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RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, switching over to ESPN, just to see if it’s actually happening. Well, let’s see, we got basketball highlights going on. It’s sometime in the SportsCenter this hour that the Bamster is to be announcing his picks. And even some Democrats now are beginning to — (interruption) Oh, it’s over? I thought it was at noon today is when it was gonna happen. No, the markets started plummeting this morning when some United Nations guy from 13,000 miles away said it’s over in Japan. So we went down immediately 150 points. I thought it was noon. Anyway, Obama’s already done it. We had an advance copy of the feed. Now, we thought we would put this in perspective. Obama and his NCAA brackets juxtaposed with media reports of news around the world.

COOPER: Breaking news live from Japan with what is now believed to be the worst nuclear disaster.

OBAMA: Uh, as much as I love North Carolina, as much as I love Roy Williams, I think Ohio State’s got the talent this year.

LEE: Breaking news on another crisis, the conflict in Libya.

OBAMA: I think Kansas keeps on winning.

RATIGAN: Breaking news now, as we watch the closing bell on Wall Street, a tumultuous day.

OBAMA: Uh, I’m gonna pick Duke.

QUICK: We have breaking economic news, housing starts and the producer price index.

OBAMA: And on this one I think, uh, I think Pitt’s gonna win.

RUSH: That’s the best way we could illustrate what’s going on here. We’ve got literal worldwide emergencies and in the past the United States was involved in these things, as a decision-maker, as a problem solver, as at least a nation that offered assistance. Now, while it’s all going on, our esteemed leader spent 30 minutes taping his bracket selections for the NCAA basketball tournament. Now, to be fair, ladies and gentlemen, just to show you that we will bend over forwards to be fair, in the ESPN segment where Obama made his picks, he does mention that people should go to a government website to find out about what’s happening in Japan before they fill out their brackets. How big of him. I kid you not. Yes, even Brian is shaking his head at that one. So here you are, we’re watching ESPN, you’re excited because The One, The Messiah, Pharaoh Obama will soon be making his bracket picks. But instead he has to perform a public service.

So speaking directly to the ESPN audience, he says, (paraphrase) “Go to my website to find out what’s happening in Japan before you fill out your bracket picks, otherwise you probably would never hear anything about what’s going on over there, only if you go to my website.” So, obviously, he heard the criticism, and in order to try to recapture some credibility he told the ESPN audience to go to his website to learn what’s going on in Japan before filling out the bracket picks. (laughing) We are living through this. And it’s starting, they’re just small little ripples, the media and some of the people on the Democrat side are now beginning to — I mean this is not at all what they expected. You know, go back to 2007, 2008, this guy, you remember, was the end-all. There had never, ever been anybody in American politics like Barack Obama. We were to be treated, we were in store for a politics unlike the world had ever seen before. Problems to be solved practically overnight, in the midst of great goodwill and love and karma and we had people falling all over themselves talking about the greatness embodied in this. Why, folks, the Nobel people, they’re jokes anyway, they gave him a Peace Prize on the come. It’s never happened. They gave a Peace Prize because they thought his ascension to leader of the regime would bring peace around the world. Look at what is happening.

Now, I believe that a lot of this early support for Obama can be discovered in people on the left and the media having this inherent feeling of sympathy for minorities. They group minorities as people who are, by virtue of minority status, they’re weak, they don’t belong, quote, unquote, much as the social blue-bloods determine who belongs and who doesn’t, much like the conservative intellectuals are dealing with Sarah Palin. She just doesn’t belong. She doesn’t have the right pedigree, for whatever reason just doesn’t belong. Well, minorities don’t belong. But they’ve been so victimized. They’ve gotten the shaft in this country. I don’t care whether it’s the Native Americans, I don’t care whether it’s blacks, I don’t care whether it’s the Chinese that built the railroads, every minority’s been given the shaft and so there’s this inherent sympathy for them on the part of liberal do-gooders. And I think part of this irrational interpretation of Obama and his political talents is founded and rooted in this view of him with sympathy. Oh, the poor guy, we’re gonna bend over backwards here to make sure that he gets every advantage that has been denied him and his people, every other minority, because of the unfairness and the discrimination or whatever else has been attached to the minority in this country since its founding.

