RUSH: Frankly, folks, what is happening out there in conservative media, oh, my gosh, am I so happy to see, finally… I have to say this very carefully.

Let me just say this. It is fantastic to finally see some people realizing what’s going on when the left, the media, keeps going to our candidates, “What do you think about what Rudy said about Obama?” In the first place, Scott Walker is showing everybody how to answer that question, how to answer all those questions. And another thing about this, we’re also finally getting people turning it around on ’em. “Hey, why don’t you go ask some Democrats what they think of Bill Clinton flying all over the world with a pedophile? Why don’t you guys go ask the Democrats what it’s like to have to stand up and defend Joe Biden every day.”

It’s always a one-way street. Obama goes out and says some crazy things, apologizes for the country, or Rudy will come out and say, “I don’t think he loves the country. Not the way we do.” Then the press will go to other Republicans and ask them two things, to condemn Rudy and to validate Obama. And it’s not our job to validate Obama, and it’s not our job to comment on everything any other Republican says because the media never asks Democrats to.

Joe Biden is nuzzling women, he’s insulting Indians, he’s insulting Pakistanis, he’s insulting somebody every time he opens his mouth and not once does anybody in the media go to any Democrat and say, “Well, what do you have to say about what Joe Biden said?” The reaction is, “Ah, that’s just old Joe,” and it gets passed off and forgotten as though it isn’t any big deal. But you have a Todd Akin, for example, say what he said, every Republican has to comment on it, everybody Republican has to condemn it. Every Republican, by the same token, whenever Obama is attacked by any other Republican, other Republicans have to condemn the attack and then have to validate that Obama’s not what the Republican said.

But it never works the other way. This is something that has bugged me, those of you who have listened to this program from the beginning know, this has bugged me from the beginning of all this. And finally there’s some people now pointing out the right way to do this. Don’t answer the question and turn it back on ’em. For example, Scott Walker, this is just an example. He had his own answer to it. He was asked about Obama’s Christianity.

He said: I don’t know. I don’t know whether Obama’s a Christian. Why are you asking me? Go ask him. It doesn’t matter to me whether Obama’s a Christian. That’s not what I’m doing here. I don’t know. I don’t know the man. You go ask him if you care about whether he’s a Christian or not.

That’s the way to handle it. Somebody will ask a Republican, “Well, what do you think about Rudy, Rudy insulting Obama, Rudy saying that Obama doesn’t love America?” The response is, “You know, I don’t remember the last time you guys went around and started asking Hillary if she’s very worried about her husband flying all over the world with a pedophile and showing up at the pedophile’s homes in New York and Florida. When are you gonna ask Bill Clinton what it’s like, when are you gonna ask people in the Democrat Party to defend Bill Clinton for doing this kind of stuff?”

That’s starting to happen now. And when it does, it changes the story, the narrative. It turns it around on ’em and the media is not happy with this. This is part of their monopoly that didn’t change for a while. They were always able to get away with this. Any Republican, like me, will say something about somebody that’s controversial, and they’ll go to all these Republicans, “What do you think about what Limbaugh said?” and for the most part they’ve played it right and not commented, but some will either defend me or condemn me, and that’s what the media wants. The right answer is, “I don’t speak for Rush Limbaugh.”

“You’re not gonna condemn what Rush Limbaugh said?” When are you gonna condemn? It’s got to be turned back on ’em. When are you going to condemn what Joe Biden keeps saying about 7-Eleven and Indian people? Or take your pick. When are you going to condemn Barack Obama for his constant attack on Benjamin Netanyahu and Christians? It’s got to be turned back around on ’em and it finally is starting to be. So I think this is great, and I hope this is something that continues, folks, because it is long overdue.

The media and the Democrat Party have gotten — I’ll tell you what it comes down to. You know, the reason why the Republicans have always done it is because of the mistaken impression that they can set themselves apart from other Republicans if they get media acceptance. I’ll give you one of the most glaring examples of this. When was it that Dole ran for president, ’96? And he had Jack Kemp on and the veep, right? There was a debate between the late Jack Kemp and then Vice President Algore. And Algore, during the debate praised Kemp for not being like all of his Republican buddies.

