RUSH: To the audio sound bites of the Democrat debate on NPR yesterday. It was in Des Moines. The moderator said, ‘Senator Obama, do you agree with the president’s assessment that Iran still poses a threat, and do you agree that the NIE’s news shows that isolation and sanctions work?’
OBAMA: What I’ve been consistent about was that this saber rattling was a repetition of Iraq, a war I opposed, and that we needed to oppose George Bush again. We can’t keep on giving him the benefit of the doubt, knowing the ways in which they manipulate intelligence.
RUSH: Manipulate intelligence? We just had some intelligence that totally screws Bush. But, of course, this wasn’t manipulated, was it, Senator Obama? No, no, no. We can trust all of this. If, if, if, if, if, the proverbial if, the Iranians and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have actually shut down the nuclear program, it ain’t because of sanctions. It’s Shock and Awe in March of 2003 in Baghdad. The Breck Girl, next, decided to rip Hillary Clinton into voting to make Iran’s military guard a terrorist organization.
EDWARDS: Declaring a military group sponsored by the state of Iran a terrorist organization, that’s supposed to be diplomacy? This has to be considered in the context that Senator Clinton has said she agrees with George Bush terminology that we have — we’re in a global war on terror, then she voted to declare a military group in Iran a terrorist organization. What possible conclusion can you reach other than we are at war?
RUSH: I say, really, they’re jumping all over Hillary here on her Iran vote. But why did she do this? In the midst of all this anti-war fervor in the Democrat Party and the Iraq situation, why did she sign this, why did she vote, ‘Yeah, these guys are a bunch of terrorists’? It’s about she wants to be president. She’s seen this poll, I’m sure, 52% want to deal with Iran, if they’ve got a nuke. ‘Senator Clinton,’ said the moderator, ‘your reply?’
HILLARY: I understand politics, and I understand making outlandish political charges, but this really goes way too far.
RUSH: Oh, yeah, yeah.
HILLARY: In fact, having designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization we’ve actually seen some changes in their behavior. There is absolutely no basis for a rush to war, which I oppose and have opposed for two years, but there is also a recognition that the Iranians were supplying weapons that killed Americans, they were supplying technical assistance from the Quds force, which is their special operations element. So I think we’ve actually seen the positive effects of having labeled them a terrorist organization because it did change their behavior.
RUSH: Oh, no, can’t she get anything right? She just sided with Bush and Cheney. Listen to the Breck Girl.
EDWARDS: I just want to be clear to the listeners that we have a real division here. I mean among the Democratic candidates there’s only one that voted for this resolution, and this is exactly what Bush and Cheney wanted.
RUSH: (laughter) Yes, she voted with Bush and Cheney. Can’t she get anything right? All right, moderator Robert Siegel had this exchange with the Chia Pet.
SIEGEL: Clearly, many Muslims hate the US enough to want to do us grievous harm. Would you speculate on the reasons for their hatred of us, Senator Biden, why?
BIDEN: The reason we are disliked so much is because we are trusted so little. The reason why we are disliked so much, obviously — I’m not talking about Al-Qaeda, I’m talking about the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world who look at us and when we say and do things as we’re talking about now with Iran, conclude that this is a war on Islam.
RUSH: Why, the world hates us because of George Bush. Now, NPR, obviously a bunch of libs: ‘Why do they hate us? Can you Democrats tell us why, why do they hate us? We’re so bad that they hate us, we’re so scared, why do they hate us?’ I don’t care why they hate us. It doesn’t matter a hill of beans to me. The premise behind this question, ‘Why do they hate us?’ is absurd, because it implies that we’re guilty. Of course, to liberals, America is guilty. The Breck girl then jumps in with this little chime.
EDWARDS: Well, first of all, I think that what’s driving this belief about America in the Muslim community around the world is the bullying, selfish, abusive behavior of George Bush and this administration.
RUSH: Only the ignorant, only the blithering ignorant would be applauding an answer as vacant, as intellectually vapid as what you just heard the Breck Girl say. ‘Well, first of all I think that what’s driving this belief about America in the Muslim community around the world is the bullying, selfish, abusive behavior of George Bush’s administration.’ It’s embarrassing. But yet the ignorant in the Democrat Party, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, you keep telling Bush, Bush, we hate Bush.’ Obama has a slightly different take on why we are hated.
OBAMA: Listen to the Republican candidates’ debates and how they frame this issue. And if you are a Muslim overseas listening to Rudy Giuliani say, ‘They are coming here to try to kill you,’ which is the tenor of many of the speeches that are delivered by the Republican candidates, you would get the impression that they are not interested in talking and resolving the issue peacefully. Now, what we need to do is we need to close Guantanamo; we need to restore habeas corpus; we need to send a strong signal that we’re going to talk directly to not just our friends but also to our enemies.
RUSH: Whew. And once again, ignorance will applaud that answer. ‘He’s so forward thinking, Mr. Limbaugh.’ I think, Senator Obama, they spoke loud and clear on 9/11 when they came to New York to kill us. Rudy was there. Senator Obama, it was 9/11, 2001. They came to kill us. They came to New York to kill us. You know what? They went to Washington to kill us. And you know what, Senator? They did. Almost 3,000 of us they killed. They came here, and they were here for a long time. I’m sure many Americans talked to them. They went to Vegas for one last fling. They’re out there taking flying lessons. I’m sure a lot of Americans talked to them. I’m sure they probably liked a lot of Americans they ran into. They came here, Senator, and they’ve said they’re going to keep coming. You can go talk to them ’til you’re blue in the face and you can close Guantanamo, and you can guarantee our defeat, more power to you.