RUSH: Okay, folks, look, I just checked the e-mail here at the top of the hour. I’m not trying to be pessimistic. I’m trying to be realistic. I’m not trying to be negative about anything. Facing reality is what I do. I am the mayor of Realville, and I’m just telling you that the media is in the same mode that they’ve been in for the last four years: utter protection of Obama, utter promotion of Obama.

So McCain and the boys have a press conference announcing they want a select committee to look into Benghazi, and the press is hostile. That should not be a surprise. That’s standard operating procedure. The press is hostile to us. The press is hostile to Republicans. The press is hostile to anybody who does not fall in line with the Obama stated position on anything. Four Americans dead in Benghazi? Doesn’t matter, because it doesn’t matter to Obama, and particularly if it could hurt Obama, it is not going to happen. “They ought to be as contentious with Obama as they are with –” yeah, they should, but they’re not gonna be. They’re his guarantors. They’re his protectors.

This press conference coming up the bottom of the hour, you know what it’s gonna be? It’s gonna be a continuation of the War on Women. It’s gonna be a continuation of the campaign. He’s gonna continue to bash Republicans. He’s gonna make a couple of phony allusions to bipartisanship and so forth, but he’s ramming it down everybody’s throat now: $1.6 trillion of tax increases, health care cutbacks of $340 billion. And this is not to raise revenue, and it’s not to reduce the deficit; it’s to punish people. It’s to punish people for voting against him. It’s to punish people for not supporting him. It’s to punish people for being successful, because that means somebody hasn’t been. Success, in his world, is not legitimate. It results from cheating, chicanery, an unfair playing field or what have you. He’s got free rein now, like he told Medvedev, “Hey, just tell Vlad, once I get reelected I’ll have a lot more flexibility.”

He’s got it now.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay, folks, look, I just checked the e-mail here at the top of the hour. I’m not trying to be pessimistic. I’m trying to be realistic.

We’ll start in Kansas City, and it’s Karen. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. This is such an honor. I can’t tell you. I’m really nervous because I’ve always wanted to talk to you, so thank you so much.

RUSH: You bet. I’m glad you are here.

CALLER: First I want to tell you that I did order some more diet blueberry and raspberry tea yesterday. I just love it.

RUSH: Thank you. Thank you very much. We keep getting feedback from people tasting it for the first time who say how good it is, and it is. That’s the best thing about the tea: It is really good. I’m glad you like it.

CALLER: I do. I do. And my second point is that I agree with you a hundred percent. I don’t think we’re watching this Petraeus situation unfold. I think it already unfolded, it’s done, and you’re exactly right: It’s happening the way you describe. To me, it’s so obvious. Obviously the administration knew, and Mark Levin — who, for those don’t know, worked in the Reagan administration for the attorney general — said absolutely the president would know. He would know right away if there were this kind of security breach.

RUSH: Well, yeah. Last night on Greta, Alberto Gonzales, former attorney general for Bush 43, said if something like this has happened in their administration — if the CIA director was having an affair with these exact details — he would have told Bush instantly. You can’t leave the president hanging and unknowing and ignorant. And this bunch didn’t, either. There’s no way Obama didn’t know about this. What they did was put this in their pocket for later use when they needed it, and we don’t know what those reasons are. But we know who they are, these people. We know the kind of people they are. And there’s no question, they needed it now for some reason.

CALLER: Well, now the FBI has conveniently found classified documents in Paula Broadwell’s house. So this kind of information is coming out, and there’s no way to me that Petraeus would testify if they didn’t already know the outcome. So my prediction personally, watching these details come out, is that, in exchange, there will be no charges, perhaps no dishonorable discharge. They can keep him from being the fall guy. They could put a lid on all the dirty laundry that could come out. It wouldn’t surprise me, if after all this has cleared, it will become, as you said, “A private matter. Nothing to see here. No security breach.”

RUSH: All of that’s entirely possible. I want to walk you through what she’s speculating. Here we’ve got McCain, Lindsey Grahamnesty, and Kelly Ayotte asking for a select committee to look into Benghazi. You and I all know that it was not a video. It has been admitted to by enough people at upper levels of our government. We know that this was an Al-Qaeda attack. We know that the White House Situation Room knew at the moment it was happening what it was.

