And just to show you how things really haven't changed at all, or all that much, since the time of Rinaldus Magnus, Reuters is reporting this.
Russia boosts arms sales to Syria despite world pressure.
Russia faces a growing international outcry over its arms sales to Syria, but shows no signs of bowing to pressure and has even increased deliveries of arms that critics say are helping keep President Bashur al-Assad in power.
I mean, hey, the Russians are even back to their old tricks in their own way.
Greetings, folks.
Great to have you back.
Rush Limbaugh, as always, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have.
Telephone number.
If you want to be on the program, it's 800-282-2882.
The email address lrushbo at EIBnet.com.
It wasn't long ago, sometime last month, we did a little experiment at 2FBIT, and people are clamoring to be able to buy this stuff in stores.
And we like having the direct connection with you when you buy it at our website, 2ifbyte.com.
But we experimented with it at a place in Fairfield, Ohio, outside Cincinnati called Jungle Gyms.
And as I suspected, Jungle Gyms sold out in 10 minutes.
And Jungle Gyms wants to sell out even more.
So what we've done, we've restocked 2F by Tea, a whole bunch of supply now at Jungle Gyms.
That's 5440 Dixie Highway in Fairfield, Ohio.
And people showed up and they were already sold out.
Now, if you missed out the first time, we have restocked Jungle Gyms.
And so you can stop by now while the supply lasts, at least for a few minutes.
And by the way, if you have a store in your area that you want to be considered for where in the world is 2F by T, we're having a little fun with this.
We're going to pockmark the country with little mom and pops and put a supply of 2F by T in them.
If you would like your store to be considered, fill out the order form.
It's a large order form.
You can find it at 2ifbytea.com under the shop tab.
If you would like your little store to be considered for possible stocking of 2F by T. What are you looking at me for?
Well, when I say little, no, we're not looking at massive big box stores here yet.
I mean, that's, we're just, little mom and pops are calling us.
They want to be involved here.
And so if you are a store, I don't care how big you are.
If you are Costco and you want to, you know, go for it.
Just go to 2FBT.com and find the shop tab.
You fill out a form, and who knows what will happen.
But right now, we've restocked Jungle Gyms at 5440 Dixie Highway.
Tonight, as you probably know by now, the first Republican debate in nearly a month will be held in Mesa, Arizona.
CNN is carrying it.
And Newt's buddy John King is moderating.
Well, you remember the last debate?
First question, John King, all right, Newt, it's out there.
And whatever Newt had done, I forget slept around or it had the ex-wife.
Oh, yeah, the open marriage thing.
The open marriage thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
The ex-wife was accusing him of wanting an open marriage.
And John King, you know, bore right in there.
This is true.
And Newt's, I'm shocked that you would bring this.
I can't believe you would bring.
This is not what the American people want.
And the place erupted to standing O.
And then when it's over, these guys are putting their arms around each other.
Great job, John.
You did a great job.
Thanks, Newt.
Did great too.
Everybody commented on that.
So John King is the moderator tonight.
And I just, I can't wait.
It's at 8 o'clock.
I can't wait, folks.
You know what I'm talking about how predictable the drive-bys are.
How long you think it's going to be before we get questions on contraception, questions on abortion, questions on Satan, questions on screw tape?
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin, Mr. Santorum?
Can you tell us, Mr. Santorum, how many angels can dance?
Can you tell us how an angel comes to be, Mr. Santorum?
And then they'll get into the questions on the economy and so on.
It'll be interesting to see if anybody asks Ron Paul about his double dipping.
There was a little story.
It hasn't gotten much play, but Ron Paul apparently has, for some of his flights over the course of years, his air transportation, he has been reimbursed by two entities, private donors and the government.
And apparently he's kept both in some instances.
And one of the donors found out about it, called him on it, wanted to check back.
And it's reported anyway that Ron Paul's, eh, no, no, no, no, big deal.
It happens all the time.
But it did cause a fallout between an early Ron Paul supporter.
And I don't know if there'd be any questions about this.
But we will probably get, I don't know if we're going, we might get gas priced.
And by the way, I just sent, folks, so you know, we got, we're nearing $6 a gallon gasoline in parts of this country.
