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Jan. 23, 2015 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:32
January 23, 2015, Friday, Hour #1
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Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
Yes, here we are, ladies and gentlemen, once again, revved and ready.
It's the EIB network with our finger on the pulse, our ear to the ground, and our nose to the grindstone.
It's Friday, and that means let's hit it.
Live from the Southern Command in sunny South Florida, it's Open Line Friday!
And this one could be a doozy today.
Open Line Friday can be about whatever is on your mind.
It doesn't have to be political.
It doesn't have to be at the top of the news, headlines, TV, newspaper.
It doesn't have to be current events.
Can be.
It can be sports.
Don't know what's going on there of any interest, but it can be.
The point is, this is the greatest career risk ever taken since the Oscars snubbed some Rushland Boy turning the content portion of the program over to rank amateurs.
Lovable, nevertheless, rank amateurs.
The telephone number, if you want to be on the program, 800-282-2882, and the email address, elrushpo at EIBnet.com.
I want to review for you just some of the news items that are out there.
Yemen is literally falling apart.
Yemen is a staunch U.S. ally.
The government of Yemen is.
If you don't know where Yemen is, it's the southern border of Saudi Arabia, which is the only country in the world named after a family, the family Saud.
And it is al-Qaeda in Yemen, which has toppled the ruling government of Yemen.
And al-Qaeda in Yemen is right up there with ISIS in terms of the latest militant jihadists and terrorists posing threats to free and peace-loving people everywhere, including us in the United States of America.
It's al-Qaeda in Yemen perpetrating the attacks in Paris against the magazine, Charl Ebdu.
North from Yemen, the king of Saudi Arabia, said to be a reformer.
I had to laugh when I read the guy's mini obituary.
His name is Abdullah Ibn Saud Abdulaziz.
He passed away at age 90.
What are you impressed I can pronounce that name, Wendy, without pausing to look at it?
Why are you laughing?
His name is Abdullah.
He's one of 30 sons of the founder of Saudi Arabia.
Wait a minute.
Of course, their name cannot be Mike.
Their name would not be Rush.
There would never be an El Rushbo in Saudi Arabia, much less ruling royal family.
No, Saudi Arabia is named after an old man named Saud, who had 30 or 40 kids, maybe more.
One of those 30 or 10 and the reign of terror, the way the ascension to power works is that his sons, as they die, the next one in line takes over.
Out of 30 sons of Mr. Saud, there are said to be six that are even halfway qualified.
And one of them was Abdullah.
And Abdullah, as I say, had to laugh.
Abdullah was reforming Saudi Arabia with moving forward on rights for women.
And yeah, it just, I read this, I was stunned.
What world are these reporters living in reporting on the king of Saudi Arabia's summary form?
He was a U.S. ally, there's no question in many ways.
But Saudi Arabia with Wahhabism is the cauldron.
It's the boiling point for much of militant Islam.
But that's way over there.
The point is that the king passed away at age 90, and his replacement's his brother, Crown Prince, who is 79 and suffering dementia.
Not kidding, suffering dementia, 79 years old, suffering dementia, is mentally incapacitated or deep, not fully, but he's not all there either.
So that is a, the point is, that's a fluid situation.
I mean, this is the Middle East has become a literal cauldron here of Sunni versus Shia with the United States right in the middle of it.
And it's important to note all of this, and hardly any of it is getting any attention whatsoever.
What's happened in Yemen?
The terrorists have taken over that country.
The king of Saudi Arabia has passed away, leading to all kinds of potential problems down the road.
Now, theHill.com, let me just tell you one of the top stories at thehill.com as we gather here today to kick off three hours of broadcast excellence.
These are the top stories on the Hills newsfeed.
Number one, Obama's YouTube interviews deliver awkward moments.
This sturdley, have you seen any of this?
You talk beneath the dignity of the office, maybe setting a new low.
President Obama with YouTube interviews.
It's an outreach to the Utes of America.
Folks, it was so embarrassing.
We've got audio soundbites coming of it, but it was just, oh man, so beneath the dignity of the office.
And there are people that still care about that.
The number two story at thehill.com: Obama hopes high court legalizes gay marriage.
The number three story at thehill.com: Obama, states more likely to legalize pot.
