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Dec. 13, 2011 - Rush Limbaugh Program
34:58
December 13, 2011, Tuesday, Hour #2
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Hi, how are you?
Great to have you back, folks.
Welcome back.
Rush Limbaugh, the Excellence and Broadcasting Network of the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
Somebody asked me a question in email during the break.
Why do we have to listen to so much of the theme song before you say anything?
Okay.
I mean, you really want to know the answer?
What do you think the answer is?
It's a format thing.
Why do I let 30 seconds of the theme song go before I say anything?
You want to take a stab at it?
Exactly right, to give our affiliates time to make that extra commercial end.
Before the program.
I mean, they know when the program starts, but it's Christmas time.
They're sneaking in extra stuff out there.
So we we wait 30 seconds to make sure you don't miss anything.
Just hey, it's just the way things are.
It's a format thing.
That's uh anyway, great to have you back, folks.
Oh, and another thing.
This is a real be very upsetting for me.
I've that last caller call up and the guy asking for a computer.
Now, no, don't smirk in there.
You know, I've made it clear that at random, I will offer people prizes just because that's I love this stuff.
And I've always loved sharing what I love.
I love sharing my passions.
I just have.
Uh and I am an Apple evangelist.
So I have a cry, a prize closet back there of uh you know, a lot of stuff.
But I've been very clear that if you ask for it, you are immediately disqualified.
It's A, it's with me, it's a manners thing.
B if I say yes to everybody asks, every call is going to begin with, will you give me an X. Now Snerdley told me that the guy who asked was actually a liberal.
We talked to him after the call was over.
Snerdley kept the phone line on, and uh the the guy insulted Snerdley and said, You greedy rich SOBs.
Because I wouldn't give him the computer that he asked for.
If uh obviously a 99%er.
Now, the thing is I love giving the stuff away, but I just can't do it.
I If but then on the other side of it is this.
I have over the course of this program, I've often said to people, if you want something, don't be afraid to ask for it in your life.
If you want.
But you have to know that a gift is something else.
You don't ask for a gift.
Uh at least not of me.
Uh it's the biggest turn off, and it takes all the fun out of it.
And that's the whole point of it for me, is it it just takes all the fun.
It just makes it perfunctor and wrote and expected.
And if it's uh, well, some might say classless, but I mean if if it's expected, then of course it's uh it's it's not any fun whatsoever.
So just leave it up to me as to how this stuff gets uh distributed.
Look, it it happens uh frequently, not not on it, it happens off the air too.
People I'll drop it.
I've said what I want to say about it.
This bit of the story in political that I told you about just before the conclusion of the previous hour.
Listen to this paragraph.
This is from a story by Mike Allen.
It's from yesterday.
Doubling down on his strategy of running responsibly when Republican base voters seem to crave bombast.
Now, what a premise.
That's the premise of Mike Allen's story.
Republic you, Republican.
You know what you want?
You want kick ass.
You want a guy that's gonna do nothing but rip Obama to shreds just for the sake of it.
Nothing about policy.
You don't want substance, you don't want ideas, you just want somebody that's gonna rip them a new one.
Okay, that's the that's the premise of the story.
The paragraph again, doubling down on his strategy of running responsibly.
When you, base voters, seem to crave bombast.
Romney said, quote, you said that our voters wanted red meat and that they therefore need a person who will give that red meat.
Well, what I'm saying, that's not who I am.
And that's not going to be successful in the final analysis.
If they want language, he's talking about you, the voters.
If they want language that's so incendiary that it really excites them, then some can offer that in a primary, and you can be assured that they will lose in the general.
Because people, the people who decide elections, the people in the middle.
By the way, people who last time voted for Obama do not want to have a president elected based on red meat.
So Romney is confirming what I have been telling you, well, for years, but intensely the past two weeks.
That the Republican establishment believes that strident criticism of Obama, which is called bombast.
See, we can't be critical of Obama without it being characterized as bombast, mean spirited, extremist, or what have you.
And Romney buys into that.
If we do that, the independents are gonna make tracks fast for Obama.
They're going to leave us, and they're gonna run right over to the socialists and the Marxists.
