{"id":214591,"date":"2016-10-06T16:14:24","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T20:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/172.24.32.11\/daily\/2016\/10\/06\/the_politics_of_hurricane_coverage\/"},"modified":"2021-02-25T13:02:20","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T18:02:20","slug":"the_politics_of_hurricane_coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/10\/06\/the_politics_of_hurricane_coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"The Politics of Hurricane Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"
RUSH: Okay, testing, testing, one two. Okay, folks, we\u2019re in Los Angeles here as we have migrated. We have moved to the Left Coast in order to evacuate ground zero for Hurricane Matthew. And, as always happens, we gotta do some things live on the radio because what we do beforehand never holds. So this is called mix minus. You need to bring the audio up. Bring it up… There we go. Bring it up a little bit more. Bring it up just a little bit… You are not hearing the changes I\u2019m hearing. This is only how I hear things. If I don\u2019t hear myself, folks, it doesn\u2019t matter what you hear. Okay, that sounds good. As long as I\u2019m here, doesn\u2019t matter where “here” is. We have come to the Left Coast hopefully for just a couple of days.Great to have you here. Telephone number is 800-282-2882. The email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.us.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s amazing the number of people who have looked at the this hurricane and think that it\u2019s aimed right for where I live. And, of course, when these things happen… As I alluded to it yesterday, folks, I have become an amateur hurricane tracker. By no means do I suggest anything I say should be believed over the National Hurricane Center. I must… Actually I think you should, but I can\u2019t officially say that. I can\u2019t officially say it. I have been studying these things as long as I have lived in Florida because that\u2019s the first time they actually began to have any impact on me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the way things work for most. Growing up in Missouri, hurricanes happen, yeah. You watch \u2019em. But there\u2019s no personal attachment to it. But there has been since 1997, and so that\u2019s how long I\u2019ve been studying these things, and I\u2019ve comparing the data that I collect independently versus what the government puts out via the National Hurricane Center, and there are always variations. For example, I can give you some stats right now that are true. Hurricane Matthew just went through Nassau. How many of you have been to Nassau?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a beautiful place, don\u2019t misunderstand. But it\u2019s 150 years old. The buildings downtown are very old. Look, the maximum winds, according to people on the ground there that have been tweeting out — and, yes, people are still able to tweet out. They still got electricity. They still have the internet in Nassau despite this hurricane going through. Top winds, they said, were 85 miles an hour. Now, the forecast is for much higher than that. So somebody like me and those of us who live in Palm Beach, we look at that and we feel optimistic. We will feel hopeful.<\/p>\n

Now, we also look at models, the hurricane models that predict in advance the track the hurricane will take. They never agree. They\u2019re always all over the place. But as you get closer to ground zero, get closer to impact, they do get more accurate and they group together, and oftentimes the hurricane center will not follow what the model guidance is. So you say, “Okay, why?” I do. I ask, “Why do they not?” Well, let\u2019s look at what\u2019s happened here. Since — I don\u2019t know — the last 24 hours… If you live in Florida you know this.<\/p>\n

For the last 24 hours the reports have been, “Get the hell out. We have a storm that\u2019s gonna hit the central coast of Florida that has never hit the central coast of Florida before in terms of this strong and this powerful.” So the evacuation orders have been given. The local Drive-Bys are inciting all the panic. They\u2019re doing what they usually do. You can\u2019t go to Publix and find any bottled water, for example. It\u2019s been the case since yesterday. You see people in there staring at an empty shelf of water. You know, I didn\u2019t see it, \u2019cause I can\u2019t do these kind of things anymore.<\/p>\n

But I have spies who tell me these things. (chuckles) So maximum winds of 85 in Nassau yet we\u2019re told to suspect 160-mile-an-hour winds. Well, what if it\u2019s not gonna be as bad as they say? I don\u2019t expect them to change. If the tracks in the models take it further away — and I\u2019m talking about where I live. I mean, they can\u2019t accommodate the entire state. It\u2019s gonna hit somewhere, or it\u2019s gonna hit closest to somewhere in Florida. So given where we live, that\u2019s the focal point for us, obviously, being selfishness as we are, as anybody would be.<\/p>\n

