and they are calling essentially to tell me that I'm wrong.
These Obama supporters and voters are calling to tell me essentially that he doesn't deserve the credit.
They're disagreeing with me.
Their hatred for me is such that even when I praise President Obama, they have to call and call me names and tell me I've lost my mind or whatever.
So what you're hearing here today is, and I don't know of any other radio show where this would happen, where Obama supporters would call a host praising President Obama and tell the host he's nuts.
Monumental achievement today here, if you understand the context, the rubric under which this program operates.
So if you're confused, if you're disappointed in the quality of the callers today, keep in mind one thing.
We're all professionals here.
We're highly trained professionals.
What you hear is what we want you to hear.
What happens here is not by accident.
What happens here is not beyond our control.
I'm a benevolent dictator.
What you hear on this program is precisely what we want you to hear.
There are no mistakes that have been made today.
We have not made any errors.
I am not revealing secrets.
I'm telling people how a program operates.
What is Open Line Friday about?
You know, I tell people Monday through Thursday, we only take the calls I want to take.
What day is it?
Monday.
I've even had some people call and say, this sounds like Open Line Friday.
Well, okay, you're starting to get it.
But don't think that we're not just a ragtag operation here like a lot of other media programs are, that whatever happens, happens.
This program is among the most tightly screened programs in all of major media, call screened.
It always has been.
And for you to think that somehow I am being bamboozled or we are being fooled by the people that call, you are not giving us the proper credit as professionals.
We're all professionals here.
We know what we're doing.
Every program is a brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed strategy.
I understand that some of you new listeners are going to be confused.
That's the idea.
If this program were simple, if it were on the surface, then you would never be confused.
And you might say, but Rush, you're a communicator.
You're a highly trained specialist in the business of communication.
Why do you not want people to understand what you're doing?
Oh, I do.
I just realize that there are far more powerful ways to make a point than to say something in five or six seconds.
It's about inspiring your own brains to get into gear, to start thinking about things.
But even some of my closest friends, which is what tells me that this program, not only all of the libs who have called here to essentially criticize their president, a bunch of libs, angry at me, have called here to say Obama doesn't deserve all this credit, that I'm out of my mind.
There's no other program that could make that happen.
Even some of my closest friends have called to say, good Lord, what's wrong with Snerdley today?
So I'm impelled to say, compelled to say nothing.
He's ordering, he's following orders flawlessly, perfectly.
And June, your confusion has been experienced by virtually all the other 20, 22 million people who listen this pro well, not all of them.
Some of them were never confused, but a lot of people have been.
But not for long.
Just as I said before the previous hour ended, hang in.
Hang in because it all makes sense at some point to everybody.
And when that point happens, when that moment in time where it all makes sense, where all the lights go on, you then understand how fortunate you are to have me as your host and this program as your chosen one.
We'll be back after this.
I am confused.
It's not often, by the way, that I am confused, ladies and gentlemen, but I, El Rushbow, the all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-feeling, all-confused, Maharashi, am confused because Newsweek magazine last week ran a headline, a cover story, and I forget the exact title of the cover story, but the point was, we're not a Christian nation anymore, if we ever were.
All these stories about how fewer and fewer people believe in God, fewer and fewer people believe in religion, multicultural society, blah, blah.
And then on Saturday, Rasmussen Reports issues a poll that says as Christians gather to celebrate Easter Sunday, the latest Rasmussen Reports National Telephone Survey finds that 88% of adults nationwide think the person known to history as Jesus Christ actually walked the earth 2,000 years ago.
We know that he did.
I mean, that's not a matter of dispute.
88% is okay.
It ought to be 100% because we know it happened.
But regardless, 88% of adults nationwide believe that Jesus walked the earth.
That's up five points from a year ago.
5% disagree.
7% are not sure.
So where the hell's news we come off with their headline and their cover story?
Desire.
They hope to destroy this nation as a Christian nation.
82% also believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God who came to earth and died for our sins.
Another 10 think otherwise.
8% are not sure.
And nearly as many, 79%, believe the central claim of the Christian faith that Jesus rose from the dead.
Now, this does not ji with drive-by mainstream media news reports of the last week or two about the attitudes and beliefs of a majority of people in this country.
Because I, I mean, I could swear last week that the drive-bys told us that Christianity was dead in the United States.
