All Episodes
Previous Next
March 20, 2014 - Rush Limbaugh Program
34:24
March 20, 2014, Thursday, Hour #1
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
Okay, I'm just gonna jam it right to the stick to the issues crowd right here at the top, right off the top.
Are you ready?
Stick to the issues crowd.
Greetings.
Welcome.
El Rushbo and the EIB network and Limbaugh Institute, Advanced Conservative Studies.
Telephone number.
800-282-2882 email address, lrushbo at EIBnet.com.
Just found out last night that on the New York Times bestseller list on March the 30th, Rush Revere and the First Patriots will open at number one.
And Rush Revere and the brave pilgrims moves up to number four.
How about that stick to the issues, crowd?
We're going to have two books in the New York Times bestseller list at the same time at slots one and four.
Ladies and gentlemen, CNN actually broke away from coverage of the missing Malaysian airliner today to cover President Obama and a little statement on Putin and Crimea and Ukraine before getting on Marine One to head to Air Force One to come to Florida to play golf.
After, well, he's fundraising, but I mean, he's selling Obama because he's probably going to play golf.
Why wouldn't you?
If you're Obama and you're a golf addict, you're going to Florida, so you're probably going to play golf.
They actually broke away.
The latest from CNN is that a black hole, one of their anchors, actually posited that a black hole may have swallowed up the Malaysian airline.
They were serious.
A black hole.
We'll get to all of that because that also kind of ticks off the stick to the issues crowd.
But first to the president of the United States, three sound bites as the president announces even tougher measures to deal with the renegade Vladimir Putin.
The basic principles that govern relations between nations in Europe and around the world must be upheld in the 21st century.
And that includes respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.
That's gone.
The notion that nations do not simply redraw borders or make decisions at the expense of their neighbors simply because they are larger or more powerful.
There they are again.
Barry, sorry, that's been done.
Putin did it.
So after Putin has redrawn the map, Barry comes, hey, this is 21st century.
We don't do it that way like this anymore.
And just like Kerry, one of the original San Francisco Democrats, he said, you guys in Russia, you can't keep acting out this 19th century foreign policies, 20th century foreign policy in the 21st century.
And they say, oh, yeah, watch me.
And they're doing it.
So here's Obama.
This is really tough, folks.
I mean, this is really going to inspire confidence out there in a low-information crowd.
You can't just go out there and violate somebody's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
It's the 21st century, except Putin did it.
So after Putin did it, Obama goes out and tells him he can't do it.
What do you think Putin's thinking?
Here's the next warning from Obama.
We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine.
Russia right now is violating international law and the sovereignty of another country.
You know, Mike doesn't make right.
Well, okay, so here's Putin.
He goes out, he redraws the boundaries.
He adds a nation back into the Soviet Union.
By the way, Mrs. Clinton a couple days ago said, we hope that this doesn't happen again, meaning Estonia.
And Estonia, Putin has said he's got designs on Estonia next.
So anyway, getting ahead of myself.
So Putin goes out, takes Ukraine, takes Crimea, redraws the map.
Obama goes out today.
So you can't do that.
It's 21st century.
You can't go out and redraw maps.
You can't go out and violate somebody's sovereignty.
And furthermore, furthermore, we're not going to do anything to stop you.
We're not going to be getting in a military excursion in Ukraine.
Might doesn't make right.
What do you think Putin's thinking about all this?
Here's the next Obama bite.
You know, the truth is, Mr. Putin acted out of weakness, not out of strength.
His strategic decisions are in no way based on whether he thought that we might go to war over this.
I think there's a clear understanding that when it comes to our core interests or our NATO allies, we can protect ourselves.
Man, that is comforting.
So even if Putin nukes up, arms up, we can protect ourselves.
If he comes after us in NATO, we can protect ourselves.
We're not going to do a diddly squat.
So after Putin redraws the map, Obama says, can't do that.
And then says, Might doesn't make right.
We're not going to do any military thing.
We're not going to do it.
And you can't do that.
And if you do do that, we can defend ourselves.
You know, so screw you.
Anyway, I'm not going to believe that Obama is seriously angry at Putin or any of these other top Russian officials that we're sanctioning until Obama unfriends them on Facebook.
Then we'll know he's serious.
If he takes that step, if he unfriends them on Facebook, then we know that it's serious, or at least until he announces he's not going to do any more selfies with them.
And then he got on the plane and he headed on out.
Now, there's a controversy that's brewing.
It's a miniature controversy brewing at the White House.
We're now up to audio soundbite number nine.
And the controversy swirling around an allegation made by a reporter from Phoenix, Eyeball News at 5, KPHO TV.