People who decide elections, the people in the middle.
So Romney is telling us that he thinks the people who decide the elections are the undecided, the independents, 20%, and that's who he's aiming for.
And so that's why I'm extrapolating here.
That's why Romney will say, Yeah, I believe in global warming because he thinks those people do.
Yeah, I think I think human beings are causing it.
Yeah, because he thinks those voters do.
Romney thinks that most voters lean liberal.
And he's not even gonna go red meat in the primaries because that will scare off voters that would vote for him in the general.
So he's not gonna do bombast.
Now the translation of that is he's not gonna be critical of Obama.
He's not gonna be critical of Democrats.
This is a trick.
This is a trick that was started by the media and the left long ago to shut us up.
This is self-censorship.
Meanwhile, Obama's own supporters and the media are getting tired of Obama being too boring.
They want Obama to be more bombastic.
They want Obama to be in the attack mode more.
Thank you.
I'm not gonna say outrageous things that can be used to hang a Republican opponent down the road.
So this is playing defense, folks.
This is what I was talking about recently when I said nobody won anything defending it.
Are you still trying to find examples where I'm wrong on the I know you are?
Good.
It's a it's an interesting uh thought exercise.
Well, you know I'm right.
So another 100% affirmation that the Republican establishment don't criticize Obama.
And of course, we had the story from of all places Yahoo News last week, who um mistakenly invited to overhear a conference call between the RNC and a polling unit, the Tyrants Group, and they said the same thing.
They advised the RNC, uh, you're gonna be Obama.
People feel sorry for poor Barry, and they really like him personally.
It'd be a big mistake to go after Obama personally, of course.
The answer, how do you separate Obama from his policies?
How do you do that?
You can't.
Obama is his policies.
So Romney says, I'm not gonna say outrageous things that can be used to hang a Republican opponent down the road.
In my view, primary voters want somebody who's willing to be a responsible leader that brings America together as opposed to dividing America.
I am what I am.
I don't intend to say outrageous things about other people that I don't believe in order to win political points.
And then Mike Allen said, well, why is Gingrich surged?
Romney said, You got me.
I think in the final analysis, when people take a very close look at our experience and our records and our backgrounds, they'll recognize my background experience as a leader is what America needs.
I don't say outrageous things that I don't believe.
So who is?
Is Perry saying that?
Is Gingrich saying outrageous things he doesn't believe?
Is Bachman saying outrageous things she doesn't believe?
Who is he talking about here?
Gingrich?
Gingrich saying outrageous things he doesn't believe.
Because you people, all you want is red meat.
You Republican primary voters, you just want the bomb best.
You just want slice and dice.
You just want one of our guys stand up and talk about what a crook and a rotten guy Obama is every day.
And all day long.
Now Romney seems pretty willing to criticize Gingrich.
You know, this Bill Gray.
What was the biggie from uh last week?
The Sullivan group, folks.
I don't know how I don't go up to almost always write 99.7 now from 99.6% of the time.
I don't know how I don't go up in.
This is huge.
This is this is this Romney admitting I'm right about this.
What was the biggie last week?
There was a huge biggie last week at slipping by mind, but it was something I've been right about for 15 years.
That became undeniably true.
And now this and Bill Gray and global warming and computer prediction models are of no value.
By the way, does Obama say outrageous things he doesn't mean?
Does it Harry Reed Pelosi, Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz, are they saying outrageous things they don't believe?
They say outrageous things.
I mean, they are mean spirited extremists, and of course somehow the independents don't mind their extremism.
The independents don't mind their insanity.
The independents applaud the lies and distortions that come out of like the independents love when when when Axelod says, yeah, the thing about Newt is when you see a monkey climbing a pole, you see more of his butt.
That the independents like that.
That's what that's where they're gonna run.
Axarod says that and the independents go, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's my kind of talk.
That's that's who I'm voting for.
That's guy, that guy, he's running Obama's cats exactly.
Oh, it was fast and furious.
It was fast and furious when we flipped when Cheryl Atkinson produced the emails.
