RUSH: Earlier this week, I looked you straight in the eye (well, for those of you watching on the Dittocam. Those of you listening, I looked you straight in the eye, too), and I said, ‘As things stand now, as things are today, there is an 80% chance that Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States,’ and there are a number of reasons for this.
Among them, all this talk about how afraid of Obama she is. You think Clinton, Inc. is really worried about a guy with so little experience getting into these foxholes? They’re not worried. This fundraising business, I don’t care what happens, she’s going to end up with the most of it. She’s going to get the most of the funding, because they’re out there threatening people. On the Republican side, they’re doing their best. They’re demonizing Rudy Giuliani now as a draft dodger, and Fred Thompson is lurking out there. So now they’re talking about, ‘Well, you know, Fred Thompson, you have an abortion problem! You have a trial lawyer problem,’ already. As things stand today, there’s an 80% chance she’s the next president. So I found it interesting that in the New Orleans Times-Picayune today, there’s a story on James Carville’s attitude, and here’s what he said: ‘I think Hillary’s chances are not better than 50%, but right now that’s higher than anybody else.’
Now, my guess is that when they found out that I said that she’s got an 80% chance, they said, ‘Uh-oh! We can’t let that stand, especially if it’s come from Limbaugh, because this is one thing people will believe from Limbaugh.’ Liberals don’t believe much of what I say, but when they hear that, they might, and they have to make it look like Hillary is not the candidate of ‘inevitability.’ They have to make it look like she’s got a challenge out there. They have to make it look like she can overcome a challenge, get in a fight, get dusted up, and prevail. This business of inevitability is not going to elect her, because most of the American people don’t like the feeling that somebody’s just entitled to that office. They have to go out and earn it, work for it, get in the foxholes out there. So this ‘less than a 50% chance that’s she’s going to be president’ from Carville, I think (and it’s not my ego speaking; this is pure political analysis) is a direct result of my claim that she has got an 80% chance. Now, Sharpton’s conference that he’s having in New York? This is Marcia Kramer at Channel 2 New York.
‘Former President Bill Clinton was in New York City on Thursday, speaking at the National Action Network convention and rallying behind Rev. Al Sharpton. Though he was there to offer up his support and respect for Sharpton, his real motive was likely to help sway the outspoken civil rights leader toward an endorsement of his wife,’ Hillary Clinton, Mrs. Bill Clinton. Because Jesse Jackson has gone out there and endorsed Obama, and Sharpton is sitting out there just waiting to see what happens, and Bill’s in there. In fact, the headline of this story is: ‘Clintons Butter Up Sharpton for Endorsement.’ (Laughing.) What, are they getting ready to roast him? Ha-ha-ha-ha. ‘Clintons Butter Up Sharpton.’ In the New York Post today: ‘Hillary’s Popularity Ratings Go Negative,’ but this is among all voters, which at this time in the campaign, I guess, is interesting. She’s at 68% approval with Democrats in a Gallup poll. She has 45% favorability, down 13 points since she announced in the USA Today/Gallup survey.
So there’s all kinds of conflicting news, and then this story by Donald Lambro in the Washington Times: ‘Hillary’s Pressure Bruises Fundraising.’ ‘One of the most frequent complaints among longtime party contributors is that no matter how hard they work or how much they raise for Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy, they will never be given special access to her campaign’s high command. ‘If you are not part of that original Clinton family, you are never going to be part of her inner circle. What this translates into is: Why invest in her campaign when whatever you do, you will never be part of it?’ said a former senior Democratic Party campaign official who is uncommitted in the race. ‘I’m hearing this echoed all over the place by Democrats, especially outside of Washington,” but beyond the threats, no matter how much you raise, you’re never going to get close to her in terms of fundraising, when it’s all said and done.