Algore went out of the way to say, “Jack, I know you are not a racist. Jack, I know you are not a bigot.” And Kemp thanked the vice-president. Rather than refute the allegation and the premise, he thanked him. By the same token, let’s say you have Todd Akin saying whatever he said about rape. So here goes the media running around, finding every Republican they can, and the Republicans just can’t wait to condemn Akin because they think that’s how they establish themselves as reasonable. When the whole thing is nothing more than the latest media trip which is to get Republicans to condemn each other and to validate Democrats.

And that’s part and parcel of what’s happening here. This Rudy thing is two-pronged. They want Republicans to distance themselves from Rudy. They want Republicans to marginalize Rudy, and then they want Republicans to disagree with Rudy, which would then validate Obama. And it’s not our job to validate Obama. So Scott Walker and a couple of others are showing the right way to do this now, and I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

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RUSH: No, I’m telling you, that isn’t gonna work. It hasn’t worked in 25 years, it isn’t gonna work. We’re not gonna gain any ground with the low-information crowd or anybody else by simply pointing out what a bunch of hypocrites the Democrats are. For example, everybody’s jumping on Rudy for what he said about Obama not loving the country, and some Republicans, some media types, “You know what, nobody got upset when Obama said that Bush was unpatriotic. Nobody got upset when Obama questioned Bush’s patriotism.”

And you said, “What? What? What? When did Obama do that?” A bunch of times, folks. Obama used to say that Bush running up the national debt was unpatriotic. Obama had a number of different allegations about Bush in this regard. Nobody cared because it’s the media. Nobody ran around to other Democrats and asked ’em, “So, Mrs. Clinton, what do you think that Barack Obama means when he says the president of the United States is not a patriot?” It isn’t gonna happen, folks, until now. Now maybe we can make it happen, but simply in the middle of this Rudy situation — by the way, greetings, and welcome back, great to have with you Rush Limbaugh behind the Golden EIB Microphone, talent, so much talent, wish I could share some, on loan from God. 800-282-2882.

Simply pointing out what a bunch of hypocrites the Democrats are is not gonna get a single vote. It’s not gonna change a single mind. I’ve watched this, I’ve tried it myself. I’ve thought in the old days that pointing out the hypocrisy — just like what I said about Hollywood. For example, it’s not gonna do anything other than be entertaining to you and maybe cause some people to go, “Oh, yeah, yeah, I never looked at it that way.” But in terms of actually changing anything, it isn’t going to.

So here you have, just to refresh what I’m talking about, Patricia Arquette goes out there and starts whining and moaning about income inequality, about how women are getting the short end of the stick, women are getting the shaft ’cause they’re not being paid as much as men. Everybody is going, “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” And then you find out where it’s happening is Hollywood, where she works. Okay, fine, it’s Hollywood that doesn’t pay women as much as men. It’s Hillary Clinton that doesn’t pay her women on her Senate staff as much as men.

That’s great hypocrisy, that is one of the greatest examples, illustrations, I could give you. Is it gonna change anybody that watches E! Entertainment on a regular basis’ mind? There has to be more than just pointing out these people are hypocrites, is my point. You could say of Obama all those times that he alleged that Bush was unpatriotic for this, that and the other thing, as a means of defending Rudy, and it isn’t gonna work. The way it’s starting to shape up now, however, as I mentioned in the first hour of the program is showing great promise.

Here’s the way it works. Rudy Giuliani will go on and make a speech. In this case it was at 21, the fashionable New York dining establishment. It was a dinner hosted by three prominent Republicans and it was sort of an audition. It was Scott Walker’s turn to come show these guys that he’s worth it. Potential fundraisers, conservative Republican media types. It was his turn.

It was Stephen Moore — I always have a mental block. Aw jeez, I’m sorry, I can’t remember the other two, but I did last week. Anyway, this a round robin. Ted Cruz will have his night, then another. I can’t remember, doesn’t matter who. It was at this speech that Rudy made his comment about Obama not loving America like the rest of us do. So the standard operating procedure, media hears about it, first thing they do is act shocked and outraged, start bashing Rudy.

