RUSH: I’m minding my own business yesterday, went to Green Bay for the Indianapolis Colts-Green Bay Packers. Stayed out in Appleton at the Radisson, which is where the visiting teams who play the Packers stay. The Colts were there. I went in and had dinner at Lombardi’s on Saturday night. Oh, it was just fabulous, went in with some people from Gulfstream and ran into a bunch of Colts front office people. It was a great, great, great time. We were up pretty late on Saturday night because we didn’t have to go to the stadium ’til one o’clock Central time, was a 3:15 p.m. game Central time. So I get up on Sunday morning and got coffee sitting there, fire up the computer, start doing a little show prep, get a head start. Minding my own business, I’m not harming anybody. They don’t even know I’m in the hotel. I’m registered under a fake name. So I fire up the Drudge page, and I see Colin Powell has endorsed the Most Merciful Barack Obama. And then I see some of the things that Powell said. He said it wasn’t about race, and he said he would have difficulty with any more Republican Supreme Court appointments. So I’m making notes of this and out of the blue comes an e-mail from Jonathan Martin at The Politico. ‘Hey, Rush, you got anything to say about this?’ I wrote him and said, ‘Jonathan, look, I’m here in Green Bay with the Colts and the Packers, I don’t have a lot of time.’ I just fired off a couple little thoughts, couple little paragraphs.
I said, ‘Secretary Powell says this endorsement’s not about race. Okay, fine. What I’m doing now Jonathan is researching Powell’s past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal white candidates that he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.’ Then the next paragraph I sent to Jonathan Martin of the Politico said, ‘As for Powell’s statement of concern that he would have difficulty with two more Republican Supreme Court nominees, I was unaware that he had dislike for John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, and Antonin Scalia. I guess he also regrets Ronald Reagan making him a four-star general. I guess he also regrets George Bush making him secretary of state. I guess he also regrets George H. W. Bush naming him chairman of the Joint Chiefs. I guess he’s also upset that a Republican appointed his son to head the FCC. Yeah, let’s hear it for transformational figures,’ because Powell had said Obama’s a transformational figure, and yet Colin Powell is who he is and is a household name because of Republicans.
So I fired that off, and forgot about it. And the next thing I know, into my e-mail comes a Google alert. Martin got that thing up in five minutes and it’s all over the Internet with Google and Drudge has linked to it. I hit the shower, got ready for the game, head down, got on the bus, head on over to Green Bay for the game. Apparently all hell is breaking loose and I’m not even aware of it because, of course, Jonathan said, ‘I really envy you, your Sundays.’ He said, ‘I had tickets to the Redskins game today but I can’t go because of this Powell thing.’ I said, ‘Jonathan somebody has to enjoy life, and it’s me, and don’t worry, Jon, I’ll cover you next week because I’m going to Pittsburgh next week for the Giants and then after that I’m going to Indianapolis for the Patriots. So I’ll cheer for you, just tell me which teams you like.’ So we go to the game, a fabulous time at the game, and I picked the Packers in my little pool. Snerdley walked in today, I said, ‘How are you?’ ‘Been better.’ I figured it was the Powell endorsement or something to do with the campaign. He’s bent out of shape about the Cowboys. A lot of Cowboys fans are bent out of shape about the Cowboys.
At any rate, flew home after the game, I guess we rolled in at 10:45 or so, got into the house at 11:30. I still wasn’t aware how much it had blown up. I did a little work when I went home, went up to bed, it was a long, taxing, exhausting day. I’ll tell you, it is tough physically going to a football game. I can’t imagine playing in one. I got home last night feeling like I had played in the game. So I got up this morning and talked to Cookie. Cookie says, ‘Okay, here’s a preview of the sound bite roster,’ and, lo and behold, the media had a cow over this. Folks, I must have struck a nerve on this because everybody in the Drive-By Media has something snarky to say about my two little paragraphs to Jonathan Martin at The Politico regarding the Powell endorsement. Now, there’s something else interesting — I got one thing wrong. It was not a Republican that nominated his son, Michael Powell, to head the FCC. Michael Powell, by the way, has not only endorsed McCain, Colin Powell’s son has endorsed McCain, he is campaigning for him. Colin Powell’s son is debating Obama surrogates on communications issues. What actually happened was — and this is even more fascinating — what actually happened was, and my friend Professor Hazlett informed me of this, it was McCain who got Michael Powell appointed to the FCC by Clinton in order to forge a relationship with his father, Colin Powell, as was reported at the time.