So I really do, I really believe that there is an element of sympathy. Aw, jeez, it’s so unfortunate as a minority. And that leads and has led many in the media on the left in this country to look past any deficiencies, look past any flaws, ignore them. In fact, excuse them. Of course they’re flawed. We can’t hold anybody accountable to their flaws when they come from a minority, they’ve been discriminated against, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So they had this picture of Obama, they presented it, they caricatured an image of the guy, could not be possible for any human being to live up to. And now everybody sees what an absolute sham all of that was. There’s not even the pretense to greatness here. There’s not even an illusion of it. There’s not even a hope for greatness. It’s all to be manufactured now. So even people on the left are looking at all of these world events and the domestic crumbling that’s going on and, you know, their lives are on the line here, their reputations are at stake because they presented this image of this guy that we all have. So they’re of course gonna be the last people to arrive at the conclusion that we’ve got basically an incompetent in the highest office in the land.

So excuses will continue to be made. “Well, he needs to recharge. He needs to get away. Look at what he inherited. He didn’t bargain for all this when he ran for office. He’s got this evil stuff that Bush left him. He’s got these crazy Republicans. He’s gotta deal with the Tea Party.” All these excuses are continuing to be made. The best excuse yet that I’ve heard from anybody trying to tell us that we’re not seeing what we’re seeing is, “He’s so a man of the world, all this is beneath him. To you and I, Rush, this is big stuff, nuclear disasters in Japan and rising food prices, gasoline, energy problems, the Middle East, Obama’s vision is so universe-wide that this is just beneath him. It’s almost a distraction, poor guy. He’s not made to deal with such small things. But unfortunately, that’s what his hand is, and he’s gotta deal with it.” I mean I’ve rarely seen such a coordinated effort undertaken to excuse dangerous incompetence. And we’re getting it, and each and every day it ramps up.

I want you to ask yourself, in the midst of all this — and forget the nuke stuff in Japan, forget the Middle East. Just take a look at the domestic economic circumstances in this country, which have worsened since he took office. You put any other president, even if it’s a Democrat, going on television, ESPN to do these picks in the midst of all of this, why, whoever that president was, particularly a Republican, but even another Democrat, would be scalded. Carter was somewhat excused. Again, he was so smart. He was above so much of the job. As I recall, Carter did not have a preordained love relationship with the media. He didn’t at all. He just wasn’t Nixon. The media didn’t create him. The media didn’t have a whole lot personally invested in Carter. They made Obama. They created this obviously false image and characterization, which is now a caricature. The media hated Carter for a while. But with Obama, we are defining the presidency down. It’s happening right before our very eyes and it is breathtaking to watch.

I’m gonna take a break here. I’m a little long in the opening segment, which often happens.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I now understand. I misunderstood. I thought they were gonna give Obama the whole 30 minutes, from noon to 12:30 to make his picks, do a whole show of it, when they were gonna videotape it. It turns out they did it in about I guess three to four minutes, picked his brackets. I thought he was gonna pick all 58 brackets. Instead he picked the Final Four? I don’t know. I didn’t see it. Anyway, we’ve got it. We had it in time to put together this montage.

COOPER: Breaking news live from Japan with what is now believed to be the worst nuclear disaster.

OBAMA: Uh, as much as I love North Carolina, as much as I love Roy Williams, I think Ohio State’s got the talent this year.

LEE: Breaking news on another crisis, the conflict in Libya.

OBAMA: I think Kansas keeps on winning.

RATIGAN: Breaking news now, as we watch the closing bell on Wall Street, a tumultuous day.

OBAMA: Uh, I’m gonna pick Duke.

QUICK: We have breaking economic news, housing starts and the producer price index.

OBAMA: And on this one I think, uh, I think Pitt’s gonna win.

RUSH: I mean, you can’t illustrate this disconnect. Okay, so Obama picked the sweet 16. Yip yip. So Andy Katz who was the senior basketball writer on ESPN, the correspondent, along with Doris Burke, they had this exchange about Obama and his bracket pick.

KATZ: Even though he’s quite busy there’s still some knowledge of what’s going on, and he certainly could reference some of the things going on within the sport, maybe a little Big East tournament, and — and in the women’s side, too, as well!

BURKE: You could tell the guy’s played the game and is a fan of the game because he — he’ll reference specific things, whether it’s a defensive-minded team or a certain player that he thinks can carry a team. You can tell he can play.

KATZ: No question about it.

