RUSH: It’s “Gutsy Call” Day. Isn’t that what they’re calling this? Gutsy Call Day! It was Obama’s “gutsy call” to go out there and get Osama. How long is this Gutsy Call Day going to last? You know, we joked last week that it would probably become a national holiday. But it’s bigger than just a one-day celebration. You realize it’s been going on for a week now? They started this stuff last week, the big buildup. Yesterday was the big day, and they’re still talking about it today.

But I vowed at the top of this program not to be distracted by this, so we’re waiting ’til the third hour before we play any Obama speech excerpts from last night. And, by the way, a lot of people are sending me e-mail (impression), “You know, Rush, this guy goes over there in the middle of the night make a speech. What do you make of that?” He was simply timing it to appear on primetime in America. That’s all. There’s nothing even security-oriented about going over there at night. That’s the only reason he did it then was so whatever time it is there, it’d be on primetime here.

That’s when he had to do the speech, pure and simple. I’m gonna take you back to September 17th, 2006, Indianola, Iowa. This was at Senator Tom Harkin’s Annual Steak Fry. Now, you would assume at a steak fry they’re eating beef, liberals and Democrats. At the time this was Senator Obama. This is in September 2006, Senator Obama, before a presidential campaign had perhaps even been imagined. Maybe it was being thought of, but it clearly hadn’t begun. In 2006, here is Obama at Tom Harkin’s Steak Fry.

SENATOR OBAMA: And let me tell ya something else that I have had enough of: I’ve had enough of using terrorism as a wedge issue in our politics!

CROWD: (cheering and applauding)

SENATOR OBAMA: I’ve had enough of that!

CROWD: (cheering and applauding)

SENATOR OBAMA: I have had enough of that! You know, I, uh… I don’t know about you, but I think that the War Against Terrorism isn’t supposed to crop up between September and November of even-numbered years —

CROWD: (smattering of laughter)

SENATOR OBAMA: — and yet that seems to be the pattern.

RUSH: Well, isn’t that interesting? Here’s our courageous young president upset back in 2006 that George W. Bush would “politicize” the War on Terror. After a week of celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden one year ago, we find this. So now let’s move on to the excerpts that we have. There are four of them here. They’re relatively short, about 30 seconds on average. We’ve put them together in a timeline and a sequence. Basically what we have here is Obama in Afghanistan. These next four bites are gonna say, essentially, “The tide has turned now that I killed Bin Laden! I’m negotiating with the Taliban to reach a global consensus not to build a nation in America’s image.”

That’s what he told ’em. I just told you.

Here are now the sound bites. Here’s the first one.

OBAMA: Over the last three years, the tide has turned. We broke the Tal-ee-bahn’s momentum. We built strong Afghan security forces. We devastated Al-Qaeda’s leadership, taking out over 20 of their top 30 leaders. And one year ago, from a base here in Afghanistan, our troops launched the operation that killed Osama Bin Laden. The goal that I set — to defeat Al-Qaeda and deny it a chance to rebuild — is now within our reach.

RUSH: (sigh) I don’t know, folks.

When I listen to this, all I can remember is all of the times Barack Obama did not support going after terrorists, did not support War on Terror, did not think it was practical to go after Osama Bin Laden. Now, to listen to him speak, no president has ever fought terrorism. He’s the first one! Do you know that? Barack Obama is the first president finally to have the guts to go after Osama Bin Laden. He’s the first president to actively have a plan to get rid of Al-Qaeda.

This is the same man who spoke out against interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. It’s the same man who, had his announced policies as recently as a year ago been put in place, we could never have found Bin Laden because he would not have permitted the interrogation that produced the information about where Osama was. We would not have found him. The irony here is that had Obama’s policies been in place all these years, he wouldn’t have anything to crow about here. He opposed the surge in Afghanistan!

He was part of that cabal that thought that General Petraeus was lying to help Bush politically. General Petraeus. Now, all of a sudden, one year after Osama Bin Laden is killed President Obama acts like nobody before him ever cared. Not that they didn’t go after him but that nobody cared. I mean, what is this? “The goal that I set to defeat Al-Qaeda”? If we had left it up to him and Pelosi and Reid and the Democrats, Al-Qaeda would still not be pursued!

