RUSH: It continues to go bad for Bill and Hillary. And you know why it’s going bad for Bill and Hillary? It’s because, like I told you at the very outset of this, they are stuck in the nineties. They are trying to use the same things that smoked the media in the nineties, today, both Hillary and Bill, and it isn’t working.
And you know the main problem? Everybody knows Bill Clinton’s lying. (imitating Clinton) “Hey, you know, I didn’t take any capital gains out of there.” They went and fact-checked it, hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital gains taxes he’s taken. They’re lying through their teeth and they know that. The reason that they’re not happy, he’s not doing it as good as he used to. They’re even saying that. Clinton isn’t as slick as he used to be. It’s always been the case — don’t doubt me on this — the media’s always known when the Clintons are lying, everybody has.
But they marveled at how good Bill was at it. They were just dazzled. You know, he’d be at a press secretary situation, pressroom briefing or whatever, press conference, does a one-on-one, he’d lie to them, and they would just marvel over how damn good he was at it. They would call him one of the greatest ever. That’s when we got stories about how telling lies was actually helpful, spared people’s feelings and all that.
Well, what’s happening now is, he’s not lying well. (imitating Clinton) “Hey, somebody gotta pay the bills around here. I said of course I’m gonna keep doing my half million dollar speeches. Somebody gotta pay the bills.” And the media is saying, “That’s not artful. That’s not the kind of superb lying we have come to expect from Clinton.” So the bloom’s off the rose, and it continues.
Ron Fournier today, Ruth Marcus, I mean, all these former Clinton defenders, no matter what, are openly expressing their concern. And Real Clear Politics, Ruth Marcus here “Bill Clinton’s Damaging Self-Defense.” (imitating Clinton) “You know, somebody’s gotta pay the bills. We left the White House broke and never gonna go through that again.” They’re just not willing to look the other way here because, let’s face it, the Clintons are older now, and it may not be as natural and they may not be as facile at it as they used to be.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We mentioned at the top of the program that the Clinton crime family is suffering. They’re suffering in the media. The media, featuring many women, by the way, who used to be totally enamored of Bill Clinton, are now becoming concerned. Not over the fact that Bill Clinton’s lying about every aspect of the foundation. They’re concerned that his lying is now not as good as it used to be. And they’re worried that maybe Bill’s losing it.
The fact that he’s still lying about it, that’s okay, because he’s always lied about things, particularly when the Clintons have been caught doing something. But they’ve always marveled at the skill, the adroitness, the fluency and fluidness of a Clinton lie. They have been dazzled, they have been impressed with the ability Bill Clinton to lie and make you want to be part of the lie. But they’re not feeling it anymore. They’re not saying when they look at Bill Clinton when he lies, “Oh, if only it was me, instead of Hillary, who was married to him,” “Oh, if only me, instead of Gennifer Flowers.”
The media used to say that. They don’t now. Or they aren’t now. And they’re terribly disappointed. They’re afraid maybe that Bill’s losing it, losing the ability to lie better than anybody else ever has, this roguish characteristic. And it was obvious when recently Clinton was asked if he was gonna keep giving these $500,000 speeches even while Hillary’s running for president and it looks like the money could be actually bribes for future influence from her as president, he said essentially (imitating Clinton), “Ha, hell, yes, I’m gonna keep doing speeches. Somebody’s gotta pay the bills here.”
And the media said, “What do you mean, pay the bills? You people got a net worth, you’re approaching $250 million dollars. What bills do you have that you still have to give $500,000 speeches for?” There’s disappointment all over the place. Bill Clinton’s not the liar or the rationalizer he used to be. Nobody seems to care about his exculpatory statements. They just want a better lie about what’s going on with this foundation. They want a better rationalization. The media, don’t misunderstand, the media is still perfectly willing to look the other way at any bribery or criminal activity whatsoever, as long as Clinton can lie about it artfully.
But if he can’t, it’s gonna make it real hard for them to look the other way. See, the standard for the Clintons — it took me a long time to learn this — the standard for the Clintons is not truth. It never has been. The standard for the Clintons isn’t legal. It isn’t ethical. There’s no morality involved in the standard for the Clintons in terms of the way the media look at them. It is legal, ethical, moral relativism. It is how well the Clintons can lie their way out of these things that enables the media to cover them without being critical. If the Clintons can’t lie well enough to provide the media cover, then there’s a problem.
The Clintons used to get away with this by accusing enemies of trivial infractions in angry tones, as if everybody does it. They used to get away with trashing and tarring Ken Starr as a sex pervert. It was so outrageous, the media loved it. Ken Starr, who is so colorless, if it weren’t for the varicose veins nobody would notice him, a sex pervert? They ate it up. Ken Starr, a sex pervert, and he’s trying to get all your babies smoking cigarettes, as Carville said. Well, they loved that. It was totally outrageous, but it was great theater, and the Clintons came up with it.
They were able to play the defiant victim with relish. In the end, really very little was expected of Bill and Hillary. All they had to do was lie in an entertaining and lovable way. When Hillary testifies before Congress, it’s been announced she’s gonna do one appearance, she’s not expected to clear herself. That will not be the standard. The standard is not will she have an answer for all this. Where are the e-mails, why’d she sweep the server. That’s not the standard.
