RUSH: You want to hear something funny? We’ve got Gibbs, by the way. He was on the Today show with Matt Lauer. Now, as you people know, I commonly use the phrase, ‘bend over forward, bend over backwards, grab the ankles.’ Matt Lauer wanted to quote me on this today but couldn’t bring himself to use the words. He was talking to Robert Gibbs, the ‘ace’ White House press spokesman. There has never been anybody any better that ever did this job.
LAUER: There’s been a lot of partisan banter going back and forth this week. Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host, had this to say — and I’m paraphrasing here, but he said, ‘We’re being told we have to hope he succeeds,’ referring to the president, ‘that we have to,’ and then he made reference to getting into kind of a subservient position, ‘just because he’s the first black president.’ Now, that’s not surprising. That’s what Rush Limbaugh does. That’s how he makes a living and he’s pretty good at it. But the president addressed Rush Limbaugh directly, speaking to congressional Republicans, saying, ‘You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.’ Does the president of the United States really want to get drawn into a give-and-take with any partisan radio host?
RUSH: And then Gibbs… Did you notice…? By the way, Matt, he did it. What are you asking after the fact? He did it! They should have told Matt about this before he was going to ask the question so that he coulda said, ‘Why did you do it?’ Matt’s acting like he doesn’t even know that it happened. He says, ‘a subservient position.’ ‘He made reference to getting into a kind of subservient position.’ Say it, Matt! Bend over forward or backwards and grab the ankles. Anyway, here’s what Gibbs said. By the way, Matt, you need to ask Gibbs: ‘Is it true that Rahm Emanuel has a conference call every morning with Paul Begala and James Carville at CNN and George Stephanopoulos at ABC? Does the president really want to have his chief of staff planning strategy with media personnel?’ If his staff can do it, how come Obama can’t? Why can’t Obama reach out to me? I have offered. I have offered to build a bridge, build a road from the EIB Network to the White House to explain my bipartisan stimulus plan to him. I’m willing to go up there, share an adult beverage, some wagyu beef hors d’oeuvres. I’ll do it for the people, for the country, for the American economy. Anyway, here’s Gibbs’ answer to the question, ‘Does the president really want to get drawn into a give and take with a radio host?’
GIBBS: Well, look, I think what the president said is true, is if leaders in Washington from either party are just listening to one person rather than listening to the millions of voices of their constituents and of the American people, it’s usually where Washington goes wrong. That’s why the American people want an economic reinvestment and recovery plan that gets jobs moving again. I think that’s why in the end you’ll see bipartisan support for the president’s plan to do just that.
RUSH: Hey, Bob? The only thing bipartisan was the people who voted against it. The American people do want to see their economy rebound. It’s just it’s not going to happen with your plan. And one thing, Mr. Gibbs — and I understand you’re the best press secretary they ever had up there. That’s what the Drive-Bys told us before you got the gig, I understand that, but you ‘don’t want leaders from either party listening to just one person rather than listening to millions of voices.’ Don’t you understand, Mr. Gibbs? Certainly by now you do. My voice is the voice of millions of God-fearing American conservatives. That’s why I’m listened to. It’s because my voice equals millions. It isn’t just me. I’m not going it alone here. I have an army. I’m the general, but I have an army.
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RUSH: I want to replay this again simply because I, ladies and gentlemen, have reached my absorptive limit on one of the tacks the Drive-Bys are taking to trying to marginalize me.
