Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 Podcast.
Robin Roberts, friend of the Obamas, chosen by the Obamas for the exclusive interview on gay marriage.
If I were a journalist and I would chosen because I'm friendly, I'd be embarrassed, but that's just me.
If I were a real journalist and they picked me because I'm known to be friendly, I'd be embarrassed.
But she's a friend of the Obama.
Anyway, she said to Stephanopoulos, I tell you, George, I'm getting chills again.
After she extracted from Obama, it was like pulling teeth.
Did you see the interview?
It was a really, really tough get.
I mean, I tell you what, Obama was resisting as hard as he could.
He didn't want to tell anybody how he had evolved.
He didn't want to let anybody know what he was thinking.
But Robin Roberts personally requested, personally provided by ABC New.
Brian Williams not happy about it, by the way.
I mean, they've devoted a whole network to Obama.
What did they get?
Zip.
Robin Roberts, I'll tell you what, folks, she dug deep.
She kept hounding.
She wouldn't let the president go.
He was trying to avoid this all day.
He kept sitting there.
You could see him, the look on his face.
Why did I agree to do this interview?
That stupid Biden.
I don't want to say what they want me to say.
I have no desire to say.
She kept plugging at it.
She kept working it.
She kept digging deep.
She refused to let his obstinence stop her.
And in a matter of five seconds, Barack Obama broke down.
Maybe ten.
What was it really all about?
What's really going on here.
Let us demonstrate for you what's by the way, you know who this is, and you know the phone number, and you know we don't take very many phone calls.
So that's why I didn't tell you who I am and what the number is.
You know, I rather get straight into it, straight into the meat of it, just like Robin Roberts did, Barack Obama.
Get in there, get it and get out, and then go back and tell Stephanopoulos, I'm starting to get chills again, George.
Starting to get chills again.
Yeah, she practically had to waterboard Obama.
I kept expecting to see Jose Rodriguez come out there with a bottle of insure.
Because Robin Roberts was working Obama over so heavy and so hard on this.
Anyway, here's what this really all about.
Now, President Obama's evolving views on gay marriage.
In 2008, I said I was against sanctioning gay marriage.
But I must tell you that I've been going through an evolution on this issue.
Recently, I've become sensitive to the fact that I need some serious campaign cash.
So it's important for me to affirm that I am attracted to a certain special exceptional handsome man.
I love his sense of style, his overall coolness, and that funny thing is here's due when he laps.
Yes, I love myself more than anyone else on earth.
And yet I too am unable to marry me because of the narrow-minded views of Mitt Romney and the extremist Republicans who just don't understand real America.
Stand with President Obama as he trades poor black votes for wealthy gay ones in his fight for gay marriage and the presidency.
That's what it's all about, ladies and gentlemen.
That's a white comedian Paul Shanklin.
White Tennessee American, Paul Shanklin, with a vocal portrayal there, Barack Obama.
This is one of these days.
I'm I'm I'm in a foul humor today, and I'll tell you up front, so I might be very cynical about things today.
I'm just warning you.
When I look around and I listen, I see everywhere I look in the media that gay marriage, and we had we had some guy call yesterday, trying to advance this theory.
Hey, Rush, we're gaining on you.
Yeah, 6040.
But pretty soon it's going to be 50-50, and we're going to overtake you.
I said, Okay, fine.
I look around, I look at the news media, and no matter where I go, gay marriage, universally, overwhelmingly popular.
In every poll I look at, the vast majority of the American people fully, unconditionally, eagerly, anticipatorily support gay marriage.
And yet, every damn time it's been on the ballot, it loses in landslide numbers.
So I, El Rushball, my finger to the grindstone, my ear to the pulse, and my nose, whatever smells best, am trying to figure this out.
How can we have polling data touted by all of the media, which shows overwhelming national support, no matter except in the black community, wherever you go for gay marriage, and yet every time it's come up on the ballot, It loses.
It hasn't even come close to winning.
Thank you.
When it's put to a vote.
