RUSH: Jeff in Minot, North Dakota. I’m glad you waited, sir. You’re next. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. Earlier in your show you mentioned the Rose story and Obama playing cards while the bin Laden attack’s taking place. And I think you mentioned something about his disrespect for the military. And I think this goes way, way beyond disrespect. The fact that he sent men and women into harm’s way to go get bin Laden, which was really a meaningless event anyway, and then he could not stay in the Situation Room and manage the situation and be there should some executive decisions be made, instead he had to go hide, he had to hide behind a security guy, told him he said he couldn’t be in that room. It’s just cowardice. It’s just plain cowardice. I’ve had this anger seething in me for months, years, and that story just pushed me to the point of being absolutely enraged.
RUSH: Jeff, when we come back let me play an audio sound bite for you, because it will further enrage you. What Jeff’s talking about here, folks, is that — and by the way, Jeff, thanks for the call, I appreciate it. Reggie Love, who’s Obama’s shadow, said he was playing cards during the bin Laden raid. Other people have said he was playing golf. Reggie Love’s out there saying that he’s playing cards and I want you to listen to the way the media — you think it’s cowardice, but listen to the media cover for this. This is Charlie Rose and Norah O’Donnell on CBS this morning.
O’DONNELL: Fifteen games of Spades. It was a long raid that was carried out. It took a long raid, that operation, and clearly the president, I think, needed to take a break. I mean, some people are gonna take that headline out of context today.
ROSE: I take out of that, I want the president to do whatever he needs to do to clear his mind so he can make the most effective decision he can.
O’DONNELL: Right. That was clearly a tension-filled day.
RUSH: Oh, yeah, oh, my God, oh, my God, it was so filled with tension. Obama had to go play Spades, he couldn’t sit there in the Situation Room with the chief joints. He couldn’t sit there with the national security people. He had to go play golf. He had to go play cards. And here you hear Charlie Rose and Norah O’Donnell (imitating), “Oh, whatever it takes to keep his mind sharp. Whatever it takes to keep him in the game. He’s too important, whatever it takes to keep him making the most effective decision.” They’re gonna cover for this guy no matter what he does. You call it cowardice. They call it staying focused.
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RUSH: I think, ladies and gentlemen, that Reggie Love blew it. I think he was sent out there to essentially build Obama up. I think Reggie Love was sent out there to try to convey what a gutsy guy Obama is, and he blew it. ‘Cause they clearly didn’t intend for the reaction they’re getting. Obama’s playing cards during this?
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RUSH: I got a question for you. Let’s say it is the day after the regime announces, and they put the pictures Obama in the Situation Room. Obama’s got his official “I’m president” jacket on, and he’s sitting in there, and there’s Hillary, and the chief joints, and they’re all gazing at the TV monitors in the Situation Room, and the news is announced that Obama Killed Osama, just like it happened.
What do you think would have been the reaction if I, the next day, had said, “They can’t fool me. I don’t believe he was in there for this. He was probably out playing Spades or on the golf course.” What do you think the reaction would have been? The media would have been all over me for disrespecting our brave president who single-handedly ordered and supervised the capture and the killing and the burial of Osama Bin Laden. And here I am, I can’t say one good thing about Obama. I can’t grant him even one accomplishment. I have to besmirch everything. I’m asking, “Was he playing Spades or was he out playing golf?” You know that would have been the reaction.
Well, guess what? Obama’s shadow, his body man, Reggie Love, you know what this guy does? He’s not a security guy. Everybody would love one of these guys. Reggie Love makes sure Obama’s luggage is where it’s supposed to go. You’ve got the White House butler, who does the packing. Reggie Love makes sure that everything that’s supposed to happen to get Obama wherever he’s supposed to be happens, and that whatever is supposed to be there gets there happens. He’s an emotional — what do you call it? He’s there to bounce stuff off of. He’s a confidant, yeah. He’s basically a confidant. But he’s not a security guy. Secret Service does that.
He doesn’t actually pack the luggage. The White House butler — ahem, ahem — the butler does that, or whoever the butler assigns it to. Wherever Obama is, Reggie Love is there. And Reggie Love is saying, “You’re the best, you’re the best, there’s nobody better.” Reggie Love is the guy saying, “Trust your judgment, trust your instincts.” Reggie Love is out there keeping the president bucked up. That’s his role. So they sent Reggie Love out there — I don’t know what precipitated this, but Reggie Love didn’t speak all the while he was working for Obama. He’s not working for Obama. There’s a new Reggie, there’s a new body person. I don’t know who it is.
