Author Topic: The Media and Obama on Gay Marriage: Much Ado About Doing Absolutely Nothing  (Read 966 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline DCPatriot

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,799
  • Gender: Male
  • "...and the winning number is...not yours!
The Media and Obama on Gay Marriage: Much Ado About Doing Absolutely Nothing
May 10, 2012


BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  Robin Roberts, friend of the Obamas, chosen by the Obamas for the exclusive interview on gay marriage.  If I were a journalist and I was chosen because I'm friendly, I'd be embarrassed, but that's just me.  If I were a real journalist and they picked me because I'm known to be friendly, I'd be embarrassed. But she's a friend to the Obamas.  Anyway, she said to Stephanopoulos, "I'll tell you, George, I'm getting chills again." It was like pulling teeth.  Did you see the interview?  It was a really, really tough get.  I mean, I'll tell you what, Obama was resisting as hard as he could.  He didn't want to tell anybody how he had "evolved."  He didn't want to let anybody know what he was thinking.  But Robin Roberts personally requested, personally provided by ABC News. Brian Williams not happy about it, by the way.  They've devoted a whole network to Obama.  What did they get?  Zip.



Robin Roberts, I'll tell you what, folks. She dug deep. She kept hounding. She wouldn't let the president go.  He was trying to avoid this all day. He kept sitting there, you could see him, the look on his face, "Why did I agree to do this interview? That stupid Biden. I don't want to say what they want me to say, I have no desire to say it."  She kept plugging at it. She kept working it. She kept digging deep. She refused to let his obstinance stop her.  And in a matter of five seconds, Barack Obama broke down.  Maybe ten.  What was it really all about?  What's really going on here?  Let us demonstrate for you.

By the way, you know who this is, and you know the phone number and you know we don't take very many phone calls. So that's why I didn't tell you who I am and what the number is.  You know.  I'd rather get straight into it, straight into the meat of it just like Robin Roberts did with Barack Obama.  Get in there, get it, and get out. Then go back and tell Stephanopoulos, "I'm starting to get chills again, George."  Starting to get chills again.  Yeah, she practically had to waterboard Obama.  I kept expecting to see Jose Rodriguez come out there with a bottle of Ensure, because Robin Roberts was working Obama over so heavy and so hard on this.  Anyway, here's what this is really all about.

(playing of spoof)

RUSH:  That's what it's all about, ladies and gentlemen.  That's white comedian Paul Shanklin. White Tennessean American Paul Shanklin with the vocal portrayal there of Barack Obama.  You know, folks, this is one of these days. I'm in a foul humor today, and I'll tell you up front, I might be very cynical about things today.  I'm just warning you.  I look around, I listen, and I see everywhere I look in the media that gay marriage, we had some guy call yesterday, try to advance this theory, "Hey, Rush, we're gaining on you.  Yeah, 60-40.  But pretty soon it's gonna be 50-50 and we're gonna overtake you." Okay, fine.  I look around, I look at the news media, and no matter where I go, gay marriage, universally, overwhelmingly popular, in every poll I look at.  The vast majority of the American people fully, unconditionally, eagerly, anticipatorily support gay marriage, and yet every damn time it's been on the ballot it loses in landslide numbers.

So I, El Rushbo, my finger to the grindstone, my ear to the pulse, and my nose, whatever smells best, am trying to figure this out.  How can we have polling data touted by all the media which shows overwhelming national support, except in the black community, wherever you go, of gay marriage, and yet every time it's come up on the ballot, loses.  It hasn't even come close to winning when it's put to a vote.  It's just like Obama's likability numbers.  The people that give him a job approval (unintelligible) support health care, 30%, 35% still support Obamacare.  Sixty-five percent likability.  Nothing gels here.

At any rate, you and I are in the midst of one of the most incredibly coordinated media swarms that we've been in in a while.  I wouldn't say it's top five all time media swarm, but it's close.  It's big.  The distraction going on here, the effort to distract, the effort to mislead, to misinform, I mean, it's in full swing.  And this whole thing, ladies and gentlemen, is choreographed.  It started before Vice President Biden appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday.  But the excuse is that Biden did it. Biden forced Obama's hand.  It's in The Politico, that Joe Biden forced Obama's hand on gay marriage.  That's weird.  Just weird.  They're trying to blame Obama's decision on Bite Me, in case it ends up backfiring.  That's what the whole thing's about.

