RUSH: This is unbelievably hilarious, and I had no idea it happened. I had literally no idea. I was on CNN last night. I was the totality of CNN programming last night, and I didn’t even know about it. I just now found out about it when Cookie sends me the audio sound bite roster. There’s something like 10 audio sound bites. And you know what it’s all about?

I happened to say that the governor of Arizona is being bullied. Is there any doubt she’s being bullied? And yet this was thought to be the most outrageous, insensitive, over-the-top comment that anyone could make about what’s going on in Arizona, the fact that I said that Governor Brewer was being bullied. Look, when the National Football League threatens you with taking the Super Bowl away from Phoenix unless you do what they want you to do, are you being bullied or not? I mean, it is hilarious. I’ll let you hear the sound bites.

And this N-word thing in the NFL, that blew up last night and this morning in the media as well. So we got a smorgasbord here today, folks. This is an unending buffet line. You gotta hear this stuff, and you will if you hang in there, be tough. Day three of the N-word, and now let me tell you what’s been added to it. Somebody has come out, some media person, and said, “The N-word, that’s the wrong thing. We gotta look out for gay slurs on the field in the NFL. The N-word, I mean, that’s common. Black guys are calling themselves that, terms of endearment. Gay slurs are the real problem in the NFL.” Oh, folks, I can’t begin to describe the literal gold mine here.

Anyway, greetings. Rush Limbaugh, most talked about radio talk show and host in America. Telephone number, if you want to be on the program, 800-282-2882, and the e-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com.

Now, let me give you a little news story here just to set something up. This is a story out of CBS Eyeball News Los Angeles. “Southern California lawmakers who support legislation to discriminate against gays and lesbians now have one less hotspot to visit in West Hollywood. David Cooley, the founder of The Abbey Food & Bar located at 692 North Robertson Blvd., has announced the popular gay bar will add any legislator in any state who votes for ‘bills to allow for discrimination against LGBT people’ to a ‘Deny Entry List.'”

So if any legislator votes in a way this guy doesn’t like, they’re not gonna be let into his bar. Of course that’s cool! That’s heroic! That’s right on. But let somebody that bakes cakes for a living not want to bake a cake for a gay wedding, and you’ve got a major sin that has been committed, a major human rights violation has been committed, and we’ve gotta do something about it. And, by the way, the attorney general of the United States, Eric Holder, as we mentioned yesterday, is out telling state attorneys general that if they don’t like certain laws that their legislatures have passed, just follow the lead of Obama and don’t enforce them. They’re perfectly within their legal rights to not enforce laws that they don’t like.

So here’s where we are. Eric Holder can lawfully refuse to enforce laws. Eric Holder can tell state attorneys general not to enforce laws. A bar owner in West Hollywood can deny entry to anybody he thinks is not sympathetic to LGBT issues, but a business owner in Arizona cannot lawfully protect and adhere to his or her religious views which are constitutionally protected. And the effort to make that bakery or any other business — wedding photographer, wedding cake baker — to force them to do business with people that they religiously object to, why, that’s not bullying anybody. Why, no, it’s just the way it ought to be.

Can we agree, ladies and gentlemen, selective enforcement of the law is wrong? Isn’t that a starting point for a civil society? Somebody thinks that selectively serving customers based upon religious beliefs is intolerable. Can that same person argue selective enforcement of the law is fine and dandy? I mean, why is one okay and the other not? Why can the president choose to ignore laws on the books, not enforce them, attorney general, ditto, how can he tell state attorneys general, “Hey, you don’t like it, don’t enforce it.”

A bar owner in West Hollywood: you’re not getting in here if you’re not sympathetic to gay issues. Somebody bakes cake or takes photos in a business refuses when a gay couple walks in, then all hell breaks loose. So you want to hear some of the sound bites? Let’s go. We’ll start here with Mike Taibbi. This is on the Today Show today. Oh, yeah, it was beyond CNN. It was in local Arizona Eyeball News there, too, as well. Mike Taibbi, this is way he set up the reporting of the story on the Today Show today.

TAIBBI: If Governor Brewer does veto the bill, ultraconservative talkers like Rush Limbaugh say they know who’s to blame.