They sent Reggie out there, and I’m convinced that his objective here was to remind everybody what a gutsy guy Obama is, what a gutsy call Obama made, and the trouble is that Reggie screwed up the gutsy call part, because Reggie made it sound like Obama didn’t care. He’s out there playing cards. I’m certain that they sent Reggie out there to solidify and emphasize Obama’s empathy. Let’s listen to Reggie. This actually was on July 18th. It was just posted online yesterday, though. But it was July 18th in Los Angeles at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA, and Reggie Love is speaking to the students. It’s just 15 seconds, but here’s what he said.
LOVE: Most people were like down in the Situation Room, and he was like, I’m not — I can’t — I’m not gonna be down there. I can’t watch this entire thing and just — so he, myself, Pete Souza, the White House photographer, Marvin, we played — we must have played 15 hands — 15 games of Spades.
RUSH: Now, I am sure that Reggie did not mean it to sound like Obama couldn’t deal with what was going on in there, but that’s the way he sounded, ’cause he says, “Most people were like down in The Situation Room and he was and was, ‘I’m not, I can’t, I’m not gonna be down there. I can’t watch this entire thing.'” Why not? It’s your operation. It’s Osama Bin Laden. Why can’t you watch, like, the whole thing? Like, why do you have to send Reggie down there, like, with the deck of cards and, like, play Spades like that? Like why do you have to do that? But Reggie didn’t intend that. I’m sure that Reggie didn’t intend to make it look like Obama didn’t have the stomach for it. I mean, what does this sound like to you?
LOVE: Most people were like down in the Situation Room, and he was like, I’m not — I can’t — I’m not gonna be down there. I can’t watch this entire thing and just — so he, myself, Pete Souza, the White House photographer, Marvin, we played — we must have played 15 hands — 15 games of Spades.
RUSH: Marvin is Marvin Nicholson. Marvin’s the new Reggie. (imitating Obama) “I can’t watch this whole thing. I’m not gonna go down there. What the hell, let’s go play cards, Reggie. Grab the photographer, the White House photographer.” They had to have a White House photographer wherever they went. I think it was the dining room table in the residence. A table, by the way, at which I have dined. Ahem. So that’s where they’re playing Spades. Second floor of the White House. The elevator’s right there off the diplomatic reception room. Small elevator. It’s beautiful. Wood paneled, great elevator operator.
Anyway, this was supposed to make Obama sound, I’m convinced, empathetic. So Reggie goes out and says that stuff, and it sounds like, you know, like, like Obama couldn’t deal with it. He’s like, “I’m not, I can’t. I’m not gonna be down there. I can’t watch this entire thing.” What do you mean, you can’t watch your operation, ostensibly. And remember, prior to this, we’re told that Obama was on the golf course in the morning. We’re told that Valerie Jarrett had to grab him — Valerie and Hillary, the chicks, had to grab him off the golf course and practically lasso him to get him in there, because he had rejected the operation three different times or two different times.
So this obviously is not the way Reggie intended this. And that’s why the media is now circling the wagons that this was a brilliant thing. This is all about staying focused. This is all about doing whatever he has to do to keep his mind clear. Here again, Norah O’Donnell and Charlie Rose at CBS.
O’DONNELL: Fifteen games of spade. It was a long raid that was carried out. It took a long raid, that operation, and clearly the president, I think, needed to take a break. But I think some people are gonna take that headline out of context today.
ROSE: I take out of that, I want the president to do whatever he needs to do to clear his mind so he can make the most effective decision he can.
O’DONNELL: Right. That was clearly a tension-filled day.
RUSH: Oh, God, oh, my God, and if he couldn’t stand to watch this, can you imagine Benghazi, can you imagine that day? I wonder if they even played Spades that day. I wonder if they were playing hearts. I wonder if they’re playing poker. Maybe they’re playing basketball. Maybe they’re out there shooting hoops. Maybe he and Reggie and Marvin are out shooting hoops. But if he couldn’t watch the whole bin Laden thing, like, then, like, how could he watch the Benghazi operation, like, ’cause that went on for seven hours. They could play a few hundred games of Spades. Do you think Reggie meant to say Spades? Okay, if that’s what they played. Probably didn’t play hearts, basketball, during Benghazi. But he’s like he can’t be there for that whole thing.
So, anyway, here’s Charlie and Norah and, “Oh, yeah, oh, this is brilliant,” whatever. Now, just imagine the day after they make this big announcement, that big picture, and I say, “I don’t believe this for a minute. I think he’s out playing Spades. I think he’s out playing golf,” can you imagine how they would come down on me? He-he-he-he-he-he-he. Folks, it would have been bloody. I’da walked outta here bleeding that day. They wouldn’ta waited ’til the cable shows that night to jump into my chili. Here is Obama himself. This is May 8th, 2011, on 60 Minutes with Steve Kroft, and he’s asking Obama, “During the bin Laden raid, what was the mood?” Now, we know now that the mood was at the residence playing Spades. But Kroft didn’t know that. Kroft thinks he’s asking about the mood in the Situation Room.
