Evan, you better get it into gear. You could use these 15 points about now, and Kerry could. So the bloom is off the rose here as far as this ruse and this illusion that there’s some sort of pretense at objectivity. The pretense of objectivity is really gone now. I mean, now you have Joe Lockhart getting a phone call from Mary Mapes, the producer at CBS who did this story with Bill Burkett, and Lockhart wants to rely on, “I talked to him for three or four minutes, didn’t say anything substantive.” Why did you take the call? Why is she calling you in the first place? Why is somebody at CBS calling you and asking you to talk to one of their sources? That’s not what the call is! The call was “Hey, Joe, look what we’ve got and here’s when it’s coming, and I want you to know about it,” or, “Hey, Joe, thanks for the tip. We followed it up. It’s running.” Who knows? But the idea that this was a cold call and that it wasn’t set-up? Who do they think that they’re dealing with in terms of us and our minds?
This news about Lockhart is a remarkable turn of events in what’s turning out to be — and make no mistake about this — it’s turning out to be one of the major journalism politics stories in our lifetimes, folks, and it looks like there are still threads to pull here and things to uncover, and truths to be revealed. The world in which we inhabit will be very much different once this story fully unfolds and it will. They can’t keep the lid on this. They’re still trying to, but they’re not going to be able to keep the lid on this. Now, there are several layers. I mean, I would say there are several important layers to this scandal. The first is simply the magnitude of what was attempted here. People committed to bringing down a sitting president used the most important news network in American history to give wings to lies. Try that, Democrats, with your candidate out there “talking about truth to power.”
How about giving wings to lies is what CBS did, in this case almost transparently forged documents — forged documents! — in an effort to affect the outcome of an election. It is huge. It was a hoax that was intended to have the most profound political consequences. You know the dirty little secret, though? To again illustrate just how out of touch the mainstream press is, I’m going to advance a theory. Let’s play a hypothetical game. Let’s say that CBS News’ story is a hundred percent accurate. Let’s just pretend the documents were not forged. Let’s pretend the documents actually came from Jerry Killian’s secret file, and let’s assume that everything they say is true, that Bush skipped out early, missed a physical, did whatever. Does anybody think that story would have changed the direction and outcome of this election? I do not. This is not the kind of story that was going to cause a double-digit poll point turnaround anyway.
They have already shot their wad on this story. This was only the fifth or sixth time it’s been attempted in this campaign cycle. People are already tired of hearing about it. If you look at polls of what matters most to the American people, this story wouldn’t even register. The 
American people trust Bush. Besides, there is clear evidence of all the time Bush spent at the National Guard. He was not a slacker. There are reasons to explain his absence at this time and he got an honorable discharge and that honorable discharge is going to trump everything that they try to come up with. So it’s just an illustration of how desperate everybody in the Kerry campaign and whoever is involved in the media is that they thought this would be the straw that broke the camel’s back. This is nothing.
This is literally nothing other than some exciting scoop, and this is all based on a hypothetical. We now know the forged memos were forged. We know the whole thing was a hoax. The second layer of the scandal is the collusion between the partisan media, in this instance CBS, and the Kerry campaign. The effort by a well-respected producer of CBS to aid the Kerry campaign is stunning on one level, and make no mistake, that’s what this was. This was not a for-your-information call to Joe Lockhart. This was not a, “Hey, guess what we’re working on? I want you to talk to this guy.” This does not help us verify who this guy is. This was collusion. This, ladies and gentlemen, is serious. On another level, it is precisely what one would expect from media outlets whose political agenda is obvious to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
The case for media bias now has an indisputable exclamation point on it. There is no longer any doubt. It’s not a matter of speculation. It’s not just someone’s opinion. It has been established. What happens is an enormous — and, by the way, the fact that this is, is not surprising. I just got an invitation. I’m not going to say from where — I turned it down, because I’m not doing these things — but I just got an invitation to appear on a TV show about this. The invitation came as follows. In fact, let me get the e-mail. I don’t want to paraphrase this, and it won’t take me long to find it. Here it goes: So-and-so “wanted to know if you were angry enough about all this Dan Rather hoopla to come on the show and talk about it,” and I wrote back and I said, “No, not interested, not doing appearances on shows right now, but tell your host I’m not angry at all. I’m not even surprised. This doesn’t surprise me in the least, none of it does. Anger? Nope.”
