RUSH: This morning on Scarborough’s show on MSNBC, he was talking with Republican representative Tom Price, who’s a Republican from Georgia, and they had this exchange.
SCARBOROUGH: Congressman, do you believe that Rush Limbaugh or Dick Cheney are ‘better,’ quote — I’m just using terms that we hear every day on TV and radio — that they are somehow better Republicans than Colin Powell?
PRICE: (chuckling) No. Goodness. Heh. Heh. Heh.
SCARBOROUGH: God bless you, Congressman!
PRICE: (chuckling) This — this —
SCARBOROUGH: God bless ya.
PRICE: This division that we seem to be bracing across this land has just gotta go away.
RUSH: Look, throw me out of this for a second. Throw me out of the equation here. How in the world can a Republican say that Colin Powell is a better Republican than Dick Cheney? How? And that’s what Tom Price said here, and Scarborough applauds him for some reason! How in the hell can you say that Dick Cheney is worse for the Republican Party than Colin Powell? It was Colin Powell who endorsed Obama after the Republican Party gave Colin Powell the exact kind of nominee he claims to want: some moderate, squishy guy who’s gonna go work with Democrats. I mean, really, throw me out of this. ‘Are Rush Limbaugh or Dick Cheney better Republicans than Colin Powell?’ And Price says, ‘No. Goodness.’ And then also, same show, Scarborough, Bob Shrum, who I guess you can’t keep him off TV these days. Scarborough said, ‘To hear Dick Cheney say we’ll take Rush Limbaugh in our party but not Colin Powell. Would Democrats take Colin Powell in a second?
SHRUM: We’d take Colin Powell in a second, and we don’t want Rush Limbow! (sic)
RUSH: You’ve got Colin Powell! This is the whole point: you’ve got him, and you didn’t even have to do any ‘outreach.’ All you had to do was nominate an African-American and you got Colin Powell. Now, the Republicans, some of them are starting to speak up here. ‘Republican leaders on Sunday backed Dick Cheney’s attacks on President Barack Obama, calling the former vice president a strong asset for the party. ‘It doesn’t hurt us, it helps us,’ House Minority Leader John Boehner said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union,’ calling Cheney a ‘big member in our party.’ Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele meanwhile dismissed a report from the Washington Post’s Dan Balz claiming Republicans ‘wince’ at Cheney’s newfound desire for the limelight.
”There was no wincing here, the vice president expressed his view,’ Steele said on NBC’s ‘eet the Press.’ The vice president gets results! What in the world are these…? (clears throat) It’s a good thing I paused there and had to clear the throat. A profanity was on the tip of my tongue. What the hell is it with you Republicans? Do you not see what Cheney was able to pull off last week? You basically have the Bush policy on Gitmo and interrogations intact, for one reason: Dick Cheney! Not any of the Republicans in Washington, but Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney gets results. And this guy says that Dick Cheney is not as good a Republican as Colin Powell is? On Meet the Press yesterday, David Gregory had Tim Kaine on as chairman of the Democrats and Michael Steele. Gregory says, ‘Chairman Steele, do you agree with Dick Cheney about Colin Powell and Rush Limbaugh?’
STEELE: Look, I’d take both of them. I want them both. As the chairman of the party, I want Rush Limbaugh, I want Colin Powell and I’ll even take Tim Kaine. I mean, he’s pro-life, he’s pro-business, you know, he’s pro-Second Amendment.
KAINE: My father-in-law was a Republican governor, but I’m a proud Democrat.
RUSH: Well, that’s somewhat of a smart answer, after a while. But this is just… How about Biden? Biden’s out there giving away the location of the secret hideaway, the bunker that Cheney repaired to after 9/11. The question from you Democrats ought to be, ‘Would we take Joe Biden?’
No. You can have him!