RUSH ARCHIVE: She’s being bullied by the homosexual lobby in Arizona and elsewhere.

RUSH: Folks, that little innocuous statement, which happens to be nothing more than an observation of what’s going on, literally caused liberal brains and heads to explode last night. You know, I didn’t even know about it. I wish I’d have known, I wish one of you people would have called me so I could have turned it on. I know, nobody watches CNN. That’s the thing. In fact, speaking of — thank you, Mr. Snerdley, for that reminder — the February numbers are in. It is disastrous. Anderson Cooper, for example, is down 47% year to year, 47% less audience this February than last February. CNN, in some day parts, is down 50%, lost over half their audience from last year to this year.

I mean, it is a disaster over there. You talk about being out of the mainstream, and what’s hilarious is they’re playing all of these sound bites of me and people are reacting like I’m out of the mainstream. These people can’t even hold an audience. I mean, 47%. This is their big guy, Anderson Cooper. I’ll never understand any of this. You know, I go back a long time in the broadcasting business and this, just a few short years ago, I mean, everybody’d be gone, and there’d be a mass panic going on a long time ago. Well, they’ve cleaned house two or three times, but they still think they got the hottest talent in the country. It’s inexplicable.

So, anyway, that’s the Today Show. Now, here is KPNX Eyeball 12 news at 10 in Phoenix. This is the anchor Lin Sue Cooney reporting about Mitt Romney and me on the Arizona bill.

COONEY: Mitt Romney has become the latest high profile public figure to criticize the bill. Rush Limbaugh is on the other side, saying, quote, “the governor of Arizona is being bullied. She’s being bullied by the homosexual lobby in Arizona and elsewhere. She’s being bullied by the nationwide Drive-By Media. She’s being bullied by certain elements of corporate America in order to advance the gay agenda.”

RUSH: How is this…? How is this even a matter of discussion? She is being bullied. That is part of the way the left gets its way, is to bully every opponent practically on every issue. They’ve successfully bullied the Republicans into submission. You know what the Republican position on this is? (frightened) “Governor Brewer, please just veto it so it will go away! It’s gonna kill us if you sign it! Oh, God! Oh, don’t! Don’t! Please veto it! Do what they say!”

They want her to veto and get it to go away. “Just, please!” The Republican Party has been successfully bullied to the point now of submission. If this isn’t bullying… (interruption) What were the magic words, “homosexual lobby”? Is that what lit their fire? That’s what it is? Well, this Lin Sue Cooney… Look, I have nothing against her, but Lin Sue Cooney, she didn’t even know what the Drive-By Media is. It was on the teleprompter. That’s hilarious. It’s hilarious.

“She’s being bullied by the homosexual lobby in Arizona and elsewhere. She’s being bullied by the nationwide Drive-By Media.” I love that. Don’t you love that? “The nationwide Drive-By Media.” (laughing) What is this if it isn’t bullying? This is the soap opera. If it’s not the gay lobby, it’s the NFL, it’s any number of other corporate interests who are also for it. Apple Computer has weighed in on this. I don’t know, what would you call it? Pressuring, or is it invoking what’s morally right?

How is this even controversial? I’ll tell you, as always, there is something else going on, and when we get to sound bite nine, you’ll hear what it is. The Forehead, Paul Begala at CNN, gives away what the whole purpose of reacting to me this way is, and it has nothing to do with the bill. There is no tolerance for contrasting views. Snerdley just asked me, “Whatever happened to tolerance of contrasting views?” In fact, speaking of that, did I put this Obama story in the Stack?

It was right there. It was in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers, a Washington Post story. “Obama Urges Supporters to Correct Misinformation From Conservative News — President Obama on Tuesday called for his supporters…” Wait a minute. This is Wednesday. “President Obama on Tuesday called for his supporters to correct their Republican friends when they spout incorrect facts they heard from conservative news outlets,” like, “If you like your insurance plan, you can keep it.”

When the Republicans lie to you about that, you go out there and correct ’em! (laughing) You ask me about tolerance? Obama’s urging his buddies to bully people. “They bring a knife, we bring a gun.” Who said that? It was Obama. So the president is asking his own supporters to bully people who get their news from conservative media. One more sound bite and then we gotta go to break. CNN New Day. This is this morning. This is their Early Show.

