RUSH: Now they tell us. I’m looking at a headline here on Fox. Now they’re telling us ‘Unrest Spreading Across the Middle East.’ How can that be? I thought the Middle East was solved. I thought we had an uprising, a democratic uprising. They got rid of that evil guy, Mubarak; and Obama went out there, did everything he could to make all this happen. ‘Unrest Spreading Across the Middle East.’ How in the world can that be? Folks, you ever wonder how the opposite of what we’re always told, happens? I’ve got a whole stack of stories this Egypt business in the Middle East as well as the budget. The Muslim Brotherhoods have an English website, and here’s their headline: ‘Senior MB Leaders: Egypt’s Uprising a Prelude to a Radical Change in the Arab World.’ Really? Are you surprised? I can’t say that I am.
From the New York Times: ‘Iranian Leaders Vow to Crush March,’ and if you read this New York Times story, in the middle of this piece, it seems the New York Times agrees with the Iranian regime — the mullahs, the Ahmadinejads — on the need to crush this uprising. It says that Iran is unlike Egypt and the rest of the Middle East. It’s already had its revolution. So this would be a counterrevolution. Iran had its revolution in 1979. This uprising is not good. So whatever’s necessary to suppress this democratic uprising in Iran, the mullahs need to go right ahead and do it. Conflicting, conflicting, all over the place. Nicholas Kristof, New York Times a couple days ago: ‘What Egypt Can Teach America.’ (laughing) What Egypt can teach us? This is an incredible piece! I, of course, during the focus of the program today will quote various elements of this and show you what I mean. Just incredible. And then another piece here from another blogger: ‘Egypt as an Opportunity’ for us. The job of sorting this out gets harder and harder.
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RUSH: Friday afternoon, CNN’s Newsroom, live in Cairo. After Hosni Mubarak stepped down from power, the senior international correspondent Nic Robertson and a man identified as Achmed have this exchange about the Egyptian anti-government protests and Pharaoh Obama.
ROBERTSON: Achmed, you’ve been here down here on the Square for many days. The United States and the international community. You’ve just listened to President Obama saying that America will support Egypt if it wants help and assistance, and hopes that there will be a good transition for jobs for the young people. What would be your message for President Obama?
ACHMED: We don’t know, actually, who he supports. He serves for his own purposes, and the Egyptian people serve for our freedom and democracy. Any democratic country should see for the people, not for its own purposes.
RUSH: You gotta love old Achmed here. Here’s Nic Robertson… Now, where is Nic Robertson? Nic Robertson’s present in the middle of all this, he’s out there at Tahrir Squirrel — Tahrir Square, which is a circle — and he’s in the middle of this, and these people are feeling euphoric. They think that what they’ve done is gotten rid of Mubarak. What they’ve done is permitted a military coup and the military guy running Egypt now is Mubarak’s best buddy. The guy that runs the military. They have torn up the constitution. Not that that matters much, but still they tore it up. They have established themselves as overall rulers and have said it’s gonna be this way for at least six months. People are still gathered in the Square there.
Now, I don’t know what people thought was gonna happen. I don’t know what people’s expectations were. But the military is running the show, led by one of Mubarak closest — really, closest personal friends. There’s no call for elections, none of this stuff that this all was supposedly about. Yet all that by Friday still hadn’t settled in. They’re still feeling euphoric. So here’s a CNN reporter in the midst of all this and he’s found this guy Achmed, and his purpose — stop and think of this. The CNN reporter’s purpose is to find somebody in the midst of the Egyptian uprising that will sing the praises of Barack Obama. I guarantee you the last thing on this guy’s mind, Achmed’s, is Barack Obama! Rightly so.
This guy thinks that his country is now gonna be free. He thinks he might have a chance to make more than two bucks a day. He thinks that maybe he might have a chance at some freedom. That’s what he thinks, and here comes this CNN reporter — an American reporter with a British accent — asking what this guy thinks of Obama! These reporters think that everybody in the world looks at every event through the prism of Obama? This is hilarious. ‘What would your message be for President Obama?’ (laughing) The guy’s not even thinking about Barack Obama! Of course what he was supposed to say was, ‘We love Obama! Obama has made it possible for us to be free here in Egypt! Pharaoh Obama is great! Long live the Pharaoh! We can’t wait for Obama to come here and supervise our election.
