10,000 14,000 People Demand Chris Wallace Ask Rice About The U.S.S. Cole
10,000 14,000 People Demand Chris Wallace Ask Rice About The U.S.S. Cole
This morning, we suggested that readers email Chris Wallace and tell him to ask Condoleezza Rice the following question:
Prior to 9/11, you had eight months to respond to the al-Qaeda attack on the U.S.S. Cole. Why didn’t the Bush administration take action and put al-Qaeda out of business?
After all, Wallace asked President Clinton this question last month, even though the “CIA and the FBI refused to certify that Bin Laden was responsible” until early 2001, which foreclosed the possibility of a full response during the Clinton administration.
Also, Chris Wallace said he asked Clinton because “I got a lot of e-mail from viewers.” So far 10,000 people have emailed Wallace and told him to ask this question. Join this effort HERE.
We’ll monitor Fox News Sunday this weekend and let you know how Wallace responds.
UPDATE: As of 9PM, 14,000 people sent emails to Chris Wallace.
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[…] Original post by Judd Read More… […]
October 13th, 2006 at 5:44 pmYou know what, to heck with Rice. We just need to do what these guys say and re-elect Rick Santorum. He will make it all better.
Rick Santorum is the candidate you would like to have a beer with, and unlike Bobby Casey, he won’t do anything weird with the bottle, afterwards.
It says satire…but I am not so sure.
October 13th, 2006 at 5:48 pmI didn’t believe Wallace when he said to Clinton “We got a lot of emails so I need to ask you….etc.” It was just an excuse to ask him things that would blind side him…things that were woutside of what they had agreed to talk about. i.e. Wallace: “I’m not blindsiding you……it was the emails …the emails….!!!” Bullshit
October 13th, 2006 at 5:52 pmMa gawd but that woman needs for someone to ask her some tough questions, and hold her feet to the fire until she answers (of course, I’d prefer it literally; but that’s just me).
On the other hand, in the truthiness corner against Ricezilla of Lies is none other than Mr. Bushtard adoring authoritarian follower, Mike Douglas’s brat that looks older and uglier than his father.
So obviously I won’t be expecting any tough anything from him. I’m signing the petition just to prove that even millions of petitioners couldn’t get the Fox 24-Hour Comedy Channel to pull their corporate head out of Junior’s Junta’s collective ass.
So, Round Roger, prove me wrong, why don’t you!
October 13th, 2006 at 5:55 pmJudd,
While I think the email campaign is a great (if useless) drive I wish it had included more on the tenet-rice meeting that rice intially said never ocurred…you know about an impeding attack given all the ‘chatter’.
I doubt Chris will ask her and if he does it will be a softie. Too bad.
October 13th, 2006 at 5:56 pmatleast we gonna find out if he will ask the question or not.
October 13th, 2006 at 5:59 pmStop wasting time; Condi has had all of the questions for several days now. That’s how a scripted interview works.
October 13th, 2006 at 5:59 pmI’ve added my email to the list, along with the questions about recapturing the convicted terrorists who escaped, and about the international law implications of holding someone in a secret prison. (see the other thread for background on those.)
October 13th, 2006 at 6:00 pmI believe Rice has already claimed that Bush administration policy makers felt there was no appropriate “proportional response” for the attack on the USS Cole, and that a disproportional response would only serve to heighten support for terrorists, so they did nothing.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:09 pmJames,
The petition has suggested text in it. You can change the wording and make the question whatever you want it to be. I know I did.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:09 pmFortunately for me, Thomas Jefferson was also an architect… so this week, my students looked at early American architecture and I included several of his quotes. I included all the ones about people being vigilant over government, and that we do not have a government governed by the majority - but by the majority that participates.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:11 pmand that a disproportional response would only serve to heighten support for terrorists, so they did nothing.
Comment by osage — October 13, 2006 @ 6:09 pm
Then why are they surprised by the violent responses presently occuring in Iraq?
Neocon logic is absurd, at best.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:13 pmGood question to ask her. Would have been better if he could spring it on her unprepared. As it is, I’m sure Condi’s staff monitor this blog and have now given her two full days to “prepare” her answer. No matter, whatever she answers will just be a bunch of crap anyway.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:17 pmAmazing they have the capacity for 10,000 e-mails.
Anyway, even if Chrissy asks the question, where then?…….
hello, yes, speak up over there, in the back.
“Uh, I don’t think Condi will answer the question”
October 13th, 2006 at 6:18 pmClinton was ambushed. Condi will have plenty of time to work up some sort of ambiguous response.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:19 pmCondosleezza Rice: “Well, Chris, the report on the USS Cole is just a historical document.”
Chris Wallace: “Who are you dating these days?”
October 13th, 2006 at 6:23 pmCondi is a travesty. I have NO respect for her. She plays the piano…..so what. She has a good memory…….so what. She is a sell out and no better than you or I. I’m a professional cellist. I’m not too dumb myself. It doesn’t mean that I can narrow my eyes, shovel bullshit, and expect to ultimately get away with it. She really burns my ass…..I see right through her. She’s a political hack……..bring on the shoes.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:34 pmS: “She has a good memory…….so what.”
Really? After her inability to remember 55 specific warnings from the FAA and a number of urgent requests for meetings, I wouldn’t have thought she was that strong in the memory area.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:42 pmAfter we finally get rid of her she can start modeling shoes for Ferragamo. At least we won’t have to look at her from the waist up anymore.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:47 pmHere’re my additions to the boilerplate:
“I’d also like to know why, if it’s so ridiculous that she would disregard a definite threat, why she didn’t feel it necessary to press “President” Bush more regarding the August 6th, 2001 PDB that he himself had disregarded. Have her explain why 9/11 happened, anyway, despite her alleged awareness of the threat.
You may also want to ask her why she felt is necessary to go shoe shopping at Ferragamo’s on 5th Avenue and play-hopping along the Great Way while her people on the Gulf coast were drowning.
Your not-so-humble and disobedient servant,
etc.”
October 13th, 2006 at 6:57 pmUSS Cole?
Ask her about the USS Liberty!
Also, next time one of these demons say they can’t recall something.
Say
A: Please think hard about it. Most people can recall everything they’ve done with enough focused recollection.
B: If you truly can’t recall something so important, then obviously you aren’t fit for the job.
Attack these scumbags.
October 13th, 2006 at 6:59 pmMore on dead eye’s rice huh, oh well, still nothing on the miserable bill’s passed by the house and senate….Have a nice week end poster’s…Blessings
October 13th, 2006 at 7:07 pmWhat will probaly happen is Wallace will give Condi advance notice that he is going to ask the question so that she can have some bogus statement prepared. Rather then springing it on her like he did Clinton.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:15 pmWallace is such an ass kiss that even if he does mention it to Rice, it’s be softened, and he’ll apologize and say a bunch of liberals made him ask the question.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:32 pmOkay, try number three:
Ask Condi abou the USS Condelleeza Rice owned and operated by Exxon Mobile.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:34 pmForget about Condi, we need to look at the bigger questions. I just found this stunning report, released Oct 10, which outlines the war crimes the US has committed in Iraq and which then discusses the various mechanisms to pursue accountability.
Dahr Jamail, noted independent journalist who spent more than eight months reporting from occupied Iraq, writes the following about the report:
Progressives everywhere owe it to themselves and to their countrymen to read this report…now. It looks like a pretty decent playbook to me!!! Get it here.
Published by consumersforpeace.org.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:48 pmI’ll read it, and I’m up for NurembergII, if that’s where it get us.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:56 pmThere is absolutely no way Wallace will NOT ask her that question now, thanks to this. Fair and balanced, you know?
October 13th, 2006 at 7:58 pmI will await the follow up.
October 13th, 2006 at 8:06 pmdo you really expect two insane little idiots to talk about anything resembling truth as they do the doggie dance on fox?
October 13th, 2006 at 8:08 pmi didn’t think so
They both have a vested interest in making each other look good (unlike Clinton) so expect a barf-inducing love-fest.
October 13th, 2006 at 8:19 pmYou know he has no intentions of asking off-the-cuff, no matter how many emails, letters, calls he gets.
He won’t ask unless Rice was forewarned in order to give her ample time to prepare a non-answer crafted by her paid sycophants.
If he does eventually ask, I predict the name Clinton will be mentioned at some point in the answer.
October 13th, 2006 at 8:33 pm#32
You make an excellant point. Wallace is no journalist, just a lying chimp playing cards with Rove. We need the Fairness Doctrine back otherwise the Chimp in Chief will continue his illegal actions.
October 13th, 2006 at 8:35 pmCheck out your knowledge of our history and be part of the next war on terror. Sign on today!
The Second Declaration of Independence.
October 13th, 2006 at 8:44 pmWe’re bombing Iran in early November.
Think I’m nuts?
