You know, nothing is the way it was. Everything is changing out there. I used to say, ladies and gentlemen, that the left was far more fun when they were out of power. When they're in power, they're dangerous. I may have to revise that. I mean, they're still dangerous in power, but my gosh, this is getting hilarious already. Friday, let's go.
JOHNNY DONOVAN: Live from the Southern Command in sunny south Florida via New York City, it's Open Line Friday!
RUSH: Oh, yes, and I'll bet this is going to be a doozy of an Open Line Friday. Here are the rules. When we go to the phones on Friday, the program is all yours, meaning you can bring up any subject that you wish. You can ask a question, you can make a comment. If you want to talk about the mating habits of the Australian rabbit bat you can do that on Friday. Monday through Thursday we only talk about things that I care about. We broom that rule on Friday. So basically the show is yours when we go to the phones. Telephone number is 800-282-2882, and the e-mail address Rush@eibnet.com. All right, as you know, the Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader has released a new tape, a new audiotape today, and he claims in this tape to be winning the war faster than expected in Iraq, saying that it had mobilized 12,000 fighters.The Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader meanwhile vowed that his fighters will never rest until they've blown up the White House. (Laughing.) Now, I'm sorry to laugh at that. I know this is serious, they mean it. But what's funny is I think back to before the election, and I said, "If you're the Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, and you're winning this war hands down, and you're recruiting all these terrorists, why in the world would you want to keep the current American leadership in power since it's enabling your victory?" Instead, the tape praises the Democrats, and the tape praises the American people, and I don't know if you heard today's morning update, but I'm going to go through it again for you, because it's -- folks, you just have to laugh at this stuff. I mean, if it were not for the election results and the Democrats and who we know they are, it wouldn't be funny. And it isn't really funny. I'm just sorry, I cannot help laughing at this.
Let me just give you a couple lines from this news story. Again, the headline: New Al-Qaeda tape says 12,000 activated. "Al-Muhajir, also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also urged the U.S. to stay in Iraq so his group would have more opportunities to kill American troops." They don't want us leaving. Then why did you support the Democrats? (Laughing.) "Al-Muhajir became the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al- Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June. The tape could not be independently verified," but we'll assume that it will be by the end of the day. The Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader praised the outcome of Tuesday's elections. (Laughing.) They're getting George McGovern involved in the timeline to pull out, folks. George McGovern is going to advise the Democrats! (Cracking up.) This Al-Qaeda in Iraq guy just finishes praising Bush for recruiting 12,000 new terrorists, says don't leave, we want to kill more of you, and then praises the election where the Democrats win.
All right, I must regain my composure here. The Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader, "praised the outcome of Tuesday's elections in which Democrats swept to power in the House and the Senate, in large part due to U.S. voter dissatisfaction over the handling of the war in Iraq. 'The American people--'" he's talking about you "'--have put their feet on the right path by realizing--" (Laughing.) I'm sorry, I thought I could get through this. Hang on just a second. Blow the nose. Sorry, there's no way of doing this silently. It is what it is. All right, take three. Yeah, let me try this a different way. Let me translate it. The Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader said, my fellow Democrats, "'The American people have put their feet on the right path by realizing their president's betrayal in supporting Israel,' the terror leader said. 'So they voted for something reasonable in the last elections.' Describing President Bush as 'the most stupid president' in U.S. history, al-Masri reached out to the Muslim world and said his group was winning the war in Iraq faster than expected due to U.S. policies." He should want those policies to have continued then, correct? "He urged Bush not to withdraw U.S. forces so al-Qaida could have more opportunities to fight U.S. soldiers. 'We haven't had enough of your blood yet,' he told the U.S. The speaker also referred to Rumsfeld's resignation and called on 'the lame duck (Bush) not to hurry up in escaping the same way the defense minister did.' 'They are getting ready to leave, because they are no longer capable of staying,' the al-Qaida leader said, referring to U.S. forces. 'Remain steadfast in the battlefield, you coward,' he said, addressing Bush." Yet he praises the electorate for electing the Cut-and-Run Democrats. And they won't rest again, Al-Qaeda, they will not rest until they have blown up the White House. This happens to come on a day in which Patrick Leahy, who's going to become the chairman of the judiciary committee is saying openly, and I have the story in the stack here, (doing Leahy imitation) "Ah, we're going to get rid of the foreign surveillance, well, we're not going to get rid of the foreign surveillance program; we're going to get rid of the surveillance without warrants. We're not going to have the American people spied on anymore, so we're going to have the program, but everything the government wants to listen to has got to be done with warrants," and he says the Senate and the Congress are going to run the program.
