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RUSH: Ha! So, ladies and gentlemen, if it takes a reality star to force Obama’s hand on his birth certificate… and everybody’s asking, “Why now? Why now?” I think I’ve got the answer. I think it’s all about polling data. I think up ’til now the polling data showed that it was a winning issue for Obama. The birthers were considered crackpots and the polling data showed as long as it continued that way, that there was hay to be made by Obama by not releasing the birth certificate and stoking these people. But then Trump comes along, and I really believe that the polling data, the internal polling data, the White House shows that the issue was starting to take place. You saw that poll yesterday, USA Today, 38%, 40%, whatever it was of the American people don’t think he’s born in this country. I think the polling data shifted, and it wasn’t all Republicans in that poll that showed that shockingly high number.

You know, Obama, every president, sad to say, is poll-driven. Clinton, he even polled what to wear after he polled where to go on vacation. And we know that this regime is just as poll-driven and oriented. So it probably went from a net positive to something that was starting to show a major problem, credibility, dishonesty, what have you. Now, if that’s correct, and since it’s my opinion it probably is — I always say, don’t doubt me — then what it really shows, and this is gonna irritate a lot of people, what it shows is Trump’s ability to connect with average voters in a way that, well, nobody else has been able to connect on this. Nobody else has been able to force Obama to do this. How long has it been going on? Two and a half years, even longer than that. All of a sudden here comes Trump, and, lo and behold, they produce the long-form birth certificate. So if it takes a reality star… in fact, there’s a piece I have in the show prep Stack of Stuff today, somebody has the opinion that politics has become nothing more than a reality show. I can relate to it because I did The Haney Project on the Golf Channel.

I’ve had my turn at reality TV. You know the only difference in reality TV and regular TV is the writers in reality TV are not unionized. Reality TV thus is much cheaper to produce. But reality TV — don’t doubt me on this, folks — is just as scripted. Well, not just as scripted, but it’s not reality, either. They have an outcome they want, and they’re gonna get there while leading everybody to believe that that’s what naturally happened along the way. Now, if you are asking me, “Are you saying, Rush, you didn’t shoot an 83 on the final episode of The Haney Project?” No, I’m not saying that. I don’t want to get into too much detail about it because I don’t want to get distracted here. I’m just telling you that this guy has this piece that all of politics has become a reality show. And I’ve often pointed out that politics is show biz for the ugly, show biz for the unattractive. Evidence is the annual White House Correspondents Dinner, which is coming up soon and once again I was invited by four different organizations.

I politely declined three of them and emphatically declined one. (interruption) What? Oh, I despise ’em. What do you mean, it’s always such fun? Snerdley, the last one I went to was 1993. Well, how many years ago was that, 1993, that’s 18 years ago. How can you say it’s always so much fun? You get mileage out of one joke. The whole thing is a phony baloney, plastic banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roller night. You got people in the room that hate each other acting like they’re best friends for a couple or three hours. It’s just not my cup of tea.

Okay, so, at any rate, Trump was, in the context of politics being a reality show, Trump was hilarious this morning, was absolutely hilarious. And, you know, Obama was scheduling to show up at 9:45. Trump kept going. He delayed Obama showing up. And just in terms of theatrics — and I know that the purists don’t want to even hear it discussed this way — but in terms of theatrics there was no comparison in the energy and the confidence of the two combatants and the competing press conferences. Obama’s presser was basically a snore fest. And Trump’s was alive and filled with vigor and a lot of energy. So what do we have? We have a reality star that has forced Obama’s hand on the birth certificate. Now, maybe that’s the key. ‘Cause even Trump took credit for it, said it was one of the proudest days of his life. (laughing) He started out, “I’m really proud of myself.” Everybody thought that Trump was gonna be eating crow. He starts off by saying, (paraphrasing) “It’s the proudest day of my life. Look what I did. Only I was able to do this.” I mean for a while I thought, my gosh, I’m watching myself here. (laughing) Biggest kick out of it. So a reality TV star ends up forcing Obama’s hand on the birth certificate.

You ever watch the show The Biggest loser? Okay, they’ve got that hard body female, who’s the host, Jillian Michaels. Maybe she can get Obama to produce an actual budget proposal. Maybe if she gets on the case here, “Where’s your budgeting, Obama? Show us your budget. You keep running around the Republican budget; where’s yours?” And then there’s a show called Hardcore Pawn, and Trump said, “Okay, now we want to see the transcripts. Now we want to see the grades. How did he get into Harvard? How did he get into Columbia? We want to see the proof of this.” So maybe the Hardcore Pawn guys can do that. Then, have you seen this guy Dog the Bounty Hunter? He lives in Hawaii. Dog the Bounty Hunter. He could demand that Obama take a lie detector test as to whether or not Bill Ayers wrote his first book. I mean the possibilities here, folks, are endless. (interruption) No, Snerdley, that’s right. Trump does not eat crow. He eats other people’s lunches. He does not eat crow. And you could tell, folks, the networks did not want to leave the Trump presser. I’m watching Fox, I’m watching PMSNBC and they’ve got Obama in the little box. Obama comes out and you could see they were just… I mean MSNBC was the first to pull out.