It’s the ultimate “rally-around-the-flag” - keep us in office - because we can’t take 2 years of investigations pre-election ploy! And if that and the voting fraud don’t do the trick there’s always putting those 800 detention camps that cheney’s Halliburton has built to good use.
And who’s going to stop bush? Just when his poll numbers are tanking (again) and scandals are breaking all around this do-nothing congress gives bush DICTORIAL powers! It’s like the whole God-damn political systems is on crack!
Still think I’m crazy? How could bush possibly attack Iran - the military is stretched to breaking, rational people say. Indeed, but we’re not talking “rational” people here - they’re not even sane. Read the “mission statement” for PNAC - Iran has always been the target – the naval forces are heading there as we speak. Special Forces have been mapping out targets for months. This has got to be one of the biggest open secrets around and there’s been hardly a whisper.
Then try this on for size - today a friend left for deployment - not for Iraq - but for three weeks debriefing before being deployed to … Iran.
In 3 weeks bush starts WWIII
October 13th, 2006 at 9:10 pmThank you Stonehinge. It’s posts like yours that keep me coming back here.
October 13th, 2006 at 9:12 pmWell, since Wallace is all about giving the viewers what they want, I’d expect this question to be on the top of his list of things to ask. Or maybe I should stop drinking….
October 13th, 2006 at 9:20 pmAmerica’s Least Wanted
must read:
http://michaelmoore.com/ words/ latestnews/ index.php?id=8101
October 13th, 2006 at 9:48 pm#35
If what you say is true I suspect that there will be a first in American History–A MILITARY COUP!
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would be attacked before our Military dropped the first bomb on Iran!
October 13th, 2006 at 9:52 pmOh great, now you’re believing everything that that twisted America hater Michael”Gas Bag” Moorer writes….Jeeesh
October 13th, 2006 at 10:00 pm#38 - Briseadh na Faire,
Chris Wallace should ask Condi Rice about that story — with a follow up.
October 13th, 2006 at 10:02 pmMichael Moore is not a gas bag. He was the only one telling the truth when very few people were listening because they were so caught up in republican paranoia. Now that people want their American freedom back, everyone is listening to Michael Moore.
October 13th, 2006 at 10:05 pm#40 - your stupidity is showing. You apparently didn’t read the article. Mr. Moore didn’t write it.
Sorry for using words that go over 2 syllables.
October 13th, 2006 at 10:08 pmIt could be 40,000, if he asks her, all we’ll get are the usual rantings of a sad, pathetic excuse monger.
October 13th, 2006 at 10:09 pm“Round up the usual suspects”
I can’t wait until Chris Wallace fails to mention any of this crap, and it leads to another segment on Countdown with Keith about how biased Faux News is.
October 13th, 2006 at 10:15 pmBriseadh na Faire,
You have to post a link to the “real” article. If you post a link to a site righties can find fault in, even though it is just linking to the “real” article, they won’t click through the link that leads to the “real” link to find out that the site that is linking to the “real” link is not the one that wrote the “real” article and is only linking to the “real” story.
Hope that clears it up.
October 13th, 2006 at 10:26 pm46 - sigh…ok, for those who are link-challenged:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35081
October 13th, 2006 at 10:40 pmIf she weren’t being misled by the douchebags in charge, aka, “DICk”, she would probably be ok.
October 13th, 2006 at 10:42 pmBnF
: )
October 13th, 2006 at 10:44 pmGonnuts I hope youre wrong, but would your friend be told exactly where he was going??? I don’t think the military works like that.
Even if it did happen it would be so counter productive, it would be seen right thru. Common sense is not so common as Voltaire or someone said but ppl are not altogether stupid…………………….then again Bush has been ‘elected’……………………………twice………………..
Good grief………….
Sad isnt it………..
October 13th, 2006 at 10:49 pm#50 Gourney
You are overlooking the fact that stupid is forever. How else to explain DUHbya’s magical 31%?
October 13th, 2006 at 10:55 pmFrom an Australian:
Apparently 200,000 Iraqis have died from direct US fire in Iraq.
So much for ‘moral values’ America.
You all make me sick. Who are the terrorists? I know that people in my country are boycotting anything American.
Keep on eating, and getting fat Americans!
October 13th, 2006 at 11:08 pmOk, David, because all of us Americans are fascists, right? I don’t blame you for boycotting but telling us we make you sick? Screw you since you cannot differentiate between our government and the people. You do know that Bushie is at 33%, right? You are pathetic.
October 13th, 2006 at 11:25 pmOT, I know, but 43 homes on our street out of 46 just received our absentee ballots. #2 pencils have been distributed to each. The next street down has 47 out of 53, same #2 pencils. Our aim is to deliver 163 votes for Democratic candidates. We have no felons in our midst and the remaining 9 homes have 5 felons out of 14 registered voters. We have been organizing for 18 months. We are also in Florida.
October 13th, 2006 at 11:26 pm#54 I salute you. We still have paper ballots here but there is no way I would ever vote on a machine without a paper trail. Best of luck.
October 13th, 2006 at 11:34 pmSpooge Boy - I’m glad you’ve learned your lesson about links. Yes - they should:
A. be True
B. support your argument
Something I know you learned last night you clown.
OUT
October 13th, 2006 at 11:40 pm#56 LOL, coming from an a-hole that never provides any links…nor truth.
October 13th, 2006 at 11:43 pmYa know….there’s a part of me that thinks this is a waste of time and space, yet….a bigger part of me will get a hoot…or maybe better phased; “totally within expectationsâ€â€¦.of the headline I expect to see….â€Wallace ignores emails and steers questions to slam Clinton on North Koreaâ€.
Now, don’t get be wrong, I firmly believe that when the twit shelved the “framework†in `02 is the reason we’re witnessing what we just witnessed……it’s just that I firmly believe that Sunday’s program is totally “scripted†for a response toward Hillary (and her words today) and WJC’s policy(s) with regard to North Korea.
The show will be 100% NK with the possible exception of the obligatory….â€Hey…I like your shoesâ€â€¦..
Wallace will not get off message….
October 13th, 2006 at 11:43 pmPeterh
You are not thinking. Wallace is a registered Dem.
The ‘twit’ shelved the “framework” because it wasnt working. Clinton and Albright hoped that the agreement they struck in the early 90s would hold - but the truth was that KJI was developing nukes while clintons weapons inspectors were being pulled out. Clinton gave NK a few billion in oil/cash - a nuclear reactor or two and now the talking heads are walking around pretending to be astounded that NK has Nukes. You guys can’t be trusted.
October 13th, 2006 at 11:48 pmIf you equate our military and diplomacy to Teflon pans, Rummy, W, Condi and Karl are using case hardened steel utensils to flip the pancakes and scrambled eggs.
October 13th, 2006 at 11:58 pm#59 MIKE Wallace is a registered Dem, not his nasty little spawn.
October 14th, 2006 at 12:00 amRUSH: Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, I asked, “Where is the Drive-By Media on the Harry Reid story?” I was pointed to a blog called the Strata-Sphere (it’s put together by a guy named A. J. Strata, hence the name Strata-Sphere) and I printed out 18 pages. These 18 pages are of Harry Reid land deals in Nevada and Arizona. I don’t know when the guy has had time to be a senator. This is… I’m holding them up here for those of you watching (glad you’re with us) on the Dittocam. This stuff, it goes on and on and on, these are official records, somebody just went to the website, looked the stuff up, sale prices, who owned what, who lent what, who borrowed what, and this is just the real estate deals. It’s inconceivable that this is it.
I wonder what else the guy is into. It’s mind-boggling here, and of course the lead item here at the Strata-Sphere blog is the Reid kickbacks. “Folks, head to the comments section where long time reader SBD is working his usual magic and posting multiple real estate transactions with one Harry Reid regarding properties in NV and buyers/sellers from all over (including my home town of McLean VA). I wonder how many of these reports made it accurately into the public record?” And then somebody, “hey nancy - start with your swamp before you think about draining ours.” This is — really, folks, it is very serious, and now people are beginning to look into whether — this came up on this program yesterday. We’re on the cutting edge, societal evolution.
People are beginning to wonder whether Reid’s son Rory was on the county commission when these zoning changes took place, and if he was on the commission, did he recuse himself. Some of the people on the commission are long-time Harry Reid flunkies anyway. We’ve learned that much. But some of these votes they’re wondering if Rory Reid, Harry Reid’s son, recused himself or just went ahead and voted. This isn’t known. But surely, ladies and gentlemen, the Drive-By Media will look into all of this, right? Surely they will. The Drive-By Media — in fact, let’s go to last night’s World News Tonight, and let’s see what our old buddy Brian Ross was busy investigating while the Dingy Harry scandal was unfolding.