So I hope that they luck out and intercept the plans and the date and the time that Al-Qaeda chooses to blow up the White House. Now, we seem yesterday to have a slight verbal backtrack from speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi. The AP reports, "Recognizing Congress's limitation, Pelosi said that when it comes to Iraq, 'it's not about the Democrats in Congress forcing the president's hand.'" Really? Yes, she said that. But that's news, ladies and gentlemen. The entire thrust of the anti-war campaign has been to elect Democrats who would force Bush to get us out of the Iraq quagmire, and now Pelosi says, "Well..." Meanwhile, John Murtha is saying he has no power, he might be the president, but he has no power. Murtha is saying we are going to get out, and they're having meetings with George McGovern to discuss ways of getting out. The messages are already off message. The message coordination unit is not succeeding.
Now, the expectation, by the way, has been raised by the Democrats that we are going to get out of there. People went to the polls on Tuesday with that as their issue firmly believing the Democrats are going to get us out of there. That's not, by the way, the expectation only in America. That expectation exists around the world because Democrats promised the world that we would get out of Iraq, and the world believed. For instance, here is a statement, "In an extraordinary joint statement, more than 200 Socialist members of the European Parliament hailed the American election results as 'the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world' and said they left the Bush administration 'seriously weakened.'" Hugo Chavez said this is great, "a repudiation of Bush's Iraq policy," said he was "filled with optimism" over the Democrats' win. In France, Dominique somebody or else at the Institute On International Relations said there is "less White House in America now and a little less America in the world." But the money quote yesterday -- well, I don't know -- the money quote has to be everything that the new Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader said today. The money quote yesterday came from Iraq, a political ally of Muqi al-Sadr said this."The vote shows the Iraqi and American people are of one mind about withdrawing U.S. troops. ... We hope the Democrats don't forget their campaign promises.'" (Laughing.) This is our enemy in Iraq. Surreal! "My fellow Democrats, we hope you do not forget your campaign promises." The guy went on to say, "If they don't, we will deal with them in a brotherly way once the last American soldier pulls out from Iraq." A brotherly way in Al-Qaeda terms or Muqi terms, the Democrats let these people down. So Nancy and Harry, I mean you raised these expectations. Not just here, but around the world. And now you've got the Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader saying, glad you're elected, but don't leave, because he's not through killing our guys. Wants more blood, calling Bush a coward, you sort it out, it's your operation now.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
The hits just keep on coming. Associated Press late yesterday afternoon: Iraqi President Says Democrats Told Him They Will Not Pull Out Quickly. "President Jalal Talabani said Thursday that he had been assured by Democrat congressional leaders during a recent visit to Washington that they would continue to support the government here and had not plans for a quick withdrawal from Iraq. Talabani, a Kurd whose post is ceremonial, said Democrats also backed his idea of placing U.S. troops in bases while putting Iraqis in charge of security in and around cities. 'They all told me that they want the success of Iraq's democratically elected government and continued support for the Iraqi people to defeat terrorism,' Talabani said about his trip to the United States in late September. 'One of them (a Democrat leader) told me that any early withdrawal will be a catastrophe for the United States and the world,' Talabani, speaking from his northern hometown of Sulaimaniyah, told the Dubai-based Al-Jazeera satellite broadcaster. Asked whether the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld meant the Bush administration's policy in Iraq would collapse, Talabani said, 'I know George Bush as a clear and strong man who does not bow down to blackmail.'"
All right, what are we to make of this? It's understandable that Democrats would talk to Talibani when he comes to Washington. It would have been a different if Democrats had flown over there for a John Kerry behind the scenes meeting, but I can understand why they would be talking to the guy and why he would meet with them, but, man, he's out there saying, "They told me we're not pulling out of there, we have no intention. It would be a catastrophe if we got out of there."
How is this going to play? You're not going to hear about this anywhere in the Drive-By Media, so it's not going to get wide play, but you throw this in the mix of all the stuff today, and it's just surreal. The whole thing is just surreal. Then you add this. "George McGovern, the former senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate--" it strikes me, by the way, 1972, that's 34 years ago, knowing how inept the public education system is in this country it is entirely possible we have members of this audience who don't really know who George McGovern is. They may know the name, but they may not know why George McGovern, who's nearing the twilight, would be gathering with Democrats. This guy lost one of the most lopsided elections in the history of this country to, of all people, Richard Nixon. He promised to give every American a thousand dollars in his campaign. He was an anti-war dove. I mean, he was a military guy, he flew fighter planes in World War II, but he became the Democratic Party's elected symbol of the anti-war movement in the sixties.
