RUSH: This CNN info guy is somewhat speechless. Think of this next sound bite as a sound bite of a Drive-By reporter learning in real time who Obama is.
This is CNN’s Newsroom this morning during what they called special coverage of Obama’s remarks about the VA. This is after Obama spoke, after Obama told everybody how mad he was when he found out about this. Jake Tapper spoke with the correspondent, Drew Griffin, about Obama’s remarks. Tapper said, “Drew Griffin, the reporter from CNN who began this whole story with his investigation into the Phoenix VA. Drew, the veterans that you speak with, what did they want to hear from President Obama today and did he deliver?”
GRIFFIN: I was a little caught off guard by what apparently is a disconnect between what’s happening out here in the country and what the president is talking about. I hate to be curt, but this problem is real; it exists; it really doesn’t have to be studied. To say that you are gonna now wait for yet again more studies to come back and more fact-finding to come back? I would think that the vets I’ve been talking to wanted much more direct action. I was a little confused by the president’s remarks today. At the same time he was saying that he’s known about this problem for years and years and years and it goes back decades, far past into other people’s presidencies, and yet we’re five years into his presidency and the problem seems to be certainly not better, and perhaps even worse.
RUSH: Well, we don’t know if this guy will have a job tomorrow, but nevertheless this is the eye-opening education of a Drive-By reporter. This is the guy who broke the scandal in Phoenix. This is the guy who found one of the original whistleblowers and he was stunned and here today. “What do you mean we’re gonna investigate? We don’t need to investigate. We know exactly what happened.” He could not believe what he was hearing.
“I hate to be curt, but this problem is real; it exists; it really doesn’t have to be studied. To say that you are gonna now wait for yet again more studies to come back? … [T]he vets I’ve been talking to wanted much more direct action.” Exactly, but you see, the audience for this press conference was not the veterans. The audience for this press conference is not the media. The audience here is the low-information population. All they’re supposed to see and all they are supposed to take away from this is that Obama cares and he’s really mad and he’s gonna get to the bottom of it like he’s gotten to the bottom of everything else.
He’s gonna drop everything and get to the bottom of this and he’s gonna fix it! But first he’s gotta do the fair and equitable thing. He’s got to investigate and find out if it’s really true, and anybody should understand the equality and fairness of that. So he’s gonna do that, then he’s gonna fix it. That’s the takeaway. This is not for you and me today. This is not for people that know what’s going on.
This is for people that don’t know what’s going on, who are watching perhaps for the first time because the president is talking about it for the first time. They say, “Oh, wow! This must be big.” So the low-information crowd tunes in and all they see is he’s really mad about it. “Okay, good. Good! Somebody ought to be mad about this. Wow! Okay, he’s gonna fix it just like he fixes everything else.” Even this CNN reporter says he’s known about this problem for years and years, it goes back to prior presidencies, but the problem seems to even be worse during his presidency.
This guy can’t believe what he saw.
We’re five years in, almost six years in, and finally a Drive-By reporter gets it. It won’t last long ’til they get his mind right but at least he got it, saw it, and reported on it.