RUSH: On the Today Show today, the cohost Meredith Vieira interviewed the smartest, the craftiest, the most brilliant White House press secretary ever: Robert Gibbs. She said, ‘I can’t let you go here, Bob, without asking you: What was up with the iPod? You give the Queen an iPod? I mean, I would not know what to give the Queen of England. I’m not sure an iPod would be the first thing to come to mind. What was the thinking behind that choice?’
GIBBS: I’m not sure entirely, uh, whose idea it started out as, but it’s loaded with, as — as you mentioned, some show tunes, uhhhh, and it’s also loaded with, uh, some pictures of the Queen’s most recent visit to the United States. The president remarked to me this morning that, uh — uh, her sensibilities sort of reminded her a bit, uh, of, uh, his grandmother only with a much bigger house.
VIEIRA: (cackle-giggle)
RUSH: Ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha a, ha-ha-ha-ha. So the Queen’s sensibility reminded Obama of his grandmother. Well, let’s go back, March 21st, 2008, Philadelphia. What did Obama think of his grandmother?
OBAMA 2008: She is a, uh, typical white person who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, you know, there’s a reaction that’s been bred into our experiences that — that don’t go away and that sometimes, uh, come out in — in the wrong way.
RUSH: By golly, folks, I think he just called the Queen an unintentional racist with a bigger house than his grandmother had! And this whole business of giving an iPod, Bob Gibbs forgot to tell Meredith Vieira a lot of Obama’s speeches are on the iPod as well. Did you know that? You heard about that? Okay, so, yeah. She reminded him of his grandmother. Well, a typical white person. Let’s listen to these two again, back-to-back, Ed. Play two and three — bam, bam, thank you, ma’am — right back-to-back.
GIBBS: I’m not sure entirely, uh, whose idea it started out as, but it’s loaded with, as — as you mentioned, some show tunes, uhhhh, and it’s also loaded with, uh, some pictures of the Queen’s most recent visit to the United States. The president remarked to me this morning that, uh — uh, her sensibilities sort of reminded him a bit, uh, of, uh, his grandmother only with a much bigger house.
VIEIRA: (cackle-giggle)
OBAMA 2008: She is a, uh, typical white person who, if she sees somebody on the street that she doesn’t know, you know, there’s a reaction that’s been bred into our experiences that — that don’t go away and that sometimes, uh, come out in — in the wrong way.
RUSH: I wonder what the Queen said to Obama because she didn’t know him before he showed up. Thank you, Bobby Gibbs. Bob Gibbs letting us know the truth. The Queen reminded Obama of his grandmother. Katie Couric on the CBS Early Show today, Harry Smith is talking to her. He said, hey, ‘Most important question. The president and Michelle with the Queen yesterday.’
COURIC: He presented the Queen with a video iPod — something she actually requested! — loaded with classic show tunes like My Fair Lady and Camelot, also a songbook autographed by Richard Rodgers, the master himself. The moment that was really noticed was when Mrs. Obama, as you mentioned earlier, placed her arm around Queen Elizabeth!
SMITH: Mmmmumph!
COURIC: Touching, I guess initiating touching is a no, no.
SMITH: Yeah!
COURIC: But her majesty seemed to welcome Mrs. Obama’s overture, so people here are just eating it up!
RUSH: Oh, yes, American royalty meets British royalty. So now Katie Couric says Queen Elizabeth asked for the iPod. She asked for it. Now, I heard — and I don’t know, but I heard — that she already had an iPod. She asked Obama to bring her an iPod. What did he do, stop at the Duty Free Shop when he landed at Stansted and go in there and pick one up? No, obviously, because it was preloaded with stuff. It’s another thing about an iPod. You give somebody an iPod so they can load their own stuff on it. The touchy-feely… This is one of the protocol things that people were worried about. Here is the audio of Obama’s chat with the Queen. Now, what this is, is Obama and Prince Philip. They had this quiet exchange yesterday at Buckingham Palace.
OBAMA: I had meetings, uh, with the Chinese, the Russians, David Cameron —
PHILIP: (giggling)
OBAMA: — and I’m proud to say I did not nod off in any of the meetings.
WOMAN: (cackling)
PHILIP: Can you tell the difference between them? Huh-huh-huh.
OBAMA: It’s all a blur!