I just sent my security chief out in my car.
See if he can find anywhere a gas station selling gas at $6.66 a gallon.
I want to be the first show to find gasoline at $6.66 a gallon.
It probably would be a station near where Matt Drudge lives.
Just kidding.
Just kidding.
You know, there never has been, just to put this in perspective, there never has been $5 a gallon gasoline.
And the last I saw were close to it in California at $4.93.
We've never had $5 a gallon gasoline in the United States.
Ben Shapiro has a piece at Big Hollywood.
This is one of Andrew Breitbart's pieces.
And it's actually an interesting question.
And it was also raised by Byron York at the DC Examiner a couple of days ago.
It might have been yesterday or night before last.
Remember the book Game Change?
John Heilman and was it Halperin?
Was it Mark Halperin and John Hilin?
Two reporters followed both presidential campaigns in 2008.
They learned a whole bunch of stuff during the campaign, but they didn't report a lot of it.
What is this?
CBS Tampa, Florida driver shelling out nearly $6 a gallon at some gas stations.
According to GasBuddy.com, motorists are paying $5.89 for a gallon of regular at a shell station at Lake Buena Vista.
$589.
$5.99 a gallon for premium.
$599.
So we've crossed the $5 a gallon threshold and we're on the way to six.
Anyway, this book, remember the criticism at the time was all the stuff that they held during the campaign.
Obviously, they held it for their book.
These are two reporters.
I understand they're out there writing a book, but they're also both covering the campaign at the same time.
And they kept, what do you want to pronounce his name, Helleman?
Is it Helleman or Heileman?
I think it's Heileman.
At any rate, they're making a movie out of this book now, Game Change.
It's an HBO movie.
I was invited to the screening.
It's in New York, so I won't be going.
No, but that would technically be work.
See, so if it involves work, I don't go to New York.
Plain and simple.
So here's the thing about this.
The book was about both campaigns, the McCain campaign and the Obama campaign.
And it involved the primaries.
It involved Hillary versus Obama.
It involved Romney versus McCain and Huckabee and all that.
And then the presidential campaign.
This movie is all about Sarah Palin.
The movie is primarily about Sarah Palin.
And so Ben Shapiro says, why are the producers of HBO's, stick with me on this because the reason I'm mentioning this?
Why are the producers of HBO's Game Change focusing so heavily on Sarah Palin when the book concerned the entire 2008 campaign?
And there are two answers.
The first answer is that Palin is a draw.
Hollywood knows it, and so does everybody else.
Ben Shapiro says here, Tina Faye made her career far more by imitating Palin than by writing a show nobody watches called 30 Rock.
Hollywood's Palin obsession is just beginning.
You know, two years ago, time goes, it might have been three.
The last time I made Barbara Walters' Top 10 Most Fascinating People, Tina Faye was in the list.
And you know why Tina Faye was in the list?
For impersonating Palin.
Palin was not in the list.
Tina Faye was.
I always found that odd.
Anyway, there's another reason.
However, Ben Shapiro points out.
Hollywood, as we know, is deathly afraid of the Tea Party.
They believe that if they can persuade the Republican Party to abandon its conservative principles, they'll be doing good for a benighted American public.
That's why during Game Change, you'll see Senator McCain, played by Ed Harris, say to Sarah Palin, who is played by Julianne Moore, who's a redhead.
Tina Fay didn't get the gig.
Julianne Moore did.
John McCain says to Sarah Palin in the book, you're one of the leaders of the party now.
Don't let yourself get co-opted by Limbaugh and the other extremists.
They'll destroy the party if you let them.
I didn't even know I'd made the book, but I've made the movie with McCain telling Palin, don't.
This is kind of like what Obama told John Boehner.
Don't listen to Limbaugh anymore.
That's not how things get done in Washington.
Don't listen to Limbaugh.
So, and Byron York said, what is the it's a great example of media bias, really.
Not that anybody needs one anymore, but it's a great example of it.
The movie is about Palin.
And oh, by the way, they claim to have found examples heretofore unknown of her stupidity.
There are four or five of them, and I don't have them right in front of me.
I remember one.
