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May 2, 2012 - Rush Limbaugh Program
32:22
May 2, 2012, Wednesday, Hour #3
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Greetings and welcome back, my friends.
Rush Limbaugh serving humanity simply by being here and utilizing talent on loan from God.
800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program.
The email address, El Rushbo at EIBNet.com.
Gutsy Call Day.
Isn't that what they're calling this?
Gutsy call day, Obama's gutsy call.
Go out there and get Obama.
That's Osama.
How long is this gutsy call day going to last?
You know, we joked last week that it would probably become a national holiday, but it's bigger than just a one-day celebration.
You realize this has been going on for a week now.
They started this stuff last week, the big buildup.
And yesterday was the big day, and they're still talking about it today.
But we, I vowed, the top of this program, not to be distracted by this.
So we're waiting until the third hour to get it.
And before we play any Obama speech excerpts from last night, and by the way, a lot of people send him an email.
You know, Rush, why this guy goes over there in the middle of the night, makes a speech?
What do you make?
He was simply timing it to appear on primetime in America.
That's all.
There's nothing even security-oriented about going over there at night.
That's the only reason he did it was to whatever time it is there to be on primetime here is when he has to do the speech.
Pure and simple.
I want to take you back to September 17th, 2006, Indianola, Iowa.
This was at Senator Tom Harkins' annual steak fry.
And you would assume at a steak fry, they're eating beef.
Liberals and Democrats.
That was the time Senator Obama, 2006, September, Senator Obama, before a presidential campaign had even perhaps been imagined, maybe it was being thought of, but it clearly hadn't begun.
2006, here is Obama at Tom Harkins' Steak Fry.
And let me tell you something else that I've had enough of.
I have had enough of using terrorism as a wedge issue in our politics.
I've had enough of that.
I have had enough of that.
You know, I don't know about you, but I think that the war against terrorism isn't supposed to crop up between September and November of even numbered years.
And yet that seems to be the pattern.
Well, isn't that interesting?
Here's our courageous young president upset back in 2006 that George W. Bush would politicize the war on terror after a week of celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden one year ago.
So now let's move on to the excerpts that we have.
We're going to see four of them here.
They're relatively short, about 30 seconds on average.
And we've put them together in a timeline and a sequence.
And basically what we have here, this is Obama in Afghanistan.
These next four bites are going to say essentially the tide has turned now that I killed bin Laden.
I'm negotiating with the Taliban to reach a global consensus not to build a nation in America's image.
That's what he told them.
I just told you.
Here are now the sound bites.
Here's the first one.
Over the last three years, the tide has turned.
We broke the Taliban's momentum.
We've built strong Afghan security forces.
We devastated al-Qaeda's leadership, taking out over 20 of their top 30 leaders.
And one year ago, from a base here in Afghanistan, our troops launched the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
The goal that I set to defeat Al-Qaeda and deny it a chance to rebuild is now within our reach.
I don't know, folks.
When I listen to this, all I can remember is all of the times Barack Obama did not support going after terrorists, did not support the war on terror, did not think it was practical to go after Osama bin Laden.
And now to listen to him speak, no president ever has fought terrorism.
He's the first one.
Do you know that?
Barack Obama is the first president finally to have the guts to go after Osama bin Laden.
If first president to actively have a plan to get rid of al-Qaeda, this is the same man who spoke out against interrogations at Guantanamo Bay.
The same man who had his announced policies as recently as a year ago been put in place, we could never have found bin Laden because he wouldn't have permitted the interrogation that produced the information where Obama Osama was.
So we wouldn't, if the irony here is that had Obama's policies been in play all these years, he wouldn't have anything to crow about here.
He opposed the surge in Afghanistan.
He was part of that cabal that thought that General Petraeus was lying to help Bush politically, General Petraeus.
And now all of a sudden, one year after Osama bin Laden is killed, President Obama acts like nobody before him ever cared.
Not that they didn't go up.
Nobody cared.
I mean, what is this?
The goal that I set to defeat Al-Qaeda.
If we had left it up to him and Pelosi and Reid and the Democrats, Al-Qaeda would still not be pursued if their original policies, their original stated policies had been implemented.
