Posted on 07/31/2004 10:36:21 AM PDT by Maria S
We hope top Bush Cheney strategists Karl Rove and Mary Matalin were tuned into Rush Limbaugh's Friday radio broadcast, especially the segment where the top-talker debuted what he called, "The Commander-in-Chief Test."
If Bush campaign officials were listening in, what they got was a slam dunk argument for President Bush's reelection that framed the case against John Kerry more eloquently and compellingly than anything so far offered by the White House. And we mean by miles.
"The Commander-in-Chief Test lets you be the history maker," Limbaugh began.
"First question: You're George Washington in 1776. You've lost every battle. The Revolution seems a bust. Your spies tell you that the British officers are wintering in Trenton. You think that means that the Germans are going to get falling-down drunk on Christmas Eve and sleep it off the next morning. However, they are the world's best soldiers and they'll beat you if they're awake, sober or not. Also the Delaware River is full of ice, and your guys have no food or shoes. Many New Jerseyites are Tories who might rat you out. Do you roll the dice to change the course of the war, figuring the Germans don't like fighting on Christmas, or do you wait for springtime rather than risk what little is left of the Continental Army?
"I just want to stress," the top talker interjected, "the answer to none of these [questions] is 'Call the United Nations.'
"Second Question: If you're Abe Lincoln in 1863, General Lee has crossed into the North, but no one knows where he's going. The Union Army has been beaten in most every battle so far, and if you lose on your own ground, the Union is likely lost to the South. Do you keep the Army away from Lee until he gets tired and heads back South, or do you send General Meade out looking for Lee even if they find that rascal in some cross-roads town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg?
"What do you do? What would Senator Kerry have done? "Third Question: You are the duty officer in Honolulu, December 7, 1941. Two soldiers manning the newly invented radar call to report a lot of blips on the screen. Headquarters had already advised you to expect a flight of American bombers from California that morning. So do you sound the alarm to the fleet?
Do you scramble the fighter planes and hope Rear Admiral Kimmel and General Short don't yell at you if you're wrong, or tell the radar guys their shift is ending anyway and not to worry about it?
"If you're John Kerry manning the radar, what do you do?
"Fourth Question: You are Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939. You've received a letter from the famous quirky physicist Albert Einstein recommending building an atomic bomb in order to beat the Nazis to the punch. Not really knowing what an atomic bomb is and not yet at war, do you ask Congress to study the matter and ask your intelligence operation to confirm if the Nazis are building one of these weapons themselves, or do you order secret development with money skimmed from other projects and hidden through phony congressional appropriations? Do you do the Manhattan Project?
"What do you do if you are John Kerry? Remember now, you can't call the UN. At this point, it's the defunct League of Nations anyway.
"Fifth Question: You are Admiral Nimitz in 1942. Navy intelligence intercepted coded messages they reveal shows Japanese plans to steal the American island of Midway, but they also tell you Japanese could be planning attacks elsewhere. You know that banking on Midway would leave the door open elsewhere. Do you risk your aircraft carriers that escaped the Pearl Harbor attack perhaps leaving no U.S. Fleet in the Pacific, or do you try catching the Imperial Fleet with the kimono open and reverse the course of the war at Midway?
"What do you do if you're John Kerry? Remember now, you can't call the United Nations. You can't call the French.
"Sixth Question: You are Dwight Eisenhower in June of 1944. Your weatherman tells you he sees a break in the bad weather and a narrow window for your landing forces to get on the beaches of Normandy. You hope, but you can't confirm that allied disinformation has convinced Hitler the real invasion will be north. Do you risk a quarter million troops and the possibility of a stalemate in Europe, or do you say, 'Let's go,' rather than wait another month or two for D Day? (Remember, you can't call the United Nations.)
"What do you do if you're John Kerry? Remember, there's no turning back.
"Seventh Question: You're also Eisenhower in December 1944. Intelligence says the Germans are on the run. They're low on gasoline and ammo. The men deserve a break, and many officers want to leave for Christmas in Paris. How can the Germans possibly break through that dense forest? and knowing what we know from test question one, the Germans don't like to fight on Christmas. Do you ignore the intelligence and figure that Hitler will try to catch you with your pants down and inflict on the American Army its worst-ever disaster?
"What do you do faced with the Battle of the Bulge if you are John Kerry?
