http://www.rushlimbaugh.c…5105.guest.html
EIB: “Drive-by Media Out to Get Mitt Romney”
This is the headline for Limbaugh’s February 26th transcript from his “Excellence In Broadcast” radio show. I rarely listen to Limbaugh’s show for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that I am working during the hours of his show. And to be candid, it seems to me that “ditto-heads” sometimes suspend use of their brains and simply drop in behind Mr. Limbaugh and follow him no matter what.
But what cannot be ignored is that Limbaugh has the ear of a very large number of conservative voters and he has a very large megaphone. Others who do listen to him have told me that until recently, Limbaugh has either not mentioned Romney much at all on his show or if he does, his comments on Romney have been very brief and not that supportive.
This transcript from Limbaugh’s daily radio show I think is excellent. The online transcript posting is quite long and includes a number of exchanges as is customary between Limbaugh and several callers. Since the transcript is so long, I have shortened it significantly and included only those excerpts that stand out as meaningful references to Romney. Unless otherwise shown below, the quotes are from Limbaugh:
RUSH: Boy, they are out for Mitt Romney! I saw this over the weekend: “While Mitt Romney condemns polygamy and its prior practice by his Mormon church, the Republican presidential candidate’s great-grandfather had five wives and at least one of his great-great grandfathers had 12. Polygamy was not just a historical footnote, but a prominent element in the family tree of Mitt Romney.” This is an AP story by Jennifer Dobner and Glen Johnson.
Three days ago I received a candid email reply from Jennifer Dobner after I sent her one stating I thought the article she and Johnson wrote covered irrelevant material. I made a number of other arguments and gave her a recommendation on material I thought would be relevant for a strong article. Her reply to me stated in effect she had received many emails, all from those who would not identify themselves. I recommend that others send her messages of their own, but do not get personal or be mean. I think the best approach is to provide ideas for articles that would in effect compare qualifications among all the candidates. Doing so would show Mitt Romney as a stand out. I also think it is best not to mention support of Romney. Dobner’s email address is:
jdobner@ap.org
RUSH: This is unbelievable! How many wives has Romney had? He may be the one guy in the race that’s only had one. Rudy’s been divorced. McCain’s been divorced. I don’t know about some of the others, but why are they doing this? You might ask: Why this kind of a hit piece on Mitt Romney? Obviously they’re afraid of the guy. They’re trying to destroy him. This is just classic Drive-By Media stuff that is designed to cause problems for Romney when he doesn’t promote this; he doesn’t advocate it; he has not lived it. How many of you have a family member or two whose lives, were they to be made public, well, maybe not embarrass you — well, yes, embarrass you. As Ross Perot said, “We all have at least one crazy aunt in the basement,” crazy uncle or what have you. We’re not supposed to analyze the religion of anybody else, but here we go analyzing Mitt Romney’s in this really despicable fashion.
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RUSH: Let me explain the difference in this Mitt Romney business and the way Democrats are treated in this regard. Ted Kennedy’s father — we’re not talking about a great-grandfather or great-great grandfather; we’re talking about father. Ted Kennedy’s father was a Third Reich sympathizer. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had to pull him as ambassador of the Court of Saint James. (For those of you in Rio Linda, that’s Great Britain.) He had to pull him out of there because he was a sympathizer to the Third Reich. Now, we don’t hold this against Teddy. Teddy had nothing to do with that. Just as we don’t hold Mitt Romney’s grandfather, or great-grandfather, against him. But the lib media, the Drive-Bys, are definitely trying to do that. You take a look at who the media really goes after and you’ve gotta wonder whether there’s fear there, fear driving it. Well, they just want to destroy every conservative they can. It’s just part and parcel of the agenda that exists.
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RUSH: We had several large groups that attended baseball games every year. It was my job to sell them and convince them, and they coordinate the ticket sales with their group and their appearance that night at the ball game and pregame festivities. There was a Mormon night. It wasn’t called that, it was Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm. Right.