You look for track information that might say, “Hey, you know what? It\u2019s not gonna get as close here as they think.” And you think you find it. Then you wait for it to be reflected, and it isn\u2019t. Well, here\u2019s one of the reasons why. The East Coast of this country… You\u2019d be amazed at the percentage of the population in this country that lives on the East Coast near the water. It would stun you. A lot of people live in Florida and a lot of people in Florida on the east coast. A lot of people, therefore, have been tuning in, and they have heard every warning, everything said.<\/p>\n

Well, if it\u2019s not gonna be that bad, you wouldn\u2019t expect the hurricane center to back off of it, because what if at the last moment it strengthens and they\u2019re wrong? So even if it might not be as bad as they forecast, they\u2019re not gonna say so. On the other hand, let\u2019s say that they did. Let\u2019s say that, in my case, the track… Let\u2019s say I want to see it move east, and let\u2019s say in the model runs I see it moving east, and I go, “Yay,” and then I look for the next hurricane forecast, and they\u2019re not moving it east.<\/p>\n

And I say, “Why not?” Then I stop and think. This where political comes into it. Okay, they\u2019ve already got everybody feverishly pitched. If they move it further away and it doesn\u2019t go further away, they are going to catch hell like they caught hell in Katrina. They didn\u2019t do anything wrong in Katrina. They had the proper warnings. It was just that people didn\u2019t hear them enough so the hurricane center got beat up after Katrina. That\u2019s really the demarcation point.<\/p>\n

Ever since Katrina, I think they do a risk assessment and figure it\u2019s much better to forecast really bad and be wrong — if it doesn\u2019t end up as bad, everybody\u2019s happy — than to forecast, “Hey, folks, it isn\u2019t gonna be that bad,” and it turns out to be bad. They\u2019re gonna be hated and despised and defunded and all that. It\u2019s a long way around saying that it\u2019s… We all look for hope. We all try to find scenarios where it won\u2019t be as bad, like I found the wind speeds in Nassau nowhere near where they were predicted to be. The damage in Nassau…<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been looking for reports of catastrophic damage, structural damage along the path of this hurricane. Can\u2019t find any. Doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not gonna happen in the future. Doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not gonna strengthen. So for us where we live, the worst point, according to forecasts, eight p.m. \u2019til two a.m. tonight. Now, they\u2019re focusing… Here\u2019s another anomaly. The hurricane center is telling us to look out for winds of 130 and gusting to 150 or higher. You get the National Weather Service forecast, and the maximum winds are 97 miles an hour.<\/p>\n

You say, “Yay! Okay, cool.” But then you wonder, “Who\u2019s right here? Are they talking to each other?” Who knows what some of the others do? Why…? So you start imagining all of this. Now, I know some of you hearing this saying, “What do you mean, politics?” Folks, I have been trying to convince everybody who listens where the government is concerned — and the hurricane center is part of the Commerce Department, and so is the National Weather Service. In fact, that\u2019s 80% of what the Commerce Department does is the weather.<\/p>\n

You know that every cabinet department in our government has been politicized. It\u2019s undeniable. But some people don\u2019t understand it. They don\u2019t get it. They don\u2019t think politically; therefore they don\u2019t see it. Let me give you an example of how this has been politicized. After Katrina, remember, Algore and all the global warming people? They were happy! They were beating their chests like Tarzan out there, and they were saying, “This is just the beginning! Because of climate change and because of global warming, we\u2019re gonna have hurricanes like this every year, many of them.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s going to be devastating! It\u2019s going to destroy coastlines. Miami will be destroyed!” All of that. And for the next 11 years, not a single hurricane. So global warming became “climate change.” There hasn\u2019t been a single hurricane that hit Florida, not a major one, in 11 years. Now this one comes along, and they\u2019re all excited! “We got crisis! We got doom and gloom, and we have our climate change issue.” And if you think that I\u2019m wrong, let me tell you what happened. I mentioned this to you yesterday.<\/p>\n

There was a rumor, a story about an MSNBC reporter turned out to be true.<\/p>\n