RUSH: Hillary Clinton was on a PBS show in Nevada yesterday. I want you to listen to who she blames for what happened in Charleston, South Carolina. The PBS host’s question is: “You said in your speech today what happened in Charleston — the absolute horror that happened there, you addressed it. The line that you used was, ‘How many people do we have to see cut down before we act?’ If you’re president, how would you act? What can you do about it?”

HILLARY: Unfortunately, the public discourse is sometimes hotter and more negative than it should be, which can, in my opinion, trigger people who are less than stable to do something like what we saw.

MAN: You can’t stop that, though, can you?

HILLARY: A recent entry into the Republican presidential campaign said some very inflammatory things about Mexicans. You know, everybody should stand up and say, “That’s not acceptable.” You know, you don’t talk like that on talk radio.

WOMAN: You could name him. You could name him.

HILLARY: You don’t… You don’t talk like that on, uhh, y’know, uhh, the kind of, uhh, political campaigns. Y’know, but I think he is emblematic, y’know? So I want people to understand, it’s not about him. It’s about everybody.

RUSH: Really? Donald Trump’s responsible now for what happened in Charleston? Of course here’s Hillary and the obligatory “talk radio,” and she says here that “the public discourse…” Folks, if you’re new to this program, we went back and played you audio sound bites of the Clintons from 1994 utterly obsessed with me and this program. If you have not heard them… You know, to me it happened yesterday, so I think everybody listening knows it.

Obviously people listening here yesterday, many of them maybe have not been listening since 1994, probably heard it for the first time. The Clintons are utterly paranoid. Donna Shalala even admitted, paranoid. But my point is, going back to 1992, ’93, ’94, the Clintons and the Democrat Party have been trying to blame the so-called rhetoric on talk radio for these things. Every damn time one of these happens!

Remember Brian Ross? A theater shooting in Colorado; the first thing he did was try to find a name of the shooter on a Tea Party membership roster. My point is, it isn’t… The incendiary rhetoric doesn’t happen here. We’re focused on upbeat, positive. It is the language of the left that is destroying people’s faith in the future. It’s the language of the left and their intellectuals and their scientists who are giving people apocalyptic ideas.

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RUSH: Let me give you another example. The Washington Post has a story today. I forget the source. I think a deputy opinion editor is the source here, and here’s the money quote from her piece: “[T]he truth is that the kids are not all right when it comes to racial equality. Studies have shown that millennials are just about as racist as previous generations.” See? Millennials. Ah, they’re just as racist as everybody else!

All of these wonderful efforts to eliminate racism? Absolutely no progress whatsoever. So every one of you Millennials, you represent the worst of the past, even though you are the faces of change. You are the youth in whom we invest all of our hope, promises, and yet they’re just as racist as anybody else. My point is, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, the Democrat Party for 25 years, folks, have been trying to blame us.

Every time there’s an event like this, the first thing that happens is to explore ways to turn it into a way to advance the Democrat Party or the leftist political agenda. They get away with that, and they also get away with making themselves look like they’re the ones — the only ones — who care, the only ones who are not racist, the only ones who have compassion. When in fact, they’re using everybody involved in this.

They’re using all of the things that they can gain control of to advance their political agenda (which is the elimination of any political opposition, by the way). I’m just asking: How long does it take for people to be pummeled with this stuff before it begins to affect your outlook on life, particularly if you’re a young child? I don’t know how many of you parents have had your kids come to you and demand that you get rid of the car because it’s killing polar bears, but I’ll betcha it’s a lot.

And if it’s not that example, it’s something else. And how many of you have sat ’em down and told ’em what they’re hearing is BS versus how many of you have tried to placate them by assuring them that you’re not trying to destroy the planet and you’ll do better, and how many of you have actually gone out and changed cars because of it? Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, the rest of them Democrat Party try to blame talk radio for this.

Believe me, they have tried to saddle every event like this, starting with me and then talk radio at large, and then they started adding Fox News to the mix. Oklahoma City bombing in 1994? Bill Clinton, then president, actually did blame me for it and even told a joke about it at White House Correspondents Dinner. So it’s nothing new. Here’s Hillary now blaming Trump — and by association, talk radio — for what happened in Charleston, South Carolina.

