×

Rush Limbaugh

For a better experience,
download and use our app!

The Rush Limbaugh Show Main Menu

Listen to it Button

RUSH: Can I share with you something? This whole Chris Christie business. I said that when he first got out of trouble, it was noticeable to me that none of the other wildebeests came to his defense, other RINOs. He was just left to sink or swim on his own, and none of the Democrats that supposedly like him and have worked with him and Obama — nobody — rushed to his aide. Which is classic, by the way. But there’s something else about this.

If you watched the Sunday shows yesterday — which I didn’t. I get reports, transcripts, that kind of thing. I can’t watch them anymore. I tried watching cable news the other night and I just went nuts. It just makes me mad. It’s so much out of the… It’s sophomoric. Anyway, you noticed all of the Republicans who are saying, “Yeah, he’s in the clear IF he’s telling the truth.” The number of Republicans who are saying, “Oh, yeah, everything’s cool, man. That was a great press conference — IF he’s telling the truth.” What does that tell you? It tells you that there’s some doubt.

I mean, all those Republican — it’s a lot of them — are with that caveat.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We announced on Friday pretty close to the end of the program that there was going to be a release of documents surrounding Bridgegate. It’s 907 pages. 907 pages of documents on Bridgegate? What in the name…? I mean, how is that even possible, when nobody knew anything? All there was was that e-mail from the woman, Mary Kay… I keep forgetting her last name. “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” and whoever got the e-mail knew exactly what that meant, and they did it.

There were 907 pages. Now the Feds — get this, if you haven’t heard. The Feds are looking into the money that Christie got in New Jersey for Hurricane Sandy relief to find out if there is a connection between any of that money and Bridgegate or anything else. I sit here and I continue to be really shocked that the Republican Party thought an hour and 45 minute press conference could wipe up a this away.

That’s the kind of naivete I had in year two of my program. I actually believed at one time that the media was interested in the truth and that when they were asking me questions it was because they wanted to know what I really thought. Thus, I actually thought I had a chance to persuade them of things, whatever it be, about me or my take on an issue or ideology. I actually thought that, and then when that didn’t happen — when I saw myself misquoted, taken out of context on purpose — I got mad.

I said, “These people weren’t even listening to what I was saying,” because I have good manners. I was raised to be polite. I was raised to answer people’s questions. It took me awhile to understand that the media don’t care what I think or say, that that’s not why they want to talk to me. The story’s written before the interview. I’ll give you example. H.R. can tell you the number of requests from television — Good Morning America, Today show, you name it, national and local — about Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims.

“Oh, we would love to talk to Rush about his children’s book,” and of course the publisher is just dying for me to do it. “You gotta do some TV. I mean, every author does TV. I said, “I am not going to accept any of these.” Why not? Because they don’t want to talk to me about the book. They want to take the occasion to smear me on other things that they think they haven’t had a chance to smear me on. Take your pick. If anything controversial happens.

The book is just what they will tell me they want to talk about, and there might in fact be a couple questions about it. But that’s not why they want to talk to me. I learned this 23 years ago. I learned, especially in my case, and I think every Republican ought to have this attitude, is why I’m sharing this. I don’t mean to make this about me. But I know for a fact that when the media wants to talk to me about my book, that they don’t.

And using experience guided by intelligence, I know what they would love to do, the vast majority of them — of course there are exceptions. The vast majority would love to do hit pieces, with my participation. So I’m sitting here saying, “Why do these Beltway Republicans not also get this, when they have experienced it themselves, when they have seen how Republicans rebuke conservatives, whoever, are treated?” You know, John Podhoretz in the New York Post over the weekend had a piece.

I think it was Podhoretz. Yeah. It was. It was a piece in which he was attempting to educate his readers into understanding that it was not just media bias that is causing the media to drop everything and try to expose Christie as a crook in Bridgegate and why they left Obama alone in the IRS scandal. Podhoretz says a lot of people don’t understand… This is his opinion, by the way, and I don’t totally subscribe to it, but there’s a couple of elements to it that are correct.