The next thing they do is go to prominent Republicans: “What do you think about what Rudy said? Are you prepared to condemn Rudy Giuliani for saying President Obama doesn’t love America?” The setup is, the media is gonna make sure that other Republicans throw another Republican overboard, which, I cannot tell you how frustrated that has made me over these years. I’ve been doing this program 26 years, and I’ve watched it for every one of those 26 years, and I have watched Republicans dutifully comply.

The media comes calling, demanding that the Republicans condemn whatever controversial statement some other Republican made, throw him overboard. The Republicans do so ’cause they want to be in good graces with the media. But it doesn’t get them in good graces with the media. So after they throw the Republican overboard — this is way it used to work, and may still, isolated occasions. After the media succeeds in getting other Republicans to throw Rudy overboard, they then go to Republicans a second time and say, “Will you now admit that Obama is somebody who loves America?”

So they get a double whammy out of it. They go to the Republicans to get a Republican to throw one of their own overboard, which has always worked, and then they go back a second time demanding that the Republicans validate the Democrat and say that the Democrat’s a good guy, the Democrat is not what that idiot Republican alleged that got all this started. This is how Republicans sell out their own and have been doing that for as long as I’ve been doing this.

I watched it happen to Oliver North. I can’t tell you the number of Republicans. All these Tea Party Republicans, I mean, it was almost a fait accompli it was gonna happen to them. Well, they tried it with Scott Walker. He was at this dinner at 21. It was Stephen Moore and Art Laffer and there was one other. It was a troika of guys that supposedly have to — yeah, Kudlow, Larry Kudlow, who I don’t think is as conservative as he used to be. Not after the years at CNBC. Well, some of the things he’s even writing. I’m not saying he’s not conservative. I’m not throwing him overboard. I’m just saying he’s not as conservative. I mean, Kudlow is the guy that explained baseline budgeting to me back early nineties.

But what happens now is, these media guys, they went to Scott Walker, and of course the point was he’s leading Republican presidential polls now. So they’ve gotta take him out. Media has to take him out. Here’s Rudy, not running for anything, but used to be the mayor of New York City, former presidential candidate, Rudy goes out and says Obama doesn’t love America. “So, Governor Walker, what do you think about Rudy Giuliani saying Obama doesn’t love the country?”

And Walker is not playing the game. Walker is saying (paraphrasing), “You know what? I don’t care. Rudy speaks for himself. I mean, he’s a New Yorker. They say all kinds of crazy stuff in New York.” But he didn’t leave it at that. He then said, “You know, I don’t see any of you guys asking Joe Lieberman or asking Clinton or Obama what they think of the latest embarrassing thing Joe Biden said. I don’t hear any of you media people going to, say, Hillary Clinton and asking her what she thinks of her husband flying around on a private jet owned by an admitted pedophile and hunkering down at the pedophile’s house. I don’t remember you asking Hillary about that.”

And then the media says, “You’re not playing the game. This is not what you’re supposed to say. You’re a coward.” They call Scott Walker a coward for avoiding their question. So they double down on trying to get Walker tagged as a coward by asking, “Do you think that Obama’s a Christian? Do you think he’s not a Christian? You know there’s a bunch of Republicans saying they question whether he’s a Christian. Do you think Obama’s a Christian?”

Scott Walker again refused to take the bait. (paraphrasing) “I don’t care,” he said. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know Obama. I’ve never talked religion with Obama. It doesn’t matter to me. If you want to know if Obama’s a Christian, go ask him.” Media really ticked off now, because the trick that they’ve gotten away with for 26 years has just been denied them by no less than the Republican front-runner, who they desperately want to take out, who they desperately want to tag as a coward or an idiot for refusing to even answer the question.

Remember when he was in London and he was meeting with the prime minister of Great Britain, the mayor of London, and some media person over there asked him what he thinks about evolution out of the blue in relationship to absolutely nothing. And Scott Walker said (paraphrasing), I’m not gonna answer that. I’m not here to — evolution? What are you talking about?” Unlike Romney, who went ahead after being pressed, did answer the contraception question, thereby igniting the War on Women.