So McCain went out of the way, went to Clinton, said, ‘Please nominate Michael Powell to the FCC.’ Clinton did it. This was an effort by McCain to forge a continued relationship. We’ve also heard — I can’t substantiate this — we’ve also heard that the reason that Senator McCain has had Jeremiah Wright off-limits is in hopes of getting the Powell endorsement himself. But one of the interesting things to point out about this is, who is Powell? If you stop and think about how Powell is characterized by the Drive-Bys, he’s the epitome of today’s moderate, right? And that moderate, Mr. Powell, that kind of person is the target for McCain’s campaign, is it not? And so we see, ladies and gentlemen, just how — I mean, he gets his kid on the FCC with Clinton, forge a relationship, bam. I don’t know if McCain thought Powell was bought, but if so, it’s obvious Powell doesn’t stay bought for very long.
Now, here’s the great thing. This is fascinating when you look at it this way. After Iraq and the United States Security Council where General Powell went up there and showed the pictures of all the WMDs and so forth, Powell was bad. Powell was a sell-out, Powell was horrible. This is crucial, because this is why Powell needed to resuscitate his reputation. He knew that Armitage had leaked Scooter Libby’s name. He knew that Scooter Libby had nothing to do with this, and he stood mute, ladies and gentlemen. I’ll never forget Powell threatening with running for president back in 1995, remember that? And he wouldn’t identify what party he was from. He had these approval ratings in the seventies. He knew if he identified himself as a Republican or a Democrat, that he’d lose some of the numbers, he wouldn’t take a position on abortion, for example. Everybody on our side was so excited about Colin Powell. I said, ‘Folks, don’t you think it matters whether or not he’s a Republican or Democrat? He won’t tell us.’
So, anyway, Powell was bad after the United Nations. Now Powell is good. Massive campaign spending was corrupt. Now, since Obama’s doing it, it’s just fine. Voter fraud, why, that was anti-civil rights. Now voter fraud is pro-civil rights. Experience doesn’t matter in Obama’s case, but it’s now the reason why Governor Palin isn’t qualified to be president, and on and on and on. The pretzels that the media and the left are willing to twist themselves into to push this dummy over the finish line is amazing, folks, speaking here of Obama. But I look at so many things, and people ask me, ‘Rush, why is Palin so hated? Why is it that people like Peggy Noonan, Christopher Buckley and some of the Fox All-Stars –‘ folks, it’s an elitist thing, it’s an intellectual thing.
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RUSH: Here’s what it is, folks. This is very, very simple. I’ll tell you when this first hit me, and it probably hit you a little sooner than it did me. When I traveled around the country, four years ago, three years ago, shortly after the Iraq war started; I ran into people from all political spectrums who didn’t like Bush simply ’cause they thought he couldn’t talk. He wasn’t ‘articulate,’ and to them, that made him seem stupid. So when people who know Bush — and I, as a powerful, influential member of the media am one who knows Bush — would tell them, ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about. The guy is sharp as a tack, people that know him personally say.’ ‘Well, he doesn’t come across that way. He’s just stupid,’ and then Obama comes along, and I see Christopher Buckley who says things like, ‘Well, I read his books.’
Chris, he may not have written one of them, but that’s beside the point. ‘I read his books. He’s a very thoughtful guy; a very, very thoughtful guy. Somebody that eloquent, somebody that able to write so well has to have a good mind. So I’m for Obama. You gotta go with the mind,’ and then they mention Palin as being some sort of trailer trash hick. They don’t like her accent; they don’t like the fact she leaves G’s off of some of her words like mornin’, instead of morning. They don’t like that. And then Chris Buckley said, ‘But, you know even if he goes lefty when he’s elected, I’ll have a problem with that.’ I was reading this and I’m stunned. If he goes ‘lefty’? So what it is, folks, there is an alignment of elites taking place, pseudointellectuals who don’t want…
They don’t think McCain can speak. They don’t think McCain is articulate. They think of Obama as one of them, even though he has ideas diametrically opposed to theirs, he’s still smart. He’s cool. He’s eloquent. He’s elegant. He’s calm, and he represents us well. He makes it look like Americans elected somebody smart. And of course Palin, she doesn’t fit that mold. This is why there are so many defections on our side, and there’s another reason, too. You know, it’s directly traceable to this Powell endorsement. Look at this. If Powell had endorsed McCain, you know what would have happened? Donna Brazile and the other black elites in the Democrat Party would never have forgiven him. This was all about Powell and race. It was nothing about the nation and its welfare. He said it’s not about race, and I said, ‘Okay. Show me all of the inexperienced white liberals you’ve endorsed. If it’s not about race.’
