Now, the Egyptian army is saying we will act if protesters resist change.
What?
Resist change?
The protesters are demanding change.
You know, I arrived here today out of sorts.
I'm really not feeling all that good.
I don't know why.
Just one of these straight line sort of blah days.
Today, the job is the job.
Let me just put it that way.
Very rarely.
Very rarely, ladies and gentlemen, is this job work.
Today, it's work.
Not because of the subject matter, just because, I don't know, it's just, I'm so irritated at things I can't begin to tell you.
But I'm not going to bleed on you.
I'm just saying this is hard to keep up with here.
The army says they're going to be big trouble if the protesters resist change.
Who is it that's been demanding the change?
The protesters.
Other than saying, hey, Mubarak is still in power.
The CIA says he might leave.
NBC says he's out of there.
Fox is saying, we're pretty sure he's out of there.
CN is saying, well, Foreign Ministry says he's not going anywhere.
So in the middle of all this, our young boy president has deigned to speak at a candy store in Wisconsin.
Well, he was at a candy store yesterday.
I assume he's in Marquette, Michigan, at Northern Michigan University.
And he spoke.
This gets worse as we go here on these soundbites.
He spoke about the reports that Hosni Mubarak might step down.
We are following today's events in Egypt very closely.
And we'll have more to say as this plays out.
But what is absolutely clear is that we are witnessing history unfold.
It's a moment of transformation that's taking place because the people of Egypt are calling for change.
They've turned out in extraordinary numbers representing all ages and all walks of life, but it's young people who've been at the forefront.
A new generation.
Your generation wants voices to be heard.
And so going forward, we want those young people and we want all Egyptians to know America will continue to do everything that we can to support an orderly and genuine transition to democracy in Egypt.
That is that, that, that is horrible.
That is as shameless as anything yet.
This is co-opting whatever's going on over there and relating it to his re-election campaign of 2012 in an attempt to get out the youth vote.
Making this speech to a bunch of skulls full of mush at a university, telling them that's essentially you over there.
That's the young people wanting change.
What Obama was telling those people, the Egyptians want their own me.
The Egyptians want their own Obama.
My gosh, this guy is shameless.
This is, that, folks, is just extraordinary.
A new generation.
You're a generation who want their voices to be heard.
And so going forward, we want those young people, all Egyptians to know America.
Good Lord, take it and make it about yourself.
That's disgusting.
He has no clue what this is.
He has no clue what this is about.
Nobody does.
But now it's been appropriated.
It's about Obama's re-election campaign.
We are watching history unfold.
Doesn't history unfold every day?
History on we've been watching history unfold for two years here, folks, and we're not happy about it.
The real question is, or should be, will these events help the United States?
Are they in our best interest?
It doesn't sound odd to say that.
Believe it or not, that's what the U.S. president's supposed to be thinking.
The U.S. president is supposed to be thinking, is this, how does this, how does this help us in the Middle East?
What does this do?
What is this saying about U.S. interests?
He couldn't care less.
This has now been appropriated for his reelection campaign.
Tell a bunch of college students that essentially it's them, your counterparts, your colleagues, your compatriots in Egypt are calling for change, which is, of course, what his campaign was all about.
This is despicable, folks.
I'm sorry.
This is so beneath the presidency to look at this, to talk about this that way, to appropriate.
And this is the second time he's done it.
Try to get out in front of the mob and now own it a second time.
But it gets even worse.
This morning during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on international security threats, the National Intelligence Director James Clapper testified.
Sue Myrick, North Carolina, do you consider the Muslim Brotherhood a danger based on their extremist ideology?
Can you speak to the validity of the memorandum that I mentioned?
Do you see the Muslim Brotherhood as a danger to America based on that?
What is the story with the Muslim Brotherhood?
Listen to this.
Let me just speak briefly to the Muslim Brotherhood as an international movement.
The term Muslim Brotherhood is an umbrella term for a variety of movements.
In the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried al-Qaeda as a perversion of Islam.