And they claim that they've got confirmation and backup for this.
They said that Sarah Palin was shocked to find out at the beginning of the Iraq war that it was not the queen who made decisions about what the British government would do.
So that scene is in the book.
Apparently, Palin thought the queen made all the decisions.
That's the point they're going to make.
And there are three others.
The New York Post had a story of this.
I just don't, a couple days ago, and I don't remember what the other examples are.
But it's, they're still, Hollywood and the Democrat Party are still trying to kill off Sarah Palin.
And that's the purpose of the book.
Take a break.
We'll get to your phones after this.
Don't go away.
Before we get to the phones, here are the other Palin things that are going to be in this movie that are not in the book Game Change.
They claim they have discovered these items and they are independently confirmed as being true.
While being prepped for an interview, Palin tells McCain staffers that the reason we're at war in the Middle East is because Saddam Hussein attacked us on 9-11.
That's why.
Another one is that she's, I mentioned, shocked that Queen Elizabeth doesn't make the final decision for the British government.
That she supposedly said, look, if she's not the head of state, who is?
She supposedly asks.
Does anybody believe Palin doesn't know that there is a prime minister?
He's never heard of Tony Blair.
She assumes that the Fed meant the federal government, not the Federal Reserve.
They claim that Palin didn't know why North and South Korea were separate countries.
Those are the new discoveries about Palin that are in the HBO movie that are not in the Game Change book.
And also in the movie is the McCain character telling the Palin character, you got to stop listening to Limboy and the extremists.
They're going to destroy the party if you let them.
So that's an admitted Romney.
We told you yesterday Romney had a new tax plan.
Well, he told Kudlow.
Somebody from the Romney camp leaked it to Kudlow.
Kudlow said, hey, I just heard from the Romney camp.
They like me.
They don't like you.
And they told me something that nobody else knows.
And that is that Romney's going to have a new tax plan today, or tomorrow, meaning today, and it's going to have a lot of supply-side stuff to it.
And Romney has announced it in Chandler, Arizona at a campaign event.
I'm going to lower rates across the board for all Americans by 20%.
All right?
And in order to limit any impact on the deficit, because I don't want to add to the deficit, and also in order to make sure that we continue to have progressivity as we've had in the past in our code, I'm going to limit the deductions and exemptions, particularly for high-income folks, so that we make sure that the top 1% keeps paying the current share they're paying or more.
Oh, there's a story in the UK Telegraph today.
They raised taxes to 50% in the UK.
Their revenue collected has plummeted.
It's as predictable as the sun coming up.
They raised income tax rates up to 50%, and their revenue coming in is down precipitously.
This comment about, well, yeah, I'm going to cut taxes, but I don't want to add to the deficit.
That's not supply-side.
He's going to cut everybody's taxes 20% of these.
He's going to limit.
He's going to end, he's not going to permit deductions.
He's going to limit deductions and exemptions for high-income folks to make sure that top 1% keeps paying the current share.
It's not across the board, but more than that, that's incorporating liberal speak.
I'm going to make sure the top 1%, that's accepting the premise of the 1% versus the 99%, which is an Obama premise.
Oh, well.
Jeff in Kennewick, Washington.
I'm glad you called, sir.
You're up first today.
Great to have you with us.
Well, thanks for having me on.
Yeah, you bet.
The reason I called is I'm beginning to have doubts about whether or not conservatives are the majority in this country.
What I'm seeing is that the so-called Republican establishment is pursuing what we call moderates, but what we know are just liberals that aren't quite ready to commit yet.
And we see the so-called independents that are constantly saying, according to the polls, that we conservatives need to reach across the aisle to the liberals.
But I never hear about conservatives needing to extend the hand when liberals come back to us.
I never hear about the liberals being told to extend the hand to conservatives.
Everything is about how we as conservatives need to compromise with the liberals, but the liberals never need to compromise.
Exactly right.
The candidates don't direct their ads to us.
The conservative candidates in the race are not considered to be the leaders.
They're not considered to be the potential winners.
By the Republican establishment, yeah.
By anybody except that small group of people we call conservatives.
Now, I'm a conservative, and for a long time I believed that we were the majority and we just weren't speaking out.