The correspondent is Catherine Anaya, and she interviewed President Obama.
And when she got back from interviewing, her co-anchor, Adam Wongo, spoke with her and said to her, you were there all day.
You started the day with key members of the president's staff.
We started here shortly after 8 o'clock with a coffee with Press Secretary Jake Harney, and this was off the record.
He showed us a very long list of items that he has to be well-versed on every single day.
And then he also mentioned that a lot of times, unless it's something breaking, the questions that the reporters actually asked were the correspondents, they are provided to him in advance.
So then he knows what he's going to be answering.
And sometimes those correspondents and reporters also have those answers printed in front of them because, of course, it helps when they're producing their reports for later on.
So that was very interesting.
That's the nub of it right there.
This local reporter in Phoenix, correspondent Catherine Anaya, spent the day in the White House, does this.
They call it Local Media Day, and they make cabinet secretaries, the president, available for the local affiliate anchors to come in.
And they give them three or four minutes and move on, and they have lunch with them at the White House.
That's not going to happen because Obama's on his way here to play golf.
But she said that she went and she met the press secretary, Jay Carney, told her how tough his job is, told her how much he's got to know, what things he's got to be up speed on.
And then she said, And he mentioned that a lot of times the questions the reporters, the White House press corps, actually ask are provided to Carney in advance so that he knows what he's going to be asked and can prepare his answers before the briefing starts.
And sometimes those correspondents and reporters in the White House press corps also have Carney's answers printed in front of them as he's answering because, of course, that helps when they're producing their reports for later on.
And that's very interesting, she said.
So let me paint the picture.
This reporter says that Jay Carney demands, let's say from F. Chuck Todd, NBC White House, that F. Chuck has to submit his questions to Carney in advance so that Carney can figure out how he wants to answer them.
Then Carney prepares his answer and gives the text of the answer back to F. Chuck, which means that the entire press briefing is scripted.
That the questions the reporters ask, Carney has already been informed and he's already answered them.
And the reporters asking the questions already have the answers.
They're already on text, in text, prepared for the reporter's broadcast report later on.
Well, now this, when this hit, this is the kind of thing that upsets the soap opera narrative inside the Beltway.
This is the kind of thing, if it's really happening, nobody's supposed to blow the lid on this.
And so now everybody is in a CYA mode.
Reporters, the White House denying no way this happens.
No way whatsoever.
So then the anchor, Adam Longo, a co-anchor, another anchor in the local Phoenix station, asked of the reporter, well, now give us the play-by-play.
When you walked in there, was there any standing around, or did you have time to jump right into that interview with Obama?
We immediately launched into our interview because there was a person standing behind him actually counting down to the four minutes.
Yes, and you see, that's another thing she told us.
That when these local anchors and reporters come in from across the fruited plane, they're given four minutes.
They have to submit their questions in advance.
And there's always an Obama aide lurking nearby, but off camera, attempting to intimidate the reporter to stay on schedule.
And in order to prevent anybody getting comfortable, the anchor must stand up.
The reporter must stand up during the interview.
And it's four minutes.
Get in, get it, and get out.
Wham, bam.
Thank you, Mr. President.
And then on to the next one.
Four minutes.
And it worked through with the discussion.
Catherine Anaya then concluded with this.
What was interesting, a side note, is the reason why we were standing, I was told by one of the staffers, is because he likes to get comfortable when he's sitting and he tends to get very chatty.
And so this was another way to keep him and us at the four minutes that they were suggesting that we not go over.
Yeah, and it sounds like the pressure is on when some guy is standing behind him with a countdown clock.
Yes.
A little ridiculous.
Okay, so in addition to everything else, what we have here is a Phoenix reporter who got to interview the president.
The local Phoenix affiliate thought this is such a big deal.
They actually did a news story On their reporter interviewing the president.
So he had the president's interview, and they aired that, I'm sure.
And then they did a story about how the president's interview happened.
So they got two bangs for their buck here.
They did a story on how they got the interview, and then they aired the interview.
Now, Ed Henry, who is the Fox White House correspondent, has tweeted that this reporter is dead wrong.
Ed Henry's tweet about an hour ago: this story dead wrong.
Now, I don't know if Ed realizes the reporter was talking about local news interviews rather than regular White House briefings.
And I'm not sure what all she was talking about.
It might have been that she had to submit, but she wasn't talking to Carney.
She was interviewing Obama.
The impression I got was that, let's go back.
Let's grab what was the first soundbite.
That was number nine.
Let's listen to number nine again because I'm going to get somebody.
No, no, it's a local press.
Let's listen to this again just to make sure that we get this right.
