RUSH: Tenafly, New Jersey, this is Ann Marie. I’m glad you called. Welcome to the program.
CALLER: Rush, I am so mad. You know, this whole thing with you being censored. You know, the troops that we have out there, all they just get fed all the time — can I say crap?
RUSH: You just did, so say it again. Sure, absolutely.
CALLER: That’s all they get fed. These poor men and women that are out there, and you are the only one that really supports them, and the whole thing about these photos is ridiculous, because, you know, if the media didn’t put as much emphasis on the photos as they did, which had to be demoralizing to our troops overall, but I don’t think we’d be in the situation we’re in today with this poor guy being held hostage. You know, Ted Kennedy should just take a poster and say, “We want to lose the war.” It’s so infuriating.
RUSH: I’m telling you, you might be pretty close. The Democrats would willingly lose this war, if it would get rid of Bush. I do not jest here. They’re not about winning this war. They don’t even think the war is justified. They don’t think the war should be happening. As to the photos, remember, Ann Marie, what I told you about the photos. The reason they’re being kept alive, and the reason it’s going to build as a story is because the Democrats are building an insurance policy with them. If Bush does win reelection, the sole purpose for making this a huge story that gets bigger and bigger and bigger is to impeach Bush after he wins reelection if he does. That’s what is being utilized here. And it’s about very little other than that. You might say that it has as an ancillary effect the demoralization or the dispiritization of the troops, which it does. They don’t care. Look, Ann Marie and the rest of you, it’s just like the story we did on the economy yesterday. We showed a report that Bill Schneider of CNN did on the economy. The economy to the people of the media is not even something that’s real. The economy as they report it is not something that impacts your life; the economy is not something that’s good or bad because of what its effect on you is. The economy is simply a story by which to measure how well or poorly Bush is doing, or, better stated, the economy is simply an issue that will be reported or kept hidden depending on how it affects Bush.
Whether or not your life is improving because of a robust economy is of no interest to the people reporting on it today. The only interest the story the economy presents is, “Does it hurt Bush or does it help him?” If it helps him, they’re going to keep it secret. And that’s what they’re doing. Same thing with the rest of this stuff. You know, this is an election year, and the prism of news from the partisan elite media being looked at via the election of John Kerry, or I should say the inauguration of John Kerry.
Jack in Egg Harbor, New Jersey. Hello. You’re on the EIB Network.
CALLER: Hey, Rush.
RUSH: Hey.
CALLER: Dittos from down south in Jersey.
RUSH: Yes. Thank you.
CALLER: Real quick, retired captain and Navy captain, spent a lot of time in Turkey, especially. I say we not only should not get you off of NPR [sic], we should add — and I’ve written to them about this — we should add you for — Armed Forces Network — add you for the full three hours. That’s all the guys can listen to. The previous caller, she’s right. It’s a bunch of crap is what they feed you on Armed Forces Network, it’s all liberal. I’ve listened to V.O.A., that’s even worse. I listen to the radio quite often on my high frequency radio. Well, that’s about all I had to say.
RUSH: You were career Navy, did you say, in Turkey and Germany?
CALLER: Yeah. I spent 27 years in the Navy as a helicopter pilot, started out in Vietnam and had a great career. Slick Willie got in; I couldn’t serve the commander-in-chief anymore, so I took an early retirement, got out in 27 years 1995.
RUSH: But while you were in you spent a lot of time listening to the Armed Forces Radio Network?
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: So you know what you’re talking about. Well, it is. There’s a lot of liberal stuff, that’s fine with me. Note that nobody on the right is trying to get anything taken off of Armed Forces Radio. And the vast majority of what’s on Armed Forces Radio is, he’s right. I’ve now gotten interested in it. I’ve taken a look at what’s there, but this is, I don’t know… well, here, I’ve got the story. I hadn’t intended to delve into this so quickly today. Thanks, Jack, for the call, I appreciate it and the support out there. “Liberal groups that want to bounce Rush Limbaugh’s radio show off Armed Forces Radio have found a Senate ally, Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat, Iowa, has announced yesterday that he has successfully amended the fiscal year 2005 defense authorization bill, adding a provision that calls on Armed Forces Radio and TV service to provide political balance in its public affairs programming.”
I am the political balance. Now, notice the first line, “Liberal groups that want to bounce Rush Limbaugh’s show off Armed Forces have found a Senate ally.” Now, Harkin’s amendment does not specifically say get rid of my show. He’s not going to go that far, because then he would be wide open to charges of censorship. In fact, what Harkin will probably say publicly, no, no, no, I have no problem with Limbaugh, we just need balance. Well, these liberal groups, which are just appendages, middle-finger appendages of the Democrat Party, have written letters to Rumsfeld demanding my show be taken off. That’s what started all this. I mean, it’s an election year, folks, and I’ve got to be taken out just like the president has to be taken out, apparently. And so they send these letters, and of course Rumsfeld doesn’t respond, so they go get a Senate ally, Tom Harkin, and Harkin proposes this amendment. The amendment just says balance.
Notice these guys don’t say, we want a show like Limbaugh’s on armed Forces, we want Limbaugh off, and there’s their ally is Harkin. So this amendment calls for balance, but you can arrive at balance any number of ways and I’m just here to tell you that the ultimate objective of this attempt at balance on Armed Forces Radio is to get my program taken off. That’s what the people who got this all started are seeking to make happen. Harkin is quoted as saying that Armed Forces Radio is funded by taxpayers of all political persuasions, and therefore it should make a greater effort to provide balanced presentation of political viewpoints on its airwaves to American service members around the world. Well, again, we’re going to find this Byron York piece that describes in detail what is on Armed Forces Radio, and you will realize what an absolute absurdity this amendment is.