Holy smokes, that is so wrong.
That is moronically incompetent.
The Muslim Brotherhood is secular?
The Muslim Brotherhood has nothing to do with Islam.
And this is the National Intelligence Director.
Not even NBC's reporter on the ground can stomach that one.
This afternoon on Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington, she spoke to their correspondent over there, a guy by the name of, was it Richard Engel?
Yeah.
And this is the exchange.
She asks him about Clapper, who said that the Muslim Brotherhood is largely secular.
James Clapper, who said that it is, quote, largely secular.
It is not Al-Qaeda.
It's not the Taliban, but it is not secular.
And that is a wild misreading of this organization.
That is terrifying.
It's not Al-Qaeda, not the Taliban, but it's not secular.
And that's a wild misreading of this organization.
Well, why would he have it any more wrong than Obama does?
It's just a bunch of young people who want their Obama in Egypt.
So now we know what this is all about.
The value of whatever's going on in Egypt.
And you can sit there and look at this, and you can say it's marvelous.
It's people standing up for democracy.
It's people wanting freedom.
It's historic, whatever.
You can try to make this out to be as important as the fall of the Berlin Wall if you want to.
But you better understand that our president looks at it as nothing more than a cheap addition to his campaign.
He looks at this as an opportunity to equate it with his first campaign and to tell a bunch of college students, these people are simply looking for their Obama.
Egyptians simply want their version of me.
Don't doubt me for a moment, that's what he's saying.
And then his national intelligence director thinks this is a secular group.
That is terrifying.
And those are the words of a state-controlled media guy.
And it is terrifying.
Let's go back and listen.
This guy, Clapper, December 21st, 2010, ABC's World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer.
She interviewed Big Sis, John Brennan, and James Clapper.
During the interview, Sawyer had this exchange with Clapper and Brennan about terror arrests in London earlier that day.
London.
How serious is it?
Any implication that it was coming here?
Any of the things that they have seen were coming here?
Director Clapper.
You read the arrests of the 12.
By the British this morning.
Yes.
This is something that the British informed us about early this morning as it was taking place.
He didn't even know about it.
He was not even aware.
The National Intelligence Director was not even aware of the London arrests.
That's why we left that pregnant pause in there when she said, any of the things that have been seen coming here?
Director Clapper?
He said, London?
What are you talking about?
London, London.
Muslim Brotherhood is secular?
Finally, this exchange in the interview later on, she had to ask Clapper again because she can't believe he doesn't know about it.
I was a little surprised you didn't know about London, Director Clapper.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't.
You know why he didn't know about it?
Because the regime didn't figure out any way to use it for their reelection campaign.
Who could forget the December 21, well, who could have missed them when they happened?
December 21, the terror attacks in London, they reputed.
And he doesn't know about it.
The National Intelligence Director, now he comes out and says that the Muslim Brotherhood is secular.
Meaning, they're not tied to Islam in any way.
They're not Islamists.
They're secular.
They're good guys.
And are we screwed if something really serious ever happened?
We are screwed.
Tony in Edwins, Washington.
Hello, and welcome to the EIB Network.
Hello, sir.
Hi, Rush.
Say, I'm concerned that this issue in Egypt, which is very important, yet I'm concerned it's overshadowing the budget issues that the Republicans are doing right now.
You probably heard of the reductions in spending that Ryan's committee has recommended for fiscal 2011 to like $32 billion.
I mean, this is just outrageous when they were $500 billion.
Now they're talking $32.
I mean, where was Obama at this point in his first year in office?
I mean, he was packing a stupid stimulus bill.
And where are we in our first year in control of the House?
We're talking about a measly $32 billion reduction.
I mean, here you got Rand Paul talking about $500 billion in the Senate.
And what is Paul Ryan and this How Rogers and appropriations?
This guy is a disaster.
It just is disheartening.
And I'll tell you, people are going to come unglued when they catch wind that the Republicans are acting in this fashion.
I am looking for a, yeah, here it is.