President predicts other states will follow successful efforts in Colorado and Washington.
Meanwhile, in Colorado, the governor, Hickenloopers, is the biggest mistake they could have made was legalize pot.
Had he known what was going to happen beforehand, and he opposed it from the get-go, but had he opposed what he knew what he knows now, or had he known what he knows now, he would opposed even more fervently the legalization of pot.
Folks, those three stories are irrelevant.
And yet, those are the three things leading thehill.com inside the Beltway news agency.
Obama's YouTube interviews, Obama's high hopes for the high court legalizing gay marriage, and states more likely to legalize pot.
Terrorists have taken over Yemen.
The Saudi king has died.
And of course, the big story everywhere, the New England Patriots and Deflategate.
This is so telling.
It is such an eye-opening event for people studying our culture.
I love it.
Now, I want to weigh in on this with just one thing.
I watched both the press conferences yesterday.
I watched Belichick's.
And like most of you probably watched Brady, who started at 4:15.
And I will guarantee you this: because of the way Belichick, I told you Belichick had not thrown Beatty under the bus.
I told you that's not what had happened.
Essentially, here's all you need to know.
Cut through all of the clutter, cut to the chase, get right to the quick.
All you need to know is the NFL has no idea what happened.
The NFL has no idea who did what.
The NFL has no idea who did what, when, and that is why Brady and Belichick are both denying any culpability whatsoever.
That can be the only explanation.
And I would even add this.
As I watch all this play out, I'm not so sure the NFL even wants to find out what happened here.
But someday we will.
Someday we are going to find out whether it's part of an official investigation or not.
One of the things, you know, you learn to look for things that nobody else notices.
This is one of my areas of interest, is to look at what everybody's looking at and find and zone in on something everybody is passing by.
One of the things I keep hearing, no matter who's analyzing, no matter who's talking about this, it goes something like this.
It could be a former player saying it, could be a drive-by media person saying it, could be anybody.
They're all saying, no way would an equipment manager do this on his own.
No way would a ball boy tamper with the footballs on his own.
There is no way an equipment manager would do this without the quarterback knowing.
Now that tells me who the fall guy in this is eventually going to be.
It's either going to be an equipment manager who in fact did.
We are going to be told.
It is in fact going to be an equipment manager or a ball boy.
They're easier to throw overboard and sacrifice in the name of saving the game than a quarterback or a coach.
Some equipment manager is going to fall on the sword or some ball boy is going to fall on the sword and shock everybody.
It's going to be learned at some point.
May not be till next June.
Who knows?
May not be learned until the eve of the draft.
But that's that when I see everybody, no way with the equipment manager.
No way couldn't happen.
No way, no how, no way.
That's a big tell to me.
And I could be wrong, obviously.
We'll find out in due course.
So one thing I'm pretty confident of, folks, for Brady to go out there and deny this, as flat out as he did, with no doubts, with leaving no door open, leaving no possibility to change his mind.
I mean, this is as flat out.
I didn't do anything.
I didn't know anything.
I didn't.
Zip, zip, zero, not.
And Belichick, the same way.
That tells me that they know the NFL isn't even close to knowing what happened.
That tells me that they know that the NFL may never find out what happened, who did what, when, where, why, all of that.
That's the only reason they would go out and just deny, deny, deny unequivocally.
Brief time out.
We'll come back, get started, put all this together after this.
Don't go away.
We're back.
It's Open Line Friday.
Let me obliterate and dispel what I think are some bits of conventional wisdom out there that have it all wrong.
One of the bits of conventional wisdom is that Tom Brady has, for the first time in his career, thrown his reputation up for grabs.
He's managed his reputation ever since the Patriots' first Super Bowl.
He has mastered it greatly.
He has managed his reputation, maybe planning a run for the Senate, some sort of politics.
Conventional wisdom has it, that press conference yesterday with Brady in utter denial has really put his great reputation at risk.
Let me dispel that.
Not only has he not put his reputation at risk, it has been enhanced.
Remember the culture we live in, folks.
There is no shame anymore for being caught publicly in doing something incorrect, wrong, violating rules, or what, unless you're a Republican.
Outside of that, you can do anything you want.
Your reputation is going to be enhanced.
I got an email today from a woman that I know, 60 years old.
You know what she said?
