Why the Hearts-and-Minds Crowd Can’t Confront Enemy Hate

RUSH: I want to put an exclamation point on one thing from yesterday before we move on. The two sound bites we had, Anderson Cooper and Jeff Goldberg from the New Yorker, in which they were discussing with dismay, the virulent anti-Semitism of the Hezbos — and they were shocked, literally shocked! ‘Fascinated.’

‘It was interesting, Anderson. You know, it’s very interesting, and what’s really, really interesting about it was they’re so open about it,’ and they went on to talk about how the Sheikh who runs the Hezbos was fascinating. It was so, interesting. Interesting and fascinating. He’s so outspoken about anti-Semitism — and they both wondered why this rhetoric? Why doesn’t he tone it down?

Of course, the reason for that is, we don’t want to criticize these guys. These guys are fighting against the ally of George W. Bush and we hate Bush. We need Bush to lose in the area of foreign policy if our buds the Democrats have a chance to win the next two elections, and it is going to be real tough. If these guys keep talking about their anti-Semitism, why, we might have to think about treating them 10% as tough as we did Mel Gibson. I mean, these guys are actually killing Jews. It’s their objective. It is their career. It is on the resume. It is on the calendar every day: ‘Get up, kill Jews. Lunch: Kill Jews. Dinner: Kill Jews. Tomorrow: Strap bomb on our own kids to kill Jews.’

Yet, Mel Gibson? (angry voice) Nail his ass! Get him out of Hollywood! He’s never going to make another movie as long as I have anything to do with anything. This is outrageous. We’re not going to put up with it.

(Sweet voice) ‘Isn’t Nasrallah fascinating to listen to, Anderson? Listen to his virulent anti-Semitism! Why is he so plainspoken? It is fascinating he’s so plainspoken.’ I was thinking about all of this yesterday, and I was watching the O’Reilly Factor last night, and Dan Blather was on, would you like to listen to what Dan Blather said? Here’s the question. O’Reilly said, ‘Here’s the problem with the American reporting: some networks give moral equivalency to Hezbollah in the reporting of this war. Do you agree it happens?’

BLATHER: I agree it happens and I agree it’s a problem. It is a problem that those of us in journalism have been, uh, reluctant to address. I do not exclude myself from this criticism. Reluctant to address that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. It is committed to the destruction of Israel. It isn’t committed just to trying to just gain territory. It’s committed to it’s destruction.

RUSH: Well, then, this is a fine time to say it, when you don’t have a job and you can’t report it to anybody! He does have a job at the HDnet. You know, I love the HDnet. I absolutely love it. They’re one of the two HD channels actually broadcast in 1080i (‘1080 small I’ for those of you in Rio Linda. It’s lines of resolution) and it is just fabulous, but they just don’t have a big audience. That is where Dan is gone. Did you hear? ‘Yes, there’s a moral equivalent. We are reluctant to say Hezbollah is a terrorist organization.’ Why? Why? Why is it so stunning that the Hezbos are anti-Semitic? Why is it such a shock?

Aside from the narrow focus of everybody in the Drive-By Media, and aside from the action line (nothing else will permeate that) there’s something else that has to be there for this to be possible. There is something else that has to be there for this to be possible, for Dan Rather to say, ‘Yeah, yeah, there’s this moral equivalence,’ and do nothing about it his whole career. Um, liberals are liberals first. Like somebody asked me the other day, ‘How come so many Hollywood people and liberal Jewish people are not actively for Israel in this?’ Well, because they’re liberals first. Now the Drive-Bys, and what Rather here, says buttresses — and I told Snerdley this yesterday and he didn’t think I knew what I was talking about.

I’m one of the few bosses where when I tell a subordinate what I think, they can tell me that they think I’m wrong and they can act like I’m stupid and I just smile, because after 18 years, they still think they have a chance at prevailing! As I said to Snerdley, I said, ‘Look, the Drive-Bys cannot acknowledge hate on the part of the Hezbos. Hate? Hate is bad! They have made hate a crime in this country. So they can’t acknowledge that the Hezbos hate. That is why Nasrallah is ‘interesting.’ That is why anti-Semitism is ‘fascinating’ aspect of this whole dynamic, this whole rubric, this whole paradigm, this whole context, this whole war.’

So anti-Semitism, yeah, that is bad but it’s not hate. It’s not hate, and he can’t be hateful because he’s being honest. Anybody who is honest cannot be possibly hate. So hate is a big obstacle for these people — and to assume that the Hezbos are compelled and motivated by hate, would make it difficult for the Drive-Bys to support them, or to be sympathetic.

I’m not kidding, and if you are like Snerdley and you disagree with me, you’re going to have to really think about this. There are many things that liberals say and do and react to that we all scratch our heads and so forth and don’t understand, but I’m telling you. Hate crimes? They want added penalties. Like if you go out and rob somebody, that’s fine. But if they’re a different race and you are the majority race, and you rob them, it is going to be assumed you targeted because of their race and you hate them. They’re going to call it a hate crime, and you get added jail time. Thank you, liberals. I mean, that’s the way they think about this. So they want to penalize the way you think. Well, if they’re going to penalize hate as a thought they cannot assign it to people if they have invested moral equivalence or even hope. Yes, I think the Hezbos have their hope. To the phones! John in Topeka, you’re next and you are first on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. John Cooney a ten-year — at least a ten-year — listener and a daily listener, first time caller and a Pat Buchanan conservative, right up front, and I’m very much concerned about our Middle East policy. I just see the whole Middle East disintegrating and I don’t want to get into Rumsfeld but I do want to think — I think that Israel is falling into the hands, literally, or falling into the playbook of Hezbollah and I think it’s going to radicalize more of the Middle East. I think the domino effect is falling backwards on us. Where am I wrong?

