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Feb. 4, 2016 - Rush Limbaugh Program
30:48
February 4, 2016, Thursday, Hour #3
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Time Text
No, I'm not going.
Strangely, folks, I was just asked by a member of the staff if I'm going to the Super Bowl.
Of course I'm going to be asked after I tell people nobody's asking me.
No, I'm not going.
We're back, folks.
It's great to have you here, Rushlin Barr and the Excellence and Broadcasting Network.
Talent on loan from God.
800-282-2882 and the email address, if you want to send an email, is L Rushbo at EIB net com.
USA Today.
This is a story by Dylan Gwynn, and I'm assuming that it's a column as opposed to a straight-out news story, although who can tell anymore.
Starts this way, because the rest of the world might not yet be completely convinced that the wussification of America has succeeded, USA Today unleashed a torrent of literary lameness by posing the question is watching the Super Bowl immoral.
There is mounting evidence and public awareness that playing football is bad for your brain.
And now to dramatize these statistics and grim anecdotes about ex-players succumbing to dementia and early deaths, we have concussion.
Major Hollywood movie starring Will Smith.
By the way, do you people realize where that movie ended up?
I mean, I was never higher than fourth place.
Last I saw, and I don't think the NFL did that much to try to kill it.
Yes, I know I'm missing a chance to see Lady Gaga sing the national anthem alive.
And I'm missing a chance to see Coldplay at uh at halftime.
But we all have to make sacrifices.
Anyway, it should be noted that this movie was a complete flop at the box office.
It's also worth noting that Dr. Julian Bales, the mentor of Dr. Bennett O'Malu, portrayed by Will Smith in the movie, and the co-discoverer of CTE completely disagrees with Amalo in terms of how CTE affects young people.
Anyway, this is not the still let me see if I can find the actual story that I had saved.
That's somebody's commentary on it.
Here it is.
Is it immoral to watch the Super Bowl?
And here, a new survey released in the run-up to the Super Bowl this Sunday suggests, yes, that more Americans than ever before say they would not let their sons play football, yet football remains our favorite spectator sport.
It's not even close, by the way.
And there's nothing to indicate that it's about to change.
You know, TV ratings are through the roof for football.
Do you know why?
I mean, there's a sp there is a specific reason for this when matched against other things on television.
And it's not just the game.
The game is fun to watch, it's popular, and but there's a reason.
There's a singular reason, I think it's my opinion, about why my football ratings are through the roof and span demographics.
Despite all this talk of injuries, despite all the uh concussions and this kind of thing.
This this guy, USA Today actually does think it's immoral to watch the game now, particularly the Super Bowl.
The reason these ratings are through the roof is because it's one of the few places.
Football and pro football because it's the best.
College football does okay, but it's amateur football, and that's fine, but pro football is pro-football.
It's the best.
I mean, everybody in pro football is the fastest.
Everybody in pro football is really good.
There aren't any Appalachian states in the NFL, for example.
Not even the Cleveland Browns.
And it's simple.
It's one of the few places on TV.
And this includes news, by the way.
It's one of the few places on TV that you can watch where the outcome is not known.
Meaning there is full-fledged drama.
In police procedurals, I mean, you might like, like I know people that love the show elementary.
People uh love the show suits.
I mean, but you all, at the end, you know how it's gonna end.
They may take you through emotional ups and downs, and they may create a little doubt now and then.
But for the most part, everybody knows how.
Is gonna end.
Some weeks the perps going to get away with it, and other weeks the cops are gonna convict them.
But in the National Football League, you have no idea.
And when you have some games like we had in the playoffs this year, Steelers, Bengals, Packers, Cardinals, just adds to it when you have seemingly impossible deficits to overcome with 90 seconds left, and you have two hail merry 60 yard touchdown completions.
You add that to the drama that nobody knows who's gonna then you add the gambling that's going on, not just game, but the fantasy sports that's being played.
It's it's very understandable why football has such high ratings.
Now the critics are out there, oh, this is horrible because this game, it names its competitors.
And by the way, we're getting very close to this, and I want to remind you again, I predicted here's how this is gonna fall out in the coming years.
It's exactly how this is going to fall out.
Mark my words.
No matter how much the players earn, no matter how highly paid they are, no matter how big a star an individual player might be, what's going to be said is that these owners and the bloodthirsty fans will be thrown in on this, don't care.
They are willing to see these guys literally risk their lives.
And that's going to be the moral and emotional pitch.
Which is where this USA Today piece is starting from.
