{"id":21945,"date":"2004-04-21T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T07:10:19","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T07:10:19","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T07:10:19","slug":"the_passionless_of_the_kerry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/","title":{"rendered":"The Passionless of the Kerry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

So, you know… I\u2019m not going to apologize, but I didn\u2019t mean to give the impression that Russert was going to softball the guy. Kerry is “trying to define himself.” The problem is… We were thinking here during the break, you just know this. We know it. It\u2019s been the case for years now. The Kerry campaign has assigned some poor schlub the responsibility of listening to this program every day and reporting back to the campaign. Now can you imagine (laughing) this poor guy listening to the first hour of this program (laughing) and having to report back to the campaign what was about Kerry? Do you think this guy can go back and say, “It was the funniest hour I ever heard. I mean, I was laughing myself…” No, he can\u2019t do that. He\u2019s got to go back, “They\u2019re scared of you, senator. They are scared. (laughing) You\u2019ve got Limbaugh on the run.”<\/line> It has to be totally sycophant stuff. They probably subscribe to my website and I don\u2019t know it, probably subscribe under some phony name and they listen to it on the web wherever they go. (Laughing, clapping.) At any rate, listen to this [Washington Post] editorial here [Kerry sing-song voice]: “‘We need A reasonable plan and a specific timetable for self-government\u2019 in Iraq, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) said in December. ‘That means completing the tasks of security and democracy in the country — not cutting and running in order to claim a false success.\u2019 On another occasion, he said: ‘It would be a disaster and a disgraceful betrayal of principle to speed up the process simply to lay the groundwork for a politically expedient withdrawal of American troops.\u2019 <\/line>“Contrast that with what Mr. Kerry told reporters last week: [Kerry sing-song voice:] ‘With respect to getting our troops out, the measure is the stability of Iraq. (Democracy) shouldn\u2019t be the measure of when you leave. I have always said from day one…” before day one, because I was hre before there was a day one, “..that the goal here… is a stable Iraq, not whether or not that\u2019s a full democracy.\u2019 Mr. Kerry contends that he has not shifted his public position. But there are major differences between what he said in December — right after Saddam Hussein\u2019s capture, when Mr. Kerry was seeking to discredit dovish Democratic challenger Howard Dean — and his remarks last week, which followed several weeks of bad news from Iraq and growing public disenchantment with the course of the war. Where once he named democracy as a task to be completed, and the alternative to ‘cutting and running\u2019 or a ‘false success,\u2019 Mr. Kerry now says democracy is optional. <\/line>“Where once he warned against setting the conditions for an early but irresponsible withdrawal of U.S. forces, now he does so himself by defining the exit standard as ‘stability,\u2019 a term that could describe Saudi Arabia or Iran — or the Iraq of Saddam Hussein. In December Mr. Kerry\u2019s Iraq policy differed with that of President Bush not in its goals but in its tactics. Mr. Kerry rightly insisted, and still does, that the United States cannot succeed without greater international collaboration and reliance on the United Nations. Now he differs with Mr. Bush on the crucial issue of what the United States must achieve in Iraq before it can safely end its mission. ‘Iraq,\u2019 Mr. Bush said at his news conference last week, ‘will either be a peaceful democratic country or it will again be a source of violence, a haven for terrorists, and a threat to America and to the world.\u2019 Mr. Kerry now argues that there is a third option. But what would that be? [Kerry sing-song voice:] ‘I can\u2019t tell you what it\u2019s going to be,\u2019 he said to reporters covering his campaign. ‘That stability can take several forms.'”<\/line><\/p>\n

[Summarizing in Kerry voice:] “Don\u2019t pin me down on what my other option is. I have no idea.” So The Post concludes by saying, “We believe a successful political outcome is still possible; others disagree. But Mr. Kerry\u2019s shift on such a basic question after just a few months is troubling and mistaken.” They\u2019re trying to help; the Post is trying to help. I mean, this could have been written in a really brutal way, but it wasn\u2019t because they\u2019re still trying to save the guy.