RUSH: A little montage here, ladies and gentlemen. Democrats and their willing accomplices in the Drive-By Media couldn’t wait to sweep this Kerry story away. We have a montage. James Carville, Tim Russert, Suzanne Malveaux, Andrew Sullivan of TIME Magazine, John King of CNN, Wolf Blitzer and Jeff Greenfield of CNN after Kerry issued another faux apology. Now, they wanted to sweep this away as quickly as they could, and now that they think they have, listen to how they deal with it.
CARVILLE: Let’s move on at it next topic. We discussed that in ’04.
VOICE: Will the Republican Party accept that it’s milked this story for all it’s worth and move on?
RUSSERT: We had John Kerry delay a formal apology for 24 hours and now Democrats are saying, enough already, let’s move on.
MALVEAUX: Is the story going to go away, is it dead?
SULLIVAN: I think this is over now. I really do. And I think it’s time to move on.
KING: Most think will soon go away.
BLITZER: Enough, enough with this Kerry stuff, let’s move on.
GREENFIELD: What are they going to do now, ask him to go run through the streets and flog himself?
RUSH: Now, this is Thursday. So we’re coming up on the tenth day of my flap with Michael J. Fox ad in Missouri and Maryland. The tenth day. CNN tonight is going to do yet another feature on this featuring this video of me that they are mischaracterizing on purpose. We have sent the transcripts of everything I’ve said to the CNN producers. We have talked to them. We have explained what happened here. They don’t care. They are continuing in promoting this Anderson Cooper piece tonight to misrepresent what happened on this program. Yet the Democrats, ‘Ah, let’s move on, I think it’s over. Are Republicans going to try milk this for what it is, come on, let’s move on.’ Meanwhile, Katie Couric was on Larry King last night. Here’s Andy in Chicago. Andy, welcome to the EIB Network.
CALLER: Hi, Rush, how you doing?
RUSH: Just fine, sir, thank you.
CALLER: First-time caller, long-time listener, but yeah, I was watching the interview with Katie Couric on Larry King, and he was showing some clips of her interview with Michael J. Fox, and Michael J. Fox saying that he indeed had overmedicated himself for the ad that ran in Missouri. And when he had asked her about it about three minutes later when she was discussing Parkinson’s, she said that she had a lot of her experts looking at the video, and they said that it doesn’t appear that he had any way altered or changed —
RUSH: Yeah, I know. You know, we’ve got this sound bite, and I want to play this because Andy is right on the money here. Larry King talking to Katie Couric last night, ‘Were you shocked at what Limbaugh did and said?’
COURIC: I think that it was thoughtless. I think Rush Limbaugh himself would concede that.
RUSH: No, I don’t.
COURIC: And I think it was based on misinformation about Parkinson’s. I heard many conservative commentators making statements that Michael J. Fox had somehow manipulated his medication or was acting or made sure he did that when his symptoms were heightened, and I think most scientists and medical experts who really understand Parkinson’s would be the first to tell you that just isn’t the case.
RUSH: Well, is there a bigger expert than Mr. Fox himself, Katie? I’m really disappointed in her because as I mentioned to you, she sent me an e-mail and said that she was going to be interviewing Fox and wanted to know if I had anything to say. She did not tell me that she was going to run this video that everybody is running that mischaracterizes and misinterprets what happened on this program. She didn’t tell me what was going to happen on this thing. I sent her — one, two, three, four — five paragraphs. ‘Thanks, Katie, let me try to make it simple. I believe Democrats have a long history of using victims of various things as political spokespeople because they believe they’re untouchable, unassailable, they’re immune from criticism. But when anyone enters the political arena of ideas, they do not, as far as I’m concerned, forfeit the right to be challenged on their participation and message. They are fair game.
‘I’ve not met Mr. Fox; I don’t know him. I’ve admired his work in film and TV and his appearances on Letterman were howlers. I have nothing personal against him. But I believe his implication that only Democrats want to cure diseases is irresponsible, as I believed about John Edwards assuring voters that Christopher Reeve would walk if only John Kerry were elected. I think this is ultimately cruel, gives people who suffer these terrible afflictions false hope. As of now, there is no evidence that embryonic stem cells even hold promise, while other approaches, such as adult stem cells, already have yielded results. Mr. Fox’s TV spots mislead and misinform on this. You might ask him about the gene therapy research in a Chicago hospital, which has produced encouraging results on Parkinson’s patients. A virus is inserted in the gene, which is then inserted in the brain. The Michael J. Fox Foundation has committed $1.9 million to further research on this.’ She didn’t bring it up.
‘I did not mock or make fun of Mr. Fox. I’ve seen him on television many times but never have I seen him appear as he does in these ads. I read from his own book that he will not take his own medications before certain appearances, Senate 1999, in order to illustrate the ravages of Parkinson’s, which I understand and applaud, by the way. So the concept of manipulating medications has been stated by Mr. Fox in his own book, which is what caused me to question his appearance in the ads. He’s stumping for Democrats in the political arena, is therefore open to analysis and criticism, as we all are. His suffering is not fair game, and I’m sorry if people drew that conclusion about my comments, but I believe this happens precisely because no criticism of victims is ever allowed, at all, which, as I say, is the Democrat strategy in putting them forward.’
She goes on Larry King last night and says she’s hearing about all these people saying Fox manipulates his medication or is acting, and the experts don’t say this. She didn’t even read what I sent her or if she did, she didn’t remember it or she didn’t read his own book, and if she did, she didn’t believe him, either.
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