![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/650-121417-Bender-1.jpg\")
BENDER: — and, you know, you have to be ready and want to do this more than anything.<\/p>\nRUSH: And grab sound bite number 23. Folks, it\u2019s Steve Bannon. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve got enough time for this. Do I have 35 seconds or a minute 35 left? How much is left in this segment? Oh, good, we do have time. Okay, Wall Street Journal guy\u2019s on CNN this afternoon, John King speaking with political correspondent Michael Bender, Wall Street Journal. The question\u2019s longer than the bite. He\u2019s asked about the Alabama election and what happened there. And here\u2019s the point of it.<\/p>\n
BENDER: The base is still there. I mean, Rush Limbaugh was on the radio yesterday, he\u2019s not talking about the problem with Steve Bannon, he was talking about the problem with Mitch McConnell. And Bannon, from his point of view, he\u2019s rallying the troops. He\u2019s a controversial figure, say what you want about him, but one thing that\u2019s undeniable is he\u2019s a very dynamic speaker, he\u2019s a motivate the troops kind of guy, and that\u2019s exactly what he\u2019s doing right now.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s telling folks that what the Moore race showed is that you have to be ready to beat the Democratic establishment and that the Republican establishment will play just as dirty as the Democrats. And he\u2019s telling all the guys too that you have to be ready to face sexual stuff, you have to be ready to face these sexual questions —<\/p>\n
RUSH: What in the world is he talking about?<\/p>\n
BENDER: — and, you know, you have to be ready and want to do this more than anything.<\/p>\n
RUSH: I didn\u2019t say any of this. Is he talking about me or Bannon? He\u2019s upset that I didn\u2019t criticize Bannon for being to blame for what happened in Alabama, and goes on to say that I\u2019m — I never said any of that. Where do these guys get this? I never said one thing about Bannon or McConnell on the Alabama race, not a single thing. And because I\u2019m not jumping all over Bannon, of course, I guess I\u2019m saying what Bannon says? This is incontrovertible.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: Look, I want to hear this again. I was under time constraints, and I\u2019m not… Let me read the question. The question is very, very long. John King is talking to this guy from the Wall Street Journal whose name is Michael Bender. They\u2019re talking about the Alabama Senate race, what it means for the 2018 midterms. King says, “You have a great piece in the Journal about how a lot of Republicans hope that people get the message. The message of: If Steve Bannon says, ‘Please run,\u2019 say ‘no.\u2019 Now, think about people who can win statewide.<\/p>\n
“Don\u2019t make the Roy Moore mistake again. If you\u2019re Mitch McConnell, you\u2019re hoping that candidates looking to primary incumbents say, ‘Okay, for the good of the party, let\u2019s not have a bloody primary. Not happening.'” So I guess… I don\u2019t even understand the question. I guess King\u2019s asking this guy… This guy wrote a piece claiming that since this went belly up in Alabama, you\u2019re to ignore Steve Bannon down the road and listen to Mitch McConnell.<\/p>\n
And don\u2019t primary establishment guys anymore and stop this nonsense and let Mitch have his way. Is that basically what the question is? (interruption) Okay, so that\u2019s the question. So here\u2019s this guy Bender answering this premise. And I\u2019m still in a fog here because if he\u2019s talking about me, I didn\u2019t say one word of this. I didn\u2019t even harp on McConnell! I didn\u2019t spend a whole lot of time lamenting the reasons for this. Anyway, let\u2019s listen to what he says again.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/FB-101617-Bannon.jpg\")
BENDER: The base is still there. I mean, Rush Limbaugh was on the radio yesterday. He\u2019s not talking about the problem with Steve Bannon. He was talking about the problem with Mitch McConnell. And Bannon, from his point of view, he\u2019s rallying the troops. He\u2019s a controversial figure. Say what you want about him, but one thing that\u2019s undeniable is he\u2019s a very dynamic speaker. He\u2019s a motivate-the-troops kind of guy —<\/p>\n
RUSH: Stop the tape! I have never… It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t think. I have never called Bannon a “dynamic speaker” or anything else. I have never said that Bannon\u2019s great at rallying the troops and you should listen to him. I\u2019ve never… (interruption) Oh, he\u2019s talking about me being a dynamic speaker? (interruption) And I\u2019m rallying the troops to do what, support Bannon? I\u2019m rallying…? (interruption) No, this guy\u2019s ripping me! (interruption) This guy\u2019s ripping me because I didn\u2019t rip Bannon. He claims I ripped McConnell and I should be ripping Bannon. So I\u2019m getting ripped here for something he doesn\u2019t think that I did.<\/p>\n
Anyway, here\u2019s the rest of this…<\/p>\n
BENDER: …he\u2019s a motivate-the-troops kind of guy — and that\u2019s exactly what he\u2019s doing right now. He\u2019s telling folks that what the Moore race showed is that you have to be ready to beat the Democratic establishment and that the Republican establishment will play just as dirty as the Democrats. And he\u2019s telling —<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/FB-091317-Stop-The-Tape-2.jpg\")
RUSH: Stop the tape! Did I say that? What is it? He says, “[W]hat he\u2019s doing right now. He\u2019s telling folks that what the Moore race showed is that you have to be ready to beat the Democratic establishment and that the Republican establishment will play just as dirty as the Democrats.” Uhhh, I talk about the ineffectiveness of the Republican establishment! I talk about how there\u2019s hardly any difference in the two. I\u2019m at a total loss, and I know this guy didn\u2019t pick this up from listening to me. But I\u2019m still not sure who he\u2019s talking about. Here\u2019s the rest of it just for the heck of it…<\/p>\n
BENDER: And he\u2019s telling all the guys too that you have to be ready to face sexual stuff, you have to be ready to face these sexual questions, and you know, you have to be ready and want to do this more than anything.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well, that sounds like he heard somebody giving advice to future candidates. “If somebody\u2019s gonna say you sexually harassed, you gotta be ready for it and you gotta have…” I did not say this. You still think he\u2019s talking about me there? (interruption) How can you? You were here yesterday, and you know that I didn\u2019t say any of that. Bannon\u2019s talking like that, but I\u2019m not — and he\u2019s getting mad at me for not ripping into Bannon? (interruption) I guess. Well, obviously he\u2019s projecting into what he wants me to do. Everybody wants me on their team. I understand that.<\/p>\n
And since what I said yesterday didn\u2019t make this guy think I\u2019m on his team, I must be on Bannon\u2019s team. I\u2019m having to search the deep, dark crevices of my memory for what I said about this Alabama thing yesterday, but when I was talking about… (interruption) That\u2019s what it was! That\u2019s what it was. People were crabby, blaming me because I didn\u2019t endorse Moore and because I didn\u2019t tell people to go out there and vote for the guy. That\u2019s right. That\u2019s right. They were blaming me. Exactly right. Oh, well. (sigh)<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: What am I being — you didn\u2019t upset me. Cookie\u2019s all upset that I don\u2019t understand the sound bite from this Bender guy. She sent me a note saying that she thinks Bender in the last half of the bite\u2019s describing Bannon, not me. Maybe, I can\u2019t tell. But now she sent me a text, by the way, not on a ham radio frequency, she sent me a text, she\u2019s sorry she upset me. You didn\u2019t upset me! People that don\u2019t know how to communicate upset me. Everything\u2019s upsetting me today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RUSH: Is he talking about me or Bannon? He's upset that I didn't criticize Bannon for being to blame for what happened in Alabama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":258067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n