RUSH: The cable news networks have made me a part of this story. If you were listening to the program yesterday, you know that I might have spoken about this for three to five minutes at the very beginning of the program, and that was it, and at the time nobody knew anything. All we had were the allegations, and what I said yesterday was — and, by the way, I’m waiting for something else.

Do you think Obama will call Christie and offer some support? Do you, Mr. Snerdley? You think he might? You think Christie might get a supportive phone call from Obama, a “hang in there, buddy, it’ll be okay” kind of phone call? I mean, “Meet me under the boardwalk. Let’s talk. Meet me on the boardwalk. Let’s talk.” They’re buddies. I know they’re buddies. But Obama… You know, Christie did his best to pull Obama out of the fire, by the way, verse vice-a.

Will Obama now decide to help Christie a little bit with some moral support here?

Just a question. Anyway, the point that I was making yesterday was that the reason people are looking into this is Christie was angry that he didn’t get the vice presidential nomination from Romney. Christie did the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention. He didn’t even mention Romney. This is the convention where Romney was gonna be nominated, launched into the campaign that’s gonna take the White House away from the Democrats.

The keynote is supposed to be the Saturn V rocket that launches the candidate, and the candidate’s name wasn’t even mentioned, and they asked Romney about it, and he was, “Well, you know, Christie… Christie, no question Governor Christie is totally supporting candidate, blah, blah. No doubt whatsoever,” and in fact after the speech, if you’ll recall, some were saying for a keynote it was kind of dull, kind of low-key. Snoozer, in fact.

It wasn’t the typical Christie speech, it did not meet or surpass expectations, and then everybody remembers Hurricane Sandy hits one week before the election, and there is Christie arm in arm with Obama one week before the election. So this is basically all I said yesterday in making the point that if the story in Fort Lee is about closing lanes to the George Washington Bridge for payback, “Well, we know that Christie does engage and can engage in payback,” and I gave those two examples.

That little point has made me a central figure in the story in cable news, and I’ll show you. We’ll come back and play those sound bites for you. You people, I know how — folks, after 25 years — by now you take me for granted. I’m here every day. I’m rock solid. You can count on me. When I say I’m gonna be here, I’m gonna be here, and when I’m here it’s 150%, and it’s just… It’s sort of, “Gosh, Rush, I can’t believe it. If it’s 25 years, why do people still care?” But they do, out there — and for some reason, they think it’s advantageous to their side to insert me into every one of these Republican related scandals or stories.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now to the audio sound bites. Doesn’t matter if it’s the pope, if it’s the polar vortex — you haven’t heard about that? They’re out there trying to say that I denied the existence of the polar vortex. It’s not what I said. What I said was these people are trying to use the polar vortex — I had a little fun — they just have no sense of humor. I was talking about maybe, you know, one leg of the polar vortex split off and caused all these problems. But, anyway, John Holdren, who is the science advisor to Obama, they’re out there now saying that the polar vortex is — it’s cold in the North Pole because of global warming. But they are continuing to make this point.

They can’t explain how. They can’t prove it. They can’t offer a solution. What are we supposed to do to stop this? If we’re causing global warming, what are we supposed to do? And all they can do, “Well, we gotta reduce our carbon footprint.” We can’t. We’re putting more CO2 in the air than ever, and guess what? It’s getting cooler. Okay, so what are we supposed to do to reverse global warming? Well, we gotta stop driving SUVs. Well, a lot of people have. There is no solution.

Anyway, that’s off the beaten path. Start with Juan Williams. This sound bite occurred while Christie was still speaking on the Fox News channel. Juan Williams, during Happening Now, the cohost Jenna Lee said, “Do you think that this has political implications that can carry through over the next several years, Juan?”

WILLIAMS: We’re really talking about will fellow Republicans view this as, you know, a one-time strange event, or do they see this as indicative of a deep flaw in him? Rush Limbaugh said yesterday, this is the payback attitude coming from Chris Christie. Other Republicans still mad at him over embracing Obama after Hurricane Sandy. Are they going to now see this as more evidence that he’s not their type of guy?

RUSH: Do you think Juan Williams listened to my program yesterday? No? Then how does Juan Williams know what I said? Right. Exactly right. He’s reading about it. None of these guys that put my name in these stories ever hear what I say. They don’t go to my website to find out. They don’t get Rush in a Hurry.

By the way, folks, the Rush in a Hurry is one of the greatest values in all of high-tech media. The Rush in a Hurry e-mail is free. All you have to do is go to RushLimbaugh.com and sign up for it. It is a recap of the program every day. It goes out within a half hour to an hour after the program, has the highlights in certain cases already, there are links to audio sound bites and transcripts, and it is a heads up as to what’s coming when the full site is updated, and it’s el freebo. If you missed the program it is one of the fastest ways to find out what you missed and what you want to catch up on. That and the podcast, which is also available at 3:30, that’s available from either our website or iTunes, but that Rush in a Hurry is fabulous and millions of people get it. And if you don’t, you should.

But Juan Williams doesn’t get that, and he doesn’t listen. It would be very simple to find out what I think or say — either listen here or go to my website. But they don’t. They all go to Media Matters. That is the only way the supposed journalists know what I say, which is why they get it wrong so often because Media Matters, on purpose, takes it out of context. Okay. So that’s Juan.

This morning, CNN International, a program called the News Stream, the anchor Kristie Lu Stout spoke with CNN digital national political reporter Peter Hamby about the bridge lane closure scandal surrounding Governor Christie, and the infobabe, Kristie Lu Stout, said, “Are Republicans turning against Chris Christie in a significant way?”