We started here shortly after 8 o'clock with a coffee with Press Secretary Jay Carney, and this was off the record.
He showed us a very long list of items that he has to be well-versed on every single day.
And then he also mentioned that a lot of times, unless it's something breaking, the questions that the reporters actually ask for the correspondents are provided to him in advance.
So then he knows what he's going to be answering.
And sometimes those correspondents and reporters also have those answers printed in front of them because, of course, it helps when they're producing their reports for later on.
So that was very interesting.
Sounds to me like she talked about the White House Press Corps, not these local.
She's talking about the White House Press Corps.
She's talking about guys like Ed Henry.
She's not talking about the restrictions that she had because she didn't interview Carney.
She's interviewing Obama.
But she's saying that, oh, yeah, sometimes I get the questions in advance and I give a fight the answers.
Anyway, this has caused a little uproar among our media guardians, ladies and gentlemen, and Ed Henry now reporting that that's not true.
There's nothing whatsoever true about this.
Story dead wrong.
We'll be back.
Don't go away.
Oh, no.
Now, what do we do?
What do we believe?
Well, here we go.
When faced with a dilemma or perhaps even a conundrum like this, what we try to do here at the EIB network is to rely on our intelligence guided by experience.
If you combine those two, you genuinely get to the nub of things.
So we have here a local reporter at from Phoenix who trots into town all excited, gets to interview the president.
It's a big deal for a local reporter.
Administrations do this once a year, maybe twice.
And as part of the day, they go to the White House and they might go to the Secretary of State.
They might talk to the people of Pentagon.
It's a big day for these local reporters.
And part of it is meeting the White House press secretary, where, as she told us, he shows her just how hard his job is.
He shows her his office, press office.
Here's all the things that he has to be an expert on.
These are all the things he has to be well versed on.
And then She says that he said, Oh, yeah, well, you know, sometimes I get their questions in advance.
The White House Press Corps.
So I get their questions in advance, and then I give them their answers in advance.
It helps everybody.
It helps me.
It helps the reporters for their packages later on, which means that the whole thing is scripted.
And then here comes the Fox report.
Wait a minute, tweets out dead wrong.
Well, no, wait, is the first half of this believable?
Imminently, folks.
I mean, no question that if the regime could pull this off, they would do it.
Yet here's Ed Henry who says, story dead and wrong.
So what is the answer?
To me, intelligence guided by experience, answer very simple.
Ed Henry thinks it's dead wrong because he's not in on it.
After all, he's from Fox.
Why would he be in on such a scheme?
Yeah, we get to go inside the media sausage factory here, thanks to the reporter.
Her name is Catherine Anaya of Fox 5, Eyeball News, Phoenix.
No, it's not Fox.
It's just news at 5 Eyeball News, K-P-H-O-T-V.
So now Ed Henry has tweeted, Catherine Anaya, are you correcting your false story, claiming the questions at White House briefings are scripted?
And he's not the only one denying this.
Jennifer Epstein at the Politico has also tweeted, right?
Reporters do not pre-ask questions.
So far, it's only those two besides Carney.
You got three people denying this.
Now, Catherine Anaya has posted a photo of her meeting with Carney and a lot of other local reporters there.
Here's the thing.
I've been telling Snerdley and the guys, don't misunderstand this.
This reporter is just ignorant enough to be trusted.
This is a big deal.
Folks, I can't tell you what a big deal this is.
This a local reporter getting, even if it's just four minutes with the president, that is such a scoop.
It's such a gold star for the reporter back home.
It really is a big deal.
It's, I can't overemphasize.
And this, you can tell that she is just bubbling with enthusiasm here.
Her efforts, she's excited when we listen to those soundbites.
And she is just thrilled to be there.
She's not, she didn't sound capable of making something up or inventing it.
She either misunderstood what she saw or misunderstood what she was told.
But even when she was telling the story, oh, yeah, and sometimes the press secretary gets the questions in advance, as if there's nothing wrong with that, by the way.
She didn't sound like she thought anything wrong about it.
She's just fascinated in how it all works.
This is like going from minor league C-class up to the major leagues.
This is a big deal.
I don't think there's any attempt.
These people get up, they want to make an impression.
They want to get noticed.
I mean, this is them climbing their ladder.
I've seen it.
I was with some local anchors from Sacramento once at one of these things at a briefing that James Baker did.
He was Secretary of State at the time.
This is back in the 80s.
It was when I was there interviewing people for a week.
I took my radio show there for a week.
I didn't go to the luncheon because I wasn't actually part of that delegation.
I happened to be there at the same time, the local TV people.
But it was a huge Sacramento.
People were just excited.
