RUSH: Dallas, this is Suzanne, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. It’s an honor to speak with you.

RUSH: Thank you very much.

CALLER: I am not certain, I guess with Herman Cain’s recent poll numbers showing him maintaining the lead over all these Republican candidates with more money, are we sure this attack on Herman Cain isn’t coming from a Republican presidential candidate’s camp?

RUSH: Like who? Name names.

CALLER: Okay. Well, you have Romney and Perry that both have self-described war chests of money. Is this war? I mean Herman Cain is out there and he’s getting to the folks, and he’s keeping those poll numbers steady. Do you think they’re intimidated by him at this point?

RUSH: I suppose that it’s possible that a Republican could be behind this. I doubt it because The Politico was used. If a Republican were behind this, I think a different publication would have been used. This is so liberal. Watch these people, listen to these people talk about a campaign commercial with a guy puffing on a cigarette. These people, I’m gonna tell you something, the American left and the Democrat Party and the media are so out of the mainstream of life in this country, while at the same time thinking they define it. Who but a bunch of absolute crazed feminazis could go nuts here over gestures?

I remember back in the early days of the sexual harassment movement there was some poor firefighter guy who had a Playboy magazine in his cubicle at the firehouse, and some female firefighter demanded he be fired because Playboy, the magazine, just the fact that it was there made her nervous and it was offensive. I’ve been doing this show since 1988 and I have taken stock, I have taken note of how much our culture has changed to accommodate this bunch of wusses known as “The Offended.” I did. Oh, not just that, I predicted everything about sexual harassment. I predicted the whole cultural decay and rot that would happen when it’s defined by Democrats. But this group of people that we have called “The Offended” have done more to damage common, ordinary, everyday life.

To listen to these reporters, Chuck Todd, some of these people talk about seeing a guy smoke a cigarette in a political ad, you would have thought somebody was about to inject them with a killer disease. It was just unconscionable, it’s unacceptable, they can’t understand it. These people don’t even know that children’s health care programs are paid for by smokers. I said last week, smokers ought to get the Congressional Medal of Honor, for crying out loud. All the taxes they pay and all the derision that they are subjected to.

So I don’t know, this whole thing, every detail of it wreaks of what the left considers huge stuff. Okay, so a couple of busybodies claim that Herman Cain engaged in some gestures that weren’t overtly sexual, but they were really, really offensive. Who the hell are these people? What, for crying out loud, offends them? Non-overtly sexual gestures is what we’re talking about here. In the meanwhile we’ve got a president who was accused of rape. “Yeah, put some ice on that.” We got John Edwards; we got Anthony Weiner; for crying out loud, and we’re supposed to stop the world for this? Look, anything’s possible. It could be a Republican leaking this stuff on Herman Cain. Could be. It just doesn’t sound like it. Folks, the Republicans are not nearly as worried about a black guy achieving as the Democrats are. You gotta understand how this worries and scares the death out of ’em.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: So we had a caller in the last hour who wanted to know what the likelihood would be that the Politico story on Herman Cain was planted, leaked by a Republican — and it’s entirely possible. I have no idea where it came from. I also don’t know this. Were these white women, do we know that? Well, if they were white women… If the women involved here… Let’s look at it this way: Suppose Herman Cain were white, would the women have felt the same way about whatever he did? What is this “gesture that was not overtly sexual” that still offended them? If a white guy did it would it have bothered white women or did it bother them because a black guy did whatever he did? I’m just speculating here, folks, because we don’t know.

We also don’t know who leaked this. Anything’s possible. It could come from anywhere. Hell, it could have been leaked by the Oakland Raiders. Who the hell knows? It could have come from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It could have come from the Republican Party, a Republican candidate. The risk to a Republican, though? If it ever came out, what would happen to that Republican’s candidacy? Pick your favorite Republican candidate. I don’t want to mention a name but you fill it in, fill the blank in: X is the source for this, and you’re gonna tell Politico about it? Ah, A, he’s gotta trust that Politico’s gonna keep his name out of it, gonna trust that Politico’s gonna keep his secret — and if they don’t?