Yet you want to hear the truth, ladies and gentlemen? Every time they try to establish this connection, there isn’t one. There really isn’t a connection between prominent conservative media and any of these horrible public crimes, mass shootings, things like this that happen in Charleston or the school shootings wherever you go. There isn’t a conservative link. Most often what’s been found is a kid’s mind fried on some kind of psych drug. The vast majority of cases it’s been that.

There have been instances where media influences have been predominantly left, such as left-wing music, left-wing politics or what have you. In fact, let me give you an example. Some of you may have forgotten this. There’s this hate group down in the South somewhere called the Southern Poverty Law Center, and there’s this real goofy guy running it by the name of Mark Potok. He happens to be a featured favored guest on all of left-wing media. And you know what his “expertise” is?

Conservative hatemongering. He’s the go-to guy. Whenever the media wants anybody to give details on where the conservatives are hating people and how it’s manifesting itself, you go get Mark Potok. So Mark Potok has a website and on his website he lists all the “hate” organizations that his organization has studied and uncovered. One of those hate organizations is the Family Research Council, and one of the deranged supporters of the Southern Poverty Law Center actually went out and got a gun.

He went to the Family Research Council headquarters and starts shooting! He was directly tied to a left-wing hate group. Not supposed. Not maybe. Not could be. But definitely! The guy was inspired to go get a gun. A good liberal, a good Democrat, he was inspired to go get a gun and start shooting up the Family Research Council. This, of course, was totally ignored. The incident was totally ignored by the rest of the media and the Drive-Bys. There have been other instances of absolute wacko, lunatic leftists attempting plots in Washington, DC.

When the plot’s originally uncovered, the media went into gear. “This has to be connection to talk radio!” They found out, “Nope. It was a connection to liberal hate groups,” special interest groups, media, politics, what have you. As hard as the media looks, they seldom find this magical right-wing connection that they will use and be able to use to eliminate conservative media. And, believe me, they’ve been looking for 25 years, and they’re looking now.

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RUSH: To the phones we go to Michael in Detroit. Glad you called, sir. You’re first today on Open Line Friday. It’s great to have you here. Hi.

CALLER: Thank you so much, Mr. Limbaugh, for taking my call. It’s really a thrill to be able to speak with you.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: I’ve been an avid listener of your program since 1989. Some people might even call me a rabid listener.

RUSH: That makes you a lifer.

CALLER: Yes, it does, sir. I’ve been retired for some time now, and I was up early this morning, as I usually am, and I was incensed, absolutely incensed which really got me thinking that I needed to call you —

RUSH: Okay, I’ve only got one minute so I need you to get to what incensed you.

CALLER: Okay, what incensed me was a guest host on a WJR morning radio talk show —

RUSH: Oh, no.

CALLER: — who was trying to understand what was drive this young man in Charleston to act out and commit this egregious crime that he did. And he said, you know, the young man was only active on his computer all the time. It’s not like he was watching Fox News or listening to talk radio, quote, unquote, from the morning host on WJR radio. That about blew my mind that he was —

RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. I’m confused. He’s blaming the kid watching computers?

CALLER: No, he said the kid was innocently working on his computer, and he did that often, but it’s not like he was watching Fox News or listening to talk radio. So where did that thought even enter his —

RUSH: Yeah, it’s not like the kid was watching Fox News or talk radio, then it’s not Fox News or talk radio that’s responsible for this.

CALLER: Well, the way he worded it, that would have been — if he had been watching Fox News or listening to talk radio —

RUSH: So you think —

CALLER: That would drove him —

RUSH: Okay.

CALLER: — to commit this act.

RUSH: All right. So you think that the host on our affiliate in Detroit, was blaming Fox News and talk radio? See how pervasive this stuff is? ‘Cause that’s easy. It’s the easiest thing in the world. It doesn’t take any brains whatsoever to make any silly prediction like that.

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RUSH: Bernie Goldberg last night was on The O’Reilly Factor and they were talking about the left-wing effort to blame Charleston, South Carolina, on Fox News and talk radio.

Here’s what Bernie Goldberg said…

GOLDBERG: There’s a certain kind of coverage, Bill, that isn’t new, either. There are people in the media — some people in the media — who will use an opportunity of innocent people being killed in a church as an opportunity to bash conservative media, and it has a long, detestable history. After the Oklahoma City bombing, liberals in the media blamed Rush Limbaugh.