But what I keep hearing over and over again is that my vote isn't pursued.
Well, no, your vote is feared.
Your vote is feared, but Jeff, be confident here.
If there were no conservative majority, the Republican establishment would have had this nomination wrapped up months ago.
It's the conservative majority that's, and even splitting the conservative vote, even splitting the conservative vote.
The establishment hoped to split the vote and thereby ensure the nomination of their moderate guy.
It hasn't worked.
We are the majority, but you're never going to have that portrayed.
You're never going to see it portrayed.
The establishments of both parties are afraid of conservatism.
Welcome back, Rush Limbaugh, meeting and surpassing all audience expectations every day.
And back to the phones.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
This is Ray, and great to have you with us.
Hello.
Hello, Rush.
Thanks for taking my call.
How are you?
I'm fine.
Thanks very much.
Well, Rush, I got to tell you, I'm tired of the media and Republican establishment telling me I'm not happy with the GOP field.
I'm thrilled about my candidates.
I get tired of hearing we're not happy.
I am.
I love my candidate.
Well, who is your candidate?
Mitt Romney.
Ever since I heard him rush in 08 speak at the Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa, I was sold on him.
And I have been ever since because he's a turnaround king.
And that's what we need right now.
We don't need a speaker in the House.
We don't need a senator.
We need somebody who's ran something, somebody who's run a state and been successful in business.
If there's ever a time our country needs someone like that, it's now.
That is an argument that many people advance that a governor is much, much more qualified to be an executive than a legislator ever will be.
I agree.
Yep, a lot of people do.
A lot of people agree with you.
Well, how do you feel about Romney now?
A lot of people hope that he would have a nomination sewn up by now.
It's still a toss-up in Michigan, his home state.
This debate tonight, you can be watching that?
Absolutely.
I'm bringing over the family.
We're all sitting around to watch.
You're going to have dinner before you watch.
You have dinner afterwards or during?
We're going to have dinner before, Rush, so that we can give our full attention.
Yeah, there's nothing like watching a debate on a full stomach.
I understand that.
See, you're going to have to have dinner before 6 o'clock.
Well, I got to tell you, Rush, I've been a volunteer for Governor Romney since 08.
I had the privilege of sitting across a conference table with him and several other volunteers.
And every time I hear him speak, every time I hear what his vision is for the country, I am more and more impressed with him.
And I just get so tired of the media telling me I'm not happy with my candidate.
Well, let me tell you where that coming from.
I'm going to tell you where that's coming from.
It's coming from the Republican establishment.
There have been some Republican primary voters who have been asked about it, and they've said, yeah, I wish we had a better slate.
I mean, a lot of people wish that there were others running.
A lot of people wish Chris Christie was running.
A lot of people wish that Jeb Bush was running.
There were a lot of people who were hoping that Mitch Daniels would get in.
But the Republican establishment is right in there by claiming, well, if Romney doesn't win this, we're going to have a convention as brokered or managed or whatever.
We're going to find our own guy.
So they're making it look like they're not happy with the way things are going either.
But at the end of all of this, if your guy wins, if Romney wins, or Santorum, whoever it is, Obama is going to become the new focus of all the energy on the Republican side.
That's not going to change no matter how this shakes out.
And no matter what happens, no matter how vicious it gets, doesn't matter.
Obama's going to end up being the focus here.
So good luck.
I hope you enjoyed the debate tonight.
I hope your pre-debate meal is as succulent and delicious as it sounds.
And I hope you end up being happy when it's all said and done.
I don't think they know the establishment didn't make her volunteer for Romney.
And by the way, there was a Gallup.
I got to tell you, Ray, there was a Gallup poll.
We reported the other day said Republican voters were happy with the field.
I think there are a lot of Republican voters like you who are sick and tired of the media trying to pick our candidate.
And that's where that claim that Republicans are unhappy with the field comes from.
It's all designed to dispirit Republican voters, depress them.
You got to fight that.
Who's next?
Georgia in Scotland, Maryland.
Your turn here on the EIB network.
Hi.
Hi, Rush.
Thank you for taking my call today.
You bet.
I am a Catholic, social conservative, pro-life mom, very concerned about our country.