After Trump finished speaking, Blitzer said that he has seen all of Obama’s grade transcripts from college and that they were excellent. Now, how did that happen? So we need a reality show to tell Wolf Blitzer to tell us how he’s seen ’em, ’cause they’re sealed. Every reality show should take on an issue now and get themselves publicity that can’t be purchased. And, of course, there’s Obama at his own presser today saying, “We don’t have time for this silliness. We got serious things happening.” What does he do? He leaves and gets on a plane with Moochelle to go to Chicago to tape Oprah! And after they finish taping Oprah in Chicago today, a very serious interview, I’m sure, then they’re gonna fly to New York for a rush hour series of three fundraisers. They’re gonna shut down the FDR, they’re gonna shut down the Upper East Side during rush hour. So this is Obama demanding that we get back to seriousness now, enough of silly season, he flies off to do the interview with Oprah.

Trump has another catchphrase to be remembered by. He’s got “You’re fired” and now he’s got “I won.” And Obama thought he had the trademark on that.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, this thing that happened today with Trump. Any average politician — and I’m not calling Trump a “politician.” A lot of people don’t like that. They want a politician, a professional politician. Politics is a business; it has certain requirements. But do you realize what would happen today if an average politician had gone to the mat for the past six months, three months, whatever it is on this birth certificate business and the White House produces it? And I guarantee you this: The White House thought that this would be a profound embarrassment and an unrecoverable boondoggle for Trump.

This thing today, the release of the birth certificate was designed to be an unrecoverable flap for Trump — and for your average (particularly, Republican) politician, it would have been. Any other Republican politician who had played this birth certificate thing the way Trump’s been playing it, the release of the long form today would have ended them. With Trump, he turns it into a resume builder and a resume enhancement. It’s just an illustration of the… (sigh) How can I say this? You might want to say it’s an add-on, you might want to say it’s an albatross, but this is the showmanship characteristic that Trump brings.

He’s able to triumph over this and turn it into something. Now, it’s still may backfire big time on him. The press is gonna do he went they can, of course, to make this backfire. Still, it’s fascinating theater to watch this. We’ll get to the audio sound bites of it here just in time. Now, the Smoking Gun… (laughing) Now, the Smoking Gun is not a crackpot bunch. I mean, these are people that post legal documents, analyze them. You know, Lindsay Lohan’s latest arrest? If you want to see the record of it and see the affidavit, go to Smoking Gun. The Smoking Gun has an analysis (laughing) of how the birth certificate they released might be a fake. (interruption) You want to hear what they say?

Oh, yeah, you do.

“This morning’s White House release of President Barack Obama’s long-form birth certificate will, of course, do little to derail the ‘birther’ movement, which will now analyze the document with the kind of verve previously directed toward those Texas Air National Guard memos faxed to CBS from that Kinko’s in Abilene. [laughing] So here’s a few nutty points about the birth certificate sure to be seized upon by the nonbelievers: • If the original document was in a bound volume (as reflected by the curvature of the left hand side of the certificate), how can the green patterned background of the document’s safety paper be so seamless? • Why, if Obama was born on August 4, 1961, was the ‘Date Accepted by Local Reg.’ four days later on August 8, 1961?

“• What is the significance of the smudges in the box containing the name of the reported attendant? … In the ‘This Birth’ box there are two mysterious Xs above ‘Twin’ and ‘Triplet.’ Is there a sibling or two unaccounted for? • What is the significance of the mysterious numbers, seen vertically, on the document’s right side? • Finally, the ‘Signature of Local Registrar’ in box 21 may be a desperate attempt at establishing the document’s Hawaiian authenticity. Note to forgers: It is spelled ‘Ukulele.'” (laughing) So the people at the Smoking Gun are feeding the birthers with this.

