RUSH: In Montana — ladies and gentlemen, I must do something. I must join the chorus of people condemning what happened out there. This manly, obviously studly Republican candidate in Montana took the occasion to beat up a pajama-clad journalist, a Pajama Boy journalist out there.

The story is he grabbed his neck and threw the guy to the ground because the journalist was being insolent and disrespectful and whiny and moany and accusatory. And the manly, studly Republican simply didn’t realize that on the big stage you can’t do this kind of stuff and kicked the guy’s ass to the ground. This cannot be accepted. This must be condemned. I wonder how many people in Montana are now gonna vote for the guy, though? (laughing)

I’m serious. What are the early voting numbers out there? I’m confused. I’ve seen that 70% have early voted and in another story 30% have early voted. Today is election — oh. And there’s a brave newspaper out there, a brave newspaper withdrew its endorsement for this studly, manly, brutish Republican. His name is Gianforte, Greg Gianforte, and he didn’t like this reporter who’s indistinguishable from your average Millennial man today, virtually indistinguishable. He’s from the U.K. Guardian.

Gianforte just kind of lost it out there. Then they made a statement. They released a tape and the statement didn’t match up with what you hear on the tape, and so now Gianforte is being routinely condemned and criticized by no less than Nancy Pelosi. Grab audio sound bite number 24. Even Paul Ryan was asked. “Do you think he should apologize?” (paraphrasing) “Hell, yeah, he should apologize. This is not the kind of thing we generally approve of, you know, beating up on journalists.” But again, you have to wonder how many voters in Montana, you just have to wonder how many voters in Montana. Here’s Pelosi, here’s what she said.

PELOSI: To see this person who wants to be the one representative into the House of Representatives from Montana be sort of a wannabe Trump, you know, use language like that, treat people harshly like that. That’s his model. Donald Trump’s his model. And we’ve really got to say, “Come on, behave. Behave.” It was outrageous.

RUSH: It was outrageous. When did Trump beat up a reporter? It hasn’t happened, right? Trump’s never thrown a reporter to the ground. The opposite’s happened.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, back to this Montana election for just a second. This is yet the third special election this year. If you count the primary runoff in Georgia, this is the third one. And there’s a pattern. There is a formula for the way the Drive-By Media reports these, and you can see it here in the headline at Salon.com: “Republicans Are Scared About the Montana Special Election.” And this was written before the incident where the Millennial Pajama Boy reporter for The Guardian was just unacceptably, brusquely and rudely thrown to the ground like 125-pound dishrag.

Headline of the story: “Republicans Are Scared About the Montana Special Election.” That’s how this stuff starts out. There’s the formula. Leftist news media says Republicans are scared, they’re nervous, they’re fearful, they’re red faced, they’re quaking in the corner with fear. They can barely get through the day, so worried because they know that if they lose, it means it’s over for Trump.

And then polls are cited. The Democrats always do well or better than anyone imagined they would do in the polls. The polls always show the Democrat challenger may be winning outright, maybe a little ahead, certainly no less than tied with the evil Republican. Democrat donors from Hollywood and Silicon Valley and New York then pour in millions of dollars to the unknown Democrat candidate who was on the verge of throwing the Trump administration out of office by defeating the Republican.

The Democrats then run a far-left nut job as a fake moderate. In Montana they got the guy wearing a cowboy hat. They’ve got their far-left freak candidate wearing a cowboy hat and trying to look as manly and studly as Gianforte looks. They’ve got him out there singing western tunes on haystacks and in front of barns and stuff with the smell of cow manure all over in an attempt to hide the fact the guy is a screaming leftist, like the 125-pound thrown-away dishrag reporter that Gianforte unacceptably, rudely, we just can’t stand for this, threw to the ground.

And then Election Day comes. The media is all excited. They’ve pumped it up. They’ve revved it up. They’ve got everybody convinced the Republican doesn’t have a prayer. In Montana they are doubly convinced now because Gianforte, the manly and studly candidate, threw the 125-pound wet dishrag reporter from The Guardian to the ground. It’s being described as a body slam, totally unacceptable, nobody wants this to be part of our politics. You just don’t treat the media this way, particularly young Millennial guys who are nowhere near being prepared for this kind of thing.

Then the election comes, and the Democrat loses. That’s been the case in every one of these special elections since Trump was inaugurated. The reason these elections exist is because Trump has taken these representatives and put them in his administration. In this case, Greg Zinke has been removed from his congressional seat from Montana. He been moved into the administration so that’s why the special election.