If this backfires it's gonna be Biden's fault.  If it backfires. (interruption) Well, wait a minute, Mr. Snerdley.  Snerdley's asking me how can it backfire?  Well, I guess we have to define the terms again.  Where is gay marriage being legalized in this country?  I mean by the people. Take it out of the hands of legislators and judges.  It hasn't happened yet.  That's my point.  Overwhelming public support for gay marriage, 32 states have turned it down.  The people, 32 states, including California, have turned it down.

Snerdley, "Well, how can it backfire?  I look at the media, it's what everybody wants."  It just lost in North Carolina.  You would think that it's now legal all over the country 'cause Obama came out and really hung tough with Robin Roberts. I mean, she had to work harder in that interview than I think ever before.  But you would think gay marriage is now legal.  You know what?  You people on the pro-Obama side, I hope you listen carefully to what he said, because he did not say that he thinks it ought to be legal.  He came across as a Federalist.  And that word confuses people.  The easiest way to explain federalism is when Obama said, (paraphrasing) "Well, I personally care about it, ought to be if they want to."  Well, okay, big whoop.  That carries the force of power of zilch.  "But it's a states issue," that's his out.  What do you mean?  He gave himself an out.  He didn't tell anybody that gay marriage should be mandatory.

All he did was come out and say, "You know, I talked to my two daughters about it and they set me straight." And I remember thinking, "Yeah, Amy Carter set Jimmy Carter straight on nuclear weapons." I mean, the instances of history repeating themselves with this regime and Carter's... It's amazing. Gay marriage isn't legal today. Not one thing has changed; not one state changed its mind because of what Obama said.

All that's happened here is Obama came out and said, "I think same-sex people ought to be able to get married, but it's up to the states." Hey, Barack! You want to give us that philosophy on abortion? He did not sweepingly declare gay marriage legal. He made everybody on the pro-gay marriage side think so, proving that they just want to hear the words. There was nothing historic about this in terms of anything changing.



 

If you want to say there was something historic, okay. We had a president come out and say, "I think people of same sex ought to be able to get married." He did not say, "And, by the way, I'm gonna finish here with Robin Roberts. We're gonna trade recipes, and I'm gonna go in, and I'm gonna make sure that gay marriage is legalized by the end of the year!" He didn't do that. He just said, "I think these people should be able to get married." Federalism.

Nothing changed by the time he'd finished. It's still up to the states; it's still up to the people in the states in their referenda. Nothing's changed, other than a president said he thinks people of the same sex should be able to get married. And that alone opened up the checkbooks. Do you know that one out of...? The Washington Post had a story that I can't find anymore. It was two days ago, and they've scrubbed it. I have it. (Well, I have some of it.)

One in six of Obama's bundlers: Gay. One out of every six. The bundlers are the people that go out and donate and organize other donors and pressure other donors to raise money, and you don't count unless you get a minimum of $500,000 to a $1 million. One of every six of his bundlers was gay and they were sending him signals, "Hey, pal, you know, you're not helping us." Well, when he finished yesterday, he didn't help 'em.

They think so, just with his words, but nothing changed. Don't be depressed, folks. Everybody's thinking, "Ah, we've lost the culture here," but nothing's changed here. Nothing was taken out of your hands. I mean, we still have corrupt judges that can overturn the way you vote, true. Here, I'll give you another example. Politico: "Black Voters Divided on Gay Marriage." It's about North Carolina. Wait a second, now. Wait just a second.

"African-Americans voted two-to-one in favor of the North Carolina amendment banning gay marriage..." That's not what they voted on. They voted on the definition. They had already banned gay marriage. What was on the ballot in North Carolina yesterday was the definition of marriage as one thing: A union between a man and a woman, pure and simple. That's what that was on the ballot yesterday, and African-Americans supported it two to one.

That sounds like a landslide to me. If Romney beats Obama two to one, that's gonna be big, right? How in the world can you say black voters are divided? "Divided" would be 50-50. Black voters are not divided. It was a two-to-one skunk in favor of this deal banning gay marriage. So African-Americans on the Democrat side? I hate to be the one to tell you: What this came down to is color of your skin versus the color of their money where Obama is concerned.

And guess what he chose?

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

(playing of spoof)

RUSH: In a couple places they are laughing at Obama over this. They are making fun of Obama over this. Folks, we've got unemployment. We've got an economy that has been wrecked. We have debt piling up. The American people, the people who make this country work, are not distracted by this. They're not getting caught up in the media inertia of the day; they're not getting caught up in this narrative.

They are not forgetting everything else. They're looking at this and saying, "What the heck is this about? Our country is going down the drain and you want to act like you're the biggest statesman ever come along since Winston Churchill over this? This has nothing to do with the future of the country -- immediately, anyway. This has nothing to do with my life. This has nothing to do with the fact I need a job!

