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Aug. 7, 2015 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:37
August 7, 2015, Friday, Hour #2
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Time Text
Hey, yes sir, Rebob greetings, my friends.
Welcome back.
You are tuned to the most listened to radio talk show in America, especially today.
We're told a 10 million people tuned in to watch the Fox News Republican debate last night at 9 o'clock.
That means at least 30 million are tuned in right now to find out what I think about it.
Live from the Southern Command in sunny South Florida.
It's open line Friday.
And it may be 40 million.
And we'll get back to your phone calls here pretty quickly.
I was I was not joshing in the first hour.
Where I said I might I might hold myself back.
You know, when I say something about something that generally much covers it, not much left to be said.
Since everybody agrees with me, so if I say everything I think, then the caller's just going to be echoing what I say.
Who wants to listen to that?
So I draw back a little, I hold back a little bit.
Especially since it's open line Friday.
800 282-2882.
Okay, ask the uh the staff on the other side of the glass uh exactly one hour ago to take a wild guess at who had the most camera time last night.
Who said the most?
Who had the most speaking time last night?
And I will admit it was a trick question.
I did not say which of the candidates.
And so the answers were the candidates, but that was not true.
The Fox moderators dominated the debate last night.
The candidate with the most airtime was Donald Trump.
Time analysis compiled by a university political researcher finds Donald Trump dominated the Republican presidential debate.
Fox News debate moderators allowed Trump to speak the most of all the candidates, clocking in at 10 minutes, 32 seconds of airtime.
So you had stop and think about this now.
You have a two-hour debate.
They took some time for commercial breaks.
Let's let's figure what the hour and 40 minute actual program time, and I'm guessing at that.
And the most time any of these guys had 10 minutes 32 seconds.
And he was not the most seen or most heard.
The Fox moderators had more time.
In other words, the moderators had more time to ask their questions than the rules permitted the candidates to answer.
Former Governor Jeb Bush came in a relative distant second, eight minutes 31 seconds.
Scott Walker, ninth place.
He was heard just over five minutes last night.
Combined the 10 candidates, the 9 p.m. debate spoke a total of one hour and eight minutes and 49 seconds.
According to smart politics, an equal distribution of speaking time would have been six minutes 52 seconds per candidate.
And stop and think of that.
Oh, here we have a two-hour debate, and I know they had to put a limit on it.
You got 10 people, you have 16 people, 17 people running.
You can't put them all up there.
That's frankly, look, I keep thinking of things here, brain synapses firing it to take me off my mark here.
This is why I expected somebody to make a comment about this.
I I really did.
I blew this.
I thought somebody, and I thought it was going to be Trump, because he would be the logical candidate.
I thought somebody would say, Well, this is the exact wrong way to be doing this.
We have been doing these debates all this time, and what do we got to show for it?
We're gonna speak here five minutes, seven minutes, whatever it is.
Uh nobody's gonna learn anything here tonight.
And then when you add to that, it it was.
I mean, the first half of this debate was beat up the candidates.
The first half of the debate was scorch the candidates, beat up the candidates, trash the candidates, make the candidates justify their existence, make them justify things they've said in the past, done in the past, or what have you.
You know, there's a there's another line of demarcation out there, I think.
We just had a caller who referenced his belief that the Washington and New York political class really, even now, despite the Tea Party, really does not know how much anger and fear,
genuine fright for the future there is among average ordinary Americans who are not in the political class, and I think accompanying that is something similar.
The people our caller was referring to, call them the Tea Party, call them the Republican base, just call them the people that make the country work, as far as I'm concerned, and I'm gonna lump myself in with you.
These are gravely serious times.
We have witnessed, in our view, the Democrat Party take dead aim at the heart of this country with the intention of blowing it up and putting it back together in a way you and I won't recognize.
And Obama has promised it, and he's doing it when his claim to transform this country.
We know that there's no difference now between Democrats and socialists, and we know that they're not happy with the way the country's founded.
They're never happy about anything.
They're constantly enraged and angry.
And right before our very eyes, the traditions, the institutions that have provided the guardrails, the firm foundation, and even the launch pads for success, they're all under assault.
They're all under attack.
And I didn't get that impression watching the debate last night, except from two or three people.