How dare you watch a game that produces concussions in so many people it leads to suicide?
But that's immoral.
How dare you?
How do you sleep at night knowing that you're helping perpetually?
This is the angle they're going to take.
And then it won't be long.
Somebody in the leftist community here is probably already figured it out.
78% of the players are African American.
And you add that to the fact that these people are risking their lives.
They, yes, they're being paid a lot of money, but they are risking their lives.
They're not just risking injury.
And you add to the fact most of the owners and the commissioner are white.
And it isn't going to be long before this whole thing is going to be portrayed as Christians to the Lions or some other thing with bloodthirsty fans not caring what happens.
And the excuse will be, hey, the players know what they're getting into, and hey, they're paid really well, so everybody back off.
They're cool with it.
But I know how this is going to happen.
The left doesn't let go of this stuff.
And everybody's, Russia'll never happen.
This is too big.
This is there's no way a bunch of activists are ever going to take down this sport.
There's too much money in it.
The people involved are not going to just roll over and let it happen.
And that's what every industry that has ever been attacked has always said.
We're too big to fail.
They can never succeed.
They'll never pull this off.
I give you big oil.
I give you big tobacco.
I give you big pharma.
I mean, they're consistently targeted.
Democrat Party enemies list and all that.
So you just the signs are all there.
And I'll tell you what's going to speed it up.
The unwitting sports drive-bys.
These unwitting sports media guys who are all liberal and have all this compassion and want to be thought of as sensitive and big heartedness.
They're already getting on board the premise that this is a dangerous game and it may need to be changed.
It's horrible.
They're all pushing this concussion stuff.
They can't help themselves.
They're liberals.
They all want the government to come in and take over regulating and controlling and all this stuff.
They just can't help themselves.
They're liberals.
So the very industry they derive their living from, they will unwittingly participate in discrediting, which is how it'll start, and then raising doubts about it.
What's going to people will eventually begin to feel guilty about watching football?
Long way down the road, but there are other things I can compare it to that they've succeeded in stigmatizing.
How about how many do you ever feel guilty that you may be using too much toilet paper, for example, after all this talk of the waste?
Or take a pick.
Anything that the left attacks that the society uses in excess.
You know, you hear it enough.
How about global warming?
It's July and it's 110.
Do you think, wow, man, we'd be right.
I mean, it just the subtleness, the psychology, it all at some point makes an impact on a certain number of people.
So we will just see.
Another timeout here, we'll come back and get started here with them.
Not teasing you, I just uh lots other things here.
In addition to campaign that I wanted to make sure I got to rather than just let this stack that I didn't get to keep accumulating each day.
Be back with Ted Cruz CNN and this whole business of Ben Carson and the phantom voters after this.
Okay, here we go.
This is Ted Cruz yesterday in New Hampshire.
He's got a press conference, and a reporter says, Senator, you condemned what your campaign did to Ben Carson just before the Iowa caucus.
Will you fire or suspend anyone from your campaign for putting out misinformation?
Our political team passed on a CNN news story that CNN broke.
The news story said that Ben Carson was not continuing from Iowa on to New Hampshire.
He was not continuing to South Carolina.
Instead, he was going home to Florida.
That was a news story CNN had had posted.
And our political team passed it on to our supporters.
That's true, but it doesn't go quite far enough.
CNN did post it.
And their reporter was some clown named Moody, well, reporter named Moody Jeff or Georgia.
Uh well, whatever.
But where did he get it?
See, this remains the area where people stop being interested.
But how did CNN get hold of it?
Maybe it was Greg Moody.
Just think Moody.
And you'll have the guy.
But he had to get it from Carson.
Had to get it from the Carson campaign.
How does that?
And Carson was not going to New Hampshire.
He was going home.
As he said later to get a change of clothes.
You've been on the road for three weeks.
They had to go home and give a change of clothes.
I've seen some snarky comments.
Hey, Dr. Carson, have you ever heard of the laundromat?
Have you ever heard of the dry cleaner?
Some people have been snarky about this.
What do you mean you've got to go home and change clothes?
But the point is, Cruz was right.
CNN posted it, and they had to get it from somewhere, and they got in the Carson camp.
So last night and during the day yesterday, CNN was not happy.
We have a montage.
They had to defend their reporting.
They had to savage Cruz as a liar for hours last night.
We have Anderson Cooper, Aaron Burnett, Dylan Byers, Brooke Baldwin, all talking about Cruz's campaign, telling voters that Carson was leaving the race.