Of course everybody’s having a cow. Wait ’til you hear the sound bites. They’re coming up after the next break. So what happened to General Powell is he evolved over time into a calculating Washington insider who speaks incessantly to the media. He seeks to portray himself in a good light at the expense of others. He did great damage to the Bush administration. It stuns me. It really does. It stuns me how General Powell and others can back a man whose judgment has been so flawed for most of his career, who has been so out of the mainstream, yet they find Palin so unqualified. None of us are buying this nonsense. What’s happening here is Powell and some of the other people on our side, they are positioning themselves to perhaps get positions in Obama’s campaign. In fact, Obama has said that Powell will serve in his administration. That’s what it’s about here, folks.
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RUSH: I just want to button this up because the Drive-Bys had a tizzy over my allegation that his nomination was about race. Well, let me say it louder, and let me say it even more plainly. It was totally about race! The Powell endorsement is totally about race. People have forgotten, but I have not, ladies and gentlemen. Colin Powell publicly broke with the administration over affirmative action; specifically, affirmative action cases that were before the Supreme Court in 2003. It was a case in Michigan. I have the CBS story here, January 20th, 2003. ‘Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday he disagrees with President Bush’s position on affirmative action case before the Supreme Court, as the White House called for more money for historical black colleges.
‘Powell, one of two black members of Mr. Bush’s cabinet, said he supports methods the University of Michigan uses to bolster minority enrollments in its undergraduate and law school programs. The policies offer points to minority applicants and set goals for minority admissions.’ That’s why he doesn’t want any more Republican appointments. He is pro-affirmative action. He is also pro-abortion, in case you had forgotten. Here’s a quote from Colin Powell at the Republican National Convention August 12th, 1996. ‘You all know that I believe in a woman’s right to choose, and I strongly support affirmative action, and I was invited here by my party to share my views with you because we are a big enough party and big enough people to disagree on individual issues and still work together for our common goal: restoring the American dream.’
I don’t know what happened to the tent. It’s very, very small. He’s not comfortable in it. I think he’s still saying he’s a Republican, by the way, after all of this, after endorsing Obama. But if anybody thinks that Barack Obama has the slightest intention of restoring the American dream, Secretary Powell, you have another think coming. Let’s go to the audio sound bites. As I say, I was unaware of any of this. I sent a little couple paragraphs. Okay. So they get linked at Drudge, The Politico and so forth, but yip yip. DNCTV Live this morning, Tamron Hall talking to Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, Stephanie Cutter. Question: ‘Stephanie, Rush Limbaugh went on to say in his critique of all this, he says, ‘I’m now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal white candidates he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.’ That’s what Limbaugh said. How do you respond to those critics out there like Limbaugh?’
CUTTER: I think it’s disgusting, actually. Colin Powell is not somebody who enters into the political fray easily. The symbolism of Colin Powell rejecting John McCain as president is just as powerful as choosing Barack Obama. We are, eh, thrilled and honored to have Colin Powell’s endorsement, but we also understand it was a real blow to John McCain and I think Rush Limbaugh was just expressing that.
HALL: Humph.
CUTTER: They’re going to grab at anything.
RUSH: ‘They’re going to grab at anything.’ It’s ‘disgusting’ what I said. It’s actually disgusting what I said! Well, I stand by it. I thought it was pretty clever to come up with this for a couple seconds before I had to run out to the football game. This didn’t take much time to think this through. Everybody knows this is totally about race. Then on CNN’s American Morning today, the cohost Kiran Chetry is talking to Tom Brokaw. Brokaw left NBC to go over to CNN today for an interview. Kiran Chetry said, ‘Rush Limbaugh wrote in an e-mail that Secretary Powell ‘said this endorsement is not about race. I’m searching his past endorsements to see if I could come up with all the inexperienced, very white liberal candidates that he has endorsed.”
BROKAW: What Rush Limbaugh does not get into is Colin Powell’s indictment of what the Republican Party, he says, is doing to itself. Colin Powell said at the convention in 2007 (sic), praised President Bush and Dick Cheney, saying that he thought that they would help, uh, er, heal the racial divide in America. He thinks it’s contracted the Republican Party rather than reached out to a lot of people. He has great, great admiration for John McCain. He just doesn’t think he’s run a very good campaign.
RUSH: So we’re gonna decide who we elect based on the kind of campaign they run? Has a lot of respect for John McCain? One thing I don’t get into is Powell’s indictment of what the Republican Party’s doing to itself? If there has been anybody who has been sounding the warning buzzers and bells about the mistakes the Republican Party is making, my friends — over the past year and a half — it is I, El Rushbo. I can’t help it if the party doesn’t listen. It went on. This is yesterday afternoon on DNCTV live. Contessa Brewer talking to George Mason University’s Michael McDonald about the Powell endorsement and me.