So the underlying thought here that people are going to be shocked and surprised by this, I think, is another myth I think more people in the mainstream press will care to admit, not surprised at all. May be angry that it’s now been proven, but surprised that Dan Rather supports Democratic candidates? He already raised 20 grand for the Travis County Democrats! We know that all roads lead to Travis County in this at some point, and Dan Rather has gone down there and raised money for them. Surprised? No. Anger? No. Glee? Yeah. If anything, there’s happiness here. If anything, it’s the effort to resist gloating is what triumphs, rather than any anger. But when you talk about the journalistic ethics here you need to ponder for a moment, as part of a deal to destroy the president of the United States, a CBS producer was willing to do a political favor for a Bush-hater by putting him in contact with key aides to Senator Kerry.
Now, this is as seedy a journalistic deal as one can imagine. The third layer of the scandal surrounds the series of vital questions yet to be answered, questions that beg to be answered, and I think Ed Gillespie outlined a couple of them in his press release on this. Here are a few of the questions that beg to be answered: Did Bill Burkett, Democrat activist and Kerry campaign supporter who passed information to the DNC, work with Max Cleland? I asked that question yesterday, myself. Did Bill Burkett’s talks with senior Kerry campaign officials include discussions of the now discredited documents? And what was Burkett going to talk about when Mary Mapes asked Lockhart to talk about him, if not this? Why would Lockhart agree to talk to some guy down in Texas he “doesn’t even know,” if not about this?
Right. Okay. Yeah, that’s the answer. There’s some guy down in Texas from the Travis County Democrats who’s upset that the Kerry campaign is not being more forceful about the swiftvets, and so Mary Mapes calls Lockhart and says, “Hey, we’ve got some guy down there that says you’re not being strong enough on the swiftvets. Would you talk to him?” and Lockhart said, “Sure, I would love to talk to any of our supporters who think we’re screwing up the campaign.” Come on, folks, this doesn’t happen. You can’t get through. Try calling Joe Lockhart. Do it. Try calling the Kerry campaign and say, “Hey, I’m a disgruntled Democrat and I don’t think you’re doing a good enough job responding to Bush on Iraq or the swiftvets,” and see if you get through. You won’t.
So next call Mary Mapes of CBS and say, “Hey, I’m a disgruntled Democrat and I can’t reach Joe Lockhart, but I think they’re really screwing up by not responding forcefully to the swiftvets. Can you get me through to Lockhart,” and see if she calls Lockhart and runs interference for you so you can talk to him. Come on, folks! This is not some accidental conversation between some high ranking guy at the Kerry campaign and some lowly little supporter out there who just happened to score the Lotto that day and get through to the campaign to tell him what they think they ought to do. Give me a major break. So you have a CBS producer as part of a deal to destroy the president, willing to do a political favor for a Bush-hater by putting him in contact with Lockhart. This is as seedy a journalistic deal as one can imagine.
Another question: Was the launch of the Democratic National Committee’s “Operation Fortunate Son” designed with knowledge of these forged memos? Isn’t that an interesting coincidence? They got this whole campaign, this whole operation called Operation Fortunate Son, and it just happens to coincide with the story at CBS on these forged memos. Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Bill Clinton flunky, said yesterday that no one at the DNC or the Kerry campaign had anything to do with the preparation of the documents, but what about the distribution or the dissemination of the documents, Terry? By the way, McAuliffe is all, “We didn’t know anything. We haven’t heard about this.” That’s not even true. They knew about this. CBS and the Kerry campaign may hope that we are at the end of this story, but I think we’re only at midstream, my friends, in some rather shallow water. 