Or if they do and somebody else finds out that was it Republican X who leaked this, what, then, becomes of that person’s candidacy? Plus, just the way the thing is written, the details of the story. Great to have you back here. Rush Limbaugh, this is the Excellence in Broadcasting Network, and the most listened radio talk show in America and the world serving humanity simply by being here, by showing up. Telephone number is 800-282-2882, if you want to be on the program, your phone calls are coming up el quicko (a little Spanish lingo there) and e-mail address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com. Grab sound bites four and five. This is Herman Cain this morning on Fox. He was on with Jenna Lee, and she asked him, “Have you ever been accused at any time of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment?”

CAIN: Yes. I have never sexually harassed anyone, let’s say that. Secondly, I’ve never sexually harassed anyone — and, yes, I was falsely accused while I was at the National Restaurant Association; and I say “falsely” because it turned out, after the investigation, to be baseless. The people mentioned in that article were the ones who would be aware of any misdoings, and they have attested to my integrity and my character. It is totally baseless and totally false. Never have I committed any sort of sexual harassment.

RUSH: And then she said, “Well, have you ever had to settle a claim, falsely accused or not? Sometimes a settlement happens when a false accusation is made. Have you ever had to settle a claim, given money or paid someone because of a claim of sexual harassment or sexual misconduct?”

CAIN: At the Restaurant Association, no. Now, outside of the restaurant association? Absolutely not. If the Restaurant Association did a settlement, I am not even — I was not even — aware of it, and I hope it wasn’t for much because nothing happened. So if there was a settlement, it was handled by some of the other officers that worked for me at the association. So the answer is: Absolutely not.

RUSH: “But if there was, I hope it wasn’t much because nothing happened?” (laughing) I love that! I hope if there was a payment, it wasn’t much.” Well, you know, people will pay people off just to shut ’em up. I mean this is legion; it’s well known. By the way, folks, this appears to be a twofer for the Democrats. It takes Herman Cain down a notch and it reminds everybody about the charges against Clarence Thomas, just in time in the Supreme Court to hear the Obama case, Obamacare case. You know they’re out there trying to get Clarence Thomas to recuse himself for a bunch of trumped up reasons. I read The Politico story and I’m not even convinced that The Politico talked to any of these women. There aren’t any quotes from them. There aren’t any… (interruption)

Yeah, I know. He’s at the Press Club today and I said last hour, you’re out there screening calls, “I wonder the coincidence here of this coming out last night, a night before Herman Cain addresses the National Press Club.” There aren’t any coincidences in politics. There are no coincidences in politics at all. Here, we’ve got a sound bite. Grab number three. This is Jonathan Martin, he’s one of the reporters on The Politico piece. He was on Morning Joe today on PMSNBC; and Willie Geist, the co-host, said, “What are the allegations specifically as you understand them? There’s obviously a wide range in sexual harassment. What did he do?”

MARTIN: Well, we have to be careful about that, obviously, because we’re — we’re sensitive to, duhh —

REPORTER: Of course.

MARTIN: — the sourcing involved here. And also, uh, what actually happens to these women as well. We want to be sensitive to that, too. Um, it — it includes both verbal and physical gestures. These women felt uncomfortable. Uh, they were unhappy about their treatment, and they complained to both colleagues and senior officials. In one case it involved, uh, uh, uh, I think inviting a — a woman up to a — a — a hotel room of Cain’s on the road. Uhhhhm, but we’re — we’re — we’re just not gonna get into the details, uhh, of exactly what happened with these women besides what’s in the story.

RUSH: Okay. So we’re not gonna tell you what we know or don’t know. That’s it. We’re not gonna tell you any more — and they know they don’t have to. Look at the storm they’ve created with just this. Keep in mind, whatever happened, it was “not overtly sexual.” They were talking about sexual harassment. I still don’t know what that is. Could inviting somebody up to your room in a hotel be sexual harassment but not an overtly sexual gesture? There are many unanswered questions involved in all this. But it appears to be somewhat flimsy. All of this is just very, very convenient. “We’re just not gonna get into the details of exactly what happened.” Well, isn’t that convenient? Is that journalism? “We’re not going to get into the details of what happened.”