And in Rasmussen says, no, it's just the exact opposite.
Dixon, Missouri, as we go back to the phones, this is Catherine.
Great to have you on the EIB network.
Hello.
Rush, I am so in love with your big, juicy brain, and I love when you're right.
Well, thank you very much.
I appreciate that.
You've been talking about how the media has been giving Obama credit for the seizure of these pirates.
Well, on Sunday.
Hey, hey, not the seizure, the murder.
Right.
On Sunday, Jim Kilosevsky from NBC News was at the Pentagon briefing.
And his very first question was, so, sir, am I to understand that Obama was on the phone giving the order to shoot?
And the Admiral said, no, that was given day before.
So do you, you've always said that the media who gives people their fame can take it away.
Do you think that this might be the beginning and a shift?
Because I was shocked by his question.
Well, no, I don't think this is the beginning of the end.
It really is not a fundamental difference because giving the order to shoot handles everything.
The when the order was given, incidental, has not been widely reported.
You happen to be smart enough and wise enough to catch it.
But it doesn't matter.
If anything, what this proves is the Navy needs to get spanked for not acting sooner.
If Obama gave the order on Saturday to shoot and they didn't shoot till Sunday, then maybe somebody on board that ship needs to be reprimanded.
That's the way to look at this.
But why would he ask that question?
It seems to be like he was diminishing Obama's role.
No, no, just the exact opposite.
He asked the question hoping for a yes and didn't get it.
He got it.
Well, the guy said no.
The admiral said no.
No, the admiral said yes.
It's just that he gave the order, but he didn't specify when.
But he still gave the order.
He said he gave the order the night before.
Right.
Gave the order the night before.
Which over there is daytime.
Correct.
Might have given the order within hours of it happening.
You've got to understand how to look at this.
See, you're looking at this question and answer, hopefully, hoping that you see the drive-by media trying to maybe poke some holes in Obama.
That will never happen.
I'm trying to see them gain some of their journalistic integrity back.
The question was designed, the Admiral, I mean, the orgasm, the euphoria would have happened if the Admiral had said, yes, we fired when ordered.
But no, the Admiral said, we got the order to fire yesterday, and we found time and we found the right opportunity to do it today.
And that's, you know, you haven't seen that replayed, have you?
No, I have not.
Well, why do you think?
Well, just for the reasons you said.
Exactly right.
But I still thought it was very telling of Jim Nikolaszewski to ask the question to begin with.
No, Jim Nikolashevsky was hopeful.
Somebody at NBC ought to get fired, you know, for not editing that out.
Or was it live?
It was a live press conference on Sunday afternoon.
I was watching the Masters, so I didn't see it live.
Well, they're still on delay.
They could have had a technical difficulty slide go up to prevent that from going out.
But I mean, look, if the Admiral said the order was given Saturday and the Navy didn't pull a trigger till Sunday, then there's insubordination somewhere.
And it certainly is not from the white.
Our great president single-handedly pulled this off from planning stage to execution.
Jonah Goldberg at National Review Online takes guts to do what Jonah did, to say when good things, when Obama does great things, we've got to, We can't be spiteful.
We can't wish for Obama fail.
We can't be disappointed when he does something right.
That's going to get us nowhere.
He does something right.
He's to be congratulated.
And I'm raising my hand and offering my congratulations.
By the way, I did, and I have been paying some attention to what these pirates, the merchant marine organizers, have been saying.
You know, these people are mad.
They're mad.
Three of them have met with Davy Jones now.
And when I listen to these pirates, these Somali merchant marine organizers, you know, these pirates, they used to know they were bad people.
Have you ever watched Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp?
I mean, these were mean, rotten people.
I mean, these like Blue Beard, Red Beard, Blackbeard, Captain Hook.
These were terrorists.
These were bad, bad guys.
They didn't care what they smelled like, looked like, thought they did nothing.
They took their bounty and they ran around.
They terrorized.
When the pirate ship was pulling into port, the women and children fled.
Now, these pirates are kind of disappointing me.
The Somali merchant marine organizers actually sound like they're entitled.
Their feelings are hurt.
They think they're entitled to these ransoms that are being paid.
And I get the impression listening to them, they expect to be told, good job, pirate.
Good job.