I didn't get at all from the moderators that that is the status quo, that that's where we are.
In large part, what I gathered watching this last night was it's another election season.
Hey, it's time for the presidential campaign.
Hey, let's start with the debates.
But this stuff isn't happening in a vacuum.
Now, thankfully, we had a lot of good candidates out there, and they they made some on their own initiative references to some of these things, like Obamacare and like the deal with Iran and ISIS and foreign policy and so forth,
but there was only one candidate who laid it at the blame, the feet of blame the Democrat Party, and that happened at 5 o'clock debate, and that was Carly Fiorina, who said the Democrat Party is destroying the character of our country.
See, I'm kind of old-fashioned.
We have spent the last six and a half or whatever it is now, six and a half, seven years, with the policies of the Democrat Party implemented time and time again, and they're having a demonstrably destructive effect, but you would have never known it watching that debate last night.
And that's one of the things that bothered me about it.
Our guys are not the problem.
I know we have some guys in that stage of one amnesty.
And I know we have some people in that stage who don't like conservatives, but even so, not a one of them has really been in positions of power to implement anything, other than some of the governors.
And Scott Walker's done great things with his governorship.
So there's a lot of potential there, but I just I I've I found there to be an elephant in the room that wasn't mentioned or discussed, and I understand also this is not a professional criticism.
I'm just, as John Q citizen telling you what I reacted to last night, at something I was hoping to hear more of.
I mean, if what Rand Paul told me is right, if the Republican Party cannot win with simply getting Republican votes alone anymore, if we're going to need votes from people that are not Republican, it means to me that we're going to have to explain to some people voting for Democrats why they're making a mistake.
And forums like that last night, and there will be others.
This is why I'm not putting a nail in a coffin here.
This is just the first.
And hopefully, as the field winnows, uh subject matter will change, and eventually things I hope to hear will be said.
But we don't know that yet, so we only have last night to uh to go on and to analyze.
But all that having been said, there were some terrific answers.
There was a lot of poise on that stage, and as I said once, I'll say it again, any of those people on that stage last night I would take over Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden, or uh Martin O'Malley, or the Starbucks guy who they're now saying is toying with getting their what is it, Howard Schultz, Harold Schultz, George Schultz, Fred Schultz, Ed Schultz, whatever his name is.
Schwartz, Schultz, what is it?
It's Schultz, isn't it?
Starbucks guy.
Yeah, it's uh it's Schultz.
So the uh moderators, by just putting on the moderators, Chris Wallace, Meghan Kelly, Brett Bear, smoke for 30 basically 32 minutes.
They had 31.7% of the time last night.
And New York Times, Fox News moderators bring a sharpened edge to the Republican debate stage.
CNN loved the way Fox News performed.
MSNBC thought Fox did the best job it's ever done last night.
Second story in the New York Times is praising Fox hooray for Fox News, Foxy Rowdy Republican debate.
Let's see.
You know what?
Yeah, this is good.
I mean we all saw what what happened in the debate, but some of the some of the candidates and what they said in post-debate interviews, I don't know how many people hung around.
It was late.
I mean, Trump tweeted his final tweet at 3.45 a.m., for example.
But let's go to the grab audio soundbite number two.
We'll start with Trump after the debate on Hannity last night.
Hannity's show started at midnight, and I guess Trump showed up about halfway through that.
And the uh the question was I interpreted your comments that you made about Mexican immigrants differently.
I interpreted it as you're not, they're not doing anything to stop equality of people coming across the border, and and it's a stopgap for them if they allow people to leave at will.
And by the way, let me just clarify something.
This is this is another thing.
You know, Trump, they they they try to dump on Trump, demand proof from him that the Mexican government is knowingly sending race rapists and murderers and purse snatchers and this kind of thing.
They are.
It's something I know full well.
We've had stories.
We've done them on this program, including and up to the fact the Mexican government is running advertising on Mexican media, radio and TV, print, on how to get on the food stamp program once you have left Mexico and immigrated to the United States.
Illegally.
There's no question the Mexican government, with would you if you had a chance, if you would you not get rid of the dregs of your neighborhood if you could ship them out?