‘Barack Obama has made it possible. Barack Obama told Mubarak to go and Mubarak is gone and Mubarak is at the Sharm el-Sheikh Casino, whatever he’s doing, and we are free!’ That’s what this guy wants. Instead Achmed says, ‘We do not know who Obama supports. He has his own purposes. The Egyptian people search for our freedom and democracy. Any democratic country should see for the people.’ So this guy telling the report what-for. This is great! Old Achmed is saying essentially,’ What the hell are you asking me? Obama’s in this for himself. He’s not over here. This is about us.’ But Nic Robertson, undeterred, found another peasant to try to praise President Obama, and once again he doesn’t find what he’s looking for.
ROBERTSON: Mustapha is joining me now. We just heard President Obama say that he wants to extend, eh, support and assistance to Egypt and Egyptians if they want any, and he hopes that there are more jobs for the young people in the future. What’s your message for President Obama?
MUSTAPHA: Well, my message to President Obama is just, ‘We started this revolution without any outside help, and we are going to finish it also without any outside help.’
RUSH: Okay. So Nic Robertson’s 0-for-2, here gang. He starts out with Achmed. Achmed tells him to pound sand. So Nic Robertson traipses over and finds Mustapha. ‘Hey, Mustapha hey, old buddy, old pal! Nic Robertson, CNN, here. What is your message for President Obama? Obama gave a speech. He wants to extend support and assistance to Egypt. He hopes that there are more jobs for young people. What is your message for Obama?’ This is incredible, as though Obama’s in the Oval Office and Nic Robertson is out there trying to get kudos for Obama, and poor old Mustapha doesn’t give them. He says, ‘Well, my message to President Obama is: We started this revolution without any outside help and we are going to finish it also.’ So poor old Nic Robertson, State-Controlled Media: O-for-2.
I love this, by the way. Don’t misunderstand. What does CNN care about the Egyptian people? They gotta job to do. The gotta get Obama reelected. That’s what they’re out there trying to do. (interruption) What, I’m gonna get in trouble for making fun of the way Egyptians talk? I’m not trying to make fun-a anybody here. I’m trying to distinguish their voice from Nic Robertson. (interruption) Oh, Cripes. If I get in trouble of this, people are wound too tight. Anyway, Nic Robertson still has Mustapha. He’s not giving up here. He follows up, and he gets more honest analysis from Mustapha than you get from the pundits that CNN pays to sit in their studio. So Nic Robertson, after hearing, ‘My message to Obama is we started this revolution without any outside help, and we are going to finish it without any,’ Nic Robertson persists.
ROBERTSON: Are you pleased that President Obama has come out, however, now and said he supports this change and supports the people and supports the young people and — and what they’ve done?
MUSTAPHA: Well, actually President Obama’s views were kind of conflicting during the last week —
RUSH: (laughing)
MUSTAPHA: — but now he’s saying that he’s supporting the change.
RUSH: I mean this is priceless stuff! This is so great. Nic Robertson, first Achmed. ‘Achmed, what do you have to say to Obama?’ ‘Diddly-squat! What’s Obama got to do with this?’ ‘Okay, I’ll move on.’ Robertson finds Mustapha: ‘What’s your message to Obama?’ ‘Well, we started without him we’re gonna finish without him.’ Robertson persists, though. ‘Are you pleased that Obama…?’ (laughing) Folks, I wish I could think of an analogy on the fly here. (laughing) These people think that they have just won a life of freedom after all these years of poverty and oppression, and they got a reporter asking them about Obama! So Nic Robertson says, ‘Are you pleased? Are you pleased at least Obama’s come out, he supports this change and what you’ve done? Are you pleased with that?’
ROBERTSON: The view from here is one of very happy to now hear that President Obama has swung behind the people.
