http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_090506/content/america_s_anchorman.guest.html

Rush Commentary To Air This Thursday
Puts Our Views on CBS Evening News

September 5, 2006

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let me deal with a rumor that circulated over the Internet. It hit the Drudge Report, I forget, I guess it was sometime Saturday or Sunday, the rumor being that I am helping to launch or welcome Katie Couric to the CBS Evening News tonight or this week. The reporting on this was somewhat confusing and sketchy based on how you read it. I had people e-mailing me all weekend long who were taking different things out of it. It's amazing to study this. This is a little aside, but it was an amazing thing to study the way people read things. Drudge was pretty clear about what this rumor was, but I had people write, "So! I see you're going to welcome Katie tomorrow night with Cronkite?" Meaning tonight.

"Oooh, don't tell me! What do you mean? You're going to do an interview with Katie? Why would you help Katie? What were you doing an interview for?" All kinds of different takes. Many of you accusing me of being a sellout, a phony, going over to the dark side, what have you, and I sat there and I smiled in stunned amazement at this. I've been here 18 years, and I even got e-mails from friends. One friend sent me a note with nothing but question marks in the subject line, and I just wrote back, "Do you think I'm an idiot? Do you think I'm a fool?" Eighteen years I have been sitting here in the prestigious and distinguished Attila the Hun Chair and yet there are those isolated moments in time where all of you or some of you think I'm going to be the biggest blithering idiot that you've ever encountered.

I understand why this is, ladies and gentlemen. As conservatives, for being downtrodden for so long, being in the minority for so long, you have become conditioned to the left outsmarting even the best and brightest of our movement, and you have also been betrayed. Since Ronald Reagan, conservative Republicans have been betrayed to one degree or another by every elected official. Well, by many elected officials. Certainly elected conservative leaders have gone south on a number of things from senator -- well, I could mention names but you know what I mean. So I think people are just waiting there on the precipice for the latest example of, "Oh, no. We can't trust any of 'em." Let me explain to you what happened and tell you what this is.

Early in August I was approached by Ms. Couric herself, and she told me of a segment that they were going to do in their new newscast called free speech, freedom of speech. "Free Speech" I think it is, and every night there will be a commentator that will get between a minute and 15 to a minute and 30 depending on how competent and good they are. I got the full minute 30, and on Friday they're going to do comedians, and they're going to do this every night, and some nights it's going to be a Wal-Mart shopper. Some nights it'll be a professional academic. Some nights it'll be a pundit. It'll be full of people that you know or you don't know. They hope they're going to, you know, run the gamut with this, and Katie asked me if I would consider appearing on the first week, and I said, "Yeah, but my experience with these kinds of things, Katie, leads me to ask you for certain promises, conditions," and I got those promises and conditions. They were met.

So last Thursday, we taped it in the EIB Building in Manhattan after the radio show, and it wasn't until I guess Saturday that I found out it actually is going to run on Thursday. That's the plan now. I don't know who's doing tonight. I don't know who's doing tomorrow night. I've heard that Clinton's done one, that McCain's going to do one, Giuliani. I don't know about anybody else. I have no clue who else is doing this, other than -- and I don't know any more than you do. I only know that I did mine and it will air sometime in the newscast on Thursday, and a lot of you, I think, are a little shortsighted on this, and I responded to some of the e-mails over the weekend questioning my loyalty to the movement, questioning my sanity, questioning my brains.

