RUSH: My friends, I want you to know that I had easily 30 sound bites today in the roster. We have played four or five. Most of the sound bites were of Drive-By Media types discussing Operation Chaos. I did not share them with you today because yesterday was filled with that, and as you know, I hate making this show about me. Unfortunately, Operation Chaos is about me, and the Drive-Bys are talking about me. (interruption) It’s about the volunteers, but the Drive-By Media analysts are not talking about the volunteers. They are talking about me. Let me give you one example here. This is from MSNBC’s Race for the White House. David ‘Stretch’ Gregory and TIME Magazine’s Jay Carney have this exchange about Operation Chaos.
GREGORY: There’s been a lot of talk about the so-called Operation Chaos, Rush Limbaugh calling on Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in order to prolong the Democratic fight. Many Democrats have scoffed at the idea, but a new poll may give credence to the chaos theory in Indiana. The latest Suffolk University poll has Hillary Clinton beating Barack Obama 49-43. It also has 38% of voters saying they will vote for John McCain in the fall if their candidate doesn’t win the Democratic nomination. Do Indiana Republican voters hold the key on primary day, Jay? It’s not just about moderate Republicans who may want to vote for Obama or Clinton. Could they be meddling here?
CARNEY: I think based on what we’ve seen, there is some meddling going on. The risk here is that Republicans who are trying to meddle — Rush Limbaugh included — ought to be careful what they wish for.
GREGORY: Ha, ha, ha!
CARNEY: Hillary Clinton could very well be a much more powerful candidate in the fall, uh, than Barack Obama.
RUSH: That was David ‘Stretch’ Gregory and Jay Carney of TIME Magazine speculating on the effects of Operation Chaos. Look, we have just loads and loads of sound bites like this today, and that’s just echoing Hillary’s line because Hillary is the one who also when asked about Operation Chaos way back when, not by name, on Fox & Friends, said, ‘Be careful what you wish for, Rush.’ She threatened me! She threatened on national TV. But I didn’t want to load you up today with these sound bites, because it’s been that way every day. The Hardball discussion last night was just over the top, but… (interruption) Well, okay. Snerdley is demanding to hear it. Let me find them. The roster is all out of order. I need the roster here in front of me because it may not just be five. No. Grab number six, because Chris Matthews introduced the piece. They did a whole section in Operation Chaos, and Matthews plays tape of me on yesterday’s program talking about the objective of Operation Chaos. He gets it all wrong in setting it up, and then he goes to Mike Barnicle. ‘Mike Barnicle, let me have your thoughts on Rush Limbaugh. How many Dittoheads does it take to change a primary?’
BARNICLE: He’s a fabulous entertainer, and he’s entertaining himself. Chris, I was in your home state for more than a week, talked to a lot of people; never encountered a single person who was switching registration in order to, uh, participate in Operation Chaos. So I — I imagine there’s a residual effect to Rush because he’s a powerful guy, but I think it’s minimal.
RUSH: They’re just in denial. They’re just in denial. Let’s see. Cynthia Tucker was on this show, too, but we don’t…. Let’s go to cut number nine, Mike Barnicle again, and Matthews said, ‘Mike. If we get more votes for Hillary Clinton than are honestly cast for her, in other words, more than reflects her popularity, doesn’t Rush succeed even if he only adds a little bit to this mess?’
BARNICLE: You know what Rush is missing here? As I said earlier, he’s a great entertainer, and he’s a great American entertainer, and he preaches largely three hours a day to the American heartland — and they listen to him, and they respond. And he’s missing a truly great American story, I would submit, and it is this. A black guy from Chicago running for president of the United States who two years would have difficulty getting a cab in a rainy Friday afternoon in Midtown Manhattan, is this close to securing the nomination of one of our two political parties. That’s a huge story that Rush — because he’s bound to ideology — has missed, and he’s not the only one who’s missed it.
MATTHEWS: We have an African-American with a real chance to be president!
BARNICLE: Right.
MATTHEWS: We have a POW with a real good chance to be president! It’s all to our benefit, this diversity! We’re pushing back on Rush Limbaugh!
RUSH: ‘We’re pushing back on Rush Limbaugh.’ There we go: ‘diversity.’ It doesn’t matter what Obama stands for, he’s black. And, of course, to set it up, I’m missing that we’re missing that? Who is it that has been defending Obama against Democrat attacks on his race from the get-go? Who is it, Mr. Barnicle? If you guys would take the time to listen, when the LA Times and other people were doing stories on ‘Is Obama authentic? Is Obama black enough?’ it was I, El Rushbo, who decried that and asked that the Democrats in the media and the liberals stop looking at this plan on the basis only of the color of his skin and how dark was he and what was his parentage. It is I, early on, who stood up for Barack Obama and advised him on how to deal with this. But now the bloom’s off the rose and we have learned that Obama, regardless of skin color; is just your average, ordinary, run-of-the-mill liberal politician who’s doing his best to camouflage and mask what he believes and what his policies are. A few hours remain in Operation Chaos. Operatives who have not yet followed orders are hereby instructed to get in gear.