RUSH: Now, here’s the good news in the McCain campaign. He’s actually attacking a Democrat now rather than somebody in his own party. I had to hear this twice before I believed it. McCain’s in Lima, Ohio, this afternoon at a town hall meeting.
MCCAIN: Behind all the words, Senator Obama’s agenda can be summarized as this: Government’s too big, he wants to grow it; taxes are too high, he wants to raise ’em; Congress spends too much, and he proposes more; we need more energy, and he’s against producing it; we’re finally winning in Iraq, and he wants to forfeit. The bottom line, Senator Obama’s words, for all their eloquence and passion, don’t mean all that much.
RUSH: Stunning, stunning. I’m sitting here in stunned disbelief. The Republican presidential nominee has actually criticized the Democrat nominee. Make a note on your calendars, my friends, August 7th, 2008. And not once in this bite did he agree with Obama about anything. McCain’s also running another ad. This is sound bite number ten out there, Mike. And this fits with his strategy of attracting Democrats. This new ad, filled with Democrats, including Obama, praising him.
DASCHLE: He can work with Democrats on key issues, whether it’s campaign finance reform or tobacco policy. He’s worked with us.
BIDEN: John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain.
KERRY: And I have enormous respect for him. He’s a courageous, patriotic American who stands up for what he believes.
DEAN: I admire Senator McCain greatly, and he’s one of the people we model our campaign on, because he is very direct, very blunt, and nobody has to guess at what he’s thinking.
FEINGOLD: I love John McCain, he’s a great guy.
OBAMA: Coming into Washington, I believed that the right approach begins with the proposal put forward by Senator Lieberman and Senator McCain.
HILLARY: I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House and Senator Obama has a speech that he gave in 2002.
RUSH: (laughing) I gave you one and take it away, that’s exactly right. Now, two things about this ad. The first one is, it’s obvious, do we, as McCain voters, actually want to hear him be praised? And I’ll tell you who was in there, Daschle, Biden, the haughty John Kerry, who served in Vietnam, Howard Dean was in there, Russ Feingold, The Messiah was in there, and, of course, the last comment was Mrs. Clinton, who said, ‘I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. Senator Obama has a speech that he gave in 2002.’ I think she means 2004, but that’s beside the point. Okay, so do we really want to hear Democrats praising McCain? Is that what we, the voters that McCain is ultimately going to need, is that what we want to hear? No, of course not. But, on the other hand, every one of these people in this ad, except for Hillary and just give her a chance, is ripping McCain to shreds today. They’re all talking how happy they would be to serve with him, in Biden’s case, ‘I’ll be happy to run with him or against him.’ So these comments were made within the context of McCain seeking the presidency.
This is why I don’t go to the White House Correspondents Dinner, ’cause it’s a phony-baloney, plastic-banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roll event where people who hate each other and hate the president act like they get along and it’s one big family and party for one night, and it’s a joke. Well, here we go, all of this comedy. Which are we supposed believe from Tom Daschle? Are we supposed believe Tom Daschle when he says, ‘McCain can work with Democrats on key issues, whether it’s campaign finance reform or Tobacco policy. He worked with us.’ Are we to believe Daschle means that or are we to believe Daschle when he criticizes McCain today as an Obama supporter? Same thing with Biden. John Kerry: ‘I have enormous respect for him. He’s a courageous, patriotic American who stands up for what he believes,’ and Kerry is out there kind of agreeing with Wesley Clark, that what McCain did is not that big a deal to qualify for the presidency. What are we supposed to believe?
This whole class of people is a bunch of phony-baloney, plastic-banana, good-time rock ‘n’ rollers. Who are we to believe? Which version of these Democrats are we to believe? Why did they find it necessary to sing McCain’s praises and then all of a sudden he gets the nomination, and the only difference between him and a bag of manure is the bag. You know, frankly, this is why a lot of people just keep politics at an arm’s-length because they don’t know who they can believe. In fact, they think they can’t believe anybody, that these people are all in it for themselves. One more time, though, I have to hear this. McCain actually attacking a Democrat in Lima, Ohio, just this very afternoon in a town meeting.
(replaying of McCain bite)
Well, I’m glad that wasn’t on a teleprompter. He actually said those words like he means them.