As only he could, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh spend large swaths of Wednesday’s program trashing the liberal media and particularly CNN, referring to them as “fools” with “little Jim Acosta” behaving like a cat “chasing the red laser pointer around and bumping into walls and sofa.”
Limbaugh took on CNN from almost the get-go, informing listeners that he’s “sensed a momentum shift, and I continue to see evidence of it” with Tuesday’s White House daily briefing and Sarah Huckabee Sanders holding her ground against Sentinel/Playboy writer Brian Karem.
Blasting CNN for “now making fools of themselves each and every day, as is a large swath of the Drive-By Media,” Limbaugh astutely noted how he’s exposed this going back decades to the point that it’s blatantly obvious the media “have become the organizing power of the American left.”
“The media is now gobsmacked. They are in the process of humiliating themselves every day. They are embarrassing themselves. The latest example, and it’s glaring, is CNN and the three people that had to resign or quit or whatever over the erroneous story filed about a Trump associate working with banks in Russia. This whole Russia story has simply consumed the media, simply consumed them,” he masterfully added.
Limbaugh praised the “fearless” Huckabee Sanders as someone who “cannot be intimidated” based on her trashing of CNN for their retracted Russia story.
“There’s no other Republican White House that would ever deal with this like this. This is earth-shattering, it’s precedent setting. And the press of course, after she said that they started erupting and trying to ask the next question, but she held them off and continued,” Limbaugh explained.
Needless to say, she had to have known how the media would react, as evidenced by Karem having “lost his mind over this.”
As for Jim Acosta, Limbaugh hysterically called out Acosta in the same vein that he previously did to Brian Stelter [emphasis mine]:
And during the Q&A, she opens up with somebody from Breitbart, which also ticked off the media. Our old buddy little Jim Acosta who’s chasing the red laser pointer around and bumping into walls and sofas, he tweeted later (paraphrasing): “This is just unreal. They called on conservatives. They call on conservatives and they won’t call on us. And they call us fake news. Is this America? Is this the Constitution?” Just losing his mind. The Trump White House owns CNN now.
Acosta’s pompousness rings true concerning a subsequent point Rush made, which was that the media have “gotten completely immersed in their supposed constitutionality” and become drunk with power over the press being “specifically mentioned in the First Amendment.”
There were plenty of other things highlighted by the Founders in the First Amendment, but that’s minor details to these people. Limbaugh continued:
And I’ve thought for the longest time these people really do think that they are the singular thing keeping our country together. But what’s happened is they all think that you can’t criticize them. They are so far above and beyond that you can’t criticize them. What they’re doing is too important. They’re simply trying to explain truth to power. They’re trying to hold truthful people accountable, and you can’t criticize them, you can’t, it’s unconstitutional, it’s undermining their precious responsibility.
Later in the show, he put a finger on the media’s true goal, which is to “to destroy Republicans” (and, by extension, impeach Trump):
Let’s face it, there’s a lot of people out there that think the media’s job is to destroy Republicans. A lot of people think the media’s purpose is to destroy Republicans, destroy conservatives, and destroy their ideas and discredit them, that that’s the job. Look at the sycophantic way they dealt with Obama and they claim they’re just trying to do their jobs in there and ask the questions. They’re not doing anything of the sort. It’s being exposed and they don’t know how to deal with it.
Here’s the relevant portions of the transcript from June 28's The Rush Limbaugh Show:
The Rush Limbaugh Show
June 28, 2017RUSH LIMBAUGH: I mentioned on Monday starting the program that I sensed a momentum shift, and I continue to see evidence of it. The White House press briefing yesterday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and a reporter, a White House reporter from Playboy got into it yesterday. CNN is now making fools of themselves each and every day, as is a large swath of the Drive-By Media. There’s one reason this is happening. I was thinking about this while consuming all of this data. For 25 years, 30 years, whatever length of time I’ve been doing this, I have been focusing attention here on the media, telling people how they operate, who they are, what they do, and what they don’t do. And how they now have become the organizing power of the American left, not the Democrat Party.
The media is now running the operations of the American left. I have spent all of these years attempting to get people to know what they’re watching and know what they’re reading when they consume media and how to spot the bias, the unfairness, the bigotry, all of the things that the media is. It has been a never-ending quest. I’m not expressing frustration here. I’m leading up to something.
(....)
LIMBAUGH: The media is now gobsmacked. They are in the process of humiliating themselves every day. They are embarrassing themselves. The latest example, and it’s glaring, is CNN and the three people that had to resign or quit or whatever over the erroneous story filed about a Trump associate working with banks in Russia. This whole Russia story has simply consumed the media, simply consumed them.