They're acting offended as hell here that our captain was rescued by our president, ordered by the Navy SEALs to rescue, and that they didn't get their ransom as though they were entitled to it.
And these people have an entitlement mentality.
I could have sworn they were originally Americans who maybe fled.
Maybe they were illegal immigrants or something.
They got here coming to the entitlement mentality, didn't like it, fled the scene because Republicans drove them out of the country in the last election.
So they fled over to Somalia and they started pirating things because they have the attitude of entitlement just like a lot of American citizens do.
I mean, we got, you know, call them what they want to call themselves.
We got Somali pirates.
We got the Beltway pirates.
Belway pirates are led by Pelosi and Reed.
You think 2 million?
That's chump change.
The Beltway pirates are demanding a $10 trillion ransom, not just from us, but from our kids and our grandkids and their grandkids.
A $10 trillion ransom.
Now, the Somali pirates have an attitude of entitlement that is no different than Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid's or Barney Franks.
They think they're entitled to the money.
It's not theirs.
It's an amazing comparison, if you ask me.
Something we should ponder.
Did you hear, by the way, that the lone surviving pirate was the captain of the ship?
He's 16 years old.
You heard that?
The Somali community organizer, the merchant marine organizer pirate, was 16 years old.
And he surrendered, he surrendered before the shooting started.
That's factual, correct?
Okay, so the captain, the merchant marine organizer of the hostage ship, 16 years old, he surrendered before the shooting starts.
Now, that means, well, yeah, of course, he wanted medical aid.
Big whoop.
He surrendered.
That means he's in our custody.
So he's got to be detained somewhere.
Will he be detained at Club Gitmo?
Will they take him there?
He's got to be debriefed, too.
Maybe he's a man of the sea.
We could debrief him at a Red Lobster somewhere in North Carolina.
Or maybe detain him there.
Give him a job at Red Lobster in North Carolina.
He's going to be interrogated, of course, at some point.
Oh, and a related story.
Hang on here just a second.
A related story.
Defense officials said that the United States military...
Sorry, let me rewrite this.
Who wrote this?
Fox News.
They're slipping up.
Defense officials said that President Obama is considering attacks on Somali merchant marine organizer bases on land and aid for the people there to help stop the hijacking of ships off Africa's coast.
This is reported by Bloomberg.
This is not Fox.
I'm sorry.
Bloomberg got it wrong.
President Obama's plan would include helping Somalia create their own Coast Guard and train security forces.
That sounds like nation building.
Does that the Coast Guard?
The Coast Guard?
Oh, no, I'm sorry.
President Obama going to use the military to attack Somali pirate bases on land, then provide aid for the people in Somalia to help stop the hijacking.
President's plan would include helping Somalia create their own Coast Guard and train security forces.
Now, that sounds strangely similar to exactly what President Bush had in mind in Iraq.
Does it not?
Help me out if I'm wrong on this, but in order to stop, because the second in command on the Maersk, Alabama said yesterday, look, this is not solved.
We've got big problems out there.
These pirates are roaming the oceans and they're hijacking everything.
And he said the world's got to come together.
And President Obama, with another brilliant plan, I mean, this is something nobody would have ever thought of.
We're going to bomb their land bases, and then we're going to train their Coast Guard.
So we're going to create a Coast Guard so that Somalis can have a Coast Guard off their own coast to prevent their own pirates from getting out into the open sea.
Officials said the plan would be submitted to the Obama administration.
This is another piece of BS.
Here again, Bloomberg is trying to portray our brave president as totally detached from this.
To say that the military's come up with a plan that are going to present it to President Obama, that's not how it works here.
This is Obama's plan.
He's presented it to the military.
He's our brave new president.
He does great things.
And so we're going to tell the Somalis it's up to you to stop your own pirates, or we're going to give you a Coast Guard, we're going to train a Coast Guard, and you stop it.
It sounds like exactly what the game plan was in Iraq.
But I don't know, how are we going to, we're going to feed the people of Somalia again.
We fed them back in the 90s.
And now we're going to, we got starving Americans.
Have you seen the stories of all the homeless people?
Have you seen the stories of all the starving Americans?
And we're going to feed the Somalis again for the second time in 15 years.
Don't be fooled, folks.
Do not be fooled.
We're going to Somalia for the oil.
