RUSH: Here is the beginning… I told you earlier that the media is very worried that Trump is gonna go after Ben Carson. Here’s Jonathan Karl on Good Morning America today.
KARL: The moderators have been clear this time: They want to provoke a fight, so it’s gonna happen. Carson is the story going into this debate. He’s rising faster than Trump. If you look at the latest poll, he’s actually statistically tied with Donald Trump nationally. He is on — on the rise. He’s gonna standing center stage right next to Donald Trump. Will Trump go after him? Trump hates the idea of somebody else rising faster in the polls that he does.
RUSH: Right. Okay. So the big news there is the moderators have been clear this time. “They want to provoke a fight, so it’s going to happen.”
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RUSH: Back to the audio sound bites, and we’ll get to your phone calls the next half hour. Governor Chris Cuomo on CNN this morning.
CUOMO: Carson and Fiorina are the only two people on the stage that, in a way, Trump owes something to. He did the wrong thing by Fiorina. And then you have Dr. Carson where it doesn’t feel quite right when he goes after Dr. Carson.
RUSH: All right. So Carson, Fiorina are the only two people on stage that in a way Trump owes something to, he did the wrong thing to Fiorina commenting about her face. Dr. Krauthammer… Nah, sorry. I do not have time to squeeze Dr. Krauthammer’s comment in. But he was going to say… He did say it was on Fox Special Report with Bret Baier last night that the last thing Trump should do is go after Carson. He attacks Carson he’s toast, just you can’t do that, you better not do that.
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RUSH: Here’s Dr. Krauthammer, ladies and gentlemen. This is Special Report with Bret Baier last night during a discussion about the debate tonight.
KRAUTHAMMER: I think if Carson pulls ahead, even if it’s a point or two, that’s gonna be hard on Trump. And that’s where I think he goes after a guy who is so likable that going after him, calling him a so-so doctor, here’s a guy who performed the first successful separation of Siamese twins conjoined at the head in history. So “may be an okay doctor,” I think that could be something that could hurt him.
RUSH: And O’Reilly was talking to Trump last night, said, “Ben Carson, your main competition now. Are you gonna call him Dr. Welby tomorrow? He’s a mediocre doctor, you gonna do that tomorrow, are you?”
TRUMP: No, I like Ben Carson. He’s not a deal maker, and we need somebody in this country that’s gonna get rid of the $19 trillion in debt. That’s gonna bring back our jobs.
O’REILLY: You’re not gonna question his faith, you’re not gonna do any of that?
TRUMP: No, I wouldn’t do that at all. Now, it depends on what he does with me.
O’REILLY: Oh, no, no, no!
TRUMP: We’ll have to see.
O’REILLY: You should take a pledge that you’re not gonna do it no matter what he does. All right, last question.
TRUMP: Look I don’t know who’s coming from where. I hear everybody’s gonna be hitting me —
O’REILLY: I would if I were there.
TRUMP: — because I’m number one in the polls.
RUSH: Yeah, that is gonna happen. It’ll be fascinating to see. Anyway, it’s as though Ben Carson can’t take care of himself. All these people, “You better not touch Ben. You better leave Ben alone.” Trust me, ladies and gentlemen, Ben Carson can take care of himself. Ben Carson’s a phenomenal human being. We would all be fortunate to be in Ben Carson’s world, trust me.
I’m still smoldering over something I saw weeks ago now on CNN. It was a female conservative analyst on CNN worried that something, I forget exactly what it was, but it was gonna make Ben Carson look viable. And I’m thinking nobody on CNN could even walk in Ben Carson’s shoes, here they are commenting on gonna make him look reasonable or viable or some such thing. It was really, really insulting. You know, Ben’s not afraid to put the gloves on. He’s questioned Trump’s faith. I mean, some might say that Ben Carson started this. It doesn’t matter who started it. ‘Cause it’s happening no matter what we think.