ROSS: Twenty three-year-old Marine Sergeant Heather Cerveny was sent to Guantanamo Bay in late September as a legal aid to a Marine lawyer representing a detainee. In a sworn affidavit filed with the Pentagon inspector general, Cerveny says she met several Navy prison guards at an on-base club where, over drinks —
RUSH: Stop the tape. Has anybody heard the name Harry Reid here yet in Brian Ross’s report? What are we getting here? We’re getting another story about how unfortunate people are treated at Club Gitmo. I’ve been listening for Harry Reid. Here’s the rest of it.
ROSS: In detail, harsh physical abuse of the detainees.
RUSH: Yeah.
CERVENY: The one sailor specifically said, “I took the detainee by the head and smashed his head into the cell door.” Other ones specifically saying, “You know, today, that guy was annoying me, you know, I smacked him in the head.”
ROSS: The new allegations come as the military and the White House have insisted any problems at Guantanamo in the treatment of detainees have long since been fixed.
RUSH: And there you have it, Brian Ross, our buddy from ABC, on the case, ladies and gentlemen, following up a story at Club Gitmo about which nobody’s heard anything. Breaking news, from the investigative unit of ABC on Club Gitmo! Meanwhile, Dingy Harry was out in Nevada yesterday, and he said this about collecting $1.1 million on a land deal. Remember this land deal, there’s something strange about this. He’s in league with a guy named Jay Brown who, according to all kinds of documentation, has been investigated by the feds for suspicious activity with organized crime and so forth. Dingy Harry buys a plot of land for $400,000 and sells it back for the identical figure without even any interest accrual or inflation accrual. Now, who does that? And then six years later, after selling it back for 400 grand, the property flips, Dingy Harry turns it into 175% profit that. That outdoes anything ExxonMobil has ever done: $1.1 million — and he was commenting on this yesterday. He’s off mike in this sound bite. Let’s listen to it, and if it’s hard to understand, I will translate, because I have the transcript.
REID: As we speak we’re checking it out, if there needs to be a change, fine, I’d be happy to do that. But remember all the re-numeration was the same. Whether there’s a technical change or not, it’s all the same.
RUSH: Okay. “As we speak, we’re checking it out,” Dingy Harry said. “If there needs to be a change, fine, I’d be happy to do that. But remember all the re-numeration was the same. Whether there’s a technical change or not, it’s all the same.” That’s what’s suspicious about this. Who sells something that has obviously escalated in value for the same price you bought it at without even inflating it for the inflation value of money, or the inflation rise in money or any kind of interest. Now, look how willing he is to pay a fine, ladies and gentlemen — and he’s still looking into it. “We’re checking it out.” Meanwhile, the calls for Denny Hastert and Republicans to resign over the Foley case get louder and louder and louder. Meanwhile, all the news about the Foley case keeps expanding and expanding and expanding. People are publishing private e-mails between Foley and Governor Jeb Bush that have nothing to do with anything, trying to keep that story alive.
Listen to this. This is so sweet! It is a Reuters story: “Media outlets are finding it harder to protect the privacy of the politicians and stars they cover without losing scoops to blogs and other competitors, the editor of online magazine Slate said yesterday.” This is Jacob Weisberg at a Reuters Newsmaker event. He said, “I very much agree that we need to have standards but I think in practical terms we don’t control what people find out anymore.” (laughing) Oh, yes! That, ladies and gentlemen, is it in a nutshell, the end of the Drive-By Media, and they know it. “We don’t control what people find out anymore.” From that may we presume, assume, infer that at one time they know they “controlled what people found out,” meaning you. Now the lid’s blown, and they have lost control, and what a topic. Harder to protect the privacy of the politicians and stars they cover. Well, now, what politician’s privacy do you want to protect? Dingy Harry’s, maybe? Democrat politicians? Is that who it is, the privacy you’re concerned about? And stars? Why, who would those stars be? What a topic.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: A question, ladies and gentlemen. If it were Bill Frist about whom kickbacks and shady land deals had been exposed, do you think there would be any interest in it in the Drive-By Media and do you think Democrats throughout the Senate would be demanding full disclosure and a full investigation? Yes. Do you hear any Republicans demanding anything against Dingy Harry? No. Do you hear of the Drive-By Media? You see stories out there. AP has a follow-up today, and I saw a little bit on MSNBC this morning, but it was almost like they did it in a perfunctory fashion. They couldn’t wait to get back to Foley, and they’re still talking about the Cory Lidle airplane accident and the ensuing investigation.
There are some media outlets out there touching on this. The Philadelphia Inquirer in an editorial today titled, “Practice What You Preach — That’s how this case looks, too. Unless Reid comes up with a better explanation for this lack of disclosure, Democrats should not keep him as their leader in the new Congress in 2007.” That’s the Philadelphia Inquirer. Here is the Washington Post. “for Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) is that he was sloppy about financial disclosure rules in accounting for a real estate deal on which he made a $700,000 profit.” That’s 175% more than ExxonMobil. “The more unattractive case is that the senator’s inaccurate description of the investment was an effort to disguise his partnership with a Las Vegas lawyer who’s never been charged with wrongdoing but whose name has surfaced in federal investigations involving organized crime, casinos and political bribery since the 1980s… It’s true — under the inadequate financial disclosure rules — that even if Mr. Reid had listed the newly formed corporation, Patrick Lane LLC, that wouldn’t have by itself demonstrated Mr. Brown’s involvement. Nonetheless, that Mr. Reid no longer owned the land, but instead had sold it for an interest in the Patrick Lane corporation, was not some mere ‘technical change,’ as the senator would like to brush it off. It’s an essential element of financial disclosure rules, the purpose of which is to know how and with whom public officials are financially entwined.”
Hey, Post people? Fred Hyatt, editorial page. Go to Strata-Sphere.com, if you can bear to look at a conservative blog and just take a look at the 18 printed pages. When you look at it, there’s nothing in them that rings suspicious. It’s just public records of sales, loans, and so forth involving Dingy Harry and his wife, but for crying out loud, what does this guy make? You know, I look at everything from — and a lot of other people do, too, and it’s a mistake to do this — but I look at these guys, what does a senator make, $165,200 (leaders make $180,100). We know that the Democratic side of the Senate is populated with considerable wealth. More millionaires, multimillionaires on the Democrat side than on the Republican side and that’s always struck me odd when the Democrats say that they have an understanding with the common man. By the way, you common people know who you are, and the Democrats, they’re able to “relate” to you
They understand. I’m going to just tell all you common people out there, you couldn’t get close to accomplishing what Dingy Harry has accomplished, apparently over and over and over and over again. If the ethics committee really digs deep into this, this investigation is going to going on for a long, long time. Now, why do you suppose the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are editorializing on this and suggesting that Dingy Harry has a lot of explaining to do? I mean, why are they not ignoring it? Why are they not sweeping it under the rug? I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but not too many people read the editorials. They read op-eds, but there aren’t too many people that read the editorials in a newspaper.
They’re boring. They’re literally boring. They’re the worst written aspect of the newspaper. So it’s a way to get it in the paper without getting it in the paper. But when they do write these editorials they’re pretty cutting to Dingy Harry. And I think that there’s a bit of a concern on some of these papers’ parts, “This is just too close to the election for this to come out. If this guy is a problem, we’ve gotta do something about it, we’ve gotta make sure that we aren’t appearing to sweep it under the rug here at our paper,” and so forth and so on. I’m just hazarding a guess. What does the Journal-Constitution say? Well… “Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid would be well advised to stop thundering about corruption in the Republican ranks, or crying cover-up over the GOP’s failure to promptly and appropriately deal with Mark Foley.
“Reid faces too many questions about his own behavior to crusade about the misdeeds of others. Currently he’s trying to explain a land deal in Nevada on which he made a pile of money and which may not have been properly disclosed. When the property was sold in 2004, it belonged to a company formed with a long-time friend and included a parcel that once had belonged to Harry Reid. Despite having transferred his parcel to the company, for the same amount of loot that he bought it for, the Nevada Democrat continued to report in Senate Democrats he still owned it personally. That’s a breach of Senate disclosure rules, according to the AP, which first reported the transaction details.” Now, that is pretty stunning. We’ve covered this.
He continued to report in Senate documents he still owned it personally. He wants to say, “Well, it’s an oversight. I’ll go and pay a fine. I’ll fix it.” When you look at the number of land deals that Dingy Harry is involved in, you find out this is a full-time involvement in it he has. This is not something going on in the ten or 20% of his day that he doesn’t have to do Senate business or what have you, or party business. When you look at these documents — we’ll link to it at RushLimbaugh.com. We’ll put it up there so you can look at it yourself. This is an ongoing enterprise, and these kinds of things people do not do hands off with no attention being paid and just verbal agreements, “Oh, yeah, you go ahead and take this 400 grand. I’ll give it back to you. I’ll forget that I sold it to you. I’ll pretend I still own it, then you can pay me.” It’s hard to believe.