But yet we're told that it's just like Obama's likability numbers, the people that give him a job approval, unless they support health care.
30%, 35% still support Obamacare.
Sixty-five percent likability.
Nothing gels here.
At any rate, you and I are in the midst of one of the most incredibly coordinated media swarms that we've been in in a while.
I wouldn't say it's top five all time media swarm, but it's close.
It's big.
This the distraction going on here, the effort to distract, the effort to mislead, to misinform.
I mean, it's in full saying this whole thing, ladies and gentlemen's choreographed.
And it started before Vice President Biden appeared on what was it, meet the press on Sunday.
But the excuse is that Biden did it.
Biden forced Obama's hand.
And being told it's in the politico that Joe Biden forced Obama's hand on gay marriage.
That's weird.
It's just weird.
They're trying to blame Obama's decision on bite me in case it ends up backfiring.
That's what the whole thing's about.
If this backfires, it's going to be Biden's fault.
If it backfires.
Well, wait a minute, Mr. Snurley.
Snurdly's asking me, how can it backfire?
Well, I guess we have to define the terms again.
Where is gay marriage being legalized in this country?
Right, but I mean by the people, you take it out of the hands of legislators and judges when there are public where's it hasn't happened yet.
That's my point is overwhelming public support for gay marriage.
32 now states have turned it down.
The people, 32 states, including California, have turned it down.
So if it backfires, certainly, well, how can it backfire?
I mean, I look at the media, it's it's what everybody wants.
It just lost yesterday.
No, two days, just lost in North Carolina.
You would think that it's now legal all over the country, because Obama came out and really he hung tough on Robin Roberts.
I mean, she had to work harder at that interview than I think ever before.
But you would think gay marriage is now legal.
And you know what, you people on the pro-Obama side, I hope you listened carefully to what he said because he did not say that he thinks it ought to be legal.
He was, he came across as a federalist.
And that word confuses people because you know, federalism, the the easiest way to explain federalism is when Obama said, Oh, I personally think everybody ought to be if they want to.
Well, okay, big whoop.
That carries the force of power of Zilch.
But it's a state's issue.
State's wants to That's his out.
What do you mean?
He gave himself an out.
He didn't tell anybody that gay marriage should be mandatory.
All he did was come out and say, you know, I talked to my two daughters about it and they set me straight.
And I remember, yeah, Amy Carter set Jimmy Carter straight on nuclear weapons.
I mean, the instances of history repeating themselves with this regime to Carter's.
It's amazing.
Gay marriage isn't legal today.
Not one thing has changed.
Not one state changed its mind because of what Obama said.
All that's happened here is Obama came out and said, I think same-sex people ought to be able to get married.
But it's up to the states.
Hey, Barack, you want to you want to give us that philosophy on abortion?
He did not sweepingly declare gay marriage.
He made everybody on the pro-gay marriage side think so, proving that they just want to hear the words.
There was nothing historic about this in terms of anything changing.
If you want to say there was something historic.
Okay, we had a president come out and say, I think people of same sex ought to be able to get married.
He did not say, and by the way, I'm going to finish here with Robin Roberts.
We're going to trade recipes, and I'm going to go in and I'm going to make sure that gay marriage is legalized, but the end of the day, he didn't do that.
He just, I think it should be, people should be able to get married.
Federalism.
Nothing changed by the time he'd finished.
It's still up to the states.
It's still up to the people in the states in their referenda.
Nothing's changed other than a president said.
He thinks people of the same sex should be able to get married.
And that alone opened up the checkbooks.
The Washington Post had a story that you can't find anymore.
Two days ago, they've scrubbed it.
I have it.
Well, I have some of it.
One in six of Obama's bundlers.
Gay.
One out of every six, and the bundlers are the people that go out and donate and organize other donors and pressure other donors to raise money.
And you don't count unless you get a minimum of 500,000 to a million dollars.
One of every six of his bundlers is gay and was sending him signals.
Hey, pal, you know, you're not helping us.