Senator Cruz keeps saying that it all stemmed from a CNN report, which just is not factually correct.
He's saying that CNN reported that the campaign was being suspended, and that's not what was being reported.
Do you think, though, that it does raise a question of character and integrity, though, that is important for people to understand?
It's Ted Cruz's campaign, and everything that comes from it is a direct reflection on him, and he's blaming it on CNN's reporting.
Senator Cruz's claims about CNN are false.
Senator Cruz tries to throw my network CNN under the bus.
That accurate report was disseminated on television and CNN Digital, and that was that.
I'm going to call out BS if I hear B.S. And that was the uh lovely and gracious uh Brooke Baldwin there, uh, saying that she's gonna call out BS when she hears B.S. Well, go back up to 13.
What did Cruz say that has them all agitated?
Listen again.
Our political team passed on a CNN news story that CNN broke.
The news story said that Ben Carson was not continuing from Iowa on to New Hampshire.
He was not continuing to South Carolina.
Instead, he was going home to Florida.
That was a news story CNN had had posted.
And our political team passed it on to our supporters.
Canay, it's exactly what happened.
CNN posted it.
What did the the original tweet did not say that?
They're written, no, the screw the news story.
CNN put that tweet out there.
That's what Cruz is talking about.
Yet later on, after the uh proverbial excrement hit the fan, yeah, then everybody goes into CYA mode and seeing, hey, wait a minute, we reported he was going back in Carson, hey, wait a minute.
I said I was returning after I got a clean clothes change.
Hey.
All that's happening here is that there was a tweet.
And don't tell me tweets don't matter.
That's all anybody does anymore.
There's a tweet out there from a CNN guy, Chris Moody, that's his name, that Carson was leaving before the caucuses started.
Now, CNN can deny this left and right.
They can say, well, we didn't broadcast it.
Your reporter did.
Your reporter tweeted it.
It may not have been on a CNN site.
It may not have been part of a CNN newscast, but a CNN reporter put it out there.
That's what Cruz saw.
Anyway, you hear they are livid.
Last night, Anderson Cooper 360.
He's got Rick Tyler on from the Cruz campaign.
Isn't it totally disingenuous if you say the big announcement we're talking about is he's gonna speak at the prayer breakfast, and email is not Twitter.
You have more than 140 characters.
You could have just said Carson speaking at the prayer breakfast.
Instead, you leave it, this mysterious big announcement.
You cruise people.
You make it look like he's dropping out.
Didn't you do that on purpose?
You know what I'm amazed by, Anderson, is that the story here is Ben Carson, instead of going to New Hampshire or South Carolina, went to Florida and Washington, D.C. If Ted Cruz had decided to be a good idea.
I know we talked about it a little longer.
I agree.
Well, that would have been the story.
Right.
And everybody would have pointed it out, and it would have been the story.
But because somehow it's different.
But the story is also your candidate who's an evangelical who talks about the Bible and his belief in Christianity perhaps lied and was completely disingenuous.
There you go.
There you go.
See, his is holy roller.
He is running his campaign like a revival hour.
And he's a big Christian.
He went out there and lied.
And he's trying to blame it on us.
That's what that's what CNN.
He tried to blame it on us.
Ben Carson does it.
Ted Cruz points it out, and Cooper's, yeah, Ted Cruz who talks about the Bible, his belief in Christianity, perhaps lied and was completely disingenuous.
Did Ben Carson leave Iowa?
Did Ben Carson say he was going to leave Iowa?
Did Ben Carson say he wasn't going to New Hampshire and South Carolina?
Yeah, fine.
Did Ben Carson later say, yeah, I needed to go home and get a change of clothes?
Has anybody stepped forward, even now, and said, hey, you know what?
I intended to vote for Carson in the caucus, but I didn't when I saw what Cruz said that he left.
Has anybody come forward and said so?
Not that I've heard of it.
Does anybody think Ben Carson was cheated out of 25,000 votes and would have come in third place?
Breaking news, breaking news, bulletin, bulletin, bulletin.
The press is reporting Dr. Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week.
This is the email the Cruise camp sent out.
Dear, breaking news, breaking news.
The press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson.
Did I grab your attention there?
See, you thought.
See, this is how it's done.
You thought I had brand new breaking news, right?
This is what the Cruise team sent out.
Dear so-and-so.
Breaking news, the press is reporting Dr. Ben Carson's taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week.
Please inform any Carson Caucus scores of this news and urge them to caucus for Cruz.
Ha ha ha ha.
