{"id":214450,"date":"2016-09-20T17:15:51","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T21:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/172.24.32.11\/daily\/2016\/09\/20\/bolton_reacts_to_our_pence_interview\/"},"modified":"2016-09-20T17:15:51","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T21:15:51","slug":"bolton_reacts_to_our_pence_interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/20\/bolton_reacts_to_our_pence_interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Bolton Reacts to Our Pence Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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RUSH: Earlier today. Fox has this show that airs opposite my show.  It\u2019s on at noon.  It\u2019s called Outnumbered, and they have four of their female anchors and infobabes there, and there\u2019s one guy who is the guest, and he is the “outnumbered,” and the hashtag on Twitter for that is #OneLuckyGuy \u2019cause he\u2019s sitting there with four Fox babes.  Today was John Bolton who was the #OneLuckyGuy “outnumbered” by the four Fox females, and they had a discussion about the interview that we did with Mike Pence yesterday right here at the EIB Network<\/a>. <\/p>\n

During that interview with Pence, Pence referenced the fact that the White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that the United States is in “a narrative fight” with ISIS<\/a>.  Now, folks, look. I don\u2019t want anybody take this the wrong way.  This is one of the reasons why there aren\u2019t very many guests on this program, and over the course of the years I\u2019ve explained to you why it\u2019s primarily career and professional and business reasons.  There are others, but those are primarily why. One of the biggest reasons is I have to ask people questions that I already know the answers to. <\/p>\n

So why am I having a guest here if I already know the answer to the question I\u2019m asking?  Well, when the vice presidential nominee, when the campaign says, “We\u2019ve got 10 minutes. Can you squeeze us in?” I say, “Sure.”  When the vice president or president, Cheney or Bush, call and say, “Can you speak to me?” Yeah, obviously.  But this is why I don\u2019t do guests is \u2019cause I… Well, I don\u2019t want to offend anybody here, but I generally know the answer to every question I\u2019m asking.<\/line><\/p>\n

Which makes me sit here and say, “Why am I asking this question?  I already know the answer, so why do I have to pretend I don\u2019t?”  Well, that is what happened here.  Pence started talking about Earnest\u2019s comment about the fact that we\u2019re in “a narrative fight” with ISIS. So I said to Pence, “What is that?  What is that?”  Even though I know what it is, I had to ask the question, because Pence was here to explain it.  They played that sound bite; then they had Bolton respond to it.  So here\u2019s the first half of what happened, sound bite 33…<\/p>\n

BEGIN EXCERPT<\/p>\n

PENCE: Well, I\u2019m not sure that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama know that we\u2019re at war. The White House spokesman today actually said that we were in a quote, “narrative fight,” in a “narrative battle.”<\/p>\n

<\/a>RUSH: What is that? What is that!<\/p>\n

PENCE: I don\u2019t even know what that is! To be honest with you, I was just mystified by it.  … I really don\u2019t understand what a “narrative fight” or a “narrative battle” is. I mean, we need new leadership in this country that will name our enemy.<\/p>\n

END EXCERPT<\/p>\n

RUSH:  I know what “a narrative fight” is.  I knew what Earnest meant.  These are a bunch of academic theoreticians in the White House! You know, ISIS to them is… They\u2019re playing chess or they\u2019re playing Risk or Monopoly, whatever, and these are just pieces on the board and they construct academic, very deep intellectual exercises to explain what these barbarians are doing, and they discuss it in terms of buzz and PR. <\/p>\n

Okay, so ISIS is out there doing what they\u2019re doing, but they\u2019ve got a “narrative” associated with it that they\u2019re good people, that they\u2019re helping out, that they\u2019re righting wrongs.  So we have to have a counter-narrative that they\u2019re the bad guys; we\u2019re the good guys.  So everything is looked at in a “narrative battle,” who can win the media coverage — and, of course, that\u2019s irrelevant.  We\u2019re not looking at winning media coverage!<\/p>\n

We\u2019re looking at winning a very real war against these people.  But the Obama administration is not focused on that at all.  So when Earnest goes out there and I think drops the ball and admits they\u2019re in a “narrative fight,” he\u2019s admitting the way they look at this: That ISIS is just one of the many issues in the world that we have to deal with here and we\u2019re in a battle with them over who can win the hearts and minds of the people. <\/p>\n

In other words, they\u2019re legitimate!  We\u2019re gonna legitimize them by acknowledging they have a narrative, and we are trying to go to out-narrative their narrative.  We\u2019re trying to trump their narrative. Well, they wouldn\u2019t say that, but… So that\u2019s how I would have explained if somebody asked me, “What is this ‘narrative battle\u2019?”  Now, here\u2019s Bolton.  Sandra Smith, one of the Fox infobabes, starts the bite by talking to Bolton about what this all means…<\/p>\n

SMITH:  You heard the voice of Rush Limbaugh challenging that notion of a war of narratives.  Is this a misguided White House, Ambassador?<\/p>\n

BOLTON:  It\u2019s a dream world.  Look, academics call this “semiotics.”<\/p>\n

FAULKNER: Mmm.<\/p>\n

BOLTON: It\u2019s the science of signals and symbols, and that\u2019s what they do at the White House.  They maneuver words around and talk in narratives.  You know what ISIS does for semiotic warfare?  They cut people\u2019s heads off.  And you know what they respect?  They respect force —<\/p>\n

FAULKNER: Mmmm!<\/p>\n

BOLTON: — which they\u2019re seeing in inadequate amounts from the United States at this point.  So we can either have a real war against terrorism and try and defeat these barbarians, or we can engage in more semiotics.<\/p>\n

RUSH:  And again, “semiotics” is just a war of handlers and PR and buzz. Who can create the winning narrative, and for who?  Well, in terms of the Regime, they would like to create a narrative that has everybody in the media agreeing that we\u2019re beating ISIS. So what did Obama say at the UN today?  Essentially that. The world\u2019s never been safer, America never been safer, we\u2019re beating these people back.  In the midst of all these attacks, that\u2019s what they do.  No, it\u2019s Wag the Dog.<\/p>\n

Remember that movie, Wag the Dog? Did you see that? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s exactly what this is.  Wag the Dog! There was no war, and yet the news coverage was of a war every day that the people provided phony footage of it.  It captivated… It was a movie, but it demonstrated what a “war of narratives” actually is. But the takeaway from it, the bottom line that Bolton is saying here, is that the Regime is not even taking ISIS seriously for what it is.  The way they look at it, ISIS is a challenge to the legacy of Obama. <\/p>\n

So what can they do to limit the success of ISIS up and against Obama\u2019s legacy, his reputation.  And, of course, taking them out and destroying them with real substantive military tactics? “No, no, no, no.  We\u2019ve gotta come up with a better narrative.”  And this is… Folks, it\u2019s another way of expressing the total frustration with what we\u2019ve had here.  We don\u2019t have people from the real world anywhere in the Obama cabinet.  We got theoreticians. We have academicians. We\u2019ve got people who hung around the faculty lounge their entire lives. <\/p>\n