RUSH: Somebody just told me Romney’s canceled a campaign event in Wisconsin because of the hurricane, but he’s in Cleveland right now. He’s in Ohio at a campaign event right now. Obama’s canceled Wisconsin. Obama canceled Florida. In fact, Obama flew to Florida last night. This is the weirdest thing.

We were told this morning that a number of EIB affiliate radio stations along the East Coast up in the target area for the hurricane and the nor’easter, these two things that are gonna interact and create weather Armageddon, a number of affiliates are going all local, and obviously some listeners to those stations might not know. If you have friends who are in that area and would like to listen to the program but can’t, you can always direct ’em to Rush 24/7, RushLimbaugh.com, streaming opportunities and so forth. We’re gonna be talking about all of this as the day unfolds and as the week unfolds, including talking to you.

Now, Obama canceled an event in Orlando today. Bill Clinton is sitting in for him, or standing in. But Obama flew down to Florida last night for this campaign event. Now, everybody knew yesterday what they know today about the hurricane. If you’re gonna go down to Florida and cancel your appearance and come back, why go? It leads me to believe that somebody, some handler said, “Look, Barack, you gotta get back to Washington.” So he canceled his Florida appearance. He also canceled Wisconsin. He also canceled Wisconsin before the Scott Walker recall vote, and some people trying to read some things into that. But this morning the regime has announced they’re canceling the Orlando event, Clinton’s sitting in, and Obama’s back in Washington.

I was watching CNN when Obama landed back in Washington. It was funny. The motorcade leaving Air Force One on the highway heading back into town or over to where the helicopter is (maybe not using the copter, gotta drive ’cause of the weather) and CNN: “Okay, everything’s calm now, everything’s okay. We can all relax, Obama’s back. Barack’s in the White House monitoring everything. It’s okay. Everything’s cool.” I also was watching TV this morning, and I saw some things, I mean, I believe it, but I actually don’t believe it at the same time. We all know what the forecasters are saying about this storm, and we all know what the local officials are saying about it, and it is being portrayed as Armageddon. The stock market is closed through Wednesday. New York schools are closed. They’re worried about the New York subway system flooding.

I saw a Photoshop of scuba divers in the New York subway system. The warnings about power failures that will happen, and it’s gonna last for days, and there’s nothing you can do about it. I kid you not. A guy in Florida was sending an e-mail to a buddy of his in New Jersey warning, “Get out of there, get out now. Even if the storm doesn’t hit, there are going to be riots for food and gasoline in the aftermath. Get out.” So these are the kind of expectations that have been set. This is literal Armageddon. We are having riots forecast by citizens to each other. The weather service is forecasting record destruction, and the power companies are falling right in line as are governors and mayors. So the expectations are such that this is the worst thing that might ever happen. Except it hasn’t happened yet. And then after it happens, the worst thing that has happened.

Now, my official climatologist, Dr. Roy Spencer, says this could be epic. You have what was already gonna be a nor’easter anyway, without the hurricane showing up. The hurricane showing up, the warm subtropical air meeting with the nor’easter, the cold air mass from Canada, that’s what’s gonna wreak the havoc, when these two systems collide. And that’s when all of the predicted tumult and chaos and destruction is scheduled to take place. So I want to track down this story that Romney has canceled a trip to Wisconsin because of the hurricane. Wisconsin’s not in the path, but Obama has canceled it, too. Obama’s hunkered down in the White House.

Folks, I literally was watching MSNBC this morning and CNN, and there were Obama campaign aides on these network shows actually discussing how this storm could help Obama if they played it right. Politicizing. Now, I’m not surprised because these people politicize everything. The National Weather Service has been politicized. I’ve never seen a warning like I saw last night from a New Jersey National Weather Service office. It’s coming up in a second. Setting the table here, now. They were literally discussing how this could help Obama. It’s a crisis that would allow Obama to look as though he’s in command. Obama in charge of the federal Treasury. Obama could make sure gasoline and food and whatever needs to be moved someplace gets moved immediately. It was sick, folks. It was sick.

There was also a Romney guy on with one of the Obamaites who said, “This thing is gonna affect everybody. It’s not just Obama. What about the people who live in this area where this storm is gonna happen? Why is the focus on how can this help Obama?” And then alternately there were some Obamaites worrying about how it could hurt Obama. Well, I can tell you that. If you want to know how this whole thing could hurt Obama, I’ll be glad to tell you. Very quickly. Here we are in the last week, everybody thinks the regime has something to dump on Romney, October Surprise or what have you. But even if they don’t, the last week is when all the forces were gonna be marshaled and everything was gonna be moved to the front page.

The lead story was gonna be Obama being reelected and Romney is not worth it. That’s not the lead story now. In addition to that, the media executives and reporters who were going to lead the pro-Obama charge are themselves in harm’s way. The storm is not about “those other people.” It’s about them! They’re in the middle of it. Their homes are targeted. Their offices are in the way. Their lives could be disrupted. And therefore, that will become the big story, not Obama’s reelection. And it simply takes what was to be the biiiig final push for The One off the top, the lead story or the front page.