Oh, snerdily thinks it's a dirty trip.
You commend them for it, but it was a dirty tri Okay.
Cruz has apologized.
And it should have been the end of it.
Exactly right.
Should have been the end of it.
Let me ask you something.
If Cruz had fired somebody like we know Dr. Carson wanted to happen, would that have been the end of it?
Okay.
Do you think Ted Cruz should give up his votes in the caucus or maybe redo the whole thing because he cheated and played so bad dastardly a dirty trick.
Okay, you don't think that the Iowa call should be redone.
You think Ted Cruz should be sued for this dirty trick.
Even though he was born in Canada.
*laughter*
Anyway, there's um there's one more, but I've got to take another break here, folks.
But it's just a uh looks like uh couple of more here from CNN on this whole thing.
And then back to your phone calls.
It's uh open line Friday coming up finally tomorrow, right?
Got this big uh we got a Democrat is it a town hall or a debate tonight?
To debate tonight and a re with all the Democrats, right?
Two of 'em.
We'll be back.
Gail and Akron, I'm glad you waited.
Great to have you on the program.
Hi.
Oh, Rush.
Since your procedure a year and a half ago or so, I have to tell you it delights me to hear you sing from time to time.
Well, thank you.
Thank you.
You mean my my ear procedure.
Yeah, well, thank you so much.
And also, from time to time, a caller will say something that uh is very rare, and you give this low growl of a chuckle like they picked up on a subtle hint you're hoping.
Yes.
So the main reason for my call is that uh I don't know how the decision was made for Iowa to be first in the nation, but we are proud to abide by this decision and to serve our nation by narrowing the playing field so that New Hampshire can follow on our hills,
and um their votes are even more valuable because we narrow that playing field.
And by choosing the candidates, you know, I mean, Iowa is the breadbasket, the heart of the heartland, rural, agricultural, and then to follow that up with New Hampshire being in the midst of the political area of the nation, an urban area, the diversity of our lifestyles for Iowa to say this, and then New Hampshire to say something totally other.
You know, we're not insulted by the fact that we don't often choose the winning candidate.
Um and then we follow through with South Carolina and then Nevada and Super Tuesday.
That's the whole meaning of the process is to get the diversity of the different lifestyles from around the nation and narrow that playing field.
So you're proud to be first, you're proud to be in Iowa and begins the winnowing process.
Yes, but it's very crucial that it is followed by New Hampshire.
And the one thing about both Iowa and New Hampshire is that we are not swayed by the polls and by the media.
We make our own decisions.
Well, that's obviously very true.
That's that's clear because the polling data going into the Iowa caucus had Trump up by four.
And uh that was not the case.
So, yeah, I uh I uh understand what you're saying.
I appreciate the call, Gail very very much.
That's true.
It's Iowa, New Hampshire, and then South Carolina and Nevada, and then Super Tuesday.
That's exactly right.
She's exactly right.
That's how it happens.
It's all very important.
Brian in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Hi, great to have you on the program.
Thank you, Russ.
Uh long time listener.
Keep pounding dittoes.
Thank you, sir.
My burning question is: who do you like in the Super Bowl?
Big Panthers fan here.
Big Who fan?
You're a Panthers fan.
You know, you're the first person to ask me.
That's what I wanted to be, the first one.
You're the first person my gut answer is going to be a Panthers blowout.
That'd be nice.
I'd like to see that.
And the only thing is when the Panthers do begin to blow people out, they usually coast after that.
Like they they blew out Seattle in the first half, and Seattle came back in the second half.
They didn't score a point in the second half.
And I know it bothered a coach.
I I just that the Denver defense is going to be really crucial in Denver staying in this game, in my point, in my opinion.
If the Denver defense cannot stop Cam Newton and that offense, I don't know how Denver wins.
Well, I'm hoping for the blowout, but you're right.
We do have some issues when we we get the lead.
Why do you want a blowout?
I mean, that would I mean why?
Well, being a Panthers fan, you want to win.
Well, okay, I understand that.
I understand.
I was uh, you know, I was at the Super Bowl in 1988 that there has been a lot of reminiscing about.
The Super Bowl in 1988 was San Diego.
And it was the Washington Redskins versus the uh Denver Broncos, and it was a blowout.
It ended up being the Broncos are up 10-0, and the Redskins had the highest scoring second quarter in Super Bowl history.
They scored something like 35 points on 18 plays.
Doug Williams was the quarterback.
Timmy Smith.
Nobody had ever heard of Timmy Smith outside core fans of the Redskins.
