I thought I was helping them criticize Bush. [Imitating press] “Yeah, this was the kind of stuff Bush did in college instead of learning stuff.” But no, they missed that totally. I really was trying to relate to ’em, I was trying to give them a line that I thought they would appreciate the nuance of. But no, they’ve totally missed it because they’re reacting in shock and emotion and seeking an opportunity to inflict a little nick or two, fire some BBs at the battleship of Rush Limbaugh in an attempt to inflict a little harm here. But we’re not only still floating, we’re still steaming through the waters here. So, no, I’ve been amazed that they missed the Skull and Bones. I didn’t say college initiation. A caller said that. I said Skull and Bones. I said it specifically for a reason. Because I was trying to help them take another route to Bush. They’ve missed it and they’re coming back at me with it. Idiots. Here’s more Inhofe from this morning.
INHOFE: I’m also outraged by the press and the politicians and the political agendas that are being served by this, and I say political agendas because that’s actually what is happening. I would share with my colleagues a solicitation that was made. I’m going to read the first two sentences. Over the past week, we’ve all been shocked by the pictures from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. But we have also been appalled at the slow and inept response by President Bush which has further undermined Americans’ credibility. And it goes on to demand that George Bush fire Donald Rumsfeld. And then it goes on to a timeline, a chronology, and at the very last, and they say, a solicitation for contributions. I don’t recall this ever having happened before in history.
RUSH: What he doesn’t say there is that it’s from the John Kerry website. So Inhofe is saying, do you think this isn’t political, take a look, the Democratic presidential assumed front-runner wannabe nominee, whatever is using this to raise money. He’s [Kerry] also out there saying,
So anyway, Inhofe wasn’t through but I don’t have time in our remaining precious broadcast moments in this brief segment to continue with Inhofe, but we will do so after the break. And of course, my friends, lots of other stuff in the stacks of stuff today. We will not focus entirely on this today, just as we didn’t yesterday, but the news is the news. There are certain things which are warranted and certain things which must be done, certain things which must be said. Apparently I am one of the few willing to say them. So we’ll keep doing that.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
RUSH: Now, let’s go back to Inhofe. Where did we leave off? Okay, here’s audio sound bite number 6. This is Inhofe again, Senator Oklahoma, from this morning, at the continual Senate Armed Services Committee hearings. Basically this was to interrogate and get the news from the man who filed the first report on this, Antonio Taguba.
INHOFE: I would guess that these prisoners wake up every morning thanking Allah that Saddam Hussein is not in charge of these prisons. When he was in charge, they would take electric drills and drill holes through hands, they would cut their tongues out, they would cut their ears off. We’ve seen accounts of lowering their bodies into vats of acid. All these things were taking place. This was the type of treatment that they had. And I want everyone to get this and read it. This is a documentary of the Iraq special report. It talks about the unspeakable acts of mass murder, unspeakable acts of torture, unspeakable acts of mutilation, the murdering of kids, lining up 312 little kids under 12 years old and executing them. Then of course what they do to Americans, too. This one story out of the New York Times, yes, on June 2nd, I suggest everyone read it. It’s about one of the prisoners who did escape as they were marched out there, blindfolded and put before mass graves and they mowed them down and they buried them. This man was buried alive and he clawed his way out and was able to tell his story.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
RUSH: We just have a couple more sound bites from Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe this morning. Really rocked this committee and he’s a former member of the House. I think that matters. He’s what I will call a “real guy.” This is a man who is in touch with the people he represents. He’s not ceased to be the person he was before he got to Washington, and that’s rare. And he was firing both barrels at the whole premise of all this today, and he busted on McCain, who left the hearing after his own grandstanding this morning. Here we have two more sound bites of Inhofe. Here’s the first of the two.
INHOFE: Now, one comment about Rumsfeld. A lot of them don’t like him, I’m sorry that Senator McCain isn’t here because I just now said to him, “Do you remember back three ago when Secretary Rumsfeld was up for confirmation?” I said, “These guys aren’t going to like him because he doesn’t kowtow to ’em. He is not easily intimidated.” I’ve never seen Secretary Rumsfeld intimidated. And, quite frankly, I can’t think of any American today as qualified as Donald Rumsfeld is to prosecute this war.