Oh, look, I have a bunch of e-mails from people who are warning me “not to be fooled by the White House.” Here, let me read you one: “Absolute Proof Obama’s Birth Certificate is a Fake — The birth certificate is a fraud and you can see for yourself in 30 seconds. But hurry, before they get wise. Download the PDF from the White House website. Open the PDF in Illustrator, not Photoshop. Click in the center of the image. Right-click on the center of the image and click Release Clipping Mask. Now look at the layers. You’ll see the layers have been grouped but not flattened. That’s a sloppy forgery. The background and the part on the left edge that make it appear to come out of a bound book is one layer. Some of the stamps are on the other layers. It’s absolute proof it’s a fake!” (laughing)

You have to concede here the White House knows this is going to happen, too. The White House knows that this is going to stoke even more investigation of this, and they’re probably relishing that. They’re probably sitting back in the White House laughing about this now. I have some people saying, “Wait, my birth certificate is black with white text, a photographic negative. How come this is green? That makes me suspicious, Rush! I think you should look into it.” It’s fun. I make no apology or excuse for enjoying the show this morning that this was, and while we’re gonna have our fun with it, we are not going to be distracted. Because as I have warned… You know, I ought to replay sound bite two, because back on April 7th I warned people this is a dead end, dead end street to start driving down or walking down.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Some in the audience, ladies and gentlemen, are not happy with me, your host. This from a subscriber to RushLimbaugh.com: “You’ve gone Gatsby, Rush. Very sad! You hawk the Donald like you’re afraid the golf invitations will end. He’s a Democrat. He just proved it by ensuring Obama’s reelection. He’s a Democrat the best and a spoiler the worst. This wrecks our primaries all over again. Wake up! Signed, Julie.” Somebody… Can we search the transcribe archive? Have I endorsed Trump? No. I have not endorsed anybody.

We are simply commenting here on what happens on a day-to-day basis. We’ll see what happens here. But, folks, don’t fret. Whatever’s going on now, it’s like polling data now. It’s meaningless. What happens now is pretty meaningless in terms of the 2012 election, other than its impact on Obama. He’s the one known candidate right now. Anyway, let’s go to the audio sound bites. Here is Trump with his helicopter in the background at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, after he got just what he loves: The eyes of the world on him. And he wasn’t going to disappoint anybody.

TRUMP: Today I’m very proud of myself because I’ve accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish. I was just informed while on the helicopter that our president has finally released a birth certificate. He should have done it a long time ago. Why he didn’t do it when the Clintons asked for it, why he didn’t do it when everybody else was asking for it, I don’t know. But I am really honored, frankly, to have played such a big role in hopefully — hopefully — getting rid of this issue.

RUSH: See, it’s not over yet! (laughing) “Hopefully, hopefully, getting rid of the issue. I’m very honored. I did it. Nobody else was able to do it.” Also he’s right about something here. The Clintons did start this. It was a Democrat operative plan. The original birthers were Democrats. The original birthers were Clintons in the Democrat primaries back in 2007 and 2008. So the assembled media in the airplane hangar there at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was apoplectic that Trump was taking credit. They expected Trump to be embarrassed and slink away, to do a series of apologies, maybe not even show up. So here’s an exchange, an unidentified reporter and Trump.

REPORTER: You say you’re taking credit for it. A lot of people say what you caused was a “distraction.”

TRUMP: No, I’m taking great credit — and you have to ask the president: Why didn’t he do this a long time ago? Why didn’t he do it a long time ago? When Hillary Clinton was asking, when everybody was asking, why didn’t he do it?

REPORTER: Why is it relevant? Why…? Why…?

TRUMP: It’s shocking.

REPORTER: Why…?

TRUMP: It’s shocking.

REPORTER: You don’t ask other presidents. Why is that relevant?

TRUMP: It’s very relevant.

REPORTER: Have you ever asked any other president for his birth certificate?

TRUMP: People asked me for my birth certificate.

REPORTER: Have you asked any (garbled)?

TRUMP: People asked me for my birth certificate and I gave it two days later.

RUSH: So the reporter says, “Well, look, if it’s not true, for example, does it mean the country is led by an illegal president?”

TRUMP: The reason I hope it’s true, because we have very big problems in this country. This country is suffering right now. I mean, I have people that can’t get gasoline in their tank. They’re topping out their tank because they can’t afford to do it properly. They’ve never had this before. OPEC is setting the price of fuel. We have oil all over the place, all over the place. Every ship at sea is loaded up with oil; they don’t know where to dump it. And yet every day we’re setting records. And pretty soon we’re gonna be at that $150 a barrel, the all-time record. Now, when the president says he has no power over that? I mean it’s pretty sad.