One of them actually got to sit at Reagan's table for lunch.
It was just such a huge deal.
So now the entire Inside the Beltway Press Corps is scrambling, trying to put this back together.
KPHO is indeed Eyeball News.
It's the CBS affiliate.
And she's posted, she's so excited.
She's posted a photo of her meeting Jay Carney.
And there were lots of other local reporters there.
I mean, it really, it's a cattle call, folks.
There's all of them.
I mean, there's tens of them from all over the country in there, each getting four minutes with the president, each getting a little time with Carney and his explanation of how he does things.
So this is going to be, I predict it'll be by 1 o'clock Eastern, 22 minutes.
And she will have been pressured enough into saying she misunderstood.
I mean, they're going to hold her career in the balance here because they can't allow this to stand, that they submit their questions in advance, and that Carney then picks the one he wants, ones he wants, and that they get their answers in advance.
They can't let this stand, even if it is true.
Okay, let's do our duty and get you up to speed on the latest with the Malaysian airliner.
So the latest is that, what was it, satellite photos found two pieces of debris southeast of Perth, Australia.
Malaysia is due north of Australia.
They found this debris where nobody has been looking.
I mean, it's in the radius, but the route that this plane would have had to take to get to where this debris is, nobody has charted it.
So I'm just reporting to you as a consumer of the news here.
So apparently nearby was this giant ship that delivers automobiles across the oceans.
And the Australian authorities asked it if they would take a detour and head to this area where the debris was spotted.
And the last I heard was the ship got there and then nothing.
We don't know whether the ship saw it.
The last I heard was that they dispatched airplanes from Australia to go look at this.
It's about a four-hour flight to get to the debris field.
But then it was overcast and they couldn't fly low enough to look and oh no.
And then darkness came and oh no.
And they had to go back to land and to cancel search.
Australia, it's at 12, 13 hours ahead.
So it's dark over there, about 20 minutes to 1 o'clock, 2 in the morning there.
So their search has been canceled.
And everybody's all hot trot.
Everybody get crazy.
And nobody can figure out why is it down there.
There's no proof that this debris came from the airplane.
It doesn't match with anything that has been reported up to now.
Before we get to the drive-by reports on that, we have to first start with the five on Fox taking issue, actually taking offense at my criticism of the media coverage of the airplane.
They talked about this program and my criticism of the media.
And to set it up, they played this clip of me from a show earlier this week.
I can't handle the media on this.
I literally cannot.
I can't handle.
We've got anchors and anchorettes who don't know beans about even why an airplane flies.
They couldn't explain the concept of air pressure deferential or lift to you if their jobs depended on it.
They go get guests who nobody knows what happened here.
So you got a bunch of people on TV who just want FaceTime.
Okay, so that set them off.
The people at the five are good buddies.
You know, we love the people on the five here, but they didn't like that.
They did not appreciate that.
They claim they have an obligation to give people information.
Fine and dandy.
The only problem is, from my viewpoint, there isn't any information.
If there were information, there wouldn't be all this coverage.
That's sort of the irony here.
The fact that there is no information is why we're getting all this coverage.
If there were some information, some rock-solid, factual information, then the coverage would reduce dramatically and it would stay focused to that.
Then it would build off of that.
Right now, everything's wide open because nobody knows anything.
So my take anyway, they're not reporting information other than what's been known within the first 24 hours.
Nothing new since then, really.
Factually, here's how it sounded on the Fox, on the five, on Fox, as they shamelessly, shamelessly targeted me.
He's basically calling the news coverage a show, but he is a consummate showman.
Talking about the media coverage.
Yeah, isn't this capitalism in a way at work that there is a demand for this information?
Is it necessarily the fault of the news to supply it?
Well, he's getting airtime, FaceTime, voice time.
He's getting all the above.
But this is something that you have a responsibility to report, to get the information out there.
I think it is important to find out answers.
I don't think it's just sensational.
Now, naturally, they would defend what they do.
And frankly, I didn't have the five in mind when I was talking about this.
I have specifically criticized CNN.
CNN is what's over the top here with the koala and port of Malaysia Triangle and all the other.
Here's the latest, by the way.
Here's the latest.
This is Don Lemon, anchor CNN, last night's special report, the mystery of flight 370.
I want to remind you of something, folks.
It was the Iranian hostage crisis that gave birth to the TV show Nightline.
Don't be surprised if this episode gives birth to an entire multiple-hour everyday show on CNN.
You know what I think?
I saw the other day CNN has James Earl Jones.
And throughout the day, they'll play tape of James Earl Jones saying, this is CNN.
They ought to get rid of that.