Walker wasn’t gonna answer it and he didn’t answer it, so the media is left to accuse Walker of being a coward or a bubkus or a Midwestern hick not qualified for the office. He may not even know what evolution is, they say. That’s why he won’t answer it. He’s a coward because he won’t answer because he doesn’t know. And he doesn’t know because he didn’t go to college. This guy’s really a reprobate, they want you to believe.

The truth of the matter is, the media has been denied a scalp. They were looking for Rudy’s scalp, and by extension, they wanted Scott Walker’s scalp. They wanted Walker to condemn Rudy, or, better, they wanted Walker to defend Rudy. They wanted Walker to say, “Rudy’s right. You know what? I don’t think Obama loves America.” Oh, they would have been nirvana if Scott Walker had said that.

Instead, he threw it right back at ’em: You know, I don’t recall you guys going out and asking other Democrats what they think whenever Joe Biden opens his mouth, or whenever Joe Biden starts nuzzling the neck of some woman that he barely knows, right there on camera, I don’t recall you media people ever asking any of these Democrats to explain themselves. You talk about the Koch brothers this and that. I don’t recall any of you running around and asking Democrats about their questionable donors and the source of their big bucks.

And I can’t tell you, it is music to my ears. It is the exact way to handle it. And my point is, in the midst of all this, just pointing out the hypocrisy, I love doing it, but at the same time I know it doesn’t matter at all. It doesn’t carry any weight pointing out the hypocrisy of Hollywood, pointing out the hypocrisy of the feminist movement and Bill Clinton. You can point out the hypocrisy all day long. Here’s Bill Clinton who has used women, who has degraded women, who may have even raped one if we are to believe Juanita Broaddrick.

Here is a guy, Clinton’s number one aide, goes on television waving a dollar bill (imitating Carville), “Waive one of these around through a trailer park and what are you gonna get? You’re gonna get Paula Jones, that’s what you’re gonna get.” The bimbo eruptions, the whole Clinton presidential apparatus designed to destroy women. And the feminist movement can’t get enough of Bill Clinton. You can point that hypocrisy out all day long, and last I looked it hadn’t hurt Clinton. He’s a bigger rock star than ever, despite all that hypocrisy, and maybe even because of it, as corrupt and perverted as the left is and the way they define victory.

But this, refusing to go along with their tricks, refusing to fall for the trick and answer the question or the opportunity to condemn Rudy, and the subsequent opportunity to praise Obama, and to validate Obama. Look at this headline from TheHill.com: “Walker Called Out for ‘Silence’ on Giuliani.” See, this is how it works. He didn’t give ’em what they want, so now they’re doubling down on him. He’s an idiot. He’s a coward. He’s uninformed. He didn’t go to college, doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

But this is the way to do it. Just throw it right back at the media, rather than accept the premise. This has been my whole point all along. Republicans could have beat half the media juggernaut back years ago if they would have adopted simply one technique, and that is, do not fall for or accept the premise of most every media question, because every damn one of them is a gotcha. Every media question of a Republican, particularly during campaign season, is a setup and is not designed to make you look good. It’s not designed to make a Republican look worldly or different from the controversial Republican or what have you.

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RUSH: Let me give you an example. There are some more Scott Walker headlines. USA Today: “Governor Walker Doesn’t Know If Obama Loves His Country.” TheHill.com: “I Don’t Know If Obama Loves America, is Christian.” From the Huffing and Puffington Post: “Scott Walker: ‘I Don’t Really Know’ Whether Obama Loves America.'” From the Washington Post: “Scott Walker’s Cowardice Should Disqualify Him.” That’s Dana Milbank. These guys…

I’m telling you, because he’s from Wisconsin, they do not understand him. You know, it’d be very easy… The left threw everything they have at Scott Walker. In debates… You know, the mayor of Milwaukee was one of his opponents. In one of the elections, the mayor of Milwaukee insulted him, invaded his personal space, towered over him, mistreated him, accused him of all kinds of things, and Walker never responded to any of it. He just kept talking about his agenda.

He beat it back.

