RUSH: Dover, Ohio, Kathy, welcome to the EIB Network and Open Line Friday. Hi.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. I’m a first-time caller, a longtime listener, and a rank amateur for sure.
RUSH: Thank you very much. I appreciate your standing.
CALLER: I was commenting on the ‘story’ Carl Cameron and Fox did on Wednesday —
RUSH: Mmm-hmm.
CALLER: — ‘story’ in quotes — revealing the background details of the McCain campaign, and I was watching that whole bit. I just found it odd, like, have I got the right channel? Is this MSNBC? Is this Entertainment Tonight? It just didn’t fit in with Fox’s usual thing. And last night O’Reilly said he had received mail from viewers upset with the story, but he defended that by saying, ‘We report news, this is news, and if we don’t, we become like the entertainment shows,’ and that comment he made right there solidified it for me. I’m thinking, watching it, that it is an entertainment piece. You’re not adding any real meat to this. I just found it a very odd story, even for Carl Cameron to be doing, and at the same time —
RUSH: Hold your thought there, right there. I misread the clock.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: I thought I had two minutes here; I only had one. Can you hold on through the break?
CALLER: Yes, I can.
RUSH: Don’t lose your place.
CALLER: I won’t.
RUSH: Okay, even though you’re an amateur I know you can remember where you left off.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Kathy in Dover, Ohio. Okay, we left off with you’re just looking now at Fox or the O’Reilly show, Carl Cameron, or whoever and they’re just entertainment reporters now?
CALLER: Yes. Last night, Bill O’Reilly was defending his position to run that story because he thought that if they cherry-pick their news, that they didn’t run it as news they would become like entertainment shows, and I thought, ‘Well…’
RUSH: Yeah, but, do you realize how much of that turned out to be not true?
CALLER: Yes, exactly.
RUSH: Most of those leaks were not true. She never did answer the door in a bathrobe. All this stuff about not knowing the countries in the continent of Africa or that Africa was a continent, none of that is true.
CALLER: Exactly. And I’m thinking, ‘Where is Senator McCain?’ Senator McCain defended Barack Obama a number of times on the campaign trail. Why is he not opening his mouth now?
RUSH: Well, I asked that.
CALLER: I know the campaign is over, but, hello?
RUSH: I asked this question yesterday. I made the exact point. Any time anybody who wasn’t even associated with McCain’s campaign said something like ‘Barack Hussein Obama,’ then old Yosemite Sam starts prancing around all angry and so forth —
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: — like after the dynamite failed to go off and starts denouncing all these people that are not even part of his campaign.
CALLER: Right. And the same people who would not investigate Obama’s ties in the news media — people that were not talking about his ties, his friends in the neighborhood, his ties to ACORN, his comments on tape — turn right around and take these unfounded sources (rumors, gossip, whatever you want to call it) and run with it. Last night on television on the other channels, just running with it with such a venom.
RUSH: Well —
CALLER: I mean, they hate this woman, and it’s like, you don’t even know if this is true.
RUSH: No, wait. In fact, let me find this here because I’m glad you mentioned this. I’ve got a bunch of different stacks here. Bear with me out there, Kathy, ’cause CNN’s Campbell Brown —
CALLER: (groans) Ugh!
RUSH: — ran a story defending Sarah Palin.
CALLER: Okay. I guess I didn’t hear that one.
RUSH: I have it right here. Well, that’s why you have this show on.
CALLER: That’s right.
RUSH: Here we go, by Campbell Brown. Now, this might only be on their website. I don’t know that it aired either. ‘Whatever you may have thought about John McCain’s running mate … try to put all of that aside for just a moment, because Sarah Palin is who she is. She did not become measurably more intelligent or measurably less intelligent during this campaign. Remember, she was only part of the campaign for a matter of nine weeks. Sarah Palin is who she is, which is why I find it so stunning that the very people who introduced us to her, who told us she would make a great vice president, have now turned on her with a vengeance. They are the top advisers to John McCain’s failed campaign and they are desperate to find someone to blame for their long, long list of mistakes. They have been launching grenades at Palin and her supporters. CNN has found some of their allegations to be patently false.’ I’m having a heart attack here because CNN admits they investigated something.