I'm glad you brought this up because this happens to be, after the unemployment news, the second story at the top of my stack.
I have a piece here by Quinn Hillier, who writes to the American Spectator.
It's a blog post, and he has a piece that he's written aimed at people who hold the view that you just expressed.
It says, budget cutters should chill out.
Now, stick with me on this, Tony.
I just want to get your reaction to what he says here.
He says, before I say what I'm going to say, let me re-establish my credentials, although I'll still get slammed by angry people anyway.
But I am a budget cutter's budget cutter.
I served on the Appropriations Committee when it actually cut $50 billion in domestic discretionary spending in two years.
Back then, that was real money.
It would be the equivalent of about $120 billion today.
We did this in 1998 and in 1999.
And I complained about the Bush administration.
He's got a track record here of complaining about spending that is as documented as yours is.
Nonetheless, this is a key point here.
Nonetheless, the conniption fits that a lot of House freshmen are having about Paul Ryan's $32 billion in proposed domestic discretionary cuts are totally misplaced.
Anybody who thought the $100 billion cut pledge applied to this fiscal year, which is almost half finished, is crazy.
The pledge was for this year, the first legislative year of the new Congress, meaning for the first full budget this Congress gets to work on, which is that of fiscal year 2012, which will start in October.
So he says there's nobody better at cutting budgets.
Nobody knows more about what he's doing right now than Paul Ryan.
If the GOP cuts willy-nilly a full $100 billion for this fiscal year rather than the coming one, I guarantee there will be horror stories.
I guarantee there will be mistakes.
I guarantee there will be a political reversal that will harm or destroy our real objective, which is to make significant, permanent, politically sustainable budget savings that lead to a stable, balanced budget while conservatives still hold sway in Congress for a lasting time.
The freshmen and the outside conservatives who egg them on flat out don't know what they're doing.
They need to plan to win the long game rather than demand a short game instant gratification win that turns into a horribly Pyrrhic victory.
So apparently he has heard people like you and he is fit to be tied that you're putting unfair demands on the Republicans.
I mean, I can't buy that malarkey.
I mean, first of all, we're talking about a $3.5 trillion budget, you know, and the idea that we can, it's a squeeze to cut barely 1%.
It's not even 1% that they're talking.
I mean, this is ridiculous.
And we're looking for symbolism, okay?
Maybe it's just symbolism we're looking for.
But at the same time, these guys are supposed to come in with guts.
And they're supposed to, I mean, to cut $100 billion out of $3.5 trillion, that's radical?
I mean, come on, man.
We need response today.
We aren't looking for fiscal 2012.
We're looking for fiscal 2011.
And I don't care if there's seven months left or three months left.
You know, we got $3.5 trillion to work with.
And you divide that by a quarter.
You know, you still got a lot of money sloshing around there.
Don't give me this malarkey.
It's too much.
Okay.
So the Republicans made a pledge.
It was part of their campaign.
They are not meeting the terms of the pledge, as far as you're concerned.
And this is not good.
And at least, even if people think that these cuts will not pass the Senate, even if people think the cuts will not be approved, they still made a pledge to do this and do it and apply the pressure and make them veto the cuts, right?
That's right.
That's right.
I mean, why pass this repeal Obamacare if it's not going to pass the Senate?
I mean, don't give me this line that, oh, we can't get by the Senate if we make radical cuts in this budget.
Well, look, I'm not prepared to give you the details now.
Maybe tomorrow I have to digest a little bit about a couple things that I heard just before the program today.
But if what I was told is correct, and I have to check it, you are not going to be happy about the attempts to defund Obamacare either.
I'll have details of that, but I've got them now.
I just have to check them.
I just want to make sure that everybody would love to use this show to get their pet peeve point out.
I am deluded every day with people.
You got to make sure you got to.
So I have to check this out.
But if this is true, if you're upset over the difference between $32 billion and $100 billion in budget cuts, the defunding via the continuing resolution of Obamacare, you're going to forget about this.
