RUSH: I’m gonna go back to Petraeus. Have you heard, by the way, that Petraeus went to Libya after Benghazi, did his own investigation? He did. He interviewed people himself. You gotta remember this, too. Petraeus also testified, or I think he testified. I think it was testimony. If he didn’t testify, he said publicly that it was spontaneous combustion that led to what happened in Benghazi. He lent credence to the fact that it was the video, as the CIA director. Then he goes there, and he went to Benghazi, he conducted his own interviews. It’s after that trip to Benghazi that all of this starts hitting the fan.

Petraeus probably knows what happened. He knows full well what happened. And he could explain what really happened. But what happens now if he does? And, by the way, how does Hillary Clinton get away with being out of the country, and Panetta? What is this, a monarchy? (imitating Clinton) “I’m sorry, I don’t feel like testifying. I’m tired. All I want to do is sleep and taste wine.” That’s what Mrs. Clinton is saying. But let’s say that they bring Petraeus up and he says, “Yeah, I went over there, I investigated, and I found out that it wasn’t spontaneous. It had nothing to do with the video.”

If he says that now, he says it as what? He says it as somebody who has been ethically corrupted with the release of the news that he had this affair, and that would give the media and the regime, “Oh, he just got sour grapes. He’s not grateful for what this president did for him, promoting him in Afghanistan and then making him CIA director. He’s got sour grapes. He’s just trying to get even.” I don’t doubt that there’s an effort to discredit the guy and what he knows. ‘Cause he went there. This has not been widely reported, but it’s trickling out now.

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RUSH: Okay. Now people are starting to ask, “What are they trying to cover up here with this Petraeus thing?” That’s the question, right? Well, I’ll tell you what I think. I think what they’re trying to cover up and what they’re trying to discredit is that Petraeus knows what happened there. Let me go through some things here very quickly, ladies and gentlemen.

Petraeus and Hillary Clinton briefed congressmen on this right after September 11th, behind closed doors. That is the briefing that all of the congressmen complained about so loudly. They said they were lied to. Hillary and Petraeus both said it was the video, both said it was a spontaneous eruption. And now they know that they were lied to. That was a closed-door briefing right after September 11th.

Now, the defense always wants to discredit the star witness for any prosecution. The star witness here would be Petraeus. Now, we were also told before last week that Petraeus was looking forward to testifying. And then we find out that Petraeus personally investigated Benghazi. He personally went to Libya. ABC News has reported this.

“In late October, Petraeus traveled to Libya to conduct his own review of the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans, including US Ambassador Christopher Stevens. While in Tripoli, [Petraeus] personally questioned the CIA station chief and other CIA personnel who were in Benghazi on Sept. 11 when the attack occurred. … Petraeus’ friend described his investigation as Petraeus’ ‘personal review’ of both the Sept. 11 attack and the events leading up to it.

“The trip was so recent that the CIA has told the Congressional Intelligence committees that the trip report has not yet been completed,” and that’s why they can’t tell anyone what Petraeus found. Petraeus hasn’t finished his report, and now he never will. Isn’t that interesting? “‘He was looking forward to testifying,’ a Petraeus friend told ABC News. ‘He wanted to be fully prepared,'” which is why he went over there.

“But now Petraeus is telling friends he does not think he should testify.” Well, obviously. Now we start asking: Okay, who knew what, when? We’re being asked to believe that Obama didn’t know anything about it ’til last Thursday, that nobody of any import knew any of this until last Thursday. “So whatever’s happening here with the release of the information that he was having the affair, none of that could have had anything to do with Benghazi.

“And it’s silly of you to think so. None of that could have had anything to do with the election. It’s silly of you to think so about that, too.” But Petraeus went and wrote his own report. He originally, in closed-door testimony, agreed with Mrs. Clinton. He towed the company line. It was the video; it was a spontaneous attack. He goes over there, he talks…

Look, Petraeus now knows what happened, and Petraeus was going to testify, and what he was gonna testify was… It’s obvious! The administration had a story. He was asked to be part of it. Hillary Clinton was part of it. “It was a spontaneous protest that got out of hand that was caused by the video. Pure and simple.” Now he knows that’s not true. That’s what they’re trying to cover up.

If there is a cover-up going on, it is what Petraeus knows and what they are apparently succeeding in making sure he doesn’t say. Because after all this, he doesn’t want to go testify. And, by the way, if he did… Folks, do you understand the climate? If he goes up there, if he testifies and he says the truth, can you imagine what the dogs of this administration and the media are gonna do to him?

