RUSH: As I knew we could, we’ve gone back to the archives, the Grooveyard of Forgotten Sound Bites, and we have from 2007 the opening of the bit that parodies exactly what’s happening in the Drive-By Media this moment, today and last night. This is on the Fox News Channel’s 1/2 Hour News Hour. By the way, I starred in a number of episodes of this program, as president of the United States, as myself, it was a lot of fun. But, anyway, this is from the pilot episode, episode number one. It’s 2007.
FEMALE ANCHOR: Six men have just been charged with conspiracy to murder in connection with a plot to blow up buses and subway cars in London during the summer of 2005.
MALE ANCHOR: The six would-be suicide bombers charged are Muktar Said Abraham, Ramzi Muhammed, Yasin Omar, Manfu Asiedu, Adel Yahya, and Hussain Osman.
FEMALE ANCHOR: Since their capture, the big question for Scotland Yard has been, “What exactly is it that links these six individuals? What common denominator motivated this seemingly random group of young men?”
MALE ANCHOR: It is puzzling, isn’t it?
RUSH: The bit went on, and these names were repeated often as other experts were asked to find the common ground between the six perps, and every expert in the police and in government couldn’t find anything these people had in common. Just a random bunch of people that were blowing up the subways in London in 2005.
You want to hear it again? They’re laughing at it in there, so here it is again. But remember now, this went on. This was just 32 seconds. This was about a three-minute bit, and it went on with the male anchor asking official after official all six names in every question, and every official, “I don’t have any idea. We’re looking, we’re really looking, we can’t find anything these guys have in common. We can’t find anything that links them. So we don’t know why they’re doing what they’re doing.”
FEMALE ANCHOR: Six men have just been charged with conspiracy to murder in connection with a plot to blow up buses and subway cars in London during the summer of 2005.
MALE ANCHOR: The six would-be suicide bombers charged are Muktar Said Abraham, Ramzi Muhammed, Yasin Omar, Manfu Asiedu, Adel Yahya, and Hussain Osman.
FEMALE ANCHOR: Since their capture, the big question for Scotland Yard has been, “What exactly is it that links these six individuals? What common denominator motivated this seemingly random group of young men?”
MALE ANCHOR: It is puzzling, isn’t it?
RUSH: Yes, it was, very puzzling. That was parody in 2007, eight years ago. Today it’s the news. Today it is the news.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here now the full three-minute bit, 1/2 Hour News Hour, Fox News Channel, back in March of 2007.
FEMALE ANCHOR: Six men have just been charged with conspiracy to murder in connection with a plot to blow up buses and subway cars in London during the Summer of 2005.
MALE ANCHOR: suicide bombings The six would-be suicide bombers charged are Muktar Said Abraham, Ramzi Muhammed, Yasin Omar, Manfu Asiedu, Adel Yahya, and Hussain Osman.
FEMALE ANCHOR: Since their capture, the big question for Scotland Yard has been, “What exactly is it that links these six individuals? (laughter) What common denominator motivated this seemingly random group of young men?”
MALE ANCHOR: It is puzzling, isn’t it?
FEMALE ANCHOR: Yeah.
MALE ANCHOR: But here to help us untangle this mystery please welcome international terrorism expert Dr. Franklin Robertson. Thank you, doctor.
ROBERTSON: Thank you. Good to be here.
MALE ANCHOR: I gotta tell you, you know what this case reminds me of, Doc? A more successful bombing attack in London during July of 2005.
FEMALE ANCHOR: You mean the suicide bombings carried out by Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Abdullah Shaheed Jamal, Hasib Hussain, Kurt?
MALE ANCHOR: I believe that was them, yes. Um, weren’t the two cases kind of similar?
ROBERTSON: Similar? Uhhh, in what way?
MALE ANCHOR: I don’t know. Uhhh, maybe both involved buses, subways, uh, suicide bombers?
