RUSH: The first caller we had on this, a friendly lib, said he was talking about a June 10th presidential news conference. So we went back and we found what was said on June 10 — and this is really, really lame. This is just typical of what is happening. The press is more concerned with their version of the story, and even if they have to change the president’s meaning, they will do it — because again, remember, their reputation is what is at stake. Their reputation to make a news story in their own image, their reputation to have you know only the facts they want you to know, their reputation to get rid of people whenever they want to get rid of them. But think of how unhinged they have become. They now say anybody in the White House, anybody in the administration who leaks ought to be fired — who have they made a hero out of but Deep Throat, Mark Felt! They don’t think anything should have happened to him. They don’t think he should have gotten any money from Woodward and Bernstein either, but by the same token, where would they be without all these leakers? Where would the press be? They’re totally unhinged and making absolutely no sense because they’re poisoned with anger and they are poisoned with frustration over the fact that they are losing their ability to shape American opinion. They are losing the ability to make people realize only the facts the mainstream press wants them to know.
All right, so I am just going read these in order. Here is the president on September 30, 2003. “If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is — and if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of.” That is September 30 of 2003. The June 10, 2004 press conference — and this is where the press is trying to play games. They are claiming that President Bush changed his pledge to fire anybody involved in leaking Valerie Plame’s name saying, “He’s now he added qualifier ‘if somebody committed a crime.'” However, the AP cited a June 10 news conference of 2004, where according to the wire service, a reporter asked if Bush “stood by his earlier pledge.” The earlier pledge is what I just read to you September 30, 2003 — and again, “If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. If there is a person violated the law, the person will be taken care of.”
Reporter says, “Do you stand by your pledge to fire anybody found to have leaked her name?”
Bush said, “Yes, and it is up to the U.S. Attorney to find the facts,” meaning it is a criminal matter.
So the press is saying, “He said that they would fire anybody if they just leaked.” That’s not true. Bush has never said it. That is totally twisting the words. Then, yesterday, Bush said, “If someone committed a crime, they’ll no longer work in my administration.” He’s been utterly consistent. He always made this a matter of law. He always predicated it on being found by the judicial system to have been a criminal act. The AP’s Terrence Hunt doing his ever-loving best to twist this in Isikoff fashion, in Dan Rather fashion. You name it. The guidelines… You know, the press said that they wanted to be judged by their work in Watergate. Fine. We’ll gladly use that. You will use people who break the law in order to get stories to force Republicans from office. You want to be judged on the way that you did your work in Watergate? Fine. That is exactly how we see you right now. You are trying to replicate what you did in Watergate even to the fact of going to make the president appear he changed his meaning and lied about previous statements when he has done no such thing. Let’s go to cut 20. It came up again this afternoon, a press conference with the Prime Minister of Australia John Howard. An unidentified reporter said, “In light of the concerns that the CIA leak investigation is distracting you, has Mr. Rove or any of your aides offered their resignation and what sort of crime constitutes firing offense?”
THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate you bringing that up. My answer really hasn’t changed (laughter) from 24 hours ago. It is the same answer. Now, I’ll be glad to answer another question if you got one. I’ll be glad to repeat what I said yesterday which is, “There is an ongoing investigation and people shouldn’t jump to conclusions in the press until the investigation is over. Once the investigation is over, I’ll deal with it.” Have you got another question?
REPORTER: What do you think of Edith Clement for the court?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it is important. Let me refer you back to the first question. (laughter)
RUSH: Heh-heh-heh. These people are coming across as the journalism students you would find in a high school newspaper. You know, it is really. They’re no better than that. They have the same juvenile, punk attitudes as a teenager would have. They have the same level of professionalism. It is just an embarrassment to watch these people. It is a flat-out embarrassment to be treated to these people’s work. You know, there is very few of them that I feel comfortable in ever complimenting their work. There are some, but this is just outrageous what they are attempting to do. Again, Mike, grab cut two and cut one. Here is what the president said on September 30th of 2003.
THE PRESIDENT: If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is — and, if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of.
RUSH: All right. So that sets the standard. “If there is a leak out of my administration I want to know who it is — and if the person violated the law, the person will be taken care of.” June 10, 2004, which is what the AP is now saying constitutes Bush “moving the bar,” the question was, “Do you stand by your earlier pledge to fire anybody found to leak Plame’s name?”
Bush said, “Yes.”
The press say, “See? He changed the bar! He said last year all they had to do was leak.”
No, you have to go back to September 30: “Do you stand by.” “Do you stand by your earlier pledge?” The earlier pledge was, “If the person violated the law, the person will be taken care of,” and then, yesterday, the president said:
THE PRESIDENT: And if someone commit add crime they will no longer work in my administration.
RUSH: So I’m just telling all of you out there who believe this manipulation, which is what it is, on part of the press, then erase it from your memory. This is nothing more than just that. It’s manipulation. It’s a bunch of people trying to protect their reputations. It is trying to show to themselves, illustrate to themselves they can still be the lone arbiters of what people think is going on; they are the sole providers of opinion, the sole people able to shape pubic opinion in this country. They are worried they no longer have that ability, and they are right to be worried because they don’t. They are trying to reestablish it. This is a test case, and it’s all based on the fact that Karl Rove is a criminal anyway because he is a conservative, and Bush is a criminal because he is Republican. He’s a criminal because of Florida 2000. “Conservative is a crime!” That is the attempt on American left: to criminalize conservatism on the American people. They are trying to do this to save and reestablish their own reputations and they are failing miserably. This is so childish. This is so immature. This is no different than from Dan Rather running forged documents. When you try to say the president said something he didn’t say — when we’ve got what he said on tape and when we can display it for anybody who wants to hear it — and when you ask a question, “Do you stand by your earlier pledge?” and the answer is, “Yes,” and then the earlier pledge question does is not include the full content and context of the pledge: “Do you stand by your pledge earlier to fire anybody caught leaking her name?” Well, that in itself is said to be a crime. Bush is understanding that as part of the equation. “Yeah, I haven’t changed my mind at all on this,” but, man, all media thinks he has. They are so excited. You notice every day it is a new tact with Rove, because every day that tact fails. So as every tact fails, the next day, they’ve gotta come up with a new one.
END TRANSCRIPT