Former CIA Officer and national security expert, Buck Sexton, filled in for America's Anchorman on New Year's Wonkin' Eve. Rush returns next week.

"I want to remind you, going into this New Year that if you've got the cash, you've got the Clintons. They are very much for sale. They're so corrupt, that they would gladly pay for the pleasure of selling themselves. That's the feeling you get: They actually get some joy from this." -Buck Sexton

Erick Erickson, editor of RedState.com (for one more day) and host of his own show on WSB in Atlanta, filled in for the Maha Rushie. 

"I was a lawyer for a couple of years, but please don't hold that against me. I'm in the 12-step program." - Erick Erickson

Mark Steyn guest hosted for Rush on Tuesday. Check out his page for quotes and audio links. Rush will return in the New Year.

"America's Anchorman is away, and this is your EIB Anchor Baby, honored to be with you on a lovely, snowy day in New Hampshire. There's no shortage of guest hosts -- and if there are, we have 10,000 Syrian guest hosts that we've just fast-tracked through the immigration system." -Mark Steyn

On Monday, Mark sat in the Attila the Hun Chair at EIB Northern Command. Check out Mark's Stack for links, audio clips and more. Rush returns next week after the New Year.

"The best case scenario for a guest host is the audience says, 'I miss Rush, but that guy isn't so bad.' Worse case, the guest host is so bad, people flood Rush with e-mails; then he comes back on the air and says, 'What the heck did that guy Belling do?'" - Mark Belling 

RUSH: God bless, Merry Christmas, thank you ever so much.  Again, no matter how valuable you think this program is to you, it pales in comparison to what you have done for me and my family and the rest of the staff here at the EIB Network.

RUSH: If I know the Hillary camp they're making that video now.  They have gotten hold of some Muslims and they're going to make a video and they're going to produce it as though it's legitimate.  Little did I know, until I just now got the audio sound bite roster, that the media advised Hillary to do just that last night on CNN.  

RUSH: This has thrown the media for a loss now because if, indeed, Odell Beckham Jr. was a victim of homophobia and blatant homophobic comments, the media is caught.  Oh, no, does that change everything?  Does that explain why Beckham lost it all afternoon?  Does that explain why Beckham was doing what he did? 

RUSH: He learned from portraying Saul Berenson on Homeland that Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld are just like the terrorists.  He learned this playing a character entirely made up out of somebody's figment of their imagination, words entirely manufactured.  There is no basis in reality. Saul Berenson does not have a Social Security number.  Saul Berenson does not exist.  But in Mandy Patinkin's head he does, and in Mandy Patinkin's head there are all kinds of life lessons he's learning pretending to be this guy.

CALLER: I'm only about a one-year listener as of right now.  I just had a question for you. I am a very avid fan of the show Family Guy, and I know that they tend to be sort of, you know, more to the left as far as their political views go... I was just curious what drove you to kind of be on the show?

RUSH: People are talking about the fact he missed the vote, that he's not on the ground in a lot of these places, that he's not showing up, he's not doing the usual retail political campaign, and yet he's doing okay. And the theory is that it's a new day, it's a new era, what with online expanding, that the need to press the flesh is not nearly what it used to be with all the YouTube videos and everything else that you can do.  But essentially what they have concluded, some of these analysts have concluded, what Rubio's actually doing is running a national campaign already rather than a series of primary campaigns. 

RUSH: The Weekly Standard has a piece in it that, very, very rarely has this ever happened to me.  In fact, I can't ever remember it happening.  I'm sure it has, 'cause it's been 27 years I've been doing this...

RUSH: I, El Rushbo, was the first to posit and name the Trump Effect.  But I can't take total credit for it because there is the Wilder Effect out there, which is much the same thing.  And it is the theory that Trump has actually got stronger support than some of the polls indicate because the media has been so obvious in its opposition to Trump and so obvious in a disgust that when a pollster comes calling, the respondent will not say he or she is for Trump because they don't want to be ridiculed by the pollster or they don't want the pollster to think they're one thing or another, so they lie.

RUSH: I'm just gonna tell you, I'm just gonna say it flat-out what he meant.  I'm just gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell you exactly what Trump meant.  No more beating around the bush.

RUSH: McCain, Romney ran from talk radio, didn't want to be touched by it, didn't want to seem to be too close to it.  Cruz and Trump, the exact opposite.  And look at them. They're not afraid of the media. They will engage at the drop of a hat. 

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