RUSH: Do you remember the story yesterday we had about how Reuters, CNN, the Washington Post, and New York Times fell for a hoax? Yesterday we thought that it was just an e-mail hoax that they fell for. The hoax was perpetrated by some group that as a practice perpetrates hoaxes on the media. (interruption) Is that the name of the group? Yes Men. And they sent an e-mail out claiming that they were the Chamber of Commerce, that they had done a 180 and Chamber of Commerce was now ready to join Obama on cap and trade, and it was false. It was a total hoax. They didn’t check it; they didn’t backtrack it; they didn’t track it down; they didn’t source it; they just accepted the e-mail. Folks, we learn today it’s even worse. They had a press conference. The hoax group had a press conference. Yesterday in Washington, the National Press Club, US Chamber of Commerce Director of Communications Eric Wohlschlegel interrupted a fake press conference being held by a man calling himself Hingo Sembra, purportedly with the Chamber. You’ll also hear an unidentified reporter in this bit.
WOHLSCHLEGEL: I’m with the US Chamber of Commerce. This is not an official US Chamber of Commerce event, so I don’t know under what pretenses you’re here. I know some of you in the press world, but this is a fraudulent press activity and a stunt.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Who are you really, sir?
WOHLSCHLEGEL: So, if you have any questions, you’re welcome to direct them to me at the US Chamber of Commerce. This guy does not represent the US Chamber of Commerce.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can we finish?
WOHLSCHLEGEL: No. This is not an official Chamber of Commerce — this is not —
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I’m on a deadline.
WOHLSCHLEGEL: Yeah. Got it. So they’re misrepresenting the US Chamber of Commerce.
SEMBRA: Sir, if you want to have a —
WOHLSCHLEGEL: If anyone has any questions, you want to talk to the real Chamber of Commerce, they can direct — direct your questions to me.
RUSH: Can I translate this for you here? There’s a fake press conference from somebody claiming to be from the US Chamber of Commerce and they’re not. The real Chamber of Commerce communications director shows up and says, ‘This guy is not who he says he is, he doesn’t represent the Chamber, I do.’ The reporter says, ‘Shut up, we got a deadline, I need to finish asking this guy questions.’ Unidentified reporters wanted to continue talking to the hoaxer. Unidentified reporters wanted proof from the Chamber of Commerce guy that he was the real Chamber of Commerce guy. This is amazing. They’re in the middle of being hoaxed and they want to continue to fall for the hoax because the hoaxer is telling them what they want to hear. The hoaxer is saying, ‘I’m from the Chamber and we have turned around, we’re going to support cap and trade.’ That’s what the media wanted to hear in the press conference. The real Chamber of Commerce guy, ‘This is a fraud, this guy is not speaking for the Chamber of Commerce. If you want to know anything about it, talk to me.’ ‘Well, wait a minute, shut up, I’m on a deadline here, I want to finish my questions to the guy.’
Once again words escape me. Words escape me. I know this is funny, and I know it’s hilarious, but it has horrible portends. In just a matter of a week we have seen mainstream media accept total lies, total fabricated quotes made up about me. Now we see mainstream media preferring to talk to a hoax leader of the Chamber of Commerce, a hoaxer, rather than talk to the real communications director of the Chamber of Commerce. And this is in the midst of Len Downie saying, ‘Oh, we’re in trouble here in the news business,’ and the New York Times laying off a hundred more people in the newsroom — that’s 200 people, by the way, in the last year — ‘oh, we’re in big trouble here in the news business, we need to go nonprofit, we can’t earn a profit.’ I wonder why the hell that might be, Mr. Downie. It’s because your business is now populated with a bunch of idiot boob fools. Holy smokes, folks, it’s just mind-blowing.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Doug in Tucson, you’re next on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hello, sir.
CALLER: Rush, it’s an absolute honor.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: You betcha. Hey, this whole bit about the news and why the news is losing money these days? It’s not news; it’s propaganda. Outright government propaganda and people just simply aren’t going to pay for the lies, misrepresentation, and fraud. The whole thing —
RUSH: Let me ask you a question, then. Let’s use the New York Times as an example. New York City has eight million people, about 7.9 million of them liberal. How in the world can the New York Times’ journalism be disappointing the liberal Mecca of this country? I’m not… It’s just a think piece. I just want your thoughts on this. I can understand where you live in Tucson you’re going to have a much greater cross section of conservatives and liberals and so if the conservatives get fed up with the liberalism of the Tucson papers, bam! You’re going to and so are a lot of other people. But I don’t know that people are not buying the New York Times because it’s not liberal enough or because it’s too liberal or because it’s not anti-conservative enough. I don’t know. You tell me.
CALLER: I’ll tell you easily. It’s a matter of slant. Slant is a way and perspective of seeing things, and it is a matter of them being able to listen to the propaganda they want to hear.
RUSH: Have you ever read the letters…?
CALLER: (unintelligible)
RUSH: Have you ever…?
CALLER: (unintelligible)
RUSH: Wait a minute. Have you ever read letters to the editor of the New York Times?
CALLER: Oh, yes, definitely.
RUSH: Well, every damn one of them is far more radical, wacko, and leftist than the people who work there!
CALLER: Heh, heh. Absolutely.
RUSH: They love the slant of the New York Times, whatever it is — editorial page front page, no difference any more — and yet the New York Times is losing circulation. And the New York Times is losing advertising revenue. Now, also this Little Pinch went out and spent a lot of New York Times money building a monument to himself, the new Times building. They’ve got some debt problems there and they invested in the Boston Red Sox a little bit and they bought the Boston Globe. But I don’t know that the Times is in trouble because of its content because 99% of its market loves its content. So there’s gotta be something else going on with the Times: Bad business decisions, operating decisions and so forth.