Bin Laden would still be sitting there in that house in a battle bed with his remote control flicking around trying to find the latest OPRA network.
But instead, he's in the ocean 200 miles off the coast of India in a body bag.
Well, no, but some guy, some treasure seeker claims to know where the, but he's running the numbers, the calculations, he's found the, he thinks he knows where the body bag was dropped.
He's announced that he's going to go get it if the United States doesn't kill him or stop him first.
He's a famous treasure hunter.
He's gone after Spanish galleons from the 1500s a couple times.
He's never found them.
He has found other stuff.
He has found sunken treasure.
He thinks he knows where bin Laden is.
Anyway, I listened to this, and then I haven't watched it, but I know because I've read all the crowing the media is doing, all of the orgasmic idolatry the media is ladling on here, Obama.
And I remember all these people from Obama on down to MSNBC.
Every darn one of them did everything in their power to prevent victory in the war on terror in Afghanistan or Iraq.
And if you think back hard enough, you'll remember that too.
And we just played for you this quote, Obama 2006.
I've had enough of using terrorism as a wedge issue in our politics.
But I just, I'm sorry, folks.
I can't get caught up in it.
Bin Laden dead is about as important as Obama as the first black president.
It matters for a day, and then you move on.
He's our president.
It's his policies that matter, not his skin color.
But these guys, these guys, Obama and the Democrats, did their best to stand in the way of all.
And they have the goal to come forward now and act like Barack Obama is the only president who's ever pursued bin Laden.
The only president who's ever had an idea or a plan to get rid of al-Qaeda.
The only president who's had a plan to get rid of the Taliban.
It's offensive to me.
Here's the next bite.
My administration has been in direct discussions with the Taliban.
We've made it clear that they can be a part of this future if they break with al-Qaeda, renounce violence, and abide by Afghan laws.
We are building a global consensus to support peace and stability in South Asia.
Our goal is not to build a country in America's image or to eradicate every vestige of the Taliban.
These objectives would require many more years, many more dollars, and most importantly, many more American lives.
Our goal is to destroy Al-Qaeda, and we are on a path to do exactly that.
All right, what am I supposed to think hearing that?
What are we supposed to think?
My administration has been in direct discussion with the Taliban.
Now, we've made it clear that they can be a part of this future if they break with Al-Qaeda.
Who does he think he's talking to?
Hey, Adolph, you want to be part of the future?
All you got to do is renounce Nazism.
All you got to do is renounce all this talk about killing the Jews.
And if you do that, we're not going to make you live in America.
You just got to renounce it.
We'll help you rebuild your country however you want it, not like us.
All you got to do is renounce Nazism.
Imagine any American president making that a central theme of a speech.
American presidents have talked about defeat and surrender.
And Obama didn't talk about defeat.
He didn't talk about victory.
He didn't talk about any of these other things.
He wants to use the power of his personality to make the Taliban renounce who they are.
I mean, that's like going to a bunch of Jewish people say, you know what?
You got to renounce your religion.
And these people are.
This is a religious.
They're political too.
I know they're ideological.
They've combined the two.
And we're building a global consensus, just like the one we had on global warming.
They're building a global consensus to support peace and stability.
And our goal is not to build a country in America's image.
Oh, hell no.
Don't even think.
Why, we wouldn't want you to become the land of freedom and liberty.
No, no.
Too many countries in the world like America.
We want you to have your own.
We're not going to impose freedom on you.
We're not going to impose our rotten, racist, homophobic values on you precious Taliban people.
I apologize.
I'm sorry, folks.
I don't see the greatness here that everybody in the lapdog media does.
I mean, these people's tongues are on the floor.
They are in such thrall of this.
Really?
Is that right?
HR just told me on the IFB that a couple of them he saw were having a tough time selling it.
Well, he says it's not the same gushing that happened in 2008.
Yeah, nothing is quite that level.
I mean, the messianic appeal is gone, but they're trying to recapture it.
They're trying to rebuild what they had in 2008.
And what you're seeing, HR, is their probably their realization they can't recreate it, but they're trying to.
It's like when you throw a great party, a great party just happens, Saturday night just comes together, and it's so great.