I don't care what he's accused of.
He's the cutest I've ever seen.
That's all that matters.
I don't care what he did.
In fact, I hope he did it and gets away with it.
Man, oh, man, is that one beautiful man, said this note.
So all this, Brady will be bigger than ever.
He's going to have more curiosity about him than ever, no matter how this turns out, folks.
His reputation's not at risk.
This is not going to have any long-lasting, damaging impact.
The second myth, and this one's everywhere, boy, the NFL, men, they must really not care.
Why, they haven't even talked to Brady yet.
Well, no, hang on.
I have spies, ladies and gentlemen.
I have learned that the NFL always intended to talk to Brady last.
Talk to everybody else first.
Talk to the assistant coaches.
Talk to the equipment manager.
Talk to the ball boy.
Talk to the head coach, whatever.
And then after you have all that, then you go to Brady because this is about Brady.
The only person that possibly is affected by the balls being inflated or deflated, Brady.
He is the focal point of this.
If the NFL is serious about the investigation, they might be getting ready to do a Martha Stewart type thing.
You get testimony from everybody else.
And then you talk to Brady and find out who's lying.
Talking to Brady first, not the best way to do this.
So the fact I haven't talked to Brady yet doesn't mean anything as far as I'm concerned.
I think if you're looking for indications, the NFL is not serious.
They're all over the place.
But the fact that they haven't talked to Brady yet is not one of them.
I think the NFL probably has as much desire to get to the bottom of this as the Obama administration had to tell us what happened in Benghazi.
I don't think the NFL wants to get to the bottom of it.
Not now, anyway.
The NFL realizes what's going on.
Folks, the last thing in the world anybody wants to do is have this investigation solved before the Super Bowl.
Don't believe all this talk about this being a blight on the game, a blight on Goodell, another black eye for the NF.
My God, they're going to have the highest ratings a Super Bowl has ever had.
There is no way they're going to have an investigation turn up anything that will require anybody playing in this game to be punished now.
So it's going to go on.
It's going to go on.
And questions are going to continue to be asked.
And questions will remain unanswered.
And analysis will continue to be offered.
And all the analysts will be trying to come up with an angle that nobody else has thought of or stated.
Everybody will try to come up with a means of being perceived as the smartest guy in the room and the beneficiary of all this, the National Football League and NBC Sports, which will be televising this game one week from Sunday.
So remember the culture we're in.
Remember who gets rewarded and for what and for how.
There is no shame.
Let me give you a conflicting example here, however.
I am willing to throw up a possibility I could be wrong about all this.
Remember how quickly the NFL was prepared to act against the defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions, Nadama Kung Su.
Nadama Kung Su in the second to last, no last week of the season, Nadama Kung Su happened to step on the ankle and the injured calf of the Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers twice in the same game.
And within two days, the NFL announced that Nadama Kung Su was to be suspended for one game.
That game was a playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys.
The Lions Packers game was on Sunday.
On Monday or Tuesday, Nadama Kung Su was suspended.
Nadama Kung Su and his staff appealed.
The appeal officer for this hearing was Ted Cottrell, former coach of the National Football League.
Ted Cottrell reduced the suspension and eliminated it and replaced it with a fine.
Nadamakung Su was permitted to play in that playoff game because the Lions all showed up at the appeal hearing.
My God, we don't have a prayer if you suspend our guy.
No, my God, you can't do it.
It's a playoff game.
Oh, my God.
If you suspend our player, he's the focal point of our defense.
It's the anchor.
And then the hearing officer said, you know what?
You got a point.
In the interests of fairness and competitive fair play, I'm going to let Nadamakung Su play and replace all this suspension with a $70,000 fine.
Now, the point is the league acted in one day.
Now, they had clear evidence, too.
They had Nadama Kung Su stepping all over Aaron Rodgers.
It was on videotape.
Everybody had seen it.
Nadama Kung Su said, I didn't know I was stepping on the guy's calf.
I didn't know.
It was cold out there.
My feet were frozen.
My feet were numb.
I couldn't tell the difference between his calf and ankle and the ground.
Everybody said, right, right, but it sounds good enough to be plausible, so we'll consider it.
The point is, they did all this in two days.
They wanted to get to the bottom of this, and they wanted this.