CALLER: Yeah. And then you’ve got… God bless Greta Van Susteren, she says, ‘I don’t agree with the issues, a lot of the issues that Governor Palin stands for, but they’re attacking her personally. Why are they doing this?’ She called that reporter, the CNN reporter that was sucking Sarah Palin into that Newsweek article and distorted the article. And Greta called for him to apologize to the governor. Well, let’s see. The next day, he got on camera and did something that was supposed to be, I think, an apology (if they hadn’t told me that’s what it was, I would have never guessed) and he went on to call the man that wrote the article in National Review and apologized to him, but no apology to the governor. How interesting.
RUSH: No, and I have here a press release or a statement from John and Cindy McCain, a thank-you. ‘Cindy and I would like to take a moment to thank you for your loyal and steadfast support in the course of this campaign. Governor Palin, her husband, our families, friends, and campaign staff extend our deep appreciation for your tireless dedication, support, and friendship.’ But there’s not a word in this, other than the Sarah Palin thanks you, too. Not a word in this about what’s going on in this campaign.
CALLER: Governor Palin —
RUSH: Now, let me explain something to you, I want to get your reaction to. I think, you go back, if you remember, before she was chosen, there are all kinds of leaks coming out of the McCain campaign for Lieberman.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: That we now know who is pushing that. It was Senator Lindsey Grahamnesty —
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: — from South Carolina who really wanted Lieberman because he thought that would shake up the race.
CALLER: Mmm.
RUSH: Now, all of these leaks on Sarah Palin, starting with Carl Cameron and everywhere else. By the way, some of them even before the campaign was over. So everybody starts speculating, ‘Who’s doing this?’ and I will be honest. Yesterday… I didn’t mention any names yesterday because if I can’t prove it I don’t want to get involved in naming, but everybody was naming Nicolle Wallace. Everybody on our side was — and this has to be Nicolle Wallace because Nicolle Wallace is a good friend of Katie Couric and Nicolle Wallace set up Palin for Katie Couric and this criticism has to come from a girl. I mean, the wardrobe stuff and so forth, this is —
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: — petty girl criticism. And Steve Schmidt said, ‘I would give both arms and legs if it was Nicolle Wallace. It wasn’t Nicolle Wallace,’ and now Nicolle Wallace… We’ve got audio sound bite. Her former name is Devenish. She worked in the Bush White House. She got with the campaign, she got married to some guy obviously named Wallace, but she’s saying, ‘I admire Sarah Palin,’ but they’ve written her off as the leaker.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: But there’s nobody… There are a lot of names that people are speculating and I’m not going to go any further. But the bottom line is you’re right. So is Campbell Brown. There are people in that campaign trying to save their own skins for the next campaign. They’re the ones that screwed this up. Every moderate Republican that had anything to do with the McCain campaign ought to not be on another presidential campaign —
CALLER: Exactly!
RUSH: — when this is how they see it. What is it, CNN last night doing this story on right-wing rage? Let me be honest with you, Kathy — and you’ll probably agree with me on this, although I don’t want to put words in your mouth. If there is any right-wing rage today, it is at the moderates in the Republican Party who are responsible for taking this party down a sewer that nobody knows —
CALLER: That’s right.
RUSH: — what it stands for anymore.
CALLER: That’s right. Governor Palin ignited a dead and dry campaign. Volunteers and contributions came out of the woodwork within hours of her being put out there in Dayton, Ohio. I think all of this… She’s tough. She’s smart. She’s competent. She’s articulate, a doer, and she’s got a proven track record to prove that — and she just doesn’t talk. She’s done the walk, and I think that’s what her attackers fear most, that she’s too effective at brushing the waste where it belongs.
RUSH: Exactly right. She is a threat to the modern Republican Party, which is made up of a bunch of linguine-spined moderates. You are dead-on, right on the money. And they’re trying to take her out now. But the problem is that conservatives and Republicans — and I just gave you the details from a Rasmussen Reports — love this woman. And it’s not even arguable and it’s not even close. Kathy, I appreciate the call. Thank you so much. Up next is Brian in Gilroy, California. It’s great to have you, Brian.
CALLER: (fumbling to pick up the phone) Yeah. Yeah. How’s it going?
RUSH: Fine, sir. Thank you very much.
CALLER: I’m just concerned that just because of one interview, her whole career is over. How did that happen? Just one bad interview and her whole thing, her perception is changed. Independents liked her, women liked her, and since the two interviews, the whole perception changed. How can she recover? And then why did they even let her do that right off the bat?