The bottom line is: We know that everybody in this administration who, for two weeks or for two days or even to the present, was blaming Benghazi on spontaneous eruption of protests and a video… We know that that’s not true. Okay, you know that. Here you’ve got these people asking for a select committee to look into it. We have General Petraeus, the CIA director. On September 13th or 14th, whatever, he testified that it was a video; that it was spontaneous.

Now Petraeus has had to resign. Details of the affair. And she’s right. They found classified documents at Broadwell’s house. We don’t know what. I can’t believe the FBI… Actually, I can believe the FBI is releasing that. The FBI is releasing all kinds of stuff now that they used to never talk about, but they’re making it all public. So in all of this, Petraeus goes and testifies either tomorrow or Friday, whenever it is.

He’s not gonna commit perjury.

He’s not gonna disagree with himself.

He’s not gonna say that what he said back then was wrong.

I don’t even think he’ll say, “I was misinformed. I’ve done my own investigation now.” What’ll happen is he’ll come out and he’ll confirm what he said. That will leak. It will leak. Even though it’s behind closed doors it will leak purposefully, and what will the news be? “The director of the CIA, in closed-door testimony, once again confirmed that the root cause of the violence in Benghazi was a spontaneous protest that was the result of an offensive video.”

And we’re gonna be pulling our hair out. We’re gonna know it isn’t true. But they’ll have the testimony of the former CIA director, even though he’s may be discredited in some people’s eyes. It’s just hard to conceive. “It’s hard to conceive that they would let Petraeus come and testify if he is going to say things that contradict Obama and Susan Rice and whoever else. We’ll wait and see how this turns out, but I think you ought to brace yourself for the fact that it’s another dispute that the Democrats will win.”

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Mary in Napa, California, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hi.

RUSH: Hi. Don’t sound so excited.

CALLER: (laughing) It’s good talking to you. I was just calling, it’s been on my mind for a couple weeks now. Why hasn’t anybody mentioned anything about the 30 people who survived the attack in Benghazi. We have two outrageous heroes that laid their life down for these people. Now, I know they’re government employees so they’re probably asked to stand down on speaking up, but I know there’s somebody, Rush, that’s out there in your audience that knows one of these 30 people that can have them take a stand and speak out on the benefits that they reaped because two men died on their behalf.

RUSH: So you — if I understand this right — you think that some of the survivors should be coming forward —

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: — and explaining what really happened there?

CALLER: Yes, I do. I think it’s their right. I mean, you look at the what our Founding Fathers put on the line, they put everything on the line.

RUSH: Yeah, but —

CALLER: And these people are worried their job? No. They have a job because these men saved their lives.

RUSH: Yeah. That’s all true. That’s all true. It’s also true that they are still alive.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: They got out of there alive, and they’d like to stay that way. And they would probably like to keep their jobs. It’s a tough economy.

CALLER: Well, you know what, I’m sure our Founding Fathers did, too —

RUSH: Can I ask you, seriously, now, Mary I want you to listen to me. I want to take you back to the eight years of Bill Clinton. Can you recall in all of that mess, can you recall one member of that administration, ever, even today, coming forward and telling the truth about anything that happened there?

CALLER: No. I think they died around him.

RUSH: Well, no, no. I’m talking about people still alive. What I’m telling you is, as a matter of ideological commitment and loyalty, they do not turn on each other. They circle the wagons around each other. The survivors at Benghazi have only one interest, and that is protecting Obama. That’s who they work for, or protecting Hillary.

CALLER: Yeah. I don’t look at this as turning on their party. I look this as standing up for two men that put their lives on the line. I think you can separate the two, and I think that we need to get the character back in our country where people take a stand and they take a chance that they’re gonna lose all things. That’s what these two men did.

RUSH: Okay, well, then, let me ask, why haven’t they, then? If you think it’s quite normal, if you think it’s natural to think that some of these people would come forward thanking the people that saved them and then telling the truth, why haven’t they?

CALLER: I don’t think it’s normal, but one thing that we’ve lost in this country, Rush, is accountability and ownership. And I think that they need to own up to what they have now because of these two men, and I think they need to be accountable.

