RUSH: Orrin in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Mega dittos, Rush, how are you?

RUSH: Fine, sir, thank you very much.

CALLER: I just want to say I’ve been listening to you for 20 years and I’ve never been so upset at you. You spent your whole program on this story when nobody else is talking about it. You have ABC wants to come out with it now, Drudge who’s in the tank for Romney. I mean in this type of climate we should be demanding a conservative candidate. And if you think the most conservative candidate is Newt Gingrich, you should say so, you should endorse him. This whole business is ridiculous with Marianne. Romney was pro-abortion. Romney, all that Obama has to do in a debate is turn to him and say, “Thank you, Mr. Romney, for Romneycare. It was beautiful.” I mean he’s a weather vain. You’re spending all your time with the Gingrich story —

RUSH: I think I’m the one who said that.

CALLER: What’s that?

RUSH: I think I’m the one who has — yeah, I gotta take a break here. I forgot the time.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay, folks, I went too long in that last call. I gotta go take a quick time-out here. We’ll be back and I’ll answer all these charges when we return.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Do you think the cable networks are not covering the Newt story because they don’t think it’s newsworthy? They’re not covering it because they don’t have the video yet. ABC hasn’t aired it. ABC’s issued one clip. You wait ’til tomorrow. After Nightline tonight, all day long that interview with Marianne is going to be played. We’re gonna have bet beat them by a day. You know we have Open Line Friday. I need to think that Thursdays are “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” That’s what today’s turned out to be: “Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t Thursday.” They can’t show ABC footage. They can only show what ABC releases prior to the show airing.

MSNBC is showing excerpts. Fox has shown excerpts. But that’s it. I also think that they don’t want to give ABC any additional ratings boost tonight. But you wait. They will be all over this. AP right now: “GOP Fields Leaves South Carolina’s Religious Rights Uninspired.” That’s a story that the AP is running right now. I also got a note here from a friend. I’m not gonna mention a name. “You’re not wrong, Rush, to attack ABC over this Newt stuff, but it certainly seems you’ve written off Santorum’s chances. Maybe you’re right. Maybe he can’t make it all the way although I think you could, but if you keep dismissing him then we really are left with Romney (too moderate), and Newt (too unpredictable), are those the only real choices we want?”

And then I reminded of the news story that Iowa GOP switches stance and declares Santorum the winner. I’ve not chosen anybody. I’m not advocating anybody here, precisely because of this stuff. This is why I don’t endorse anybody. I have not spent this program defending Newt at the expense of Romney and Santorum! To me this is the news today. There is a concerted effort by ABC — and if you think Santorum’s not gonna get his turn, you have to think again. If Santorum ends up… In fact, I said in the last hour a friend of mine told reminded me that he had predicted way, way back… No, no! A friend of mine who had talked to Santorum said Santorum told him by end of January it was gonna be Santorum and Romney.

Everybody else was gonna have either dropped out or forced out, and it may well be that way. I’ve got nothing against Santorum. I spent a lot of the last hour including Santorum in the list of Republicans who are not responsible for anything that’s gone wrong in this country, and I have made it — I hope I have made it — abundantly clear that what I don’t want is Obama. I also believe, and I’m gonna sit here and say this and I’ve said this all along; and I’m going to be consistent that I think any of them can beat Obama, and I think what ABC’s doing here proves it. I think any of them can beat Obama. I think if we’re smart and if we go on offense (and that’s asking a lot of the Republican Party) Obama can be beat. I am not of the school that he can’t be. I don’t have the say-so in who wins this nomination. I don’t have the ability if I even wanted to try.

I don’t have the ability to sweep this Newt stuff under the rug and tell people to forget it, they’re gonna do that on their own. I have always respected the intelligence of those of you in this audience. You make up your own minds. You are your own thinkers. This program validates what you believe. I know that we’ve had a lot of liberals, former liberals that we persuaded here, but you’re not mind-numbed robots. There’s some realities, though. You go to Florida, Newt does not have any money and Santorum doesn’t have any money. Newt doesn’t have any organization. Florida… There are ten media markets in Florida. That means ten places you’ve got to spend money in Florida.

There are some realities in politics that you have to face: Retail politics can work in tiny states like Iowa or South Carolina, but Florida is a different game. Florida’s two different time zones, for example. There are a lot of people that you have to reach in Florida and a lot of different demographics. It’s not just God’s Waiting Room all over the whole state. I don’t want anybody to get the idea from today’s program that I am pro-Gingrich. I think Gingrich had a great debate Monday night and I think that debate is one of the reasons he’s surging in South Carolina. I think everybody had a great debate Monday night except Mitt. Mitt was the weakest of the viable candidates on Monday night and I found it strange because he’s been at this a long time.

Some answers by now should roll off his tongue smooth as glass, and they just still don’t, especially who comes time to defend himself.