These people in the media, in the Northeastern Corridor have got their narratives, and they’ve got their templates. They’ve got the way they do things, and there’s a technique now to taking Republicans out. We just discussed it; I’m not gonna repeat it. But Walker’s not playing the game, and if they would have just spent some time watching how he operated, how he won three elections in four years in the state of Wisconsin, they might have an indication that none of this is gonna shake him up.

None of this is gonna bother him at all. All these headlines… You know, there’s a rule of thumb when you are in the music business in radio, and it is: You can never be hurt by a song you don’t play. I mean, nobody’s ever gonna tune out because they haven’t heard a song, ’cause nobody will know for sure you’ve never played it. Nobody listens 24/7, 365. But you can be hurt by a song you do play.

If you play a rotten song, a rotten record, people will tune out. By the same token, a politician can really not be hurt by what he doesn’t say but can be by what he does. Now, there are certain times where not saying something in certain circumstances works. But not this. This is not one of them, because this is a gotcha moment. He’s not responding to gotcha moment, and they are so ticked, because they’re used to Republicans caving at the first sign of pressure.

Walker doesn’t. And he’s not the only one, by the way. There are a lot of Republicans starting to stand up to this, but particularly now some conservative media people are finally joining this chorus, when the standard practice has always been mollify the media. “Oh, my God!” Try to be nice to ’em, give ’em what they want. Say “Oh, my God!” and don’t buck the media. Well, we’re now bucking the media, and it’s not supposed to happen. But I’m here to tell you: It’s exactly what Republican voters want.

Republican voters don’t separate the media from the Democrat Party. Republican voters don’t think there’s any difference between the Democrat presidential nominee and the media. There is in no way that Republicans should not know this, and therefore there’s no way the Republicans ought to treat the media as though they’re objective and fair when they’re not, and everybody knows they’re not. They’re just a branch office of the Democrat Party.

You never let your enemy beat you on purpose. You never fall for tricks that your enemy plays on you. But the Republicans always have, and they’ve said, “Well, you know, it’s the landscape we have to deal with. We have to show we’re tough! We have to show we can deal. We can’t run from the media.” Walker’s not running from the media. He’s just not playing the game. He’s not gonna throw Rudy Giuliani overboard, just like he’s not gonna throw any other Republican overboard.

No Republican should. But that’s been the track record. Throw a “controversial” Republican overboard so you can look good to the media. It’s a selfish, vain ploy. And it is ultimately destructive for the party.

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RUSH: I’ll give you a sound bite. F. Chuck Todd. This is Sunday morning on Meet the Press. F. Chuck, the second choice to host the show, Jon Stewart was first. Here’s Chuck Todd, remarks about Giuliani, talking about Barack Hussein O.

TODD: What have we learned from this mess? I say “this a mess” because, I tell you, I’ve hated this story in so many ways. It brings out the worst in the press. I think it brings out the worst in some politicians. It’s a race to the bottom, and now we know why everybody’s cynical about the press and politics.

RUSH: Come on, Chuck, you’re only upset about this because Walker didn’t play ball. You’re only upset about this because Rudy didn’t play ball. You went to Rudy and you wanted him to back off of it and he didn’t. You went to Rudy and you wanted him to apologize for it, and he didn’t. I guarantee you Chuck Todd would not have hated this story if Rudy had played ball. If Rudy had played ball and apologized and came groveling back to the media and to Obama begging forgiveness for this “outrageous comment,” they would have loved the story. They didn’t get what they wanted out of the story, which is why they’re not crazy about it.

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RUSH: I’m gonna give you another example here before we get back to the phones. This is a great example of hypocrisy that isn’t gonna mean anything. So the media is demanding that Scott Walker condemn Rudy Giuliani. I just gave you some of the headlines. In fact, there’s another headline from The Hill: “Walker Called Out for ‘Silence’ on Giuliani.” “Governor Walker Doesn’t Know if Obama Loves His Country.” “‘I Don’t Know’ if Obama Loves America, is Christian,” says The Hill. Huffing and Puffington Post: “Scott Walker: ‘I Don’t Really Know’ Whether Obama Loves America.” Blah, blah, blah. So the media is demanding that Scott Walker condemn Rudy and throw him overboard.

