RUSH: All right, we’re going to talk about this Iranian situation. Did I call this or did I call this? I totally called this and I’m stunned. We’ve got audio sound bites from the Drive-By Media comparing 
Iran to Florida 2000. I mean it’s just stunning. Everybody who knows anything about Iran and is willing to be honest admits that the mullahs pick the presidential candidates and then they pick which one is going to win, pure and simple, and that was always going to be Ahmadinejad, pure and simple. Now, we had Obama on Friday talking about, well, we’ve created this great robust debate over there, my Cairo speech, man, it’s really great and now there are people rioting in the streets, the libs want you to believe that Obama caused that. That’s not true. The people that live in Iran, we’ve been hearing about this for years, the unrest in the general Iranian population and in a run-up to Iran going nuke, people have said, particularly Michael Ledeen, who was one of the most profound Iranian scholars writing about this has been asking for us, the United States, as a policy to help overthrow the regime by buttressing the anti-regime population in Iran, not militarily, obviously Obama’s going to try to take credit for this, but this unrest has been simmering in Iran for quite a while. Not that it matters, though. I mean, you line ’em up and you shoot ’em and do whatever you want. I mean we’re dealing here with a totalitarian regime.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Try this. This is from the New York Times on June 13th, on Saturday. This is a pull quote. The story is on the Iranian elections: ‘Both Sides Claim Victory in Presidential Election in Iran.’ But listen to this quote because it seems, ladies and gentlemen, that Iranian journalists are not any different than American journalists. ‘As voting began on Friday morning, journalists gathered to watch Ayatollah Khamenei cast his vote in a mosque near his home in southern Tehran. Just after 8 a.m., a set of brown curtains opened and the leader emerged, a gaunt 69-year-old with clunky glasses and a long white beard, with a black turban on his head and a black clerical gown draped around him. The journalists, mostly Iranians, gasped and then chanted a religious blessing.’ I read that, and I said, my gosh, these Iranian Drive-Bys are no different. I mean, Iranian State-Run Media is no different than American State-Run Media. The journalists, when they saw the supreme leader, gasped and then chanted a religious blessing.
Now, you wonder the journalists who react this way to the Ayatollah Khamenei, you wonder what they’re reporting in the unrest now and how they’re — (laughing) — by the way, it’s the Rush Limbaugh program and the EIB Network. Great to have you with us. Telephone number is 800-282-2882, and the e-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com. If you want to see or hear how predictable and how irrelevant State-Run Media is, we have a montage here from Saturday and Sunday, a bunch of different media people and scholars discussing the Iranian election. A lot of people here comparing it to Florida 2000.
DON LEMON: What can we expect as far as accuracy, because we have our own problems, Florida in 2000.
WOLF BLITZER: Like Florida 2000.
KARIM SADJADPOUR: What’s happening now is similar to what took place in Florida in 2000.
RACHEL MADDOW: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his main opponent have declared victory. Florida 2000 anyone?
WARREN BALLENTINE: I think the White House shouldn’t say anything, and the reason being is because of what happened in 2000 when Bush stole the election. Who are we to judge Iran?
RUSH: That’s Warren Ballentine, the last voice that you heard. I never heard of him, but he’s out there. So the White House shouldn’t say anything. The reason being is because of what happened in 2000 when Bush stole the election, who are we to judge Iran? So predictable and so embarrassing. These people do not understand that there isn’t freedom in Iran. You know, there were 495 presidential candidates to start this whole process all picked by the mullahs. All the candidates are picked! There’s no primary, it’s a joke. The vote count was irrelevant. I don’t know whether they had to stack it, whether they lied about it, they wanted Ahmadinejad, and believe me, the reason they stayed with Ahmadinejad is precisely to spit in the face of Obama and his Cairo speech, folks. Let’s be honest about it.
While Obama is out there trying to take credit for all this new robust democracy, the mullahs said (raspberry) you. You wonder if Obama had any impact on the election on Friday when he went out there and basically assumed the position that the challenger was going to win. If he woulda shut up I wonder what woulda happened. But since he goes out there and starts taking credit, you know, these mullahs are autocrats, they’re dictators, they’re not going to listen to some upstart young know-it-all, start proclaiming relevance and importance in the outcome of their election. Here is last night’s CNN’s Newsroom. The anchor, Don Lemon, spoke with senior international producer Samson Desta in Iran about the election, and the anchor said, ‘Look, do you get the sense this is going to escalate, that the protests are going to continue, or are you seeing a sense of calm now? Are they backing down, or is this backing off at all?’