RUSH: He can’t play. Look, this is my point. I come on this radio show how many times a year and talk about the NFL. Would they ever say this about me? “Oh, the guy can play the game. Oh, wow! This guy, you can tell he’s a fan of the game. He’ll reference things about a defensive-minded team. Ohhhh!” I mean, they bend over backwards to accommodate this guy. It’s almost like the way you behave with a special needs kid. “Oh, way to go, Johnny! 2+2 is 5! You’re so smart, little Johnny.” It’s like Diane Sawyer yesterday. By the way, the Hollywood Reporter is giving them the business over this one. Diane Sawyer, at a shelter in Japan, in the midst of all of that destruction, says (breathlessly), “Look! Looooooooook! Recycliiing! They’re recycling here in Japan!” as though everybody’s a child. I don’t know, folks. And that’s the way they’re positioning Obama for us. He can’t do anything wrong.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let me give an example of what I’m talking about. I shouldn’t have to do this. After 22 years when I proffer an opinion, when I give you some analysis — when I tell you why it is, for example, that Obama’s being portrayed as he is as a total caricature — you know I’m right, but you just have to doubt me. It’s just the thing to do. Listen to David Brooks. If this doesn’t prove the point that I just made: They look at Obama, and some people look at him and see somebody so smart, “It’s almost like an alien! He’s got the answer to every question. We’re not smart enough to keep up with him, and so it’s hindering him.

“He’s just SO smart, SO advanced; he lives in a different plane, lives in a different astral plane, lives in a different world than we do! We can’t hope to understand. We should just be thankful we’re alive at the time he is.” I mean, this is the kind of crap that we’ve been told about Obama, and as it became apparent that he was not who they told us he was. There’s nothing special, there’s nothing unique. We’ve not seen anything like this in politics. We’ve seen it every day. (chuckles) There’s nothing special here. Nothing. Not one thing. The one thing that might be historic about the Obama presidency is how horrible it is.

He may be, before this is all said and done, the worst president this country has ever had, but we’re not gonna have the people who told us he’s gonna be “the best, the most unique, whatever president we’ve ever had,” agree with that. So the excuses have to be made. So here’s David Brooks. You gotta love David Brooks. In 2005 or ’06, whenever he first met Obama — the New York Times “conservative columnist” first met Obama — he actually wrote that it was the crease in Obama’s pant as he was sitting there in front of Brooks that convinced him he was going to be president and going to be a great president.

And this, David Brooks, is a guy considered to be among the conservative intelligentsia, one of the super smart. Like Obama, we pale compared to his aura of brightness — and that kind of comment is absurd. The crease in his pants! So this morning on Morning Joe PMSNBC, during a discussion about his book, Brooks has a new book out there called, “The Social Animal: The Hiddent Sources of Love, Character and Achievement,” and a guest panelist is TIME Magazine senior political analyst Mark Halperin, and Mark Halperin said to Brooks, “Who is there in public life who you think has a very deep understanding of the balance of reason and emotion and uses it effectively as a leader?”

BROOKS: Clinton had a sort of a galloping emotional side. He is the one in our lifetime who really has this ability. My armchair diagnosis of — of Obama, just having covered him these years, is that he’s a very complicated person with many different seeelves. We all have many different personalities that are aroused by different contexts. It also means I think he’s rarely “all in.” He rarely commits 100% because there’s always another part of him that’s sort of analyzing and stepping back.

RUSH: Oh. Okay. See, so here we’ve got a guy in the midst of a ruinous presidency — a presidency that is becoming laughed at, mocked, and joked about and feared for its incompetence all over the world — and what is the explanation? “Weeell, he has so many different personalities. He’s so complicated. We can’t hope to understand Obama. “He has many different personalities aroused by different connections,” which, of course, would explain his arousal for the NCAA brackets. “[H]e’s rarely ‘all in.'” He’s so smart. His intelligence is so abnormally high that he can be intimately evolved in many things at one time and be entirely competent and assured without rarely committing to 100%, “because there’s always another part of him sort of analyzing and stepping back” and thinking and…

This is what we get. This is how the excuses are made. The average, ordinary American can look at incompetence and see it. The average, ordinary American can look at somebody’s in a job they got no business having. They can see somebody total in over their head and they can see somebody who doesn’t care. They can see somebody who really isn’t even into it, but they’re too stupid to really know so it takes Brooks and the rest of these guys to explain to us the complexities of all this that we are hopelessly unable to comprehend ourselves. Now, let’s stay with the audio sound bites. This is Chip Reid.