We're heading in there to do whatever we can to deplete that country of its natural resources as punishment for their sending pirates out there.
The only thing not explained in this story is what President Obama's exit strategy will be from Somalia.
We'll just have to wait as that unfolds.
Pensacola, Florida.
Michelle, thank you for waiting.
Welcome to the EIB network.
Hi.
Hi.
How are you?
Good.
I'm excellent.
Never better.
Well, good.
Yes.
I'm calling.
I've just been listening for a short time, but I'm curious about some of the stuff that you say.
For instance, when you say what you hear is what we want you to hear, what do you mean?
Well, it's not really that complicated, but you've got to, again, put it in context.
I said that we have been getting complaints, even from some of my closest friends, about the quality of callers today, that they haven't been quite up to the usual intelligence of daily callers.
And I got kind of angry because this assumes, even my closest friends and some of the audience assume it, I don't know what I'm doing.
And I do.
So what I meant to say, every caller you hear is on the air for a reason.
So if you do know, then I'm curious as to, as a radio host, why not go into politics and do something good for our country?
Well, as a new listener, you're entitled to that question.
I've been asked that question multiple times a week for 20 years, 20 plus years.
The answer is the pay cut.
Okay, okay, I'll give you that.
Then, as an American, why are you so anxious to have a division in our country?
As I see it, I think Obama is trying to pull the country together, Republicans, Democrats, but you are bound and determined to only find and take out of context the things that you want us to hear rather than.
Now, wait just a second now, Michelle.
Well, now wait just a second.
You've been listening to the program today.
I've heard it off and on.
I walk in and out of the office.
You're praising Obama to the hilt today.
So when you say me to the heart.
So when you say our fair leader, you're not being sarcastic.
Our great leader, our great, brave president.
Great leader.
You're not being sarcastic?
That's for you to decide.
You're the leader.
I think you are.
Oh, you do.
Yes, I do.
I think you're being very sarcastic, and I do think that you are trying to.
You mean what I've said?
Hold on a second.
Wait a second, Michelle.
Are you saying I'm being sarcastic today that the things I have said about President Obama today are not true?
No, no.
I am sorry, Mr. Limbaugh.
I don't reference just today.
I'm sorry.
I have heard your program.
Well, but you can't throw today out.
I'll talk to you in a second about previous days.
I'm going to answer every question you've asked me.
But I want to know you're listening today, so off and on, in and out.
I have praised President Obama today.
Go ahead.
I'm sorry.
You're talking to us.
Are you at work?
Are you talking to somebody else?
Yes, I'm sorry.
Very.
You're okay.
Very rude.
Very rude.
I'm not saying that.
I need my hand.
I am sorry.
All right.
Okay.
Okay.
Well, I'm not talking to anybody else.
Thank you.
Now, I have praised President Obama to the hilt today.
Today.
And you don't believe it.
And you are one who wants Obama to succeed.
And here you've got me.
You've got me despite what you think in previous days.
Here I am.
I'm totally on board.
And you somehow still think I'm being mean.
Well, Must mean that you don't believe what I'm saying about Obama is true.
No, what I don't, like your one caller who said, you said that the president gave the order to shoot, and you ended it there.
And then another caller of yours said if there is a threat.
And so you took it out of context to me is what I got out of that.
No, the caller was taking things out of context.
I was placing things back in context.
You see, once again, you listened to me give President Obama credit.
What that call was, we had a caller who said that Obama gave the order to shoot Saturday, but the shooting didn't start until Sunday.
And therefore, I was wrong when I said Obama gave the order to shoot.
I said, no, I'm not wrong.
He gave the order to shoot Saturday.
The Navy didn't.
They disobeyed.
And there's insubordination.
He said, shoot Saturday.
They didn't shoot till Sunday.
I am in President Obama's corner on this.
Okay, okay.
Okay.
And so the issue, you know, that's not a huge issue as to which day.
But it's the caller.
It was to the caller, and it was to the NBC reporter Jim Miklashevsky who asked the question.
Okay, and then when you said what we hear is what you want us to hear, what does that does that just mean your version of your truth?
Or does it mean?
No, no, no.
There is no version of the version of the truth.
There's just the truth.
I don't believe that.
And this program exists to ascertain it.
I'm sorry, Mr. Limbaugh.
I really am.