RUSH: That’s Nic Robertson, finally saying — after all of this, after all that you just heard, he says — ‘The view here from here is one of very happy, to now hear that Obama has swung behind the people.’ Not one of the people he talked to had anything positive to say about Obama! Achmed. Mustapha twice. It comes time for the wrap-up, here is audio sound bite number 16. It comes time for the wrap-up again and here’s Nic Robertson, you’ve just heard Achmed and Mustapha twice basically say, ‘He’s irrelevant. Why are you asking us about Obama?’ Here’s the wrap up.
ROBERTSON: The view from here is one of very happy to now to hear that President Obama has swung behind the people.
RUSH: (laughing) Nic Robertson, CNN. Is there any doubt what their purpose is? Get Obama reelected. Try to think back. Something like this happened in the American Revolution. You know, and George Washington has just finished proclaiming victory, and some reporter comes up and asks him, ‘Well, what do you think about what Attila the Hun said about this?’ or (laughing) pick somebody that’s equally irrelevant. (laughing) ‘Do you think the Barbary Coast pirates are happy here to see your revolution is succeeding? You know, they played a big role in this. They’re really behind you.’ So we’re not through. You know, this Google executive, the Egyptian Google guy, is said to be one of the leaders of the protest. So Harry Smith on CBS’ Slay the Nation was talking to the Egyptian Google engineer, Wael Ghonim and they had this exchange about the anti-government protest and Obama. (laughs) So CNN and now CBS, asking all these people in Egypt, ‘What about Obama? Aren’t you happy? Obama did it, right? Obama made it possible. Obama caused the revolution! Obama inspired you. Obama got you freedom. Obama’s gonna get you a job, isn’t that right?’
SMITH: President Obama came out several times during the revolution; had things to say. Did it help?
GHONIM: We don’t really need him, and I don’t think that… I wrote a tweet. I wrote, ‘Dear Western Governments: You have been supporting the regime that was oppressing us for 30 years. Please don’t get involved now. We don’t need you.’
RUSH: And that’s Google, folks! That is a Google executive. That’s not Mustapha or Achmed. That is an Egyptian Google executive: ‘We don’t really need’ Obama. They don’t really need Obama. He was all over the board here before this thing all happened. It was clear that Obama said everything possible so that when it was all over he could go back and say, ‘See what I said?’ So he could position himself as in the proper position of having forecast, predicted, or even caused all of this to happen.
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RUSH: To Corpus Christi, Texas, this is… Is that right? Usama? Usama from Corpus Christi.
CALLER: Hey! Greetings, Rush.
RUSH: Great to have you on the program, sir.
CALLER: Okay, great to talk to you. I have a great respect for your professional opinions, despite the fact that I disagree with you a lot but I still listen to you. I’m talking to you about the Egypt revolution — which I hope that you call it ‘revolution,’ not just ‘uprising.’ This is one thing. The other thing is I don’t understand why as a conservative leader in our free nation that you don’t stand with the people who seek their freedom. This really bothers me, and I want to understand from you why you don’t support the freedom for the Egyptian people.
RUSH: I never said that I don’t support the freedom of the Egyptian people. I’m just not sure that’s what this is ultimately gonna lead to, nor am I convinced yet that that’s what this was really all about. (sigh) Look, I don’t knee-jerk react to anything. When the result of this is a military leadership in Egypt, that traditionally has not led to individual freedom. I believe second revolutions — you know, this is the first phase. There’s another phase of this to come, we don’t know yet what it is. The best way to describe myself is I don’t jump on bandwagons.
CALLER: Egypt gained independence from the British, you know, early in the fifties. In 1952 they got their independence but they didn’t get their freedom. Now they were seeking the freedom for 58 years, and finally they ‘uprise,’ and they did get the first step on the way —
RUSH: Well, this is —
CALLER: — for liberty and freedom, and we as a Free World here, we should support those people. Regardless our doubt about the outcome of this, we should support people seeking freedom. You are conservative; I am conservative.
RUSH: Wait a second, now. I don’t know why you’re hitting me. I have never once anywhere or at any time on this program opposed freedom. What I am is cautious. The people behind this don’t seem to be all that interested in freedom to me. The Muslim Brotherhood is not about freedom to me. The Middle East is not a repository of it. I hope that it would be, but I’m just not a bandwagon jumper yet. I’m cautious about this.