RUSH: One minor correction: Liberals did, but it was Bill Clinton who started it. It was Bill Clinton who granted permission and created the opening. April 24th… For those of you new to the program who don’t know what I’m talking about, it was April 24, 1995. This is one year after we learned from Donna Shalala the Clintons were driven to utter paranoia by me and this program and conservative talk radio back in 1994. Here’s the president in Minneapolis shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing…

CLINTON 1994: We hear so many loud and angry voices in America today whose sole goal seems to be to try to keep some people as paranoid as possible and the rest of us all torn up and upset with each other. They spread hate. They leave the impression that — by their very words, that — violence is acceptable. You ought to see… I’m sure you are now seeing the reports of some things that are regularly said over the airwaves in America today. (pounding podium) It is time we all stood up and spoke against that kind of reckless speech and behavior!

RUSH: Now, for those of you new to the program, I must tell you that — this is no ego — back in 1995, I was it, and local talk radio. There was not Fox News yet. The conservative blogosphere had not really been created. And he specifically said, “Over the airwaves in America today… So many loud and angry voices whose sole goal…” Now, you put this together with Hillary and Donna Shalala what they were talking about in 1994, being paranoid about the right-wing conspiracy led by me to bring them down.

There’s no question who he was talking about.

So we called him on it.

He made a joke about this at the White House Correspondents Dinner, and Chris Matthews came up to me when that dinner was over and said, “You can’t let that stand! The president of the United States just called you racist. The president of the United States just blamed you, just called you a racist for defending Janet Reno ’cause she was attacked by John Conyers.” So the White House issued a “clarification,” not an apology. Clinton didn’t do it himself. The White House press office issued a clarification.

They said, “W-w-we weren’t talking about Rush Limbaugh. We were talking about the shortwave broadcasts of the Michigan militia.”

Yep.

That’s what they said.

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RUSH: Now, back to the South Carolina situation, in particular commentary that I’ve come across in the media that I find telling. James Clyburn, who is a former chairman of Congressional Black Caucasians in the House of Representatives was on CNN last night, The Situation Room. Now, remember, we had this 21-year-old — this guy looks like one of the Three Stooges. Has anybody noticed this?

Do you know anybody that runs around with a bowl haircut like that anymore? This a 21-year-old kid that looks all of 15, something’s odd here. Something is really, really odd here. But I don’t know anybody running around with a bowl haircut like this, like Mo of the Three Stooges. Anyway, he confessed, so everybody’s on TV now and they’ve got their opinion on it. Here’s James Clyburn. Now, you listen to what he says. Just 18 seconds, but listen to this.

CLYBURN: We gotta speak up. We gotta stand up. Unless people do that, speak up and speak out, the evil-thinking people will control the airwaves and they will control the activities, much of which is not good for the future of this great country.

RUSH: The airwaves? What do airwaves have to do with this? The airwaves? Did you hear what he said here? “We gotta speak up. We gotta stand up. Unless people do that, speak up and speak out, the evil thinking people will control the airwaves.” Did this guy have a radio show? Was this guy on shortwave talking back and forth with the Michigan militia? Was this guy a CB operator? The closest this guy probably came to being on the radio is using his phone, right?

So what is Clyburn talking about here? Well we all know. I’m asking rhetorically. It’s his veiled attempt to blame talk radio and Fox News. But the thing about this is, he has a daughter named Steak, and she is a commissioner on the FCC. Yeah, filet mignon. No Mignon Clyburn. Steak’s a nickname. It’s a lovable nickname that I’ve given her, Steak Clyburn. Mignon Clyburn, she is on the FCC. She’s a commissioner. Well, if Clyburn’s daughter is on the FCC and he’s running around talking about people will control the airwaves unless we speak up. (sigh)

Nothing to do with the airwaves. In fact, when this is all said and done — you know, now that this kid’s confessed, this ought to be said and done in two or three months. There’s no reason for this case to go on for a year, and there’s no reason — by the way, I saw our old buddy J. Christian Adams interviewed earlier today. He resigned the Obama Department of Justice. Remember, he was in the civil rights division, and he was conducting the investigation of voter fraud on the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia following 2008.

Eric Holder basically said we’re not prosecuting people like that, so he resigned. And he’s become a commentator, a think tank fellow in an endowed chair, and he goes on TV and does endowed chair type commentary. He was on today talking about the fact that Loretta Lynch, the new attorney general said (paraphrasing), “Oh, yeah, we’re gonna do our investigation, oh, yes, we are.” And he said, “I’ve tried cases in South Carolina, and they are superb, and prosecutions like this are overwhelmingly in charge of the states.” The states own these kind of prosecutions.