He got the call on game day because George Rogers, number one running back, was injured and couldn't go.
So Joe Gibbs went to Doug Williams and said, I want you to tell.
And he called him Douglas, by the way.
Joe Gibbs called Doug Williams Douglas.
He said, Douglas, I want you to tell Timmy he's playing.
He'd probably get less nervous if he hears it from you.
So Doug goes and tells Timmy Smith that he's playing.
And Timmy Smith had a 200 and some odd yard game.
And that game was over at the end of the second quarter.
The number of points, the rapidity.
And I was sitting in one of the end zones with a friend from Sacramento for that game.
And it was a blowout.
It was one of two blowouts that the Broncos were in.
The other one was the 49ers, cream them 55 to 10.
I think in New Orleans, if I if I have that game right.
But this is the game where I'm sitting in an end zone.
It was the closed end zone at what was then called the Murph, Jack Murphy Stadium.
And Herb Alpert is playing the national anthem.
And they were coordinating a flyover of Navy jets from nearby Miramar that were going to fly over the stadium at the low altitude at full throttle, right as Herb Alpert ended the anthem.
Well, from our vantage point, we could see those Jets on what was akin to the downwind, or the base lag, then downwind turning on in final, and they were flying right towards us.
We could see the formation way out there, and it looked to me like they were not going to make it in time.
The anthem was going fast.
Albert was playing the Jets were still far up.
And in fact, Albert finished soon.
He had to hold that last note forever and ever on his trumpet.
Big flag out there waving the entire field, covering the entire field.
And I had, this was my first flyover flyby.
I had never seen one of these.
And these Jets Went over, and I had such a rush of patriotism.
I have never felt anything like it.
I just jumped.
I was screaming.
I started pounding my friend on his back like I couldn't believe I'm screaming.
It was the most incredible thing.
The timing of that anthem ending and those jets flying over, and they were low, and it was loud.
And I could hear back then.
It was what I heard was real sound.
And I was screaming, and I turned to my buddy long afterwards, said, How in the world can you ever see that and ever vote Democrat?
And these two people in front turned around and stared daggers at me.
It turns out they were from Washington.
And they were huge libs, and they were not happy.
And then the Broncos scored first, and it looked like they were gonna blow the Redskins out.
They they scored on an L-way bomb to somebody down in the end zone where we were.
And then that second quarter happened, and it was just the most amazing thing.
So for some reason they've been reliving that game.
Um because I guess some people say it's got some commonalities.
But man, I I if if if the Carolina offense shows up as it has in the playoffs, they're unstoppable.
And I don't know that the Denver offense can match them in a shootout.
So that's why the Denver defense is gonna have to keep Denver in a game.
Now I know that's true of any contest.
But it's become an offensive league and an offensive game.
That's what I mean.
It's gonna be a the the Denver defense is gonna have to have a super above average effort, in my humble opinion, to keep the Broncos in the game.
Stranger things have happened too, so we'll be back.
Don't go away, folks.
No, no, I've got nothing against Appalachian State, and I got nothing against Denver.
I I do not have a dog in this fight.
I really, it doesn't matter to me who wins.
Guy just asked me if I was gonna win my instincts are Carolina, and it's based on no study whatsoever.
Purely just reacting to things I've seen so far in the season.
Don in Chicago, great to have you.
You're last.
I'm glad that you waited, sir.
Hello.
Thank you, Rush.
You've been educating me since November of 1988, and I appreciate it.
Thank you, sir.
Really very much.
The reason the left hates NFL or football in general is because it represents Americana.
It represents tradition, it represents loyalty to country and the military.
It's the same reason they despise NASCAR, Indy.
I go to the Indy 500 every year, Rush, and like you just painted a perfect word picture from the Super Bowl.
My heart jumps when they march the military men down the straightaway.
Hundreds of them.
And then they open up that the largest American flag in the world on the first turn in the beautiful green grass.
My heart skips the beat.
And that's why they despise it right.
I have heard he's not the first to offer this opinion.
I have people that tell me they don't like football because it's rugged, it's self-reliance, even though it's teamwork, it's patriotic.
It's always got the anthem, a giant flag, the military is always there.
And I've kind of pooped that.
But I've a lot of people I've had tell me they think that's really what bugs the left about football.
It's just too celebratory or American.
Back in a sec, folks.
No, I don't think Trump has faded.
Why would you?
No way.
No, no, no way.
Wait, wait.
No.
You watch.
Not yet.
We'll be back tomorrow.
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