I mean, if Mexico wants to get rid of its debris in the United States, permitted the Democrat Party willing to take it, why wouldn't you do it?
But Trump couldn't come up with it.
He couldn't name or anything, so he was put on the spot.
But afterwards, that's what Hannity's asking him about here.
And Hannity is saying what I've always thought you meant was that the Mexican government's not doing anything to stop illegal immigration, and it's a stopgap for them.
It means it helps them if they allow people to live, it's less they have to pay for.
I took tremendous heat that first day.
I mean, a lot of your friends like Rush Limbaugh and a lot of people, they said, boy, they used the word incoming.
I hadn't heard that word, but Trump is taking tremendous incoming.
But it was an honor, and now some of the people that you would least suspect it are calling me up and apologizing.
And what I said tonight is true.
The word illegal immigration would not have been a topic if it wasn't for me.
What about that, folks?
Illegal immigration would not have been a topic if it not for him.
I don't think you can deny it, folks.
I really don't know.
You you might say that there might have been Ruby or some others might have brought up.
You wouldn't have had that on on any stage the way it has been discussed since.
There isn't anybody in the political class that has been discussing illegal immigration and sanctuary cities and and the criminal element that's coming across the border and nobody doing anything about it in either party.
That is undeniable.
This morning on Good Morning America, George Stephanopoulos.
Well, what what what was unfair about Meghan Kelly's questions to you?
Some of the statements you made about the women, I don't recognize those words whatsoever.
I mean, we're gonna look at that very carefully, but I don't recognize those words.
But you know, when I said the Rosie O'Donnell thing, that got the biggest I would say the biggest laugh, applause, etc.
of the evening.
I mean, that was a pretty startling uh uh noise in that arena.
So look, it was an amazing evening.
I'm not complaining about anything.
I think that uh I think I did very well.
You know, Drudge had me as number one, and Time magazine had me as number one, and the New York Times has me as number one.
Right, they're all these pulse debate uh online polls.
Trump is still at number one.
He did not take himself out last night.
The you know some in the Republican Party established might think so.
Well, we'll find out.
You know, it's a it's it's gonna be almost like one of these um incidents we had with the illegal immigrant comment followed by the McCain comment.
Remember the the political class thought Trump had ended it, and they've been waiting for him to step in it and they thought he did, particularly with the McCain comment.
And turned out he grew his support.
So now he had this first question and then his refusal to take the pledge not running third party, and everybody is thinking again, you know what, they finally stepped, but nobody's got the guts to say it as strongly as they did after the McCain Cup.
But they're all thinking it, but they are all thinking, guaranteed you.
They are all thinking it's over for Trump.
They just they learned their lesson.
They're not gonna go out and brag about it right now, in case they're wrong and and support rallies to Trump again.
So time will tell on that.
We'll know very soon, just like we did last time.
Don't go away.
Meeting and surpassing all audience expectations all the time.
Every day.
This is Doug in Stamford, Connecticut.
Great to have you on the program, sir.
Hello.
Thank you for having me on.
Appreciate it.
You bet.
I gotta say to Trump.
He has the Republican Party in the palm of his hand, Rush.
Because either way, like them or dislike them, you give him the Republican Party no choice.
I want to be the nominee.
If I'm not the nominee, I'm gonna be a nominee of another party.
So they have no choice.
If they pick any of the other candidates, you know for a fact more likely he's gonna be a nominee for another party.
You don't wait.
You don't think Trump's gonna be hurt even among his supporters by refusing to take that pledge.
Uh I don't think he's gonna get hurt.
I'm just saying in case he's not the nominee.
I feel if you he said last night he wanted to be the nominee.
No question about it.
He was other words, telling most people out there m doesn't matter, you like me or dislike me.
I'm gonna be the nominee one way or another.
Let me ask you this quick question.
Yeah.
In about a minute.
When you when you heard that question being asked, what was your reaction?
I thought he was not gonna say anything.
I thought he was gonna just keep quiet and then.
No, no, no, no.
What I'm No, I mean you you did you weren't bothered by the question.
That was a good question, bad question.
No, it didn't bother me at all.
Because I'm going to support him matter what.
I'm an independent, Rush.
I'm not a Republican or Democrat.
I understand that.
I that doesn't matter.