RUSH: It was in Kansas City, and I met with the group that put this thing together every year, and I have to tell you, I was impressed with them. The fellowship between these people on that committee, the love they had for each other, it was heartwarming to be part of it. I think there’s obviously something because this is new and this is the first time there are a lot of people going to try to make a whole big deal out of this, as this hit piece story indicates, but there have to be ice breakers, and people like first times. That’s what people liked about the last Super Bowl. There were a lot of firsts in this Super Bowl that aren’t going to happen again. It’s impossible to have the first two black coaches in the Super Bowl ever again.
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RUSH: Look, polygamy is still alive and well in parts of the Islamic world, the Middle East. You can’t criticize that! Of course there’s not one of them running for president (ahem) yet, and that’s what sets this apart. Why is that? Many of us have been trying to analyze for many years: why this personal hatred of George Bush on the part of entertainers and others when they don’t even know him. It’s one thing to disagree with somebody’s policies and so forth, but the personal hatred is just difficult to understand, unless you understand the root of it.
I think I do, and I think it has to do with faith. I think they’re scared of Bush. I think so many people who don’t believe in God have basically a guilt trip about that — not all, but some do — and whenever they are confronted with someone who doesn’t have such doubts but has a firm belief in God, I think they’re threatened immediately. If they then think that a person who has a firm belief in God is using any aspect of that faith as part of a foundation for governing, the way a personal life is lived, I think it’s threatening. There are probably a lot of other psychological factors rooted in this because it’s quite abnormal to personally hate somebody you don’t know. Yet there’s quite a lot of it on the left, and I think as I’ve mentioned to you before, global warming is a religion. It’s not a scientific movement. It’s not a moral movement as Gore wanted to point out.
It’s a pure religion, and as I think Chesterton said, “If you don’t believe in God, you’ll believe in anything,” and people who do believe in God and people who have no problem publicly proclaiming their faith are a huge, huge threat, both psychologically and emotionally to people who don’t share that faith or have any faith at all — other than in inanimate objects like elements of the earth or what have you. I think with Romney, the fact that Mormonism is not understood by people, it’s considered to be a cult, a weirdo sect. It’s considered, by people who don’t know about it, to be very, very serious and devout, and it’s the devout aspect that just sends the left quivering and shaking. We cannot have somebody who’s going to be judgmental, can’t have somebody who has absolutes of right and wrong and good or bad. We can’t have somebody like that running the country. No, no, no. That’s why the left feels like they are imprisoned when such people have positions of power.
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CALLER: Not to belabor the point, but on the Mitt Romney thing, I just want to point out to you, last month’s issue of the AARP magazine had a little survey in it right at the beginning of the book. It was entitled, “Is America ready for…?” It was the Obama thing. Is America ready for Obama? Of course the response was yes, and then the next question was, “Is America ready for a woman president?” Then, of course, overwhelming response was yes. But what really appalled me, was the third question: “Is America ready for a Mormon president?”
RUSH: Well, let me ask you this. Dingy Harry is a Mormon. He is. Dingy Harry is a Mormon from Utah. If Dingy Harry were running for president, do you think we’d see stories about polygamy in his background or in the Mormon church at all? Do you think the same Drive-Bys would be trying to destroy Dingy Harry were he running for president?
CALLER: Oh, I doubt it. I wouldn’t be surprised if AARP contributes to Dingy Harry.
RUSH: Oh, that’s probably true. Anyway, look, there is no question there’s a lot of controversy and fear over Mormons, and so forth in this country, but to run a hit piece? The fact that his grandfather or great-grandfather were polygamist is no bearing on him. He’s not led his life that way at all. This is a pure hit piece. It’s not based on his Mormonism. It’s happening because he’s conservative.
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If you wish to read the entire transcript from Rush Limbaugh’s radio show on this topic, click here. There are some comments sprinkled throughout this show that are quite humorous and overall I think the entire transcript is worth reading. There are other items about Romney that I did not include.
~ Vic Lundquist
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