RUSH: I don’t know why they let her do it, those kind of things. Let me tackle your other question. Of course she can overcome this. This is not going to flavor her for the rest of her career whatsoever. But it does demonstrate the power of the Drive-Bys. Let me answer your question in a different way. I have here, what is this, this is another Rasmussen Report survey. Fifty-five percent of American voters say Congress is doing a poor job. Thirty percent of Democrats do not know who Harry Reid is. Nineteen percent of Democrats say Congress is doing a good job. Congress has consistently scored lower this year in voter approval than even President Bush. Yet, they got reelected and expanded their numbers in both the House and the Senate. Now, how do you explain that, Brian?
CALLER: Well, I guess only Fox News (garbled).
RUSH: No, it’s the Drive-By Media.
CALLER: That’s what I’m saying, most of the media is like totally warped, and the only one that’s fair is Fox.
RUSH: Well, but, see, now, look. I’ve got two schools of thought on this, two frames of mind. On the one hand, the realist in me says, ‘This is the way it is. The Democrats are going to always be promoted and made out to be lovable, successful, competent, caring people by the media. Republicans are always going to be made out as racists, sexists, bigots, homophobes.’ That’s just the reality. It doesn’t mean that I like it; it’s just the way it is. On the other hand, I am totally aware of how it un-levels the playing field and how basically unfair it is, and I’ve also learned to realize that most people, when they see this kind of blatant imbalance and unfairness, are not going to recognize it as such. They will be affected. So you bring up Sarah Palin. What can she do, essentially, to make the media like her?
Well, there’s only one thing she can do to make the media like her, and that’s become a Democrat!
CALLER: (chuckling)
RUSH: It’s something we’re going to have to face here. There’s only one way a Republican can be liked and get fawning coverage, and that’s either criticize your own party on television, or join them with legislation that hurts your own party, or become one of them. That’s the only way. This has to be done outside the mainstream media, and I have constantly warned people: ‘If you’re looking for validation that our ideas are right and accepted from the mainstream media applauding us you are going to die miserable, because it’s never going to happen.’ The mainstream, we’ve got a tougher challenge than Democrats do. They just have to run against us. We have to run against them and the media, and that’s what she was doing! That’s what she was doing, and that’s why our side loved her. With the people that were prepared to vote for her, her image wasn’t harmed at all. It was enhanced. She enhanced her own image. Did you just hear me go through the Rasmussen numbers on Republicans and their view?
CALLER: Yeah, I heard that.
RUSH: All right. So why do you care what Democrats think of her? I mean, when you know they’re going to feel threatened by her… Hell, the moderate Republicans are threatened by her, and they’re both trying to take her out. It’s a testament to her effectiveness. People are afraid of her ability.
CALLER: How we’re going to…? We need someone like Ronald Reagan with a conservative message, appeal to everybody.
RUSH: Yeah. We need it, and she’s it. She’s not the only one. Bobby Jindal can do it, too. These people, just these two that I’ve mentioned, have the ability to go on television and get over the heads of the media and communicate articulately the conservative point of view with people. This is not a liberal country; it’s not a center-left country. Look at the exit polls; look at the number of people who identified themselves as conservatives versus liberals. This is a center-right country. Barack Obama… Now, some of you are gonna just not believe me on this. Obama, in the last three weeks of this campaign, was running as a conservative.
Tell me the last liberal you ever heard promising a tax cut for 95% of the American people? We know it’s a lie, but the great unwashed out there who only start paying attention the last three weeks, say, ‘Whoa!’ McCain said, ‘I’m gonna cut your taxes!’ He didn’t specify. People believe numbers: 95%, $250,000. Keep hammering those two numbers, and when you say 95% are gonna get a tax cut and only people over 250, it doesn’t matter whether both are lies. Only 250 above are going to get a tax increase. He’s campaigning as a conservative. He came out against gay marriage. He had a caveat to it. But in the last weeks, he was defensive whenever he did get specific on an issue. The only screw-up he had was with Joe the Plumber, when he said we want to spread the wealth around.
That got dicey. Had we had somebody who could have made hay out of it, then it would have had a damaging effect on The One. So, folks, that’s why I’m sitting here sort of in a good mood. This country has not gone far left extremist left. Now, there are 40 million people, or 47 million who don’t pay taxes, and there is 40% of the country who probably want to go socialist as far as they understand it. But it ain’t 51%. It isn’t 60%. We’re not there yet. Obama’s going to try to move this country as far left as he can and he’s been honest about it in previous parts of the campaign, from his Change.gov President-Elect Website. I’ll give you just one example. He wants to give $2 billion to an international fund for schools to train kids that will become terrorists to lot of America. Two billion dollars for education in the Middle East to get rid of the hate.