{"id":215175,"date":"2016-12-14T19:49:51","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T00:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/172.24.32.11\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/"},"modified":"2017-01-03T13:57:25","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T18:57:25","slug":"james_baker_on_rex_tillerson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/","title":{"rendered":"James Baker on Rex Tillerson"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: James Baker is, in the eyes of many — you would agree, Mr. Snerdley — Mr. Establishment.  I mean, there is no Republican equivalent of David Gergen in terms of defining conventional wisdom.  James Baker, he was in the Reagan administration, the Bush administration, he\u2019s a consultant for — He ran the recount for George W. Bush in Florida in 2000.  He is connected. <\/p>\n

He was on CBS This Morning.  He knows Tillerson.  Everybody in Texas who\u2019s anybody knows Tillerson.  And Tillerson knows anybody who\u2019s anybody in Texas.  And Baker lives in Texas.  Baker lives in Houston.  And they were talking about Tillerson being chosen secretary of state.  Charlie Rose — and James Baker, by the way, is a Republican that no media guy hates.  They envy, they admire, they all want to be James Baker.  So Charlie Rose would be talking to James Baker with lots of respect.  He said, “Are you worried, Mr. Baker, about the closeness that Tillerson has with Putin?”<\/line><\/p>\n

BAKER:  I\u2019m not worried about that, Charlie, because he was doing, in getting close to Vladimir Putin, he was doing what he should have done for the shareholders of ExxonMobil, and that is make good deals, good agreements with foreign powers.  Now he\u2019s gonna be sitting in the secretary of state\u2019s chair on the seventh floor of the State Department, and I guarantee you he\u2019s gonna have a different outlook.  He\u2019s gonna be looking at formulating and implementing American foreign policy on the basis of the principles and values of this country and in the national interests of this country.<\/p>\n

RUSH:  Baker, by the way, was secretary of state.  He was secretary of state for I believe — I know he was secretary of Treasury for Reagan.  He\u2019s done it all.  (imitating Baker) “So, you see, Tillerson is a great guy. He\u2019s gonna be able to take everything he\u2019s done in terms of doing deals at ExxonMobil, he\u2019s gonna now go to the seventh floor of the State Department, secretary of state\u2019s office, gonna be doing deals there. But the deals he\u2019s gonna be doing are gonna be for the United States.” <\/p>\n

<\/a>So fill-in co-host Alex Wagner, a female on CBS This Morning, same show as Charlie Rose, she then said, “You\u2019re a partner in a law firm that represents ExxonMobil and some of the Russian gas companies that do business with ExxonMobil.  So, Mr. Baker, do you have any experience working with Rex Tillerson?  Do you think that it at all complicates your support?”  In other words, she\u2019s saying, “Okay, look, you work with the guy.  Your law firm represents the guy.  How can we believe anything you say, Baker?”<\/p>\n

BAKER:  I\u2019ve never done anything for the company in which Rex was directly involved.  I know him.  He\u2019s a friend of mine.  I hunt elk with him, and I have great confidence in —<\/p>\n

RUSH:  Uh-oh.<\/p>\n

BAKER:  — his ability.  This story that somehow I was out there pushing Rex early on is not correct.  When the transition people for President-Elect Trump called me, I gave him really high marks.  That call came in Monday, day before yesterday.  So some of the reporting that you\u2019ve seen on that that somehow I was pushing him because of my firm\u2019s representation of ExxonMobil, that\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n

RUSH:  That\u2019s not true.  I don\u2019t know Rex that well.  I just go hunting elk with him. Oh, now they\u2019re gonna really hate Tillerson.  He kills animals with a gun.  He goes hunting.  Okay, here\u2019s the red flag, ladies and gentlemen. <\/p>\n

Same show CBS This Morning, Charlie Rose takes back over from Alex Wagner, who interrupted him, and Charlie says, “Some people looking at the future Trump administration believe there are too few people who have a strong view to protect the planet.” <\/p>\n

I\u2019m gonna have to figure out a way of dealing with this, because this really tries my patience.  Do you realize Charlie Rose is actually asking James Baker, there\u2019s a lot of people that Trump\u2019s getting here that don\u2019t care about the planet.  Have you ever heard anything more absurd?  This whole idea that Republicans don\u2019t mind pollution, they don\u2019t mind dirty water, and that these CEOs love polluting the cities they live in?  They love polluting the air?  It\u2019s absurd here, these assumptions.  And that Trump doesn\u2019t have anybody that cares about the planet? <\/p>\n

We\u2019re just specks of dust on the planet anyway.  This idea that we can destroy the planet is just flat-out silly.  But, anyway, I interrupt myself again.  And I\u2019m sorry, folks, this stuff just really, really frosts me, and I\u2019m getting ahead of myself because that has nothing to do with the answer.  Let me start again.  Charlie Rose, “Some people looking at the Trump Regime believe there are too few people that have a strong view to protect the planet and who have strong views about the dangers of global warming.”  So not enough people in this cabinet care about global warming.  What do you say about that, Mr. Baker?<\/p>\n