That whole the fast and furious thing was all about ultimately getting rid of the Second Amendment.
It was all about a ploy to clamp down on gun rights in the U.S. How do I not go up the 99.7% of the if the Sullivan group's been corrupted?
I don't know what is safe.
Okay, so yesterday, Romney, we were discussing about Romney and the uh bet.
Uh $10,000 uh bet Rick Perry on something.
Eh, admit you're out of touch, people said.
$10,000, right?
People don't have $10,000 throw around.
You're showing how to touch your this business.
This paragraph in this political story, that's this is out of touch.
This this is echoing what the Democrats say.
Don't criticize Obama.
He's gonna send the independence right back to the Democrats.
I mean, this this is.
This is amazing.
And this is a criticism of Republican primary voters when you boil it all down.
You people, you're not serious.
You just want bombast.
And that's why people like me, according to Steve Schmidt, are responsible for this horrible Republican field.
Because responsible Republicans don't have a chance because they're not bombastic enough.
No, it's that they're not conservative enough.
Conservative primary voters want a conservative.
It's not really not complicated.
And the Republican establishment doesn't.
It's not complicated.
They don't like conservatives.
They are scared to death of conservatives.
A host of levels.
They're afraid of losing the party to conservatives and thus the power.
They also think conservatives are hated.
This quote from Romney is indicative.
He believes that the Reasonable people in this country hate conservatives and are afraid of them and run away from them.
In the midst of all this polling data we have today about vast majority of Americans fear big government, not big business.
Same poll.
More people disavowing membership of the Democrat Party than ever before.
That's the 2010 midterm elections.
The evidence is everywhere they look.
Thank you.
And yet they don't believe it or they discount it.
Mark in Schomburg, Illinois, as we go back to the phones.
Great to have you.
I appreciate your patience in waiting.
Welcome.
Thank you, Rush.
First of all, thank you for the even-handedness with which you're talking about Mitt today.
I want to talk with you about the difference between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.
The difference between Mitt and Newt is that nobody owns Mitt.
He has his own money.
Newt's probably in somebody's pocket.
Don't get me wrong.
If Newt is the Republican candidate, I'll vote for him.
Yeah.
But what difference will it make?
I voted for McCain, too.
Why do you so often seem to be propping up Newt?
Well, I don't know that I am.
I haven't endorsed Newt.
Uh and I just today was mocking the pledge not to cheat on his wife.
If you talk to Newt and his supporters, you're going to find a lot of people angry at me for various things.
I haven't you talk about my even-handedness with Mitt.
My even-handedness has been with uh with all of them.
You see, I, at the end of the day, think that despite their flaws, they are all preferable to Barack Obama by a factor of 30,000.
I don't think there's any comparison.
I even offered Mitt great advice.
I said, flip to the right of Newt.
There's room there.
You can do it.
Um, I've you know you talk about somebody owns Newt.
Uh Romney has his own money that Newt doesn't.
So who is it that has their hands in Newt's back pocket?
Um I can understand why you would think that, and I'm not notice disparaging you for it.
I understand why people might think that.
What it boils down to for me is these people have to get votes themselves.
They have to win this on their own.
They have to legitimately get support.
They're not I uh it's not my job to drum up support or opposition to any of them.
But when Romney comes out with something like this today, or with what he said about global warming, what am I supposed to do?
Well, I profoundly disagree.
I also reamed Newt over the coals for this era of Reagan is over business, and did so again just yesterday.
And what else?
There was something else that uh uh Newt said recently that I had a little problem, I forget what it was.
The oh, yeah, Paul Ryan, the uh social right-wing social engineering, but there was something else.
I can't but but look at here.
Look at still what is the topic?
The topic is how I am reacting.
How I am treating these guys.
And I I've I have tried to say positive things about all of them when it's warranted and justified.
So it's up to them to win this.
That's their job.
That's their responsibility.
It's up to them to get support.
And if Newt thinks, or if Mitt thinks that this is a way to do it, to go out there and say he's a big believer in man-made global warming because the people who really decide elections, those people in the middle, that's who you got to cater to.
