Now, you gotta understand how these people went into this. Ostensibly the Democrats believe that Trump is an absolute buffoon, the election is thus over, Trump doesn’t have a prayer. Hillary is owed this. This is her coronation. They have the power and the money and whatever else they need in the Democrat Party to secure this win. Trump does not have a prayer, except the polling data shows otherwise.
The conventional wisdom has been that Hillary is just gonna mop the floor with Trump in these debates. It’s gonna be so bad that it’s gonna be embarrassing. And why? Well, because Hillary is so smart. She’s the smartest woman in the world. Hillary Clinton knows more and has forgotten more than Donald is capable of learning. She can dazzle. She can impress. She can talk about government in intricacies involved with government, the names of agencies, the names of foreign leaders, and Trump’s gonna be reduced to a stumbling, bumbling ba-da ba-da ba-da ba-da Bruce Babbitt.
Except it didn’t work out that way. You know what they have figured out? You can tell, when the leftists go after one of their own in the media, which they did; they set out, they just tried to destroy poor old Matt Lauer. I’m sure Matt Lauer wishes he could grow his hair back so he could walk around disguised and unrecognized now. I mean, they tore into this guy, and it’s all because Hillary bombed. All he did was ask her questions about things they think are off-limits: her emails, her private server, her basic way of behaving in government, Benghazi. Those are supposed to be off-limits, not supposed to talk to her about that.
She showed she’s not equipped to deal with it. She got defensive. She didn’t look warm and fuzzy. This is why Biden’s out there saying she’s a gotta find a way to show people she’s got a heart. But that’s very hard for a Nurse Ratched type personality to do. Then the other thing they saw, it didn’t matter, it didn’t matter what Trump appeared to know or didn’t know; he had a commanding presence on the stage in that forum.
Remember, my friends — never forget this — there are a couple of exceptions to this, and I am one of these exceptions. For the most part, people will not remember what you say over the long haul, but they will never forget how you make them feel. Well, I’m telling you, using that rubric, Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a prayer. She does not make people feel good. She doesn’t have the ability. She doesn’t have the ability to be humble. It’s just not in her. I mean, she’s the Palace of Versailles every day in and out, and that’s it.
You know, she went to a Baptist, Southern Baptist — it was an African-American convention of some kind involving the Baptist church of Kansas City. They had at the convention center. They had to rope off 90% of the convention center because nobody showed up. The choir was almost as big as the crowd. I’m not kidding. They had to put those screened — what do you call these things? I can never remember the names. I forgot the name of a door handle the other day. I was trying to tell somebody what to grab and — partitions, that’s what it is, these screened partitions that they roll into place.
I saw some photos. They’re rolling these things out. She’s just not drawing crowds. We got audio sound bites coming up to establish all this and now they’re getting very, very worried. They’re getting profoundly worried. No, I haven’t forgotten the NFL stuff. Just setting the table here. Because Trump had a commanding presence on the stage and his charisma. He liked being there. You could tell he liked being there. Didn’t matter what he said.
Now, I don’t want anybody to misunderstand. I’m not suggesting it doesn’t matter what Trump says, don’t misunderstand me. I’m saying here that in a side-by-side comparison, the Democrats are worried. Hillary, conventional wisdom was, mop the floor with Trump on the basis of experience and knowledge alone. But that’s not how people see it and the Democrats know it because they saw it and they were worried and they’re troubled and now they’re trying to get Chris Wallace yanked as one of the moderators simply because he is from Fox News.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Hillary Clinton and the debates. By the way, just a reminder, a close confidant of Hillary Clinton’s calling for the Commission on Presidential Debates to remove Chris Wallace, Fox News, from his role as a moderator. Let’s see. It’s David Brock. It’s Media Matters for America. “It is a glaring conflict of interest that Roger Ailes … simultaneously provides advice to Donald Trump while serving as a paid adviser to Fox News chief Rupert Murdoch — debate moderator Chris Wallace’s boss.” So they think Wallace ought to go. That’s because they’re worried. They are worried. Hillary bombed in that presidential forum.