Well, when he finished yesterday, he didn't help them.
They think so, just with his words, but nothing changed.
Don't be depressed.
Everybody thinking, oh, we've lost the culture there.
Nothing's changed here.
Nothing was taken out of your hands.
Now we still have corrupt judges that can overturn the way you vote.
True.
Here, I'll give you another example.
Politico.
Black voters divided on gay marriage about North Carolina.
Now, wait a second now.
Wait a second.
African Americans voted two to one in favor of the North Carolina amendment banning gay marriage.
That's not what they voted on.
Voted on a definition.
They already had banned gay marriage.
What was on the ballot in North Carolina yesterday was a definition of marriage is one thing.
A union between a man and a woman, pure and simple.
That's what that was on the ballot yesterday.
And African Americans supported it two to one.
That sounds like a landslide to me.
If Romney beats Obama two to one, that's going to be big, right?
How in the world can you say black voters are divided?
Divide be 50-50.
Black voters are not divided.
They're two to one skunk in favor of this deal.
Banning gay marriage.
So African Americans on the Democrat side, I hate to be the one to tell you what this came down to is the color of your skin versus the color of their money.
Or Obama's concern, and guess what?
He chose.
I think, no.
A couple places they are laughing at Obama over this.
They are making fun of Obama over this.
Folks, we've got unemployment.
We've got an economy that has been wrecked.
We have debt piling up.
The American people, the people who make this country work, are not distracted by this.
They look at the, they're not getting caught up in the media inertia of the day.
They're not getting caught up in this narrative.
They're not forgetting everything else.
They're looking at this and saying, what the heck is this about?
Our country's going down the drain, and you want to act like the biggest statesman ever come along since Winston Churchill over this.
This has nothing to do with the future of the country.
Immediately, anyway.
This has nothing to do with my life.
This has nothing to do with the fact that I want a job.
This has nothing to do.
And people are not.
The country is not solemnly considering civil rights, discrimination, and bigotry, and Obama is leading people to new levels of equality and sameness and respect.
That's not what's happening.
That's all you think people are talking about.
That's all they care about.
Oh, wow, what an advanced.
This is the kind of stuff we were looking for in 08.
Yeah, yeah.
This is what we were looking for.
No, folks.
People have not forgotten.
Their homes value has been destroyed.
They've not forgotten.
They've lost their job and they can't get a new one.
They've not forgotten that health care is right there on the horizon.
They haven't forgotten that their kids and grandkids can't get a job.
They haven't forgotten their kids still haven't moved out.
And this doesn't matter to them.
They're laughing amidst other emotions.
They're laughing at Obama taking this as seriously he is.
Scheduling an interview, leading up three days of buildup to the announcement.
People think that all there is.
People buying Peggy Lee's song out of iTunes in record numbers.
Is that all there is?
Every day that's the common man reaction to Barack Hussein Obama.
Is that all there is?
Now, the gay militants that are run the New York Times.
They noticed, folks, that Obama didn't actually do anything yesterday.
When this interview with Robin Roberts was over, nothing had changed.
Not a single thing.
And the New York Times editorial today, now they applaud him for making the symbolic gesture of a president coming out and supporting the concept of gay marriage.
But they notice and they write about it.
Obama used the excuse of states' rights, federalism to avoid doing anything about it.
Let me read to you from the militants, the New York Times, their editorial today.
Quote, we have one major point of disagreement with Obama.
His support for the concept of states deciding this issue on their own.
Well, I'm sorry, New York Times, but that was the thrust of his big announcement with Robin Roberts.
That was it.
There is no more.
And so the New York Times who care about this issue as much, if not more than anybody else in the media anywhere else, says we got one major problem here, and that's his support for the concept of states deciding this.
That position, writes the New York Times, effectively restricts the right to marry to the 20 states that have not adopted the kind of constitutional prohibitions North Carolina voters approved on Tuesday.
So New York Times said, well, big deal, nothing happened.
We've got some symbolism, and that's it.