“Reid is now considering whether he should amend his disclosure statement. Two months ago the Los Angeles Times reported that Reid had smoothed the way for a campaign contributor and friend to develop a huge tract of land northeast of Las Vegas. Reid tried twice before he was successful to get a utility right-of-way moved from a proposed development site on to public land.” By the way, at RushLimbaugh.com there’s a LA Times story from the nineties that we dug up a long time ago that is amazingly detailed and illustrative of the workings of the Dingy Harry family in Las Vegas and how they’re all intertwined, and nobody cared about that when it came out, either, but we’ve got it permanently linked in our Essential Stack of Stuff. We’ve got it highlighted on the front page so that you can access it as well.
“The first effort of Harry Reid’s stall because of objections from the Bureau of Land Management and others that the developer wasn’t going to pay for anything for a deal that would greatly increase the value of his development site. Eventually, though, it was determined that the developer should pay the federal government more than $10 million. Then there are the free boxing tickets that Reid took from the Nevada Athletic Commission. The panel was hoping to block formation of a national boxing commission. Reid favored one. Only after the AP reported this summer that Reid got the expensive tickets did Reid decide he no longer accept such gifts. Unfortunately, Reid’s ethics meter only seems to work when it’s too late.” This was written by David McNaughton for the editorial board. They actually signed this editorial: David McNaughton for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution — and then Jed Babbin wants to know why is it that none of the major TV networks or newspapers have managed to pay attention to the biggest real scandal of this season, and that is Dingy Harry Reid. Be calm, ladies and gentlemen. Be cool. At some point they’ll not be able to avoid this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Not to make a big deal out of this, ladies and gentlemen, but falsifying the report as Dingy Harry Greed apparently did is a federal crime, under Title 18, United States Code section 1001. It’s a false statement for which Reid could be sent to jail, according to the statute. Now, as Jed Babbin says, “If you’re looking for this on tonight’s network news or on the front page of tomorrow’s New York Times next to the latest Foley reveal, you won’t find it.” MSNBC, as I said, did a little blurb on this today, this morning in addition to the original AP story here, and let me just highlight some things that are relatively new.
“Other parts of the deal such as the informal handling of property taxes raise questions about possible gifts or income reportable to Congress and the IRS, ethics experts said. Reid and his wife Landra personally signed the deed, selling their full interest in the property to this Jay Brown’s company, Patrick Lane, LLC, for the same $400,000 they paid in 1998.” Now, you buy something for 400 grand in 1998, you sell it back four years later for the same amount of money? No inflation even factored in, much less interest? Come on! Who does this? (interruption) Real estate wasn’t booming? (laughing) Real estate wasn’t booming. What was this? This was at the height of the Clinton economic nineties, Mr. Snerdley! Don’t tell me real estate wasn’t booming.
Now, despite the sale, Dingy Harry “continued to report on his public ethics reports that he personally owned the land until it was sold again in 2004.” So it was six years. He claimed he owned it for six years when he didn’t. “His disclosure forms to Congress don’t mention an interest in Patrick Lane or the company’s role in the ‘04 sale. Reid isn’t listed anywhere on Patrick Lane’s corporate filings with Nevada even though the land he sold accounted for three-quarters of the company’s assets. Brown is listed as the company’s manager. Reid’s office said Nevada law didn’t require Dingy Harry to be mentioned in the filings.
“Ethics experts say such informality raises questions about whether any of Jay Brown’s tax payments amounted to a benefit for Reid. It might end up having been a gift. For years, Reid also had been encouraging the interior department to make land swaps on behalf of Del Webb, where one of his former aides worked.” We’ve been through all of this. Here’s the rezoning aspect. This is cool. “Clark County intended for the property that Reid owned to be used solely for new housing. Just days before the Harry Reid sold the parcels to Brown’s company, Brown sought permission in May of 2001 to rezone the property so a shopping center could be built. Career zoning officials objected saying the request was inconsistent with Clark County’s master development plan.
“The town board in Spring Valley where Reid’s property was located also voted 4-1 to reject the rezoning, but Jay Brown persisted. The Clark County zoning board followed by the Clark County commission voted to overrule the recommendation and approve commercial zoning so the shopping center could be built. Such votes were common at the time. Before the approval in September 2001, Brown’s consultant told commissioners that Reid was involved. Mr. Brown’s partners: ‘Harry Reid, I think we’ve people in this community you can trust to go forward put a quality project before you.’” Harry’s in on this; no need to sweat it! So now people are wondering whether Dingy Harry’s son Rory had anything to do with any of these votes. Andrew in Clifton, New Jersey, I’m glad you called. Welcome. You’re first on Open Line Friday, and welcome.
CALLER: What an honor to speak to you, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you, sir. You bet.
CALLER: I wanted to know why the Republican leaders haven’t asked for the resignation of Harry Reid? We’re six weeks out of an election. The Democrats are calling for Hastert’s resignation. They’re basically building up a lot of political clout against this man, and I want to know where the Republicans are on this.
RUSH: Well, I’ll answer this again. Number one: The Republicans don’t have to say anything because we’re doing their job for them here. Number two, it’s just not in them. They just don’t operate this way. You could ask this about virtually everything. When the whole Foley thing came, where were they there? They were running around like scared dogs with their tails between their legs or their other body orifices.
CALLER: Then they deserve to lose then if they’re not going to get up and —
RUSH: No, no, no! WE don’t deserve to lose. Screw these guys! WE don’t deserve to lose! WE don’t deserve to have Democrats running this country at this point in our nation’s history. That’s not what this is about. Let me tell you something. There’s a USA Today columnist, and I forget his name right now. There’s a columnist at USA Today who heard me say that everybody’s looking at this the wrong way. The media has got everybody focused on: “Will the Republicans lose? Will the Republicans lose? Will the Republicans lose the House? Will Republicans lose the Senate?” and I said in a brilliant monolog earlier this week, “What if the Democrats lose? If they can’t win in this kind of climate and environment, they don’t even deserve to be a political party.
And this guy picked up on it, thinks I have a point, starts examining whether or not the Democrats have even earned the right to govern. He’s a media guy. He begrudgingly acknowledges that I have a point. This whole thing needs to be turned around in terms of looking at the context. Why is it that the reporting day in and day out is always focused on Republicans lose, Republicans lose the House, Republicans lose the Senate. We really don’t hear a whole lot of focus on the Democrats doing this to win back the Senate, the Democrats doing this to win back the House. What we hear are never ending stories about how people hate Republicans, and we are never told that the people of this country have anything other than total adoration and love for Democrats.
If you’re to believe the mainstream press, there isn’t one Democrat who’s going to get one negative vote, who’s going to lose an election in this race. There isn’t one American who has any gripe with any Democrat. All the gripes are aimed at Republicans. Well, we know that’s BS. There are 20 million of us, and we have gripes with Democrats. We’re being totally ignored in this context. So, you know, when you say the Republicans deserve to lose, we don’t deserve to lose is the way to look at this. We certainly don’t deserve to have this nation governed by lightweights like Nancy Pelosi and dangerous people like Chuck Rangel who will raise anybody’s taxes faster than he can go to the bathroom after winning the race. These guys, they portend policies that will reverse very nice economic directions that the country is headed in. Anyway, why don’t the Republicans come up? Who knows? They don’t want to be attacked themselves. Maybe they’ve got things they’re hiding. Who the hell knows? All I know is, they don’t ever do it.
END TRANSCRIPT
October 14th, 2006 at 12:01 amRUSH: Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, I asked, “Where is the Drive-By Media on the Harry Reid story?” I was pointed to a blog called the Strata-Sphere (it’s put together by a guy named A. J. Strata, hence the name Strata-Sphere) and I printed out 18 pages. These 18 pages are of Harry Reid land deals in Nevada and Arizona. I don’t know when the guy has had time to be a senator. This is… I’m holding them up here for those of you watching (glad you’re with us) on the Dittocam. This stuff, it goes on and on and on, these are official records, somebody just went to the website, looked the stuff up, sale prices, who owned what, who lent what, who borrowed what, and this is just the real estate deals. It’s inconceivable that this is it.
I wonder what else the guy is into. It’s mind-boggling here, and of course the lead item here at the Strata-Sphere blog is the Reid kickbacks. “Folks, head to the comments section where long time reader SBD is working his usual magic and posting multiple real estate transactions with one Harry Reid regarding properties in NV and buyers/sellers from all over (including my home town of McLean VA). I wonder how many of these reports made it accurately into the public record?” And then somebody, “hey nancy - start with your swamp before you think about draining ours.” This is — really, folks, it is very serious, and now people are beginning to look into whether — this came up on this program yesterday. We’re on the cutting edge, societal evolution.
People are beginning to wonder whether Reid’s son Rory was on the county commission when these zoning changes took place, and if he was on the commission, did he recuse himself. Some of the people on the commission are long-time Harry Reid flunkies anyway. We’ve learned that much. But some of these votes they’re wondering if Rory Reid, Harry Reid’s son, recused himself or just went ahead and voted. This isn’t known. But surely, ladies and gentlemen, the Drive-By Media will look into all of this, right? Surely they will. The Drive-By Media — in fact, let’s go to last night’s World News Tonight, and let’s see what our old buddy Brian Ross was busy investigating while the Dingy Harry scandal was unfolding.