RUSH: Yeah, and, remember, the “jawboning” that Bush got? Remember John Kerry said, “I’d be over there making deals. If I were president, you could count on me! I’d be over there, I’d be telling those sheiks what-for.” John Kerry said that in the 2004 presidential campaign. Then they moved on to Trump demanding Obama’s school records. Another reporter said, “You’ve raised the questions about his education credentials. Are you prepared to say today that all these issues should be put to the side, that you accept Obama is who he says he is, or do you still think there are legitimate questions?”

TRUMP: Everything’s legitimate! Look, the press is very protective of President Obama. Very protective. They’re not protective of me, but they’re protective of President Obama — and they’re not protective of most other people, either, in all fairness. The word is, according to what I’ve read, that he was a terrible student when he went to Occidental. He then gets to Columbia. He then gets to Harvard. I heard at Columbia, he wasn’t a very good student. He then gets to Harvard. How do you get into Harvard if you’re not a good student? Now, maybe that’s right, or maybe it’s wrong. But I don’t know why he doesn’t release his records. I’d like to know: How does he get into Harvard, how does he get into Columbia if he isn’t a good student? It’s an interesting thing.

RUSH: Yeah. So, okay. This is where I think it’s time for Jillian what’s her name? The Biggest Loser babe, what’s her name — Jillian Anderson? Jillian Michaels. This is her turn. Jillian Michaels, the next reality show star to move in and start demanding Obama’s transcripts from all of his university days. Trump says the experts should examine the birth certificate.

TRUMP: So, just in finishing: I’m really honored and I’m really proud that I was able to do something that nobody else could do. I’m really happy about it, and now experts will check it, and everybody will go over it, and I hope everything’s gonna be perfect. And, by the way, if you remember, from day one, I said, “I hope he gives his certificate, because I don’t want this issue clouding a campaign.”

RUSH: Let’s go to the phones. We’re gonna start in Omaha. This is Shanda. Shanda, hi, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Wow, what an honor to speak with you.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: Hey, I was able to catch some of the statements from Obama and listen to Trump as well. I really think the joke’s on us, though, Rush. I really think what Obama did today was feed Trump’s ginormous ego and it was a baiting tactic to ensure that he runs. Democrats would love nothing more than to see Obama reelected and that would be ensured if Trump wins the primary.

RUSH: So you think the White House released the birth certificate to bait Trump, to keep him in, to give him a little victory here so that he keeps going because they think Trump will be their ultimate ticket to victory?

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: Why? What makes you so sure Trump’s even going to run?

CALLER: That’s just it. They’re ensuring that he does throw his hat in the ring.

RUSH: How? How does this ensure that he throws his hat in the ring?

CALLER: Because all it did was feed his ginormous ego and give him a false sense of power that he does have the ability to get answers.

RUSH: Okay, let me run an alternative theory by you — and keep in mind, there’s a lot of panic out there. I haven’t… (laughing) This is ridiculous. I have not endorsed anybody. Right now we’re just having a grand old time watching this show go by. Let me offer my alternative theory. Why did they release the birth certificate today? I am convinced that it’s a little different from your theory. I think that this polling data on this birth issue was starting to hurt Obama. This USA Today poll: 38% definitely believes he wasn’t born in this country, and the number was climbing. A lot of Democrats.

I think he played the issue out as long as he could. The answer to the question, “Why now? Why not release the birth certificate earlier?” is ’cause it was an advantage for him. The polling data was showing he was winning it because the birther crowd was considered to be a bunch of fringe kooks. All of a sudden the polling data suggests that it may be a fringe kook issue but a lot of other mainstream voters are now picking up on it. So now it was time to get it out of the way because it was really starting to become a problem. It was really starting to hurt as opposed to being a positive. What about that theory? Which, of course, the only thing it has to do with Trump is that he’s been the primary provocateur on it.

CALLER: Yes. And I understand what you’re saying, but as Trump said at his press conference, what did he give credit to? The polls? No. He gave it to himself.

RUSH: Well… (chuckles)

CALLER: And the administration knew exactly what would happen, that he would take credit for it. It’s feeding his ego, and just anything to make sure that he runs?

RUSH: Is that what really bothers you about Trump? Let me be honest with you about something. You know, I’ve been hosting this program for 23 years, and even to this day — and you may have a tough time believing this, Shandra, because you’ve been a longtime regular listener. But even to this day there are people who don’t like me very much because of my utter confidence. People consider me to be a braggart, and it rubs a lot of people the wrong way, and they don’t know when I do it that a lot of times it’s tongue-in-cheek; it’s a little bit of schtick. It still rubs them the wrong way, and in many cases, in most cases it’s women who really don’t like that. So is it possible that what’s rubbing you wrong about Trump is precisely that: He goes out and takes credit for all of this? “That’s the proudest day of my life. Look what I alone was able to accomplish.” Is that what really bothers you?