And when Obama finishes, there are still limited places in this country where gay people can get married.
And so the New York Times demanding Obama go further.
Gay rights are too precious and too fragile to be left up to the whim of the states and partisan political efforts.
Hi, welcome back, Rush Limbaugh, and this, the Excellence and Broadcasting Network.
Fastest week in medium, and the fastest three hours in media.
So we are six months away from the election.
And the White House quite naturally wants to talk about anything but the economy.
Anything but health care.
Anything having to do with anything Obama has tried to accomplish.
So we're talking about gay marriage.
Do you understand, ladies and gentlemen, now why there is so much pressure in the media, and even from the Republican establishment on all of us to not talk about the social issues.
Oh yes.
Don't bring up the social issues, Rush.
Oh no.
You're gonna send every independent running right to Obama the Democrats.
The independents don't want to hear about the social issue.
Really?
Jeff Bell's book interviewed him, Limbaugh Letter, the most widely read political newsletter, got the numbers.
Every Republican presidential election in modern history, social issues, every victory.
Social issues were a prime major factor, as they will be.
Obama has guaranteed it.
Obama has done everything he can to say to white working class Americans who vote that he's not interested in them.
The bitter clingers, he's not interested.
His campaigns being aimed at people who don't have jobs and don't want them.
Campaigns being aimed at special interest groups that donate a lot of money.
Don't believe this notion that they want you to shut up about the social issues so they can get away with these efforts here to fundamentally change American culture.
They brought it up.
We're sitting here, we're minding my own business, our own business.
All of a sudden they put gay marriage in our face for three, four straight days.
I'm sorry, they're the ones that have introduced social issues.
And it's perfectly understandable then, isn't it, why they want us to shut up.
I'm telling you, Obama has just started hammering another nail in the coffin that will house his first term.
They are laughing out there.
It's not 2008 where we're gonna lower the sea levels and all that happy horse manure.
It's 2012 where there's a disastrous economic record and this solemnity and the gravity and the seriousness, the importance of gay marriage.
It's not playing.
And especially after all of this big dog and pony show, nothing's different.
That is the key, nothing's changed.
Let's go to the audio sound bites.
This is gonna be fun.
This is the alternate universe.
This is where this is the most momentous media appearance since Churchill, perhaps.
Last night on CNN's Anderson Cooper 14, he spoke with Republican strategist Alex Castellanos, Republican strategist, inside the Beltway, Republican strategist.
Cooper said, How do you think uh Obama's announcement on gay marriage, how do you think it plays out there, Alex?
There are some Reagan Democrats out there, some guys with names on their work shirts, who are gonna think the president's culturally different from them.
He's putting uh something on the line there for something that he he believes he's come to believe in, and that's important.
More downside than upside politically for the president, you've got to admire him for that.
Why?
Do we have to admire him?
What let me translate what Alex said here.
When he says there's some Reagan Democrats, guys with names on their work shirts, these are union guys, blue collar people with the name Bud and over the left pocket.
And they're not gonna dig this.
Alex is saying these people, these real men of America ain't gonna dig this.
But Obama.
He put something out there he really believes in.
He's come to believe it.
So Alex buys this evolution garbage.
Alex, oh man, what another.
He's finally come to believe it.
And you know what?
We have to applaud Obama for doing something that's going to hurt him politically.
All right.
I'm applauding Obama for doing something hurting, but what a courageous act.
I told you I'm in a foul humor today.
Let's applaud what a courageous act.
He only got, what did he get?
A million dollars in the first 90 minutes.
Let's go back to timeline.
Just one of the reasons I'm cynical about this.
Look at the timeline here.
We know the New York Times have been obsessed for years with promoting the gay agenda, particularly gay marriage, their number one cause, bar none.
Gay rights, number one cause, New York Times.
Nothing even close.
Then out of the blue, a couple of weeks ago, the New York Times public editor warned Obama, we told you about it when it happened, warned Obama at the time.
They take a hard look.
