RUSH: From the Los Angeles Times: ‘US Eases Off Call for Swift Egypt Reform.’ Now, there’s a companion story to this in the UK Independent: ”Can Egypt’s Revolution Stay the Distance?’ — Increasing signs of normality in parts of Cairo belie a continuing stalemate. After thirty unbroken years as President of Egypt, it had seemed as if Hosni Mubarak’s charmed career was finally coming to an end,’ but he came up with a brilliant idea right out of the Obama playbook. He gave all federal employees in Egypt, all government employees a 15% pay increase and about one-third of the crowd went home. ‘Cairo’s famous traffic jams were back. Businesses, shops, and banks were open across the capital. Barack Obama spoke of the ‘progress’ the Egyptian government was making towards reform. And though still in tens of thousands, the numbers at Tahrir Square were probably down on the previous day.’ I mean there’s still a lot out there, tens of thousands, but I mean the headline: ‘Can Egypt’s Revolution Stay the Distance?’ Do they have the staying power?
And you know what? I guess there’s gonna be a permanent tent city. They’re gonna have showers for those that want them. Taking a shower can be a sign of weakness within certain elements of this movement. They’re even going to have smoking and nonsmoking sections for the protest. I kid you not. If you want to smoke, there’s a section for you over here in the protest of Mubarak. If you don’t smoke, there’s a section for you over there. I don’t know if Bloomberg’s involved in it, I don’t know. We’ll know if Michelle (My Belle)’s involved if we start hearing about all the healthy food they’re eating over there, the couscous and the fried goat’s eyes and whatever else she deems to be appropriate.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said, ”It’s clear that statements like that are not going to be met with any agreement by the people of Egypt because they don’t address the very legitimate grievances that we’ve seen expressed as a result of these protests.’ … On Monday, a group of Middle East experts wrote Obama expressing fears that the White House might ‘acquiesce to an inadequate and possibly fraudulent transition process in Egypt.” Of course they would. Anything to make it look like there’s movement over there so that the regime can claim credit for it as having had the real power and influence to make it all happen.
BREAK TRANSCRIPTRUSH: Now, as we predicted last week, ladies and gentlemen, the news media is now reporting that it was Hillary’s idea that her good friend Mubarak not step down right away. Remember the conflicting news we got about this last week? ‘Mubarak needs to go now!’ Obama said, ‘We want it now,’ and the protesters ramped up the violence, and Hillary moved in and said, ‘Nah, nah, nah. Our good friend Mubarak should not step down right away.’ So we need to forget all this talk about the ‘transition’ needing to start immediately. It was the French News Agency: ‘Hillary Clinton: Mubarak May Need to Stay Longer to Ensure Elections Succeed in Egypt.’
‘US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged Sunday that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak may need to stay on longer than many of his opponents want in order to ensure elections succeed,’ and it wasn’t that long ago (back January 25th, a couple weeks ago): ‘Hillary Clinton: Mubarak Regime is ‘Stable.” Now, this is the same woman who mocked George W. Bush for not finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, even though her husband and she herself had said Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Now she’s out with conflicting stories, news, ideas on what Mubarak ought to do.