He says the reason why the media is going to the end of the earth to destroy Christie and why the IRS scandal is no big deal is not liberal versus conservative so much. It’s personal. They are Obama. I’ve made this point. They all go to the same schools. They all party together. I mean, when the press looks at Obama, they see themselves. David Gregory sees himself, and he’s not a crook. F. Chuck Todd looks at Obama, sees himself. He’s a member of the DC establishment in good standing.

He’s card-carrying, goes to the right restaurants, goes to the right cocktail parties, knows the right people, went to the same schools. They’re one and the same. This is Podhoretz’s point, that they can’t even conceive that Obama’s a crook, ’cause they’re not, in their minds. They’re all part of the same clique, and Obama happens to be the most popular guy in the clique, and there’s no way. So if something happened the IRS, it’s ’cause Obama didn’t care, or people were doing it without his knowledge, like it woulda happened with them.

Podhoretz’s point is there’s no ideology to it. There’s bias, but it’s bias based on the fact that they’re friends and associates, and they come from the same place, they go to the same places, and they’re the same people. Christie’s not one of them. Try as hard as he might by embracing Obama a week before the election and doing this, he’s not one of them. A, he’s a Republican so he can’t be one of them. But B, look at him.

“He’s out of control, no discipline, he’s a bully, does all this stuff.” He’s not one of them. Now, the fact that they are all liberals and Christie’s not is also a factor, and I think it’s more of a factor than Podhoretz does, but Podhoretz still has a point. The purpose of this is not to excuse the media for not going after Obama on the IRS. The point here is, I don’t understand why Republicans don’t get this. Like, you can look at all these Republican consultants and advisors who thought Christie hit a home run with that press conference.

“Man, he did it right! He came at it, and he didn’t hide, and he took it all on himself, and he was factually honest and he was nice and he was forthcoming and he was engaging. He was charismatic.” That’s not gonna impress them. Christie can’t impress them, is the point. No Republican can. We’re not one of them — and the sad thing is, I think that attitude that all you have to do to get the media off your back is please them and it establishes that those people are already occupying a position in their own minds where they’re inferior and where they’re defensive and where they need to prove themselves and where they need to make the other side like ’em.

I learned two years into my career that doing that’s not possible.

You cannot become one of them when you’re not one of them, and you can’t make them like you. Membership in that club, it’s really strict and unique, and you don’t get to admit yourself. Did they not see what happened with McCain? McCain was loved and adored until he becomes a candidate, then he becomes a dirty old man kicking kids off his front yard. So that’s what amazes me. What amazes me is after all of this, after that hour and a half press conference they thought a home run had been hit and they thought the media minds had been changed.

I’ll guarantee you, they’re sitting there stunned that this investigation is still underway and that the Feds are now involved, ’cause they thought that Christie had succeeded. They thought Christie knocked it out of the park, when it didn’t matter whether he knocked out of the park or not. This is the only guy beating Hillary in the polls, and they’re gonna go destroy this guy whatever it takes. No matter what he says he believes, no matter policies of Obama’s he signs on to or agrees with or, you know, doesn’t join the Obamacare lawsuit, he cannot buy their affection.


The only thing he could do is become one of them, and that’s switch parties. And I jokingly suggested that’s how he would get the presidential nomination after being on the Democrat side. I jokingly suggested it and a lot of people took it seriously, got mad. But that’s why I’m marveling at two things here today. I’m marveling at the theory, the thinking, the strategy behind trying to get A-Rod out of his mess, which was just mind-boggling to me, a total waste of time, and this continuing feeling on the Republican side that they can gain acceptance by the media and the Washington culture.

