KEN: Earlier this week Kathryn Limbaugh was here on Tuesday. And you may have heard she revealed that The Battle Hymn of the Republic was played at Rush’s funeral.
And many of us know this was one of the Rush’s favorite songs. And on the morning of April 16, 2008, he was doing show prep, watching President George W. Bush, welcome the pope to the White House. And he was so moved. So, as Rush would always do, he couldn’t wait to share that moving moment with all of us, and he did so as soon as he kicked off the show.
RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, before we get into the political news of the day, I want to play for you something that happened this morning on the White House lawn: The largest welcoming ceremony ever in the history of the White House for Pope Benedict XVI. We have audio sound bites of the president’s greeting to the pope and the pope’s response.
I saw something that genuinely moved me. I was sitting here staring at this and listening to this, and I was just blown away by it. Two things happened. The event and the music itself moved me like I haven’t been moved in quite a while, and the setting where it took place and the reason that it was happening. I mean, I’m sitting here thinking, divine intervention today at the White House.
The Battle Hymn of the Republic was sung by the U.S. Army Chorus, and you have to hear this, particularly if you haven’t had a chance to have your TV on today or your radio, and you didn’t hear this. You have to hear it and you have to imagine a crystal-blue sky, a crisp day in Washington, the pope and the president on the reviewing stand with others, the camera occasionally focusing on the U.S. Army Chorus.
You realize, this is at the White House, and a song written in tribute to God is being played at the White House. In this country there has been such an effort — and it has been way too successful — to remove God from anything public. Not only was God present, but the largest White House welcoming ceremony ever participated in a ceremony thanking God and respecting God and offering up a tribute to God, and you just have to hear this. It runs about 4:47. It’s infectious, so well done. The U.S. Army Chorus, The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
(The Battle Hymn of the Republic)
RUSH: That is just beautiful. I’m at a loss for words to describe the impact that had on me, and I was not even paying close attention. I was looking at the computer and I had the TVs on, which are to my left when I’m sitting at the computer. I heard this start, and I told Cookie up in New York, “Get me the song. I want the song as part of the audio sound bites.” She said, “You can hear it?” I said, “I can always hear God’s music.”
The Battle Hymn of the Republic, that’s the U.S. Army Chorus, and that was at the welcoming ceremony for His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI at the White House today.
KEN: You can see how powerful that is and how God played a role in Rush’s life, and you can see how so many people want to censor songs like that. Actually, too many people. It’s heartbreaking that it’s actually going on. This is the part of where we are as a country that I have such a hard time wrapping my head around, and I think a lot of it is just because of the media, they’re fueling division.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
And that’s, I think, one of the reasons so many people identify so comfortably with Rush Limbaugh. I think that is one of the reasons. And someone’s computer just turned off on the air. But it’s off; so that’s good. But I think that’s one of the reasons so many people identified with Rush, because he reacted the same way that we did to the greatness of America.
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