You're going to be off on another warpath.
Well, let me make one last point before I hang up.
And I'll tell you what it all says.
The point of this note that I got today is that the Republican leadership is more concerned with the rules of the House and points of order and making sure that the opposition is not shut out in debate, because they were shut out when the Democrats ran the show, than they are with the substance of a lot of this legislation.
These are why I'm going to have to check these things.
So you don't.
Tomorrow's Open Line Friday, but you don't want to miss it.
Well, let me make one last point.
If these guys behave in this fashion and make measly cuts, in 2012, they're going to split the ticket.
I mean, there's going to be a big segment.
A lot of us Tea Partiers, which I'm a staunch Republican, but I am fit to be tied.
I know.
I know.
And people are going to bail on the Republicans.
They're going to split the ticket.
No, they're going to bail on certain ones.
I understand you, but.
And we're back.
Rush Limbaugh, the cutting edge of societal evolution.
Having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have.
We mentioned earlier here that a coup appears to be taking place, a transfer of power from Hosni Mubarak to the military, which is outside of Egyptian constitutional procedures.
Now, apparently, what's happening here, the armed forces, the power is going to be handed over to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which is not what the Egyptian Constitution says should happen.
The Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces consists of Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, Defense Minister and Commander of the Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Sami Annan, the Military Chief of Staff, the Chief of Operations, and the heads of the Egyptian Army.
And they are admitting that the transfer of power would occur outside of the constitutional framework.
Egyptian Constitution stipulates that a resigning president would be replaced by the Speaker of the House and that elections would be held within two months.
However, this source said the military council would not be governing under the Constitution or any legislation and would have to define the format under which they are taking power.
So the military is going to take over and define what kind of power they have.
Now, these reports follow the Supreme Council meeting and the release of a statement that the Council titled Statement Number One.
Now, this is eerie because this is almost exactly what happened in 1952 in Egypt.
July 23rd, 1952, a group of army officers calling itself the Free Officers Movement, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, overthrew the monarchy, and a revolutionary command council composed of about a dozen top members of the movement became Egypt's government.
And then Nasser overthrew them and became a ruling monarch.
That's why I said it's the second revolution you have to pay attention to.
Meanwhile, our young president tries to tell us that what's happening here is no more than a replication of his campaign.
Young people demanding change.
Young people looking for their version of Barack Obama.
One of the most shameless co-opting of events.
My God, what kind of narcissist must this guy actually really be?
Essentially, if all this plays out, essentially a military coup taking place.
And Obama wants to say, yep, yep, yep, yes.
These guys are over there.
Just what happened here in America.
They're looking for their Obama.
No, he didn't use those words.
He didn't have to.
Go back.
What is that?
Sound by 24, I think.
Grab Sunby 24, Obama's reaction to this today.
And listen to this again.
He doesn't say those words, but it sounds like a campaign speech of his back in the 2008 campaign.
We are following today's events in Egypt very closely.
We'll have more to say as this plays out.
Sure.
But what is absolutely clear is that we are witnessing history unfold.
We do every day.
Moment of transformation that's taking place because the people of Egypt are calling for change.
They've turned out in extraordinary numbers representing all ages and all walks of life.
But it's young people who've been at the forefront, a new generation, your generation, who want their voices to be heard.
So going forward, we want those young people and we want all Egyptians to know America will continue to do everything that we can to support an orderly and genuine transition to democracy in Egypt.
He's making a speech here to college students in Michigan, Marquette, Michigan.
It's all about change.
It's all about finding a new Obama.
Young people.
It's a military coup.
Maybe the officers are young.
Okay, back to the phones we go.
Who is it next?
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
This is Ford.
Nice to have you on the program.
Hello.
Hi, Mr. Lembor.
Pleasure talking to you.
Thank you, sir.
I'm going to talk about Egypt from different points of view, but if you allow me to thank you very much, you single-handed stopped Clinton last century from having her socialized medicine.