ROSS: Twenty three-year-old Marine Sergeant Heather Cerveny was sent to Guantanamo Bay in late September as a legal aid to a Marine lawyer representing a detainee. In a sworn affidavit filed with the Pentagon inspector general, Cerveny says she met several Navy prison guards at an on-base club where, over drinks —
RUSH: Stop the tape. Has anybody heard the name Harry Reid here yet in Brian Ross’s report? What are we getting here? We’re getting another story about how unfortunate people are treated at Club Gitmo. I’ve been listening for Harry Reid. Here’s the rest of it.
ROSS: In detail, harsh physical abuse of the detainees.
RUSH: Yeah.
CERVENY: The one sailor specifically said, “I took the detainee by the head and smashed his head into the cell door.” Other ones specifically saying, “You know, today, that guy was annoying me, you know, I smacked him in the head.”
ROSS: The new allegations come as the military and the White House have insisted any problems at Guantanamo in the treatment of detainees have long since been fixed.
RUSH: And there you have it, Brian Ross, our buddy from ABC, on the case, ladies and gentlemen, following up a story at Club Gitmo about which nobody’s heard anything. Breaking news, from the investigative unit of ABC on Club Gitmo! Meanwhile, Dingy Harry was out in Nevada yesterday, and he said this about collecting $1.1 million on a land deal. Remember this land deal, there’s something strange about this. He’s in league with a guy named Jay Brown who, according to all kinds of documentation, has been investigated by the feds for suspicious activity with organized crime and so forth. Dingy Harry buys a plot of land for $400,000 and sells it back for the identical figure without even any interest accrual or inflation accrual. Now, who does that? And then six years later, after selling it back for 400 grand, the property flips, Dingy Harry turns it into 175% profit that. That outdoes anything ExxonMobil has ever done: $1.1 million — and he was commenting on this yesterday. He’s off mike in this sound bite. Let’s listen to it, and if it’s hard to understand, I will translate, because I have the transcript.
REID: As we speak we’re checking it out, if there needs to be a change, fine, I’d be happy to do that. But remember all the re-numeration was the same. Whether there’s a technical change or not, it’s all the same.
RUSH: Okay. “As we speak, we’re checking it out,” Dingy Harry said. “If there needs to be a change, fine, I’d be happy to do that. But remember all the re-numeration was the same. Whether there’s a technical change or not, it’s all the same.” That’s what’s suspicious about this. Who sells something that has obviously escalated in value for the same price you bought it at without even inflating it for the inflation value of money, or the inflation rise in money or any kind of interest. Now, look how willing he is to pay a fine, ladies and gentlemen — and he’s still looking into it. “We’re checking it out.” Meanwhile, the calls for Denny Hastert and Republicans to resign over the Foley case get louder and louder and louder. Meanwhile, all the news about the Foley case keeps expanding and expanding and expanding. People are publishing private e-mails between Foley and Governor Jeb Bush that have nothing to do with anything, trying to keep that story alive.
Listen to this. This is so sweet! It is a Reuters story: “Media outlets are finding it harder to protect the privacy of the politicians and stars they cover without losing scoops to blogs and other competitors, the editor of online magazine Slate said yesterday.” This is Jacob Weisberg at a Reuters Newsmaker event. He said, “I very much agree that we need to have standards but I think in practical terms we don’t control what people find out anymore.” (laughing) Oh, yes! That, ladies and gentlemen, is it in a nutshell, the end of the Drive-By Media, and they know it. “We don’t control what people find out anymore.” From that may we presume, assume, infer that at one time they know they “controlled what people found out,” meaning you. Now the lid’s blown, and they have lost control, and what a topic. Harder to protect the privacy of the politicians and stars they cover. Well, now, what politician’s privacy do you want to protect? Dingy Harry’s, maybe? Democrat politicians? Is that who it is, the privacy you’re concerned about? And stars? Why, who would those stars be? What a topic.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: A question, ladies and gentlemen. If it were Bill Frist about whom kickbacks and shady land deals had been exposed, do you think there would be any interest in it in the Drive-By Media and do you think Democrats throughout the Senate would be demanding full disclosure and a full investigation? Yes. Do you hear any Republicans demanding anything against Dingy Harry? No. Do you hear of the Drive-By Media? You see stories out there. AP has a follow-up today, and I saw a little bit on MSNBC this morning, but it was almost like they did it in a perfunctory fashion. They couldn’t wait to get back to Foley, and they’re still talking about the Cory Lidle airplane accident and the ensuing investigation.
There are some media outlets out there touching on this. The Philadelphia Inquirer in an editorial today titled, “Practice What You Preach — That’s how this case looks, too. Unless Reid comes up with a better explanation for this lack of disclosure, Democrats should not keep him as their leader in the new Congress in 2007.” That’s the Philadelphia Inquirer. Here is the Washington Post. “for Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) is that he was sloppy about financial disclosure rules in accounting for a real estate deal on which he made a $700,000 profit.” That’s 175% more than ExxonMobil. “The more unattractive case is that the senator’s inaccurate description of the investment was an effort to disguise his partnership with a Las Vegas lawyer who’s never been charged with wrongdoing but whose name has surfaced in federal investigations involving organized crime, casinos and political bribery since the 1980s… It’s true — under the inadequate financial disclosure rules — that even if Mr. Reid had listed the newly formed corporation, Patrick Lane LLC, that wouldn’t have by itself demonstrated Mr. Brown’s involvement. Nonetheless, that Mr. Reid no longer owned the land, but instead had sold it for an interest in the Patrick Lane corporation, was not some mere ‘technical change,’ as the senator would like to brush it off. It’s an essential element of financial disclosure rules, the purpose of which is to know how and with whom public officials are financially entwined.”
Hey, Post people? Fred Hyatt, editorial page. Go to Strata-Sphere.com, if you can bear to look at a conservative blog and just take a look at the 18 printed pages. When you look at it, there’s nothing in them that rings suspicious. It’s just public records of sales, loans, and so forth involving Dingy Harry and his wife, but for crying out loud, what does this guy make? You know, I look at everything from — and a lot of other people do, too, and it’s a mistake to do this — but I look at these guys, what does a senator make, $165,200 (leaders make $180,100). We know that the Democratic side of the Senate is populated with considerable wealth. More millionaires, multimillionaires on the Democrat side than on the Republican side and that’s always struck me odd when the Democrats say that they have an understanding with the common man. By the way, you common people know who you are, and the Democrats, they’re able to “relate” to you
They understand. I’m going to just tell all you common people out there, you couldn’t get close to accomplishing what Dingy Harry has accomplished, apparently over and over and over and over again. If the ethics committee really digs deep into this, this investigation is going to going on for a long, long time. Now, why do you suppose the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are editorializing on this and suggesting that Dingy Harry has a lot of explaining to do? I mean, why are they not ignoring it? Why are they not sweeping it under the rug? I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but not too many people read the editorials. They read op-eds, but there aren’t too many people that read the editorials in a newspaper.
They’re boring. They’re literally boring. They’re the worst written aspect of the newspaper. So it’s a way to get it in the paper without getting it in the paper. But when they do write these editorials they’re pretty cutting to Dingy Harry. And I think that there’s a bit of a concern on some of these papers’ parts, “This is just too close to the election for this to come out. If this guy is a problem, we’ve gotta do something about it, we’ve gotta make sure that we aren’t appearing to sweep it under the rug here at our paper,” and so forth and so on. I’m just hazarding a guess. What does the Journal-Constitution say? Well… “Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid would be well advised to stop thundering about corruption in the Republican ranks, or crying cover-up over the GOP’s failure to promptly and appropriately deal with Mark Foley.
“Reid faces too many questions about his own behavior to crusade about the misdeeds of others. Currently he’s trying to explain a land deal in Nevada on which he made a pile of money and which may not have been properly disclosed. When the property was sold in 2004, it belonged to a company formed with a long-time friend and included a parcel that once had belonged to Harry Reid. Despite having transferred his parcel to the company, for the same amount of loot that he bought it for, the Nevada Democrat continued to report in Senate Democrats he still owned it personally. That’s a breach of Senate disclosure rules, according to the AP, which first reported the transaction details.” Now, that is pretty stunning. We’ve covered this.
He continued to report in Senate documents he still owned it personally. He wants to say, “Well, it’s an oversight. I’ll go and pay a fine. I’ll fix it.” When you look at the number of land deals that Dingy Harry is involved in, you find out this is a full-time involvement in it he has. This is not something going on in the ten or 20% of his day that he doesn’t have to do Senate business or what have you, or party business. When you look at these documents — we’ll link to it at RushLimbaugh.com. We’ll put it up there so you can look at it yourself. This is an ongoing enterprise, and these kinds of things people do not do hands off with no attention being paid and just verbal agreements, “Oh, yeah, you go ahead and take this 400 grand. I’ll give it back to you. I’ll forget that I sold it to you. I’ll pretend I still own it, then you can pay me.” It’s hard to believe.
