RUSH: Obama will host an Iftar tonight. You know what an Iftar is? You know what an Iftar is, Dawn? Brian? Snerdley? You don’t know what an Iftar is, I-f-t-a-r? I was looking at the White House schedule today. Poor Obama, so busy. He’s got four events. He had three this morning, and he’s off from noon to 8:30, at which time — and we’ve got a story about how overworked Obama is, and everybody on his staff, how overworked, and they’re starting to, they’re starting to go away, and it’s just so much stress in the Obama White House. I feel so sorry for ’em. But the big man himself 
doing zilch, zero, nada between noon and 8:30 or eight o’clock, at which time he will host an Iftar. An Iftar is ‘a special evening meal observed during’ — wait for it — ‘Ramadan’. This is happening tonight in the White House State Dining Room. ‘Obama participated a similar gathering last year. ‘Celebrations like Iftar dinners ‘remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings’.’ This is Obama in a written statement on Wednesday. Iftar celebrations ‘remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings… Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality,’ wrote Obama, a ‘reminder that Islam has always been part of America and is that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country.’ Ahem. A list of those contributions does not accompany the president’s statement. ‘The dinner comes amid a growing controversy over the proposed construction of Islamic cultural center in downtown Manhattan’. Meanwhile, the White House has been silent on that issue. Charles Krauthammer today has a memorable piece on the entire controversy of the mosque at Ground Zero.
Yeah, I know Bush did Ramadan dinners as well. Now, Iftar means that you’re breaking a Ramadan fast, and I don’t know if Obama has fasted. The only reason I mention this is not so much because he’s doing an Iftar dinner — I just want you to remember that he could not be bothered to go to the Boy Scouts’ 100th anniversary. But he’s got time to do an Iftar dinner out there. (interruption) Well, it’s a good question. What did the Boy Scouts contribute to America? Exactly right, H.R. Thank you for helping me to put this in further context. Just a bunch of kids, exactly right, a bunch of kids with a distorted view of America.
Iftar was also a terrible movie. Wait a minute — Iftar? Extar? Ashtar? What was it, the Warren Beatty — Ishtar! Ishtar, right, not to be confused with Iftar, the Ramadan break-your-fast dinner. We don’t know who he’s invited. I don’t know if he’s — there’s no guest list. There may be nobody. Maybe there is no dinner, it’s just a statement that’s there, who the hell knows?
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RUSH: I don’t want to be misunderstood about this Iftar dinner business. George W. Bush started the tradition, and do you know what year? 2001. George W. Bush held an Iftar dinner in 2001. How’s that for religious tolerance? And we see all the good that it did. And I have found out some of the guests at Obama’s Iftar dinner tonight. They include the chief of mission from the PLO. I kid you not. The chief of mission from the PLO is one of the guests at Obama’s Iftar dinner tonight.