You know, if that's what you want to hear, if that's if that's what you think the Republican Party ought to be focusing on, then Mitt is your guy.
I know people who are hoping and praying that Rick Perry will catch fire a second time, or that Bachman will, or that Santorum will.
One thing I know is this isn't over.
And there has been this big effort on the repart of the Republican Party to have this thing decided months ago.
The Republican Party wanted Mitt chosen, done with, over and out, and move on.
And that isn't going to happen.
They wanted an early nominee so they could get their everything in order and move on.
They didn't want this kind of fight.
And do you know why the Republican Party didn't want this kind of fight?
Because they genuinely are afraid that a drawn out conservative argument will result in a conservative nominee.
And the less time devoted to this, the greater the opportunity.
A conservative will not win a nomination.
They know that the more conservatism is debated, because the conservatism being debated is Americanism being debated.
Conservatism being debated is the Constitution being debated.
That's, and it wins.
The Republican Party establishment is not oriented in that direction.
They don't think that's where the money is.
So brief timeout, folks.
Sit tight.
We will be back.
Don't go away.
And we are back.
Rush Limbaugh and the excellence in Broadcasting Network.
Folks, I just want to remind you all again of something when we're talking about Romney.
There is a lot to remember here.
One of the key things to remember is, in my opinion, White House wants Romney.
And I I know there are a lot of people, no, Russia, White House, they fear Romney.
Hey, they want Newt.
They can't wait to run against Newt.
White House, they really want they would love for no, Romney they fear.
Nah, I think their whole setup is to run against Romney.
That's what Occupy Wall Street's about.
Occupy Wall Street was set up to run against Romney.
Romney is Wall Street to these people.
Bain Capitals Wall Street.
They're running against the 1%.
Obama in Osawatomi, Kansas.
Obama here, Obama everywhere you go.
They are running against the 1%, and that they think is epitomized by Romney, not Newt.
Newt is not whatever else he is.
Newt is not Mr. Rich guy.
Like our previous caller said, Mitt has his own dough.
Newt doesn't.
That's what the previous caller said.
As far as the Democrats are concerned, occupy Wall Street, whole Obama campaigns are run against the 1% epitomized by Romney.
Now they're in the midst that they're making adjustments.
They got campaign signs out there now, online posters calling Newt ging rich with Rich in all caps.
Newt gang rich.
But I maintain there's plenty of room to the right of Newt if Mitt wanted to go there, but obviously he doesn't.
Because we have that quote from political.
Mitt Romney is not interested in going to the right.
And don't forget, it was Daniel Henninger writing in the Wall Street Journal, his Thursday column about two months ago, who said if Romney is to get to the right, he's going to have to be nudged there.
He's going to have to be pushed.
Because it's not his natural inclination to go there.
And that was the Wall Street Journal.
Here's Matthew Dowd.
Matthew Dowd campaign strategist for Bush 43, uh well-known Republican establishment figure.
He was on Good Morning America Today with Stephanopoulos, who said Newt gave as good as he got, going straight at Romney's record at Bain Capitol.
He was using the same argument Ted Kennedy used to beat Romney in 1994.
That same argument Obama would like to use, and Newt's showing he'll be ruthless to get the nomination.
This shows actually that this is a nomination that everybody in the Republican Party knows is worth having.
They know the president is vulnerable.
They know that the president couldn't be beat.
And now that you have basically two Titans going at it, knowing that whoever gets the Republican nomination has a good shot at going to the White House.
And so I think that's what it is.
Wow, wait, now here's some Republican establishment guy saying it either one of these guys can beat Obama, who let Brand New Day, who let this guy on a reservation.
This is very revealing soundbite.
Establishment Republicans are just figuring out that the Republican nominee could actually win.
Don't forget and don't discount me on this.
The Republican establishment, and you know who I'm talking about when I say that, it's made up of inside the beltway conservative so-called media people, elected Republicans, campaign consultants, strategists.
If you get them in a quiet corner of a room, and you assure them that what they say won't go any further.
They'll tell you they don't think Obama can lose.
They'll tell you that they don't think Obama can that we can beat Obama.
It's just not.
