RUSH: Back to Barbara Wawa. This is shortly after announcing that General Petraeus is for the second time since the year 2010 the most fascinating Person of the Year because of the sex scandal. ‘Cause he combined sex, lies, the digital age, with military honor. That’s what she said was the criteria. So last night she’s presenting the Ten Most Fascinating People, and I’ve been on it twice, by the way. Full disclosure, I have been on the list twice. I don’t think I was the most fascinating. One year I came close to being the most fascinating, early on, early nineties. Anyway, she’s talking to Hillary and they had this little chat back and forth.
WALTERS: Will you consider running for president in 2016? Would you just like to make your declaration now and we could conclude this interview?
HILLARY: (laughing) Well, that would be fascinating to me, as well as everyone else. You know, I’ve said I really don’t believe that that’s something I will do again. Right now I have no intention of running.
RUSH: She’d be anointed. She doesn’t have to run. We played you the sound bites earlier this week. It’s already a done deal, 2016, Carville said nobody can beat her, 90% done, just dispense with the primaries. He said “book it” or something like that. Newt says that as the Republican Party’s currently constituted that she couldn’t be beat, as currently constituted. Newt sent me a note clarifying what he meant, by the way. Well, he thought that I interpreted his comments as the Republican Party could never beat her, and what he wanted me to know was that he doesn’t think as it currently is constituted, it couldn’t beat her.
So she’s been anointed. What is this talk about running? But look, if you’re gonna talk to Chris Christie about his girth and the impact that might have on his presidential run, how do you… I better not go there. War on Women stuff.
(interruption)
Yeah, I do know what they’re gonna use. Operation Chaos. They are going to point out that I once devoted this program to her getting the Democrat nomination in 2008. “Even Rush Limbaugh was for her at one time.” And they will also dredge up the question I asked, and that is do the American people want to watch an aging female president in office? Let me put it differently. Do the American people want to watch a female president age before their very eyes? I did ask that question. They’ll dredge that up, too. Now, Barbara Walters then said, “Look, you’ll be 69 in 2016, 69.” That’s a big number on the left, folks. Don’t discount it. “If you won two terms, you would be 77. Is your age a concern to you, Mrs. Clinton?”
HILLARY: It really isn’t. I am thankfully, knock on wood, not only healthy, but have incredible stamina and energy.
RUSH: That’s that 69, again. And so then Barbara Walters said, “Well, I have to ask you this very personal question. Your hair.”
HILLARY: (Laughing cackle) I know that it’s one of the great —
RUSH: Wait a minute, wait a minute, stop that. Take that back to the beginning. That sound you heard, that’s the Arkansas broadbeam. It’s a species that has only been found natively in Arkansas. It can survive outside Arkansas. That’s the Arkansas broadbeam. Here it is again.
HILLARY: (Laughing) I know that it’s one of the great fascinations of our time.
WALTERS: Absolutely.
HILLARY: Much to my amazement.
WALTERS: People said to me, “You’re interviewing the secretary of state.” I said, “Yes, what should I –” (whispering) “Ask her about her hair.”
HILLARY: Well, you know, I do not travel with any hairdresser, and I’m not very competent myself. I’ve been admitting that for years, which should be obvious to everyone. It just got to be really burdensome to try to find a hairdresser in some city, somewhere —
RUSH: Oh, come on.
HILLARY: — so I said, “Enough.” We’re just gonna try to go with as simple as possible.
RUSH: Come on.
WALTERS: Nobody asks the men that.
HILLARY: Have you noticed?
WALTERS: Nobody asks the men.
RUSH: Come on. What is Huma for? Huma does the hair, the formalwear, whatever Hillary needs, Huma’s there for it. What is having to find a hairdresser in every city? Come on. She could travel with a hairdresser that could be part of the retinue. Bernardine Dohrn could come in and do it. It looks like some hippie hairdresser from the sixties is doing that. Nobody asks men about their hair. No, no, they don’t but here’s Barbara Walters talking to Chris Christie, and she said, “Look, you’ve been criticized for praising Obama during Hurricane Sandy. People have said that you helped him win. Is this unfair criticism?”
CHRISTIE: I was doing my job. I’m the governor of the state of New Jersey, and he offered to help. And so you bet I’m gonna take him up on his offer to help.
WALTERS: Yeah, but I’m gonna be the critic. You didn’t have to put your arm around him. You don’t have to fly on the plane with him. And you could have said, you know, “Thank you, Mr. President,” been a little cooler.
CHRISTIE: So I coulda lied. That’s what you’re suggesting. I mean, you’re suggesting that what I shoulda done was lied because everything I said — everything I said was the truth.
WALTERS: I’m being the critic.
CHRISTIE: Sure.
WALTERS: You were too effusive. You helped him win.
CHRISTIE: No, I didn’t help him win. The fact of the matter is, the president won the election pretty comfortably.
WALTERS: Any regrets?
CHRISTIE: No.
RUSH: And then, ladies and gentlemen, the big finale in the conversation between Barbara Walters and Chris Christie.
WALTERS: I feel very uncomfortable asking this question when I’m sitting opposite you. But you are a little overweight.
CHRISTIE: More than a little.
WALTERS: Why?
CHRISTIE: If I could figure that out I’d fix it, you know.
WALTERS: There are people who say that you couldn’t be president because you are so heavy. What do you say to that?
CHRISTIE: That’s ridiculous. I mean, that’s ridiculous. I mean, I don’t know what the basis for that is.
WALTERS: I think they’re worried about your health.
CHRISTIE: Well, I’ve done this job pretty well and I think people watching me for the last number of weeks in Hurricane Sandy doing 18-hour days, getting right back up the next day and still being just as effective in the job, so I don’t really think that would be a problem.
RUSH: Okay, so let’s move forward now to CNN, Erin Burnett OutFront, Ashleigh Banfield filling in, and she’s got a columnist from The Daily Beast, John Avlon, talking about Christie’s weight. And the question, “You’re a heartbeat away from the presidency when you’re a vice president, that was an issue with people talking about him being a possible running mate this time around. When you’re the president and you potentially do have health risks, isn’t that a fair question for the American people to ponder?” Christie’s weight.
AVLON: I’m with Chris Christie on this one. Look, people in the country have seen him responding to Hurricane Sandy, working around the clock, and he’s done, by all accounts, an exemplary job. That’s what matters. That’s the key criteria
BANFIELD: You’re right.
RUSH: That didn’t satisfy Ashleigh Banfield.
BANFIELD: There is facts behind this. The National Institutes of Health say if you’re about 5’11 and weigh 215 pounds, you’re considered obese. And the risks that are scientifically associated with being obese are severe. I mean, blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, breathing problems, certain cancers. That’s unavoidable, those are realities. And that, by the way, is just at obese. There are other statistics for being even heavier than that, and Chris Christie’s never said how heavy he is, but isn’t that a concern for the leader of the free world to be at risk for this many more diseases than the average guy?
RUSH: Yeah, we can’t have a guy at risk for that many more diseases than the average guy.