<\/line>Now he\u2019s out there as I said, “As he prepares for the most ambitious and defining phase of his presidential candidacy, John Kerry is relying on image makers schooled in traditional Kennedy liberalism to sell himself anew to voters as a 21st Century centrist Democrat, a muscular hawk on national defense and deficits.” <\/line>How can any Kennedy person do that? There\u2019s no Kennedy person that\u2019s a hawk, not since JFK. Just gets more and more befuddling. And Kerry has actually shifted to “the environment.” What he\u2019s tried in Iraq hasn\u2019t worked. What he\u2019s tried on war on terror hasn\u2019t worked. Now he\u2019s going to the environment<\/emphasize>? Can you imagine the hosts and the producers of the usual suspects on these nightly cable shows, and they\u2019re saying, “He\u2019s talking about what<\/emphasize>? We\u2019ve got to do an hour on the environment? We\u2019ve got to go back to that? Nobody cares about the environment!” This is a classic example of somebody who has been defined and is trying to undo <\/emphasize>what everybody knows about him. That\u2019s what this is really about, because everybody does know. They know who he is. They know what he\u2019s not. He\u2019s not great; he doesn\u2019t have a lot of stature. He doesn\u2019t have a lot of energy or passion, and there\u2019s nothing they can apparently do about it.<\/line> <\/line>BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/line>RUSH: Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Paul, glad you waited, and welcome to the EIB Network.<\/line>CALLER: Thank you, Rush. Pleasure to speak to you.<\/line>RUSH: Thank you.<\/line>CALLER: My question is, you\u2019ve kind of been having fun talking about the difficulty the strategists for Kerry are having in trying to recreate him and everything, but what I would ask you is — it might be kind of a far stretch for you, but if you were a Democratic strategist for Kerry, how would you defeat a popular wartime president? How would you run a campaign against a president like him in a growing economy? The president has cut the legs out of Democrats as far as social issues and everything. How would you do it?<\/line>RUSH: Well, that\u2019s a pretty involved question, and I don\u2019t know that I want to go into great detail about how I would defeat Bush.<\/line>CALLER: Probably don\u2019t want to give any secrets away or anything. (laughs)<\/line>RUSH: Well, no, but I do have an answer. I\u2019m not hedging, but the first thing: the problem here is the candidate, right? <\/line>CALLER: Right.<\/line>Throw the issues out. The issues don\u2019t matter, yet. I mean, the problem with Kerry is the issues don\u2019t matter. He\u2019s getting no traction on anything. The problem is the candidate. The first thing I would do is I would get hold of whoever really runs this party and say, “Is it too late to do something about this? Because we haven\u2019t actually nominated this guy. Because it is looking bleak<\/emphasize>. This guy has demonstrated over the course of the entire campaign. We don\u2019t know how he ended up you winning these primaries in the first place but he doesn\u2019t excite anybody; he doesn\u2019t turn anybody on and he doesn\u2019t have it in him to do it.”<\/line><\/p>\n

Now, we could explore the reasons why. I mean, you could bring Kerry… The problem with telling Kerry this, is he doesn\u2019t see himself this way. John Kerry is sitting way up there in the clouds and looking down at everybody. He\u2019s got this condescension arrogance about him, and I don\u2019t think there are probably any aides that can actually approach him this way. Now, I\u2019ve read stories that there are people in his campaign concerned about lack of energy and they\u2019re showing him tapes of the way he campaigned in previous campaigns when he was running for the Senate in Massachusetts, but I can imagine how those sessions are going. <\/line> [Kerry sing-song voice:] “Yoooou doooon\u2019t understand the difference betweeeeen running for the Senate in a little state like that and seeking the big house in this country. I knoooow what I\u2019m doing, and you don\u2019t, and I\u2019m paying yoooou, and you\u2019re not paying me. I can fire you, and if you don\u2019t tell me what I want to hear, you\u2019re gone. Understand? I was in Vietnam! You better fear me.” He\u2019s got an attitudinal adjustment problem, here. I\u2019d sit him down and say, “John, do you really want this? Do you really want to be president?” [Kerry sing-song voice:] “Why are yoooou asking meeee…?” <\/line>“Because I can\u2019t tell by the way you are. You go on vacation all the time. We had a chance here to really, really, really <\/emphasize>put Bush away: the 9\/11 commission. Everything was going in our favor, Clarke, we couldn\u2019t have asked for more. Where were you? Nobody knew where to find you! Your cell phone wasn\u2019t on. None of your aides could be found. You were out skiing and you\u2019re berating the Secret Service agent and you\u2019re calling him a son of a b—- because he supposedly tripped you. Where were you? John, this is when you needed to be out there and scoring points and hammering nails and you weren\u2019t anywhere to be found. Do you want to do this<\/emphasize>? Because if you don\u2019t want to do it, now is the time to say so. If you do want to do <\/emphasize>it, then let us see the evidence.” <\/line> Because, folks, I\u2019m going to tell you something. Throw the issues aside, not that they don\u2019t matter because they do and I believe that more than anything, but he\u2019s got bigger problems than that. It\u2019s something real simple, and you\u2019ve heard