They have they've drank the Kool-Aid.
They believe this notion of Obama's love.
They believe that Obama's race makes it impossible to criticize him, uh campaign against him.
Uh impossible to get minority votes, it's just impossible.
They really believe Obama can't be beat.
So the reason for Romney, the reason they want to like Romney is A, he's not a conservative in their mind, and B, they think Romney's erudite, responsible, solid, reasonable, good looking, and will probably give us the best opportunity of winning the Senate, which is what the Republican establishment's focused on.
Winning the Senate, getting their committee chairmanships back, getting themselves in charge of the money.
Now, admittedly, too, there is a strategy here.
If you get the Senate and the House, then you can effectively block Obama, and then they do want to do that.
Don't misunderstand.
I'm not saying the Republican establishment wants Obama to succeed.
They just don't think they can beat him.
The Republican elite believe the media.
They read the New York Times, Washington Post, they believe it.
And that's their trouble in a nutshell.
And they also believe that they have to use those two things plus the three networks to get their message out.
They think that people really I'm not credible except with uh you red meters.
If the New York Times reports accurately about them, I'm telling you, it's Christmas morning for them.
They love that.
So holding the Senate or holding the House winning the Senate.
That would be major, major victory.
Now here's Dowd.
That's why there's soundbite's why I decided to play it.
Dowd out there saying either one of these guys can beat Obama.
Believe me, that's news to Republican establishment types.
Chelsea Clinton.
Chelsea Clinton had her media debut last night on the NBC with Brian Williams.
And my friends, it isn't pretty.
I have just one review, but I'm telling you, she is being ripped up.
Across over the coals.
Well, H.R. is telling me over the IFB that he's surprised that Chelsea's being ripped.
I am not surprised that she's being ripped because it's so obvious that you can't hide it, but they are missing the point here.
They are reviewing her performance with the entirely wrong prism.
They give you an example.
Hank Stuver, I don't know how he pronounced it's S-T-U-E-V-E-R.
It might be Stiver, it could be Stever.
Whatever it is, in the Washington Post.
Listen to this.
It's no surprise whatsoever that Chelsea Clinton did not electrify broadcast journalism with her debut Monday on rock center with Brian Williams because she has no experience in broadcast journalism.
She didn't cut her teeth with live coverage of strip mall blazes in Sacramento.
She never did weekend weather in Wichita Falls.
She didn't blow the lid off of mail order ham scams in Des Moines.
Who, besides everybody working in TV news who did each and every one of those things, says that you have to do that.
Rather, what was surprising to see on Monday Night Show is how someone can be on TV in such a prominent way and in her big moment displays so very little charisma, none at all.
Either we're spoiled by TV's unlimited population of giant personalities, or this woman is one of the most boring people of the era.
Washington Post, and that's just one.
They're all like that.
Every drive-by review of Chelsea Clinton is that bad.
It takes no prisoners whatsoever.
Now, let's be fair here.
Harry Reed isn't the most entertaining guy in the world either.
Harry Reed epitomizes boring, dull, dry ball, you name it.
Ditto.
You only said the other names.
You pick them.
But Chelsea Clinton, this is where Mr. Stever Stufer Steaver misses it.
And everybody else reviewing this misses it.
Chelsea Clinton's career path has nothing to do with broadcast journalism.
She is a statist in training.
What we have in Chelsea Clinton is a woman who has been sheltered from the media by parents who wanted to protect her.
I understand that.
They succeeded.
Bill said, lay off my daughter.
I don't want to see coverage about Chelsea.
I don't want to see it.
I don't want you to ask her any questions.
I don't want her.
And she grant no interviews.
You stay away.
And they did.
So it's such nobody knows her.
Now she's 31 years old.
She is a statist in training.
She's working on her 14th college degree.
Time to get serious about life now.
Her future as a statist will require being good on TV.
Learning how to become likable and what have you.
And so that's what this is.
This is not about Chelsea Clinton learning how to do news.
And remember, there isn't news in the news anymore.
There's no news.
That's not why people turn on the news.
There's no news.
She is dutifully learning the inner workings of television in order to learn how to manipulate it later.
