{"id":12452,"date":"2013-05-10T16:32:25","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T16:32:25","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2013-05-10T16:32:25","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T16:32:25","slug":"benghazi_story_escapes_conservative_media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2013\/05\/10\/benghazi_story_escapes_conservative_media\/","title":{"rendered":"Benghazi Story Escapes Conservative Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

RUSH: So it\u2019s all over the place now that the White House lied about the Benghazi talking points. Ladies and gentlemen, the Benghazi story has now escaped conservative media, and it\u2019s all over everywhere now. I shouldn\u2019t say all over. It\u2019s out there. It is everywhere. <\/p>\n

Greetings, folks, it\u2019s Friday, and you know what that means. <\/line>JOHNNY DONOVAN: And now, from sunny South Florida, it\u2019s Open Line Friday!<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, yesterday when we opened the program, I honestly said there wasn\u2019t much going on. And there wasn\u2019t. The big news yesterday was Jodi Arias and the Cleveland Castro story.<\/a> But today it\u2019s Benghazi and the IRS. <\/p>\n

And it\u2019s also Open Line Friday. Great to have you. Rush Limbaugh at 800-282-2882. Now, remember the Open Line Friday rules differ from Monday through Thursday in that Monday through Thursday, when you get on the program, you have to talk about things I am interested in. Can we get rid of the music? Why is this continuing to go — okay. Now, the rules on Friday are that after — or whenever you — whenever we go to the phones, you can talk about whatever you want to talk about. You can ask questions, you can make comments. I don\u2019t have to care about it. We really — it\u2019s an attempt to turn the content of the program over to you when we go to the phones. So again, the telephone number is 800-282-2882, and the e-mail address,<\/p>\n

ElRushbo@eibnet.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n

So where to begin with this. I guess the buzz today about Benghazi is over a report by Jonathan Karl. But the actual beginning of this, if it weren\u2019t for Stephen Hayes at the Weekly Standard writing the story in a way that for some reason was attractive to Jonathan Karl of ABC, it might not have escaped conservative media. For example, I just got a note from somebody who said that Scarborough, who is increasingly difficult to decipher, Joe Scarborough at MSNBC this morning said that we\u2019d have been much further along in the Benghazi story if right-wing media hadn\u2019t overplayed it. <\/p>\n

Now, as often happens with Scarborough, he has inadvertently swerved into a decent point — 50%. It is true. I don\u2019t think it is deniable, whenever we, I, conservative media, are really interested in something, the mainstream media purposely avoid it. They mock us for being interested. But they use, almost as a guidepost, anything that\u2019s happening in the country — I don\u2019t care, could be news, cultural, social, political, whatever it is that we are interested in, focused on, trying to call your attention to — they purposely avoid it because we\u2019re pushing it. They have been, I think, moved into the area of journalistic malpractice.<\/line><\/p>\n

My friend Andy McCarthy asked a question today in a post at National Review. Does the White House press corps have any self-respect left? Sometime during the administration of Bill Clinton, these journalists went from seeing their job as watchdog keeping Democrat government honest to admiring raconteurs of how artfully they were lied to. Remember that? He\u2019s right about that. They marveled at how well Clinton lied. They appreciated it, they studied it, and they learned it. And, they put it into practice. One of the reasons I\u2019m convinced the Monica Lewinsky story was spiked was because they knew we\u2019d run with it, and then when Drudge did finally run it, look how long it took them. They were dragged kicking and screaming to the Lewinsky story, and they\u2019ve been dragged kicking and screaming into the Benghazi story. <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, the difference where Scarborough\u2019s wrong is, had we not made a big deal out of Benghazi, it would have been forgotten. They would have buried it. So the idea that we woulda gotten to the Benghazi story a lot sooner if “right-wing media” hadn\u2019t overplayed their hands is literally nuts. It\u2019s crazy. One thing I want to add at the top in beginning this discussion today and letting you know where it is, the focus still remains on Hillary Clinton, as it should. But, folks, I\u2019m telling you the real focus of this is Barack Obama. And it\u2019s gonna end up being Barack Obama. <\/p>\n

This is not to excuse Hillary, and it\u2019s not to lessen her involvement, and it\u2019s not in any way to suggest that her involvement is insignificant, by no means. But Obama should not get a pass on this. Where he was during this event is the fundamental question. And at some point that question also is going to be asked. Right now the focus is on Hillary and the 12 rewrites of the talking points, 12 rewrites of the regime talking points that were used by Susan Rice and others explaining what happened, the video as an excuse and all that. The focus right now is the State Department, but at some point this is going to build, and it\u2019s going to expand because it must, if they stick with this, this actually becomes something they stick with. <\/p>\n

At some point they\u2019re gonna have to get to Obama and what he was doing and where he was because he\u2019s the only guy that could issue the stand-down order. He\u2019s the president. He\u2019s the only guy that can order military action or no military action. So he\u2019s not gonna get a pass. Certainly not here at the EIB Network. <\/p>\n

Now, Stephen Hayes at the Weekly Standard a week ago essentially had the story, the essence of this news about the talking points being rewritten a grand total of 12 times so as to be flavored and shaped and formed to be the least damaging to the administration. And we must remember that the talking points, the fraudulent talking points were the basis for the appearance on the Sunday talk shows by Obama\u2019s ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice. She pretended, on behalf of Obama, not Hillary, she pretended on behalf of Obama that this was nothing more than a spontaneous ad hoc protest provoked by some scoundrel Islamophobe who made a video that nobody at the time had seen. The administration knew, they knew from intelligence that was supplied from the compound throughout the siege. We\u2019ve been through this. <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

You know all of this. But this is just now, the fascinating thing, everything I\u2019m telling you, you know. You\u2019ve known this for months. You\u2019ve known this since before the election. The Drive-By Media is just getting to this, just now. You know that Susan Rice was lying. You know that she was lying on behalf of Obama. You know that they made up this business about the video. You know that the administration knew the night of the attack what was going on. The State Department knew at the time of the attack it was Al-Qaeda. The White House knew at the time of the attack it was Al-Qaeda. That\u2019s what\u2019s been so maddening about this, everybody knew. Dare I say the mainstream media knew. But the White House line was it was a video, so they parroted that knowing full well what really happened. <\/p>\n

Jonathan Karl, ABC News, now reports that talking points went through 12 different rewrites, and something very key was eliminated, and that was all references to Ansar al-Sharia, the al-Qaeda-related group that did the terrorism. Ansar al-Sharia is the local al-Qaeda group that orchestrated the entire Benghazi operation. Jay Carney lied. The rewrites, these talking points were subjected blatantly. They blatantly contradict what Carney was saying. This is a remarkable development to happen here, and it does illustrate the importance and the relevance of the media. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s like I said yesterday (I might even been talking about Benghazi), “Nothing\u2019s gonna happen here, folks, \u2019til the media gets on it. Nothing is gonna happen.” I remember telling you yesterday that nothing is gonna happen. Well, overnight something happened. Let\u2019s let you hear it. Let\u2019s go to the audio sound bites. We\u2019ve got two bites here from Jonathan Karl. You might say that this is the smoking gun.<\/p>\n

This is Good Morning America today. Jonathan Karl is the chief White House correspondent for ABC News. We don\u2019t know for how much longer, but he had a report this morning on GMA. We have two sound bites 26.<\/p>\n

Here it is…<\/p>\n