We’re going to get to the other side here without the aid of a motorized launch or a swift boat. We’ll be able to walk through this shallow stream and get to the other side where lurks the truth in Mordor. To mix the metaphor one more time, Iraq has been lifted up. There’s a lot that was hidden that won’t look very good at all in the light of day. There’s also the small matter of honesty when it comes to the Kerry campaign in general and Mr. Lockhart in particular. Here are the words of George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s Good Morning America earlier this month, September the 10th. Steffie said, “I should say, just before we go on the air, Joe Lockhart of the Kerry campaign denies that the Kerry campaign had anything to do with these documents. Another Kerry researcher said they learned about them on television.”
That’s kind of like what we saw in the Clinton years, isn’t it? We got a Clinton guy running the show. Stephanopoulos without even being asked, without even being charged, offers a defense of Joe Lockhart? “By the way, I should say, just before we got on the air, Joe Lockhart denies that the Kerry campaign had anything to do with these documents, another Kerry researcher says they learned about them on TV.” They did not learn about them on TV. They learned about them from CBS, or they learned about them from Bill Burkett or Lucy Ramirez, or Captain Queeg, whoever is in charge of this operation. They didn’t learn about them on TV. They aren’t telling the truth. They are still covering up.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We’re back, talent on loan from God-dddd, which is not the same thing as saying, “I’m a gift from God,” as so many liberals seem to think. “Talent on loan from God” is simple. Yeah. Well, we’re all gifts from God in a sense. Just as we all have talent on loan from God. I don’t understand. It just is knee-jerk reactionary posture these people get in. They hear the word “God” and some of them actually think I’m calling myself God! I mean, I’ve gotten that, too. At any rate, Joe Lockhart. Bill Hemmer talked to him this morning on CNN’s American Morning. Hemmer said, “It’s my understanding, Joe, that you talked to Bill Burkett just days before the CBS story aired. What was the content of your discussions?”
LOCKHART: Well, the content of the discussion was he had some strong feelings about the way the Kerry campaign had responded to the swift boat —
RUSH: Right.
LOCKHART: — attack —
RUSH: Right, Joe.
LOCKHART: — Senator Kerry’s record in Vietnam —
RUSH: Yes.
LOCKHART: — and, you know, the smear campaign that was going on against him —
RUSH: Yeah.
LOCKHART: — and he believed that we should have responded more forcefully.
RUSH: Yeah.
LOCKHART: You know, I listened respectfully.
RUSH: Yeah.
LOCKHART: I told him I thought it was good advice, and that was the end of the conversation.
HEMMER: How long did that last, Joe?
LOCKHART: Oh, probably three or four minutes.
RUSH: Oh, yeah, happens all the time. Disgruntled Democrats get hold of Joe Lockhart to complain about the direction the campaign is taking. Yeah, in fact, folks, this is so common that if you’re a disgruntled Democrat and you’re unhappy with the Kerry campaign, all you got to do is call CBS News! (Laughing.) Call CBS News and tell ’em you are livid the Kerry campaign is screwing up and there’s a producer in there names Mary Mapes who will call Joe Lockhart and arrange for Joe Lockhart to take your call. And then Lockhart will just sit there patiently and listen while you vent, and when it’s all over, Lockhart will go, “Yes, sir. Yes, sir.” Three bags full. We’re running the show. You’re just a dork in Texas. Leave us alone. Yeah, happens all the time. These people get through. The Democrats, they love people, can talk to anybody. I mean, there’s so many captains running this ship that everybody is a sailor, and the sailors all have ideas on where the ship ought to go and the captain is talking to all of them. It’s a new Democrat Party. Kerry campaign opened this. Oh, yeah, this just happens all the time, folks. I don’t know why there’s such suspicion about this. Can we grow up here?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Back to the Joe Lockhart sound bites. This is #2 with Bill Hemmer at CNN this morning who said, “What details of the National Guard story came out during that three to four minute discussion, Joe?”