I'm in medicine, and I'm thanking you again in my name and my friend name.
Thank you very much, sir.
Going back to Egypt.
I think the problem with Egypt and Middle East, because I'm from there, I'm from Middle East.
I live half of my life there.
I'm talking about experience.
And luckily, I'm living the rest of my life in the best country of the world, United States.
I vote Republican just to tell you where I'm coming from.
I found Egypt is corruption.
I found Middle East, corruption.
A dictator come with his family, take everything, and let the people suffer.
If you talk, you get killed.
Mr. Mubarak, the president, has emergency law for 30 years.
30 years after he makes peace with Israel.
That means anytime you talk about Obama, about the president, about anything, you get in jail, you get killed.
The whole thing starts, this demonstration in Egypt starts because a young man called Khalil Said from Alexandria last summer text something against Mubarak.
He was beaten to death.
He was from some now not to be rude, but the it seems like the consensus of reports that we're getting say that it was the unrest in Tunisia which ignited the unrest in Egypt.
I know exactly.
But that Khalil Saeed was before Tunisia.
He was beaten to death and thrown in the street.
And his friend 100 people started texting to start the movement.
And when Tunisia came, they encouraged to go in.
You know, the Mubarak using tactique called Brotherhood.
That is true.
Now, hang on just a second, hold that drop because I want to confirm something you just said.
The social networks did gin this up.
Videos of this beating that you're talking about, videos the other year.
It took some people who were ambivalent and took them into the streets.
You're absolutely right about that.
Yeah.
Now, what were you saying about the Brotherhood?
Mubarak used a tactique named Brotherhood to scare America.
Even me or Brotherhood, for 30 years, he could not contain the Brotherhood.
That's a big lie.
And if he continues, his son will take after him for 40 years.
In 40 years, we'll hear the same thing.
Brotherhood, if they are extremists, you push the people to go to them by not giving them job or equal opportunity.
But we have heard that Mubarak has said his son's not going to have any role in the future.
Is that not true?
It's true, but by force.
But before that, he was planning to have his son.
You know, Assad, in Syria, he has his son now, 40 years.
The same thing, scared tactic.
Is Israel going to kill us?
And he goes under the table and go to Turkey.
Please, please come and tell Israel to come talk to me.
Israel says, No, I don't want to talk to you.
It's scary tactic.
I know from experience.
You know, Mr. Obama, Mr. Limbo, people in the Middle East are families like you and me.
They like to live in peace, harmony, raise their kids, give them food, education, freedom.
Freedom, what we came here from.
And maybe in short, what happened in Egypt is not good.
All right.
So we know the Muslim Brotherhood assassinated Sadat.
Right.
And it looks like the Muslim Brotherhood is going to end up being two for two here.
They may not kill Mubarak, but it looks like he's gone.
He's gone.
But, you know, it's democracy in East Europe much better than dictatorship.
Same thing will happen in the Middle East.
Democracy will be much better in the long run for everybody.
You know, people.
No question, but is that what this is?
If this is a military coup, we're still talking about authoritarian dictatorships.
Of course, because these young people came, they don't have any opinion on how to rule, what's going on, and the whole party tried to take over, but nobody liked them.
It's going to be messed for a while.
But, you know, Mr. Lumbo, I know people stay in line in the United States embassy all over the world.
They like to come to the United States for freedom, opportunity, freedom.
We don't have that.
And, you know, that's our opinion.
I'm not saying I know it all or it's true.
But this is my, you know, Mrs. Canderisa Rice went two years before she left.
She went to Egypt, tell them about democracy, about things, but, you know, Mubarak said.
Well, let me ask you a question, your personal belief.
And we've got the reports now, hundreds of thousands of people that are now in Tahriri Square, which is a circle.
And this obviously, this has put even more strain on the Egyptian economy.
I mean, it has to be in Cairo.
Shut down.
Can you run a country?
Can you base political decisions based on mobs in the streets?
No, no.
