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RUSH: I want to get a couple of audio sound bites here before the program comes to a screeching halt today.

As I mentioned, ladies and gentlemen, we had a little fun yesterday with the Drive-Bys. CNN was the first to pick up on this, and then it was all over the place. I actually said at the program open yesterday, people said, ‘Why don’t you endorse somebody?’ The worst thing I could do. If I wanted to torpedo the McCain campaign, I would enforce him. ‘What do you mean, Rush? What do you mean?’ Well, simple. He’s appealing to independents, some Democrats and moderates. Those people don’t like me. I have taken out after moderates on this program quite often, call ’em Jell-Os. These are people that have no independent thoughts, they sit around and wait for the majority to form or for some emotional tie and then they go there. But by definition moderates cannot have an opinion. They’re smarter than everybody else. They’re open-minded and they remain above the fray, typical school yard fray. If I endorse McCain, all these independents and Democrats that despise me would abandon him. I’m the greatest asset McCain has. And the Drive-Bys bit on it. Let’s go to the audio sound bites. This is Fox & Friends this morning, Steve Doocy and Alisyn Camerota.

DOOCY: Rush Limbaugh on his show yesterday was talking about how he was actual — this is great. Says he’s actually doing John McCain a favor. Now, keep in mind, Rush Limbaugh has said that John McCain is not conservative enough.

CAMEROTA: Rush Limbaugh now says he’s doing him a favor by not endorsing him because he thinks that he would be the kiss of death to John McCain if he endorsed him because John McCain is so popular with independents and moderates, that Rush would alienate them even though he’d hand him his tremendous listening base. It’s reverse psychology.

DOOCY: But it’s brilliant.

CAMEROTA: Is it?

DOOCY: May be.

CAMEROTA: (laughing)

DOOCY: Yeah, I’m not going to get anywhere near that guy or else everybody’s going to hate him because they hate me.

CAMEROTA: And by not getting near him, I’m supporting him.

RUSH: And then later in the program the other two on this show got involved, this is Gretchen Carlson and Brian Kilmeade and Doocy as well.

CARLSON: We want to talk a little bit Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh is saying, look, I am McCain’s most valuable asset. I’m doing him a big favor by not endorsing him because, quite frankly, if I did, then all the independents and liberals would run away from John McCain.

KILMEADE: That’s true, too. Rush Limbaugh saying this, says he’ll get the moderates, independents will stay with McCain. However, did you see what happened yesterday? Three-to-one margin he lost the conservatives to Mike Huckabee. So little is not going to get you the election.

RUSH: Right. And I have not endorsed Huckabee. I don’t think anybody else in talk radio has, either. So this notion that — we talked about this earlier in the program — they’re now exit polling me, they did in Virginia and they did in Maryland. This has been a brilliant, brilliant insertion of myself into this campaign, folks. Don’t tell anybody. That’s just between us. You have to admit this has just been brilliant. Scarborough, MSNBC, Morning Joe today, the cohost Mika Brzezinski, the daughter of the former Carter national security grand pooh-bah Zbigniew Brzezinski, says to Scarborough, ‘A very healthy portion of those polled listen to conservative talk radio. New question we put in,’ as though Mika had anything to do with it, ‘the voices are being heard. The question is, ‘How does John McCain deal with that, as well as get to the voters he needs on both sides, independents and Republicans alike?” And here’s what Scarborough said.

SCARBOROUGH: I don’t think John McCain cares what Rush Limbaugh says or thinks. He’s proven that time and time again, and he thinks he can win on his own without their support. I wouldn’t want to do it if I were a Republican nominee, but John McCain does.

RUSH: He does. He does. He is where he is. He walks across the aisle, he’s very proud. He said earlier this week that he’s the right guy at the right time because he can reach across the aisle. If he’s going to do that, pandering or appearing to pander to those of us who have problems with his lack of fealty to conservatism, he can’t do it. He can send emissaries out maybe, but he can’t do it. They hired Nicolle Devenish. Do you know who Nicolle Devenish is? She is the cutest little thing. She was in the Bush White House and she was in the Bush campaign in the press office. I remember back during the debates of 2004 between Bush and the haughty John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, Nicolle Devenish was one of the Bush campaign spokeswomen. She was sharp, she was just young, attractive, exactly the kind of face you want on the Republican Party. Well, she left the White House, gave ’em six years and was hired by CBS. That’s when a red flag went up for me. Hired by CBS. And she got married. She went to Greece to get married, her name is Nicolle Wallace now, and she’s a consultant at CBS. She was on the CBS morning show today with Harry Smith, and they had this exchange.

SMITH: This lingering Huckabee thing. Huckabee got a lot of votes in Virginia. These conservatives, they’re still — they’re not happy. They’re not happy about this guy.

WALLACE: And — and, you know what, Republicans are beginning to say that’s okay.

SMITH: Oh, okay.

WALLACE: The more that we see kind of the crazies out attacking John McCain, the better Republicans feel that their chances are in the general election.

RUSH: So here’s this young woman who I admired and thought represented the future of the Republican Party, called me a crazy on CBS today. It wounded me to the heart. And she says maybe it’s a good thing that they’re attacking McCain, which was my point yesterday.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Chris Matthews on DNCTV last night during their coverage of the Potomac primary. After hearing the vapid but really powerfully delivered speech of Obama, Chris Matthews had this to say.

MATTHEWS: I have to tell you, you know, it’s part of reporting this case — this election. The feeling most people get when they hear a Barack Obama speech… My… I felt this thrill go up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often.

RUSH: (laughing) He felt a thrill… (interruption) He didn’t say which leg, Mr. Snerdley. (laughing) A thrill go up his leg? Normally these tingles happen in the spine. Which way did it go on the leg, up or down? Here’s the next bite.

MATTHEWS: McCain’s problem is, he’s over 70. He’s standing there with John Warner, who is much older than him —

VOICE: And is about to retire.

MATTHEWS: He’s standing with Tom Davis, who is retiring.

VOICE: About to retire.

MATTHEWS: Looks like an army in retreat in Virginia. That’s what it looks like.

RUSH: Now, Chris, we’re getting personal here. See, I told you this is going to happen. This guy, Matthews, used to be McCain’s number-one champion! McCain may as well have been a co-host on Matthews’ show. Eight years ago, Matthews was saying the things about McCain that he’s saying about Obama today! He would sit there, and he’d look like a star-struck girl when McCain would get into his straight talk rap about whatever — and now all of a sudden McCain’s old, and everybody around him is old, and ‘looks like an army in retreat.’ (laughing) Chris, just put on the Obama button! Bill Kristol is wearing his McCain button over on Fox. You can balance each other out.

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