RUSH: Albany and Tom, you’re next, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. It’s great to speak with you. I’d like to thank you for the great work that you’ve been doing for so many years.
RUSH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER: I have an observation I’d like to share with you and possibly get your feedback. Since Obama took over I’ve been watching some of these town hall meetings, and it hurts me to see fellow Americans be categorized as Nazis, being on the lunatic fringe and so on.
RUSH: Unruly mobs.
CALLER: And what they did with Sarah Palin was despicable. Now, two years ago, when Bush was in the White House, he had his detractors — the jersey gals and the Dixie Chicks, and in particular Cindy Sheehan.
RUSH: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
CALLER: And did anybody in the Bush White House call Cindy Sheehan a Nazi or a member of the lunatic fringe or did they treat her with respect?
RUSH: I actually think they treated her sympathetically. They didn’t mention her at all publicly.
CALLER: Well, didn’t…? My mind is going blank. (nervous laugh) The guy who ran for president. I’m sorry.
RUSH: Kerry?
CALLER: No, no. The Republican with Sarah Palin.
RUSH: McCain?
CALLER: Yeah. Didn’t he sit down and meet with her?
RUSH: Yeah, he might have. I think he did.
CALLER: My point is they never categorized any of these people as lunatic fringe or Nazis. They accepted the fact that they didn’t agree with them. You know what I’m saying?
RUSH: Yeah, I know exactly your point. It’s just a matter of you’re president of the United States, you’re president of all the people, and you’re not going to start doing this. You know, Bush would not get partisan. To a lot of people’s frustration he would not get partisan because he didn’t want to lower the dignity of the office. But I gotta tell you about Cindy Sheehan. You know, she’s going to Martha’s Vineyard to protest Obama. She thinks there’s no difference in Obama and Bush ’cause we’re still in Iraq and we’re still in Afghanistan — and you would not believe what Charlie Gibson said about Cindy Sheehan when he was asked about her.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You know, when Cindy Sheehan was all revved up and protesting outside George Bush’s Crawford, Texas, home and marching around, she did meet with McCain, and after the meeting she called him a warmonger. I always said at the time that I felt sorry for her. This woman was devastated by the loss of her son. She couldn’t get over it and she was trying to find some meaning to it, and she was used. A leftist PR firm in San Francisco decided to adopt her and promote her story as a way of continually harassing the Bush administration, to defeat our Iraq objectives and policies. She was used by these people. I was angry at her but at the same time I felt sorry for her because she was just a pawn. She was just a pawn, and I knew like every other pawn that the Democrats use when they’re finished with them they throw ’em away, they just get rid of them. Once they’ve served their purpose they just become a statistic.
So this week in Chicago on our affiliate WLS, The Big 89, Charlie Gibson, the anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings was talking to the host up there, Don Wade, about Cindy Sheehan. And Don Wade noted all the coverage that Sheehan had received in 2005, and he asked Charlie Gibson whether we’re going to see some coverage of Cindy Sheehan as she goes up to Martha’s Vineyard to protest Obama because he’s still in Iraq and he’s still got us in Afghanistan. And here is what Charlie Gibson said: ‘It’s such a sad story. Martha Raddatz [of ABC News] wrote a terrific book about one battle that took place in Iraq, and it was the battle in which Cindy’s son was killed. And you look at somebody like that and you think here’s somebody who’s just trying to find some meaning in her son’s death. And you have to be sympathetic to her. Anybody who has given a son to this country has made an enormous sacrifice, and you have to be sympathetic. But enough already.’ Enough already, Cindy.
You know, so after going through all the proper, oh, she’s a sympathetic figure, so sad, trying to find meaning, why did her son die, has it really helped anything, is it really an honor for her and her country that her son gave her life in battle and so forth. When she’s out there revving up people against George W. Bush, it’s, let’s cover her 24/7, let’s make sure we have our cameras out there outside Bush’s ranch when she’s there, whatever she’s saying, whatever she’s doing, if she goes down and meets with Hugo Chavez, our cameras will be there. They could not get enough of her. Now that she’s headed to Martha’s Vineyard, the State-Controlled Media, Charlie Gibson, State-Controlled Anchor, ABC: ‘Enough already.’ Cindy, leave it alone, get out, we’re not interested, we’re not going to cover you going to Martha’s Vineyard because our guy is president now and you’re just a hassle. You’re just a problem. To these people, they never had any true, genuine emotional interest in her. She was just a pawn. She was just a woman to be used and then thrown overboard once they’re through with her and they’re through with her. They don’t want any part of Cindy Sheehan protesting against any war when Obama happens to be president.