DESTA: A number of students came up to me today and said that they want to appeal to President Obama. They said, is he going to accept this result because if he does then we are doomed. So a lot of appeals to Obama in the international community today from university students.
RUSH: A lot of people are asking Obama to speak and he’s not speaking now, he’s not said a word about it. Would you please speak up, there are people waiting! Now, when the result is in and it’s not what he wanted he’s not going to speak out because he’s probably taking this as rejection and they’re figuring out how to position this. In terms of the question, the timing, is it quieting down? Now they’re firing shots over there. The latest I saw a minute ago. Shots are being fired into the crowds now. Just like Florida, just like Florida 2000 and probably some of the people armed are journalists. I’m kidding. Just like Florida 2000, they’re firing on people who are rioting in the streets. And where was the rioting in the streets in Florida 2000, by the way? Richard Engel this morning on MSNBC, question, ‘It’s a paper ballot election. Now, there have been accusations of fraud.’ Can you explain this to us, O wizard?
ENGEL: There were about 35 to 40 million votes cast. Originally state television said 35 million, then Ahmadinejad said about 40 million votes cast in a country of 70 million. That’s a lot of ballots. These are paper ballots that you put your thumbprint on or fingerprint on, fold them up and stuff into a box, and there were so many people turning out to vote, they were leaving the voting stations at nine, ten o’clock at night and then just a few hours later state TV announced that Ahmadinejad had won, and there were no computers, there were no records, it was just folded pieces of paper in a box, and that’s very quick to count.
RUSH: Are these people really this idiotic? Are they really this naive? It didn’t matter! Ahmadinejad was going to win. The whole election is no different than when Saddam Hussein got 98% of the vote the last time he stood for election. They’re naive. They’re stupid. They are not informed. Sarah Palin knows more of the ways of the world than the media covering her. Let’s go back to last Friday morning in Washington, the White House. When the Iranians leaked the news that something big was happening, the voter turnout, why, look, it’s higher than ever, why, the challenger is doing well, but here they sucked Obama right to the microphone and he said this.
OBAMA: We are excited to see what appears to be a robust debate taking place in Iran. And obviously after the speech that I made in Cairo, we tried to send a clear message that we think there is the possibility of change. And ultimately, the election is for the Iranians to decide. But just as has been true in Lebanon, what can be true in Iran as well is that you’re seeing people looking at new possibilities and whoever ends up winning the election in Iran, the fact that there’s been a robust debate hopefully will help advance our ability to engage them in new ways.
RUSH: There hasn’t been a debate. His remarks on Friday look even more foolish today than they did on Friday. And I, El Rushbo, knew how foolish they were on Friday the moment I heard them.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Mike Pence, CNN’s State of the Union yesterday morning.
PENCE: We need to take a half step back from this administration’s, uh, olive branch and apology approach to enemies and countries that have been hostile to the United States of America and our allies, particularly with regard to Iran. I’m hoping before the end of the day today the president of the United States will speak a word of support for Mr. Mousavi and for the dissidents and the reformers within Iran. I think now is a great moment for this administration and the United States to reach out, express support, look for ways that we can encourage that demonstration within Iran and I’m hoping the president will do that.
RUSH: He hasn’t said a word he’s been out lying to the doctors at the AMA, or misleading them. Can we go back? The much maligned George W. Bush in his second inaugural address…
BUSH: All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know the United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you. Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country. The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people, you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.
RUSH: He didn’t say ‘I’ one time. People since Sunday have been urging Obama to say something about this. George Bush did. ‘The idiot,’ ‘the dummkopf.’ That was George Bush’s second inaugural. The date, by the way, was January 20th, 2005, in Washington, DC. There has been a quasi-administration reaction from Joe Biden on Meet the Press yesterday. Question: ‘You don’t want to recognize Ahmadinejad as the president at this stage?’
BIDEN: Well, uh, uh, I’m not… Look, that’s — that’s what they’re announcing. We have to accept that for the time being, and — but there’s an awful lot of question about, uh, how this election was run and we’ll see. I mean, we’re just waiting to see. We don’t have enough… We don’t have enough facts to know, to make a firm judgment.
RUSH: He cannot bring himself to say he stands with the people of Iran who want freedom. They can’t. (sigh) This is just a dangerous bunch of people that are running this whole show, domestically, internationally.