BREWER: Here’s what Limbaugh writes in this e-mail. Quote, ‘Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race. Okay, fine. I’m now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal white candidates he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I find.’ Uh, you know, Michael, does that kind of rhetoric courage the Bradley Effect. When people go to the polls, does that (sic) — sort of the question that lingers here?
MCDONALD: Those Rush Limbaugh supporters are going to be like those people who aren’t going to vote for Barack Obama because he’s a Democrat or some other reason that they don’t agree with his policies. So this really won’t magnify this next time in any sort of way.
BREWER: No.
MCDONALD: It’s just going to reinforce the opinions of these people who aren’t already going to support Obama.
RUSH: So he’s saying, ‘What are you people in the media so worried about? Limbaugh’s not going to change anybody’s mind. He’s just going to increase the validation of people already opposed.’ But how about the question, that my comment will increase the Bradley Effect? (laughing) Where do you get that? It still strikes me, folks, that all these people on the Obama side are still a little worried for a bunch of people who think they’ve got this in the bag. David Shuster this morning on DNCTV live. Host Tamron Hall talks to Shuster, says, ‘General Powell said if race was the only factor, he would have decided months ago. That’s not stopped people from talking about this.’
SHUSTER: You’ve heard that sort of language repeated by Rush Limbaugh, who has said show me some white liberal that Colin Powell has endorsed. It’s an issue out there, and a lot of people will find it quite unseemly to suggest that Colin Powell is doing this simply because of race.
RUSH: Well, it may be unseemly, but it’s totally true. Nobody has talked… Not one of them has addressed the ‘inexperienced’ aspect of what I said, either. Remember, the whole quote here, folks, the whole quote is, ‘I’m now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal white candidates he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.’ Now, just so you know, I haven’t come up with any. I worked diligently on this on the airplane on the trip home from Green Bay yesterday. After I got home last night, I worked diligently. I can’t find any of these inexperienced white liberals that Powell has endorsed. So they’re all focusing you know it’s race. This has hit a nerve. So what if it’s race? Why is it so hard to admit that it’s race? Ninety-five percent of black people are going to for Obama because he’s black. What’s so problematic about admitting this? I thought it should be about race. I thought you liberals thought this is a historic candidacy because finally we’re going to elect a black guy to be president. Why hide behind this? Why act like it’s not about race? What, you want to tell us it’s about his policies? (laughs) Still, they weren’t through here. ABC’s World News Tonight, a portion of correspondent John Cochran’s report about me and the Powell endorsement.
COCHRAN: Rush Limbaugh suggested today that Obama’s race may have played a part in Powell’s endorsement. Powell denied race had any connection, but did say Obama’s election would be historic.
RUSH: You notice what nobody else is talking about here is that second, brilliant paragraph I wrote about the Supreme Court, which is just as big an indictment of General Powell as the first one is. In fact, maybe even more so. The second thing I wrote to the Politico states, ‘I was also unaware of his dislike for John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, and Antonin Scalia. I guess General Powell also regrets Ronald Reagan making him a four-star general. I guess he regrets George Bush making him secretary of state.’ Meaning, hey, Powell owes his name and his ascension to various heights to Republicans. I guess nobody wants to focus on that one. Juan Williams of all people at Fox News was asked about this this morning on America’s Newsroom. Megyn Kelly said to him, ‘What Rush is saying is he doesn’t believe Powell that race didn’t have anything to do with it, or that this is not a race-based endorsement. Does Rush have a point, Juan?’
WILLIAMS: Of course he does. Of course it has to do with race. It has a lot to do with this sort of senior black man, sort of the original crossover race star in American politics, Colin Powell; I think reaching out to this younger black man, and I think in so many ways it goes beyond race. But I think Rush Limbaugh’s right, if he says race is a definite factor here. In terms of his legacy, I think this will stand as a real monument reaching out to the — potentially, the — first black president of the United States.
RUSH: See? It is. It’s totally about race. How could he not support the guy? If he wants his standing in Washington to remain what it is. He’s the liberals’ favorite Republican, he’s the liberals’ favorite diplomat, the liberals’ favorite this and that, and that’s what’s important to him, how can he dare…? In fact, I will take you back. I — I, ladies and gentlemen — was on This Week with David Brinkley August 16th, 1995, and I said this about former General Colin Powell on that program. This was 13 years ago.
RUSH ARCHIVE: He’s playing it very coyly. He’s done a very good job of keeping everything he believes on every issue totally secret. He doesn’t know — and that’s why he’s so high in the polls. He’s acting like he doesn’t want it, but he’ll make every speech he has a chance to make and the situation is psychological. ‘Please, Mr. Powell, General Powell. Please run,’ and what can be a better situation than that?
