RUSH: Now, Andy McCarthy was on Fox moments ago with Ed Henry. And Henry said, “The chase has taken some weird turns. You think General Flynn’s finally won this thing?”
MCCARTHY: My only advice to the people who’ve won today is let’s not spike the football. I mean, it’s perfectly fine to come out and say what’s been said so far. But I think they ought to give Judge Sullivan a little bit of space and a little bit of grace. I think the worst thing they can do if they don’t want any more trouble here is to look like they’re sort of dancing on his grave.
RUSH: You know, I have been there, and I have done that, and I have rethought this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Grab sound bite number 22 again. Here’s Andy McCarthy suggesting how we behave today in the aftermath.
MCCARTHY: My only advice to the people who’ve won today is let’s not spike the football. I mean, it’s perfectly fine to come out and say what’s been said so far. But I think they ought to give Judge Sullivan a little bit of space and a little bit of grace. I think the worst thing they can do if they don’t want any more trouble here is to look like they’re sort of dancing on his grave.
RUSH: If they don’t want any more trouble. Meaning, if you or anybody else who wants to celebrate the right thing happening here, be very careful if you don’t want any more trouble, if Flynn doesn’t want any more trouble. Flynn didn’t do anything. Top to bottom now, Flynn didn’t do anything. But if Flynn and his supporters don’t want any more trouble, they better not provoke the judge. The judge is the guy that doesn’t have the law on his side. The judge is the guy standing in quicksand.
But I mentioned I’ve been there, done that. Midterm elections 2002. George W. Bush first midterm elections, I was invited to do election night coverage and analysis by Tim Russert on NBC News. And I was on set with Russert and Tom Brokaw two or three times during that night. And what happened in those midterms was unprecedented. The Republicans gained seats. You know the rule about midterms. President gets elected. The first election’s two years after that always result in the president’s party losing seats in Congress, in the House and the Senate.
That didn’t happen. The reason it didn’t happen was the Wellstone memorial. The Wellstone memorial turned everybody off toward the Democrats. So that night at NBC in their studios in Washington they were stunned. They couldn’t believe it. They couldn’t believe that George W. Bush had actually gained seats. So they brought me in and they asked me why, and I told them why. I said it’s no mystery. It’s the Wellstone memorial.
They were in shock. And they were a little irritated that they had invited me. The last thing they wanted to happen was, A, the Republicans pick up seats, and of all people to be there to talk about it, me. But you know what I did? They asked me what advice I would give to Republicans. And I said, “Don’t gloat. Act like you’re not surprised. Act like you expected this to happen. Act like you’re used to winning. Don’t gloat. Don’t brag.”
When I got back to work the next day a bunch of you who’d sent me emails and called me on the phone, “What do you mean, don’t gloat? We sure as hell need to gloat. What are you talking about?” People wanted to celebrate. And they interpreted me as saying don’t do it. And I have revised my thinking. I think they were exactly right. I think “don’t gloat” was the wrong piece of advice. Because it certainly was something to celebrate and to brag about and to make a point of.
But I was trying to be bigger. You know, we need to be bigger. Of course, they on the other side, they don’t ever contain themselves. They never behave with manners the first consideration. They never take politeness or — and they’re certainly not worried about getting in more trouble with us. So I understand what Andy’s saying. “Look. Don’t gloat. This guy’s a good judge, a good guy, he’s off the reservation on this one, but don’t sit there and dance on the grave. It’s just gonna make it harder for the judge to give up the case and so forth.”
Andy is speaking as a lawyer who might, although he won’t in this case, but as a lawyer he might have to face the judge again. In that case, you shouldn’t gloat. If you’re a lawyer still active and you might end up in this guy’s courtroom someday then, yeah, you wouldn’t. But I’m sorry. This case, Michael Flynn deserves to be celebrated as much as anybody can, personally, as a human being for the triumph.
Because he has been put through absolute hell by his own government. He has been put through hell by the Obama administration. He even had Joe Biden, sitting vice president, wanting to use the Logan Act to get the guy. Biden’s gonna have to answer for this. (imitating Biden) “Does the hair smell good? That’s all I was interested in that night.” He got away with that. He cannot get away with acting like he doesn’t know what this is about.
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