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RUSH: A protest leading to Hosni Mubarak’s removal is not yet democracy. Even voting is not democracy. A one-time vote is not democracy — as in Hamas in Gaza. Not democracy. We all hope that Egyptians enjoy freedom, which they’ve not had for 5,000 years. We’ll see. I think the whole world would be great if conservatism triumphed everywhere. I think if capitalism triumphed everywhere, you have no larger, bigger supporter of that than I. Freedom, conservatism, free markets, market principles. That’s not what we’re talking about yet here in Egypt. A military coup, soft or otherwise, does not mean democracy. We just have to wait.
Also, look: I shared with you these pathetic sound bites of a CNN reporter talking to protesters — demonstrators, freedom lovers, whoever they are — in Egypt, and all this reporter cared about is what these people think of Obama. What does that tell you about the rest of the reporting of all this? Ladies and gentlemen, you must realize, if you don’t — and I spent a lot of time on this last week and people asked, ‘Why are you wasting so much time on Egypt, Rush? It’s over.’ I’m talking about it because it was nothing about Egypt on our news. It was all about how they can build Obama up; it’s all about Obama’s reelection; it’s all about trying to remake Obama, rebuild him after this horrible year he had last year, the devastating election results.
This whole Egypt thing was used for purely domestic purposes here, and all this talk about all these people — I’m talking about the State-Controlled Drive-By Media — looking at this as an opportunity for democracy in Egypt? That’s not what they saw. This is not their interest. This is totally about Obama and how they could use this event to bring him back. So quite naturally I’m gonna be suspicious of all the reporting involved in it, pure and simple. So if the people who are there for primarily for that tell us… The whole point here is if we know the whole point of covering the Egyptian uprising was to make Obama look good, then clearly they think the way to do it at that is to put Obama out of front of a big democracy movement. So they’re gonna call it a democracy movement, but we know to be suspicious of everything these people tell us for years and years and years.
The media was just as happy when the Shah of Iran left power, just as ecstatic. And look at the difference now that we have in Iran versus what was under the Shah. This in Egypt looks suspiciously familiar to how Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power. So ’til it all plays out, as far as I’m concerned, you don’t jump the shark here and claim that it’s about something that it may not be about. (interruption) Musharraf, yeah. It was the same thing in Pakistan. Musharraf went, yeah, that was great news, great news! Obama made sure got rid of Musharraf. Nic Robertson… I might have to play those sound bites again in the third hour because people missed ’em in the first hour. They’re just hilarious, but they put into total perspective what this whole Egyptian uprising has been all about for our media.
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RUSH: If you were not here in the first hour — and even if you were, these are worth hearing again — I love these. (chuckles) CNN has a reporter stationed right out there in the crowd in Cairo, right amidst all the protesters on Friday. After Obama has made his speech, which is after this program ends, Nic Robertson first finds a protester by the name of Achmed. Now, as you will hear, Nic Robertson of CNN, in the midst of this military coup — these people are, at this point in time, deliriously happy. Mubarak’s gone (I mean, really gone) they are thinking that they have been heard, theory thinking that they’re going to get what they want, whatever it is. In the case of Achmed and his compatriot you’ll hear from soon, Mustapha, they really think freedom is coming, economic and otherwise. They’re all excited about it. Here comes this American reporter with a British accent asking them what they think of Obama. (laughing) I mean, just that is hilarious to me. So these are kind of tough to hear ’cause there’s crowd noise and a number of other things, but listen carefully. Nic Robertson in Cairo, CNN’s Newsroom live after Mubarak steps down last Friday.
ROBERTSON: Achmed, you’ve been here down here on the Square for many days. The United States and the international community has just listened to President Obama saying that America will support Egypt if it wants help and assistance, and hopes that there will be a good transition for jobs for the young people. What would be your message for President Obama?
ACHMED: We don’t know, actually, who he supports. He serves for his own purposes, and the Egyptian people serve for our freedom and democracy. Any democratic country should see for the people, not for its own purposes.