OBAMA: We were able to monitor the situation in real time, getting reports back from Bill McRaven, the head of our Special Forces operations, as well as Leon Panetta. There were big chunks of time in which all we were doing was just waiting, and it was the longest 40 minutes of my life, with the possible exception of when Sasha got meningitis when she was three months old and I was waiting for the doctor to tell me that she was all right. It was a very tense situation.
KROFT: Were you nervous?
OBAMA: Yes.
RUSH: “Your deal, Mr. President, your deal.” Meaning with the cards. Well, I don’t know if TMZ’s gonna call him full of it. ‘Cause this doesn’t involve Switzerland. You mean like they called Oprah full of it? Ah. TMZ will leave this alone. But these 40 longest minutes of my life, like. Playing cards with Reggie Love. May 8th, 60 Minutes, Steve Kroft reported the following about Obama on the raid on Osama and his compound.
KROFT: To break the tension and to clear his head, he played some golf in the morning, waiting for the sun to go down in Pakistan. Then he returned to the White House for the most critical 40 minutes of his presidency.
RUSH: My God, this is so syrupy. Gag me, really. So, played golf in the morning, then he came back for the most critical 40 minutes of his presidency, playing golf in the morning, and then cards, Spades, with Reggie Love and Marvin Nicholson and the White House photographer. Let’s go back to the Democrat National Convention, September 6th of 2012, Charlotte, North Carolina, vice president Bite Me.
BIDEN: Bravery resides in the heart of Barack Obama, and time and time again I witnessed him summon it. This man has courage in his soul, compassion in his heart, and a spine of steel. And. And because — because of all the actions he took, because of the calls he made, because of the determination of American workers and the unparalleled bravery of our Special Forces we can now proudly say what you’ve heard me say the last six months: Osama Bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive.
RUSH: He was so brave that he left The Situation Room and, like, he didn’t want to spend all that time in there. He couldn’t do that. He went out and he played cards with Reggie Love.
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RUSH: Folks, I wonder, was Obama able to stay in the Situation Room through the entire rodeo clown crisis, do you think? No, let me just say one thing. I know what some of you are saying. “Come on, Rush, it all works out ’cause they said there was a lot of downtime. He coulda gone and played cards and come back and been in the Situation Room at the right time and played golf.” I understand all that. Folks, here’s my problem. We are talking about the president of the United States. When the vice president has to go out on the convention floor and start telling us how brave the guy is, I’m sorry. That’s understood, that’s part of the package.
It’s like if a woman has to tell you she’s not a prostitute, what are the odds that she is? You’ve heard people deny a charge that hasn’t been made. It’s the same stuff that happened during the Clinton years. All these sycophants, all the time sitting around telling stories how great, empathetic, brave, courageous, whatever the guy is, because it doesn’t speak for itself. And now all these people covering for him, “Oh, golly, playing cards, well, whatever he has to do to keep his mind sharp.” Give me a break. He didn’t take it seriously, and everybody understands this, and they sent Reggie Love out there to try to cover it up and make it look like empathy, and he didn’t pull it off, and so now it’s cover the wagons time or CYA.
Nobody had to tell us that the characters John Wayne played in movies were brave and patriotic. Certain things about people speak for themselves, and these are all characteristics that we think we are electing when somebody’s running for the office. I don’t quite know how to explain it, but what it tells me is that if they have to tell us he’s brave, there must be a question about it. It must not speak for itself. If they have to tell us that playing cards during the bin Laden raid is a great way of keeping your mind sharp, something they know is not right about this and they’re trying to square it.
This kind of stuff happened all the time during the Clinton years. During the eight years of Reagan, he didn’t have people working for him out there telling everybody how great he was and how empathetic he was and how this or that he was. I mean, you had media speculating on the fact he couldn’t stay awake, but there was not this never-ending image and PR campaign constantly surrounding him, and there wasn’t with George W. Bush. Now, you might be saying, “Well, we need that in this day and age, Rush, because of people and their exposure to the media. They have to be told. They don’t assume that these qualities exist.” I maintain they do.
You can tell if a person is a man or not. You know manliness when you see it. You know competence when you see it. You know leadership when you see it. You may not be able to define it for people. It’s like Potter Stewart, the Supreme Court justice, said (paraphrasing), “I may not be able to define pornography, but by God I know it when I see it.” You know compassion. You know toughness. You know manliness when you see it. You know cowardice when you see it. And these people must think we don’t see it. And the Clinton people must have thought we didn’t see it. ‘Cause every day they had to drill it into us, how great these guys are. And I’m sorry. If I have to be told how great somebody is, then I’m suspicious. It must not be patently obvious.