When the Drive-By Media offers 90 seconds of a 22-minute program -- an opportunity for me to express our views, my views, without debate, without somebody coming on afterwards to refute it -- and that's part of the feature, by the way. They've assured me and everybody they talked to that you do your piece on X night, the next night's not going to be somebody responding or replying, although I have heard that George Clooney has already asked for equal time (laughing) to respond to me. Now, I'm told that's not going to happen, and certainly it's not going to happen the next night. I didn't mention any names in my piece. I'm not going to tell you what it's about, because I don't want to give anything of it away, but just believe me on this, folks: It is our views, and they're pretty hard-hitting, and they're going to be on the CBS Evening News, and they haven't appeared -- these kinds of views haven't appeared much -- on the CBS Evening News or the ABC World News Tonight or the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

So I did it as an opportunity to reach that audience, which is about -- I bet she gets over eight million people this week every night, maybe a little bit more. The hype on this has been what it is. There's going to be a lot of curiosity and tune-in factor. She was very open and honest about all this when we were setting it up, and they came in on Thursday, as I say, and it was kind of funny. The crew from CBS was... (in-studio interruption). What are you smirking at, Snerdley? What time is the CBS Evening News on? (Laughing.) It's 6:30 Eastern Time. Some places I think they're going to do a six o'clock feed because some stations do network news at six. It's 6:30 Eastern and Pacific Time on most stations. But the crew came in, they were just nice and fun as they could be, and they found me to be the same way, which surprised them, which I just always find it fascinating.

"Gosh, he was so funny! He's such a nice guy."

Yeah, imagine that! When they all left, they all wanted autographed pictures. Oh, yes. So that's it. It's no longer a rumor. The reason I didn't say it? I don't know how Drudge got it, folks. Some of you people in the e-mail write, "Well, why didn't you tell us? How come we have to read it?" Because I didn't know that they were even going to use it! I don't know how many people they've dubbed, and I don't know how many of these they have in the can, and until I know it's going to be used, until I know what date it's going to be used, there's nothing to tell. So... (sigh) You know, folks, you're going to have to learn to trust me. We're getting into our 19th year here, ladies and gentlemen. I think I have earned your trust for brains, propriety, decision-making and so forth and so on. This is in no way "going over to the dark side." (Laughing.) This is in no way. It may help them, but it's also beneficial to all of us. So, we'll see. But don't worry. It's not an introduction and it's not an interview. It's a straight opinion piece -- and fired with both barrels, I might add.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, we have traveled this road before. Way, way, way back in the early Nineties, I took the Rush to Excellence Tour to a casino in Reno, Nevada. Oh, did I hear about that! I said, "Jesus says, 'Go where the sinners are.'" Then I did a Playboy magazine interview.
I heard the grief over that. "How could you dare do that? I'm never buying that!" I said, "I know. Jesus said, 'Go where the sinners are.'" Now I am appearing on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on Thursday, solo, in a commentary, and all hell's breaking loose out there (laughing) everywhere, including on my website. I think some of you need to chill on this and understand that it represents an opportunity, and that's as much as can be said about it. I don't want to sit here and address all these fears and negative concerns.

The only thing about that that somewhat interests me is, even after 18 years, how many of you -- well, I don't even know how many it is; this is just e-mail -- how some of you think I can just end up being the biggest fool on the face of the earth. Now, I realize you've heard me talk about the Drive-By Media and the American left and so forth. But you're only remembering certain selected things that I have said about them. This is, I think, an opportunity. If I might say this -- I probably shouldn't say that because I don't talk about myself much, and I certainly don't brag. Let me just ask you this. They wanted to get some conservative. They wanted to get "a leading conservative" to appear, who did they call? Me. And so, there it is. It's probably going to be a win-win, ladies and gentlemen. I understand some of you upset. "All you're going to do is increase viewership for Katie!" Yeah, but at the same time, viewers of the CBS Evening News will hear things that they probably haven't heard and don't expect to hear on the network. I don't want to build it up. It's just 90 seconds. I don't want to build up expectations that can't be met, but it is what it is.

END TRANSCRIPT

I think this is a shameless attempt at an Alpha post tomorrow evening!!!!

Rush is on Thursday, tomorrow is Wednesday.

