{"id":11727,"date":"2013-08-07T16:30:10","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T16:30:10","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2013-08-07T16:30:10","modified_gmt":"2013-08-07T16:30:10","slug":"the_presidency_and_the_country_were_diminished_by_obama_s_leno_appearance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2013\/08\/07\/the_presidency_and_the_country_were_diminished_by_obama_s_leno_appearance\/","title":{"rendered":"The Presidency and the Country were Diminished by Obama\u2019s Leno Appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Everybody\u2019s talking about — well, not everybody. The chairman of the RNC wrote letters to CNN and NBC, “You guys, we\u2019re not gonna show up at your debates anymore if you do these miniseries on Hillary.” I think you ought to send the letter, just take out the part about the miniseries on Hillary. “We\u2019re not gonna show up in your debates anymore.” They\u2019ll never do that, but that\u2019s what they should do. Anyway, the RNC is very much concerned about all these miniseries on Hillary. Last night, while everybody\u2019s worried about a miniseries on Hillary that hasn\u2019t happened, Obama showed up for, what, the sixth time on The Tonight Show. <\/p>\n

Last night, to show you how the country is changing in a very serious way, last night was the first time since this massive upgraded terror warning was put into effect on Sunday, this was the first time the president of the United States spoke to the American people about this. We closed 21 embassies in the Middle East on Sunday for a full week. The president of the United States of America, the world\u2019s lone superpower, the president, by reputation, by tradition, the leader of the free world — that\u2019s somewhat dubious now, but traditionally that\u2019s how our presidents have been referred to and thought of. The president of the United States went to a late-night comedy show for his first-ever statement about this increased terror threat. A late-night comedy show. <\/p>\n

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Now, nothing against late-night comedy shows, don\u2019t misunderstand. I mean, I\u2019ve had my own appearances and fun with Jay Leno. There\u2019s nothing wrong with late-night comedy shows, but this would not have happened with any prior president. Matters of such consequence, matters of such seriousness would have been dealt with in a far more serious and appropriate way and forum and time of day. And by virtue of appearing on a late-night comedy show, the president saw to it that these events — and it wasn\u2019t just the ramping up of the terror threat level or any of that. There were serious items on the agenda in our relationship with Russia, and all of it was treated as a joke. All of it was treated as unserious, halfhearted, nothing to really be concerned about. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a diminishing thing that happened last night. The presidency was diminished last night, the country, talk about being respected or loved by people around the world. This was a very small thing that happened last night. Made the country look small, made the presidency look small. No, I don\u2019t think JFK went on Jack Paar to talk about the Cuban missile crisis. I was just thinking about that, but I don\u2019t think JFK did that. That might be too old, long ago for some of you youngsters out there. Jack Paar was the original Johnny Carson. I don\u2019t think JFK went on the Jack Paar show to talk about the Cuban missile crisis. <\/p>\n

So the president goes to the Tonight Show to issue his first words on what is happening on so many fronts. Our microphones were there. You know, even with the president, when the president goes on a late night show, let me tell you what happens. Before you do one of these shows, you talk to a preproducer in advance of your appearance. And I\u2019m sure this happened with the president as well, probably more so than with most guests. Because the guest becomes part of the show. The guest is not just an empty vessel sitting there waiting to react. The show gives the guest a gig. When you\u2019re a guest on one of these shows you take a bit with you, whatever it is. You\u2019re not just there to be seen. You have a role to play, either making the host look better, feeding off of host, taking your own gig, taking over the show, whatever the guest wants to do. <\/p>\n

The preproducer gets hold of every guest, and they do the preinterview. They find out what you want to talk about, what you don\u2019t want to talk about. Sometimes they talk about what you don\u2019t want to talk about, but that\u2019s another matter. I guarantee you with the White House this happened. I guarantee you whoever The Tonight Show people talked to at the White House, there were ground rules. “You will not bring this up, Jay. You will not bring that up,” whatever it is. I\u2019m sure these kind of ground rules existed, because after all, this is the president of the United States, and he\u2019s not just gonna go somewhere and open himself up to anything on a late-night comedy show. He went there for a specific reason, to accomplish specific things. I don\u2019t know whether he thinks he did or not, but what he did was diminish the office of the presidency. He diminished the country. I just think it\u2019s a shame. <\/p>\n