DEVINE: He was not referring to the president or the vice president. He was referring to, as I just stated a minute ago, the right-wing attack machine that, uhhh, conducted a scurrilous campaign against John McCain four years ago, a scurrilous campaign against Max Cleland two years ago, and, and, and…SCARBOROUGH: Name names. Who is the right-wing attack machine?DEVINE: You know, I’ll tell you, Joe. The great thing about naming the names of some of these people who are floating this stuff around the Internet today, is that that’s just what they’re looking for, to be elevated in this process. I think anyone who’s familiar with what’s going on in this campaign has seen the scurrilous attacks floating around against John Kerry questioning his patriotism, questioning his service to the nation. You know, we’re not going to take it.
RUSH: Yeah, right. And notice whose name is not mentioned by this guy last night: mine and (Sean) Hannity’s. And he says in his own words why. He says, “ah, the Internet today, just what they’re looking for to be elevated in the process.” Somebody, when this Wade guy originally blamed me and Hannity, somebody said, “Shut up! We’re not elevating them in this campaign. Dean did it. Clinton did it. We’re not mentioning Limbaugh. We’re not mentioning Hannity. Blame the Internet or something,” and that’s what they’ve done. But we were their first choice when it came to the “lying crooks.”
And I want to be considered a lying crook by these people. I must admit to you, I’m sad that I’ve been eliminated from this story. I’m depressed. Well, I was. I mean, I’m over it now, but I was very happy last night when I found out about this. “Wow, they were talking about me again? Good! They… I’m a lying crook? Hubba hubba. Join the rest of the lying Democrats. I’m happy to be in their crosshairs. I’m happy to be on their minds,” and now I’m a little bit disappointed of taking me out of the story, folks. I must be honest and share my feelings with you. I was hoping to remain in the story. In the meantime, we all have to suffer our disappointments and move on, so I shall. (chuckling)
Can we go back to February 19th of this year, ladies and gentlemen? I want to just ask the question, “Who’s crooked, Senator Kerry?” Who’s crooked? February 19th, 2004: “Presidential candidate John Kerry, pressured Congress and the Pentagon to fund a missile system on behalf of a San Diego contractor who years later pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to Kerry and other politicians, according to the Los Angeles Times,” which I happened to love for a couple days because they ran my column on Sunday. I mean, I like ’em all the time anyway but they sometimes go off the beaten path. But they always come back.
“From 1996 to 1999, Kerry sent 28 letters urging the freeing of funds for an upgraded guided missile system that Parthasarathi Majumder was trying to build for US…” I’m butchering the name, but don’t blame me. “…was trying to build for US warplanes, the Times said on its website the night before the story was published. ‘Letters were sent at a time when Majumder and employees at his Science and Applied Technology, Inc. were donating money to John Kerry,’ said the article, citing court recorders.” Not a state attorney. Not a spokesman. Court records, ladies and gentlemen. “Kerry received about $25,000 during the period according to the Dwight Morris & Associates, which tracks campaign donations.”
We’ve had more than just as an example. I know he explained that. He said he didn’t do anything wrong. He said [joking], “I didn’t do anything wrong, attack machine is on us again. The right-wing attack machine is hitting us on this.” That’s what he said. “Those lying crooks.” (laughing) So who is crooked, senator? I mean, you know, it’s one of these things you almost have to know it yourself to be able to accuse somebody of it. Lying crooks. So it’s going to keep expanding. I mean, once this kind of thing happens, people are going to be on the lookout for it now.
This guy, he’s going to be ever closely monitored. People are going to be listening, and his staff is going to be running around. Wait till you see the buzz of people around him at every public event making sure that microphone is off. He’s going to become one of the most sheltered candidates, for a while anyway, so that this does he want repeat. Gotta go. Quick time-out. We’ll be back. We’ll resume in just… Well, wait a minute. Jennifer. Let me grab a phone call. This looks interesting. Jennifer, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Hi, welcome back to the EIB Network.
CALLER: Hi, Rush, and thank you for paying for my call for the second time. I wanted to say that I think that (the Kerry statement) was staged to sway the potential Bush union voter. If you recall at Ground Zero, (Bush) connected with the typical type Democratic union male voter, and all the press coverage is reaching other potential voters that otherwise would have never heard that comment. It’s to give the impression that he’s not a mealy-mouthed liberal but a quote “tough guy.”
RUSH: There’s only one problem: they’re out there apologizing for it, and he didn’t say it publicly. He didn’t take to the stump and do it like Bush did. He’s trying to run away from it. Tough guys don’t run away from bad words, do they? Do tough guys run away from bad words? He’s running away from bad words. He engaged in some real badness, uh, ladies and gentlemen. And, by the way, Jennifer, no big deal paying from your call. I’m paying for everything these days.
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