That's not relevant to the question.
I'm not asking you as a Republican or a conservative, you know, I think you should be, but you want to be who yours fine and dandy.
Yes.
I'm just thinking, I'm telling when I heard that question, I said to myself, I I said, this isn't something's wrong here.
I didn't know what this I don't feel right about this.
There's this is this is to me that opening question put that thing off on a on a bad footing, and I couldn't put my finger on it at the time.
Why I just something about it.
Doug, hang on a bit.
I'm gonna hold you over here through the break since I have interrupted some of your time, so don't go away.
That's right, my friends.
It's open line Friday where callers are granted more time to speak than candidates on the Fox News debate last night.
Okay, the official number is in on the size of the audience.
Twenty-four million people watch the Fox News debate.
I don't care what debate you want to go back to in a primary debate, there's nothing that gets close to this.
Twenty-four the overnight was ten million, but then they start the overnight's just a few metered markets, and then they try to make a projection from that, and then later in the day, which is now, they actually do the Nielsen people do what they do to come up with the actual number.
And since everybody accepts it, uh whatever they say it is, it's what it is.
Twenty-four million people watched the debate last night.
Some of you you're gonna think, oh my God, what an opportunity blown.
Others of you are gonna think, oh man, oh man, that many people saw it cool.
We'll find out.
Back now to Doug in Stanford.
The only thing I want in Connecticut, the only thing I wanted to impress him when I set him up.
When I said what's that what no, when I saw that first question, I hate these raise your hand things.
Yeah.
You know, I I I just uh they worry me.
This this and so Trump refuses to take the pledge.
And your point about leverage is right on the money because what Trump is saying, hey, look, I why should I pledge to these if they're gonna be mean to me, they're gonna criticize, they're gonna try to run me out of race.
Why should I promise loyalty to them when they're not gonna extend the same thing to me?
That's his point.
You agree with that?
Yes, I do.
I agree with it.
But I think they also were trying to set them up, and I think that second question from Megan Kelly, I thought was terrible on her behalf.
You don't start a debate off asking a question like that.
I thought it should be more professional as her job.
I like Fox News, but I mean, something like that really bothered me.
I thought they were fair and balanced.
I guess they're not.
I mean, they didn't ask the other candidates those kind of questions or those personal type of questions.
Yeah, but they've done it enough to Republican candidates that our guys have to know.
It's no excuse.
You can sit there and say, and a lot of people are, that it was cheap, that it was unprofessional, that it was personal, or whatever.
But but look, I wish it weren't the way it is.
But we just have to deal with certain realities until we change them.
And one of the realities is that Republicans are a bunch of things to media people.
They are objects to humiliate.
They are opportunities to notch your belt, they are uh uh a chance to uh belittle and uh demand that a Republican justify his or her existence and life uh and what have you.
And people entering the what, you're sternly raising your hand, you uh when I'm not legitimizing it.
I'm uh this is tough.
I I just think crying about the refs isn't gonna get you anywhere, and Trump's not doing it.
Trump's a lot of people are a lot of his supporters, are livid, totally understand.
Trump's not crying about the refs.
What he's saying is, I'm not gonna remember saying all that stuff.
But he didn't feel confident enough last night to say that.
You know, that's it's uh folks.
One thing you don't know, most people don't, it's not a criticism.
When I was talking earlier about one of the many reasons I don't like TV is that no matter whatever happened on a TV show am I when I left it, a bunch of you know what you should have said.
I just got tired of it.
Or even doing a TV interview.
You know, you go up beyond Meet the Press, I don't care whatever show it is.
Invariably, you know what you should have said when she asked you did you not hear what I said, yeah, but you know what?
You should add it to it.
Okay, okay, fine.
Just it it got to the point of being very frustrating.
I think uh the the being in the pressure the moment, spotlight on you uh and all that, it takes it's a rare person that can shed total self-consciousness and be completely relaxed and free of tension.
And it's only when you're in that state that your brain is working 100%.
If you are the slightest bit self-conscious, how you tie looks, how you look, am I smiling?
If you're thinking about stuff like that and a question like that comes at you, and it's really hard.
Most people are narcissists, most people are self-focused, most people care about themselves, and most people think everybody else is looking at them, and most people think everybody else cares about them.