And the formula is they build the Democrat up. The Republican has no prayer because the Republican represents Trump and the country hates Trump. And the Democrat defeating the Republican is going to signify the country realizes it’s made a mistake and wants to get rid of Trump, hates Trump, totally supportive of any effort to get rid of Trump.

And then the Democrat loses. And they end up blaming everybody but themselves. We’ll have to see if the pattern holds. The election is today. And again, there’s been a lot of early voting out there. At least 30% have early voted.

You have to wonder, of the early voters, Mr. Snerdley, they voted before the studly and manly Republican Gianforte rudely, unacceptably, intolerably tossed a 125 wet dishrag reporter to the ground. I wonder how many of them wish they could re-vote and change their vote? Well, we don’t know. There could be a surge of people that were planning on staying home that might now surge to the polls.

Maybe I can get some calls from Montana. Now, you’re gonna have to be careful ’cause anybody can call here and say they’re from Montana, so you’re gonna have to bone up on some Montana geography and you’re gonna have to ask some questions that only a native Montanan would know. Got it? You know, like ask ’em where in Montana Sun Valley is. You know, little questions like that as you ascertain whether they’re genuine.

Folks, this is a risk that you run. It’s why I don’t do it very much. We used to do days where we had calls only from women. That’s not hard. Of course, Millennial men today could probably fake being women easier than anybody’s ever been able to do it; but back in the old days it was impossible to do. However, when you say, “Anybody from Montana, please call,” anyone can call from Hawaii and claim they’re in Montana, and how do we know? So I just want you to be aware up front. I’m not putting out a request for exclusive calls from Montana. Just if there are any of you in Montana who want to call in and weigh in on the local reaction to this outrageous, unacceptable, beneath-the-dignity-of-everybody story that occurred out there.

Now, about the Democrat candidate, his name is Rob Quist, and here’s a story from about eight days ago, PJ Media. “Mont. Dem. Rob Quist Silent on Genital Herpes in Tax Evasion Case.”

You didn’t know about this?

“Rob Quist, the Democratic candidate to replace former Congressman Ryan Zinke, refused to answer questions about his health issues highlighted by court records in a decades-old medical malpractice suit. The October 1994 lawsuit is a current issue because Quist used it as recently as March to excuse more than $27,000 in debts and property taxes that were not paid off until this year. He has also used his own medical history as an issue in the campaign, attacking the Republican health care bill.

“The health issues surfaced Tuesday, in a report by The Washington Free Beacon’s Brent Scher. Sher reported on the medical malpractice suit filed in 1994 and dismissed in 1996, in which Quist sued surgeon Dr. Roch Boyer over an allegedly botched gallbladder operation.” So Quist is using his past health issues to prove we need Obamacare, is what he’s trying to do here. When people look into it, they find that he is a typical leftist, he’s whiny, he likes to sue everybody, and he’s got herpes. Oh, and there’s one other little interesting tidbit here about the Democrat in the special election in Montana.

Montana Democrat Rob Quist, a regular performer at nudist resorts, Quist promises to bring the “values of rural Montana” to Washington. They’ve got the guy out there in a cowboy hat on haystacks singing country western tunes. Montana Democrat Rob Quist, locally famous musician, a frequent performer at the Sun Meadow resort, Idaho’s premier nudist resort for guests seeking a family nudist experience.

The website that published the story had to remove pictures because they contain inappropriate images for the family. Quist, running to represent Montana in Congress, featured front and center on the nudist resort’s website playing the guitar with his singing daughter. Both are clothed, though others on the website’s home page are not. So that is the update on what’s going on the Montana special election today.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Back to the controversy in Montana. This is the audio sound bite of the confrontation as Ben Jacobs approaches Gianforte to ask about the CBO score of the health care reform bill, which said that it will leave 23 million people uninsured. Well, the big lie is that Obamacare insured a bunch of people that were uninsured. This bill will also reduce your health care premiums by $3,000 on average. Obama promised you that Obamacare would reduce premiums $2,500. They went up $5,000 in some cases, and more than that when you factor in the deductibles.

The House bill scored by the CBO that’s now over in the Senate where McConnell says he just doesn’t see how he can get 50 votes, I’m so sad, I don’t know where I’m gonna get them, would reduce premiums by $3,000. Why do CBO scores always sound like Democrat talking points, by the way, if they’re nonpartisan. The CBO’s part of the rigged game too. Anyway, here is the audio sound bite of the confrontation between the studly and manly Greg Gianforte and The Guardian political reporter, Ben Jacobs.

JACOBS: The CBO score, ‘cause you know you were waiting to make your decision about healthcare until you saw the bill, and it just came out. And when you…

GIANFORTE: Yeah, we’ll talk to you about that later.