But right now, I'm very concerned about people's lack of knowledge about the things that concern me about Rick Santorum.
And I was just wondering if maybe you could help me out with some of those concerns.
I have no doubt that I can.
Well, the first thing is, and I guess a two-fold question, I'll lead into it with my first one, is Rick Santorum, throughout the debate, has excoriated Mitt Romney about Romney care, and yet he endorsed Romney Care by default, of course.
He endorsed Romney back in 08 when the options were Mike Huckabee, McCain, and Mitt Romney.
And he said it in an interview with Laura Ingram, where he said the only other viable candidate is Mike Huckabee.
But he didn't choose him.
He chose Romney.
So I'm wondering why Rick Santorum is the alternative to Mitt Romney when he endorsed Romney.
Well, four years is a long time, and circumstances change.
Back in 08, there were a lot of people who were endorsing Romney back then who do not choose to endorse Romney this time around.
It's because of the difference in the field.
It's because of, we've had four years of Obama, for crying out loud.
Four years ago, we're coming off Bush.
Circumstances are entirely different.
Mindset's entirely different.
We didn't have somebody that was hell-bent on destroying the economy.
We didn't have somebody like Obama back then.
Everything is different.
Circumstances change entirely.
I don't think that is that big a deal because I can cite other examples just like that of people who endorsed Romney back then who don't now.
And he hadn't changed.
He's the same guy.
Well, I guess this is twofold because he wears his social conservatism on his sleeve where he says he believes in the dignity of every human life.
And if that's the case, why would he derail a pro-life presidential candidate?
You know, Obama, his past was very, you know, everyone knew about what Obama's, you know, intent was for our country.
At least that's what you and Hannity were reporting at the time.
So it wasn't a big secret.
Whoa.
Whoa.
Hold it.
That is not true.
Everybody didn't think that about Obama.
That's what was so damn frustrating.
Everybody didn't think Roman.
I was the only voice saying, I hope he fails.
And I got criticized severely for it.
Back in 2008 and into 2009, the hope and change stuff had captivated everybody, Republicans and Democrats alike.
And the Republicans had their heads in the sand and refused to admit who Obama was and what his intentions were.
And even if they knew, they didn't have the guts to say so because of race.
They would be charged with racism with any shred of criticism of Obama.
It might be that everybody knew, but nobody, nobody in the first three months of 2009 or all of 2008 had the guts to say so.
I've got some conflicting statements about what Santorum said about Romney, and I'm not sure when was stated when, so I'll look into that further.
Trying to nail down this 2008 Santorum endorsement of Romney.
But not just that, I want to find out what he said in doing so.
And we'll nail it down.
Who's next?
Where are we going next?
Well, look at back in 2008, the last thing that the conservative base wanted was McCain.
McCain was, it was not, but the deck was stacked.
I'll never forget West Virginia.
Huckabee threw his votes to McCain, and that sandbagged Romney in West Virginia.
They got to Florida, and they got Charlie Chris to endorse McCain.
And that pretty much was the end of the line when that happened.
Now, what the media and the establishment like to say is, yeah, these conservatives, yeah, the last guy they wanted was McCain, but look who got the nomination.
So these conservatives, they don't have any power.
He can't get anybody elected.
That was the outcry back then.
Up against, if it were the same, if the two choices were McCain and Romney today, would there be any question who the Republican base would side with if everything was equal and there were no other alternatives in the race?
That's what I mean by circumstances changing.
Now you can't talk about all this without throwing Obama in the mix as well.
That's why when this is all over, whoever the Republican nominee is is going to have pretty much the full-fledged support and energy of the, well, now that may be a bit of a stretch.
Pardon my sniffles.
This cigar smoke is, if you have a stuffed up nose, light a cigar.
Four years ago, not quite four years ago, I told you that, you know, as great as Ronald Reagan was, he was made better by the incompetence of Jimmy Carter.
That's through your education through you.
I'm even smarter believing that the next person will be made greater by the incompetence of this current president.
My concern is just because the RNC told Mitt Romney just to bend over and unclench, and we'll anoint you, the anointed one, make you the next guy, I'm not convinced he's what's best for the Republican Party.