You have to keep something in mind. These people on left, the Democrat Party, think that Hillary Clinton can run things around anybody. She’s the smartest woman in the world, remember? She has so much knowledge, so many resources, the tip of her fingers and the tip of her tongue, Hillary Clinton has forgotten more than Donald Trump will ever know about anything that matters. Hillary Clinton is just brilliant. She is so brilliant, the brilliance of her brilliance blinds you. I mean, she’s so smart, she’s so competent, she’s more competent, she’s more suited to be president than anybody who ever has been president, that’s what Obama said.
So they built up all these expectations and she shows up with Matt Lauer and can’t even get off the defensive on questions about her emails. She looked angry, she looked a lot of other things, too. So they’re worried. TheHill.com: “Anxious Democrats Urge Clinton to Open Up.” Joe Biden earlier: Hillary’s got to find a way to show people her heart.
Am I the only one that finds this incredible? The woman’s been around for 30 years. She’s been on the public stage for 30 years. She’s been copresident. She had the first stab at Hillarycare, national health care. She was first lady, copresident for eight years, then the senator from New York for eight years, ran for president eight years ago, and they’re now telling us she needs to open up and she needs to show us her heart. It’s a tantamount admission here that we’re dealing with Nurse Ratched, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
There was a book not long ago, folks. Well, I say not long ago. Some time ago. It was written by a guy to tell women when to just let go in a relationship, and it was called “Sorry, He’s Just Not That Into You.” Remember that book? Well, I think what we’re looking at here is, sorry, but we’re just not that into you, Hillary. You can show us all the heart you want, and you can open all you want, but we’re just not that into you.
And you know what the truth of the matter is? We never have been. You talk about memes, narratives, and myths. I think one of the biggest myths that has dominated Washington is that Hillary Clinton is unbeatable, that she’s frightening, that she’s so dominant that nobody would ever have a prayer of beating her. I think there have been so many false narratives and illusions created about Hillary Clinton when the fact is that even on the Democrat side there aren’t that many people really into her.
Her claim to fame is two things: A capital D next to her name on the ballot, and the fact that her last name is Clinton. All the money, all the commercials, all the effort, all the reintroductions, all the book signings, all of these things, the celebrity endorsements, all of the cozy podcasts. Young women happen to love the Hillary campaign podcasts, did you know that, Dawn? Certain young women, liberal young women love the Hillary campaign podcast because they think that’s where she really does show her heart and her charm.
She’s had all this really fluffy Drive-By Media treatment. And still she just can’t pull away because of the simple fact that we’re just not that into her. So, once again, nervous Democrats are begging Hillary, they are imploring Hillary to be more appealing to people. But those people have already decided they’re not that into her. We want to actually get rid of this person from the political scene, and have for a whole long time, a big number of years. Not only were we never into her, it’s not that we have is to get over her because we never were into her.
The Democrats have been forced to marry her. The Democrats have been forced to embrace her. The Democrats have been forced to accept, embrace, love, or say they love her. And they want us all to approve of their choice, but even they see her flaws and they’re desperate for her to hide them. They’re desperate for her to stop coughing. They’re desperate for her to show us her heart.
The audio sound bites, if you doubt me. This is from last night, CNN Tonight. Don Lemon speaking with David “Rodham” Gergen who defines Washington conventional wisdom. They’re talking about the Hillary campaign and Lemon says to David “Rodham” Gergen, “People are saying, ‘Where has this Hillary been, the one who’s transparent now, holding press conferences, where’s she been, why doesn’t she open up?'”
GERGEN: Actually, she seemed rusty last night in that debate. They want to get the rust off. They need to do this pretty darn quick. They’ve gotta get her in fighting form. Donald Trump did pretty well. I mean, a lot of people are blaming Matt Lauer, but the fact is that Trump came out last doing pretty well against her and I think that’s gotta be a wake-up call for the Clinton campaign: Do not take this lightly. Do not assume that you can walk over this guy in a debate. The good news here for Hillary coming out of the Matt Lauer thing is, Lester Holt is gonna be the host for the first debate. Lester Holt in the first debate is gonna be under heavy pressure. If either candidate lies, you gotta call ’em on it.