You know, let's do it next Saturday.
And you do it, and it isn't the same.
Just isn't the same.
Well, they're trying to recreate the magic of 2008.
I guarantee you, they're not going to be able to do it, but they may be trying, but they know it's a half-hearted objective.
Here's the next excerpt.
My fellow Americans, we've traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war.
But here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon.
You see the guns?
The Iraq war is over.
The number of our troops in harm's way has been cut in half, and more will soon be coming home.
From the Associated Press, May 2nd, today, 7:08 a.m.
Kabul, Afghanistan.
The Taliban struck back less than two hours after President Obama left Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Let me rewrite that.
Kabul, Afghanistan, the Taliban struck back less than two hours after President Obama promised them he would not make them live in a country like America if they would just renounce Al-Qaeda and join his worldwide consensus for socialism for freedom in Southeast Asia.
The Taliban nevertheless struck back, targeting a foreigner's housing compound with a suicide car.
Suicide car bomb and militants disguised as women in an assault that killed at least seven people so that Taliban dressed themselves up as women went out there and devastated a foreigner's housing compound in a suicide car bomb attack less than two hours after President Obama asked them to lay down their arms, join him, but don't worry, we're not going to make you live in a country like America.
The Taliban answered President Obama.
The second major assault in Kabul in less than three weeks and highlighted the Taliban's continued ability to strike in the heavily guarded capital.
Must have been one barn burner of a persuasive speech, right?
So Obama goes out there, says what he says, and the Taliban says, well, here's what we think about it.
Kablooey.
Final soundbite.
I know the battle's not yet over.
Some of your buddies are going to get injured, and some of your buddies may get killed.
And there's going to be heartbreak and pain and difficulty ahead.
But there's a light on the horizon because of the sacrifices you've made.
Well, that's really inspiring.
That's a real inspiring message.
You're going to die.
You're going to get shot.
You're going to get wounded.
And so are your buddies.
And by the way, our rules of engagement make sure you can't shoot at the Taliban if you're dressed like women.
We'll give you a medal for courageous restraint, and we'll be back.
All right, make sure that Carl hangs on there on line four.
Now, sometimes callers chicken out and they hit home.
By the way, from the Washington Examiner, President Obama declared today the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death a National Day of Prayer for the well-being of the American military and gratitude for religious freedom.
We give thanks for our democracy that respects the beliefs and protects the religious freedom of all people to pray, worship, or abstain according to the dictates of their conscience, Obama said.
Pray to who?
National Day of Prayer.
Pray to who?
I don't.
I, folks, or abstain according to the dictates.
F. Chuck Todd at MSNBC.
Did you hear about this?
F. Chuck Todd compared the bin Laden assassination to VE and VJ days.
Now, I kid you not.
Now, for those of you new to the program, VE is victory in Europe, VJ, Victory in Japan, these were victories over entire nations, Japan, Germany, basically, who surrendered to the United States.
F. Chuck Todd said, this is a case where the president is taking the most famous day, if you will, now in the war, the closest thing the country is ever going to have to a VE Day or a VJ day in this war, which is VOBL Day, right?
Bin Laden's death day.
Now, VE and VJ days signaled the end of World War II in Europe and Japan.
The death of bin Laden didn't signify the end of anything except Bin Laden.
And yet, to the drive-by media, it's as big a deal.
That's obscene.
Seriously, folks, VE, VJ Day, they signaled the end of World War II in those places, Europe and Japan.
If last year, when we killed Obama, killed Osama was the same as the end of VE and VJ, then why is the war on terror still going on?
We lost 33 soldiers in Afghanistan just last month.
Now, the Democrats have said since 2001 that the war on terror will not be over until Obama, Osama bin Laden, is found and killed.
Well, we found him and we killed him.
But the war on terror is still going on.
That must mean, according to them, that bin Laden's still alive.
Because the war on terror, that's the only way we're going to declare victory.
Only way it's over is if Bin Laden is killed.
That's victory.
Well, then why are we still fighting it?
And I got another stupid question.
This 1% versus 99%.
I wasn't all that great in math.
I'll admit it.
But I want to know how do the Republicans ever win elections if they only appeal to 1% of the population?