:)

6:30pm tonight (one hour, 15- minutes from now). Katie Debues

I'm at a hotel right now watching the local CBS news. They have a program explaining that she had a nine-city tour this past year to find out what people wanted to see on the CBS News. This is really incredible. People are sincerely stating they want honesty and integrity.

And, at the time, CBS was giving them Rather. LOL.

About the ONLY thing that could motivate me to turn in to view SeeBS "news" would be to see a duel between Cronkite and Dan Blather. Of course they would both be compelled to be armed with blunderbusses and have their ankles tied together with a 16' rope.

Katie Couric?? Milwaukee couldn't possibly brew enough beer to get me to watch that worthless little trollup.

Ping

Katie Couric: I'm Not Biased, But My Viewers Are -- and So Is FNC

Asked at the Aspen Institute's "Ideas Festival" in early July -- but just broadcast Saturday night on C-SPAN -- about the charge of liberal bias, incoming CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric was condescendingly dismissive. She blamed her viewers, calling it a "Rorschach test" which demonstrated how "oftentimes people put their, they see you from their own individual prisms. And if you're not reflecting their point of view or you're asking an antagonistic question of someone they might agree with in terms of policy, they see you as the enemy." Later in the July 5 session, however, she presumed FNC does have a bias: "You have Fox which espouses a particular point of view."

Couric will take the CBS anchor chair tonight, Tuesday.

Bob Schieffer appeared alongside Couric at the Colorado forum hosted by Aspen Institute President Walter Isaacson, the former CEO of CNN and Managing Editor of Time magazine. Schieffer contended that "the press is like a draft army. It generally reflects the society that it comes from" and insisted: "I know some reporters who have very hard-right views and some who have hard-left views." I'd like to learn which journalists he considers "hard-right." Schieffer also forwarded another common argument in rejection of liberal bias: "The greatest defense against charges of bias is accuracy." In fact, a story can be accurate and yet still reflect a biased agenda.

[This item was posted Sunday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

Also noteworthy: The session took place just a few days after the New York Times broke the story about how the U.S. was monitoring the international financial transactions of terrorists and Isaacson, a veteran executive at CNN and Time magazine, said he wouldn't have run it: "I would not have printed it if I had been the editor."

Bio of Isaacson: www.aspeninstitute.org

The Aspen Institute's page for its "Ideas Festival": www.aspeninstitute.org

The MRC's Brad Wilmouth, working Saturday night, took down the comments from Couric and Schieffer aired during the C-SPAN "American Perspectives" airing of the hour-long July 5 session in Aspen, Colorado:

Walter Isaacson: "CBS had a bad reputation for being far too liberal. I've known y'all for a long time. I don't know your politics at all, but what do you think of the liberal charge, that the mainstream media, or how it affects you all as journalists?"

Bob Schieffer: "Go ahead. [laughter] I learned a couple of things here, didn't I, along the way?"

Katie Couric: "You know, well, certainly that charge has existed about journalists for many, many years, and I think that, you know, I know that I've tried my best through my career to ask challenging questions to whomever I'm speaking, and whether it's a Republican or a Democrat, I try to raise important issues depending on their particular position. And I think I'll continue to do that. I think that oftentimes you're a Rorschach, is that how you say that? Is that wrong? Is that the right word? Rorschach test, or whatever. And oftentimes people put their, they see you from their own individual prisms. And if you're not reflecting their point of view or you're asking an antagonistic question of someone they might agree with in terms of policy, they see you as the enemy, and I think that's just a mistake. I think my job is to politely but persistently ask challenging questions, and, you know, it took me a few years on the Today show to get the self-confidence to say to a Senator or someone in a high-ranking position, 'I'm sorry, Senator, but you didn't answer my question.' And I really just see that as my job, and in certain cases it will be offensive to various viewers, but you just can't let it bother you. You just have to forge ahead."