The NFL did.
Adjudicated immediately.
They had a playoff game coming up.
They didn't want any hassle with the Lions being penalized, their best defensive player being suspended.
Oh, no, no.
So they arranged for him to play.
Well, I'm just telling you, they're not going to get to the bottom of this before the Super Bowl because it doesn't serve anybody's interest.
By the way, folks, a minor correction on Yemen.
It was not Al-Qaeda that toppled the quasi-pro-American government in Yemen.
They were toppled by the Houthis.
Now, the importance about that, the Houthis are Shia.
Al-Qaeda is Shiite.
And they claim to be enemies, but it's a distinction without a difference.
The point is, the reason that it's important to note that it is Shia terrorists who have taken over Yemen is because they're backed by Iran.
And Iran is one of the biggest enemies of Saudi Arabia for a whole host of reasons, not to mention the Shia versus Shiite and Sunni differences, but there are also geopolitical Iran going nuclear Saudi Arabia, if anything, pro-U.S. or at least allied with us.
And so now Yemen to the south, controlled essentially by Iran, and then Iran to the east of Saudi Arabia is surrounded, and their new king has dementia.
And we haven't even talked about Netanyahu and Israel and all of this.
Obama is committing more outrages.
These YouTube interviews are just, and we'll get to them, but don't worry, before the program ends, you'll hear this.
I can't do it all here in the first hour.
And there's, you know, I always just follow my interests like you do.
So hang in there beat tough, and it'll all be touched upon today.
These YouTube interviews that Obama did are just embarrassing.
They're funny.
And had they been done with anybody but the President of the United States, it'd be outrageously hilarious.
They still are outrageously hilarious, but it's just another example of the prestige and the esteem of the office being ripped to shreds right before our very eyes.
In the meantime, we have this controversy with the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Here's Obama.
Let me grab a call.
I got a guy.
He wants to ask me about this, and it's Open Mind Friday.
Always try to get a call in the first hour.
Richard in Philadelphia, your first sir.
Great to have you, and I'm glad you called.
All right.
Good afternoon, Rush.
My question is, is how much time and effort went into these YouTube videos starring the woman who eats cereal out of a bathtub in which she's sitting, but yet Netanyahu will not even get a word from the Secretary of State or even probably the dog cat.
It's worse than that.
It's worse.
I mean, everything you've said is true.
Now, this YouTube stuff, for example, Obama's talking to this, what is this Glozelle Green?
Do you know who Glozelle Green is?
But you hadn't heard of Glozelle.
Well, I hadn't either.
But apparently, Glozelle Green is a big video star, YouTube star, because she swallows whole spoonfuls of cinnamon.
This makes you a star on YouTube.
Right.
Right.
She sits in a bathtub filled with cereal and eats the cereal she's sitting in in a bathtub.
Yeah, this makes her a YouTube star, which makes her a video star.
This is Obama had a YouTube interview.
Yeah, and bright green lipstick, of course.
Anyway, she's talking to Obama.
Obama's interviewing these people as an outreach to young people.
And she says, yeah, Castro put the dick in dictator.
Now, frankly, you're kind of torn on that because somebody willing to call Castro out to Obama, who's buddies with Castro.
So here you've got this low-rent YouTube sensation talking to the rent.
Yeah, Castro, he put the dick in dictator.
You have to laugh.
But it's still, as I say, if it had been, I don't know.
Jay Leno talking to this.
By the way, is Glozel Green male or female?
Okay, it's a she.
I hadn't.
Africa, well, I really African-American.
Who would have figured that?
Glozel Green, African-American?
Who would have known?
Anyway, that's just.
In the meantime, Richard here is right.
Obama's off doing this.
John Boehner has invited Netanyahu to come to the House of Representatives and make an official address to Congress over the situation.
Oh, there she is.
There she is.
There's a foxer running a little clip of it.
Oh, my, this even worse than what I thought it was going to look like.
Oh, man.
Anyway, this woman's going to be a big star now.
You mark my words.
At any rate, Boehner has total authority over who's invited to speak, joint session or otherwise, to the House of Representatives.
He invited Netanyahu.
Netanyahu is attempting to coerce, influence the U.S. into ramping up sanctions against Iran.
Everybody in the Middle East is worried.