LOCKHART: Not a single detail. There was never any discussion. He didn’t tell me anything. I didn’t ask him anything. He wanted to give us some advice. We get advice from a lot of quarters. You know, the interesting thing is, you know, you can always tell when people are worried by how whipped up they get, and the White House is real whipped up on this, and they’re making a — throwing a bunch of charges up there that are, you know, pretty meaningless and without foundation.
RUSH: Be careful here, Joe. The White House isn’t whipped up at all. The White House isn’t reacting hardly at all to this. They’re, you know, reporters are asking him questions, Joe, like they used to ask you. Now Hemmer said, “Well, what did Mary Mapes tell you, the producer for Dan Rather, when she called you?”
LOCKHART: She told me that there was a gentleman who had been helpful on a story that she was working on about the National Guard who wanted to talk to the campaign. He specifically asked to talk to me and she gave me his phone number.
HEMMER: And what did you hope to learn from him then, Joe?
LOCKHART: I didn’t have an expectation. You know, I talk to a lot of people. I got some advice, we get a lot of advice.
RUSH: Hemmer says, “Now, he raised the issue that some files were seen about him and others in a garbage can 30 years ago about George Bush’s National Guard service, to you. You say what?”
LOCKHART: I say, Bill, how do you know what I knew? You’re basing this on what maybe some other people were telling you. I didn’t know who the guy was. I talked to him on the phone for three to four minutes. That’s the beginning and end of the story.
HEMMER: So let’s be clear. You did not know about the history of Bill Burkett —
LOCKHART: I did not.
HEMMER: — before you talked to him Saturday night.
LOCKHART: I did not.
RUSH: Nobody knew about Bill Burkett. He’s only written a bunch of hate articles about Bush. He’s big in the Travis County Democrats. His lawyer is even bigger in the Travis County Democrats and now he’s suing CBS. You mean to tell me, folks, that again Lockhart would agree to take a call from some guy he doesn’t know just because Mary Mapes asks him to, and Mary Mapes said the magic words, “The guy has been helpful to us on a story we’re doing on the Bush National Guard.” (Laughing.) Lockhart wasn’t even curious about this? Of course! Lockhart wasn’t curious about it because he already knew about it because why, he wasn’t curious about it.
The Kerry campaign had run this information on one of their press releases back in April. They’ve been working this story since April. I think it’s pretty easy to figure out what happened here because the Newsmax people have got this. Let me just give you the details of the story before I tell you what I think happened here. Headline: “Kerry Campaign Touted Forged Doc Info in April. — The Kerry campaign made an explicit reference to information in at least one of four forged military documents broadcast 14 days ago by CBS in a detailed campaign press release attacking President Bush’s National Guard service dated months before the September 8th 60 Minutes show.
Appearing in Kerry campaign literature on April 27th, 2004 under the headline: ‘Key Unanswered Questions on Bush’s Record in National Guard’ was the reference to verbal orders to recommend Bush’s suspension from flying because he missed a physical issued by Bush’s commander Lieutenant Colonel Killian on August 1st, ’72. One of the forged Killian memos broadcast by CBS is also dated August 1st, ’72, and chronicles Killian’s verbal orders to suspend Bush and then the story quotes from the memo excerpt and the April 27th Kerry campaign press release cites Killian’s verbal orders for suspension as a fact. Fact?
“The order suspending Bush from flight duty stated verbal orders of the commander on 1 August ’72 suspending George W. Bush from flying status are concerned, reason for suspension, failure to accomplish annual medical exam,'” blah, blah, blah, blah. Now, the Kerry campaign was using this in April. They were using these documents. Here’s what’s happened. Just a little speculation. They used the story in April. They put it out and it didn’t get any traction. People at the Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee just know this is true, because Bush is a skunk. They just know it’s true because Bush is a lying SOB. They just know it has to be true. It has to be true! But nobody believed them and their press release. They need these documents from Killian.
