RUSH: Look at this. New York Times: ‘The Prison That Won’t Go Away.’ Do you realize, folks, the New York Times says the reason why Obama won’t close Gitmo is because Bush forced him into keeping it open. No, I kid you not. You know, we have a thriving merchandise business at Guantanamo Bay. It’s accessed at the EIB Store at Rushlimbaugh.com. Listen, Club Gitmo is still open for business, folks. Don’t think anything’s changed there.
(playing Club Gitmo spoof)
RUSH: It’s still open and our thriving licensed merchandise business thus goes on. It’s available at RushLimbaugh.com, the EIB Store. New York Times: ‘The prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has long been the embodiment of Bush-era arrogance –‘ This is an editorial. It’s just too great. Yes, it’s ‘long been the embodiment of Bush-era arrogance and lawlessness, and Barack Obama raised the hopes of millions around the world in 2008 when he campaigned on the promise of closing it. On Monday, that promise crumbled, the victim of Congressional spinelessness and President Obama’s inability to create political support for a way out of the moral quagmire created by his predecessor. The president announced that military commission trials for detainees would resume at Guantanamo after a two-year suspension,’ and that Rush Limbaugh’s licensed merchandise business would continue to thrive and stay open.
‘That became inevitable in December after members of Congress from both parties, in an act of notable political cowardice, banned moving those trials to the United States,’ and on and on and on and on. Then they go down to the end of this thing. ‘These are improvements, as is the more obvious requirement that procedures comply with international laws that ban torture and other forms of inhumane treatment. But the Obama administration has still chosen to accept the concept of indefinite detention without trial, which represents a stain on American justice.’
Now, get ready — wait for this — ‘The president made that acceptance clear in a speech in May 2009. To some degree, he was forced into it by the Bush administration’s legacy of torture and abuse.’ So the Bush legacy of torture and abuse has forced our young president to keep Guantanamo Bay open.
Now, I don’t care who’s responsible for it. If Obama is keeping Gitmo open, does that not make him a war criminal by his own calculations? Imagine, my friends, a Nobel Peace Prize winner running a torture camp, a gulag, forced into this by his predecessor, George W. Bush who was so incompetent he couldn’t tie his own shoes. But look at all these rotten things, the gasoline price, the economy, joblessness. I mean I’m sure the fact that no high schools want to hear Obama come do the commencement speech, somehow that’s Bush’s fault as well. To some degree Obama was forced into all this by the Bush administration’s legacy of torture and abuse.
‘The torture has stopped, and it is good to know that this regrettable policy will not be applied to any future prisoners beyond the group of 47. Perhaps in the future, Congress will wake up and restore the rule of law to Guantanamo Bay, including the transfer of some prisoners to other countries. But, for now, the wound to the nation’s reputation remains unhealed.’ Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. It’s two different worlds. It literally is two different worlds. You know, Obama, he was here some time recently, he was down in Miami. He went down and school kids were fainting. They told me this, it was an urban visit, urban areas of Miami and students were fainting and I asked whoever told me this, ‘Why?’ It was the excitement. It was the excitement of seeing Obama. All this excitement, none of ’em want to hear him deliver their commencement address, but they show up at Obama rallies and faint.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Let’s go to the audio sound bites. What do we have here? A media montage. Obama had ‘no choice’ on Gitmo. It’s like our New York Times story today. Remember what we led with? It’s a shame. The New York Times was very upset but they said, you know, Obama can’t close Gitmo because of the legacy of ‘torture’ that was left him by George Bush. The legacy of torture. He wants to close it but he just can’t. So here’s a media montage: Poor Obama, he tried — he tried — but he just has no choice.
JEFFREY TOOBIN: In reality he didn’t have a choice.
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: For a variety of reasons, some of which are political forces that are outside their control, they haven’t been able to do it.
DON IMUS: He didn’t really have a choice.
JUAN WILLIAMS: He’s stuck at the moment.
MIKE BARNICLE: Isn’t this just part of the reality therapy of becoming president of the United States?
KIRAN CHETRY: The conservatives today are saying the big, ‘I told you so,’ but in the end, in reality he didn’t have a choice.
RUSH: See that? It’s just that simple, folks. He didn’t have a choice! He promised he was gonna close Gitmo. Greg Craig, executive order, he promised. ‘He didn’t have a choice.’ He really wanted to. Again, let’s go back to me, before Obama was inaugurated, January 16th, 2009.
RUSH ARCHIVE: Don’t deal in things that aren’t real. Don’t get yourself worked up about something that isn’t gonna happen. We got real things to get worked up about here, but closing Gitmo isn’t gonna happen. It is not gonna happen. It is not going to happen! They’re not gonna close Gitmo.
RUSH: How is it that I knew that and all these ‘smart people’ in the media, ‘Gosh, you know, he really tried. He really tried. He had no choice. He really had no choice.’ He never intended to close it, and don’t doubt me.