RUSH: Let’s go to the audio sound bites. Susan Rice, our ambassador to the UN. Jacob Tapper, ABC This Week interviewed her. He said, “What is the latest you can tell us on who these attackers were at the embassy or at the consulate in Benghazi?” That’s Libya, for those of you in Rio Linda. “We’re hearing that the Libyans have arrested people. They’re saying that some people involved were from outside the country, that there might have even been al-Qaida ties. What’s the latest information,” Madam Ambassador?

RICE: It was a spontaneous, not premeditated, response to what had transpired in Cairo. In Cairo, as you know, a few hours earlier there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated. We believe that folks in Benghazi, a small number of people, came to the embassy to — or to the consulate, rather, to — replicate this sort of challenge that was posed in Cairo. And then as that unfolded, it seems to have been “hijacked,” let us say, uh, by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons. Weapons that, as you know, in the wake of the revolution in Libya are quite common and accessible. And it then evolved from there.

RUSH: Now, the only problem here is that the Libyan president is saying the exact opposite. The Libyan president is saying it was premeditated. There were 400 people. They had rockets, mortars, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades. They had stuff that you don’t just pick up in the street or have in your closet. It was premeditated, it was set up, and it was designed to get that ambassador. It was designed to!

It was designed to precisely because of what we did in taking out Khadafy, which Hillary was out laughing about and bragging about. Snerdley said, “Why’d they sent send her out there? Why’d they send her out there to look like an idiot?” Her purpose is not to be judged against the Libyan president. Her purpose is to continue with the narrative that it’s this video and the guy that produced it that did all this, and that’s why she keeps sticking with this “spontaneous” business.

The political objective is to have this guy, this Coptic Christian, that nobody’s ever seen… (laughs) It’s a mind-boggling thing when you stop and think about it. Nobody’s seen this movie, nobody sees this guy, nobody knows this guy! All of this is created by this one, hapless little individual. Meanwhile, Bill Maher and others who’ve made movies that have really laughed at, made fun of, and impugned Islam? Nothing, ’cause the rabble in Benghazi and Cairo weren’t told about Bill Maher’s movie. These people don’t just go to movie theaters, folks, and many of them aren’t allowed to have television. And if they do, it’s totally state-controlled, and you don’t get YouTube on it.

So Tapper wants to know: Well, why is the US so impotent in dealing with this?

TAPPER: President Obama pledged to repair America’s relationships with the Muslim world. Why does the US seem so impotent, and why is the US even less popular today in some of these Muslim and Arab countries than it was four years ago?

RICE: Jake, we’re not impotent! We’re not even less popular, to challenge that assessment. I don’t know on what basis you make that judgment, but l-l-l-let me —

TAPPER: It just seems that —

RICE: Let me point out —

TAPPER: — the US government —

RICE: No!

TAPPER — is powerless as this maelstrom arrived.

RUSH: US government is powerless. Well, he’s right. By the way, I think Obama and these guys are totally miscalculating. They’re misreading the American people. Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying they’re winning with this. I’m just telling you what they’re doing. I’m not trying to depress you. I’m not trying to dispirit you. That’s what they’re trying to do. I think we’re a laughingstock over there. I think we’re looked at as malleable as Silly Putty. I don’t think there’s any fear of us. If we pull out of Iraq, we’ve announced we’re getting out of Afghanistan, Obama’s apologized for the country, bowed down to the king of Saudi Arabia. What the hell are they gonna be afraid of? So, anyway, after Tapper said that we’re powerless and impotent, they wrapped up their little chat.

RICE: What happened this week in Cairo, in Benghazi, and many other parts of the region —

TAPPER: Tunisia, Khartoum.

RICE: — was a result, a direct result of a heinous and offensive video that was widely disseminated, that the US government had nothing to do with, which we have made clear is reprehensible and disgusting. Let’s look at what’s happened. It’s quite the opposite of being impotent. We have worked with the government in Egypt. President Obama picked up the phone and talked to President Morsi. President Morsi has been out repeatedly and said that he condemns this violence. He’s called off and his people have called off any further demonstrations and have made very clear that this has to stop.

RUSH: Really? Really? Just because we said so. The New York Times story on Friday, Obama called Morsi, is really ticked off, and Morsi was scared to death. Yeah, Obama read him the riot act. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. So let me ask you a question: Who would win in the Miss Alternate Universe pageant, this babe or Debbie “Blabbermouth” Schultz? Miss Alternate Universe pageant, not Miss Universe, Miss Alternate universe. Blaming the video again, blaming the video. On Sunday they’re still blaming the video. You might say, “God, they’re stupid; who’s buying this?” They are trying to solidify their base. Again, the video equals Republicans.

The video equals conservatives, intolerant, all these things that they try to keep hammering home to people about the brand that is conservatism or Republicanism. That’s why she’s willing to make a fool of herself. It’s all about getting Obama reelected. We ran this press conference from Obama at the beginning of the program, and I really think it may be a week ahead of its time, ought to wait and do this again. I mean there was some brilliant stuff in there, but unless you have a foundation and context of understanding, some of it may go over your head, but that’s me, ahead of the gang, always on the cutting edge, sometimes way too far out there.