"Eighth Question: You are Harry Truman in August of 1945. FDR's atomic bomb recommended by Einstein is tested successfully, and you have two more of bombs ready to use. The scientists who build the bomb are opposing its use. Intelligence reports suggest the Japanese are starving and on their last legs ready to talk turkey. American bombers are already turning many Japanese cities into cinders. Do you secretly advise the Japanese they can surrender now before you drop the bomb, or do you drop the bomb and ask questions later?
"What do you do if you're John Kerry?"
Limbaugh cited several other examples where presidents took critical risks that saved both America and the world, before delivering the coup de grace: "You are President Bush in early 2003, just months after September 11 and anthrax. The Clinton administration had indicted Osama bin Laden citing ties to Saddam Hussein and had bombed a suspected bioweapons in Sudan with ties to Iraq . . . .
"Intelligence suggests that terrorists met with others in Prague. UN weapons inspectors are being frustrated in Iraq. British intelligence says Saddam was trying to buy uranium in Africa. Saddam invaded Kuwait a decade before. He had used chemical weapons on his own people.
One of the perpetrators of first World Trade Center bombing had taken refuge in Baghdad. Families of Palestinian suicide bombers were paid by Iraq. The CIA Director originally appointed by Clinton tells you it's "a slam-dunk" that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction.
"The French are opposed to war with Iraq, saying their intelligence service believes Iraq still has weapons of mass destruction. Russian President Putin, [also] opposed to war with Iraq, tells you Russian intelligence believes Iraq has plans for terror assaults in the US. Most of the CIA contacts in Iraq are murdered.
"Do you wait to get more spies in the country to confirm the other intelligence, or do you go to Congress for a resolution supporting the use of force and then use the force and then use the force?
"What would you do if you are John Kerry?" [End of Excerpt]
If team Bush were smart, they'd borrow Limbaugh's "Commander-in-Chief Test" verbatim and simply repackage it as a campaign commercial. Or better yet, adapt some variation of the radio host's eye-opening national security history lesson for Bush's closing remarks in the final debate against John Kerry.
To listen to Limbaugh's "Commander-in-Chief Test" in its entirety, go to: www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_073004/content/eib_pop_quiz.guest.html
Bump - it's a Rush!
Mary Matalin (Carvlle) is a top Bush-Cheney strategist?
God help us.
Excellent, but making it short enough in a commercial or in the debates for the relatively ignorant and unstimulated American citizens will be tough. But Bush could do it....... and SHOULD. That is great!
I'd love to see the Bush team hire Rush as an undercover consultant. He has one of the best political minds in the nation.
Great points, great line of thought, but if they use it now the rhetoric is who is up for election? R-ush or B-ush?
Rush should leave great points like this offline and hand them to Rove. Or maybe his best is yet to come?
Hide behind the rich lady's skirts and miss Senate votes.
This commentary by Rush was one of his best.
BTTT
Mary is GREAT...she can out debate that snake of a husband better than anyone...she has told him that he will keep his mouth shut at home until after the elections and she said he knows she means it!
By his own admission, Rush is often "out" when a big story breaks. He jokingly says that the Dems wait for him to go on vacation to break stories, since he won't be around to comment. I think rather that he has sources that tip him to major events on the horizon. Rush then takes a short vacation to see how the story unfolds as it hits, then comes back in with analysis and opinion wherein he ofters good advice about the situation to whomever can use it.
Karl Rove. The equal to a cheating spouse; who's job is to figure out how to maximize cheating while keep the partner in the marriage.
Propose to an heiress!
That may be what he thinks he's doing now--proposing to the whole country...
This was already posted this morning - I am not complaining - and is also on the free side of Rush's site.
Anyway, I sent it to all of my personal email buddies when it appeared earlier because you are right it's too long for sound bites etc. unless the phrase "You cannot call the UN or wait for the Michael Moore movie for the answer." catches on.
We should all distribute it as widely as possible.
How many Americans know what the Battle of the Bulge was? Or that Washington fought the British?
How about if Bush used this as his acceptance speech? And remember, the answer is not "Ask the United Nations first."
No doubt because the UN didn't exist in the eighteenth century. Sorry, Rush, but this is a stupid non sequiter.
She sure did great job for Bush I, didn't she?
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