Now, this is yesterday afternoon at the White House daily briefing. I bet if there’s a guy in Washington who wishes he had said “no” when the job was offered it’s Jay Carney, the White House press secretary who took over for Robert Gibbs. It has been hell from the first day Carney stepped in there. You can tell that he’s not comfortable with it, doesn’t apparently like it, but what’you gonna do? President wants you to be press secretary, and you’re working for Biden, what are you gonna do? This is Chip Reid. Chip Reid at CBS. Chip Reid, the series of sound bites here (we have three of them). Chip Reid, flabbergasted, essentially saying to Carney: Don’t you people think it’s time to make a decision on Libya? Starts out with this question, Chip Reid. On the no-fly zone: “What, exactly, is the [regime]’s position before the Security Council?”

CARNEY: Our position, Chip, remains, uh, that we are evaluating a number of, uh, options — military options —

REID: A decision has to be made now.

CARNEY: — including a, uhhh, no-fly zone. We, uh, feel, uhhh, that it is important that any action like that, uhhh, might be taken should be down in concert with our international partners. We would look to the UN as a for-forum for evaluating that option.

RUSH: “A decision has to be made now,” Reid said. They gotta make a decision here. And Carney says: “Well, yeah, but we’re gonna — we gotta talk to our international partners and look to the UN.” Chip Reid was not happy.

REID: Is the president satisfied to follow, not lead, on deciding whether to do it?

CARNEY: I take issue with the characterization.

REID: Isn’t it time to make a decision yes or no?

CARNEY: Well, Chip, you tell me if, uhhh, as an American citizen would you want your president not to consider aaall the complications and ramifications of taking military action?

REID: Doesn’t there come a point to make —

CARNEY: And I would s… I would do…

REID: — where you have to make a decision?

RUSH: Three times: “Don’t you think it’s time you make a decision?” “Well, what do you want, Chip? You’re an American citizen. Do you want the president running in like a cowboy? What do you want, Chip?” “Well, I take issue with the characterization.” “Is it time to make a decision?” “Doesn’t there come a point you have to make a decision?” Here’s Carney.

CARNEY: When it comes to considering military options this president will always be mindful of what the mission — should it be engaged — what it entails, the risks that it poses to our men and women in uniform; aaand its likelihood of having the kind of impact that we set out for it to have, and — and that is his responsibility as commander-in-chief.

RUSH: There you got it. That’s Jay Carney explaining Obama’s view of leadership. Dithering. Dithering around. Waiting. “Weeell, the president’s gonna always be mindful of what the mission — should it be engaged — what it entails, should it be engaged, the risks that it poses to our men and women in uniform if we do it. And its likelihood of…” Meanwhile, Khadafy (with arguably the worst trained, worst staffed, STUPIDEST military in the Middle East) is winning. All because here hamstrung by a guy who made mincemeat of his predecessor for “imposing the will of the United States” on the Middle East and Iraq. So you can’t go there. He’s gonna let somebody else do it, and everybody else waits for us to decide. He’s not deciding. He’s making picks on ESPN for the NCAA Final Four, March Madness. Let’s go to audio sound bite 24. This is where Obama did the big public service, urging people to go to his website to learn about Japan before making their own picks.

OBAMA: And obviously we are going through incredible changes all around the world — uh, most recently, obviously, uh, our hearts go out to the people of Japan.

RUSH: Right.

OBAMA: Uh, one thing I want to make sure that viewers who are filling out their brackets… Uh, you know, this is a great tradition.

RUSH: Right.

OBAMA: We have fun every year doing it.

RUSH: Right.

OBAMA: But while you’re doing it — if you’re on your laptop, et cetera — go to USAID.gov. Uhhh, US aid dot g-o-v, uh, and that’s gonna list a whole range of charities where you can potentially contribute to help the people who have been devastated in Japan. I think that would be, uh, a great gesture as you’re filling out your brackets, they can help out some people who are really, ehhh, going through a tough time.

RUSH: Right so before you fill out those brackets… I mean who we talking to? We’re talking to people drinking Bud Light and Coors Light at nine in the morning. (paraphrased) “Now, you guys make sure you go to the USAID.gov website here. Before you shave and all that, before you take the Viagra, you go out there and go to my website and figure out what the heck’s going on in Japan and then you fill out your brackets.” It’s very cool. And then Andy Katz, ESPN SportsCenter, senior college basketball correspondent, and Obama have this exchange about Obama’s tournament bracket.

KATZ: We actually have the same national championship game.