\"large\"BAKER:  I do know this.  Rex Tillerson was one of the people, one of the corporate leaders in the United States who first came out and acknowledged the problem of climate change, and so — but I can\u2019t answer for people who\u2019ve been appointed to —<\/line><\/p>\n

ROSE:  EPA.<\/p>\n

BAKER:  — positions like the EPA and so forth.<\/p>\n

RUSH:  All right.  By the way, Tillerson has done that.  Tillerson has spoken about climate change, and he has said, I\u2019m paraphrasing, “We at ExxonMobil believe that there are instances of man-made incidents of climate change, and we at ExxonMobil love the planet, we want to preserve the planet,” and he\u2019s come out in favor of a carbon tax as the way of dealing with man-made climate change.  <\/p>\n

Now, I don\u2019t like that at all.  A carbon tax, for example, that was one of Bill Clinton\u2019s first attempted tax increases in 1993, and it went down in flames as it should.  A carbon tax can bankrupt people.  Carbon is in everything.  To put brakes on the economy, start taxing carbon.  The thing I don\u2019t know, \u2019cause I don\u2019t know Rex Tillerson.  All I know is I like Tillerson and I like his name.  I think Tillerson\u2019s a perfect name.  Rex Tillerson, great name for a CEO of an oil company.  But I don\u2019t know him.  <\/p>\n

I do know that ExxonMobil is hated and despised by climate change Looney Tunes unhinged left-wing global warming fanatics.  And I also know that as CEO it would be up to Rex Tillerson to keep them at bay and to make sure that when the climate change crowd starts out there trying to destroy things, that ExxonMobil is not on the hit list. <\/p>\n

So it could well be that Rex Tillerson is saying these things because it\u2019s an insurance policy.  Got nothing to lose by saying it except maybe to keep the — it\u2019s like a rich guy, it\u2019s like Gates, it\u2019s like Warren Buffett being for tax increases on the rich.  It\u2019ll keep the people with pitchforks away from their house.  “Yeah, he\u2019s a good rich guy, he thinks he\u2019s not paying enough in taxes.” <\/p>\n

So if Rex Tillerson says, “Yeah, we in corporate America, we\u2019re not doing enough to save the planet,” that keeps people at bay, but he also might mean it.  It is at variance with what Trump believes, by the way.  Trump does not believe in a carbon tax or any of that, but he loves Tillerson, from what I understand.  He didn\u2019t know Tillerson before they met.  Tillerson bowled him over.  I mean, really impressed him, \u2019cause they both do deals.  So we\u2019ll have to see.  But this is a bit of a red flag for me, anything getting close to this is a red flag.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, well, you say that Tillerson\u2019s not gonna be making decisions like carbon tax, but he\u2019s gonna be meeting with the United Nations and other diplomats who do.  He\u2019s gonna be doing diplomacy with a bunch of these newfangled wackos who think climate change is real and think the United States is a primary culprit and think the United States ought to pay for it.  I\u2019m biding my time.  <\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: James Baker is, in the eyes of many — you would agree, Mr. Snerdley — Mr. Establishment.  I mean, there is no Republican equivalent of David Gergen in terms of defining conventional wisdom.  James Baker, he was in the Reagan administration, the Bush administration, he\u2019s a consultant for — He ran the recount for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJames Baker on Rex Tillerson - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"James Baker on Rex Tillerson - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: James Baker is, in the eyes of many — you would agree, Mr. Snerdley — Mr. Establishment.  I mean, there is no Republican equivalent of David Gergen in terms of defining conventional wisdom.  James Baker, he was in the Reagan administration, the Bush administration, he\u2019s a consultant for — He ran the recount for […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Baker-585.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jaime Endemano\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Baker-585.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Baker-585.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/\",\"name\":\"James Baker on Rex Tillerson - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-15T00:49:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-03T18:57:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3079d9586e3d29b799b4c54e0a0e81e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"James Baker on Rex Tillerson\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3079d9586e3d29b799b4c54e0a0e81e\",\"name\":\"Jaime Endemano\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f266a78ed0d1df53060e64ebe68c5304?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f266a78ed0d1df53060e64ebe68c5304?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jaime Endemano\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/jaimeendemano\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"James Baker on Rex Tillerson - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"James Baker on Rex Tillerson - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: James Baker is, in the eyes of many — you would agree, Mr. Snerdley — Mr. Establishment.  I mean, there is no Republican equivalent of David Gergen in terms of defining conventional wisdom.  James Baker, he was in the Reagan administration, the Bush administration, he\u2019s a consultant for — He ran the recount for […]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Baker-585.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jaime Endemano","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Baker-585.jpg","contentUrl":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Baker-585.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/","name":"James Baker on Rex Tillerson - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-12-15T00:49:51+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-03T18:57:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3079d9586e3d29b799b4c54e0a0e81e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/12\/14\/james_baker_on_rex_tillerson\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"James Baker on Rex Tillerson"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3079d9586e3d29b799b4c54e0a0e81e","name":"Jaime Endemano","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f266a78ed0d1df53060e64ebe68c5304?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f266a78ed0d1df53060e64ebe68c5304?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jaime Endemano"},"url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/jaimeendemano\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215175"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215451,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215175\/revisions\/215451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}