I don’t know how long this is gonna go on, but if they were hoping… Let’s put it this way: If they were hoping that the media would establish major momentum for Obama with this week, Mother Nature has just interceded and said, “Whoa!” In other words, for you atheists… You know, I play golf, and there are golf gods, and you can do things that irritate the golf gods. And one of the things that you do to irritate the golf gods is to tell yourself you got the game figured out.

The minute you tell yourself you got the game figured out, the golf gods make sure that you screw up the next two rounds. Well, the weather gods have interceded here. They have intervened in this campaign and in this effort. You’ve got potential devastation and destruction in the media capitals of this country: Washington and New York. And the residents and the occupants of these media organizations in Washington and New York are the ones who are gonna be standing out in the street telling everybody else how bad it is.

Not how bad Romney is.

Not how dangerous Romney is.

How dangerous the storm is.

And then when they have time they’re gonna try to massage it and figure out a way they can make it look good for Obama. Which is juvenile, infantile, sad, and disappointing because this storm is going to affect everybody. And there isn’t anything political about it until people try to make it political. And look at who is. (New Castrati impression) “Mr. Limbaugh, as I listen to your show it sure sounds to me like you’re the one that’s trying to politicize the storm!”

No. No, no. I was minding my own business here, Mr. New Castrati. I was minding my own business doing show prep and I saw the TV today and I saw the Obamaites out there actually talking with smiles on their faces about how this storm — which is being portrayed as Armageddon — can help Obama. Are you people…? You’re not all there. You people have become unhinged. And to think that people watching these cable networks who are in the path of this storm care whether it helps Obama?

When they’re being told their house might go, trees might fall on power lines, they will be without power two or three days, and the subway might flood? And you’re concerned about whether or not this helps Obama? Keep talking. Keep talking. We’ve got political news. I’m wondering if we ought to just suspend political discussion today in honor of the storm. Well, Romney’s not going to Wisconsin; Obama came off the campaign trail. That leaves me. What if I’m the only guy out there campaigning. Is that fair? That’s not fair to Obama. Is it?

Actually it is. (chuckles) You know why? He deserves it! Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I want to grab a quick phone call. Alan in Sarasota, Florida. You happened to be discussing something I was gonna get to fairly quickly, so I thought I’d get your call in and use you to transition to it. What’s up, sir?

CALLER: Well, I’m very concerned that we all seem to want to cover the president and his Situation Room associated with Hurricane Sandy, but what planning, what preparation, what analysis did the president do prior to 9/11? Why were not the issues raised by our ambassador addressed? There was not a photo op-ed that day. Every year I would imagine the president should be sitting down prior to 9/11 and evaluating the risk to America, our home soil, our troops, our citizens —

RUSH: Well, look, he’s the most sophisticated consumer of intel in the world. He doesn’t need meetings. They’ve told us he’s the most sophisticated consumer. Of course I get your point. Your point is right on the money, and even if there wasn’t such a strategy session or monitoring prior to 9/11, what happened after the Benghazi thing hit? Folks, I have a whole Stack on that today, too, as well as some of the sound bites from Jeanine Pirro’s show on Fox Saturday night. I’m sorry to keep talking about it instead of getting to it all. I am going to get to it. I’ve got some semblance of structure today that I want to try to get all this stuff in, in ways that it makes sense.

Even the media are tweeting each other about whether or not Obama should have left Florida and gone back to Washington. I kid you not. During the break, I was monitoring media tweets. Mark Halperin at TIME Magazine said, “Nobody’s saying Obama shouldn’ta gone back.” In other words, everybody agrees Obama shoulda left, even though it’s a stark contrast, he didn’t bother to go to the Situation Room or… well, actually we think he did. That’s where this Benghazi thing gets even worse. Some of the stuff on Benghazi is gonna make you so mad. I don’t care how mad you are now. It’s gonna make you even angrier.

But it’s a great point that Alan makes in Sarasota, Florida. They’re politicizing this. Obama’s in the White House. What’s he doing, by the way? TheHill.com says that the Romney campaign has donated its bus to deliver supplies to storm relief centers today. “Mitt Romney’s campaign has sent its bus to collect and distribute donated supplies for those in the path of Hurricane Sandy.” Meanwhile, Obama is in the White House monitoring. That’s right, he’s monitoring. Obama is monitoring. He’s monitoring in the White House. Monitoring the situation. He’s got it all under control. He’s in there monitoring things. But the Romney campaign sent its bus out.

The media is scared to death, folks. These polls have them alarmed like they haven’t been. They really bought this stuff. They bought their own drivel. They bought the stuff that they put in their own bubble. They really believed Obama was a lock. They didn’t think anything could change it, including the debates. Their world is now upside down. They don’t know what to make of anything that’s happened. They are just stymied.