People like this value their reputations and their character and their integrity. These are not the kind of people that want the media dumping all over ’em every day. These are not the kind of people that want to even tempt that. There are others, like me, who don’t care. But I’m really rare in that regard. I’m really rare. I couldn’t care less because I know I can’t stop it. But others think they can, and they don’t want to put up with it. Petraeus…

Let me ask you. I mean, look at the dummkopfs in this country now. We have a guy who’s a cult hero idol in Barack Obama. Here comes Petraeus after it’s been revealed that Obama didn’t know anything about it. He was having this affair, and he’s maybe giving away national security secrets and this guy goes up and testifies against Obama? Do you know what kind of excrement’s gonna hit his fan?

“Sour grapes! He’s trying to destroy our wonderful young president.” I just hear James Carville now. (impression) “This man is out to destroy our president and he wants to give your kids cigarettes at the same time he’s feeding you trans fats!” I can hear it. I can tell you what they would do to Petraeus. You know it and I know it — and he apparently does, too. For good measure they throw in the babe down in Tampa, and they get the other general involved.

So now we got all these generals taking orders from their privates. No generaling is getting done. We’ve got a little joke of a soap opera going on here. The FBI is raiding — you think this is an accident? They’re raiding the home of a woman who just had an affair with a guy? How often does that happen? It’s all to make it look like some major breach may have happened here. This is all in my humble, uninformed, wild-guess estimation.

This is all about sending Petraeus a message. “You want us raiding your house?” Folks, we… (sigh) Sadly, most people do not know the kind of people we’re dealing with. We simply do not know — I mean, I do — the kind of people leftists are. You can take a look at the strewn carcasses of people who decided to try to fight this bunch. I’m speaking figuratively when I say “carcasses.”

Here’s Jay Carney. Let’s go to audio sound bite 22, that much in Washington at the White House press briefing. Jonathan Karl of ABC News says, “This investigation, this has been going on for months. How is it the White House didn’t have any idea of this until a day after the election and Congress only a few days after that? How in the world can Petraeus be doing all this with thousands of documents and all this stuff that we’ve learned, Jay, and the White House didn’t know about this until the day after the election?”

CARNEY: I would refer you to the FBI. They have, as I understand it, protocols in place for when they notify, uh, the legislative and executive branches of investigations. Uh, and it is simply a fact, uh, that the White House was not aware of the situation regarding General Petraeus until Wednesday, uh, and the situation involving General Allen until Friday. So the FBI is the place to go in terms of explanation of the protocols they follow.

RUSH: “Okay, cool. We’ll go to the FBI.” Knock on the door. “Oh, Mr. FBI guy? Hi! The White House says that you knew all this and didn’t tell ’em.”

“Yep! Yep! Absolutely right. Oh, Jay Carney? What did he say?”

“He said that you knew and didn’t tell anyone.”

“That’s exactly right!”

“What else did he say?”

“Well, he said that it was a video.”

“That’s exactly right!”

Who runs the FBI, for crying out loud? Carney tells them to go talk to the FBI? This is the same guy who said for two weeks, “It is a video. Everybody knows that it was the video that caused this.” Obama’s the guy now saying, “Go talk to the FBI! Go talk to my chief of staff! Go talk to the CIA! They’ll tell you.” Of course they will! Who runs all this? It’s pretty obvious to me what’s going on out there, ladies and gentlemen.

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RUSH: A reporter said to Jay Carney when Carney said, “No, the president didn’t know about this until the day after the election, the Petraeus thing,” a reporter said, “Do you understand how people would think this is utterly bizarre?” Who thinks it’s utterly bizarre? I don’t think anybody thinks it’s bizarre, not where Obama’s concerned. Nobody thinks anything’s odd about Obama. I haven’t yet seen any election returns that tell me that people question what Obama says.

This is Lavarna in Heltonville, Indiana. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hi there. I’m with you. You know, we haven’t seen a whole lot from the media or from the Obama administration that’s proven to be trustworthy, and I feel like they’re discrediting our generals, which would be very credible witnesses on Benghazi and also distracting the rest of us from finding, you know —

RUSH: Yeah, they’ve turned Benghazi into a sex scandal. They’ve turned Benghazi into an episode of the Real Housewives of West Point. I’m not kidding. We’ve got four dead Americans. We have an actual dereliction of duty and responsibility and it’s been turned into a sex scandal. And your question is how in the world is it that reprobates, like in our media and elsewhere, can discredit a General Petraeus?