Let me throw a quote back — (interruption) What are you laughing at in there? Oh, they are tied up. But listen to this. See if you remember this. “I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother.” That was Barack Hussein O in a famous speech on race that everybody but me has forgotten. It was March 18th, 2008, and he was talking about Jeremiah Wright, and this is a great example.

Throughout the entire 2008 campaign, when all kinds of people on the right were pointing out Jeremiah Wright and playing Jeremiah Wright sound bites from the pulpit, Jeremiah Wright’s extremist nutcase, hated America, making it plain that he hated Americans, and Obama sat in his church for 20 years, and the media thought there wasn’t a story there. They were not interested whatsoever.

So Giuliani goes out there and says whatever he says about Obama and the media stops everything and starts going to every damn Republican they can find demanding they comment on it, condemn Rudy, disown Rudy, throw him over. Jeremiah Wright goes on for years and the media had to be dragging kicking and screaming to it, and it resulted in Obama doing a speech in which he said, “I can no more disown Jeremiah Wright than I can disown my own white grandmother.” And it was applauded as brilliant. What if Scott Walker had said, “I can no more disown Rudy Giuliani than I could disown Thomas Jefferson”?

The media has no problem with Obama’s mentors, no problem with Jeremiah Wright, no problem with Bill Ayers, no problem with any of Obama’s radical mentors and extremist friends to this day. Rudy Giuliani’s not the problem. He identified the problem, and that’s what’s got the media clutching their pearls on a fainting couch. Oh, they got the vapors. Not supposed to happen. This isn’t supposed to happen. He’s not supposed to question anything about Obama. The left is hogtied. Have you seen these people on TV, from Mary Anne Marsh, I don’t care whatever Democrat strategist, analyst, whatever, on Fox, the three networks, they are beside themselves over what Rudy said.

They can’t believe it. They’re beside themselves. They’re demanding that Rudy apologize, forgive and go away and take it back and so forth. Why are they so upset? Hit too close to home, if you ask me. If you ask me the Democrats have been applauding themselves for seven years getting away with keeping this stuff under the rug for that long. Rudy Giuliani, American hero. Jeremiah Wright, disgrace. Ran the only church that captured Obama’s time and imagination for the length of time, by the way. Every other church was deemed boring.

Seventeen, 20 years, whatever, Obama regularly attends Jeremiah Wright’s church. He now goes sporadically, if at all. Even though he said he wasn’t, he threw Jeremiah Wright overboard. Jeremiah Wright expected to get the treatment. He predicted it. But Rudy isn’t the problem, and Scott Walker doesn’t have a problem. It’s Obama that has the problem, and the media knows it. That’s why they’re in a tizzy.

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RUSH: I want to stick with this Scott Walker and Rudy business because Marco Rubio is doing the right thing as well. And I want to single out for praise everybody who’s doing this the right way. The liberal Democrats, whenever there is an attack, like Rather and his bogus report on George Bush and the National Guard, they circled the wagons to protect Rather. They circled the wagons to protect news and liberalism. They didn’t so much circle the wagons around Brian Williams, but it’s not too late for them to do so.

But the Republicans never do. The Republicans have always thrown somebody overboard. The left comes after a Republican, the Republican reaction is, “‘Eh, ‘eh, tarnished, soiled, no good to us anymore, media attacking him, he’s gotta go.” And they throw him overboard. This is not happening with Rudy. It’s just the exact opposite. Marco Rubio, in addition to Scott Walker, is demonstrating how this is done.

A TV station in Florida, WPBF — is that one of the stations here? PBF? (interruption) I never know these call letters. (interruption) It’s not here? What number is it? What channel, PBF? Is it 25? Gotta be 25, because PTV’s 5. Yeah, and PEC is 12. Okay, so it’s really up at Tequesta, the studio is near Joe Namath’s house. So it’s the ABC affiliate here in West Palm Beach. We don’t have any TV stations in Palm Beach. They were interviewing Rubio about Giuliani’s remarks, and Marco Rubio said, “I don’t feel like I’m in a position to have to answer for every person in my party that makes a claim.”