me say this over the course of the many, many years that you have been eager beaver listeners listens to this program: there is no substitute for passion as a magnet. People who are passionate about what they want, get it. People who are passionate about what they believe are able to persuade people of it. People who are passionate about their interests are infectious and inspiring, motivating and invigorating people — and he has no passion<\/emphasize>. <\/line>He doesn\u2019t even have answers to questions. Well, what\u2019s your third plan for Iraq? [Kerry sing-song voice:] “Weeeell, I don\u2019t have that plan yet.” I mean, of all things to say! Make something up! To say you don\u2019t have the plan, yet you think there should be one? I don\u2019t run people\u2019s campaigns, and I\u2019ve never done it; I don\u2019t want to do it. It\u2019s obviously more involved than anything I know. But from the side of it that we see — and that is Kerry in public — I mean, I couldn\u2019t believe he was up in Maine or New Hampshire the other day. No, it was Harlem. Of all places, for an empty arena! <\/line>The Democrat presidential nominee is at the City University in Harlem, in New York, and this is where this socialist\/communist professor stood up and read him the riot act and said, [Flawless Walter Daum impression:] “People hate Bush and they will hate you, if you don\u2019t understand that you represent an imperialist, murdering nation.” The video of that showed nobody in the audience behind (Kerry). When the camera up and down away, nobody was in the gymnasium or auditorium wherever it took place. There is no evidence of any excitement in this campaign, and, you know, a lot of people think that you can fake things on campaigns. You can plant questions in the audience and debates, and you can do certain things. You cannot fake mass support and passion for an individual. You cannot take a rock star that nobody likes, put him in Madison Square Garden, and have the place go nuts and make it an act — unless you\u2019re filming a movie and you\u2019re rehearsing. And this kind of thing, you can\u2019t do it, and there\u2019s just no passion there.<\/line>END TRANSCRIPT<\/line><\/p>\n

&lt;*ICON*&gt;Your Resource for Combating the Partisan Media, Liberals and Bush-Haters… <\/strong><\/line>(…Rush\u2019s John F. Kerry Stack of Stuff packed with quotes, flips &amp; audio!)<\/a><\/line><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, you know… I\u2019m not going to apologize, but I didn\u2019t mean to give the impression that Russert was going to softball the guy. Kerry is “trying to define himself.” The problem is… We were thinking here during the break, you just know this. We know it. It\u2019s been the case for years now. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Passionless of the Kerry - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The Passionless of the Kerry - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"So, you know… I\u2019m not going to apologize, but I didn\u2019t mean to give the impression that Russert was going to softball the guy. Kerry is “trying to define himself.” The problem is… We were thinking here during the break, you just know this. We know it. It\u2019s been the case for years now. The […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/john_f_kerry_stack_of_stuff_3.Par.0007.ImageFile.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/john_f_kerry_stack_of_stuff_3.Par.0007.ImageFile.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/john_f_kerry_stack_of_stuff_3.Par.0007.ImageFile.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/\",\"name\":\"The Passionless of the Kerry - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-19T07:10:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-19T07:10:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Passionless of the Kerry\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Passionless of the Kerry - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"The Passionless of the Kerry - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"So, you know… I\u2019m not going to apologize, but I didn\u2019t mean to give the impression that Russert was going to softball the guy. Kerry is “trying to define himself.” The problem is… We were thinking here during the break, you just know this. We know it. It\u2019s been the case for years now. The […]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/john_f_kerry_stack_of_stuff_3.Par.0007.ImageFile.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/john_f_kerry_stack_of_stuff_3.Par.0007.ImageFile.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/john_f_kerry_stack_of_stuff_3.Par.0007.ImageFile.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/","name":"The Passionless of the Kerry - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2011-05-19T07:10:19+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-19T07:10:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/04\/21\/the_passionless_of_the_kerry\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Passionless of the Kerry"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21945"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}