JACOBS: Yeah, but there’s not going to be time. I’m just curious if you have got right now.

GIANFORTE: Okay, speak with Shane, please.

JACOBS: But you don’t under-… (scuffle ensues)

GIANFORTE: I’m sick and tired of you guys. The last…

JACOBS: Jesus Ch…

GIANFORTE: …guy that came here, you did the same thing. Get the hell out of here!

JACOBS: Jesus!

GIANFORTE: Get the hell out of here! (crashing noise) The last guy did the same thing. Are you with The Guardian?

JACOBS: Yes, and you broke my glasses.

GIANFORTE: You — the last guy did the same damn thing.

JACOBS: You just body slammed me and broke my glasses.

GIANFORTE: Get the hell out of here!

RUSH: There you have it. “You just body slammed me and broke my glasses.” And it was witnessed over there by Fox. “You just body slammed me and broke my glasses.” “You did the same damn thing. You do it every time. Get the hell out of here.” The only thing missing was, “Hey, put some ice on it.” Don Lemon freaked out last night on CNN.

LEMON: Here’s what I have to say. I usually don’t talk about this. There have been many threats against members of the media and our family members and people we know. That happens, and the public doesn’t know about it. It did not happen before this particular election cycle, and it has happened to me and my family, and, quite frankly, I’m sick of it. This disgusted me to watch this, and anyone who’s out there, whether you’re Democrat or Republican, whether you like CNN or not.

RUSH: Right. You should hate it, you should condemn it, you should not be for it. By the way, the idea that journalists were not attacked before Trump came along, you ever heard of this organization called the Committee to Protect Journalists? It’s been around since I don’t know how long, forever.

And it is an organization that exists in solidarity with journalists who are putting their lives on the line to report the news around the world. Brave, courageous journalists putting themselves in harm’s way. And this organization, the Committee to Protect Journalists, been around a long time, and Lemon knows that.

Up next is George Stephanopoulos talking to Ben Jacobs of The Guardian this morning on Good Morning America.

JACOBS: I’m still — this is still sort of 12 hours after it happened, I’m still trying to quite figure out what’s going on and cope with the fact that it’s someone who’s a reporter being thrust into the center of a story, which is not a comfortable place.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Not a comfortable place to be, but it is still then possible you will take further, perhaps civil action?

JACOBS: I haven’t even begun to think about that right now.

RUSH: Stephanopoulos wants Jacobs to sue Greg Gianforte. And to hear the journalist say I’m still trying to figure out here, process the fact that I’m thrust into the center of this story, not a comfortable place. Give me a break. Uncomfortable being the center of the story? Exact opposite if you ask me.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I’m not making it up, folks. Wind Against the Skin was the event at the nudist camp that this Quist guy and his daughter performed at. Now, Quist didn’t pay his taxes, and that didn’t get anywhere near the kind of coverage that Gianforte’s alleged body slam has gotten. Quist, is the Democrat, his past debts and tax liens total about $30,000, some dating back 20 years. Quist acknowledged not paying property taxes in 2007, 2011, and 2012 and other debts that led to collection agencies filing in court for payment. This is the guy the Democrats have nominated.

The debts were paid off this year. I wonder how he was able to do that? They got the debts paid off even though they’d been delinquent since 2007. Several of his concerts at the nudist Sun Meadow resort — that’s what it’s called — the nudist Sun Meadow resort — I think it’s over in Idaho — came during a period when he claimed he was unable to work due to significant health problems caused by a botched gallbladder operation that led to reports he’s got herpes and so forth.

The earliest known concert in which Quist performed at the nudist resort came during the second annual Skin to the Wind Festival of Fun in 2009, happened in 2009. Quist headlined the Skin to the Wind Festival. He headlined it back in 2009, which also included Friday night volleyball and a deejay dance. Quist returned to the resort for a 2011 concert with his daughter and again in 2012. That was in the fifth annual Skin to the Wind Festival of Fun. Quist played again at Sun Meadow alongside his daughter in 2014, and she still plays at the event.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: We have some breaking news here from LifeZette news. It’s actually a bombshell. The eyewitness, Alicia Acuna, is now walking back original claims. She’s now admitting that Gianforte did not grab the Pajama Boy reporter from The Guardian’s neck. Says that the firsthand account may have misled on a key aspect. She said she saw his hands go up, but now can’t be sure that he actually grabbed the reporter’s neck.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, I was right; the early voting is that 70% of the vote out there is already in. I was confused today. I’d seen both numbers 70 and 30, and I couldn’t remember which was the early vote and which was not. It turns out 70% have early voted. So what we’re talking about here is 30% who had not voted might be impacted by the story. And, again, I had to hustle this in in about 20 seconds prior to the conclusion of the last hour.