CALLER: Correct.

RUSH: Right? That’s what you’re wondering. How is it they’re so easily able to tear these people down? Well, Petraeus did have the affair. There’s no taking that back. I mean, he’s admitted it.

CALLER: That doesn’t negate his expertise and his knowledge on Benghazi, however.

RUSH: Well, no, not in a pristine world, but in this world where he becomes Obama’s enemy by virtue of what he knows and Obama’s friends have all these papers and microphones and television cameras, and to somebody like Petraeus, who’s very much concerned about his media image, they own him.

CALLER: So much for the Constitution and defending it.

RUSH: Yeah. I don’t think anybody thinks the Constitution won’t survive over this. They’re not looking at it that way. Look, I understand what you’re saying. You’re frustrated how easy it is they take our people out. They target somebody, take ’em out, and they get away with it. People who couldn’t wear Petraeus’ shoes take him out. Whereas Bill Clinton does this and he’s a hero. Bill Clinton does this, they destroy a young woman’s life, Bill Clinton’s a hero. Bill Clinton lies under oath to a grand jury, he’s a hero. He’s the hero of the Democrat Party. I know exactly what you’re saying. Bill Clinton does this and Ken Starr is the enemy.

I mean, this was a consensual affair. Clinton was sexually harassing a 19-year-old and who knows how many other women. And what they do, they go out and portray Ken Starr as some sex-crazed pervert, the whole Democrat Party-media complex. Here you’ve got Petraeus in an activity that is far less damaging than Bill Clinton, and he’s gotta be destroyed. Bill Clinton has to be saved. Or any Democrat, any Democrat that gets involved in a mess like this has to be saved. I understand what you’re saying. Look, if I had the answer, we would not be losing.

Patty, somewhere in Pennsylvania. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: What a privilege. You made my day. I’ve been very upset since this election, but basically what I wanted to talk about was I worked in the system for 15 years, and, believe me, back then it was a mentality. People lived off of it, they gamed everything, you couldn’t change the mind-set. There’s too many programs and goodies that it worked against you. Probably in the late eighties is when I found you, which, by the way, I got written up all the time when I tried to listen to you because you were a sexist and racist. It just brought me a lot of trouble, but it also gave me peace of mind to know that there was somebody out there that —

RUSH: See, look at that. You got written up just for listening to me.

CALLER: Yes, yes. I was told I wasn’t allowed to listen to you.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: Because it was sexist and it was racist and I was trying to help the people that you were trying to put down.

RUSH: Who wrote you up?

CALLER: Oh, supervisors. And in government, believe me, you can’t argue with stupid.

RUSH: Was that what you meant when you said you were part of the system, you worked for the government?

CALLER: Yes. And supervisors, they would write you up, I can see how this whole Benghazi thing is going because incompetence rises to the top, and Petraeus doesn’t have a prayer. Your only prayer is to get out.

RUSH: Well, see, she thinks country is lost. She thinks it’s lost and every time you turn around, more money is going to people who are sitting around. Yep. Thanks much for the call.

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RUSH: Okay. Looking at what works, or what has worked in the past. Perhaps, ladies and gentlemen, General Petraeus could ask his wife, who’s not happy right now, we’ve heard, she’s very upset, but maybe ask her to go on the Today Show in an interview with Matt Lauer and claim that the her husband is the victim of a vast conspiracy against him. You could say right-wing or left-wing or whatever, just a vast conspiracy against him. And then I think what Petraeus and his wife need to do is immediately hop down to the Virgin Islands. There are plenty of beautiful beaches down there and get a photographer with a long-range lens, Petraeus and his wife in their swimming attire dancing on the beach.

You give that picture to the LA Times or the New York Times, and you tell ’em the picture was taken a couple of months ago. You put that picture out. I mean, these are the things that have worked in the past. And then you hire a spokesman to go out and start trashing whoever it is that is investigating you. In this case, the FBI, a bunch of sex perverts. I mean, they’re sending people shirtless pictures, they’re raiding people’s homes, zealous sex perverts, and so forth. And then, you know, tell Broadwell that if she’s got a stained dress, to throw it away so it’s not discovered. And who knows what could happen. It worked once. It worked big time for a former president. I mean, something that’s worked once could theoretically work again. You never know.