The Times was going to take a hard look at his record.
They ran a story saying, four years ago we didn't vet you.
We're gonna vet you now.
We laughed at it, we made fun of it here, but they still published it.
They published a warning to Barack Hussein Obama.
That the Times could take a hard look at his record.
Then that's that's a couple weeks ago.
Then two days, a couple of days ago, the Washington Post pointed out that 20%, one out of six of Obama's top bundlers are openly gay, one out of five, are openly gay, and that they are withholding donations because of Obama's stance on gay marriage.
So 20% of Obama's money was on the sidelines, 20% of the people raising money were on the sidelines.
Just two or three days ago, because Obama's stance on gay marriage.
The Washington Post also reported how one of these bundlers, who is also the head of the most militant gay activist organization, human rights campaign, buttonholed Biden over his position on gay marriage.
And it was that exact conversation that Biden had with the militant gay activist guy, one of Obama's bundlers.
That conversation that Biden later related to NBC when he said he was comfortable with same-sex marriage.
New York Times story two weeks ago, we are going to vet you.
Washington Post, 20% of Obama's bundlers are gay and they're withholding their money and they're not raising money.
Biden ends up somewhere where one of those bumblers, who, a militant, gay, leftist activist, basically warns Biden that the community isn't happy.
Biden goes out in BC I'm happy, I'm comfortable now.
I um I think we've got no problem here.
But now, now we're being told that Biden forced Obama's hand everywhere you look today.
That's the template.
That's the lie.
That's the spin.
And they can get away with it because it is something that Biden would do.
He's known as Mr. Gaff.
You remember, Rachel, Biden in St. Louis?
Selected official Chuck somebody.
Chuck's in a wheelchair.
Biden looks in, stand up, Chuck!
Let's hear it for Chuck, stand up.
Oh, God bless you, Chuck.
Oh yeah.
What a great guy.
Chuck can't stand up.
Let's everybody else stand up for Chuck.
So it's entirely understandable that Biden could go on, meet the press and go rogue.
And that's the story today, but that's not what happened.
And then Biden goes rogue, and then the pressure's on.
And the media starts asking the spokes kid, well, what's Obama's position?
Spokeskid stumbles around in hams and haws and doesn't know what to say.
And we're told that Obama's really, really struggling with this.
Obama's really, really wrestling with it.
Oh, it's just agonizing over this.
Oh, what Biden did in the whole question.
Not agonizing over the loss of money, not agonizing over the fact the bundlers are sitting on it and not raising any money.
Not agonizing over the real.
No.
He is agonizing over his position.
Ungay Mary J. It's so stressful.
It's all that's on his mind.
It's the only thing he can think about.
He's pressured.
He knows he hasn't had enough guts up till now.
He knows that he has to come to full evolution.
That's the story that was put out.
When in fact, this whole thing is a script that was written a couple weeks ago that has been, I'd have to say pretty much flawlessly executed.
Then Obama puts out this emergency call to ABC.
Send me your toughest journalist.
No, no.
Send me Robin Roberts.
She's good friends with Michelle with trade recipes.
She's uh we can work with her.
And that's that's there's a story out there that actually says that.
They wanted Robin Roberts because she's easy.
And meanwhile, Robin Roberts is taking kudos.
What a get, babe!
What a get.
They picked her because she's easy.
Can you imagine Tom Brokow, that he wouldn't go.
His generation of news guys, leftists though they might have been.
If he found out that some president picked him because he was easy, he'd send somebody else.
So would a Jennings, so would even Dan Rather would have.
Certainly Klondike would have.
Cronkite.
And now it's kudos.
President requests, what a get, Robin.
Great, great, great performance, babe.
Oh, you really hit a home run there.
Kudos.
All over the place.
And then I think so.
She should be enjoying being a celebrity.
Robin, she should enjoy being a celebrity.
I mean, if you can't take advantage of your friendship with the first family, what good's the job.
Anyway, so she goes up there and works hard.
