RUSH: An amazing story here today in The Politico. This was written by John Harris and Jim VandeHei, and they are the founders of The Politico. They used to work at the Washington Post.
Get this, now — and, by the way, I like The Politico, and I know who they are. They’re unabashed about who they are and what they are and I’ve talked to these guys on the phone and they’re nice guys. I’ve gotten along with them fairly well. But this still just kind of blows my mind. It shouldn’t anymore, because we know what journalism has become. Here’s how the dual-bylined piece begins. ‘We know a lot more about Obama than we did on Election Day.’ Oh, can I interrupt myself for a moment? Yes, I can. I want to stress something to people. You know who you are. When I say what I’m saying, you will know exactly to whom I’m speaking and you know who you are. Many people are interpreting my programs this week and last to be devoted to the, shall we say, ‘never-ending criticism of Obama.’
You know what I make the mistake of assuming that people are as smart as I am, and I make the mistake of assuming that everybody listens to this show every day and thus is able to understand the context of things that I say. Most of you do listen every day and do understand the context. But in truth, these recent programs, which have featured what people think are attacks on Obama are actually attempts to poke fun and to cause people to stop and think about what the media has become. This program, in large measure, is a refutation of the daily media template. It just so happens that the daily media template is that Obama is The Messiah. He’s infallible and incapable of error. He’s the best, the brightest, the smartest. He has this aura.
This program doesn’t believe any human being walking the planet possesses any of those traits — and, as such, we largely are trying to counter the drivel and the bilge of the Drive-By Media every day. I don’t care if they’re praising Ted Kennedy or if they’re out there praising, ‘you know,’ Caroline, ‘you know,’ Kennedy. I don’t care if they’re out there praising Obama. I don’t care if they’re out there praising Hillary, or out there trying to cover up for Timothy Geithner. So the way to listen to this program is to understand what we do every day. We read the media. We watch the media. They set the tone. They set the template for the way daily news in this country is disseminated. We refute it here, and part of refuting it is to bring Obama back down to reality because he’s not the way they’ve been portraying him. This is then considered an attack on Obama, which it isn’t.
I mean, this latest brouhaha over me wanting Obama to fail, everybody involved with this that’s misreporting it knows exactly what I said, and knows exactly what I mean. I want his policies to fail because I don’t believe in Big Government, and he does. I don’t believe socialism works. It never has. I do not want national health care. I do not want the government absorbing business after business after business. That’s not what made this country great, and if that happens, our greatness is gonna end, and it will be redefined. And I care about the people who come after me by birth. I love this country more than anybody would ever understand, and so being taken out of context, I’m used to that. Because the left has to have somebody to criticize now, and Bush is gone. You know, so I’m the proud receptacle, I’m the proud target. I don’t want Obama to fail as a human being.
I want his policies to fail. I do not want them. I’m scared to death over these policies. If he means what he did today, I am scared. I’m putting myself in terrorist camps around the world looking at this. (terrorist impression) ‘The United States are going to close its prisons! They’re going to stop pursuing us.’ What am I doing today if I’m wearing a turban out there and I’m a member of Al-Qaeda? Dangerous times. You know what I heard today driving in? I was listening to Fox driving in. No, it was after I got here. And I’m watching Stuart Varney. He’s on with ‘Tigger’ Montague and what’s his name, Bill Hemmer. He said three to four trillion dollars to make the banks solvent. This has nothing to do with any stimulus package.
I’ve not seen this anywhere else. Three to four trillion to make the banks solvent, and you know how they’re going to do it? The plan is to set up a United States bank. I thought we already had the Federal Reserve. Now we’re going to set up the United States bank? I mean, it’s not etched in stone yet, nor is it chiseled in marble. But this is one of the things. Can you imagine three to four trillion dollars? That’s how much trouble the banks are in — or is it they’re really in that much trouble, or is it just a way to shovel some money at these people? Whatever it is, it isn’t gonna work. Bailing out the savings and loan was one thing, but… (sigh) I noticed I didn’t ask for a bailout on my Club Gitmo business. I simply adapted to changes in the market, took the bull by the horns myself and adapted the product line.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Anyway, Politico, Jim VandeHei, John Harris: ‘What We Don’t Know About Obama.’ Here are the things they write that they don’t know: Does he really think Afghanistan is winnable; do deficits matter; how fast is too fast in Iraq; what’s in the files; do unions wear white hats; can US power save Darfur? Now, John and Jim, I love you, but why didn’t you ask him? You are journalists! You are reporters! Why didn’t you ask him during the campaign if he thinks Afghanistan is winnable? Good Lord, why didn’t you ask? It reminds me of this.
ROSE: I don’t know what Barack Obama’s worldview is.
BROKAW: No, I don’t, either.
ROSE: I don’t know how he really sees where China is.
BROKAW: We don’t know a lot about Barack Obama and the universe of his thinking about foreign policy.
ROSE: I don’t really know. And do we know anything about the people who are advising him?
BROKAW: Yeah, it’s an interesting question.
ROSE: He is principally known through his autobiography and through very aspirational (sic) speeches.
BROKAW: Two of them. I don’t know what books he’s read.
ROSE: What do we know about the heroes of Barack Obama?
BROKAW: There’s a lot about him we don’t know.
RUSH: Tom, you work at NBC News. Assign a reporter. Or are there no reporters left at NBC? Is everybody at NBC now just a commentator, an agitator, everybody at NBC just trying to be like me? Are there no reporters left? So here we have Brokaw and Charlie Rose — that’s October 30th, that’s even before the election — admitting to one another they don’t know who he is. Don’t forget the Newsweek guys who called him creepy after the Grant Park acceptance speech. ‘He watches us watching him. He ascends above the stage after the speech and watches, it’s creepy.’ And now The Politico founders, ‘Questions for Obama.’ They’re reporters. Why didn’t you ask him in the campaign? See, they didn’t vet on purpose. They didn’t want to know these things before the election. They didn’t want to know the answers themselves.