Bush won twice.
Reagan won twice.
H.W. Bush won once.
How'd that happen?
If they only appeal a 1% and the Democrats are 99%.
How did Democrats ever lose?
Somebody's going to have to show me that.
Who's now?
Oh, Carl in Fort Lauderdale.
Carl, I'm glad you held on.
Welcome to the program, sir.
Rush, it's sensational to be on the phone with you.
Thank you.
You bet, sir.
That lady that called before and you were trying to help her out when her Democratic friends keep beating her up, and you were explaining the lack of power having only the House.
But I remember so clearly, and I'm so mad, and I'm still mad, right after the 2010 midterms, there was one of these requests from Obama for $2.4 trillion in an expanded debt.
Well, the House and Boehner and those guys put together their own package, and just as soon as it was done, and maybe before, Reed says, well, I'm not going to vote on that.
And Obama says, well, if they do and they pass it, I'm going to veto it.
And instantaneously, immediately, they hustled back into the hole and they came out with a bill exactly as Obama wanted it.
Now, I'm in District 22 here in Florida where Alan West, I thought he was going to be a strong man, but he laid down like the rest of them.
And I think that's where a lot of disappointment comes into America from conservatives.
They just laid down.
What do you mean, Alan West laid down?
He backed Boehner.
By the way, can I say hello to my buddy?
Yeah, go ahead while I figure out what I'm going to say to you.
Hey, Wayne, I'm on the phone with Rush.
Big day.
That a big day.
It is.
I'm not, I don't remember specifically the spending argument that you've described.
I'm not denying it.
I do know there are a bunch of battles over raising the debt limit, and it was always made to look like the Republicans caved.
And I will admit to you, I thought that in each one of those fights, the Republicans held the cards and could have dictated to Obama.
I always, I thought the same thing that you do.
I thought that it was Obama that he's the one that wanted to spend.
He's the one that needed to spend.
What is a debt limit for?
What's the word limit mean?
What good is it if it doesn't exist?
You just keep expanding it.
Why even have a debt limit?
After they passed it, you called it his new slush fund.
Well, it was.
Everything is a slush fund.
Now, Alan West, you know, see, as a powerful, influential member of the media, I know things that I can't tell because of confidences.
But I'll just tell you, I was with Alan West, when was this?
It was last.
It was around one of these instances.
And he was just depressed as he could be over things he was hearing that the leadership say to freshmen and so forth.
Basically what it was, I mean, it's Democrats do it, Republicans do it.
They say the incoming freshmen, remember now, and we've talked about this.
The House leadership was not crazy about these new Tea Party freshmen.
They thought they were nuts.
They thought they were kooks.
And they bring them in and they say, look, if you have, if you want to have any future here, if you want us to help you with your re-election, you're going to have to vote with the leadership.
And immediately they face choice.
And that's why the numbers of freshmen stand out.
You've got the guy in Illinois.
I forget his name.
I wish I wasn't forgetting it, but he stands up and he's independent and he refuses.
And the Tea Party people love him.
But most of them end up in one instance or another going along with the leadership.
They're under a lot of pressure to do this.
And I remember Alan West, he did the best he could.
He told me that he and his fellow freshmen did as much as was humanly possible, given what they were up against, that they didn't have within the Republican caucus.
There weren't enough of these guys to stop the rest of the Republicans in the House.
And then, of course, when you're talking about raising a debt limit, you've got all the pressure that's being brought to bear, all the news about what's going to happen to our credit rating, all the news, what's going to happen to financial markets.
And as is the usual case, Carl, everybody's predicting the apocalypse.
The debt ceiling isn't raised, well, there goes our credit rating.
If the debt ceiling isn't raised, why Social Security checks may not go.
And guess who's going to get blamed?
The Republicans?
The media is blaming them.
Other Republicans are blaming them.
And their hopes of being reelected are doused in their first terms if that happens.
That's why keep saying that it's going to require a whole lot of elections and a whole lot of conservatives winning them to begin turning back the tide here.
But whether these concerns were real or not doesn't matter.
If the financial markets would not have reacted negatively had there not been that specific an increase in the debt limit, it still is being reported.
The people are hearing it.