If their original policies — their original, stated policies — had been implemented, Bin Laden would still be sitting there in that house in Abbottabad with his remote control, flicking around trying to find the latest Oprah network. But instead, he’s in the ocean 200 miles off the coast of India in a body bag. (interruption) Well, no. Some treasure-seeker claims to know where the body bag is. He ran the numbers, the calculations. He thinks he knows where the body bag was dropped.

He’s announced that he’s gonna go get it if the United States doesn’t kill him or stop him first. He’s a famous treasure hunter. He’s gone after Spanish galleons from the 1500s a couple times. He’s never found ’em. He has found other stuff. He has found sunken treasure. He thinks he knows where Bin Laden is. Anyway, I listened to this. I haven’t watched it, but I know (’cause I’ve read) all the crowing the media’s doing, all of the orgasmic idolatry the media is ladling on Obama here.

And I remember all these people from Obama on down to MSNBC — every darn one of them — did everything in their power to prevent victory in the War on Terror, in Afghanistan or Iraq. And if you think back hard enough, you’ll remember that, too. And we just played for you this quote by Obama in 2006: “I’ve had enough of using terrorism as a wedge issue in our politics.” But I just… I’m sorry, folks. I can’t get caught up in it. “Bin Laden dead” is about as important as Obama as the first black president.

It matters for a day and then you move on. He’s our president. It’s his policies that matter, not his skin color. But these guys — Obama, the Democrats — did their best to stand in the way of all of these policies, and they have the gall to come forward now and act like Barack Obama is the only president who’s ever pursued Bin Laden. He’s the only president who’s ever had an idea or a plan to get rid of Al-Qaeda, the only president who’s had a plan to get rid of the “Tal-ee-bahn.” It’s just offensive to me.

Here’s the next bite.

OBAMA: My administration has been in direct discussions with the Taliban.

RUSH: Right.

OBAMA: We’ve made it clear that they can be a part of this future if they break with Al-Qaeda, renounce violence, and abide by Afghan laws. We are building a global consensus to support peace and stability in south Asia. Our goal is not to build a country in America’s image or to eradicate every vestige of the Taliban. These objectives would require many more years, many more dollars. And most importantly, many more American lives. Our goal is to destroy Al-Qaeda, and we are on a path to do exactly that.

RUSH: What am I supposed to think, hearing that? What are we supposed to think? “My administration has been in direct discussion with the Taliban. We’ve made it clear that they can be a part of this future if they break with Al-Qaeda.” Who does he think he’s talking to? Hey, Adolf, you want to be part of the future? All you gotta do is renounce Nazism. All you gotta do is renounce all this talk about killing the Jews. We’re not gonna make you live in America. You just gotta renounce. If you do that we’ll help you rebuild your country, however you want it, not like us. All you gotta do is renounce Nazism. Can you imagine any American president making that a central theme of the speech? American presidents have talked about defeat and surrender. And Obama didn’t talk about defeat. He didn’t talk about victory. He didn’t talk about any of these other things.

He wants to use the power of his personality to make the Taliban renounce who they are. I mean, that’s like going to a bunch of Jewish people and saying, “You know what, you gotta renounce your religion.” These people are religious. They’re political, too. I know they’re ideological. They’ve combined the two. And, “We’re building a global consensus,” like the one we had on global warming. “We are building a global consensus to support peace and stability … and our goal is not to build a country in America’s image…” Oh, hell, no. Don’t even think of it. Why, we wouldn’t want you to become the land of freedom and liberty. No, no. Too many countries in the world like America. We want you to have your own. We’re not gonna impose freedom on you. We’re not gonna impose our rotten, racist, homophobic values on you precious “Tal-ee-bahn” people.

I apologize. I’m sorry, folks, I don’t see the greatness here that everybody in the lapdog media does. I mean, these people’s tongues are on the floor. They are in such thrall of this. (interruption) Really? Is that right? H.R. just told me on the IFB that a couple of them he saw were having a tough time selling it. He says it’s not the same gushing that happened in 2008. Yeah, nothing is quite that level. I mean, the messianic appeal is gone. But they’re trying to recapture it. They’re trying to rebuild what they had in 2008. And what you’re seeing, H.R., is probably their realization they can’t re-create it, but they’re trying to. It’s like when you throw a great party. A great party just happens. Saturday night, just comes together, and it’s so great, you say, “You know, let’s do it next Saturday,” and you do it, and it isn’t the same, just isn’t the same. Well, they’re trying to re-create the magic of 2008. I guarantee you they’re not gonna be able to do it. They may be trying, but they know it’s a halfhearted objective.