RUSH: Let me tell you about James Inhofe here. He’s in for it because a lot of these people think he’s just an Okie from Oklahoma and an unsophisticated conservative hick, which is all a bunch of BS. What you’re hearing here is courage. These are televised hearings all over the world. He’s the only person on this committee who really has the courage to say what he really thinks about this. He’s the one not going along with the pack.
I’m here to tell you that there are more people agreeing with what Inhofe is saying about all of this than know it themselves. And there are probably a few more Republicans on that committee who also agree with what Inhofe is saying but they just don’t dare say it because there’s this certain Washington attitude you must adopt. And right now the official attitude is this is outrageous, we can’t tolerate this, I’ve never seen anything this bad, oh, woe is us, we’re Americans, what’s happened to us. And if they don’t kowtow to that they’re afraid their constituents are going to be mad at them. They’re afraid that their colleagues in the Senate are going to be mad at ’em. They’re afraid the media is going to rip them. They’re afraid, afraid, afraid. Inhofe isn’t afraid and has let the chips fall where they may and that’s why I’m giving his comments here so much time and display, if you will, because I think this kind of courage, even if he’s wrong. I’m not even commenting on the fact he’s right or wrong, although I happen to think he is, but even if he’s wrong, the courage of going against the grain. What do we need a committee of 14 people all saying the same thing? What do we need a committee of 14 people who are all gonna say they think the same thing? Where are we going to get with that? All we’re going to get is a whitewash, is what we’re going to get, unless somebody has the courage to stand up and say what he thinks.
You know how few people actually do that today, especially in Washington, actually stand up and say what they think? Most people don’t know what they think; they’re waiting for the official fax points to come from whoever sends them out from the fax clearinghouse of either party, and then go off the talking points. And the more you rely on talking points the less you’re confident what you think, and the less that you’re going to be accustomed to saying what you think, and then we’re going to end up with robot after robot after robot, playing it safe. Inhofe is not playing it safe. Here’s the final Inhofe bite.
INHOFE: Mr. Chairman, one last question to General Smith. All kinds of accounts are coming out now, many are fictitious I would suggest, one was about a guy being dragged out of a barbershop, this is in Washington Post this morning. They talked about the person doing this had AK-47s and was blindfolded. Are our troops issued AK-47s?
VOICE: They are not, sir.
RUSH: Okay, so again establishing that all of what we’re being told hasn’t happened and maybe not even all of what we’re seeing is accurate. See, that doesn’t matter, and that’s what’s so bad about this. Whatever we see in those pictures, whatever our reality of those pictures is, is being allowed to stand. Whatever we are seeing in the newspapers, whatever is being reported, whatever we’re reading, is being allowed to stand. Because that’s just the road we’re on here.
The other is trying to keep it alive. And the people that are trying to keep it alive are the ones on offense. And so if those that are going to keep it alive are doing so by expanding upon the realm of reality, and try to take these instances and add and embellish and make it look worse than it is and more widespread than it is, it’s up to those that are trying to get the hell out of this as fast as they can to step up and stop this from happening; and that’s what Jim Inhofe did today. And he’s, so far, I mean literally the only one who’s done it. There have been some quasi-courageous comments, Jeff Sessions was great last week as was Lieberman. I haven’t heard them all. John Cornyn may have been too, of Texas, but I haven’t heard them all, or seen them all, but Inhofe stands out in this circumstance.
Finally, after the initial shock of this has worn off, people are now starting to stand back a little bit because — like Rich Lowry has a piece today on National Review Online, I think it’s syndicated in newspapers as well — people say, well, this tarnishes all of America. And he says no, it doesn’t. But the thing that does, it does represent a slice of America. Our culture is corrupt no matter where you send people. We all know that our culture in this country is corrupt. He makes the point, this is sort of expanding on a point that I have made earlier. If you take these pictures and bring them back and have them taken in an American city and put on a American website, they might win a video award from the pornography industry.
END TRANSCRIPT
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