“Reid is now considering whether he should amend his disclosure statement. Two months ago the Los Angeles Times reported that Reid had smoothed the way for a campaign contributor and friend to develop a huge tract of land northeast of Las Vegas. Reid tried twice before he was successful to get a utility right-of-way moved from a proposed development site on to public land.” By the way, at RushLimbaugh.com there’s a LA Times story from the nineties that we dug up a long time ago that is amazingly detailed and illustrative of the workings of the Dingy Harry family in Las Vegas and how they’re all intertwined, and nobody cared about that when it came out, either, but we’ve got it permanently linked in our Essential Stack of Stuff. We’ve got it highlighted on the front page so that you can access it as well.
“The first effort of Harry Reid’s stall because of objections from the Bureau of Land Management and others that the developer wasn’t going to pay for anything for a deal that would greatly increase the value of his development site. Eventually, though, it was determined that the developer should pay the federal government more than $10 million. Then there are the free boxing tickets that Reid took from the Nevada Athletic Commission. The panel was hoping to block formation of a national boxing commission. Reid favored one. Only after the AP reported this summer that Reid got the expensive tickets did Reid decide he no longer accept such gifts. Unfortunately, Reid’s ethics meter only seems to work when it’s too late.” This was written by David McNaughton for the editorial board. They actually signed this editorial: David McNaughton for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution — and then Jed Babbin wants to know why is it that none of the major TV networks or newspapers have managed to pay attention to the biggest real scandal of this season, and that is Dingy Harry Reid. Be calm, ladies and gentlemen. Be cool. At some point they’ll not be able to avoid this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Not to make a big deal out of this, ladies and gentlemen, but falsifying the report as Dingy Harry Greed apparently did is a federal crime, under Title 18, United States Code section 1001. It’s a false statement for which Reid could be sent to jail, according to the statute. Now, as Jed Babbin says, “If you’re looking for this on tonight’s network news or on the front page of tomorrow’s New York Times next to the latest Foley reveal, you won’t find it.” MSNBC, as I said, did a little blurb on this today, this morning in addition to the original AP story here, and let me just highlight some things that are relatively new.
“Other parts of the deal such as the informal handling of property taxes raise questions about possible gifts or income reportable to Congress and the IRS, ethics experts said. Reid and his wife Landra personally signed the deed, selling their full interest in the property to this Jay Brown’s company, Patrick Lane, LLC, for the same $400,000 they paid in 1998.” Now, you buy something for 400 grand in 1998, you sell it back four years later for the same amount of money? No inflation even factored in, much less interest? Come on! Who does this? (interruption) Real estate wasn’t booming? (laughing) Real estate wasn’t booming. What was this? This was at the height of the Clinton economic nineties, Mr. Snerdley! Don’t tell me real estate wasn’t booming.
Now, despite the sale, Dingy Harry “continued to report on his public ethics reports that he personally owned the land until it was sold again in 2004.” So it was six years. He claimed he owned it for six years when he didn’t. “His disclosure forms to Congress don’t mention an interest in Patrick Lane or the company’s role in the ‘04 sale. Reid isn’t listed anywhere on Patrick Lane’s corporate filings with Nevada even though the land he sold accounted for three-quarters of the company’s assets. Brown is listed as the company’s manager. Reid’s office said Nevada law didn’t require Dingy Harry to be mentioned in the filings.
“Ethics experts say such informality raises questions about whether any of Jay Brown’s tax payments amounted to a benefit for Reid. It might end up having been a gift. For years, Reid also had been encouraging the interior department to make land swaps on behalf of Del Webb, where one of his former aides worked.” We’ve been through all of this. Here’s the rezoning aspect. This is cool. “Clark County intended for the property that Reid owned to be used solely for new housing. Just days before the Harry Reid sold the parcels to Brown’s company, Brown sought permission in May of 2001 to rezone the property so a shopping center could be built. Career zoning officials objected saying the request was inconsistent with Clark County’s master development plan.
“The town board in Spring Valley where Reid’s property was located also voted 4-1 to reject the rezoning, but Jay Brown persisted. The Clark County zoning board followed by the Clark County commission voted to overrule the recommendation and approve commercial zoning so the shopping center could be built. Such votes were common at the time. Before the approval in September 2001, Brown’s consultant told commissioners that Reid was involved. Mr. Brown’s partners: ‘Harry Reid, I think we’ve people in this community you can trust to go forward put a quality project before you.’” Harry’s in on this; no need to sweat it! So now people are wondering whether Dingy Harry’s son Rory had anything to do with any of these votes. Andrew in Clifton, New Jersey, I’m glad you called. Welcome. You’re first on Open Line Friday, and welcome.
CALLER: What an honor to speak to you, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you, sir. You bet.
CALLER: I wanted to know why the Republican leaders haven’t asked for the resignation of Harry Reid? We’re six weeks out of an election. The Democrats are calling for Hastert’s resignation. They’re basically building up a lot of political clout against this man, and I want to know where the Republicans are on this.
RUSH: Well, I’ll answer this again. Number one: The Republicans don’t have to say anything because we’re doing their job for them here. Number two, it’s just not in them. They just don’t operate this way. You could ask this about virtually everything. When the whole Foley thing came, where were they there? They were running around like scared dogs with their tails between their legs or their other body orifices.
CALLER: Then they deserve to lose then if they’re not going to get up and —
RUSH: No, no, no! WE don’t deserve to lose. Screw these guys! WE don’t deserve to lose! WE don’t deserve to have Democrats running this country at this point in our nation’s history. That’s not what this is about. Let me tell you something. There’s a USA Today columnist, and I forget his name right now. There’s a columnist at USA Today who heard me say that everybody’s looking at this the wrong way. The media has got everybody focused on: “Will the Republicans lose? Will the Republicans lose? Will the Republicans lose the House? Will Republicans lose the Senate?” and I said in a brilliant monolog earlier this week, “What if the Democrats lose? If they can’t win in this kind of climate and environment, they don’t even deserve to be a political party.
And this guy picked up on it, thinks I have a point, starts examining whether or not the Democrats have even earned the right to govern. He’s a media guy. He begrudgingly acknowledges that I have a point. This whole thing needs to be turned around in terms of looking at the context. Why is it that the reporting day in and day out is always focused on Republicans lose, Republicans lose the House, Republicans lose the Senate. We really don’t hear a whole lot of focus on the Democrats doing this to win back the Senate, the Democrats doing this to win back the House. What we hear are never ending stories about how people hate Republicans, and we are never told that the people of this country have anything other than total adoration and love for Democrats.
If you’re to believe the mainstream press, there isn’t one Democrat who’s going to get one negative vote, who’s going to lose an election in this race. There isn’t one American who has any gripe with any Democrat. All the gripes are aimed at Republicans. Well, we know that’s BS. There are 20 million of us, and we have gripes with Democrats. We’re being totally ignored in this context. So, you know, when you say the Republicans deserve to lose, we don’t deserve to lose is the way to look at this. We certainly don’t deserve to have this nation governed by lightweights like Nancy Pelosi and dangerous people like Chuck Rangel who will raise anybody’s taxes faster than he can go to the bathroom after winning the race. These guys, they portend policies that will reverse very nice economic directions that the country is headed in. Anyway, why don’t the Republicans come up? Who knows? They don’t want to be attacked themselves. Maybe they’ve got things they’re hiding. Who the hell knows? All I know is, they don’t ever do it.
October 14th, 2006 at 12:01 amRUSH: Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, I asked, “Where is the Drive-By Media on the Harry Reid story?” I was pointed to a blog called the Strata-Sphere (it’s put together by a guy named A. J. Strata, hence the name Strata-Sphere) and I printed out 18 pages. These 18 pages are of Harry Reid land deals in Nevada and Arizona. I don’t know when the guy has had time to be a senator. This is… I’m holding them up here for those of you watching (glad you’re with us) on the Dittocam. This stuff, it goes on and on and on, these are official records, somebody just went to the website, looked the stuff up, sale prices, who owned what, who lent what, who borrowed what, and this is just the real estate deals. It’s inconceivable that this is it.
I wonder what else the guy is into. It’s mind-boggling here, and of course the lead item here at the Strata-Sphere blog is the Reid kickbacks. “Folks, head to the comments section where long time reader SBD is working his usual magic and posting multiple real estate transactions with one Harry Reid regarding properties in NV and buyers/sellers from all over (including my home town of McLean VA). I wonder how many of these reports made it accurately into the public record?” And then somebody, “hey nancy - start with your swamp before you think about draining ours.” This is — really, folks, it is very serious, and now people are beginning to look into whether — this came up on this program yesterday. We’re on the cutting edge, societal evolution.
