RUSH: Larry in Hubbard, Oregon. Welcome, sir, to the EIB Network and Open Line Friday. Hi.

CALLER: Good morning, Rush. Nice to talk to you.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: Two points. First, you know, I’ve been listening to the thing in Ferguson all week and now you’re starting to hear about the state police coming in and how good everything turned. There seems to be a lot of nice things that are happening now overnight. I want to suggest to you the credit should go to the local police force and the local police chief. I think he did everything right. He put a show of force on the streets — limited the violence, the rioting, the looting, to just a couple of blocks, it seems like — and kept the thing from growing out of control. So why aren’t we given this guy the accolades he deserves?

RUSH: Because he’s being blamed for caused the looting. He’s being blamed for causing the rioting. His show of force — his militaristic display of the show of force, the wanton arrest of an innocent gentle giant of the neighborhood — is being blamed for causing all of this in the first place.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: So people are not gonna give the local chief any credit. What’s gonna happen here is the governor’s gonna get credit for taking the county cops off the case and replacing them with the state patrol. Obama is getting credit —

CALLER: (unintelligible)

RUSH: No, wait. You haven’t heard yet. Obama is getting credit for his speech yesterday because that —

CALLER: Well, that’s my second point, Rush. That’s my second point. A lot of people are coming out — or not a lot, but people are saying, “Why didn’t the president come out, directly say, ‘Stop this looting. Stop this rioting.’ As a minority man, he should be able to have more influence with the population there.”

RUSH: Well, he did.

CALLER: My suggestion to you is he didn’t dare do that because they wouldn’t have listened to him. So he would have completely lost whatever shred of credibility he actually does have or believes he had. I think he didn’t dare come out and make a direct statement “stop the looting” because nobody would have listened to him.

RUSH: Well, I think there’s truth to that. I think he might not have made a direct appeal — (interruption) no, no. This is a good point. He might not have made a direct appeal because he wouldn’t want to run the risk that they don’t listen to him, and that blows everything. I mean, here’s the first African-American president, a messiah, a man who was gonna change everything, a man with a direct line. His words are magic and whatever he says people listen to and react.

So if he makes a direct appeal and they don’t listen to him, it doesn’t look good, there’s no question. And I don’t doubt that calculations like that are made by all kinds of politicians. Not just politicians, but public figures in general. The news media is constantly searching for ways to prove they still have the ability to move public opinion, for example.

Folks, I have to tell you, just to illustrate this point. Back when I started this program in 1988, you would not believe the pressures that were on me to get involved in causes. The causes were always in protest of something, and the purpose was to show the power of talk radio. You might remember, there were all these causes where people were supposed to cut up their mobile gasoline credit cards or Exxon cards and send them back ’cause they’re mad at Exxon. Local hosts were doing that kind of thing, and if people did it and it made the news then the local host was thought to have a lot of influence and the host was thought to have a lot of power.

I resisted all of that because I have never viewed that being the purpose of talk radio. I have never, ever. One time have I urged people to make phone calls to Washington and that was to show what would happen when I did. I have never done causes. But all kinds of people do. The media does it all the time. I think half of what the Drive-By Media is doing today is to demonstrate to themselves they still have the power to move public opinion. That’s what their polls are all about.

They’re losing audience. They’re losing subscribers. They’re losing circulation. They do a lot to show themselves, and maybe advertisers and others, that they still have the power. And so you come to a politician and I guarantee you this guy on the phone is exactly right. Larry’s exactly right. A politician could well make that calculation. “Well, I better not call for calm. I better not make a direct call ’cause if they don’t do it, then how’s that make me look? If they don’t listen to me, I can’t afford that.” So they come out and make a pretty tepid statement, which is what Obama made. I think it was pretty tepid. I think it was a statement that tried to please both sides while saying as little as possible, aside from platitudes and boilerplate. I think the press conference was boilerplate. So I think there’s a validity to that.

And in addition — grab sound bite four — to add a little exclamation point to that. This was yesterday in Ferguson at the fire station. The police chief was supposed to hold a press conference yesterday, but the New Black Panther Party took over. They came there into the fire department and they just took over what was to be a press conference of the police chief. The New Black Panther Party chairman Hashim Nzinga took the podium and started speaking.

NZINGA: As we speak the president of United States is talking to Russia. HeÂ’s talking to China. HeÂ’s talking to North Korea. HeÂ’s talking to Iraq and the Middle East about treating their people better. Stop oppressing your people. But as he look out the window at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, heÂ’s watching the black man who built the White House shot down like dogs. Like it our not, he’s from Kenya. He’s a Mau Mau. He need to go back to his roots and stop people from killing Africans in the streets. Stop telling other nations to do what you won’t do yourself, president.

RUSH: You able to hear that? Are you able to hear what the guy said? New Black Panther Party takes over the press conference, says stop oppressing your people. “As he look out the window at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue he’s watching the black man who built the White House shot down like dogs. Like it or not, he’s from Kenya. He’s a Mau Mau. He need to go back to his roots and stop people from killing Africans in the streets. Stop telling other nations to do what you won’t do yourself, president.” So I play that only because our caller says Obama may not make a direct appeal, because what if they don’t listen to him? The New Black Panther Party’s already ticked off.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, for those of you in Rio Linda, you may be wondering, “What’s a Mau Mau, Rush? I heard the New Black Panther guy say that Obama was a Mau Mau.” Winston Churchill put Obama’s grandfather in prison because he was thought to be a Mau Mau, a revolutionary in Kenya. So that’s why the New Black Panther guy’s accusing Obama of being a Mau Mau.