And so after that grand slam of a performance, now the Feds are trying to find evidence that Christie might have misused Hurricane Sandy money, and they’re trying to find out if he’s lying about not knowing anything about Bridgegate. They thought the Republicans inside the Beltway, the establishment, they thought that this was ended because of Christie’s great performance in a press conference. And I’m not passing judgment on whether it was a good performance. It’s not my point. My point is they thought it was and they thought that’d be enough. Like Brian Lamb, he doesn’t understand me. Well, I think I’m an open book, but it’s clear and obvious now that at the highest levels the Republican Party, they still don’t know who and what they’re up against.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I want to take this call. I think I want to take the call. I just barely scanned the subject line on my call screener monitor here. I’ll tell you what it says. It’s Kate, Carson City, Nevada, who says that she’s confused. She says, “You always told us the media tells us who they’re afraid of by their pile-on.” She doesn’t think the media fears Christie, like conservatives, but they are piling on. Is that right, Kate? Is that why you’re confused?

CALLER: That’s exactly it, Rush. And first I need to wish you a happy birthday. I’ve tried for years and years and years to call you.

RUSH: Wait a minute. This is Fairfield Kate, right?

CALLER: This is Fairfield Kate, yes, sir, it is.

RUSH: Fairfield, Kate, Fairfield, California, Kate. Yes, one of my old callers from Sacramento. I don’t care, I could go deaf — I mean, I am deaf. But I mean I could lose my cochlear implant, I’d still recognize your voice.

CALLER: Thank you, dear. I appreciate that. Yeah, Carson City Kate now. Hey, listen, and happy birthday, and I prayed for you at Mass yesterday because I know you need the prayers, and I remembered.

RUSH: Thank you very much.

CALLER: So I’m proud of myself for remembering.

RUSH: I always need the prayers. There’s no question.

CALLER: I know that. Listen, I am confused because what you said about John McCain. They loved McCain until he became the candidate, because they knew he was a RINO who couldn’t win, okay? Why aren’t they loving on Christie because he’s another Northeastern RINO — McCain wasn’t Northeastern, I get that, but he’s another RINO who can’t win. I am confused.

RUSH: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, wait a minute.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: When you say he’s a RINO that can’t win, that’s what you know. They don’t. All they’ve got, they live in the world of polls. They’ve got two polls, and the only Republican beating Hillary in 2016 is Christie. That’s all you gotta know. I mean, they are a little bit afraid of Christie, but this is blood in the water and they’re sharks. This is instinct.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: This is instinct, Kate.

CALLER: They are so dumb, Rush, they are so dumb that they do not yet know that Christie is a RINO who cannot win, they don’t know that?


RUSH: No, because they have a Northeastern bias, and they think the Northeast determines who wins and loses elections, determines American culture, determines everything, and Christie’s a Northeasterner, and they know that Christie embraced Obama. They know that Christie is trying to be like them. And they are good people, and they win. They’re a little worried about Christie in that sense.

CALLER: Okay. So McCain, they loved on him, he was very much like Christie, but for whatever reason they’re choosing to go after Christie sooner than they went after McCain.

RUSH: The opportunity presented itself. There’s blood in the water. This is instinct.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: This is not a strategy. I mean, they didn’t close the lanes themselves. The Christie —

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: — administration did that. So they just can’t pass it up.

CALLER: It’s just the sheer hatred for Republicans in general, it’s blood in the water, and they’re going to go after him —

RUSH: Yeah. There’s a Republican in distress who wants to be president, go kill the guy.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: Because that’s the equivalent of a shark trying to kill you.

CALLER: But then my question is, what if he becomes the candidate? What if somehow he gets through all this and Christie becomes the candidate? Then what happens? As a conservative, I’m still confused by the fact that they’re going after him. I understand what you’re saying, but then when he becomes the candidate and they’ve already used this, they can’t really —

RUSH: They’ll bring it up again.

CALLER: They’ll just bring it up again.

RUSH: Recycle it. Yeah. Remember, there’s a bunch of low-information people not even paying any attention to this and will hear about it for the first time during a general presidential election.

CALLER: Well, I’m sure you’re right. I know you’re right.