We’re just gonna put out unfocused charges for an unnamed sources, we’re gonna leave it at that and you guys can have at it. That’s what I’m hearing here. “We’re just not gonna get…” (interruption) Well, we don’t know that it was asking up to the hotel. That’s the point here. Politico is saying, “We are just not going to get into the details of exactly what happened.” Well, that’s the way we’re treating Fast and Furious! (laughing) It’s the way they treated John Edwards. It’s the way they treated Anthony Weiner. Except they used that to say, “Nothing here, nothing to see here. Let’s move on.” In this case: We’re not gonna talk about anything that happened (very convenient for us); we’re just gonna put out a bunch of unfocused charges from unnamed sources and let you have at it.

Which is what’s happening.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Ken in Livonia, Michigan, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Yeah, Rush, I just wanted to comment that when we see the attack against Herman Cain by those on the left —

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: — it’s pretty obvious their reasoning is that they know that the only way that Barack Obama can win against any Republican candidate is he’s gotta pull out the race card. He’s got to divert people’s attention from the real issues, and that’s the whole reason behind it.

RUSH: You mean they don’t want to run against another black guy because that takes one of Obama’s strengths away?

CALLER: You got it.

RUSH: Being the only black on the ticket?

CALLER: That’s it.

RUSH: Well, that could be.

CALLER: Because it’s the whole issue of Barack Obama’s ideology. Barack Obama’s being able to point to his presidency, he’ll lose against any candidate. So he’s gotta pull out the race card, he’s gotta attack the Tea Party, he’s gotta attack the —

RUSH: Right, so your thinking goes if the Republicans nominate a black Republican it would be very hard to say that the Republicans are racist and you’ve gotta elect Obama to save the country from a bunch of racists?

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Surely I could not have heard what I just heard. Jonathan Martin of The Politico (who I know) is on MSNBC blaming Herman Cain for not explaining what these charges are. I wish I could remember exactly what he said. It was just ten seconds before we started this segment so I just caught the last ten seconds. But it’s “He’s got some real explaining to do. He’s not being forthcoming on what these charges are.” I thought that was juror job! I thought Politico had the story of the charges. I thought Politico had the details. I thought Politico knew what went on. I thought Politico knew whatever it was that upset the women. So Cain is supposed to go to the Press Club today and explain what the charges are against him? Surely, I cannot have heard this correctly. I cannot have.

The Politico is saying, “Okay, we’ve run this story. We don’t know anything. It’s now up to Herman Cain to tell everybody what he did, or what he was accused of”? That can’t be. That just can’t be. That’s the job of Politico! Politico ran the story. They’re the ones who have the women. Maybe they don’t. They’re the ones who are giving the impression they know what went on. They’re the ones saying, “Well, we gotta be very careful. We can’t tell what happened here.” It just is very, very curious. Okay, so The Politico runs a story with vague allegations that aren’t detailed. Herman Cain, some hours later, shows up at the National Press Club and doesn’t provide the details of what of he did or what he was charged with, and it was his problem?

Has anybody forgotten…? I’m sure a lot of people have. Koko, go back to our archives for the website this afternoon, find every story that we did, that we put up on all these people that said that the Obama White House was hostile to women. Remember those stories? Do you? I’m sure you do now that I’m mentioning them. They kinda got swept aside, and there were excuses offered. But, yeah: In the Obama administration, it was tough for women; hostile workplace for women — and we didn’t really get any details as to why. Who’s next? Elizabeth in Acton, Massachusetts. I’m glad you waited. Welcome to the EIB Network.

CALLER: Thank you for taking my call, Rush. It’s an honor to talk to you, and forgive me if I’m nervous. I just want to tell you: You know, I’m a huge Cain supporter; so is my husband. This really upsets me. This guy is a brilliant man. I heard him on the radio a year ago, and I was so impressed with him, you know, and I look at the liberals, and what they’ve done to the black community in general, and it just breaks my heart. You know, they enslaved them in the 1800s and Republicans fought to free them. Then the black community was Republican until Kennedy, according to Shriver, was supposed to go shake their hands and offer them sympathy when this church was blown up in Birmingham. Then they enslave them to welfare handouts. They demoralize them, take away their education, take away their faith. You know, and then this great guy comes up and what are they doing? They’re saying, “Well, he’s a black guy. He can’t control himself. Look at him!” They’re doing the same thing to him they did to Clarence Thomas, you know, that same racist stereotype.