There’s nothing to it. There isn’t anything there. And now there are stories in the media about how it’s time we get rid of journalism. Opinion journalism needs to be the order of the day. Now, do you remember the Project Veritas tape that we played yesterday, which ostensibly was a recording of a CNN producer who admitted that, “Yeah, we know there’s nothing to this Russia thing, but it’s ratings, man, it’s ratings, and that means money. You know, we spend a day on the climate accords, but they come to us, the execs, Zucker, and they tell us to get back on the Russia story. We can’t drop it. We got stay on the Russia story.” Why? Ratings, money.
(....)
LIMBAUGH: Now back to CNN and the Drive-By Media and what happened in the pressroom yesterday. Sarah Huckabee Sanders did the briefing. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, like Trump, is fearless. She cannot be intimidated. And, boy, did they try yesterday. She opened up with a statement about the CNN story that had to be declined, deleted, and canceled, and the three people were fired and she used it as an example of the fake news that’s out there. And she started listing other examples of fake news, and a Playboy reporter lost his mind over this, over the way the Trump administration is trying to portray the media. And she stood her ground. Let’s get started. We’ll start with audio sound bite number two. She’s the deputy press secretary. She did the briefing yesterday. And during the Q&A, she opens up with somebody from Breitbart, which also ticked off the media. Our old buddy little Jim Acosta who’s chasing the red laser pointer around and bumping into walls and sofas, he tweeted later (paraphrasing): “This is just unreal. They called on conservatives. They call on conservatives and they won’t call on us. And they call us fake news. Is this America? Is this the Constitution?” Just losing his mind. The Trump White House owns CNN now.
Anyway, the guy from Breitbart, his name is Charlie Spiering, and he said, “Recently Breitbart News challenged the accuracy of a CNN story. And afterwards the story was retracted, it was deleted, and the editors responsible were fired, as well the network apologized for the story. One of the targets of the story accepted the apology,” that would be Anthony Scaramucci. “The President went on Twitter this morning and repeated that CNN was fake news. Why isn’t their response, why isn’t their apology, firing the three reporters, deleting the story, why isn’t that good enough for the President?”
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: It’s the constant barrage of fake news directed at this President probably that has garnered a lot of his frustration. You point to that report, there are multiple other instances where that outlet that you referenced has been repeatedly wrong and had to point that out or be corrected.
LIMBAUGH: There’s no other Republican White House that would ever deal with this like this. This is earth-shattering, it’s precedent setting. And the press of course, after she said that they started erupting and trying to ask the next question, but she held them off and continued.
(....)
LIMBAUGH: And so here’s the guy from Playboy. You’ve probably already seen it ’cause the Drive-Bys cannot stop playing this. This guy lost it. His name is Brian Karem, and he is a Sentinel newspapers exec. Now, wait. I’ve seen that he’s a Playboy reporter. This says Sentinel newspaper. Whatever, doesn’t matter. I’ve not seen the guy before, by the way. I mean, I don’t watch these things every day, but I have never seen this guy in the press. That’s why when I saw this happening, there was no sound on, it happened during the program yesterday, I said, “Who is this guy?” Not that he shouldn’t be in there, I had just never seen him before. Well, his name is Brian Karem, he’s either at Playboy or a Sentinel Newspaper executive, and he couldn’t take it anywhere.
(....)
LIMBAUGH: You know, they’ve gotten completely immersed in their supposed constitutionality. The press has its freedom specifically mentioned in the First Amendment. I think it’s gone to their heads. And I’ve thought for the longest time these people really do think that they are the singular thing keeping our country together. But what’s happened is they all think that you can’t criticize them. They are so far above and beyond that you can’t criticize them. What they’re doing is too important. They’re simply trying to explain truth to power. They’re trying to hold truthful people accountable, and you can’t criticize them, you can’t, it’s unconstitutional, it’s undermining their precious responsibility. Well, the fact of the matter is Sarah Huckabee Sanders nor Donald Trump’s driving a wedge between the media and the people. The media have been doing that themselves for decades. They have polled near the bottom of respectability professions for I don’t know how long, and they are still there.
(....)
LIMBAUGH: Let’s face it, there’s a lot of people out there that think the media’s job is to destroy Republicans. A lot of people think the media’s purpose is to destroy Republicans, destroy conservatives, and destroy their ideas and discredit them, that that’s the job. Look at the sycophantic way they dealt with Obama and they claim they’re just trying to do their jobs in there and ask the questions. They’re not doing anything of the sort. It’s being exposed and they don’t know how to deal with it.