Schieffer: "You know what I think, Walter? I think the press is like a draft army. It generally reflects the society that it comes from. And in a draft army, you have people from all walks of life, and you have all different kinds of points of view, and I think it's the same thing in the press. But I think that, I would say 95 percent of the reporters I know are really just hard-working people who are trying to get the story, and I think that's what motivates them, get the story and get it on the air or in their newspaper before their competitor does. And I, you know, I know some reporters who have very hard-right views and some who have hard-left views, but I think as trained journalists you can put that aside. It is much more difficult, I think, to be objective than it is to be fair, but I think there is a way to be fair, and I think if you let the other guy have his say when you're doing a story about a controversial issue, I think then you're fulfilling your obligation. But let me also say this: The greatest defense against charges of bias is accuracy. If you get the story right, there's not much that anybody can say or criticize you for getting."

Isaacson: "But I'll give a counterexample. Would you have reported the Swift story, the terrorism story, which was accurate, right? And I'm not sure, I would not have printed it if I had been the editor."

Schieffer: "I don't know. I don't know the answer to that, and I had Bill Keller of the New York Times as my guest on Face the Nation Sunday. It was fascinating. Bill says that he believes that the terrorists, you'd have to be a pretty dumb terrorist not to know that that's what we were doing."

Isaacson: "We've got dumb terrorists in this world."

Schieffer: "Well, there may be some, and that was basically his justification because I asked him, I said, you know, why did you decide to publish this story? Why did you think it was in the public interest to know? And his answer was we think the public needs to know what the government is doing, not always just because it's illegal. He did not allege in the story that the practice was illegal. I'm going to take a pass on that. I mean, I think it was right to publish the eavesdropping stories. I think that that, there was reason enough to publish that. On this one, I do not know enough about this to make a judgment on whether I would have not, but I certainly would have given a lot of thought before I did, and to the Times' credit, they did give it a lot of thought. They didn't just wake up in the middle of the night and say let's do this."

Couric: "And we should mention, you know, the L.A. Times and the Wall Street Journal also published it, so the New York Times gets the brunt of the blame, but certainly other publications followed suit."

At some point in the coming week, C-SPAN will post streaming Real video of this September 2 broadcast: www.c-span.org

Check the MRC's Special Report by Rich Noyes, "Meet the Real Katie Couric: CBS's New Star Adores Liberals, Scolds Conservatives -- And Thinks America Should Be More Like France," for dozens of examples of Couric's liberal bias that she does not recognize -- with 15 video clips: www.mrc.org

http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2006/cyb20060905.asp#1

Milwaukee couldn't possibly brew enough beer to get me to watch that worthless little trollup, but we'll try.

Katie Couric?? Milwaukee couldn't possibly brew enough beer to get me to watch that worthless little trollup.

Awww, com'mon, Howie. Rush is on Thursday night.

"Awww, com'mon, Howie. Rush is on Thursday night."

Okay… El Rushbo says that IF he can save even one Liberal by making this appearance it would be worth it.

I honestly can’t think of one liberal that I know of, that is worth saving.

Thank you pookie18, I always enjoy your posts

The more "hype" the media puts out about anything, the more frantic and scared they are about getting any sort of return at all on their investment. Just look at some of the movies that have bombed recently following extensive pre-release media blitzes.

My pleasure, ZE!

I honestly can’t think of one liberal that I know of, that is worth saving.

Well, that seals it, Howie. No Katie Couric for you.

"Well, that seals it, Howie. No Katie Couric for you."

Promise??? :-)

the invisib1e hand ;SerpentDove ;BigSkyFreeper;ChadGore;My2Cents;ncountylee;TexasCajun;Laverne;Roccus;Rummyfan;COUNTrecount;Howie66;martin_fierro;pookie18;Cookie123;Admin Moderator

15 minute Ping

ping

15 minutes to zero?

Katie promises that you will see a new, different CBS. "I think they want a greater perspective, less taling heads on a daily basis, and someone they can feel a bond with."

"Feel the story is relevant to their eyes"

CBS is fair and unbalanced