The standard will be, does she fight back at these evil Republicans? Does she make Trey Gowdy look like a rooster at the end of a rainy Friday? Can she make mincemeat out of them? It doesn’t matter what she did. It doesn’t matter how illegal or legal. It’s how she succeeds in embarrassing the Republicans. And if the media is starting to get concerned that the Clintons have lost touch in blaming their enemies, it really comes down to that, it’s gonna be very, very difficult going forward for the media to willingly side with them.
But, you see, that’s the rub here, folks, because Hillary’s working on a new and improved voice. Have you heard it? She’s trying out the “I’m perfectly calm” persona in place of the Nurse Ratched persona, in place of the, “I ain’t no ways tired” persona. Saturday Night Live has correctly portrayed Hillary as a wild-eyed, ambitious nut willing to say anything to get elected.
You know what I think Hillary’s doing? I think she’s studying Ben Carson. Calm, cool, composed, collected, in no way defensive or insecure. I think Hillary’s studying Ben Carson, particularly his announcement earlier this week. And that’s who she is trying to come off as, attitudinally and in terms of confidence. And we’ll see how this plays out when she’s asked to explain why she destroyed evidence under subpoena.
Now, again, if she can blame the Republicans for it, the media will eat it up and it doesn’t matter what she did. If she can get away with blaming the Republicans, lie through her teeth, and if her husband can come to her defense and carry on that whole theme, then they will be loved again. It doesn’t matter what she did. It’s how she gets away with it and can they successfully once again blame their enemies for what they’ve done? That’s the standard.
So in that light, let’s go to the audio sound bites. This morning on CNN’s New Day, they played a preview clip from an upcoming episode of Amanpour, a TV show named after their reporterette over there, Christiane Amanpour. It’s on CNN International, where Christiane Amanpour interviews Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative Middle East and Africa Meeting. In the clip, Clinton talks about questions over foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation and said this…
CLINTON: We had a policy when she was secretary of state, that we would only continue accepting money from people that were already giving us money. And I’ve tried to re-create that policy as nearly as I can now during the campaign, with minor exceptions for your health care work.
RUSH: So Clinton is saying he’s using the same policy that he used when she was secretary of state with minor exceptions. (interruption) “Well, see, we had…” He sounds tired here. This is another thing. He sounds tired, weak of voice, and not as in control of things. The media is understandably concerned. (interruption) “But we had a policy when she was secretary of state that we would only accept money from people that had already given us money.” That’s everybody. That’s not a restriction! He continued, and he said that these charges that are flying around about Hillary and him taking bribes, essentially, it just won’t fly.
CLINTON: We also have 300,000 other donors and 90% of them give a hundred dollars or less. So there’s just no evidence. Even the guy that wrote the book, apparently, had to admit under questioning that he didn’t have a shred of evidence for this; he just sort of thought he’d throw it out there and see if it’d fly.
AMANPOUR: It won’t fly? Is — is that what you’re saying, “It won’t fly?”
CLINTON: Yeah, it won’t fly.
RUSH: Christiane Amanpour. See the media? She’s desperate! She’s desperate to know that it won’t fly. None of this will fly. By the way, he’s talking about Peter Schweizer. Peter Schweizer did not say that he didn’t have a shred of evidence. What Peter Schweizer said is (summarized), “I’m not pursuing criminal activity. I’m not pursuing evidence to prove a crime here. I’m simply reporting what I have found about the way they run the foundation.
“If there’s a crime here, it’s up to others to prosecute that,” like Marilyn Mosby. “That’s not what I do. I’m a journalist. I’m an author.” Clinton is taking that (impression), “Hey, even the guy (chuckling) that wrote the book says there ain’t no crime going on here! I mean, so they’re just throwin’ it up there against the wall to see what flies.” And Christiane says (upset), “It won’t fly, will it? Oh, God, tell us it won’t fly!” (Clinton impression) “It won’t. (chuckling) It won’t fly, Christiane. Don’t sweat it!
“What are do you go after this interview, by the way?” But it’s not working. It’s not mollifying them. Yesterday in Marrakesh, Morocco, at the Clinton Global Initiative Middle East and Africa Meeting, Sudanese British mobile phone entrepreneur and billionaire Mohammed Ibrahim spoke with Clinton about the recent questions about the foundation accepting foreign donations. Ibrahim and Clinton had this little chat back and forth…
IBRAHIM: I was shocked to see these attacks on the foundation. This foundation is getting money from Saudi Arabia. What is wrong if Saudi Arabia give money for a farm in Africa? What’s the big deal? I didn’t see anybody from the foundation standing up and really have a go at that.
CLINTON: I just work here; I don’t know.
AUDIENCE: (silence)
CLINTON: Look, there’s one set of rules for politics in America and another set for real life, and you just have to learn to deal with it.
RUSH: Hey! (laughing) This… (laughing) Look, whatever you think, this is not the way Bill Clinton woulda used to handle this. (impression) “Hey, you know, I just work here; I don’t know. There’s one set of rules for politics in America and another set for real life, and you just…” The donors are desperately wanting Clinton to rise up and swat this stuff all away.
And Mohammed Ibrahim says (impression), “I was shocked to see these attacks on the foundation! Who cares what comes from Saudi Arabia? Knock it away! Knock it out of the park, please!”
(Clinton impression) “Hey, you know, I just work here, Mohammed. I don’t know what the hell’s going on.”