Saudi Arabia is worried.
The King of Jordan.
Also, King Abdullah is worried about Iran going nuclear.
Obama doesn't seem to be worried about Iran going nuclear.
And Obama, in fact, is on record to say, well, who are we to tell them they can't?
We've got nuclear weapons.
Who are we to say they can't have them?
What if somebody had come along and told us we can't have nuclear weapons and we were building ours?
Well, this simply, that won't do.
That fails to recognize the U.S. role in the world, understandably.
So Boehner invites Netanyahu, and the White House is in a snit like you can't believe, because truth be known, Obama doesn't like Netanyahu at all and never has.
It goes beyond the personal.
It also happens to be political.
It's not just that Netanyahu is the equivalent of conservative.
It's that he's Jewish.
It's that he heads the Israeli state, the Jewish state.
And it's clear that Obama and his administration have a problem with Israel.
They do not like, they think Israel, just like they think the U.S. is the problem in the world, Israel is the problem in the Middle East.
Do not doubt me.
Even if they won't admit it in so many words, do not doubt me.
That's this administration's view of Israel, that everything over there could be solved.
We could have a peace process.
We could have a Palestinian state, whatever we want.
We could have a nuclear Iran that didn't threaten anybody if we just didn't have to deal with the Israelis.
And Obama's made that abundantly clear.
Remember, you may not, but I do.
You remember the first visit to the United States by Netanyahu after Obama had been emaculated.
Netanyahu and a small contingent of people show over the White House for a meeting with Obama.
And Obama starts the meeting, and after a few short minutes goes by, tells Netanyahu he's leaving.
He's going to the residence to have dinner with his wife and kids.
He tells Netanyahu, he sends him off to another room in the West Wing off the Oval Office, packs them in there, and gives them two hours to come up with whatever would be acceptable to Obama in terms of whatever they were discussing at the time.
I mean, it was one of the most insulting episodes that I can recall taking place that I've ever heard about taking place in the White House.
And that was the first, maybe the second, but it was early, it was 2009 when this happened.
And it has never gotten any better.
And Obama has had a snit over Israel every time subject comes up, Middle East, Arab Spring, Muslim Brotherhood, you name it.
Israel is the reason for problems in the Middle East.
So Boehner's invited Netanyahu.
Netanyahu's accepted.
And Obama is in a snit over this because he thinks he should have a role in the invitation.
He thinks he should have been involved in extending the invitation.
He should have been involved in a decision to invite Netanyahu.
And the last thing that's happened that I've heard of is that Obama sent some sort of message to Netanyahu threatening him.
You better not discuss, you better stop working with members of the House of Representatives and the Congress.
You better stop trying to get them to tighten sanctions on Iran.
Obama's trying to get rid of the sanctions.
Obama's trying to get rid of all the economic sanctions we've got on Iran.
Netanyahu is going to come, and one of the things that's expected he's going to speak about is the need to tighten sanctions.
And Obama is about ready to blow a gasket.
So in the midst of all of that, going, where's Obama?
He's on YouTube talking to Glozell, yeah, Glozel Green and whatever else.
Literally, the Middle East is as, well, it always is on fire.
Flames are getting a little higher than usual now.
And par for the course, Obama can't be found.
He's off doing other things that are irrelevant and don't matter.
He's still campaigning.
What is this outreach to young people?
What's it all about?
He's not running for re-election.
What's this all about?
Why go on YouTube and interview people or be interviewed by people that would never, ever have such access in the normal ebb and flow?
It's got to be outreach to the youth, but for what?
All right, folks, sit tight.
We'll come back.
Much more straight ahead.
No, we're not through with the Patriots in the NFL.
We're just mixing it up here.
Sit tight.
I want to do a juxtaposition here.
Mike, I want to hear the, let's see, number one and two, and then we're going to go to 14.
All right.
Here's a juxtaposition of the so-called news media.
Now, as you know, I have been on a kick lately trying to, and it may be too fine a point, but one of the things I've been trying to illustrate is there really is not a news media anymore.
There is no media, meaning a group of people who go out and report and see things that none of us see and then come back and tell us what happened.
That's not what media is anymore.
There's something else, and I want to illustrate it here.
We have a montage first off.
These are sports drive-bys.