RUSH: Yeah. “High-tech lynching.” Yeah.

CALLER: Yeah! “Just because he’s a black guy, he can’t control himself. He can’t control his urges.” If I was Herman Cain I would just say to them, “You know, this has nothing to do with what’s going on in the country right now. And if you are really concerned with what’s going on in the country — since obviously if this were a true thing, you know, I wouldn’t be here right now. I would have been demoted. I would have lost my job. So, since this wasn’t true, let’s focus on what’s going on in the country or are you doing this to me because you feel threatened by me?”

RUSH: You don’t sound nervous to me, by the way. I just want you to know.

CALLER: Ooh, you’re really nice to say that.

RUSH: Yeah. You don’t sound — you sound fired up; you sound passionate.

CALLER: Well, I am, because I love this country and all the people in it. And you’re born here, it doesn’t matter what color you are, you’re an American. Up until the time of until 40 years ago when the Democrats took over, the liberals took over the lives of black people in this country, they were famous people. They were strong, they were powerful, they had their own famous scientists and inventors and teachers and writers and it’s like they’re being demoralized. You know, they’re being reduced to, “Look at you guys! You can’t really do anything. We’ll give you a handout and a hand up (garbled).”

RUSH: Yeah, I know. The Democrat policies have blown up the black family.

CALLER: Well, look what this kind of government policy’s done to Native Americans. My grandfather was Native American and his parents left to move to Rhode Island, got a job and said, “We are not living this way.” And my grandfather said to me, “History is what it is. But we’re here today, and so, you know, you be the best person you can today and forgive people, you know, for whatever happened that made you unhappy. But history is what it is, and, you know, if white people hadn’t come to this country we’d be living in a bark hut and going to the bathroom in the woods. So just be grateful for what you’ve got, don’t complain and work hard.” And, you know, I think as a group of people any time you depend on the government — any time the government takes over — they ruin your life.

RUSH: Yeah. Well, they certainly limit your potential. They do. Let me tell you something. I want to try to… I doubt that I can make you feel better ’cause this is outrageous. But, folks, I’m sitting here and I really… Cookie, if you’re rolling on MSNBC, I’ve got to hear this. You’ve got to give me audio on MSNBC of Jonathan Martin from like 1:30 on 1:35. I need you to listen to it because I am convinced I heard him say that it’s up to Herman Cain to explain all the details in The Politico story. Now, folks, if I heard that right, Jonathan Martin was talking about the problem Herman Cain has and he still hasn’t told us what the allegations are. Well, that’s right, ’cause he denied anything happened! But I’m sitting here, and I’m wondering, “What if…?” I want to hear it. I ought to withhold all speculation ’til I hear it.

But what if this is just a fishing expedition? What if they don’t have half as much as they’re suggesting they’ve got? I find it hard to comprehend. You report a story, and you have in the story “women, sexual harassment, but there really weren’t overtly sexual gestures but found it very offensive and very uncomfortable.” They weren’t “overtly sexual;” the people who published the story do not give us any details and then go on TV and say it’s up to Herman Cain explain what the charges are — and until he does, he’s got a big problem. Now, it happened in a flash, and if I didn’t hear this properly then of course this is all kaput. So we’ll wait ’til Cookie produces that, and we’ll go from there. Elizabeth, thanks much for the call. I appreciate it.

Here’s Carol in Buffalo. You’re next on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you today?

RUSH: Good. Thank you.

CALLER: I’m fired up. (laughing) You think the lady before me was fired up? I’m even more fired up. Because I liked Herman Cain also, and I still do, and I think it’s about time for people to start supporting him with their money to more or less make his war chest as big as everybody else’s. Because he seems to be the only one that I could even think of voting for right now, especially after all this stuff that’s gone on and they’re trying to bury him. My mom keeps saying, “Oh, it’s gonna be Mitt Romney,” and I said, “Yeah, if we take the people that they give us.” I said, “That’s the biggest problem I see right now is that the Democrats are feeding us Mitt Romney, the newspapers.”

RUSH: Hey, it’s not just the Democrats that are feeding us Romney. There are some Republicans trying to feed you Romney, too.