It takes all a five seconds to get that tough answer out of Obama, in which he doesn't say anything different, nothing new, and my God, folks, the orgasms that happened last night and today over nothing.
And I saw a story, certainly I had this in stack, and because this program has standards.
I didn't get to this story.
But I think it might actually uh fit somehow, somewhere here.
You know what it was?
Story about Hollywood actresses, led by uh Terry Hatcher of uh Desperate Housewives.
But a lot out of the I don't remember the names, but they were famous.
You would recognize all the names.
The premise of the story was they don't need males.
M-A-L-E-S.
It was a sex toy story.
And how they're far more satisfied with sex toys.
It was a story to UK Daily Mail.
And it was a story about the uh the sales and marketing success of sex toys in the UK, and it had a uh companion attachment to talk about all Hollywood actresses with pictures and quotes from these women about how, yeah, they've got so good.
I don't need men, I don't need males.
Yeah.
Yeah, I as I say, I didn't do it because there's nothing really to relate it to.
I don't know why it popped into my head now.
But it um it did.
Look, I have to take a quick time out here, my friends.
You sit tight.
We'll get to your phone calls, more audio sound, but where?
Yeah.
Well, I gotta take the break.
Robin Roberts and getting chills just thinking about it is the soundbite that's up next.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back by the way, Rush Limboy here on the cutting edge, having more fun the human beings should be allowed to have.
Don't misunderstand me.
I really like Robin Roberts.
I've I've I've known her for years.
She interviewed me way back in the 90s.
She was still at ESPN, and she came into the city, interviewed me after my uh television show once.
And I remember she was genuinely, she didn't really know who I was.
I mean, she had the public image of a conservative, so that meant to her racist sex is big and home of it.
She had no idea my passion for and knowledge of sports.
And she was pleasantly surprised.
And she's she's invited me to be on Good Morning America.
Kit could tell you, HR could tell us, I don't know how many times in the last two years.
I just don't accept any invitations.
But I've got nothing.
I I I guess I just, as you know, I live in Realville, and I we're we're in the middle of this giant spin thing.
And I really I under there isn't in journalism anymore.
It's just a it's just a bunch of celebrities.
That the some of them are on the top rung, some are on the next rung, and some are on the lower rung, and they're all trying to get to the top rung of the celebrity ladder, not the journalism ladder.
Guys, honestly, if if here's here's there's these additional reasons why they chose Robin Roberts.
That uh Jake Tapper, ABC, not an enemy network.
It's Robin Roberts Network.
Calls her woman of the hour.
The politico says a producer at ABC told them the White House went with Robin Roberts because of her personal rapport, their friendship, the past interviews, but also her race and her age.
So if I'm Robin Roberts, is the president wants me because I'm 51, I'm black, I'm friendly to come up basically I'm being summoned to be a foil.
To act like a journalist when really what should have been done is a press conference.
Why bring a journalist into this scam?
But she wanted to be part of it, and it's in her world and the world of journalism in America today.
This was a big coup to be picked by the White House because you'll be easy.
You know, the I'll tell you something else.
One of the strongest demographics opposing same-sex marriage is black women.
There's a bunch of strategy here in picking Robin Roberts.
Here, we can squeeze this in.
George Stephanopoulos says to her, sound bite three, when the president speaks out for the first time like that, Robin, like he did with you.
Why, Robin, why you were there.
It's history.
And let me tell you, George, I'm getting chills again, because when you're sitting in that room and you hear him say those historic words, it was not lost on anyone that was in the room like that.
And you didn't know going in.
No, I was gonna address this, but you didn't know exactly what he was doing.
You never know what he's actually gonna say until you ask.
Uh didn't know why you were summoned.
This is why you guys are losing your You you want us to believe you didn't know why you were summoned?
What the subject was that you didn't know he was going to say nothing new about gay marriage?
Gotta get the audio to this because Obama told Robin Roberts yesterday.
She asked about Biden.
He said I had already made a decision.
We were gonna probably take this position before the election and before the convention.