RUSH: But they’re not gonna stop digging. The point is, even if Christie gets the nomination, that won’t deter them. They don’t accept defeat in the sense that you and I do. It’s everything’s just a setback that might take them a little longer to get where they want to go.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: But now Christie is tainted, and in the LexisNexis database or in Google search, wherever you go, Chris Christie, I guarantee you Bridgegate is gonna be the first or second thing mentioned about Chris Christie now.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: Not that he did or didn’t know; just that he was mired in controversy and that there was doubt, and that no Republicans offered to come forth and offer assistance. This is so easily predictable. This is what frustrates me about the Republicans not understanding this themselves. But they don’t. I’m convinced they don’t. Anyway, Kate, I appreciate the call. I’m sad I’ve run out of time and it’s a hard break, I’ve gotta go, but always great to hear from you, and all the best. And thanks for the prayers.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT


RUSH: Now this controversy in New Jersey over the spending, federal dollars, Hurricane Sandy relief. Christie ran some ads that included himself and they cost more than other ads would cost, and the Christie administration said, “Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute! The White House approved them.” Here’s what this is about, in a nutshell. “Aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are pointing out that the Obama [Regime] approved of the New Jersey tourism ads starring Christie and his family that a Democratic congressman has encouraged federal investigators to probe.

“Using federal relief …” By the way, folks, there’s one other thing to mention here about why they’re going after Christie. One of the things that is happening throughout the country is whenever Republican governors are elected, they happen to be cleaning up the messes that were left them, and their states are ending up in much better circumstances than when the Democrats held the statehouse, whenever the previous administration was a Democrat, and that makes the Democrats look bad.


That’s just another element here. Christie, whatever your opinion of him is, as a presidential candidate, the fact is that he has come in and improved things somewhat. In the process, he’s made his predecessors look bad. That’s just another reason why the Democrats are targeting him. It’s why they wanted to take out Bob McConnell. But in the process of taking out McConnell, the way they did it, they took him out of politics.

Scorched earth. They smeared the guy to the point that he couldn’t get elected to the Senate now, if that’s what he wanted to next do because he’s “damaged goods,” and this has Clinton fingerprints all over it, and that’s also what’s happening here with Christie. It’s not just… You know, the shark and blood in the water is perhaps one of the best examples I could give you. They are sharks, there’s blood in the water, and they go to the blood. They go in for the kill.

From their standpoint, I mean, the presidency is theirs. All politics and power is theirs, and anybody outside trying to get it is deadly to them — and whenever any of those threats start bleeding, these Democrat sharks just instinctively go into gear and take ’em out. So that’s a factor here. But there’s also a strategy behind it. It’s from the Clinton era, and it’s scorched earth. It’s what Rodriguez is doing. Rodriguez’s strategy is to trash the system, to discredit the system by refusing to even participate in it.

You’ll hear some sound bites coming up that’ll explain this. Rodriguez, just as your average Democrat, cannot testify to innocence, just like Clinton couldn’t. So instead, what do you do? You trash and discredit the whole system and you go after the people running the system and try to destroy even the idea that you would be pursued, particularly and especially if you’re guilty. If you don’t want to take the punishment, if you don’t want to own up to it — and Rodriguez is obviously consumed with what people think of him. So that is what’s guiding him in this.


Now, back to Christie and this money that they’re investigating Hurricane Sandy. “Aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are pointing out that the Obama [Regime] approved of the New Jersey tourism ads starring Christie and his family that a Democratic congressman has encouraged federal investigators to probe. Using federal relief money after Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the state of the New Jersey ran ‘Stronger than the Storm’ ads promoting the stateÂ’s beaches.

“‘The Stronger Than The Storm campaign was just one part of the first action plan approved by the Obama [Regime]and developed with the goal of effectively communicating that the Jersey Shore was open for business during the first summer after Sandy,’ Christie spokesman Colin Reed said Monday. CNN reported Monday that New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development over the summer to probe whether it was appropriate for New Jersey to spend $25 million in hurricane relief funds on TV ads promoting tourism.