We have Bob Ryan of Boston Globe, Trey Wingo of ESPN, Randall Hill from a former wide receiver, the ESPN commentator J.A. Adonde, Jorge Sedeno from ESPN.
These are sports drive-bys, and they're all talking about deflategate.
To me, this is the sports equivalent of the actual Watergate.
Nixon was winning in 72, no matter if he bugged that hotel or not.
It's just like Watergate.
Watergate, you know, they were going to win that election.
Pedro's going to win that game, but still, why go through this nonsense?
Watergate wound up costing Richard Nixon the presidency.
This is our Watergate.
It really is.
There you have it.
This is our Watergate.
The sports drive-bys are so excited.
They've got their own Watergate now over the inflation of football in the National Football League.
Here is how the three major networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, this is how they led their newscasts last night.
Tonight, caught in a pressure cooker, is Tom Brady a cheater?
Quarterback Tom Brady responds to reports that the Patriots use deflated footballs in the AFC Championship game.
On our broadcast tonight, full denial from Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and from his coach as a football inflation scandal remains bigger than the upcoming Super Bowl.
On this Thursday night, the breaking news, the scandal before the Super Bowl.
The star quarterback Tom Brady answering the question, are you a cheater?
Tonight, Hal Brady explains those deflated footballs.
Who handled them after they were checked by the refs?
And what now for the football star with the Super Bottle wife?
That's the way the three major networks led their newscast last night with everything else going.
The king of Saudi.
Well, he didn't die till around six, but maybe he hadn't died before they came on the air.
But clearly, Yemen had happened.
And the thing with Israel and Netanyahu and any number of other serious things are happening in this country.
And this is what they lead with.
Can I share with you how different it's become?
Many of you will not remember this.
Do you remember when Vince Lombardi died, folks?
Vince Lombardi, this is also an illustration of just how huge pro football has become in this country.
And you stick to the issues, crowd people, had better hear this, better learn this.
The NFL, you just heard the sports drive-bys think it's their Watergate.
They're salivating.
The three major nude casts, newscasts, lead with it.
Vince Lombardi, coached the Green Bay Packers.
The Super Bowl trophy is named after him.
Everybody knows who Vince Lombardi is.
He left the Packers once he figured out they didn't have any players.
And he went to the Washington Redskins.
And his deal included equity.
And for somebody coming out of the World War II generation, equity was a huge deal.
He had been given ownership.
In addition to being named head coach, equity was a huge, huge deal to somebody coming out of the World War II generation, which Lombardi was.
And then Lombardi was announced had colon cancer shortly after a year or two of the Redskins.
On the day Vince Lombardi died, Walter Cronkite could barely pronounce his name.
And the announcement of Vince Lombardi's death in the CBS evening news happened halfway through the newscast.
And it was just a five or ten second mention by Walter Cronkite.
And they faded to black, went to a commercial break and come back up and did the rest of the news.
Cronkite could barely pronounce his name.
It was almost like Cronkite didn't know who he was.
That's how inconsequential pro football was.
And that would have been in the 70s, folks.
This would have been in the early 1970s when Lombardi died.
It by no means was the lead item in the news.
And Vince Lombardi was as big as anything in pro football when he died.
He was pro football.
The Packers were pro football.
In the meantime, here's Obama last night, White House YouTube channel.
While all the rest of this is going on, here is our president talking to Glozell Green.
He's retired from the Air Force.
However, he's mad at me right now because I cut all the hoods off his hoodies.
I did.
I did that for real to protect him because I'm afraid when he goes outside that somebody might shoot and kill him.
And it's not like regular folks, it's the popo.
That's right.
So Glozel Green is telling the president that she cut all the hoodies off of the hoodie sweatshirts that her husband wears because, and Obama's laughing says he understands.
Yeah, he's a hoodie.
Yeah, I get it.
I understand.
She says somebody might shoot and kill him.
It's not like the regular folks.
No, it's the Popo.
The Popo might shoot my husband.
Snerdley, who are the Popo?
Who's the Popo?
Who's the Popo?
It's the police.
Everybody knows that.
Welcome back, folks.
You're going to wrap up a first hour busy broadcast action.
Let me pose it.
What if?
What if the footballs in New England were not deflated during the game?
Think about that.
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