This is Anna Cabrera reporting on me and my remarks that Governor Brewer is being bullied.

CABRERA: Conservative radio host, Rush Limbaugh, igniting the rhetoric by saying Brewer is being attacked!

RUSH ARCHIVE: The governor of Arizona is being bullied. She’s being bullied by the homosexual lobby in Arizona and elsewhere.

CABRERA: Right now, no one knows for sure what the governor is going to do, but we do know she vetoed similar legislation last year.

RUSH: I have no trouble admitting to you, folks, I find this hilarious. It’s such a teachable moment. It is so hilarious. There’s no question she’s being bullied, and yet I’m the bad guy for pointing it out. There’s no other conclusion you can draw, in terms of the pressure that is being exerted on the governor in order to achieve the outcome they desire. They’re not just passively waiting for the governor to make up her own mind.

There’s no passivity going on out there. There’s not any patience or people just waiting to see what she does. Of course they’re engaged here in bullying. You know, I guess what bothers them is that they think “bullying” is exclusively a conservative thing. That’s what bugs them. I’m turning around on it, calling them bullies. Of course, they’re incapable of that kind of behavior. You know, if they don’t like “bullying,” what would be a better word be?

Extorting? (interruption) Well, I don’t know if “extorting” would be right. (interruption) Threatening? Are they threatening? Blackmailing? How about “hostage taking”? (interruption) Well, that’s what they say about Ted Cruz and Mike Lee. They took the budget hostage or they were holding some process hostage, the deficit hostage. How about calling them hostage takers here? That would really tick ’em off.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You know, this reaction to me accusing them of bullying the governor, it is entirely possible that they do not see it that way. I will maintain to you the Drive-By Media has no empathy. They have no ability to empathize. They don’t understand how you see them. They do not understand how you react to what they claim is the news every day. They’re totally clueless about it. There is no question that there is an organized campaign to harass the governor.

If they don’t like bullying, I’ll pull it back.

I will officially change my terminology. If you don’t like the fact that she’s being bullied, I’ll change it and I will say that the female governor of Arizona is being harassed. How’s that? We’re witnessing a war on a woman by the Drive-By Media and all the vested interests here. But they really don’t see it this way. They think they’re reporting the news. (interruption) Well, I wouldn’t go that far. I mean, I’m not trying to portray them as detached, but they’re genuinely shocked that anyone would say what they’re doing is bullying.

This is the sound bite from yesterday’s program that sent them into orbit, folks.

RUSH ARCHIVE: She’s being attacked for suggesting she might veto the bill for economic reasons. I kid you not. She’s not saying that the veto would be for the reason they want to hear. … The same-sex, homosexual advocates want her to veto it on the basis of human rights, civil rights, gay rights, and what have you. … The governor of Arizona is being bullied. She is being bullied by the homosexual lobby …

RUSH: That was it. That launched it into the orbit and took them with it, and that’s all they heard. That became the story. I actually hijacked the story from the governor of Arizona and became the story. Now, here is CNN’s The Lead last night. This is Jake Tapper, speaking with former congressman Jim Kolbe. Tapper plays a clip of me saying that the governor being bullied and then say, “Congressman, does it matter to you why the bill would be vetoed, as long as it’s vetoed?”

KOLBE: I don’t know what she’ll say in her veto message, but I think it’s important that it be done for several reasons. I think it’s morally incorrect. I think it’s unnecessary, and I think economically it’s bad. And I think, from a reputation standpoint, it just gives Arizona a black eye, and we don’t need that. So I think we should avoid that.

RUSH: So what just happened there? Jim Kolbe just agreed with me! You know, they play this sound bite, and they can’t believe that I actually think that she’s being bullied because she’s wouldn’t veto it for the right reason. They ask Kolbe and he says, “Well, I don’t know what she’ll say, but it is important that it be done for several reasons. It is morally incorrect.” They do want this veto to happen with specific motivation behind it.

