RUSH: Joe Biden… This is an interesting set of circumstances because Biden’s been calling all over the world apologizing, and for once he actually got it right. What he said was actually correct. But it is said that the timing was ill-chosen, and it was not just the timing, but maybe this is something that should not have been said publicly.
“Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday called the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates to clarify that he did not mean to imply in his remarks last week that the Gulf ally was supporting al-Qaeda fighters in Syria, the White House said. Biden spoke with Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and a key Emirati leader, the White House said.
“It was the second time in two days that Biden had to call a key partner in President Barack Obama’s [anti-ISIS] coalition to walk back comments he made on Thursday,” and what did he say on Thursday? “[H]e said that US allies — including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — had funded and armed extremist groups linked to al-Qaeda.” Well, they have. Turkey has. Saudi Arabia, I guess, is one of the best-kept secrets in the world.
Well, no. One of the best-kept secrets in the United States is that Saudi Arabia is Ground Zero for this, Ground Zero for the thinking that leads to militant Islam, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Khorasan Group, pick your group. In fact, I found it somewhat comical. I guess this was a month ago there was a fairly big story. It was in the UK Daily Mail, I believe, and some others. The Saudi king, King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Saud had called all the newly arrived ambassadors to Saudi Arabia over to his house — uh, palace — for sort of a welcome and a hello and an orientation.
Included there was our secretary of state, John Kerry (who, at one time, served in Vietnam), and at this meeting, King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Saud warned these ambassadors to go back to their leaders and tell them that ISIS has to be stopped, that this is out of control, and that in a month’s time ISIS is gonna have to infiltrated Europe and in two months’ time ISIS is gonna be in America.
I’m reading this and I’m mildly … “amused” is not the right word, but this would be like Colonel Sanders calling in a rooster and telling him to tell the chickens to be on the lookout for a bad guy. (laughing) Seriously. I’m not trying to get on the wrong side of the king of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah. I mean, after all, Obama bowed to the guy when he first met him. But, seriously.
So Biden comes along, and he happens to make the point that all of our allies have indeed supported — officially or unofficially, financially and with arms and ammo — ISIS and Al-Qaeda, and they’re outraged to be called on it. So Biden’s had to run around and apologize to everybody, to call ’em up personally and say that he didn’t mean it and that he misspoke and that he’s very, very sorry for it.
“The White House said Biden clarified his remarks and recognized the UAE’s ‘strong steps’ to counter extremists and participation in US-led airstrikes against Islamic State militants. The White House statement said Biden’s remarks regarding the early stages of the Syrian civil war ‘were not meant to imply that the UAE had facilitated or supported’ al-Qaeda, the Islamic State group or other extremists in Syria.
“The UAE’s official news agency said Biden had ‘apologized to UAE for any implications in his recent statements that were understood to mean that UAE has backed the growth of some of the terrorist organizations in the region.'” Now, as I say, this was very impolitic to say. There’s something about this that amuses me as well, because I’ve given up being frustrated by it. If Joe Biden were a Republican, he’d have been out of Washington 29 years ago.
Joe Biden is a… You know, I have a friend of mine who is from Delaware, and this friend is not nearly into politics as I am. My friend believes Civics 101 versions of politics and holds in awe elected officials. I happened to be on the golf course with the guy one day, and Biden’s name came up, and I said, “He’s just an absolute blithering idiot!” The guy looked at me like I was from another planet.
So I started, you know, giving examples of why I think this, and it didn’t matter. It was home state loyalty. All that mattered was that this guy’s from Delaware and Biden represents Delaware, so Biden’s automatically great. There was no thought at all. There was no intricate analysis of Biden or anything of the sort. So many things — even at my age today, 63 — still remain kind of surprising and eye opening at how shallow people look at things, particularly politics.
The depth people explore isn’t all that deep. But Joe Biden, I mean, here’s a guy sitting in the wheelchair out there in St. Louis. “Hey, stand up, Chuck! Let ’em see you! Oh, God bless you. Oh, my God, what am I saying? Oh, gee. Everybody stand up for Chuck.” Chuck can’t stand up; he’s paralyzed. He’s in a wheelchair. These are just isolated things. But the serious point is that Joe Biden has actively sought to destroy people like Clarence Thomas.
Joe Biden’s actively participated in efforts to ruin the lives of several really highly qualified judicial nominees on the Republican side — Roberts, Alito — and he gets away with this inanity. He gets away with all of these “gaffes” that violate every tenet of political correctness. They violate every tenet of common sense. They violate every sense of decorum.
The guy walks around and makes fun of people that work at 7-Eleven store in Delaware and say (paraphrased), “Man, you gotta be an Indian if you’re gonna go in there and understand what they’re saying to you.” The reaction is, “Ah, that’s just Joe.” He could probably get away with sexual abuse because it’s just Joe.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Now, just to wrap up this Joe Biden business — ’cause I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time on this — the thing is, when Biden speaks, it’s always a “gaffe,” and he’s always given a chance to “clarify.” Every liberal is. Every liberal, every Democrat, every liberal Democrat media member “misspeaks,” and they always get a chance to “clarify.”
Republicans are never offered the chance to “clarify.” Republican apologies are not even accepted! Biden is just an absolute… He’s a joke, when you get right down to it. So let’s go to the audio sound bites. This is last Thursday in Cambridge at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. This is what Biden said.
BIDEN: The Saudis, the Emirates, et cetera, what were they doing? They were so determined to take down Assad and essential have a proxy Sunni-Shi’a war, they poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens… thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad, except that the people who were being supplied were al Nusra and Al-Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.
RUSH: Well, it’s correct, but it was a no-no because what he did was basically impugn the intentions and the good name and the good vibes of our allies in this war on ISIS. He basically went out and said it when he identifies them here. The Saudis, the Emirates (which is United Arab Emirates), and he included Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan — who is big, by the way, huge Islamic extremist, which is new for Turkey.
They’re all supporters, proponents of extremist Islam and have, at times, supported Al-Qaeda. Biden just pointed it out, and it was a foolish thing to do. I mean, these are our allies. It’s the kind of thing you say privately and he goes out there… Biden’s one of these guys that loves to try to prove how smart he is and how in he is, how close to the centers of power he is, and he sometimes speaks without a filter, and this is one of those times. Here’s the next example.
BIDEN: And the Turks, President Erdogan, told me — he’s an old friend! [He] said, “You’re right. We let too many people through!” Now they’re trying to seal their border.
RUSH: So he’s had to call and apologize to all of these people, and it’s funny to watch the media cover it. “Oh, that’s just old Joe! You know, it’s just an untimely time to tell the truth,” and they’re all laughing about it and chuckling over it. So what happens is he’s allowed to get on the phone and read an apology script written by somebody probably in the State Department or communications office or what have you.
He’s given a chance to “clarify.” It’s just like if you recall this — you may not. That’s why I’m here. It was the 2004 presidential campaign. CBS was doing a profile of the Democrat candidate, John Kerry (who, at one time, served in Vietnam) and he did such a bad job in the interview that CBS offered him a do-over. They offered take two. This never happens.
When the media gets somebody making a gaffe or making an idiot of themselves, they run as fast as they can to get it on the air. But CBS News with this and John Kerry, panicked and offered a do-over. I forget what the details were. It doesn’t matter. I forget what the substance of the interview was, but it was just embarrassing. He was blabbering all over the place, not making any sense about anything. And CBS realized if they aired this, it would not be good.
So they gave him a chance to do it over.
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