A-freaking-men! That is exactly the right answer. Why does every Republican have to condemn, comment, period, on something any other Republican says? Because it’s part of the Democrat Party media game of destroying Republicans.

This is Rubio: “Democrats are not asked to answer every time Joe Biden says something embarrassing, so I don’t know why I should answer every time a Republican does. I’ll suffice it to say I believe the president loves America. I think his ideas are bad.”

And then the Legal Insurrection blog, which is a great conservative blog, William Jacobson: “Three Questions All Democrats Must Answer — If you think the mainstream media is not out to elect Hillary Clinton in 2016 every bit as much as it was for Obama in 2008 and 2012, then you need your head examined. The multi-day and ongoing demand that Scott Walker verify that Obama is Christian and loves America is a good example. Why is it that Republican candidates and politicians are required to verify the bona fides of Democrats?”

A-freaking-men again. Why in the world is it up to Republicans to offer qualified support for Democrats? “There are three questions I have yet to hear Obama or any Democrat ask. 1.) Should Joe Biden stop touching women without consent? 2.) Is Elizabeth Warren Native American? 3. Is it okay that Bill Clinton participated in vacations with a pedophile?” That would be Epstein, flew Clinton to his private sex island because he owed Clinton a favor. Nobody asks Hillary about that.

It is the job of the Drive-Bys to ferret out information from Obama. It is not the job of the GOP candidates to opine on it. And this is a new concept for the Drive-Bys since they have not been doing their jobs for eight years now. So somebody comes along and makes like Rudy did, “I don’t think he loves America.” What do you mean? They ask Scott Walker, “Do you think Obama loves his country?” “Marco Rubio, do you think Obama –“

“I don’t know. Go ask Obama if he loves the country. What are you asking me for? I didn’t say it.”

“Well, Rudy, what do you say about Rudy?”

“I’m not gonna comment on what Rudy said. Why do I have to comment on everything Republicans say? You gonna comment on what Debbie Wasserman Schultz says every time she opens her big mouth?” That’s what never happens. No Democrat is ever asked to explain extremist, crazy, insane, lunatic fringe comments they make. And no other Democrat is asked to condemn them. It just doesn’t happen.

I’ll tell you, folks, I’m beginning to see a positive uptick here in how to deal with this stuff, and it is so overdue. I have been begging, I’ve been advising, I’ve been cajoling, I’ve been suggesting, I’ve been demanding that Republicans stop accepting all of the different premises of these different questions that the media comes up with.

I’ve been begging Republicans: Stop thinking that you can get in good terms with the media. Stop thinking you can make ’em respect you. Stop thinking that you can make them like you. Stop thinking you can make the media understand you. Stop thinking that you can set yourself apart from who you think is an extremist in the Republican Party by condemning them, because it doesn’t work that way.

And now it’s starting to happen, because when you get right down to it, the reason why it’s happening in this instance is because what Rudy said everybody else has already thought. This isn’t some off the wall, out of the blue comment that nobody’s thought of. And therefore it’s not outrageous. What Rudy said is not outrageous. It’s what everybody has asked themselves, now and again.

For crying out loud, the terrorism summit. Of all groups that should have been there, there is a reform Muslim group of Muslim clerics. I forget the name of the group, but they’re interested in reforming Islam, which is an interesting notion in and of itself. Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, any number of the worldwide religions are constantly engaging in revisions. The Catholic Church does it, as you Catholics well know. You have ecclesiastical conferences. You have papal papers that are released. There was a Vatican II, then Vatican III. I mean, the Catholic Church is constantly, not revising the core faith, but they are revising elements of it.

But you don’t ever hear about it happening in Islam. However, it is. There is a reformed Muslim cleric, they’re the one Islamic group that Obama didn’t invite to his White House summit on terrorism. Of all groups that I would think you would want there, it’d be that one. But, I mean, the questions that Rudy raised are legitimate, and they’re rooted in common sense after six years of observance.

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RUSH: I have some more really good media sound bites on their frustration with Scott Walker refusing to play the game, refusing to condemn Rudy Giuliani. The media is beside itself. Up first Jonathan Martin, our old buddy from Politico, now over at the New York Times. He was on CNN’s New Day this morning. John King asked him the following question: “What do you make of it? Walker won’t play. He’s not gonna answer your questions about Rudy.”