What is so wrong about reporting the truth about this? Which is all I’m doing. I’m just telling everybody what I’m observing. I’m not even accusing anybody of anything. I’m watching the governor of Arizona be bullied by all kinds of people — the media, corporate America, the National Football League. Of course, the various gay lobbies and interests and so forth all harassed, what have you. Anyway, there’s the still more of this, and we haven’t even scratched the surface yet here on N-word NFL today, so… Ha-ha-ha.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Does anybody at this point even really know what this bill is about in Arizona? I wonder how many people think that if the bill is signed into law, that gay people can’t go to Chick-fil-A and have a sandwich. I wonder how many people think that if the bill is signed into law, gay people can’t go into Ruth’s Chris and get a prime cut. I wonder how many people believe that if the bill is signed into law, that gay people can’t go buy wedding cakes. That’s the way it’s portrayed.

This law happens to be a religious freedom law. The Constitution provides, in the First Amendment, freedom of religion. The people opposing this do not have any constitutional standing, per se. When you’ve got this West Hollywood bar denying entry to anybody the owner doesn’t like for political reasons, there’s no constitutional standing for that. That’s blatant discrimination. But since he represents a minority and therefore in the eyes of the left, a bunch of victims — i.e., homosexuals — then they can’t possibly discriminate. They’re victims. They’re in the minority. He doesn’t have any constitutional authority, nevertheless, for his discrimination.

However, people practicing their religious beliefs, guaranteed free religious beliefs protected by the Constitution, do indeed have standing. That’s really what the nub of the bill is about. But that’s all been forgotten because it’s now been transformed, if you will. It’s been flaked and formed to fit into the daily liberal agenda soap opera. And that’s why a lot of people think that what’s at stake here is gay people being able to go into a restaurant, when it isn’t.

So you see it’s perfectly fine for the attorney general to tell other attorneys general to selectively enforce the law. If there’s a law you don’t like, screw it, don’t enforce it. He said: we’re doing the same thing in Washington. The president, if he doesn’t like a law, he’s just not enforcing it. In fact, the president’s writing his own laws. You guys should try that.

That, apparently, is fine and dandy. West Hollywood bar owner can discriminate against people he disagrees with left and right. No problem whatsoever with that. But this in Arizona, why, my golly, folks, you would think it’s the end of civilized society. And you know what I think? I think the left, like a lot of people, they live in the past. And I think in this issue, I think one of the reasons they gin this issue up is they can’t wait for the next Todd Akin. They can’t wait for the next goofball statement from somebody that they think they can build up and ballyhoo into some overall condemnation of conservatives and Republicans, something that’s profoundly embarrassing.

And that’s the kind of thing that they’re searching for here by focusing on me happening to observe what millions of people are also observing, that there is bullying going on, and there’s no question that the governor is being bullied. There’s no question she’s being harassed by people who have a vested interest in her vetoing the bill. On the other hand, do you see a lot of activism on the part of people in favor of the bill? Do you? Are they bullying her? Are they exerting pressure on her? I don’t see it. They’re laying low, scared to death.

So let us now return the audio sound bites. Up next is Ken Cuccinelli. He was on Crossfire last night, they’re talking about this, and then they played that sound bite of me saying that the governor’s being bullied. That’s all CNN did last. They played that sound bite over and over and they asked every guest what they thought of what I said. So it was Cuccinelli’s turn next.

And Van Jones, one of the cohosts of Crossfire, said, “I want you to respond to Rush Limbaugh. Do you think that the governor is being bullied? Jeff Flake, senator from her state, is against marriage equality, he’s against domestic partnerships, against hate crime legislation. He got 100% ratings from the Family Research Council. He’s against the law. McCain’s against the law. Are they bullying Governor Brewer?”

CUCCINELLI: No, but a lot of other people are. A lot of other people and entities are. And this is the political correctness stampede. Once they, whoever they are, that control much of the voice, and by that I don’t mean actual control, I mean influence control, and they start rolling the steamroller and it’s cool to go that way, well then, you know, Katie, bar the door. That’s what’s bearing down on Jan Brewer.

RUSH: Okay, he just agreed. He said no, McCain is not bullying her and Flake is not bullying her, but a lot of other people are, and this is the political correctness stampede. Once they get going, they just steamroller over everybody. Ken Cuccinelli, attorney general from Virginia. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council on Erin Burnett OutFront. She said, “What do you think about what Rush Limbaugh just said? Is Governor Brewer being bullied by the gay lobby in order to advance their agenda?”