RUSH: What does that mean, Lester Holt’s gonna be under pressure? I’ll tell you what it means. Lester Holt’s also at NBC. Matt Lauer is at NBC. Matt Lauer got dumped all over because he was mean to her. She filibustered. He had to interrupt her to ask questions. That’s what you have. She will filibuster an answer for 30 minutes if you let her go and say nothing, like Obama does. So he interrupts to ask another question. “How dare you mistreat her? How could you be mean to the woman, how dare you do that.” But they dumped all over Matt Lauer. It was incredible.
So David “Rodham” Gergen said (paraphrasing), “They get Lester Holt in there next time that’s gonna be a big different story. Lester Holt’s not gonna mean to her. Lester Holt, he’s gonna realize what he’s gotta do.” But you heard David “Rodham” Gergen. She didn’t do pretty well.
And, by the same token, Trump, like I say, folks, in circumstances like this, much as you might wish it not to be true, people will remember much less what they hear you say. They don’t remember that for very long, but they never forget how you make ’em feel. And Trump has a charisma. He has the ability to connect with people no matter what he’s saying, it’s just his personality. She does not have that. That’s what they saw. And these two were not even on stage at the same time. They’re doing it A-B, side-by-side comparison.
Up next David Axelrod of the Obama campaign. Anderson Cooper said, “While Trump’s often criticized because of his tone, you thought Hillary could use prepping after last night’s forum, right?”
AXELROD: She got hit with a number of questions right at the top about email, and then they went to the first questioner who also asked about email. And I think in a half hour show she felt that too much was being placed on that one question. And she was irritated, and her irritation showed throughout as she was answering the other questions. And I think it hurt her, and I think there’s a lesson in that for her as she prepares for these debates. You have to be able to shake those things off.
RUSH: Well, I’m gonna beg to disagree here. I don’t disagree with the fundamental answer here. But I think what set Hillary off was that Lauer even dared bring that up. This email stuff and the server and classified documents, I guarantee you, in Hillary’s world, they’re pretty confident the press isn’t gonna bring that up. The press is there to cover for them. The press is there to deflect all of the potential negatives away. The press is there to go after and destroy Trump.
She was probably shocked, if you ask me, that Lauer even went there. And that’s what she was unable to recover. She’s sitting there seething over it. She was. He’s right. She was irritated. She was irritated not that he wouldn’t let it go, she was irritated he went there in the first place. You will never convince me that there’s not an implicit understanding between the Hillary campaign and the media that certain things about her are off-limits; you don’t bring ’em up.
You don’t bring up Lewinsky; you don’t bring up the bimbo eruptions; you don’t bring up Juanita Broaddrick. You don’t bring up any of that stuff you do it in the context of the vast right-wing conspiracy. You do not bring up this email server. You do not talk about classified documents. You do not talk about them, unless in asked in such a way that Hillary can agree with your premise that she’s great on national security.
In other words, Hillary Clinton is not to be treated like any other candidate is treated by the media. They go in expecting that exception, and when it didn’t happen, she’s sitting there seething. You know, she’s in her Nurse Ratched mood and she’s plotting the punishment for the patient, Jack Nicholson, who’s being played there by Matt Lauer. When the show’s over, she’s gonna ice him in solitary — or, even worse, Lauer is headed for the testicle lockbox! But it continued. Bloomberg TV, All Due Respect, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.
They had this exchange about Hillary’s performance…
HALPERIN: If she shows up at the first debate with the demeanor she had last night and she tries to hold him accountable with that demeanor rather than a light touch, he could get through the first debate winning with that level of performance.
HEILEMANN: I was critical of her on style greatly. I think she did not do that well. If she performs that way in the debate, it could allow him to skate through.
RUSH: Skate through. Skate through. If she performs like… Well, the odds… She is who she is. This is the thing. They really want her to show her heart? (chuckles) They want her to warm up? They want her on open up? She doesn’t know how to do that. The Clintons hide things. The email server, all these secret emails? They hide things; they don’t open up. We have sound bites here coming up of her trying to be humble, I think. Yeah. I got some coming up. I gotta take a break here, but there’s even more of this harsh analysis of her performance.