RUSH: I’m really not trying to be a downer here. What I really think is that they know, whoever you’re talking about, they know that we exist. And to them, that means we would like to hold Obama accountable for an absolute disastrous foreign policy. As long as there are people like us, the people in the regime are not going to help us. If that means circling the wagons around Obama, circling the wagons around what happened in Benghazi, toeing the company line, that’s what they’re gonna do. I cannot overemphasize to you the partisan divide, the literal partisan — “divide” is not even the word. But it’ll suffice.

That exists here. You’re looking at people with honor and integrity doing the right thing. They think they are. Doing the right thing is protecting Obama from us. Protecting Obama from the Republicans. That is doing the right thing. That’s loyalty. The mission, the loyalty, the reason for existence is to protect Obama. It’s not anything about the country. Now, this may be a bit of an exaggeration and I don’t mean it as a blanket application to everything, but so far, eight years of Bill Clinton, this has been the modus operandi. Four years of Barack Obama, this has been the modus operandi. We see it happen each and every day. Mary, I’m glad you called.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here’s John in Crofton, Maryland. I’m glad you waited, sir. Hi.

CALLER: Hello?

RUSH: Yeah. Hi, John. How are you?

CALLER: Yeah, you know I’m probably your most frequent caller. I’ve been listening to you for over 20 years, (ahem), and I am pissed at you. I… I sent you an e-mail yesterday, and I kind of got the impression that you were giving Petraeus a way out for him not to tell the truth. I think it’s so critical now, especially with all these other things that Obama’s gonna stick to us as far as the fiscal cliff and everything else, loss of freedom. You know, this guy is still a national hero. I mean, he’s been in uniform for what?

(growing agitated) Almost 40 years! Almost twice the amount of time you’ve been on the air, and you’re not waiting another day or two. You don’t even know what day he’s gonna testify — it’s probably gonna be Friday — and you’re making it easy for him to go up there and just give the same story he gave before! We know it’s not true. It’s not perjury because intervening, he went to Benghazi and he investigated the thing himself! (shouting)

Everybody knows what the story is! And if a national hero doesn’t go to bat for the rest of the country, we’re lost. And you’re — you’re telling everybody, “Oh, the president’s invincible! You’re… Nobody’s gonna win. Look at Clinton! My God, he screwed so many people and nobody ever came forward on him. So you can’t beat these people.” My God, how defeatist can you be? (pause) You’re not American when you act that way!

RUSH: I’m just telling you. I’m reading the tea leaves. I’m using my intelligence —

CALLER: I want to know what the tea leaves say!

RUSH: I’m using my intelligence guided by experience.

CALLER: (unintelligible shouting) Raspberry!

RUSH: You just said it. Nobody ever dropped a dime on Clinton!

CALLER: You said it! I was repeating what you said!

RUSH: Well —

CALLER: (screams) Who cares about Clinton?

RUSH: Did anybody ever drop the dime on Clinton?

CALLER: I don’t care!

RUSH: It matters!

CALLER: (unintelligible shouting)

RUSH: That’s why you should care! It’s instructive!

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, let’s talk about Petraeus for a second, because John from Crofton, Maryland, is mad. He thinks I’ve given Petraeus an outlet to go ahead and lie, and I don’t think that that’s even possible, but Petraeus, on September the 13th, two days after this thing, went up to Congress and testified that it was the video. Now, all this time, when Petraeus goes up there and testifies, it’s known he’s having an affair. They’re trying to tell us Obama didn’t know at that point in time. That’s the rub here. They’re telling us that nobody told Obama that his CIA director was having an affair and Obama was not told that the CIA director was sharing classified data with his biographer. They want us to believe that Obama didn’t know about this until the Thursday after the election. Last Thursday. They’re asking us to believe that’s the first he knew of it.

It’s too much to believe. They told us that Obama is the most sophisticated consumer of intel the country’s ever seen. He’s such a great consumer of intelligence that he doesn’t need to even go to the daily briefings. It’s outrageous to insult our intelligence, to have us believe that Obama was not told that the CIA director’s having an affair. What happened was they put that fact in a pocket and they’re ready to use it against Petraeus whenever they need it. Well, hello Benghazi. Now, Petraeus was scheduled to testify tomorrow anyway, until they dropped the dime on him on the affair. Then he resigns. By the way, we learned yesterday that Petraeus wanted to stay on originally. Did you hear that? He asked the CIA security chief, (paraphrasing) “Look, can I just admit that this happened? I want to stay on.”