They need these memos, and they can’t get those memos because they don’t exist, and they don’t exist, but somebody told them that they did exist at one time, or that Killian thought this, and so whoever told who what, the Democrats believed this was true, wanted to use it so bad that at some point they got so frustrated they created documents to prove the story, found a way to get them to CBS. I don’t know who’s working in collusion with who but it has to be. Rather wanted this to be true. I think another thing that possibly happened is they do believe this is true. They do, but they can’t prove it and so they set out to get some documents that they thought they could pass off as genuine, and when the White House, when CBS sent the documents to the White House, and the White House didn’t object to them, CBS said, “A-ha! They’re true, because those lying skunks at the White House are not denying this!”
Bam! That was their green light to go ahead with it. So they went ahead with it, and whenever they found experts who say, “This isn’t true. This is forgery,” CBS knew they were forgeries, knew they weren’t true, knew they had been recreated, didn’t interview anybody on camera, put anybody on the air on camera that said they’re forgeries, just had this one misled document guy, Marcel whatever his name is that vouched for a phony portion. You don’t need a blue-ribbon panel to figure this out. All you need to understand what happened here pretty much is what liberal desires are, and you have to understand this. The liberals live in a world of scandal.
The liberals know they can’t win elections at ballot boxes; they can only win by causing scandal, and they also think if they do it, everybody does it. So the White House had to lie. The White House is made up of a bunch of liars. George Bush is a schemer. George Bush is a trickster. George Bush is a liar. Because that’s what they are, they think everybody in politics does the same thing, you just got to do it better than the other guy — and they got caught. The idea that this surprised everybody, that nobody at the DNC knew about it, nobody knew Burkett, and yet they’re taking his call? This is all such an insult to our intelligence — and the pi?ce de r?sistance is the Kerry campaign tried this, as I just shared with you, back in April. Nobody cared, and nobody would have cared now.
Nobody would have cared now. This is only the fifth or sixth time they’ve tried this Guard story out, and nobody’s cared. It hasn’t mattered, but it must be all they’ve got. Or else there’s another possibility, and it is this: Remember who these people are. These are liberals. These are arrogant superiorists. They’re better than everybody else. The swiftvets come along and they literally cut Kerry off at the knees. It’s true, but they don’t care about it being true. It shouldn’t be said about their candidate. Their candidate is a liberal. You know, it’s okay to tell lies to the people for their own good. It’s okay. “We liberals are better than anybody else, and whatever it takes to get ourselves in leadership positions is okay, says we’re better than anybody else — and if we have to lie to you in order to get the position to lead you then that’s fine, that’s better for you.”
That’s what Dan Rather engaged in: tell lies to the people in order to advance their “common good,” because that’s the condescension, arrogance and superiority that liberal mind-sets bring to things. So the swiftvets come along and they just chop Kerry off at the knees with facts and the truth, and the evidence of that is that Kerry’s had to start revising his own story. The liberal mind-set is, “Oh, gee…” Let me tell you what it’s not. The liberal mind-set is not, “Uh-oh, we might have nominated the wrong guy. Uh-oh, he lied to us. Uh-oh, we bought into his lies.” The liberal mind-set is, “You can’t do that to us! We are liberals. We’re better than you are. You can’t disqualify our guy on something that’s so irrelevant as this. He’s a hero. That’s how we’re presenting him and that’s how he’s going to be accepted. 
Whatever we have to do, John Kerry is a hero. I don’t care what you swift vets said, so you better get ready because we’re going to do to your guy what you did to our guy,” and so they think that they’re lying about Kerry. “Fine, we’ll tell a lie about Bush! We’ll go out and cut Bush off.” It’s tit-for-tat. It’s liberal reciprocity, so consumed with hatred, so consumed with seething rage, so outraged that such a dirty trick could be perpetrated against their hero, that they had to get even, and so we have this scandal at CBS. That’s what happens when you lie. It’s what happens when you don’t tell the truth. It’s what happens when you’re motivated by seething rage and hatred, what happens when you’re an arrogant, condescending superiorist. It’s what happens when you think you’re smarter and better than everybody else, because most of the time when you think that, you’re not. You always get caught.
END TRANSCRIPT
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