RUSH: This was off-mike. This was not part of the ceremony. So Obama is telling the prince what he had done all day. ‘I had meetings with the [ChiComs], the Russians, David Cameron, and I’m proud to say I didn’t nod off in any of the meetings,’ and Philip is saying, ‘Can you tell the difference between them?’ And Obama says, ‘It’s all a blur.’ Now, you’ve got the ChiComs and the Russians and David Cameron. To ask, ‘Can you tell the difference between them?’ What a question! You know, let a Republican ask that question and you’ll have outrage. Here now last night, Larry King Alive. He’s talking with the beauty editor for Harper’s Bazaar magazine, Avril Graham, and Larry says, ‘Do you think Michelle might be even more popular than Jackie Kennedy?’
GRAHAM: She was visiting a hospital, and, you know, she’s sitting there at the bedside of cancer patients but she’s giving them a lift, you know? She’s got the — the sparkle on! She’s got brights on. In a — a similar way as I — I thought back to the days of Princess Diana who, you know, you want to cheer someone up.
KING: Humph!
GRAHAM: Not to be sitting with — you know, looking mournful, and I think that that’s what she brings, that accessibility and that understanding of real life.
RUSH: This is just so syrupy. I have to take some anti-diabetes pills before listening to some of this reporting and before reading some of it. For example, here is Jennifer Loven of the Associated Press. ‘He talked nuclear threats with Russia’s president and gave an iPod to the Queen. And that was only the beginning. It was an eventful first day on the world stage for President Barack Obama, launching new arms control talks, placing China ties on fresh footing and calming fears about the ailing US economy — seemingly everywhere, relaxed and smiling all the while. While wife Michelle attracted breathless attention with every stop, fashionable outfit and sip of tea. The new US president, in London for Thursday’s high-stakes global summit on the financial meltdown, dashed through a dawn-to-dark schedule Wednesday despite the effects of a head cold. There was even a chance to talk dinosaurs with Gordon Brown’s young sons and to snare two hours of quality time with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace.’ I mean, this is just so over-the-top, and it is syrupy sweet. You need blood sugar medicine here to listen to or read any of the reporting by the Drive-By Media.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: The queen did have an iPod. Steve Gilbert informs me via Engadget, which is a blog, a high-tech blog from July 2005, it’s actually a story from the UK Sun, the Sun reports that ‘Queen Elizabeth is rawkin’ the palace on her new iPod. With Charles off quivering in a corner fearing the onset of the nanobot army, the Queen’s second son Andrew has become the Royal gadget go-to-guy and set her up with the silver 6GB iPod mini.’ So she did have an iPod out there. More audio sound bites, sickening as they are, Larry King Alive speaking now with a former spokesman for Buckingham Palace, Dickie Arbiter. The question, ‘Dickie, how about the black population in England?’
ARBITER: Well, they look upon Barack Obama as a savior, you know, being the first American president of mixed race.
RUSH: So the black population of Great Britain looks upon Barack Obama as a savior. By the way, the protesters continue to go nuts over there, and folks, you gotta understand that these people, these protesters, the anarchists, the globalists, anti-globalists, the anti-capitalists and whatever, these are just community organizers, these are potential future leaders of countries around the world. The United States’ leader was spawned by ACORN. He is a proud community organizer. So the people that are wrecking the town down in London at the G20, these are future leaders of our country. I don’t really see what the problem is. In fact, President Obama ought to be out there with them, giving them pointers on how to agitate. That’s where he comes from. And then invite ’em to the White House, hook ’em up with ACORN and tell ’em how it’s really done. You could be looking at a future leader of a country in these protests. This next is hilarious. Larry King Live speaking with former Buckingham Palace spokesman Dickie Arbiter and social commentator Nancy Giles about the meeting between President Obama, Michelle Obama and Queen Elizabeth. This is a Larry King play-by-play of Michelle touching the queen.
KING: By the way, we have a new video of Michelle touching the queen. Dickie, is that a no-no?
ARBITER: Not really. Um, er, uh, you know, as I said a moment ago, the queen’s being —
KING: Yeah, she just touched her!
ARBITER: — doing this over fifty-seven years.
KING: Oh, she touched her again!
ARBITER: She touched her.
KING: Oh, my gosh!
ARBITER: So what? She’s been around.
GILES: Well, but the queen touched Michelle.
MAN: That’s right!
GILES: It was a reciprocal touch.
KING: It’s okay, Dickie, right?
ARBITER: Yep, absolutely. Absolutely.
RUSH: Play-by-play of Michelle Obama, American royalty, touching British royalty, Queen Elizabeth.