He wanted to finagle a way to stay in office as the CIA director even with the news having come out. They wouldn’t let him. I don’t remember where I heard that yesterday. Two different places. I can’t recall right now. So he’s scheduled to testify tomorrow anyway. He’s already under oath in prior testimony blaming the video, like everybody else in the regime did and has maintained, even to this day. Now he’s no longer the CIA director. That means to people that he’s free. He doesn’t have to worry about recriminations. He doesn’t have to worry about loyalty to the president, even though as CIA director he shouldn’t anyway, but they all are.

It was the Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, both reported that Petraeus wanted to stay. He wanted to stay on. And that is crucially important. So, yeah, he resigned, but it’s because they wouldn’t let him stay. So now he’s gonna testify anyway. And the hope is and the expectation is that since he went to Benghazi after his testimony on the 13th and conducted his own investigation, the assumption is that Petraeus now knows that it wasn’t a video. In fact, the assumption is that Petraeus knew it wasn’t a video when he said it was, if we must be honest, and we must be honest. There isn’t anybody in this administration who really thought it was the video. That was a concoction and a lie to cover up the incompetence or whatever else they’re trying to cover up.

Now we learn there might have been a CIA illegal prison in the annex over there. This is much bigger than anybody knew. It’s much bigger than just Obama foreign policy incompetence. There’s something going on they don’t want us to know. It’s never been about the video, and even when Petraeus said it was, it wasn’t. And when he said that it was the video, he knew that they knew that he was having the affair. I mean, that was all known. He just didn’t know that Obama knew. That’s how convoluted this is, when, of course, there’s no question Obama did, I don’t care what anybody’s saying.

Now the expectation is that Petraeus can go testify tomorrow or Friday, whenever it is, and say, “By the way, I recant. It wasn’t the video. This was an Al-Qaeda attack. It was a preplanned attack.” Testify to the truth, that we all know what it was. It was an Al-Qaeda attack, that Al-Qaeda is building and establishing more bases in northern Africa and in Libya. And what I said to get John in Crofton, Maryland, all upset was that I don’t expect Petraeus to change his testimony because then they can charge him with perjury. John said, “Well, he could rely on the fact that he’s conducted his own investigation now. It wouldn’t be perjury. It would be correcting the record.” To which my reply was, folks, in this era, there is not a dispute that does not end in the Democrats’ favor.

We are one week into Obama after the second election. He’s officially not in his second term, but for all practical intentions, he is. Does anybody really think that his second term is gonna be taken down tomorrow or Friday? John said, “You’re basically telling us that an American hero for 40 years would still lie about something.” And I’m saying I think that if that happened, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. And like the rest of you, I’d be livid and I’d be disappointed and I’d be pulling my hair out over frustration, but frankly I’ve been doing that for 25 years on this show watching the Democrats get away with virtually anything they want for all intents and purposes, be it rape, be it sexual harassment of an intern, lying under oath to a grand jury and the guy that does that is the biggest hero of the Democrat Party.

We have to face the facts here, the Democrats win this stuff. The media and everybody else circles the wagons around them. This is closed-door testimony tomorrow. It’ll probably leak, particularly if it favors Obama. We will see what happens. I’m just telling you that I’m gonna be surprised if Petraeus changes his story. Now, John thinks that I’m giving Petraeus an out here, ’cause I’m the second most powerful guy in America, and if I say it’s okay, I expect him to lie, he’ll go do it and there won’t be any criticism of it. Now, Obama said, “If Senator McCain, Senator Graham, and others want to go after somebody, let them come after me. I’m happy to have that discussion.”

Well, good. Let’s have it.

Let’s have that discussion about you, Mr. President. By all means, since you’ve asked for it. So, anyway, that’s where we are. Graham and McCain want this select committee to get to the bottom. We have four dead Americans here. It’s being covered up by a sex scandal. A sex scandal is being used by the administration to cover up any investigation or any news reporting about the truth of Benghazi where four Americans are dead. It is outrageous. It’s unacceptable. There’s no question about it. But it’s par for the course.