People are beginning to wonder whether Reid’s son Rory was on the county commission when these zoning changes took place, and if he was on the commission, did he recuse himself. Some of the people on the commission are long-time Harry Reid flunkies anyway. We’ve learned that much. But some of these votes they’re wondering if Rory Reid, Harry Reid’s son, recused himself or just went ahead and voted. This isn’t known. But surely, ladies and gentlemen, the Drive-By Media will look into all of this, right? Surely they will. The Drive-By Media — in fact, let’s go to last night’s World News Tonight, and let’s see what our old buddy Brian Ross was busy investigating while the Dingy Harry scandal was unfolding.
ROSS: Twenty three-year-old Marine Sergeant Heather Cerveny was sent to Guantanamo Bay in late September as a legal aid to a Marine lawyer representing a detainee. In a sworn affidavit filed with the Pentagon inspector general, Cerveny says she met several Navy prison guards at an on-base club where, over drinks —
RUSH: Stop the tape. Has anybody heard the name Harry Reid here yet in Brian Ross’s report? What are we getting here? We’re getting another story about how unfortunate people are treated at Club Gitmo. I’ve been listening for Harry Reid. Here’s the rest of it.
ROSS: In detail, harsh physical abuse of the detainees.
RUSH: Yeah.
CERVENY: The one sailor specifically said, “I took the detainee by the head and smashed his head into the cell door.” Other ones specifically saying, “You know, today, that guy was annoying me, you know, I smacked him in the head.”
ROSS: The new allegations come as the military and the White House have insisted any problems at Guantanamo in the treatment of detainees have long since been fixed.
RUSH: And there you have it, Brian Ross, our buddy from ABC, on the case, ladies and gentlemen, following up a story at Club Gitmo about which nobody’s heard anything. Breaking news, from the investigative unit of ABC on Club Gitmo! Meanwhile, Dingy Harry was out in Nevada yesterday, and he said this about collecting $1.1 million on a land deal. Remember this land deal, there’s something strange about this. He’s in league with a guy named Jay Brown who, according to all kinds of documentation, has been investigated by the feds for suspicious activity with organized crime and so forth. Dingy Harry buys a plot of land for $400,000 and sells it back for the identical figure without even any interest accrual or inflation accrual. Now, who does that? And then six years later, after selling it back for 400 grand, the property flips, Dingy Harry turns it into 175% profit that. That outdoes anything ExxonMobil has ever done: $1.1 million — and he was commenting on this yesterday. He’s off mike in this sound bite. Let’s listen to it, and if it’s hard to understand, I will translate, because I have the transcript.
REID: As we speak we’re checking it out, if there needs to be a change, fine, I’d be happy to do that. But remember all the re-numeration was the same. Whether there’s a technical change or not, it’s all the same.
RUSH: Okay. “As we speak, we’re checking it out,” Dingy Harry said. “If there needs to be a change, fine, I’d be happy to do that. But remember all the re-numeration was the same. Whether there’s a technical change or not, it’s all the same.” That’s what’s suspicious about this. Who sells something that has obviously escalated in value for the same price you bought it at without even inflating it for the inflation value of money, or the inflation rise in money or any kind of interest. Now, look how willing he is to pay a fine, ladies and gentlemen — and he’s still looking into it. “We’re checking it out.” Meanwhile, the calls for Denny Hastert and Republicans to resign over the Foley case get louder and louder and louder. Meanwhile, all the news about the Foley case keeps expanding and expanding and expanding. People are publishing private e-mails between Foley and Governor Jeb Bush that have nothing to do with anything, trying to keep that story alive.
Listen to this. This is so sweet! It is a Reuters story: “Media outlets are finding it harder to protect the privacy of the politicians and stars they cover without losing scoops to blogs and other competitors, the editor of online magazine Slate said yesterday.” This is Jacob Weisberg at a Reuters Newsmaker event. He said, “I very much agree that we need to have standards but I think in practical terms we don’t control what people find out anymore.” (laughing) Oh, yes! That, ladies and gentlemen, is it in a nutshell, the end of the Drive-By Media, and they know it. “We don’t control what people find out anymore.” From that may we presume, assume, infer that at one time they know they “controlled what people found out,” meaning you. Now the lid’s blown, and they have lost control, and what a topic. Harder to protect the privacy of the politicians and stars they cover. Well, now, what politician’s privacy do you want to protect? Dingy Harry’s, maybe? Democrat politicians? Is that who it is, the privacy you’re concerned about? And stars? Why, who would those stars be? What a topic.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: A question, ladies and gentlemen. If it were Bill Frist about whom kickbacks and shady land deals had been exposed, do you think there would be any interest in it in the Drive-By Media and do you think Democrats throughout the Senate would be demanding full disclosure and a full investigation? Yes. Do you hear any Republicans demanding anything against Dingy Harry? No. Do you hear of the Drive-By Media? You see stories out there. AP has a follow-up today, and I saw a little bit on MSNBC this morning, but it was almost like they did it in a perfunctory fashion. They couldn’t wait to get back to Foley, and they’re still talking about the Cory Lidle airplane accident and the ensuing investigation.
There are some media outlets out there touching on this. The Philadelphia Inquirer in an editorial today titled, “Practice What You Preach — That’s how this case looks, too. Unless Reid comes up with a better explanation for this lack of disclosure, Democrats should not keep him as their leader in the new Congress in 2007.” That’s the Philadelphia Inquirer. Here is the Washington Post. “for Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) is that he was sloppy about financial disclosure rules in accounting for a real estate deal on which he made a $700,000 profit.” That’s 175% more than ExxonMobil. “The more unattractive case is that the senator’s inaccurate description of the investment was an effort to disguise his partnership with a Las Vegas lawyer who’s never been charged with wrongdoing but whose name has surfaced in federal investigations involving organized crime, casinos and political bribery since the 1980s… It’s true — under the inadequate financial disclosure rules — that even if Mr. Reid had listed the newly formed corporation, Patrick Lane LLC, that wouldn’t have by itself demonstrated Mr. Brown’s involvement. Nonetheless, that Mr. Reid no longer owned the land, but instead had sold it for an interest in the Patrick Lane corporation, was not some mere ‘technical change,’ as the senator would like to brush it off. It’s an essential element of financial disclosure rules, the purpose of which is to know how and with whom public officials are financially entwined.”
Hey, Post people? Fred Hyatt, editorial page. Go to Strata-Sphere.com, if you can bear to look at a conservative blog and just take a look at the 18 printed pages. When you look at it, there’s nothing in them that rings suspicious. It’s just public records of sales, loans, and so forth involving Dingy Harry and his wife, but for crying out loud, what does this guy make? You know, I look at everything from — and a lot of other people do, too, and it’s a mistake to do this — but I look at these guys, what does a senator make, $165,200 (leaders make $180,100). We know that the Democratic side of the Senate is populated with considerable wealth. More millionaires, multimillionaires on the Democrat side than on the Republican side and that’s always struck me odd when the Democrats say that they have an understanding with the common man. By the way, you common people know who you are, and the Democrats, they’re able to “relate” to you
They understand. I’m going to just tell all you common people out there, you couldn’t get close to accomplishing what Dingy Harry has accomplished, apparently over and over and over and over again. If the ethics committee really digs deep into this, this investigation is going to going on for a long, long time. Now, why do you suppose the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are editorializing on this and suggesting that Dingy Harry has a lot of explaining to do? I mean, why are they not ignoring it? Why are they not sweeping it under the rug? I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but not too many people read the editorials. They read op-eds, but there aren’t too many people that read the editorials in a newspaper.
They’re boring. They’re literally boring. They’re the worst written aspect of the newspaper. So it’s a way to get it in the paper without getting it in the paper. But when they do write these editorials they’re pretty cutting to Dingy Harry. And I think that there’s a bit of a concern on some of these papers’ parts, “This is just too close to the election for this to come out. If this guy is a problem, we’ve gotta do something about it, we’ve gotta make sure that we aren’t appearing to sweep it under the rug here at our paper,” and so forth and so on. I’m just hazarding a guess. What does the Journal-Constitution say? Well… “Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid would be well advised to stop thundering about corruption in the Republican ranks, or crying cover-up over the GOP’s failure to promptly and appropriately deal with Mark Foley.
“Reid faces too many questions about his own behavior to crusade about the misdeeds of others. Currently he’s trying to explain a land deal in Nevada on which he made a pile of money and which may not have been properly disclosed. When the property was sold in 2004, it belonged to a company formed with a long-time friend and included a parcel that once had belonged to Harry Reid. Despite having transferred his parcel to the company, for the same amount of loot that he bought it for, the Nevada Democrat continued to report in Senate Democrats he still owned it personally. That’s a breach of Senate disclosure rules, according to the AP, which first reported the transaction details.” Now, that is pretty stunning. We’ve covered this.