PERKINS: I think what’s happened is the water has been muddied clearly, no question about that. Too many people have gone to the Nancy Pelosi school of public policy. They’re gonna dispose of this and then read it. It’s a one page bill. It’s pretty easy. It amends a 1999 law that essentially does three things. The major thing it does is it says you don’t have to leave your faith within the walls of your church or your home.

RUSH: So he’s simply saying you can be religious in your business, too. You don’t just have to be religious in church. Look, there’s no doubt that pressure is being exerted. There are threats: economic, moral, you name it. I mean, when the National Football League takes a day off from being concerned about the N-word and threatens the governor with removing the Super Bowl, what is that?

The Apple computer, or Apple, Incorporated, sorry. Apple just partnered with a sapphire manufacturing firm that’s located in Mesa. The rumors, ’cause Apple doesn’t announce anything, but right now Apple uses sapphire to house the camera apparatus on the iPhone, protect it. Sapphire is very hard, hard to scratch it. They also use sapphire on the fingerprint censor, touch ID. The story is they’re gonna start making sapphire for the entire screen of the new iPhone, or iPhones. There are two of them, and the production is going to really, really ramp up. Apple is talking about maybe hiring 2,000 new people, 2,000 new jobs in Arizona in Mesa at this sapphire manufacture.

And they came out, and they let it be known that they were very, very much in favor of the governor vetoing the bill, and there’s 2,000 jobs hanging, what is that? “Mr. Limbaugh, that is simple moral pressure.” Oh, is that what it is? Moral pressure. It isn’t bullying. Oh, okay. Then it’s harassment. There’s no question the left takes ownership of certain words, and we can’t use them, like gravitas and you name it. And bullying is one of those things. They own it and only they get to use it, and only they get to define it. So here I come, Mr. Happy-go-lucky radio talk show host accurately describing what’s going on, and there are howls and shrieks of heretical outrage.

And leave it to The Forehead, Paul Begala, to put it all in perspective. He also appeared on Erin Burnett OutFront last night on CNN. That show is down something like 20% year over year. It’s a disaster at CNN. My guess is I’m the one, by playing these sound bites, that’s letting the country actually know what happened on CNN last night, because left to your own devices, nobody’s watching it. But that’s a discussion for another moment. Here’s the Begala, The Forehead, Paul Begala, reacting to all of this and explaining what this has really been about, that all night last night, using me to bounce off of.

BEGALA: The face of the Republican Party now is Ted Nugent, Rush Limbaugh, who said these vile things about that woman from Georgetown who testified on contraceptives, vile things. That’s the face of the Republican Party. Republicans gotta get a better face.

RUSH: That’s what they’re attempting to do. They’re trying to Todd Akin me, if you will. They have these things that happened in the past, and they think, “Oooh, ooh we can make it happen again! We can do it again.” They never, ever try to triumph in the arena of ideas. They never once try to win or persuade people on the strength or the basis of their ideas. The only arrows in their quiver are character assassination, efforts to discredit people. That’s all they’ve got. And The Forehead just explained what all that on CNN last night was about.

Now, let’s go to the Today show, back there Today, this morning, the cohost, Matt Lauer, who’s back from Sochi. Sochi? How do you pronounce where the Olympics were? Sochi. Okay. Matt got back. I guess he didn’t fly out of Kiev. He got back. And he’s talking to former White House communications director Nicolle Wallace, who used to be Nicole Devenish, until she got married. She married a guy named Wallace, so now she’s Nicolle Wallace. (interruption) Well, no, people may not know that when a man and woman got married, the woman used to take the husband’s name. It used to happen that way in the old-fashioned days. Well, that’s not as common. I mean, you could still find it.

There are pockets of the country where it still happens, but I guess people might be confused. You know, I wanted to point out just how she used to be called Wallace when her name is Devenish. She got married and — in a very old-fashioned maneuver — took her husband’s name. Anyway, she’s on the Today show today, and Matt Lauer said, “The bill itself does force the question if religion freedoms of one group trump the right not to be discriminated against by another group. How do you answer that question?”