Here’s the next excerpt.

OBAMA: My fellow Americans, we’ve traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war.

RUSH: Yeah.

OBAMA: Yet here, in the predawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon.

RUSH: You see the guns?

OBAMA: The Iraq war is over. The number of our troops in harm’s way has been cut in half, and more will soon be coming home.

RUSH: From the Associated Press, May 2nd, today, 7:08 a.m., Kabul, Afghanistan: “The Taliban struck back less than two hours after President Barack Obama left Afghanistan on Wednesday.” Let me rewrite that. Kabul, Afghanistan: “The Taliban struck back less than two hours after President Obama promised them he would not make them live in a country like America, if they would just renounce Al-Qaeda and join his worldwide consensus for socialism… uh… for freedom in southeast Asia. The Taliban, nevertheless struck back, “targeting a foreigners’ housing compound with a suicide car bomb and militants disguised as women in an assault that killed at least seven people.”

So the Taliban dressed themselves up as women, went out there and devastated a foreigners’ housing compound in a suicide car bomb attack less than two hours after President Obama asked them to lay down their arms, join him, but don’t worry, we’re not gonna make you live in a country like America. The Taliban answered President Obama. “It was the second major assault in Kabul in less than three weeks and highlighted the Taliban’s continued ability to strike in the heavily guarded capital.” Must have been one barn burner of a persuasive speech, right? Obama goes out there, says what he says, the Taliban says, “Well, here’s what we think about it.” Kablooey!

Final sound bite.

OBAMA: I know the battle’s not yet over. Some of your buddies are gonna get injured, and some of your buddies may get killed. And there’s gonna be heartbreak and pain and difficulty ahead. But there’s a light on the horizon because of the sacrifices you’ve made.

RUSH: Well, that’s really inspiring. That’s a real inspiring message. You’re gonna die. You’re gonna get shot. You’re gonna get wounded and so are your buddies. And, by the way, our rules of engagement make sure you can’t shoot at the Taliban if they’re dressed like women. We’ll give you a medal for courageous restraint.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, from the Washington Examiner: “President Obama declared today, the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, a national day of prayer for the well-being of the American military and gratitude for religious freedom. ‘We give thanks for our democracy that respects the beliefs and protects the religious freedom of all people to pray, worship, or abstain according to the dictates of their conscience,’ Obama said.” Pray to who? National Day of Prayer. Pray to who? “Or abstain according to the dictates.”

F. Chuck Todd at MSNBC. Did you hear about this? F. Chuck Todd compared the Bin Laden assassination to V-E and V-J Days. I kid you not. Now, for those of you new to the program, V-E is Victory in Europe; V-J is Victory in Japan. These were victories over entire nations, Japan, Germany, basically, who surrendered to the United States. F. Chuck Todd said, “This is a case where the President is taking the most famous day, if you will now in the war, the closest thing this country ever is going to have to a V-E Day or a V-J Day in this war which is VOBL Day, right? Bin LadenÂ’s death day.”

Now, V-E and V-J Days signaled the end of World War II in Europe and Japan. The death of Bin Laden didn’t signify the end of anything except Bin Laden. And yet, to the Drive-By Media, it’s as big a deal. That’s obscene.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Seriously, folks. V-E and V-J Days signal the end of World War II in those places, Europe and Japan. If last year, when we killed Osama was the same as the end of V-E and V-J Days, then why is the War on Terror still going on? We lost 33 soldiers in Afghanistan just last month. Now, the Democrats have said since 2001 that the War on Terror will not be over until Osama Bin Laden is found and killed. Well, we found him and we killed him. But the War on Terror is still going on. That must mean, according to them, that Bin Laden is still alive!

‘Cause the War on Terror, that was the only way we were gonna declare victory. It was the only way it was over was if Bin Laden was killed. That’s victory. Well, then why are we still fighting it? Another stupid question: This 1% versus 99%. You know, I wasn’t all that great in math. I’ll admit it. But I want to know: How do Republicans ever win elections if they only appeal to 1% of the population? Bush won twice, Reagan won twice, H. W. Bush won once. How’d that happen if they only appeal to 1% and the Democrats are 99%? How do the Democrats ever lose? Somebody is going to have to show me that.