CALLER: Yeah, it seems like, you know, the newspapers and everything else are just constantly, “Mitt this, Mitt Romney that.” Who wants a president named Mitt in the first place?” and I’m telling you right now I’m not drinking Coke anymore. This is the last straw.

RUSH: It’s tough for me to say what you ought to drink since I have a competing beverage out there but I would suggest Two If By Tea. We don’t get involved in the phony baloney, plastic banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roller feel-good liberal do-gooder crap issues. Our sponsor is the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. That’s who we provide for, that’s who we donate to, from the proceeds of the sale of our product. Polar bear garbage, all this environmental wacko fraud? You know, I love polar bears, too, when they’re rugs. This is just… (groans) I just cringe at the ease with which all of these hoaxes and fraudulent beliefs worm their way into the popular belief structure of so many people this country. Carol, I appreciate the call.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We got the sound bite, Jonathan Martin, and I did misunderstand it a little bit. Here’s what he said on Andrea Mitchell, NBC News program about 20 minutes ago.

MARTIN: There are more questions for him to answer. He has not yet explained what exactly he was accused of. He just said that he didn’t do it. But these are serious charges. Again, we spent weeks on this story, talked to folks all over the country, current and former employees, current and former board members, sources close to his organization, a powerful trade group here, Andrea, in Washington, DC, and we concluded, based upon our reporting, that Mr. Cain was, in fact, accused of sexually harassing two female employees and those female employees left the organization with five figure cash payouts.

RUSH: All right, but we don’t know what he did. They weren’t overtly sexual gestures. But what he said here at the top, “There are more questions for him to answer. He’s not yet explained what he’s accused of.” That’s what I heard. I thought, what the hell is that? He hadn’t explained what he’s accused of. He’s out there saying that he didn’t do anything and he denied all these charges, and I don’t think Jonathan Martin’s talking specifically about their allegations here. He’s talking about what Herman Cain has denied. He hasn’t yet explained exactly what he was accused of, he just said he didn’t do it. But even at that, if you say you don’t do something, he’s not telling us what he’s accused of, but isn’t that the job of the media, reporting all this to find out what he was accused of, and if you don’t have that, does it maybe look like the story is, ah, a little doubtful? Or is that just me? And a five-figure cash payout could be ten grand. Why not just say how much? Five-figure cash payout.

Here’s Tony in Edmonds, Washington. I’m glad you waited. You’re next on the program, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thanks for having me on.

RUSH: You bet.

CALLER: Hey, I was hoping to hear your vantage point on my belief that the reason why Romney has not caught on is the sense that conservatives have of him is that he doesn’t have these core feelings. Now, you know, we all think back on Reagan and what he did for this country. The fact is Reagan back in the seventies believed that communists could be defeated, you know, detente was not working out, and it was a loser for the US, and he had this opinion that we could beat these guys by going after them head on and nobody believed that. The guy, they thought he was out in left field and was nuts. And supply-side economics was another issue. So he had a couple of core issues that he was able to focus on —

RUSH: He had three. He had three that he never wavered from, beating the Soviets, rebuilding the US military, and cutting taxes which would rebuild the US economy. Those are the three legs of the stool of Reaganism, and he never wavered from them. Romney is dealing now with charges that he flip-flops and that he changes his mind on core issues as needed. Anyway, I would like to know, you know, Herman Cain says he was cleared by the Restaurant Association investigation and that The Politico is saying it’s up to him to tell us what he was charged with. Why don’t they go find out? They’ve been doing all this reporting. Why couldn’t they go find out what he’s accused of? Why is it his job to explain that?

And then the five-figure payouts. How much for the payouts? It could be $10,000. Five figures could be $99,000. Why not just tell us what the figure is? (interruption) Yeah. Well, maybe. No, they wouldn’t be able to identify the leak, because of the amount, is that what you said? No, I don’t think that. If it’s 10 or $12,000, you know, it cost a lot of money just to hire lawyers to deal with even frivolous complaints. We’re being led to believe this is big, bad, awful stuff. And if the two women walked away with $10,000, it’s not big, bad, awful stuff. Why should the amount be secret? The only thing I can think of is, five-figure payouts sounds much more ominous than $10,000, or $20,000 or even $50,000.