No, but if you know that 40% unemployment, people have $2, and Mr. Mubarak has $70 billion.
Mr. King in Saudi Arabia has many billions.
Nobody knows how much, and people hardly working to make it day by day.
This is all over the United States, all over the East, Syria, you name it.
And that's, you know, if they didn't blow up today, it will blow up tomorrow.
Democracy is the answer, like East Europe, after 70 years.
Well, you know, I saw that.
I can't help but interject my own person.
If I were 83 and had 70 billion and this is going on where I live, I'm out of there.
You know, I headed to Khan or someplace.
83.
I've heard that he's got $70 billion, but I also know, did you hear what Schwarzenegger said?
What is your impression of Schwarzenegger's governorship in California?
It was a disaster, right?
It's a horrible disaster.
I mean, from the outside looking in, particularly from a Republican perspective, and I know Schwarzenegger, we've had our backs and forths, but he's an acquaintance on the positive side.
It was a disaster.
He loved it.
He said he became addicted to the day-to-day power.
He had more fulfillment, enjoyment doing that than any movie career he ever had.
Now, on the outside, looking in, it was a disaster to us.
And he had half the state hate in his guts and the legislature trying to stop him at every turn.
He even had the Bush administration lined up against him in fundraising battles.
He eventually does a 180, sides with all the forces of the left in that state.
And when he leaves, he said he never had felt like he did with that much power.
And we're just talking a governor here.
So you have, look at this guy's 83.
I've heard the reports he has 70 billion socked away.
Who knows?
I'm sure he's got a lot, whatever it is.
Now, you and me, we have that kind of money at 83.
Hey, let's go tee it up.
Let's go get the little umbrellas and the drinks down in the Caribbean.
Let's have some piña coladas or something.
This guy wants to hold on during all of this.
Now, as somebody who has no concept of that kind of power, no desire for it, no knowledge of what I would do if I had it.
I can't relate.
Maybe the power of being president, I really can't.
I really can't.
It doesn't look like it's worth it to me.
You got half of your country marching wanting you dead.
But that's just me.
Snerdley's looking at me like he is incredulous.
He can't believe that I'm saying this.
What is it you're having trouble believing that I just said that I can't relate to understand this kind of power?
Right.
Yep.
Okay, Snerdley's saying that you people think that if I had the money you think I've got, that I'd be teeing it up rather than put up with all this grief.
Well, grief doesn't hurt me.
The grief has done nothing but help me.
It's never hurt.
They're not marching in the streets wanting my head yet.
Plus, I do get to go tee it up.
And I do occasionally put an umbrella in a drink.
Well, I don't do it.
It's served that way.
But So you're saying that people look at me the way I'm looking at Mubarak.
Well, okay, if that's true, then I just said this is not work to me.
This is when I get up in the morning, this is the thing I would much rather do.
I guess it's the same thing with these guys.
I just don't look at this as power.
This to me is just fun.
I can't describe it any other way.
But I pre-look at Ford.
Our FOID, I'm sorry, I misread.
I appreciate the call very much.
I really enjoyed talking to you, and I thank you for your kind comments.
Okay, a short segment here because I had diarrhea of the mouth, but I want to report you that Anderson Cooper has reported that Suleiman, the VP, is nothing more than a consigliary to Hosni Mubarak, that he's just a rubber stamp.
And he raises the question: will the protesters in Egypt be satisfied?
Will they believe that Suleiman is the man to shepherd Egypt toward a real democracy?
Somebody needs to tell Anderson Cooper that it ain't going to be Suleiman, it's going to be the military.
That is, if the best information available happens to be true.
Okay, folks, we'll come back and wrap it up.
Sorry for this short segment.
It's just the way the programming format happened to work out.
House Republicans have given in.
They will find $100 billion in cuts.
House Republican leaders have given in to the freshman Republicans.
The pledge will be met.
Also, Al Jazeera is saying the vice president Suleiman is a CIA plant who will soon run Egypt.
And also, other news telling us that it is the military that will make the announcement.