WALLACE: You’ve got Republicans saying, “I hear you,” and understanding that the consequences of measures like this are so grave — not just for our party, but for our country to be viewed as not tolerating any group of people. I think Republicans are saying, “I hear you. I understand the problems we’ve had in recent elections and we’re not gonna get dogged, we’re not gonna get painted with this brush that we discriminate against any group of people.”

RUSH: Right. This is what we mean by “bullying.” The Republican establishment is entirely reactionary, and they’re just laying down. “Okay! Okay! Whatever you want! Whatever you want! Just don’t call us anti-this, just don’t say we’re anti-this or anti-that! Whatever you want! Whatever you want! Just don’t call us any names. (sobbing) If you call us names, that hurts. It really hurts. We don’t want to be called names, ’cause we’re not anti anybody.

“We’re really not, so please don’t say that,” and they aren’t. The thing is the Republicans are not anti. That’s been totally manufactured, too. But rather than fight it and defend it, it’s just, “Uh! Uh! Let’s just get rid of it. You know, Governor, just veto the bill so we can get rid of the issue,” which is the Republican modus operandi. “Just let ’em have it and get rid of it.” I was also used as a reaction feature on Fox last night on a different thing.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We have a call from Tucson. It is Sharon. Thank you. You’re up first, and welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hello, Rush? Hello?

RUSH: Hi.

CALLER: Hi. I’m so honored to talk to you, Rush. I understand I’m the first caller and I want to comment on the bill in Arizona. The way that I read the bill and understand it is that this was made to protect business owners, because of what happened in New Mexico where the gay couple went in and wanted to have a cake made by a baker, and he didn’t want to do it because he felt it was against his religious beliefs — and then, you know, they sued and apparently, you know, they closed him down.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: Well, that’s what this bill was intended for, because, you know, the left always discriminates. The left is the one who discriminates. They say, “You have free speech as long as you agree with what I say. If you don’t, then you don’t have free speech.”

RUSH: That’s exactly right.

CALLER: That’s right.

RUSH: That is exactly right, and they bully you if they don’t get their way.

CALLER: The left are the ones, the gays are the ones discriminating. Now, if you want to be a gay person, that’s your right, but if you’re a business owner or you’re a person of faith, where are the business owners’ rights? Where are the people of faith’s right here? The gays discriminate against them because they say, “Well, you have to accept me. You know, they’re making us give up our faith.”

RUSH: Well, Sharon, it’s the power of political correctness. It’s what the attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, was saying. That steamroller is now just mowing down anybody in its way, and people don’t want to speak up. It’s like we had a call from a woman a couple of months ago, when President Obama’s approval numbers started plummeting. She said, “I think they’ve always been low. It’s just people were afraid to tell pollsters that they disapproved of the president because they didn’t want to be thought of as racist.”

Well, it’s the same thing here. You’re asking, “Where are the people standing up for the business owner?” They’re scared. They know what’s gonna happen to ’em if they do. They’re afraid of what’s gonna happen to ’em. They’re afraid the media is gonna descend on ’em in the first place, and who’s the media gonna bring along? They’re just scared to stand up. The Republican Party is in the same boat.

CALLER: Yep. The people that wrote the bill, that was what it was intended to do, to protect the business owners. They have a right —

RUSH: Well, Matt Lauer kind of got it right here. You do have a balancing act. You’ve got constitutionally protected religious freedom, and how do you balance that against not discriminating against others. So the bill basically attempts to establish that a person’s religious beliefs do not exist only while in church, that he or she is free to practice them at work.

CALLER: They believe they should respect other people’s.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: Other people’s beliefs.

RUSH: Right. I’ve heard the question asked, “Why would you not want to sell your product or service?” I have also heard, “Why would you go somewhere to buy something where you’re not wanted?” And when you answer that, you understand what’s going on here. Why would you go? Of all the places to buy a wedding cake, why focus on the place that doesn’t want to make one for you? Think about the answer to that.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Another question that I’m gonna re-ask here: Why is there a political agenda attached to two men having sex with each other? What is the political agenda in that? Hmm? Why is there one?