RUSH: I think in all of it.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: I think that there is a major transformation going on here, and it’s in the early stages of remaking the Middle East. It’s not something that should be abandoned over momentary bumps, speed bumps, what have you, in the middle of the road. In fact, I think that Israel is turning this around fast. I think Israel is making massive progress. Israel, I think, is going to neutralize the Hezbos.

CALLER: Okay. Are we losing the hearts and minds of the average Muslim? I would say we are.

RUSH: When did we have it? When did we have their hearts and minds? Did we have their hearts and minds on 9/11? I saw all of the cheering and dancing in streets in Muslim cities around the world? When did we have their hearts and minds, when Kennedy was sending milk over there in the ’60s?

CALLER: So how are we going to win their hearts an minds, if that’s the case, if we’re not winning it now, and Israel not helping us with the hearts and minds?

RUSH: Well, if that is the objective of the United States to win the hearts and minds of people then we may as well close up shop and say, ‘We’re not a super power. We’re going to build a wall around our country and nobody gets in, because we don’t want to mess with the rest of you miscreants in the world because you are scum.’ That is absurd! To win the hearts and minds —

CALLER: Rush, isn’t that what George Bush is saying? We need to democratize and capitalize and win the hearts and minds and say that you guys should adopt our system? By what Israel is overly doing, I think we are losing.

RUSH: I don’t hear that is what the objective is. It may be one of the hoped-for ancillaries.
CALLER: Are we winning it? Are we winning it, or should we just give up and just say, “They are all Muslims. Forget it. Let Israel and the Muslims all go at it and then we’ll come along and we’ll help Israel out?”
RUSH: I’m not a fatalist. I don’t live in the world of pessimism and fatalism.
CALLER: You’re not a realist.
RUSH: Bull!
CALLER: You’re not realizing what’s happening over there.
RUSH: Bull. I’m a total realist. That’s the point. I realize that every day in this country is better than the day before, and tomorrow is going to be better than today.
CALLER: I’m talking the Middle East!
RUSH: Look it. The Middle East could not continue to go on as it is or as it was. We are a prisoner to it. We are a prisoner to it! It cannot exist as it has. It has to change. It has to reform.
CALLER: Like Newt Gingrich, should we have Third Word War now, basically? That’s what Newt Gingrich is saying: let’s get it over with before the Muslims get the bomb and lets bring it on.
RUSH: I said on this program the day that Hezbos kidnapped the Israeli soldiers, “This is a gift to the world.”
CALLER: Israel is falling into the radicalization of all of the moderate Muslims. We’re falling into the gift.
RUSH: Falling into what?
CALLER: They are playing into the hands of Hezbollah! They are going to unite the Muslim world even more so.
RUSH: That is the exact opposite of what is happening! You have to stop reading just one group of people. You have to open your mind here. The exact opposite is happening. There is a transformation in that region going on. Big time! The Arab League is not behind the Hezbos. This silly conference in Malaysia is trying to gin up Muslim opposition to Israel because it isn’t there, because the Arab world is more afraid of Iran than it is of Israel. The Arab world behind closed doors knows that Israel will never make a move on its oil fields, will never make a move to unseat any Arab country unless they are attacked.
They don’t know that about Iran. They fear just the opposite. Iran is on the verge of getting nuclear weapons, we’re told. Do you want to deal with them before or after that? You want to get out of there and pretend that they’ll not hit us if we just leave them alone? You want to sacrifice Israel? You people are going to have to wake up and start thinking for yourselves and stop being so damned pessimistic and understand that great things are possible from people who make commitments to try to improve things. I can’t stand this pessimism on a daily basis. I am fed up with it, because it represents laziness of thought — and nobody in this audience is lazy of thought if I have anything to do about it.
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RUSH: I try to maintain my composure. I try not to lose my temper. I don’t think I lost my temper. I was just frustrated there. Sometimes it happens. I don’t I don’t like yelling at people we invite to call the program, but sometimes I just… Well, you know, I did a Mel Gibson and lost control out there. At any rate, for all of you (laughing). Oh looky, looky! Sheik “Nosehair” Nasrallah is going to speak on Hezbo TV! Really? Oh, how excited must the Drive-By Media be! “What will Sheik Nasrallah saaaaaaay?” When is this going to happen? They’re not promoting a time. Probably when they can get him to a studio that is not under assault by the Israelis. Look it, for all of you people out there in the hearts-and-minds crowd who believe in this lunacy, this idiocy, this mistaken belief that, “Why, we are not winning the minds and hearts of these Muslims and Arabs the way we’re going about this. We are not winning the minds and hearts of anybody.”
A caller the other day on this program reminded me, “There is an age-old philosophy in warfare and marriage: Grab the enemy by the gonads and the heart will soon follow.” Ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force — and we’re not going to sit here and win wars or win our own peace by getting into little Oprah encounter groups and asking, “What must we do to win their minds and hearts?” The question ought to be asked by them: “What the hell do we do to keep them from coming after us?” They are the ones that keep hitting us: 9/11, first World Trade Center 1993. I want to turn this around. The question ought to be not: “Why do they hate us and what are we doing?” The question ought to be: “What are we going to do about this if it keeps up?” It doesn’t matter why they hate us. The fact is they do and it’s an intolerable circumstance if they start getting nukes, portable and otherwise.
Reality, folks! Reality!
It is the only way to solve problems.

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