MARTIN: Scott Walker is nobody’s fool, and he doesn’t want to answer these kinds of questions, which gives him an opportunity on the right. It’s all kind of a depressing cynical exercise, frankly, because, you know, Walker doesn’t want to play the game, and by not playing the game he then gins up sympathy on the right against the media, which enables him to raise more money, and it’s all a very circular deal.

RUSH: It’s depressing, it’s cynical that Walker will not fall for the trap. It’s cynical. It’s depressing that Walker is too smart for these guys and won’t fall in for it, because what happens? What happens is that he gins up sympathy, i.e., support on the right against the media, which enables him to raise more money. That’s not what we had in mind here at the media. They’re so frustrated, they’re openly admitting this. This is great. (imitating Martin) “Well, yeah, he won’t play the game. And that means he’s getting all kinds of support from the right and he’s able to raise money against the media for it. It’s really a very circular deal, and cynical.” And then Norah O’Donnell on CBS This Morning, she’s talking to political news director, John Dickerson, about all of this.

O’DONNELL: Scott Walker refused to say if he believes Obama loves America. Is this the new standard?

DICKERSON: Scott Walker’s trying to — he’s being very safe. He’s on top of the world for the moment in the Republican primary process and he doesn’t want to make a mistake and we’ve seen that on several things. He’s very risk-averse.

RUSH: Is this the new standard? What are we gonna do, John, if we can’t keep playing these tricks on these guys? If they’re not gonna fall for it, is this the new standard? Does this not answer our questions and help us destroy them? And so Dickerson said, “Well, yeah, Scott Walker, he’s trying to be very safe. He’s on top of the world right now. Don’t want to make any mistakes. He’s very risk-adverse.” No, he’s not risk-averse! He’s smart! Not risk-averse. He’s finally decided, as has Rubio, it’s none of his business to say, you guys do not ask Democrats these same questions. So then Charlie Rose butts in, and says, “Can you be too safe, John? I mean, can you be too safe? I mean, he had momentum and attention coming out of Iowa.”

DICKERSON: He did. And Republican primary voters are gonna be fine. It’s not that this is gonna hurt him. It’s just that it was an opportunity when the cameras swung over to him, for him to do something clever, for him to say something defining. He will have maybe other opportunities to do that, but what this suggests is a certain cautiousness and, you know, he’ll have to get past that.

RUSH: I’ll tell, folks, the vanity or the narcissism or the hubris of these people, they are running a scam and listening to them talk about it is surreal to hear them act offended that the guy will not fall for their scam. They know they’re trying to trip up a Republican here. They know that they’re trying to get Scott Walker to say something that’s gonna hurt him, and he’s too smart for it and won’t, so now he’s a coward. But this is gonna catch up with him, it’s gonna catch up. These people actually believe that voters are gonna be unhappy with Scott Walker because he’s not answering their question. They haven’t the slightest.

You know, it would be so easy for these people to figure out why they’re wrong and how they’re wrong. All they would have to do is study how Walker behaved and comported himself and campaigned winning three elections in four years. They think he’s the one screwing up. He’s the guy that’s won three election in four years. He’s the guy that’s implemented a conservative agenda in a blue state. They think he’s the one screwing up.

This is actually, to me, profound, to listen to these people. This trick, this device is so ingrained that when the Republican doesn’t play along, why, somehow this means irreparable harm to the Republican down the road. This is really instructive, folks, to listen to this. We had Jonathan Martin, F. Chuck Todd all upset about it, Norah O’Donnell, and John Dickerson, and it is quite illustrative.

Now, we know who the media is, don’t misunderstand. Nothing new there. This is about their attitude here. It’s as though the Republicans are supposed to go along with this device that is designed to take them out. And when a Republican doesn’t go along with it, somehow the Republican’s screwing up, ’cause the natural order of things, don’t you know, is media destroying Republican candidates, and if the Republicans are not gonna play along with that, then Republicans have a problem. Just amazing.