RUSH: Grab audio sound bite number 25. Those of you who have made up your minds and are for Mitt Romney to win the Republican nomination, I mentioned something at the beginning of the program, and I warned you that it was coming. I have waited and waited and waited. I didn’t put it in the news, but it’s out there. Romney at the debate said this. It’s audio sound bite number 25. In Mesa, Arizona, John King, the moderator. “Governor Romney, the Speaker compared you to President Obama, saying that you infringed on Catholics’ rights in Romneycare, governor. Did you do that?”
ROMNEY: There was no requirement in Massachusetts for the Catholic Church to provide morning-after pills to rape victims. That was entirely voluntary on their part. There was no such requirement. I worked very closely at it leaders of the Catholic Church. I met with the Cardinal a number of times, and with his emissaries.
RUSH: Okay. Now, that’s what Governor Romney said. There is — and I found it on a blog. I mean, it’s everywhere. Now, I could have pretended I didn’t see it and I could have said, “You know, I’m gonna skip by this. This is too obscure. It’s off the beaten path, and I don’t want to hear about social issues.” But they fact-checked that. There’s a website called The Boston Catholic Insider, and the headline of the post is: ” Did Romney Lie About Cardinal and Contraception During Wednesday Debate?” and it starts this way: As readers know, if there is one thing that gets under our skin here at BCI, it is deception.
This one by former Gov. Romney about a situation here in Massachusetts affects how the country perceives values important to many Catholics, so BCI felt we could not let it sit without a response. In the Republican Presidential debate Wednesday … Gov. Mitt Romney said he never infringed on the rights of Catholics as governor of Massachusetts by requiring the Catholic Church to provide morning-after pills to rape victims — it was ‘entirely voluntary’ on the part of the Catholic Church. If providing morning-after pills was ‘voluntary’ on the part of the Catholic Church, then that would mean that Cardinal O’Malley volunteered to have Catholic hospitals give out abortifacients,” and that’s simply not true.
It’s right here in my nicotine-stained fingers, and then they offered a link to the transcript of the debate. They say some of the quick prescriptions a little off but the gist of it is accurate and they publish what I just played for you. And after the text sound bite has been transcribed here, they then say: Problem is, what Gov. Romney said in the debate is not correct. [Boston Catholic Insider] reported all of the details in our post last month, “‘Pro-family advocates misrepresent RomneyÂ’s record on life.'” This goes on for three pagans as they fact-check this. That’s all I’m gonna say about it, but it’s out there. It is. It’s just… It is what it is.
Patrick in Arlington, Virginia. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Maha Rushie. I consider myself a spawn of the great El Rushbo. I’ve been listening to you since 1989.
RUSH: Wow. That’s almost from the get-go. I appreciate that.
CALLER: Yes, sir. Former Air Force air traffic controller and I am not asleep in the tower. I watch.
RUSH: You know, I am fascinated by what you do. I’m fascinated by that job, air traffic control. I don’t know how you guys stay sane and organized for as long as you do it on those shifts. I have such respect for what you guys do.
CALLER: Well, thank you, sir. We’re resilient and taught that way. I’m also a Roman Catholic, and I appreciate you taking that thing off the microphone. (laughing.)
RUSH: It is. It’s gone. And, by the way, in the interests of fairness and balance, we’ve got the sound bites, Arlen Specter says that Santorum is lying, too, in the debate.
CALLER: Yeah. Well, having lived in Florida, I don’t care for jellyfish. I just wanted to call real quick, Rush, when Obama’s talking about drill, drill, drill, I thought he was talking about late-term abortion. I wasn’t sure. I was a little confused there for a second, having been familiar with his infant born alive act.
RUSH: I can understand how you’d be confused on that.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Air traffic controller and all, yeah.
CALLER: (laughing) Mitt Romney —
RUSH: Climb and maintain flight level three five zero.
CALLER: You got it, sir, cleared for takeoff. Of course it’s IFR conditions here inside the Beltway, which is where I am. A shout out to my father in conservative upstate New York. So I wanted to get to this. In 2006 — and this is where Governor Romney takes a turn downward. Under Governor Romney, Catholic Charities lost their tax exemption, not because of abortion, but because of gay marriage. The Catholic Church does not promote adoption services to gay couples.
RUSH: Hm-hm (affirmative.)
CALLER: Now, you can find the article, of course on our glowingly conservative public broadcast system and —
RUSH: I understand. I just need to check this with the Ron Paul campaign for veracity.
CALLER: (laughing) Not a big fan of his, either. I know military regulation and the Constitution, which is why I can’t support Rick Santorum because I understand that all taxes should be uniform.
RUSH: Well, as I was saying, Santorum said that Arlen Specter promised him he would support all of Bush’s judicial nominees. So the news media went out and they got Specter on there and Specter, “I didn’t make any such promise. I didn’t make any promise. I’m not gonna make a promise to nominees I didn’t even know, I didn’t do that.” So Specter threw Santorum under the bus today. The Boston Catholic Insider threw Romney under the bus. Meanwhile, as I told you, I thought that if Newt had a great performance that he would maybe reemerge and there are some stories in the media about Gingrich reemerging. He’s not playing in Michigan. And Ron Paul is not in Michigan. He’s running ads there, but he’s not competing, he’s not contesting, nor is Newt. Anyway, I appreciate the call, Patrick. Thanks much.