LAUER: There’s been a lot of partisan banter going back and forth this week. Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host, had this to say — and I’m paraphrasing here, but he said, ‘We’re being told we have to hope he succeeds,’ referring to the president, ‘that we have to,’ and then he made reference to getting into kind of a subservient position, ‘just because he’s the first black president.’ Now, that’s not surprising. That’s what Rush Limbaugh does. That’s how he makes a living and he’s pretty good at it. But the president addressed Rush Limbaugh directly, speaking —
RUSH: All right. That’s good. Now, this technique is going on throughout NBC. It’s happening on the NBC network. It’s happening on the MSNBC cable channel, and I did. You know, I said it on Hannity, and it’s exactly what I said. I said, ‘We’re being told we gotta support the guy ’cause his father was black.’ It’s just another way of saying he’s the first black president. Now, I’ve said I got over the historical nature of this stuff a long time. But, Matt and the rest of you… Norah O’Donnell tried this yesterday with Mike Pence. I didn’t get a chance to go through our whole roster. I wonder if Cookie has that, ’cause Mike Pence was just fabulous yesterday afternoon on MSNBC with Norah O’Donnell. Yeah, yeah, we’ve got it. Number 13. Have that coming, have that standing by, because… In fact, let’s play it now, and I’ll react to Matt Lauer and Norah O’Donnell at the same time. But this was Mike Pence from Indiana — Republican, Indiana — on the phone yesterday. Well, he was actually live on television the anchor Norah O’Donnell, and they were talking about the stimulus package and a number of other things.
O’DONNELL: On that specific thing that we have to ‘bend over…because this is the first black president.’ Why don’t you feel like you could denounce something like that? Are you so beholden to someone like Rush Limbaugh that you —
PENCE: Oh, God, Norah.
O’DONNELL: — say, ‘That’s not the type of rhetoric, when America is trying to come together and do something for the unemployment rate, in your state of Indiana now 8.2%’? Is that the type of rhetoric we need?
PENCE: I don’t believe Rush Limbaugh’s got a racist bone in his body and if you’re suggesting that his statement had a racist element to it, I would commend you to, you know, a greater understanding of the positions that he’s taking. He’s a man that’s about opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, creed, or color; and I think that’s why he’s so admired and appreciated all across America. Rush is out there championing the kind of stimulus bill that will put Americans back to work. We’re grateful for that, Rush.
RUSH: Now, in both instances — this is spread out through MSNBC. But that’s just a great answer from Pence. These guys are not backing down to these phony attempts, but about they’re trying to imply that I’m racist or making a racist comment here. Norah and Matt and the rest of you in the Drive-Bys: It is you who have been harping on this man’s race since he first announced his intentions. It is you who are telling us that this is historic because of his race. It is you and your fellow Democrats who made race a fundamental, prominent issue during the Democrat primaries.
It is you guys who are constantly using race. I’m simply reacting to what you’ve been telling everybody! We’re not supposed to look at the details of this debacle, Norah, because he’s black. We’ve gotta support him because he’s black. What other reason, other than he’s a black liberal? So you hit two birds with one stone here. The guy’s the first black president. It’s historic! Plus he’s a liberal. Bam, bam! We support whatever he wants to do, and you don’t even look at it. There’s not one job created in this bill that’s worth anything. There are temporary jobs created, laying sod on the Mall and this kind of thing. There aren’t any careers. This bill is a job killer.
‘America is trying to come together and do something for the unemployed’? America’s not coming together on this. Forty-six percent of America did not vote for this, Norah. That is why my stimulus plan in the Wall Street Journal today is a genuine compromise, genuine bipartisanship. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the truth about this. So there’s this never ending effort here — and by the way, if I might say, this is part and parcel of Obama calling me out on last Friday. He wanted the media to pick this up. He wanted the media to make a big deal out of this. He wanted the media to carry the water to try to marginalize me on this. It’s all out of the Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, and rule number 13 here is: ‘Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.’ That’s what they’re attempting to do: cut off the support network from the target. Isolate the target from any sympathy whatsoever. Go after people and not institutions. People hurt faster than institutions.
The real question ought to be aimed at Norah O’Donnell and Matt Lauer: Why do you support something you haven’t even bothered to explain? Why do you support something you won’t tell people what the truth is? Why do you support a piece of legislation that is morally wrong? Why do you support a piece of legislation, Norah, you probably haven’t even seen? It is because he’s black. It’s because he’s a liberal. It’s because you’re under the impression that every American wants him to do whatever he wants to do with no checks and no balances. You bought into this whole hope and change business, and I’m telling you: you are destroying your own reputations and your own credibility. It is so obvious that you’re in the tank. Newspapers are dying left and right. Your ratings at MSNBC are now going in the tank, except when you talk about me. You guys can go ahead and try to isolate and marginalize me. You’re just making yourself look like fools, but that’s the way this is shaking out.