RUSH: That was when Powell was flirting with being president, running for president in 1996. This is when he would not even identify what party he was a member of.
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RUSH: You know, folks, it’s just funny. The Drive-Bys can’t make up their mind out there such as they are. On the one hand, we are told that if you are a white Democrat and you vote against Obama, you are a racist. On the other hand, if Powell endorsed Obama, it’s got nothing to do with race, right? If you oppose Obama, you’re racist. If you support him, you are intelligent. In fact, here’s a headline: ”Biden: Voters ‘Having a Difficult Time’ Electing First African American President.’ Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., said Saturday that with Republicans firing ‘vicious’ and ‘dangerous’ attacks at Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., voters are ‘having a difficult time’ opting for the man who would become the nation’s first African American president. ‘Undecided people are having a difficult time just culturally making the change, making the move for the first African American president in the history of the United States,’ said Biden. ‘These vicious attacks on Barack’s character.” What he has is truthful information emerging to attack his lack of character, is what’s going on.
Anyway, so if you’re undecided and you can’t make up your mind to vote for Obama, you’re racist. But with Powell, no, no, no, no, had nothing to do with race. But, of course, it has everything to do with race. Snerdley, you think they’re just now claiming victory? Pelosi’s out there thinking she’s going to have 250 seats in the House, even more if they had more money. Oh, they’ve got it in the bag. In their minds this is over, it’s just a matter of time. Now, we’ve put together a montage here because Obama said he is honored and humbled, he said yesterday in Fayetteville, he’s honored and humbled by Powell’s endorsement. So we put together a montage here of Obama praising Powell’s wisdom, along with Powell’s weapons of mass destruction speech at the UN. Remember, now, Obama’s whole campaign is based on opposition to the administration and this speech that Powell gave at the United Nations Security Council.
OBAMA: This morning a great soldier, a great statesman.
POWELL: Banned materials have recently been moved from a number of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction facilities.
OBAMA: A great American has endorsed our campaign for change.
POWELL: There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons.
OBAMA: I have been honored to have the benefit of his wisdom.
POWELL: Saddam Hussein has never accounted for vast amounts of chemical weaponry.
OBAMA: And his counsel.
POWELL: Saddam Hussein is determined to get his hands on a nuclear bomb.
OBAMA: But today I’m beyond honor.
POWELL: Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an associate and collaborator of Osama bin Laden.
OBAMA: I am deeply humbled.
POWELL: Leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option, not in a post-September 11th world.
OBAMA: I am deeply humbled to have the support of General Colin Powell.
RUSH: So Powell went up there and said everything Obama disagreed with, it’s just a little fun, sort of like our montage with Bob Torricelli, The Torch, denying it all while a lawyer listed all the stuff that Torricelli got, a gold watch, 5,000 in cash, and ‘I can’t believe my character is being attacked.’ Hush money payments to women, blah, blah — whatever they were, it was funny. And we did the same thing here with Obama and General Powell.
All right, now, when we come back, we’ll get started the next hour, we’re going to get some of your phone calls, focus on Biden promising, promising that the United States and its new president, Obama, will be tested by multiple acts and multiple nations, and he’s going to need our support ’cause they may not do the right thing, or may not appear to be the right thing but it will be the right thing, is going to be very, very tough out there. This is stunning.
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RUSH: Here’s Valerie in Erie, Pennsylvania. Hi, Valerie, welcome to the EIB Network.
CALLER: It is very much a pleasure, sir.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: Mr. Powell referred to Obama as a transformational figure, but he didn’t specify as to whether the Obama presidency would require him to transform, government to transform, or our lives to transform.
RUSH: Well, you’re taking it much farther than what General Powell meant.
CALLER: Really?
RUSH: Yeah. Transformational simply means we’re finally going to get over our days of slavery and a majority of people would elect a black guy president, that’s what transformational is. Because it’s not his policies, his policies aren’t transformational. His policies are every bit as liberal as any the world’s ever seen. There’s nothing new about them.
CALLER: You just made me feel a lot better because I really thought a lot of things were going to have to transform in order for him to be the president.
RUSH: Well, I mean things can transform to the worst.
CALLER: That’s exactly what I’m talking about.
RUSH: Okay. Transformational figure, that term is being thrown around as though messianic, all kinds of great new things, this change and so forth. Transformational can be bad as well. Why is Palin not transformational? Why is it only Obama? That proves, for the rest of you in the media, if you didn’t hear it the first time, Powell, nomination of Obama is about race, R-A-C-E, it is about race, and you can quote me.