Thank you.
That's all this is.
Nobody starts at the top like this unless they're the daughter of an ex-president who can call in some chits.
Nobody starts at the top like this.
Here, let's do a couple sound bites.
First um November 14th, we'll go back, Brian Williams.
He was on Piers Morgan tonight on CNN.
They were talking about Chelsea Clinton being hired by NBC.
And Piers Morgan said, I think she'll be terrific.
Why would he think that?
He couldn't possibly know she'd be terrific.
Piers Moore, I think she'd be terrific.
How does he know?
It's an inspired appointment, said Piers Morgan.
But they're going to be journalism critics who say there's just further evidence of news networks dumbing down.
It's the celebration if you like of news, the celebriation of news, conventional news journalism.
What would you say to that, Brian?
I can't wait to hear her voice and her viewpoint.
And I would remind everybody that there was much kerfuffle about Tim Russert's resume.
Oh my goodness, he worked for a couple elected Democrats.
And what that nicely left out was Tim Russert's talent and intellect and ability to call them down the middle.
Yep.
Yep, yep.
Okay.
So adding insult to injury now, Tim Russert.
Posthumously compared to Chelsea Clinton.
By Brian Williams at NBC.
So let's go.
Last night, NBC's rock center, Brian Williams speaking with correspondent statist in training, Chelsea Clinton, about how she became a reporter for NBC.
Williams, so tell us how you got from your life as it was, say yesterday, to a life now with us and doing this.
Okay, get this now.
So here's Chelsea, who's there because her dad called in a couple chits.
Or her mom, who knows.
She's there because a phone call was made.
Brian Williams once, how did you get Chelsea?
What a what a what a story.
What what a what an achievement?
So many people could learn so much.
How did you go from being totally obscure to being almost as big as I am on this show?
And here's what Chelsea said.
For most of my life, I did deliberately lead a private life and inadvertently Led a public life.
I've always been incredibly proud of both of my parents and proud of the work I had done privately as a person and professionally and academically.
My grandmother, who passed away at the beginning of November, had a core adage in her life that life is not about what happens to you, but about what you do with what happens to you.
And she recently had been cajoling me and challenging me to do more with my life, to lead more of a purposefully public life, that being Chelsea Clinton had happened to me, and that I had a responsibility to do something with that asset and opportunity.
And telling stories through making a difference, I believe will be one way to manifest that, and I hope to make her proud.
Okay.
So that's in her own words how Chelsea ended up.
Uh how she got from her life as it was yesterday to last night with Brian Williams on Rock Center.
Well, you can be your own judge as to what you think she sounds like.
I'm just the Washington Post guy said, how is it possible to be so boring?
How is it possible to have so little, if any, non-Zilt Zero, not a charisma?
Are you kidding me?
Brian and Don don't know what a chit is.
You never heard of calling in a chit.
You gotta be kidding me.
Two members of my staff were lost when I said Bill Clinton called in a couple chits.
What did you think I said something other than chit?
You never heard the word chit.
Well, what would be a substitute word for it?
Oh.
Oh no, Bill Clinton didn't call it.
No, didn't call it a couple chicks.
Chits.
A chit uh is a debt.
Gambling debt.
A marker.
Um an IOU.
Uh protection money.
It could be any number of things.
Is it help?
They're still lost in there.
They're still looking like a fog.
You ever notice Tim Russert is the only news figure that the media can cite as being somewhat objective?
Whatever the news media wants to tell us about somebody in their ranks that calls them down the middle.
It's always Tim Russert.
Never anybody else.
You notice that?
Notice that?
So you add that with the Sullivan group and their analysis of me, you know, their auditing of my opinion.
How can I not go up?
I mean, I'd be gem after gem after gem.
Past uh three weeks.
Do I don't know about you folks.
I am into the spirit.
The Christmas season.
Drive around listening to Manheim Steamroller.
My memory supplies the melody.
I enjoy it.
Drudge just made this story his lead item.
The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended a ban on all cell phone use in the car.
By a driver.
Not Congress.
Not lawmakers, but a bureaucracy.
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