He continued to report in Senate documents he still owned it personally. He wants to say, “Well, it’s an oversight. I’ll go and pay a fine. I’ll fix it.” When you look at the number of land deals that Dingy Harry is involved in, you find out this is a full-time involvement in it he has. This is not something going on in the ten or 20% of his day that he doesn’t have to do Senate business or what have you, or party business. When you look at these documents — we’ll link to it at RushLimbaugh.com. We’ll put it up there so you can look at it yourself. This is an ongoing enterprise, and these kinds of things people do not do hands off with no attention being paid and just verbal agreements, “Oh, yeah, you go ahead and take this 400 grand. I’ll give it back to you. I’ll forget that I sold it to you. I’ll pretend I still own it, then you can pay me.” It’s hard to believe.
“Reid is now considering whether he should amend his disclosure statement. Two months ago the Los Angeles Times reported that Reid had smoothed the way for a campaign contributor and friend to develop a huge tract of land northeast of Las Vegas. Reid tried twice before he was successful to get a utility right-of-way moved from a proposed development site on to public land.” By the way, at RushLimbaugh.com there’s a LA Times story from the nineties that we dug up a long time ago that is amazingly detailed and illustrative of the workings of the Dingy Harry family in Las Vegas and how they’re all intertwined, and nobody cared about that when it came out, either, but we’ve got it permanently linked in our Essential Stack of Stuff. We’ve got it highlighted on the front page so that you can access it as well.
“The first effort of Harry Reid’s stall because of objections from the Bureau of Land Management and others that the developer wasn’t going to pay for anything for a deal that would greatly increase the value of his development site. Eventually, though, it was determined that the developer should pay the federal government more than $10 million. Then there are the free boxing tickets that Reid took from the Nevada Athletic Commission. The panel was hoping to block formation of a national boxing commission. Reid favored one. Only after the AP reported this summer that Reid got the expensive tickets did Reid decide he no longer accept such gifts. Unfortunately, Reid’s ethics meter only seems to work when it’s too late.” This was written by David McNaughton for the editorial board. They actually signed this editorial: David McNaughton for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution — and then Jed Babbin wants to know why is it that none of the major TV networks or newspapers have managed to pay attention to the biggest real scandal of this season, and that is Dingy Harry Reid. Be calm, ladies and gentlemen. Be cool. At some point they’ll not be able to avoid this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Not to make a big deal out of this, ladies and gentlemen, but falsifying the report as Dingy Harry Greed apparently did is a federal crime, under Title 18, United States Code section 1001. It’s a false statement for which Reid could be sent to jail, according to the statute. Now, as Jed Babbin says, “If you’re looking for this on tonight’s network news or on the front page of tomorrow’s New York Times next to the latest Foley reveal, you won’t find it.” MSNBC, as I said, did a little blurb on this today, this morning in addition to the original AP story here, and let me just highlight some things that are relatively new.
“Other parts of the deal such as the informal handling of property taxes raise questions about possible gifts or income reportable to Congress and the IRS, ethics experts said. Reid and his wife Landra personally signed the deed, selling their full interest in the property to this Jay Brown’s company, Patrick Lane, LLC, for the same $400,000 they paid in 1998.” Now, you buy something for 400 grand in 1998, you sell it back four years later for the same amount of money? No inflation even factored in, much less interest? Come on! Who does this? (interruption) Real estate wasn’t booming? (laughing) Real estate wasn’t booming. What was this? This was at the height of the Clinton economic nineties, Mr. Snerdley! Don’t tell me real estate wasn’t booming.
Now, despite the sale, Dingy Harry “continued to report on his public ethics reports that he personally owned the land until it was sold again in 2004.” So it was six years. He claimed he owned it for six years when he didn’t. “His disclosure forms to Congress don’t mention an interest in Patrick Lane or the company’s role in the ‘04 sale. Reid isn’t listed anywhere on Patrick Lane’s corporate filings with Nevada even though the land he sold accounted for three-quarters of the company’s assets. Brown is listed as the company’s manager. Reid’s office said Nevada law didn’t require Dingy Harry to be mentioned in the filings.
“Ethics experts say such informality raises questions about whether any of Jay Brown’s tax payments amounted to a benefit for Reid. It might end up having been a gift. For years, Reid also had been encouraging the interior department to make land swaps on behalf of Del Webb, where one of his former aides worked.” We’ve been through all of this. Here’s the rezoning aspect. This is cool. “Clark County intended for the property that Reid owned to be used solely for new housing. Just days before the Harry Reid sold the parcels to Brown’s company, Brown sought permission in May of 2001 to rezone the property so a shopping center could be built. Career zoning officials objected saying the request was inconsistent with Clark County’s master development plan.
“The town board in Spring Valley where Reid’s property was located also voted 4-1 to reject the rezoning, but Jay Brown persisted. The Clark County zoning board followed by the Clark County commission voted to overrule the recommendation and approve commercial zoning so the shopping center could be built. Such votes were common at the time. Before the approval in September 2001, Brown’s consultant told commissioners that Reid was involved. Mr. Brown’s partners: ‘Harry Reid, I think we’ve people in this community you can trust to go forward put a quality project before you.’” Harry’s in on this; no need to sweat it! So now people are wondering whether Dingy Harry’s son Rory had anything to do with any of these votes. Andrew in Clifton, New Jersey, I’m glad you called. Welcome. You’re first on Open Line Friday, and welcome.
CALLER: What an honor to speak to you, Rush.
RUSH: Thank you, sir. You bet.
CALLER: I wanted to know why the Republican leaders haven’t asked for the resignation of Harry Reid? We’re six weeks out of an election. The Democrats are calling for Hastert’s resignation. They’re basically building up a lot of political clout against this man, and I want to know where the Republicans are on this.
RUSH: Well, I’ll answer this again. Number one: The Republicans don’t have to say anything because we’re doing their job for them here. Number two, it’s just not in them. They just don’t operate this way. You could ask this about virtually everything. When the whole Foley thing came, where were they there? They were running around like scared dogs with their tails between their legs or their other body orifices.
CALLER: Then they deserve to lose then if they’re not going to get up and —
RUSH: No, no, no! WE don’t deserve to lose. Screw these guys! WE don’t deserve to lose! WE don’t deserve to have Democrats running this country at this point in our nation’s history. That’s not what this is about. Let me tell you something. There’s a USA Today columnist, and I forget his name right now. There’s a columnist at USA Today who heard me say that everybody’s looking at this the wrong way. The media has got everybody focused on: “Will the Republicans lose? Will the Republicans lose? Will the Republicans lose the House? Will Republicans lose the Senate?” and I said in a brilliant monolog earlier this week, “What if the Democrats lose? If they can’t win in this kind of climate and environment, they don’t even deserve to be a political party.
And this guy picked up on it, thinks I have a point, starts examining whether or not the Democrats have even earned the right to govern. He’s a media guy. He begrudgingly acknowledges that I have a point. This whole thing needs to be turned around in terms of looking at the context. Why is it that the reporting day in and day out is always focused on Republicans lose, Republicans lose the House, Republicans lose the Senate. We really don’t hear a whole lot of focus on the Democrats doing this to win back the Senate, the Democrats doing this to win back the House. What we hear are never ending stories about how people hate Republicans, and we are never told that the people of this country have anything other than total adoration and love for Democrats.
If you’re to believe the mainstream press, there isn’t one Democrat who’s going to get one negative vote, who’s going to lose an election in this race. There isn’t one American who has any gripe with any Democrat. All the gripes are aimed at Republicans. Well, we know that’s BS. There are 20 million of us, and we have gripes with Democrats. We’re being totally ignored in this context. So, you know, when you say the Republicans deserve to lose, we don’t deserve to lose is the way to look at this. We certainly don’t deserve to have this nation governed by lightweights like Nancy Pelosi and dangerous people like Chuck Rangel who will raise anybody’s taxes faster than he can go to the bathroom after winning the race. These guys, they portend policies that will reverse very nice economic directions that the country is headed in. Anyway, why don’t the Republicans come up? Who knows? They don’t want to be attacked themselves. Maybe they’ve got things they’re hiding. Who the hell knows? All I know is, they don’t ever do it.
October 14th, 2006 at 12:01 amRUSH: Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, I asked, “Where is the Drive-By Media on the Harry Reid story?” I was pointed to a blog called the Strata-Sphere (it’s put together by a guy named A. J. Strata, hence the name Strata-Sphere) and I printed out 18 pages. These 18 pages are of Harry Reid land deals in Nevada and Arizona. I don’t know when the guy has had time to be a senator. This is… I’m holding them up here for those of you watching (glad you’re with us) on the Dittocam. This stuff, it goes on and on and on, these are official records, somebody just went to the website, looked the stuff up, sale prices, who owned what, who lent what, who borrowed what, and this is just the real estate deals. It’s inconceivable that this is it.
I wonder what else the guy is into. It’s mind-boggling here, and o