CALLER: No, I actually really like Trump. I’ve never watched his show, but I do like some of his ideas. I don’t know how he’s going to be able to execute those but, no. I have no problem with him taking credit for it. I knew that he would. He is pompous, but that’s okay. I think it’s going to take the Republicans in the wrong direction if he continues this and does in fact throw his hat in the ring and I think all that has happened today is to ensure that that happens.

RUSH: How’s…? Well, now, wait a second. Now, that’s interesting. It’s going to take the Republicans in the wrong direction. A, what is the wrong direction; and, B, how would he do that? It seems to me that if Trump is the wrong direction, the only way he could take Republicans in the wrong direction is to persuade Americans to abandon the other Republicans in the race. Do you think that that’s it? Do you think Trump’s an automatic lock to win the nomination if he runs? Is that what worries you?

CALLER: No. No. I’m not saying let’s jump the gun and say he wins the primaries, but I’m saying if that were to ever happen, that would be Obama’s dream come true along with the rest of the liberals.

RUSH: Really? You think…? Okay, that’s fascinating. ‘Cause I can give you a list of names from the Republican candidates that I think Obama would looooove to run against, and many of them would be in front of Trump.

CALLER: Okay. Such as?

RUSH: Well, I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings here.

CALLER: (giggling)

RUSH: Look, Haley Barbour pulled out, and the mainstream media is saying, “Haley Barbour pulling out is proof that mainstream Republicans can’t win anymore, that only fringe kook conservatives can win. Haley Barbour is not willing to adopt the Tea Party line. The Tea Party is the death of the Republican Party and Haley Barbour realizes you can’t get their votes because he’s not gonna pander to ’em so he’s gonna pull out.” Okay, let’s give you a name. Do you think Obama would be afraid of running against — just pick one — Romney?

CALLER: I think he would be a stronger contender than Trump.

RUSH: Huckabee.

CALLER: No, I don’t believe he has the means to go up against a billion-dollar campaign of Obama.

RUSH: Mitch Daniels.

CALLER: I don’t think so.

RUSH: Ron Paul.

CALLER: No!

RUSH: No what?

CALLER: Ron Paul would not win. He’s just like an angry grandpa.

RUSH: Okay, that’s my point. You think if Obama —

CALLER: He would rather… Okay, I see your point.

RUSH: If Obama’s trying to set up the easiest fall guy —

CALLER: Yes. Okay, yes. I think he would actually “trump” Trump, pun intended. Yes, Ron Paul would be a better candidate for Obama to win against.

RUSH: Okay, okay, that’s all. Okay, fine. I’d love to continue, Shanda, I’m glad you called but I’ve got a time problem here, and I have broadcast engineers screeching at me and practically flipping the bird to end the segment, so I gotta do that.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:Tom in Georgetown, Delaware. Welcome, sir, to the EIB Network. Great to have you with us.

CALLER: All right! Hey, Rush, glad to talk to you. Greetings from the conservative capital of Delaware.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: We appreciate everything you do. This has to do with the administration releasing that birth certificate, and I contend they hope to stop Mr. Trump from continuing to ask about the grades.

RUSH: Well, it didn’t work.

CALLER: Right. But I think that what they’ll do is they’ll delay this. They’ll say, “Well, we released the birth certificate and we’ll think about the grades,” because I think they’re really concerned about the persona that he is this super smart, intelligent person.

RUSH: They’re not gonna release any grades. This is the end of this.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: This is the total end of it. They’re not gonna release any grades. They never were gonna release any grades. You know, Trump can demand ’em all day long now but they’re not gonna release them. This is the one shot he was gonna get. They’re not gonna respond to Trump again. Look, they have to know Trump is not going to be the nominee. I don’t think he’s going to run. This is something they know in the White House. This is just… (long interruption) No, no, I’m saying he’s not gonna run. He’s not. I don’t think he’s gonna run. (interruption) Don’t ask. It’s a hunch. (deep sigh) It’s why I look at this the way I do.

You know, Perot was always gonna run. Perot always was gonna run, even though there was a period of time early on when I thought that Trump… Perot was always gonna run but he didn’t want to win. That was always what it was with Perot. Trump is not gonna run. So this is the one thing that the White House figured, “Okay, fine, birth certificate? Here you go.” The polling data clearly told them to do this. The only reason they did this is they were losing ground on it in the polls. They clearly were. There’s no other reason to do this, to come out here today. The grades are not gonna be forthcoming. Do you think that he’s gonna force them to release the grades from Columbia? It’s not gonna happen.

END TRANSCRIPT

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