RUSH: This is Achmed taking a tennis ball and stuffing it down Nic Robertson’s throat. ‘What would your message be for Obama?’ Now, these guys have just been — as far as they think, they’ve just been — granted their freedom. This is Christmas morning. It’s like asking George Washington, ‘Hey, what do you think of what the king of Spain thinks about your revolution?’ Hey, Achmed, what is your message for Obama? And Achmed says, ‘We don’t know who he supports. He serves his own purposes. We don’t care about Obama.’ But Nic Robertson is undeterred! He heads on down the path and finds another peasant to try to praise the Pharaoh, and he doesn’t find what he wants again. This time he runs into Mustapha.
ROBERTSON: Mustapha is joining me now. We just heard President Obama say that he wants to extend, eh, support and assistance to Egypt and Egyptians if they want any, and he hopes that there are more jobs for the young people in the future. What’s your message for President Obama?
MUSTAPHA: Well, my message to President Obama is just, ‘We started this revolution without any outside help, and we are going to finish it also without any outside help.’
RUSH: Okay, so Mustapha says, ‘Who?’ Basically he says, who? ‘What is your message for President Obama? Who wants jobs for the young people?’ Who? We started this without him, we’re gonna finish this without him. What do you mean, Obama? Nic Robertson, undeterred, continues to probe Mustapha for the answer that he, CNN, and Obama want.
ROBERTSON: Are you pleased that President Obama has come out, however, now and said he supports this change and supports the people and supports the young people and — and what they’ve done?
MUSTAPHA: Well, actually President Obama’s views were kind of conflicting during the last week but now he’s saying that he’s supporting the change.
RUSH: ‘Well, actually Obama’s views were kind of conflicting during the last week.’ So they’re not buying the whole premise. Nic Robertson’s premise is jammed right down his throat. Yet you heard, you just heard, Achmed and Mustapha both told Nic Robertson: Go pound sand, buddy! Here’s how Nic Robertson told CNN viewers exactly what they had just seen.
ROBERTSON: The view from here is one of very happy to now to hear that President Obama has swung behind the people.
RUSH: (laughing) This is incredible! They told him, ‘Who? We don’t care. He didn’t care about us; it doesn’t matter,’ and yet the report ends with: ‘The view from here is one of very happy to now hear that President Obama has swung behind the people.’ It’s all about Obama as far as the American media is concerned. I think it’s instructive, interesting, and hilarious all in one combo.
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RUSH: Jim in Syracuse, New York. Hello, sir. How are you?
CALLER: Hey, Rush, man, mega no bandwagon dittos to you brother, I’m telling you, man, I just got a quick question. When Obama was talking on the airwaves here, and in Egypt Twitter down and everything was down, who the heck was he talking to?
RUSH: Last Friday when he was doing his speech? Is that when they closed down all communications in Egypt?
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: No Twitter, no Facebook, no My Butt, no television?
CALLER: All that good stuff, yeah, who was he talking to? I don’t get it.
RUSH: Huh. Well, now, that’s a good question. I did not know that during the Pharaoh’s remarks that they had closed down all media in Egypt.
CALLER: Well, it was down, the way I understood it from the media, and who are they gonna talk to now that they’ve all been kicked out. I don’t know.
RUSH: I know that a couple or three times they shut down all Internet service during the course of this thing. I do not know that they did so after Mubarak announced he was leaving or whatever on Friday. Not disputing it; I just hadn’t — Twitter was online and so forth, how did they — anyway, let me answer your question. It doesn’t matter whether they heard it or not. Remember, now, Nic Robertson and the boys at CNN and whoever else is over there, doesn’t matter if the Egyptians heard it. The point is this was Obama’s revolution. All that was for our consumption, not theirs. The coverage of the Egyptian revolution, whatever it was, was for our consumption. It was an attempt by State-Controlled Media to shape events for Obama in the minds of the American people, pure and simple. Which, again, I explained last week, somebody said why are you spending so much time on this? ‘Cause it was an object lesson in media, not an object lesson in freedom, uprisings, revolutions, or democracy. I mean really, folks, these people are in the throes of euphoria and some CNN reporter asked them what they think of Obama. This guy’s lucky that he wasn’t tomatoed to death or pomegranated or dated, whatever they throw over there. Lucky he got his report out.