Well, who is?
Well, you know, I don't know.
That's just it.
I'm sick and tired of walking to the booth and holding my nose and saying, well, I'm going to vote for this Republican.
You know, this, you know, because I did it last time for McCain.
I respect his service, but I, you know, I just, I knew he was not going to win.
I knew he was just, you know, it's like it's his turn.
Now, wait a second.
Wait a second.
This is another thing.
McCain was leading.
McCain could have won that if they hadn't sprung that financial crisis on everybody.
Absolutely.
McCain could have won.
He was leading.
But McCain, like I told you then, I mean, he left his testicles at home in a box somewhere.
He was afraid to act like he had a pair.
You know, we need someone that's not afraid to stand up and be an American and say, this is what I believe.
And I don't know.
No one can do that.
You're talking about a guy as a decorated hero leaving his testicles at home.
Well, and I truly believe it.
I mean, he was afraid to say anything that would make anybody mad.
No, he was afraid to say and make Obama or the media mad.
Well, because he didn't want to come across as a racist because he said some anti-Oblab.
It wasn't just that.
Well, it was a big part of it.
I mean, the media made him out to be.
Anybody that said anything derogatory was bad.
But just because Mr. Romney said, okay, come on.
That's right, because he was running a campaign of fear.
Exactly.
And that's why.
I mean, what's wrong with being conservative?
What's wrong with, you know, yes, Satan is taking over a lot of these institutions.
Half the Muslim world calls America Satan.
Well, the Republican establishment associates landslide defeat with conservatism.
The thing that informs them the most about that is Barry Goldwater.
They somehow don't see Reagan's two landslide victories.
And I don't understand why they can't learn from the past.
You know, I mean, you're the one that you quite honestly, you know, at some point, I can't.
Wait a second.
I understand your frustration, but they don't think they have anything to learn.
That's the problem.
They don't think.
They're afraid to think.
They don't want to get outside their little box because they're going to be chastised by the media.
Deal with it.
Sarah Palin, I mean, she shows more integrity than 99% of the other ones have shown.
But do I think she's the candidate?
No, I don't know.
I'm not that smart.
That's why I leave it to people like you to blay it out there for us.
Well, even, you know, she may have a lot of integrity, but she's not a candidate.
Exactly.
But at this point, you know, my wife is thinking Mitt Romney.
I think Santorum.
At one time, I thought I would be going with the former speaker.
Well, how are things in your house?
Day to day.
Like any.
But, you know, that's just the way it is.
But when it comes time, when it comes time to vote, we will vote Republican, sadly.
But like the rest, I guarantee a bigger part of America than the Republican.
Let me just tell you, the timid fear, another 1964, the brave hope for another 1980.
Exactly.
And that's where we are.
Well, and that's unfortunate.
But I'm just going to tell you this.
If you'll do this for me in your mind, if you'll fast forward to November, there isn't going to be any doubt in any sane person's mind that the Republican choice on the ballot is going to be better for the country than Obama.
Without a doubt.
That is absolutely true.
But that's why these guys have got to get together and realize, hey, let's stop cutting each other's throat and stop all these super PACs from killing each other and focus on one thing.
The man in the White House is destroying this country.
That's going to happen.
Once this internecine battle is over with, that's going to happen.
Mark my words.
And I do, sir.
And I listened to your every word, and I wait for you to say this is who you think is the best one.
Well, I don't know that I ever will say who I think is the best one because I don't want to be forced later on to say so.
We don't have the best guy running.
I'm not going to get horn swoggled here into a position where the media can run around and say, God, Limbaugh don't even like this guy.
Limbaugh can't honestly support this guy.
I'm not going.
I'm not going to have him.
I'm not going to give him that.
What's going on in the Republican Party?
That's nothing new.
The Republican Party establishment, which is Beckle had it right, basically Washington, D.C. elected Republicans for the most part, the lobbyists, the consultants, and certain media people just don't want the status quo of their power positions in Washington being upset.
Even if they lose elections, they still want to have the power positions in the party.
And as such, conservatism and conservatives threaten that.
It's about control of the party as much in their minds as it is defeating Obama.