Here’s another Reuters story. “Hurricane Forces Obama to Balance Governing, Campaigning.” Aw! Aw, poor president! “President Barack Obama faced the delicate task on Sunday of balancing his response to a potentially huge natural disaster with his own tough re-election effort as Hurricane Sandy bore down on the US East Coast nine days before Election Day.” Really? Oh, so, so challenging! Whoa, it’s just so hard. That’s right, Reuters is telling us that Obama’s been forced to balance governing and campaigning, which to them is a news story. They’re very worried about this. That’s all this means. They are terribly worried that all of this means that the big surge that they had planned for Obama this week and that Obama had planned has now been overwhelmed by the surge of Sandy.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: During the last half hour, the president spoke. They flew him back from Florida. He flew to Florida last night for a campaign appearance today. And then before the campaign appearance, they flew him back. Can I tell you what I think happened? I think Obama decided — and, look, we knew that the storm was coming yesterday. And we knew what was being said about it.

We knew yesterday it was being predicted as catastrophic, perhaps more catastrophic than anything in recent memory. Yet Obama still flies to Florida. And then this morning, before his appearance, they hustle him aboard Air Force One. He flies back, and they announce Bill Clinton’s gonna do his appearance for him. I’m just wild-guessing here. What I think happened is Obama decided on his own (impression), “I’m goinÂ’ to Florida!

“I’m gonna go campaign. I’ve been to Vegas. I’ve been to Jay-ZÂ’s. Uh, uh, Letterman. What the hell? I’m going.” And somebody over on the staff said, “You know what? We gotta get him back. If heÂ’s in Florida when this storm hits, this is bad. We gotta get him back so he can act like he’s president.” What else could it be? Why would you go in the first place? Somebody help me out. I would love to be wrong about this.

Why go in the first place? You know everything yesterday that we know today about the storm. We know the predictions haven’t changed. They’ve gotten worse, in fact. Why go if you’re not gonna campaign? So he went on his own and somebody on his staff said to come back. I’m reading a Mark Halperin tweet, and the Halperin tweet says, “No one thinks the POTUS shouldn’t go back to DC for the storm.

“The issue previous times, Benghazi and others, when he didn’t return and staff said it made no difference.” But it did. It did make a difference. It’s why his approval’s plummeting seven points in three days. So that’s why they’ve hustled him back. Staff said: “We gotta make you get back to Washington so you can act like you’re president. We gotta get some pictures of you in the Situation Room monitoring the storm like you were monitoring when we killed bin Laden, Mr. President.”

So he did. They flew him back, and he has spoken. AP. I have it right here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers. AP, Breaking News!” Ready? Ready for it? “Obama: “Slow-Moving Storm Will Affect Millions, Urges Americans to Heed Warnings.” (Gasp!) Wow. That we could not have done without. That… Oh, thank God. (interruption) Apparently not. Apparently he could not tell us this from Florida.

It wouldn’t have had the optics, Snerdley. The optics. It wouldn’t have looked good on a stage at a campaign rally. (impression) “By the way, that storm up there that I flew out of? Ha! It’s moving real slow and will affect million, uh, millions of people. Heed the warning. Except what Governor Christie says. He’s fat and a fool. Don’t listen to Governor Christie. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He makes fun of me all the time.”

That’s it. That’s what the AP put out. Obama spoke to the nation! (crumbling up paper)

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: George in Martinez, California. Great to have you on the program, sir. Thank you for waiting.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. I donÂ’t normally watch CNN, but I was flipping back and forth last night during the World Series, and this morning for the hurricane coverage. And what did I hear? A so-called Republican supposedly (or so they said) saying that Obama made a wonderful choice in his head of the FEMA agency, instead of a political hack like Bush. And then this morning they make a comment about, “Well, you know, the president said FEMA will do every effort to help victims in this hurricane, whatever it takes. Yet Mitt Romney said, ‘We should abolish FEMA and privatize it.’” They go, “Oh, yeah,” and both times they make this smarmy chuckle. I’m watching hurricane coverage and they’re turning into politics!

RUSH: Yeah, well, you said it was CNN. That shouldn’t surprise you.

CALLER: No, I know that, but this is why I stopped watching CNN. But I said, “I’m watching for news of the hurricane and they’re injecting politics into a potential disaster.”

RUSH: I saw the same thing. I didn’t see that, but I saw Obama campaign aides speculating on how they could turn this into a plus for Obama, and that’s what you must have seen. That must have been one of the strategies.

CALLER: Oh, yeah, talking about it this morning on CNN, they were saying, “How will this affect the election?” I have relatives in Pittsburgh. It sounds like an old joke: “I have relatives in Milwaukee.” But I want to see what’s happening back East to my friends and my relatives back there, not hear about politics. By the way, over the weekend I watched Seven Days in May. That president was down to 29% approval. He didn’t wait for polls; he didn’t wait for studies. Even though he’s a fictional president, he acted to defend this country, and that’s the difference: Even a fictional president’s better than this one.

RUSH: (laughing) All right, I appreciate the call.