He said the DOJ was thoroughly qualified to go in, by the way, and do their own investigation, because this is clearly a civil rights violation. It’s clearly under their umbrella. But he was really bullish on the criminal justice system in South Carolina, and he says they’re more than equipped to deal with this, and they’ll deal with this responsibly, and they can do it in months. There’s no reason for this case to be dragged out months and months and months, especially now that we got a confession.

But what’s gonna happen next is, “Well, is he mentally competent to confess? Does he know what he’s confessing to?” Clearly he does. He wanted to start a race war. That’s why I’m wondering: What’s this kid been taught you about evolution and how much was he paying attention to it when he was taught it? Anyway, they have an opportunity here to get this done and over with, but believe me: It’s in a lot of people’s interests for this to drag on, and to remain a lead news story for months now.

Don’t doubt me.

Last night on CNN, The Lead with Jake Tapper. He spoke with state house minority leader Todd Rutherford, Democrat. I think he’s the South Carolina state house minority leader. Tapper said, “You said the rhetoric nationwide has had an impact on this twisted racist maniac. What rhetoric are you talking about?” Now, how did this segment get set up? You think Jake Tapper doesn’t know what this guy’s gonna say?

I guarantee you they went out and they found a guy to say what CNN wants said on their network, and what CNN wants said on their network is they want to go find somebody who will say, “It’s talk radio and Fox News!” So here you have your typical softball question knowing what the answer is gonna be, and here is what Rutherford said…

RUTHERFORD: Words that come from these networks that broadcast what they call news but it’s not. It’s really hate speech! He hears that because he watches the news and he watches things like Fox News where they talk about things that they call news but they’re really not. They use that coded language. They use hate speech. They talk about the president as if he’s not the president, they talk about churchgoers as if they’re not really churchgoers, and that’s what this young man acted on!

TAPPER: Mmm-hmm. Yeah.

RUTHERFORD: That’s why you can walk into a church and treat people like animals when they’re really human beings.

RUSH: That is just utterly disgraceful. Somebody responsible at CNN, if they knew this was what he was gonna say, should have canceled the interview. (summarized) ” Words that come from these networks that broadcast what they call news but it’s not. It’s really hate speech! … [H]e watches things like Fox News…” Has it been established this kid watches Fox News, has there been that link established yet? “[H]e watches things like Fox News where they talk about things that they call news but they’re really not.

“They use that coded language. They use hate speech. They talk about the president as if he’s not the president. They talk about churchgoers as if they’re not really churchgoers…” What? “They talk about churchgoers like they’re not churchgoers” on Fox News? I’m telling you, folks, conservative media is not where you’re going to find the explanations for this kind of evil behavior. This guy’s name is Todd Rutherford and he’s the state house minority leader in South Carolina.

He’s an elected official, and he’s dumping on Fox News. But the point is you’re not gonna find conservative media with any culpability here. The conservative media is not responsible for kind of stuff. This guy is insane, unbalanced, lunatic, what have you. I guarantee you, if this guy’s paid any attention to media at all, it’s mainstream media with nothing but endless stories of the apocalypse that have to have an impact.

But I don’t even know that that’s what’s gonna end up being blamed here. We just don’t know yet — which means we can blame guns and Fox News and talk radio! It’s the same pattern. Plug and play. No intellectual curiosity, just the advancement of the leftist agenda. Meanwhile, here’s another bit of data. Yesterday was Gallup. This one’s from the Pew Research Center: “Millennials Don’t Trust Anyone.” Yesterday it was Millennials have lost confidence in everything. Today it’s they don’t trust anybody. Wonder why! They’re watching Comedy Central. They’re watching E! Entertainment. They’re watching NBC, CBS, ABC, Yahoo News, you name it.

I wonder why they think all this negative stuff?

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RUSH: How do these people know that this guy watches Fox News? I thought Millennials didn’t watch Fox News! I thought young people didn’t watch Fox. I thought only old people with one foot in the grave watched Fox News. How does Hillary know this guy watched Fox News? She’s blaming Fox News and Trump for this guy. How do they know that this guy even watches Fox News?