And so it's a vicious, vicious cycle and battle that takes place.
But I don't believe that general principles Alan West has shrunken from duty, responsibility, laid down, as you say.
But I appreciate the call, Carl.
We'll take a brief timeout here at obscene profit timeout on the EIB network and be right back after this.
And we're back.
Having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have.
The era of the old media is over.
CNN had a lowest rated month in 11 years in April.
The last time CNN had ratings this bad, the date was August of 2001.
CNN had a grand total of 357,000 viewers in an average sweep period and just 108,000 of them in the 2554 demo.
That puts them off 21% in total viewership, 29% 2554 demo for the year.
Fox News was up 2% to 1.1 million viewers overall.
This is not from 6 a.m. to 6.
This is within a 15-minute sweep or maybe an hour.
I think it's probably in TV.
It's probably an hour.
The shining star, the CNN lineup was Piers Morgan, who was down only 14% at 9 p.m.
In prime time, CNN was down to a two-year low.
And that's what the Silver Fox.
Anderson Cooper is his name.
Silver Fox.
Anderson Cooper.
I swear, that guy is reported more in gossip columns to be at the gym or that bar or restaurant than he is in the studio.
I hear more stuff about Anderson Cooper at a bar or at a gym or at a health club than I do about what he's doing in the studio.
And CNN probably think that's great.
Yeah, that'll help the demo.
Anderson out there doing all this stuff, people be curious and tune in to watch.
It isn't working.
So, folks, I can't tell you 357,000 viewers in an hour for a national cable news network that used to rule the roost with millions of viewers.
357,000.
If it weren't for the fact that in the basements of advertising agencies where young liberal media buyers are buying spots on CNN just because they're liberal and not because they're reaching any audience, I shudder to think what would be happening over there.
CNN International does well.
So CNN's become a loss leader.
And I've had people ask me, I mean, they didn't drop from 2 million to 357.
They've been gradually declining.
It's been steady for 11 years.
And people ask me, well, why don't they do something about it?
And I say they are.
You don't understand how these people think.
This is a badge of honor.
357 with the, because in their minds, they're up against Fox, which is illegitimate.
Fox doesn't do real news.
Fox is poisoning the minds of the American news consumer.
So the CNN execs tell themselves when they socialize and when they get together with other news executives, they're hanging tough.
They're not veering away.
They're staying true to the cause of liberalism, no matter what it's costing them.
They deserve awards.
They deserve metal.
This is how they think.
It's not like standard business where you lose customers and you try to get them back.
This is, well, if you, well, the shareholders, it's Time Warner.
There's a whole bunch of other stuff in this universe that allow this to happen, by the way.
But I'm telling you, that's how it's looked at.
This is a badge of honor.
Despite this, they're hanging tough.
They're hanging tough.
They're not veering away from the cause.
Here's another problem with CNN.
And I'm doing this to help them out.
They'll never accept it, of course.
They are telling themselves that they are the centrists.
Fox News is the extreme right-wing kooks.
MSNBC is hard liberal.
And we at CNN, we're the adults.
We are the centrists.
We're the moderates.
We're the objective journalists.
We don't have any opinions here at CNN.
We do not allow opinion to infect and infiltrate our news presentation and our news coverage.
We are exactly what the American people say they want in journalism.
When the truth is, they are just as hardcore liberal as MSNBC is.
So why does MSNBC do better than CNN?
Because they're honest about it.
MSNBC says we are left-wing kooks, and this is what we are, and this is how we're doing it.
CNN is left-wing kooks, but they do not tell people that.
They tell people, we're moderate.
We're down the road, middle, truly objective journalists.
And people know, well, you can't even tell yourselves the truth.
What are we getting from you?
Ah, this job is too much fun.
No, no, folks, I'm serious.
I know it's hard to understand.
CNN, 357,000 viewers.
There are people inside.
They're not happy with it.
Don't misunderstand.
I mean, they'd love to have more viewers, but as a way of assuaging their panic or guilt, they tell themselves that's okay.
We're true believers in the cause.
We're not doing this for money.
We're holding firm.
We are not capitulating to the demands of a fickle audience that's been corrupted by Fox.
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