HAMBY: Not yet. You see some conservative voices come out and be critical of him. We heard Rush Limbaugh, the radio talk show host come out yesterday and sort of criticize his leadership style and say that he punishes his enemies, et cetera, but by and large you’re not seeing a lot of Republican officials come out and condemn him, ask him to resign.

RUSH: No, you didn’t see that, but you didn’t see any of them come out and defend him, either. Not one of them did, folks. He was on his own. It was sort of like a drowning person. The rule, don’t get near ’em, they’ll take you down with ’em. And that’s it. Not one Democrat that Christie claims he’s been working with came out and supported him. None of the RINOs did. He was on his own. John King, CNN last night, Erin Burnett OutFront. Don Lemon was filling in as the host because Erin got married or something, or pregnant or some such thing. She’s going to have a human baby. Anyway, Don Lemon said to John King, “We were hard-pressed to find a Republican today who would defend Chris Christie. What do you make of that?”

KING: You look at Rush Limbaugh, you look at a number of conservative commentators, the part of the Republican Party that doesn’t like Chris Christie or that is suspicious of Chris Christie, they’re saying this guy sounds like Richard Nixon. He sounds vindictive. He sounds petty. We think he’s too risky. We think he’s too dangerous. We think he’s bully. If that sinks in, Don, if that becomes hard and concrete, the image of a guy that’s a bully and vindictive, well, that’s not a presidential temperament. That has been Christie’s challenge from day one.

RUSH: They used to love the guy. These media types just used to love the guy. Juan Williams, I think if you go back to the Juan Williams sound bite, he seemed pretty convinced that Christie was lying, and yet he seems to believe everything Obama says. This is another thing. You know, we got the sound bite coming up, but Don Lemon had Debbie “Blabbermouth” Schultz on last night, the Democrat National Committee spokesbabe. Well, she’s not a babe. Spokeswoman. And he asked her point-blank, “Why is it that you don’t believe Christie in any of his denials, but you believe every denial Obama makes?” We’ll let you hear that in due course.

Okay, just two more. C-SPAN, Washington Journal this morning, taking viewer calls about the bridge lane scandal surrounding Governor Christie. Here’s the host of Washington Journal on C-SPAN today, Greta Brawner.

BRAWNER: Politico with the headline that Rush Limow (sic) on his radio show yesterday [was] saying that the Chris Christie/Robert Gates distraction — saying that the Chris Christie story is convenient for the White House and it distracts from the memoir being put out by the former defense secretary Robert Gates. We’re gonna give you a chance to weigh in on that.

RUSH: I don’t even remember that. Did I say that? Did I say that the Christie story was loved and adored by the White House because it distracted from Gates? I don’t think I said that. What I said is that the White House happy about something because it’s distracting from Obamacare. I think I might have said I was happy about Gates… Yeah, I don’t know. But, anyway, Greta Brawner, she got it from Politico, and where’d they get it? They don’t listen, either. So then she went to phones, C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, and the first call is from Thomas in New Jersey.

BRAWNER: Let me get your reaction to what Rush Limbow also had to say during his radio show yesterday. He was quoted in Politico as saying, “The point of the story is that Christie will do payback. If you don’t give him what he wants, he’ll pay you back.” So they’re taking it all the way back [to the] Republican convention. Romney didn’t pick Christie. Christie got even with a dullard keynote speech and then embracing Obama. So the story is they’re taking this Fort Lee example and they’re backtracking it. “Hmm, maybe Christie was getting even with Romney.”

C-SPAN CALLER: I do listen to Rush. I didn’t hear that yesterday, but I guess my reaction would be, I would be in somewhat agreement. I believed I’m somewhat agreement with what Rush said, but I wouldn’t go as far.

RUSH: No, of course not! “I totally agree with what Rush said, but I wouldn’t say it.” That’s what that means. “I totally agree with everything he said. I would say it, but I’m glad he did.” But I didn’t say the bridge thing was payback for Romney. They don’t know what they’re talking about. They read it; they don’t understand.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here’s the audio sound bite of Wolf Blitzer. This is this afternoon, special coverage of Chris Christie’s press conference on the bridge lane closure scandal. IRS, not a scandal. Benghazi, not a scandal. Obamacare, not a scandal. Lane closures in Fort Lee, New Jersey, are a scandal, and CNN is on the case. Wolf Blitzer speaking with the newly hired media expert. They stole him from the New York Times, Brian Stelter is his name. He started a blog called TVNewser. He was a media groupie. The New York Times hired him to be their media editor and critic. CNN was so impressed, they stole him away. He’s in his third or fourth week now at CNN as an expert. I think he’s 18. Well, he may be 25. And that’s who Wolf is talking to. And this is Wolf’s observation.

BLITZER: Rush Limbaugh has been pretty critical of Chris Christie right now, so the question is this. How much will this hurt Christie, assuming he can salvage his political career, maybe run for president of the United States?

STELTER: Well, Chris Christie, of course, reminds us of this giant split that exists in the Republican Party and in the conservative movement.

RUSH: Somehow I end up in even this. “Rush Limbaugh has been pretty critical.” Why don’t they ever say Krauthammer? Why doesn’t Wolf Blitzer say, “You know, Dr. Krauthammer has been very critical.” Well, I mean, there’s the answer. I guess he hasn’t been. Anyway, they throw me in here, and the expert analysis says, “Well, Chris Christie reminds us of this giant split that exists in the Republican Party and the conservative movement.” That may be true to an extent.

All right, let me take a brief time-out.

What are we gonna call this scandal, the bridge to nowhere scandal? Chris Christie’s bridge to nowhere scandal? I don’t know why I’m still entertained by it, but I am.