OBAMA: There you go!

KATZ: Ohio State versus Kansas.

OBAMA: And I’m picking Kansas just because I think they’re deeper. Uhhh, I think that Kansas has more firepower. After last year, look, here’s what happened picked North Carolina, they lost, the next year they won for ME. I think Kansas is gonna do the same thing. They always feel bad about losin’, uhh, when the president picks ’em. They’re gonna go all the way.

RUSH: Yep. There you have it. And while all that was going on, other news was being made.

COOPER: Breaking news live from Japan with what is now believed to be the worst nuclear disaster.

OBAMA: Uh, as much as I love North Carolina, as much as I love Roy Williams, I think Ohio State’s got the talent this year.

LEE: Breaking news on another crisis, the conflict in Libya.

OBAMA: I think Kansas keeps on winning.

RATIGAN: Breaking news now, as we watch the closing bell on Wall Street, a tumultuous day.

OBAMA: Uh, I’m gonna pick Duke.

QUICK: We have breaking economic news, housing starts and the producer price index.

OBAMA: And on this one I think, uh, I think Pitt’s gonna win.

RUSH: Speaking of housing starts, this is Reuters. New housing starts at a lowest in 27 years, folks. But we got a recovery going on. How long did it take Obama to decide on the surge for Afghanistan? That was something he promised all during the campaign. That took six months, right? We need to break into study groups and report back in a few weeks on the no-fly zone. Maybe appoint a blue-ribbon panel on the no-fly zone. Maybe do some focus groups and polling on the no-fly zone. Maybe that will do it. David Brooks (who, by the way, thinks Sarah Palin is a buffoon) is telling us about the complexities of Obama. (sniffs) He’s never really “all in,” never a hundred percent in because of these complexities. He’s always stepping back. Yeees, he’s always thinking, he’s always analyzing out there. Yes, he’s always making sure that he’s on top of things. He’s a very complicated person. Another part of him sort of analyzing and stepping back. He has many different selves.

Sarah Palin’s a buffoon.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Jana in Remer, Minnesota, hello and welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. It’s a real pleasure to talk to you. I’m just really thrilled.

RUSH: Thank you very much.

CALLER: And totally white sheep of the DFL family dittos, too.

RUSH: Uh-oh, you’re the only one not DFL?

CALLER: Yeah. My dad’s a farmer. Yeah. He doesn’t like you very much.

RUSH: Why? Do you know why he doesn’t like me very much?

CALLER: Well, you know, he doesn’t listen to you.

RUSH: That’s probably why. So he’s heard other people’s criticism of me and decided that he doesn’t like that?

CALLER: Yep. That’s right. That’s right. Totally, that’s exactly the reason.

RUSH: Well, what are you gonna do? You can’t call your dad “stupid”?

CALLER: No, no, he’s 81, so can’t do that, can’t do that.

RUSH: Eighty-one? Wow.

CALLER: Yeah, so I can’t change his mind, can’t change his mind.

RUSH: And he’s your father?

CALLER: Yeah. Yeah. I sound a little younger than I really am.

RUSH: I was gonna say.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: You’re not supposed to judge people by how they sound, but you do not sound old enough to have an 81-year-old father.

CALLER: I know. I tell telemarketers my parents aren’t home all the time.

RUSH: Yeah, very cool.

CALLER: So the reason I called is I was just wondering about this whole NCAA bracket stuff. Did President Bush ever do this?

RUSH: No, President Bush did not. What he did do was invite Hall of Fame baseball players to the White House for lunch now and then. And he did play the guitar at a fundraiser shortly after Hurricane Katrina happened and he got hammered for it, Jana. He went to a fundraiser and he strummed on a guitar and he caught literal hell for it. Nobody televised it, he didn’t make a big deal, it was just a fundraiser, there was some news B-roll footage of it, but, no, he didn’t fill out — well, look, maybe he did do brackets and he didn’t make a big deal of it. He didn’t go public with it if he did.

CALLER: Yeah, I work in a social services office and I had to live through eight years of hearing nasty stuff about Bush, and —

RUSH: Yep.

CALLER: — I figured I woulda heard, you know, any particular complaint if he would have spent any wasteful time.

RUSH: That’s exactly right. You can ask that question, you can make that observation about any news event that happens today. “Can you imagine if a Republican president were doing it?” and the resulting panic attack that would take place in the media. Jana, thanks much for the call.

END TRANSCRIPT

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