ROBERTSON: You know, Kurt, it’s tempting to try to concoct these (pause) conspiracy theories to explain these incidents, but most of those just don’t hold water.
MALE ANCHOR: But, I mean, it could be a conspiracy, couldn’t it? I mean, like last August when 10 people were arrested in London for trying to blow up those US-bound airplanes.
ROBERTSON: Ah, yes, yes. You mean Ahmed Abdulla Ali, Tanvir Hussain, Umar Islam, Arafat Waheed Khan, Assad Ali Sarwar, Adam Khatib, Ibrahim Savant, Waheed Zaman, Cossor Ali and … Mehran Hussain?
MALE ANCHOR: It does sSound like that, yeah. But, Doc, you can’t tell me those guys didn’t have anything in common — I mean, besides a desire to blow things up?
ROBERTSON: Well, if you say so Kurt. And what might that be?
MALE ANCHOR: Okay, well, let’s see. Were they all young males?
ROBERTSON: No. One was a woman.
MALE ANCHOR: All right. That’s a dead end. Okay. Okay. How about this, were they all from the same hometown?
ROBERTSON: No, they were all from different London suburbs. Not so easy, is it Curt?
FEMALE ANCHOR: Did any of them have eating disorders? Those can make you crazy.
ROBERTSON: Okay. Funny you should ask that, because we just learned that none of them would eat pork. Still don’t know what that means yet.
MALE ANCHOR: Okay. Well, how about this. Were they all going by their original names?
ROBERTSON: No, Kurt. Ammar Islam was born Brian Young, but he changed his name after he converted.
MALE ANCHOR: Converted to what?
ROBERTSON: Islam.
FEMALE ANCHOR: Oh, jeez, another dead end.
MALE ANCHOR: Everybody knows Islam is a religion of peace.
ROBERTSON: Look, we’ve spent thousands of hours studying this, and, frankly, we’re stumped.
MALE ANCHOR: Well, you know, you’re the expert, and I guess if there were something that linked Muktar Said Abraham, Ramzi Muhammed, Yasin Omar, Manfu Asiedu, Adel Yahya, and Hussain Osman.
FEMALE ANCHOR: Or for that matter Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Abdullah Shaheed Jamal, Hasib Hussain,
MALE ANCHOR: Yeah, if they had anything linking them, you would have discovered it by now.
ROBERTSON: That’s right, Kurt. No, we would have. So in the meantime, why don’t you just let the detective work be done by the detectives.
MALE ANCHOR: You got it. Thanks for joining us.
RUSH: That’s how it aired, that’s the whole bit, and as you heard, it’s a parody, 2007, and that has become the news of 2015. One other thing. Grab audio sound bite number 20 ’cause I just reference this, White House press secretary Josh Earnest this afternoon at the White House briefing, AP correspondent Darlene Superville said to Josh Earnest: “Is there any information emerging yet that points to a possible motive?” (laughing) I can’t get the 1/2 Hour News Hour business out of my mind. “Is there any information, Josh, do we have anything emerging that points to a possible motive for the shooting yesterday in Chattanooga?”
EARNEST: I do not have an update on the status of their investigation. I know that the FBI made clear yesterday that they’re looking at a variety of possible motives, including the possibility of domestic terrorism. So that is a part of their ongoing investigation, but I will allow the investigators themselves to provide you with an update when they’re able to. The president indicated yesterday that he wanted to try to keep the American public informed as much as possible in a timely fashion on this ongoing investigation and I’m confident that our investigators will do exactly that.
RUSH: Right. So it’s domestic terrorism. It’s down on the list, it’s a possibility, certainly not on the top of the list of potential motives here. Might be domestic terrorism, as opposed to terrorism. See, you get the difference, folks? Domestic terrorism and regular terrorism. There’s a big difference. Domestic terrorism, nothing to see here, and it might even be that. So take a brief time-out here as Open Line Twilight Zone rolls on. Don’t go away.