“Christie and his family starred in the ads, prompting criticism from Democrats seeing how he was running for re-election at the time,” and he’s using federal money to basically do commercials for himself. So that’s what they’re looking into. “The timing of PalloneÂ’s announcement of the probe is raising eyebrows because it comes days after Christie found himself in a national media scandal over his administrationÂ’s intentional closing of traffic lanes leading to a busy bridge in the state.

“On Monday, ChristieÂ’s office welcomed the review of the Sandy relief funding expenditures and said they were confident it would indicate the TV ads were appropriate.” There was a bid process here, and there were some ads that were much cheaper that could have been run and spend less money making the same case that did not include the Christie family. The ads with the Christie family were chosen by Christie, they cost a lot more than the other bid.

So now the Christie people are saying, “Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Well, wait a minute! Hold on a minute! We had that all approved by Obama,” which isn’t going to matter. That’s not gonna matter. Obama doesn’t know anything, either. Remember? He didn’t know about the IRS and he didn’t know about his website problem, so he certainly didn’t know that Christie was gonna star in ads promoting tourism using Obama money.

So the Democrats are just gonna say, “Ah, there goes the Christie team starting to squeal here again, whine and moan trying to make themselves out as one of us. But they’re not.” And, meanwhile, McCain’s out there. What did McCain say? Well, McCain basically is another one of these Republicans who said that he thinks Christie has put this behind him, “IF he’s telling the truth.” Is that not amazing, all these Republicans offering that caveat?

I mean, very few of ’em… I don’t know of any, actually, might be a couple. Do you know, Mr. Snerdley, of any Republicans saying, “He’s telling the truth, I know he’s telling the truth, and that’s it. There’s nothing more here, nothing to see here”? They’re all… (interruption) Okay, none that strong. They all have the caveat, “He’s in the clear, great performance, knocked it out of the park, IF he’s telling the truth.”

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: CNN, by the way, responsible for some of the latest brouhaha involving Governor Christie with the — the allegation that he used Hurricane Sandy money for tourism ads starring himself and his family. CNN, in their — in their article says that the Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath was Christie’s signature achievement, which could be part of the problem. In a sense if you’re gonna say that, if you’re gonna say that Hurricane Sandy and the aftermath is Christie’s signature achievement, that means that…


Well, I mean, circumstances are set up that you’re victim of a storm. Your greatest achievement is how you act after being victimized by a storm. However, there is some bad news for the Democrats out there on the polling front. The Pew Center for People and the Press say that the Christie story is attracting only 18% interest from the general public. The headline is: “Christie Story Attracts Little Public Interest, 18% Say They Paid Close Attention.”

That’s exactly why the media is going to not let it go, to get that 18% up higher. The media is out there saying, “Wait a minute, this is huge, ’cause everybody can understand traffic jams, and everybody can understand that this is not what politicians are supposed to do.” I actually have read… I kid you not. I can’t quote you which piece, but in getting ready for the program today, I actually read some liberal columnist assert that this traffic gate thing, Bridgegate, is easy to understand.

But the IRS controversy’s too complicated. Don’t kid yourself, liberal commentators. If you think the people of this country are not interested in the IRS scandal ’cause it’s too complicated, you’re lying to yourself. That IRS scandal is easily understandable because people think it happens every day. People this country think the IRS is used as a political weapon, and always has been — and if anything would argue to it not being a big deal, it’s because a lot of people don’t think there’s anything unique to it.

Now, this one, this particular IRS scandal is linked directly to Obama and his aides targeting ideological opponents, i.e., in the Tea Party. So we’ll just have to see. I really do believe… Polling data notwithstanding, I really believe that people in both parties inside the Beltway have less and less understanding what’s going on in the rest of the country and what’s important to the rest of the country.

I think the narcissism and the egoism inside the Beltway is such that I think there’s a real gap — distance, if you will — in understanding, relatability, people that live and work every day in Washington and what’s going on inside, outside it.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This