And go out and get Hervé Villache from Fantasy Island.
Deplane!
Deplane!
Instead of this is CNN.
Anyway, Don Lemon from last night, The Mystery of Flight 370.
What if it was something fully that we don't really understand?
A lot of people have been asking about that, about black holes and on and on and on and all of these conspiracy theories.
And of course, it's also referencing the Twilight Zone, which has a very similar plot.
That's what people are saying.
I know it's preposterous, but is it preposterous, you think, Mary?
No, now, you people at the five, do you really want to defend that?
Black hole?
And you know, things like this have happened in the Twilight Zone before.
Hey, Mary, I know it's preposterous, but what do you think, Mary?
Mary Shivo is the Department of Transportation, former Department of Transportation Inspector General.
She's an expert in these things.
So here she is.
She's a legitimate expert in this stuff.
She's a black hole.
Do they even know what a black hole is?
I know they don't know what Lyft is.
If you ask these people, how does an airplane fly, wouldn't be able to give you the aerodynamic.
Black hole?
Twilight zone?
A black hole?
Do they even know what a black hole is?
And can anybody offer any conspiracy theory that CNN hears about that they will consider and ask learned experts about?
And when you ask the learned expert, the learned expert sort of has to answer it, which Mary Shivo did.
This is how she answered Don Lemon's question.
Did a black hole swallow up the airplane?
A small black hole would suck in our entire universe, so we know it's not that.
Bermuda Triangle is often weather, and Lost is a TV show.
I always like things for which there's data, history, crunch the numbers.
So for me, those aren't there, but I think it's wonderful that the whole world is trying to help with their theories.
That is diplomacy.
Like I have not heard it.
It was really, now Mary Shiva is obviously a refined and classy woman because you get a question like that.
You couldn't hide your incredulity.
What are you asking me, black hole?
Do you know what a black hole is?
You idiot.
Instead, she says, well, a small black hole would suck in the whole universe, so it can't be that, Don.
And he goes, oh, yeah, okay, fine.
The Bermuda Triangle, it's often weather, and Lost was a TV show.
Ah, gee, it would be great if these answers, but Don, it's just, you know, I like things where there's data, Don.
History, crunch the numbers.
And there isn't any numbers here.
There aren't any, there isn't any history.
But Don, you know, I, you know, call me old-fashioned, Don.
I think it's just wonderful.
The whole world's trying to help you here with their theories.
I just love people getting into it.
But get me out of here now.
Yes, ladies, welcome back.
Great to have you.
Il Rushbo here, the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
This is a black hole.
By the way, one other observation, if I could jump back to Catherine Anaya, the Phoenix reporter.
She, this didn't hit me at first.
The first soundbite, she admits that everything that she was told is off the record, and yet she revealed it.
She says, you're heard in the soundbite.
She said, this is off the record, but then she revealed everything that was said.
She's just starstruck, I think.
Just totally overcome with where she was and how big a career opportunity that it was.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know quite how you're going to react to this.
There is a piece in the Los Angeles Times today.
And it is by Megan, well, again, here we go.
It didn't print her name.
It didn't print the link.
I just happen to know.
This is this, yeah, D-A-U-M, Megan Daum.
And it begins: Rush Limbaugh is right on this one.
They're reporting on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared March 8th, has turned into a spectacle and not the good time.
And then she plays, she publishes the quote that the five played on Monday or Tuesday of this week, where I expressed incredulity that anchors in Anchorans who don't know beans.
But, folks, let me get serious.
We sit here routinely and talk about the low-information voter.
And I have as a stated objective here to do what I can do to create the largest and most educated and informed participating group of citizens.
Because I believe that's how the country functions best.
Informed, educated citizens voting, participating in the affairs of state, if you will.
And look at what we're up against.
We have, I'm not trying to embarrass the guy.
I really am not.
But a black hole, really?
This is CNN.
It used to be really hard to get jobs at these places.
You really did have to be among the best at what you did.
Even if you were a far-left-wing activist, you still had to be good.
They had enough self-respect at these networks that you had to be good.
You had to have a brain.
You had to have some knowledge.
Even though everything's scripted for you on a prompter, you still have to be able to ad lib and ask questions and talk to people.
It's no wonder.
Now, granted, CNN has a plummeting audience, but not for this.
I think one of the reasons the people at the five are reluctant to criticize this is because CNN's numbers are skyrocketing up because of this story.
But it's dumbing down the population.
This is a black hole, really.
It's explanatory and it's a little scary at the same time.
Can you imagine you read the LA Times, you get up today, you open the paper to this story, and the first thing you see is Rush Limbaugh is right?
▲
Export Selection