I'm just every time I walk into my boss's office and I hear your program, I'm generally offended.
You're not even listening by choice.
No, I'm not allowed to because I get upset by it.
My coworker is not here today.
So I'm able to listen because I want to know what my boss is hearing.
I want to understand.
Wait a minute, Michelle, is your boss a bad guy?
Oh, he's a wonderful guy.
Well, then he's a wonderful guy.
He's confused.
If your boss is a wonderful guy and he's listening to this program and you have to know, you ought to go work for the Obama administration.
You have to know what your boss is listening to.
Mr. Limbaugh, I am an American.
I want us all to get along.
I don't want anyone dividing us.
And you go out of your way to find divisions.
Michelle, I do not.
I do not.
Would you mind, because I'm running short on time today, I would really, and this is best done a different day, would you mind if, would you give Mr. Snurdley our call screener a phone number where we could reach you and I could spend some more time with you on the air about your specific question tomorrow?
Well, I don't have a specific question.
Yes, you just did.
You said I'm dividing America.
You want to know if I believe what I'm saying or what about that.
Right.
I'd love to talk about that because, Michelle, this country has been divided since the pilgrims arrived.
I know, and that's why I think Obama is trying.
No, he's not.
Obama is the one trying to divide America, Michelle.
Yes, I disagree.
Well, you're entitled to disagree.
And you're entitled to be wrong.
I am entitled to be wrong and to my opinion as you are.
Well, but I'm not wrong.
But it seems, and I've been, this is my first time really taking an interest in all of this.
That's why it's crucial that you understand what's really going on.
This is your first, it's why it's crucial.
And you're only getting half the story if you are discarding me.
But you know what?
I'm listening because my boss says, oh, you can't listen to ABC, NBC, CBS.
They're all bad.
Or this.
Your boss is very wise.
Yeah, but see, that's so, I don't, I think that's a little bit narrow-minded.
No, it's not intelligent.
And not only they're all lying to us.
It's intelligence guided by experience.
Now, Michelle, I've got to run.
I'm way long here.
But if you would please hold on and give Mr. Snerdley a number and a time when we can reach you.
When I have more time, I'll spend all of this discussion with you in great detail because you are a teachable moment for a lot of people in the audience.
For the most part, we're through, but it won't take much longer.
And please don't be frightened that nothing will happen to you.
You'll enjoy the experience.
It'll be like a back rub with a mink glove.
You'll want to happen over and over and over.
But right now, I have to take a timeout.
Just got a flash poll from Rasmussen Reports, ladies and gentlemen.
80% of the American people have never heard of Newsweek magazine.
15% cannot get Newsweek to stop sending them four weeks of free subscriptions.
And 5% don't understand the question.
Speaking of understanding the question, you watch the Drive-By Media.
You open your 401k statement.
You hear about layoffs at work.
It's time more than ever right now to take control of the things that you can.
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Andy in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Nice to have you.
You've got about a minute, 15 seconds, and I wanted to get to you.
Mr. Limbaugh, it's an honor to talk to you.
Thank you, sir.
I'll try to get to my point quick, and maybe you can help me understand this, but I'm trying to get my head around it.
President Obama ordered the United States Navy to shoot these pirates.
Now, these pirates have been described by Secretary of State Clinton as criminals, which makes them civilians.
So he's ordered our Navy to attack civilians of another sovereign nation.
If they were criminals, it should have been taken care of by the police, and we're not at war with Somalia.
And the United Nations and all the rest of the countries of the world already have a policy, because we have to go along with the United Nations.
They already have a policy of how you deal with these pirates, which is you pay them off.
So what I'm wondering is, is President Obama liable for a criminal act and ordering the United States Navy to shoot those of another sovereign nation?
Excellent question.
It's an excellent question.
And you're basically asking, why did Obama flip the bird to the world community?
It's because they embarrassed him, if the truth be known, on his worldwide tour, his Europe tour.
He got nothing of what he wanted.
They disrespected him, only 5,000 trainers for Afghanistan.
He flipped them the bird by saying, okay, I don't need you to handle this merchant marine organizer problem.
Take this.
Senator John Kerry, who, by the way, served in Vietnam, announced last week he wants to conduct hearings in the Senate on the pirate problem.
My understanding is that one of the witnesses he plans to call is the actor Johnny Depp.