"This has nothing to do with it."

People are not -- the country is not -- solemnly considering civil rights, discrimination, bigotry, and how Obama is leading the people to new levels of equality and sameness and respect. That's not what's happening. You know, if you watch the media, that's all you think people are talking about today. It's all they care about. "Oh, wow! What an advance. This is the kind of stuff that we were looking for in '08. Yeah! Yeah! This is what we were looking for in 2008."

No, folks.

People have not forgotten.

Their home's value has been destroyed. They've not forgotten they've lost their jobs and they can't get a new one. They've not forgotten that health care is right there on the horizon. They haven't forgotten that their kids and grandkids can't get a job; they haven't forgotten their kids still haven't moved out. And this doesn't matter to them. They're laughing, amidst other emotions. They're laughing at Obama taking this as seriously as he is, scheduling an interview and leading up to it with three days of build-up to THE Announcement!

People said, "Is that all there is?" People are buying Peggy Lee's song outta iTunes in record numbers: "Is That All There Is?" Every day that's the common man's reaction to Baraka Hussein Obama! Mmm! Mmm! Mmm! "Is that all there is?" Now, the gay militants that run the New York Times, they noticed, folks, that Obama didn't actually do anything yesterday. When this interview with Robin Roberts was over, nothing had changed. Not a single thing.

And the New York Times editorial today... Now, they applaud him for making the symbolic gesture of a president coming out and supporting the concept of gay marriage. They notice and they write about it. Obama used the excuse of states' rights, federalism, to avoid doing anything about it. Let me read to you from the militants at the New York Times, their editorial today. Quote: "We have one major point of disagreement with Obama.

"His support for the concept of states deciding this issue on their own." Well, I'm sorry, New York Times, but that was the thrust of his big announcement with Robin Roberts. That was it. There is no more! So the New York Times, who care about this issue as much if not more than anybody else in the media anywhere else, says: We've got one major problem here and that's his support for the concept of states deciding this.

"That position," writes the New York Times, "effectively restricts the right to marry to the 20 states that have not adopted the kind of constitutional prohibitions North Carolina voters approved on Tuesday." So the New York Times says: What? Big deal! Nothing happened. We got some symbolism and that's it -- and when Obama finishes, there are still limited places in this country where gay people can get married. So the New York Times is demanding Obama go further: Gay rights "are too precious and too fragile to be left up to the whim of states and ... partisan politics."

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: So we are six months away from the election. And the White House, quite naturally, wants to talk about anything but the economy, anything but health care, anything having to do with anything Obama has tried to accomplish. So we're talking about gay marriage. Do you understand, ladies and gentlemen, now, why there is so much pressure in the media (and even from the Republican establishment) on all of us to not talk about the social issues?

Oh, yes!

"Don't bring up the social issues, Rush! Oh, no! You're gonna send every independent running right to Obama and the Democrats. The independents don't want to hear about the social issues."

Really? Jeff Bell's book. I interviewed him for the Limbaugh Letter, the most widely read political newsletter. I've got the numbers for every Republican presidential election in modern history. In every victory, social issues were a prime, major factor -- as they will be this year. Obama has guaranteed it. Obama has done everything he can to say to white working-class Americans who vote that he's not interested in them. The bitter clingers? He's not interested. His campaign's being aimed at people that don't have jobs and don't want them.

His campaign's being aimed at special interest groups that donate a lot of money. Don't believe this notion that they want you to shut up about the social issues so they can get away with these efforts here to fundamentally change American culture. But they brought it up. We're sitting here and we're minding our own business, and all of a sudden they put gay marriage in our face for three or four straight days? I'm sorry; they're the ones that have introduced social issues. And it's perfectly understandable.

That isn't why they want us to shut up. I'm telling you: Obama has just started hammering another nail in the coffin that will house his first term. They are laughing out there. It's not 2008 where we're gonna lower the sea levels and all that happy horse manure. It's 2012, where there's a disastrous economic record -- and this solemnity and the gravity and the seriousness and the importance of gay marriage? (pause) It's not playing. And especially since after all of this big dog-and-pony show, nothing's different!

That is the key: Nothing has changed.

END TRANSCRIPT

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"It aint what you don't know that kills you.  It's what you know that aint so!" ...Theodore Sturgeon

"Journalism is about covering the news.  With a pillow.  Until it stops moving."    - David Burge (Iowahawk)

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living" F. Scott Fitzgerald