Most people think everybody else is judging them.
It's really hard to step outside yourself.
To me, that is the great talent actors have.
Now, what was your question?
Do Mr. Sturdle is asked if uh front-running candidate, if I'm if in my uh esteemed opinion, if a front runner candidate would be hurt by simply saying, you know what?
I'm not debating.
The way these things are shaping out and shaping up, I'm not showing up.
Yeah, it wouldn't help.
And it would hurt.
I think it would hurt.
Simply because the cat calls immediately what are you afraid of?
What are you afraid of for what are you afraid of?
You can't how in the world can you be expected to face the Ayetola hominy if you're afraid to face the media and your opponents?
Stuff like that.
There'd be a no-win.
No win.
Unless, I don't know.
I mean, if you had the kind of popularity that we can't even imagine.
Yeah, but he went over the media's head, but he didn't avoid the media in doing it.
He had the ability with the media in the room to go over their head.
I mean, he's a press conference, he's able to go over their head.
He's able to escape their questions, ignore their questions, look in the camera, and speak right to the American people.
He didn't avoid the media to get to the American.
That's the trick.
Um anyway, uh want to get some more calls in here.
We'll go back to uh Owings Mills, Maryland.
This is William.
Great to have you on the program, sir.
Hello.
Yes, how are you doing, Russ?
Very well, sir.
Thank you.
Oh, Russ.
Listen, I'm an African American.
And brother, I want to let you know, even if I don't get to my point, I want to tell you this.
I love your heart.
I have been with you.
Talking to you like something myself.
I have been with you almost since you started.
You saved the country.
You saved the radio industry.
If what Obama is trying to do now, Rush, had you come in as a left winger, you could have helped the Democrats turn this country upside down.
And I want to thank you.
You are virtuoso and a divine spark, and I've been playing for this.
No, I'm gonna get to my point.
What those questioners laid on those pre-presidential contenders last night was the right thing to do.
That was opposition research.
Those they are gonna the other side is gonna come at those highly qualified contenders, presidential contenders, with the same kind of information.
The same thing.
And they have to be prepared.
And so I have no problem with the way and which they were being questioned, because they need to be hit and hit hard because you can bet that those Clinton people, uh I'm saying the Clintons and the Democrats are not going to take any pity on those people.
William, I'm not sucking up when I hear exactly right.
That has been you've said it better than I said it when I when I was saying they have to be ready for this.
This is what being a Republican candidate means.
I think why people are upset is because they don't expect this from Fox News.
Fox News, in their mind is the lone outpost where all that can be avoided, and these guys can actually be put on display for the greatness and goodness that they are, and that's why there is so much anger at Fox News today.
Yes.
And they were so beautiful.
I I this just one thing I'm gonna close out here, Rush.
I followed Donald Trump for a long time, okay?
Mm-hmm.
I have to walk away from him, Rush.
I have to walk away from Donald.
Rush, he said last night, he said he turned against abortion when somebody else's child was born and grew up.
But he didn't have that divine spark when his own children were born, Rush.
This man has $10 billion.
He knows what this healthcare nonsense is gonna do to this country, but yet he supported it, Rush.
He Donald supported it, and I'm gonna close it this rush with all of my heart before I thought I hear about all of this conspiracy stuff.
I said somebody put Donald Trump up to this to pretend that he is a conservative and then back out of this situation and run against the Republicans as an independent rush.
His issue is not with the Republican Party.
He has ten billion dollars.
He is supposed to be looking out for us and our interest, not running as an independent rush to hurt us.
He's looking out for us.
Damn the Republican Party.
You can exp I'm gonna get off the line and you can explain what I have just explained to you.
He said had a road to Damascus to become a Republican.
God bless you, and I love your heart, Rush, okay?
All right, thank you, William, very much.
I appreciate that from the bottom of my heart.
I really do.
That's Williams in Owings Mills, Maryland.
Um it's an interesting observation about Trump and abortion and Trump and Obamacare.
And if you I don't know if you can all understand everything he was saying, he was going over pretty quickly.
Let me take a break here.
I'll come back and say what I what what I think thrust of his comments is essentially saying he didn't believe.