But Alicia Acuna went on the Laura Ingraham showed today, and Laura’s website is LifeZette.com. And here’s the headline: “Montana Assault Witness Changes Story, Says No Neck Grab — Reporter says firsthand account misstated key aspect of Gianforte incident. A reporter who was a firsthand witness to an incident late Wednesday involving Montana GOP candidate Greg Gianforte and a reporter for the Guardian now admits she may have misstated some details of her initial story.
Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs –” who, by the way, hates Trump.

I went back, I’m not gonna get into any of the details now. This guy has written hateful stuff about Trump. I’ve got a story from last year right around Election Day in which he just cut off a Trump quote to make it look like Trump was promising a return to violence as a means of taking back the country, and he wasn’t. He was talking about at the ballot box. We’re gonna reclaim our country like we always do, and this guy was trying to make it look like Trump was advocating violence, and he was simply advocating everybody turn out and vote.

So the guy, this Ben Jacobs, is a classic Never Trumper, anti-Trumpist from the Drive-By Media and I guarantee you is smug and arrogant and all these characteristics that tend to put people off, particularly when they’re in combination like arrogant smugness, or arrogant conceit, those two things just as a personal pet peeve of mine, just rub me the entirely wrong direction.

So this guy’s already got it in for Trump, and he’s obviously got it in for Gianforte, who is said to be a Trump supporter. Trump won Montana by a healthly advantage. The Guardian reporter, Ben Jacobs, claimed that Gianforte body slammed him and broke his glasses at the event last night. Local authorities have brought misdemeanor assault charges against Gianforte. There is so far no direct video of the incident. Only audio has been produced publicly, which we aired last hour. And among the small handful of eyewitnesses was Alicia Acuna of Fox News.

And look, it may sound funny to you, but I’m dead serious here. The Drive-By Media relying on a Fox reporter? They hate Fox. They say Fox is fake news. They say Fox makes everything up. And yet all of a sudden now they want to take as unbreakable testimony the eyewitness account of a Fox reporter. Of course, because it serves their purpose.

Acuna wrote a report that was published on Fox News that detailed what happened. “At that point, Gianforte grabbed Jacobs by the neck with both hands and slammed him into the ground behind him. Faith, Keith and I watched in disbelief as Gianforte then began punching the reporter. As Gianforte moved on top of Jacobs, he began yelling something to the effect of, ‘I’m sick and tired of this!'”

That report went viral online. But Alicia Acuna admitted this morning on the Laura Ingraham show that she may have embellished the neck grab. “You know, and I’m the one who said that,” Acuna replied, “I saw both his hands go up, not around his neck in a strangling type of way, but more just on each side of his neck, just grabbed him and I guess it could’ve been on his clothes, I don’t know.”

I guess it could have been his collar. I don’t know. Acuna was asked if that meant she was changing her story and Acuna said, “Again, just to clarify, he didn’t grab him by the neck with both hands in the way that was initially described, that’s not quite accurate.” Well, if that’s not quite accurate, then this whole story has been kind of amplified and blown way, way out of proportion.

“Gianforte’s campaign released a statement shortly after the incident Wednesday that offered a different take on the scuffle than that put forward by Acuna. ‘Tonight, as Greg was giving a separate interview in a private office, the Guardian’s Ben Jacobs entered the office without permission, aggressively shoved a recorder in Greg’s face, and began asking badgering questions,’ the statement read. ‘Jacobs was asked to leave. Greg then attempted to grab the phone that was pushed in his face,’ the Gianforte statement continues, ‘Jacobs grabbed Greg’s wrist, and spun away from Greg, pushing them both to the ground.'”

That’s the candidate’s official statement. Again, it’s a relevant factor, 70% have already voted. I wondered how many people who have already voted and then heard this would like to go back in there and change their votes. We shall see. We will get the election results tonight.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Listen to this, folks. Here are the top five stories at The Hill, most interesting stories, as rated by viewers and readers.

“Five Things to Watch in Montana’s Special Election.”

“GOP on Edge Over Montana Election.”

“GOP Frustrated By Slow Pace of Trump Staffing.”

“Montana GOP Hopeful Charged With Assault.”

“Montana Sheriff’s Department Investigating After GOP Candidate Body Slammed a Reporter.”

Four of the top five stories are about the Montana election, TheHill.com. That’s how much the media’s invested in this.