The John Murtha of his day, if that helps you. We talked yesterday about the sons of the sixties, McGovern is one of the fathers of the sixties, just to help you put this in perspective. Now, I've always told you people, one of the things I've noticed is that failure, humiliation, and embarrassment seem to vault Democrats to the top of the poll of stature. Jimmy Carter, George McGovern, all of their big losers, humiliating losers -- the only exception would be Dukakis, he ended up in Hawaii teaching school somewhere. I don't think he sought to become big in the Democratic Party after his loss, but that's the only exception I can think of. These guys are just elevated to stature that they have not earned at all. So if that helps you understand, McGovern was the original cut-and-run Democrat. He was as enamored of US defeat then as Democrats are today. Which makes sense.
But here's the story. This out of Lincoln, Nebraska. "George McGovern, the former senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate, said he will meet with more than 60 members of Congress next week to recommend a strategy to remove U.S. troops from Iraq by June. If Democrats don't take steps to end the war in Iraq soon, they won't be in power very long, McGovern told reporters Thursday before a speech at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 'I think the Democratic leadership is wise enough to know that if they're going to follow the message that election sent, they're going to have to take steps to bring the war to a conclusion.'" Well, you just heard the Iraqi president, Jalal Talibani say he met with these Democrats back in September and October, and they have no intention of leaving. And you've heard the Al-Qaeda in Iraq guy say, "We're not going to rest 'til we blow up the White House; we don't want your troops to leave; we want to blow your troops to smithereens; we want more of your blood; Bush, you coward, don't run out on us now." And they praised the election of Democrats.
"McGovern will present his recommendations before the Congressional Progressive Caucus--" which means the socialists and others. "--a 62-member group led by Reps. Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee. 'The best way to reduce this insurgency is to get the American forces out of there,' McGovern said. 'That's what's driving this insurgency.'" Well, terrorists love chaos and insurgencies, and they're telling us today they don't want us to leave. "McGovern told the audience Thursday that the Iraq and Vietnam wars were equally 'foolish enterprises' and that the current threat of terrorism developed because — not before — the United States went into Iraq." 9/11 didn't happen, as far as George McGovern is concerned, nor did the '93 World Trade Center. No terrorist attack happened before 9/11 on US soil or US territory abroad. We caused it all.
"McGovern's plan — as written in his new book, 'Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now' — also calls for the United States to remove hired mercenaries from the region, push for the removal of British troops and establish a temporary transitional force, similar to police, made up of Muslims from the region. 'I've talked with a lot of senior officers — generals and admirals — in preparation for this book, that say this war can't be won, that the problems now are not military problems,' McGovern told reporters. 'There isn't going to be any decisive victory in Iraq.' It is vital that Republican and Democratic legislators find common ground with one another and President George W. Bush, McGovern said." So he's on the same path. Pelosi doesn't even call it a war. Pelosi says it's a "situation" that has to be solved. McGovern's calling it a war. The Iraqi president is saying Democrats have told him they're not going to pull out of there, it would be a catastrophe. The Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader is saying, "We love it, we don't want you guys to go, Bush is a coward, don't run off on us now. Bush, we want to kill more of your troops, we don't have nearly enough of your blood. By the way, we praise the Democrats for winning the election and the American people." And then the Muqi al-Sadr guy is telling Democrats, "If you don't follow through on your promise to get out of here, we will deal with in a brotherly way." I did a good job of keeping a straight face the last 20 minutes of this, but this is just a hoot!
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
All right, it gets even better. John Murtha was on NPR. I've never listened to NPR other than when we have sound bites from them here. What's that stand for, National Public Radio? I've never listened. Anyway, regarding Iraq, Murtha said, "Winning is not a strategy. Victory is not a strategy." On what the Democrats will do, Murtha said, "We're going to say here's a plan that we have, and Speaker Pelosi has signed onto the plan that I have. Stability in the Middle East, stability in Iraq comes from redeployment of our troops, and that's going to be what we'll work for." He's the guy, by the way, that suggested redeployment to Okinawa, among other places, and Kuwait. And on the presidency, Murtha said, "Listen, this isn't a dictatorship. The president can say all he wants to. The president has no power. The president is a perception of power, and he's lost that power in this election." That's your modern-day George McGovern. This guy is the George McGovern of the 2006 Democrat Party. "Look, this isn't a dictatorship, president can say all he wants to, the president has no power. He's a perception of power. He's lost that power in this election. And, by the way, winning is not a strategy, victory isn't a strategy. Can't have that as a strategy."
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