He thinks Trump is a little disingenuous.
I mean, even before we get to the conspiracy theory that Trump is there, and he's not the only one that thinks this, by the way, that Trump is there to elect Hillary.
Take a break and be back after this.
Don't go away.
Stop and think about this uh here, folks.
Twenty-four million people watched that debate last night, and that shatters all records.
What does that tell you?
That has to mean something.
There is a reason for this.
And you know what it tells me?
It tells me that there is an overwhelming thirst for change from the status quo in this country.
And last night was the first chance.
Americans all across the country had to tune in and find out what people would say they would do differently.
I think it's profound.
I think we've been sold one of the biggest bill of goods by public polling and everything by telling us that there's not that much disapproval with what's been going on.
I think it is huge.
I think the number of people in this country are just beside themselves with fright, with panic, with fear, and including fear to say anything about it.
Because of what they see happens to people who do.
A little pizza shop in Indiana, a bakery in Denver and in Seattle, a photography studio In San Diego.
People are not blind.
They see what happens to people that speak out.
And so I think there's a whole bunch of don't tell pollsters the truth.
And they don't tell too many people outside their own homes what they really think.
Twenty-four million people.
Do you know what?
We're running some numbers here.
This may be the biggest cable TV audience for a non-sports event that there's been.
We're checking that.
We're looking into that.
We're trying to find out if that's true.
Non-sport cable telecast.
But 24 million people.
That's unheard of.
In August.
In the middle of summertime, I know that vacation time is down, the economy being what it, but still.
I just, I think there is more evidence to support this.
The 2010 and the 2014 midterm elections.
And you add to that the fact that the winners of those elections have not done what was hoped and expected that they would do, and I think you have a tremendous amount of frustration and fear and anger.
Cross-section of emotions.
Twenty-four million people.
That's not because there's nothing else on.
That's not because there's boredom elsewhere.
That's not because movies are too expensive.
It's not because gasoline's too expensive.
It's not because there's nothing but reruns on it at the neighborhood cinema.
I mean, the Democrats might try to spin this any which way they can.
They've never had anywhere close to numbers like this for debate.
So our previous caller from Owings Mills, Maryland.
One of the points that he made was Trump explaining how he converted to abortion.
What Trump said was he knew a couple that were seriously considering aborting their child, but didn't.
And the child later grew up to be a superstar.
Now, our caller said that he didn't understand why Trump couldn't have that revelation when one of his own kids was born.
Well, it could be, and I'm not trying to say this is an apologist for Trump.
It could be that Trump never thought of aborting his own kids, and therefore never thought about what would have happened if he had done so when he saw somebody else's kid.
But I still understand the criticism.
The birth of any child, whether it's grows up to be a superstar or not, I can understand our caller thinking that that was a manufactured answer.
As an excuse.
Because here he is running in the Republican primary and has been pro-choice in the past.
What made him become pro-life?
Okay, I need an answer.
That's what I'm going to go with.
That's what our caller thought was happening.
On the tough questions business, he's right about the fact that these guys, as they go on, and particularly as we get a nominee, they're going to get all of this and more when George Stephanopoulos has his chance.
The next debate is CNN debate at the Reagan Library.
I know it's library.
I say library for people who are real into.
Moderated by Jake Tapper.
I think he's the host.
It's September 16th.
They're going to get these questions at some point.
They're going to get the allegations from some point.
The Oppo research is going to be what it is, and that's why our caller thought I'm not going to have a problem with this because these guys have to face this down the road anyway.
I think what troubles people about last night, and I'm guessing based on feedback that I've had and that I've seen.
My impression is that a lot of you do not think the Fox moderators were trying to toughen our people up last night.
You don't think they were asking those questions because they wanted our guys to get toned and ready and prepped.
You think they were trying to make themselves look good.
That's what I'm picking up.
Asking questions to impress the New York Times or CNN or two.
Demonstrate that they, these moderates, Fox News may be concerned, but we're not.
Don't tag us with that.
That's what I pick up on.
As people expressing their anger about questions last night.
Be back.
Don't go.
Don't know where the time goes.
Fastest, fastest three hours of media, fastest week.
Second hour down, one hour left.
Hang tight.
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