Why the Press Loves Colin Powell

RUSH: John in Ft. Lauderdale, welcome to the EIB Network.

CALLER: Hey, Rush.

RUSH: Hey.

CALLER: Big fan. I was curious of one other part of the Valerie Plame case I just never hear discussed anywhere in the media.

RUSH: A little while?

CALLER: Colin Powell. Armitage has stated that the day after the Novak column, he did the right thing at that point and immediately notified his boss, Colin Powell, and say, ‘I’m the leaker.’

RUSH: That’s true, that’s true.

CALLER: So you’d think the next thing for Colin Powell to do is immediately notify his boss, but months later, Bush is still saying he doesn’t know who the leaker is and appointed a special prosecutor. What did Colin Powell do with that information and why is no one curious?

RUSH: Well, that’s a great, great question. I can only surmise, but I think at the root of this is Colin Powell is a Washington insider. He is a man who very much cares about his reputation with the power elite in Washington, which is run by the left, socially and professionally, media and so forth. The media craft and maintain public images. There was a huge problem in the White House with leaking. All their war plans, all kinds of things, foreign policy ideas, ended up on the front page of the Washington Post, the front page of the New York Times. Colin Powell, I think he felt angry over the fact there were no weapons of mass destruction after his presentation of the evidence before the United Nations Security Council. So I could only surmise that there was just no love lost there. In fact, we’ve had quotes on this program. Lawrence Wilkerson, this guy, some of the things he said about the Bush administration, this is Colin Powell’s chief of staff, rival what you would read on the kook fringe left wing blogosphere out there, John. I think Armitage and Powell both disagreed with the whole Iraq war policy and plan, and I just think there was a lot of friction there.

CALLER: I mean, I understand that’s Colin Powell’s point of view, but —

RUSH: The ear-splitting tone. Hang on. I’ll get your comment after the break.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Back now to John in Ft. Lauderdale. You were going to say before the commercial break interrupted.

CALLER: Yeah. I was wondering… I mean, I can understand why Colin Powell was the biggest — would support Armitage rather than throw him to the wolves, but since the Armitage admission, I haven’t heard anyone in the press even ask Colin Powell the question.

RUSH: Well, of course not. That’s why I told you!

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: Jeesh! You’re making it hard on me out there, John. You’re making it hard. Why do you think they’re not? Let me ask you to answer it.

CALLER: Oh, I know why they’re not. They like Colin Powell.

RUSH: Oh, it’s more than that!

CALLER: Yeah?

RUSH: It’s more than that.

CALLER: And that would take the cover off. They would rather go after Rove and Libby.

RUSH: No, it’s not even that. Ally, of course that’s true. (whispering) But so would Powell! So would Powell! I’m trying to whisper this so nobody hears me: ‘So would Powell!’ But that’s still not the answer to the question. You know the answer. You’re curious why they didn’t talk to Powell about it, why they’re not asking him about it, yet you know the answer.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: So why are you curious when you shouldn’t be?

CALLER: I guess I’m wondering why he hasn’t been forced somewhere to put on the record what he did with the information.

RUSH: Have you ever asked yourself, ‘Why wasn’t Armitage subpoenaed before the grand jury? Why wasn’t Joe Wilson? Why wasn’t this Plame babe? Why wasn’t she subpoenaed?’ How come their stories were never challenged by Fitzgerald? How come he believed EVERYTHING and made it the basis of his investigation, hmm?

CALLER: Well, for the obvious reason. They had a target before they started an investigation, and they weren’t going to let the facts get in the way.

RUSH: That’s true, but in Fitzgerald’s case, I think it’s not quite that. He’s a big appointment, a special prosecutor. He can’t sit there and say, ‘Ah, there’s nothing here.’ You got power. You got all that money. Go spend it and come up with something. That’s what he did. Why do you think that the Washington press corps likes Colin Powell?

CALLER: Because has a very moderate to liberal on social issues —

RUSH: No.

CALLER: No?

RUSH: I mean that’s part of it, but no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

CALLER: Well…

RUSH: Ever heard of protecting sources?

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: All right. There, I’ve said it again. A-hem! Got it?

CALLER: I understand.

RUSH: All right. You called the right place. I hope I am here tomorrow.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Rick in Dayton, Ohio. Welcome to the EIB Network, sir. Great to have you here with us.

CALLER: Thank you. It is an honor to talk to you.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: I just heard it said again, and I saw Colin Powell on Meet the Press about a month or so ago and he said the same thing you just mentioned there, that we never found any weapons of mass destruction. And in considering, you know, the 500 canisters that have been in the news, I just kind of wondered how he can actually say that.

RUSH: Well, nobody at any level of government is saying anything other than that. There’s a reason for it, and I don’t know what it is. The best reason I’ve heard is — this is the popular rumor at the high levels of credible people that I’ve talked to. Everybody knows the weapons of mass destruction were there, because Saddam had used them.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: And they were spirited out of there into Syria and Russian trucks helped do the thing, and it is said that the diplomatic concern of not alienating Russia and making this public is worth more than exposing the weapons of mass destruction. Which I don’t know if that’s true. That’s just what I hear. But Powell, he’s out there — they sent him up to United Nations, all those pictures and all the testimony, he’s going to say there weren’t any because he’s the guardian of his own credibility inside the Beltway, and that’s the primary reason for that.