RUSH: Let me ask you a question, folks. Answer this question honestly: How many of you in this audience are embarrassed of Sarah Palin? How many of you are embarrassed of Carl Paladino? How many of you — or, how many of you know other conservatives, slash, Republicans who are, if maybe you’re not, how many of you are embarrassed of Sharron Angle? You know people, Snerdley, who are? So do I, is the point. I know people. I told you once, had a dinner party at my house, a couple people started railing against Palin, sounding just like they were Katie Couric, and I lost it. I literally, I never have lost it the way I lost it. I got kicked outta my own house. And I had to fly somewhere anyway, so I got a head start. I got kicked outta my own house. I got in the car and drove to the airport and got outta there, ’cause I was just flummoxed.
How many of you are embarrassed, or how many of you know people who are embarrassed, about Christine O’Donnell? You know people embarrassed by Christine O’Donnell? I do. I run into people all the time: ‘Can’t we do any better than that? I mean, gosh, these people don’t even know the issues, why, they really — you know, they’re nuts, these people are real kooks, I mean, they’re not even electable, they don’t come off well on TV, they don’t even know the issues.’
I mean, these people are embarrassed, responding to every criticism mounted from the Democrats in the media. I’m talking about conservatives. And I bet you know people who are embarrassed of the Tea Party in general. How many of you know people who, the Tea Party even makes ’em nervous? And Tea Party rallies and gatherings, that even makes you nervous? ‘It’s kind of embarrassing, it doesn’t look like the Tea Party people are political professionals, it’s just kind of embarrassing, really wish they’ve’ — I don’t know. How many of you know people that way? How many of you are that way? Well, we have a lot of people that way, and any time I encounter ’em, I get in their faces and I throw some things back at them. I’ll give you some examples of what I throw back at them when we get back from this.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I want to speak to those of you who are embarrassed of Sarah Palin and Christine O’Donnell and the Tea Party in general, Sharron Angle, maybe Carl Paladino rubs you the wrong way. You think they’re nuts, they embarrass you. I mean they’re conservatives and they’re Republicans and so are you, but you think they’re a little kooky. You don’t even think they can win. They don’t come off well on TV. I hear from people who think this a lot. I’ll tell you what I’ve started doing when people start — because when they tell me they’re incredulous, ‘Are you just saying this on the radio or do you really think Sarah Palin’s got it all together? Are you really not bothered by Carl? I mean, Rush, this Paladino guy has a ten-year-old daughter from an illegitimate sexual relationship. Come on, Christine O’Donnell, Rush, I mean the IRS, you really –‘ the people come to me with this, wondering if I’m being genuine and serious here on the radio. What I’ve started doing, I’m going to do it right here, what would happen to you because this is the point that I was making yesterday talking about the dustup that Paladino had with Fred Dicker and Nathan Deal in Georgia and a number of others, Christine O’Donnell.
All of you — and I don’t know how many it is, but you know who you are — all of you who sit out there acting holier-than-thou, saying that these Tea Party people are kooks, how would you do if suddenly your life was uncovered and plastered all over television? How would you do if cameras were following you and the express purpose was to catch you in embarrassing moments? How would you do if the media was giving you an anal exam for the express purpose of making you look like an idiot? How many of you would look like Albert Einstein? How many of you would look like Winston Churchill? How many of you would look like paragons of virtue? How many of you would look like brilliant Mensa members? How would you feel if an army of motivated people looking to destroy you was following you every moment of the day examining everything you’ve ever done, trying to find every event in your life, from junior high to the present? How many of you could withstand what these people are having done to them? And then when it was happening to you, how many of you would say to yourself, ‘Well, I hope people understand everybody’s got skeletons in their closet? I hope people understand the media is trying to make us look bad.’
How many of you would be hoping and praying that normal people would understand that what’s going on is not quite fair? How about you? You’ve had a couple divorces. Do you want Katie Couric talking about that on TV? Do you want Katie Couric going to your ex-spouses, finding out why your ex-spouses don’t like you? You want it all over People magazine? You want it all over the New York Times; the New York Post; the Washington Post? How about all the speeding tickets you got? You ever knocked anybody up? You got any illegitimate kids running around that you know of or don’t know of? What’s going to happen if you don’t but some woman pops up and says that you do and the media following you around can’t wait to put that out there as a possibility? What if you happen to be somebody who had to get married 30 years ago, you’re living in a loveless marriage, you had to get married because you had some little accident take place, what happens if the media following you around found out about it and everybody in your neighborhood and everybody in your town and everybody in your church found out about it? Would you not be saying, ‘Come on, that’s a long time ago, doesn’t say who I am today, and look, I did the right thing back then anyway.’
How many of you could withstand the Democrat Party from the White House on down going through all of your tax returns, every job that you’ve ever had? How many of you would look clean and pure as the wind-driven snow if the start looking into everything your kids have gotten into and have done? How many of you took seven years or eight years to pay off a $10,000 medical bill? How many of you have been audited by the IRS? How many of you have had it said that you tried to cheat the government? How many of you could withstand this kind of treatment yourselves? I mean it’s one thing to sit here and say that all these people are embarrassing and they’re kooks and they don’t come off well on TV and they’re unelectable. Well, how about you? ‘Cause these people are just like you, they’re just like us. How many of you have had the electricity turned off at your house because you didn’t make a payment or how many of you had the phone turned off? How many of you have gone to psychics to have your future predicted? How many of you have done any kind of thing that if anybody found out about it you’d be embarrassed as hell?
How many of you can sit there and say that not one thing has ever gone wrong in your life? How many of you can say you never wrecked a car? I don’t mean all of you. I’m talking about those of you or the people that you know who are sitting there from their lofty perch of perfection saying they’re embarrassed by Sarah Palin. And why, by the way, are you embarrassed about Sarah Palin? What do you actually know about her? And then at the end of the day, even with all that, would you say, ‘Yeah, I’d rather have Obama for four more years. I really would rather have Harry Reid. I really would rather have Pelosi, yeah, because I’m so embarrassed of Palin and O’Donnell and Carl Paladino. I can’t vote for ’em, they embarrass me, if anybody found out I voted for ’em, I couldn’t live with myself. People would be laughing at me. I’d have to say how stupid they are so people think I’m not stupid.’ Okay, fine. Then I assume this means you want four more years of an assault on the American private sector and the economy. You want four or six more years of wild spending, dooming your own kids and grandkids to having any opportunity for prosperity, all because Paladino or Palin or somebody embarrasses you, they’re not electable, they’re kooks?
How many of you would even have the guts to run for office? How many of you would have the guts to go do what they’re doing rather than sit on the sideline and complain about how those who are doing it aren’t doing it the right way? You can tell I’m getting a little ticked off more and more each time I describe it because I run into these people. I don’t know what they expect my reaction to be when they tell me this. I’m supposed to agree, yeah, privately, ‘I know they’re a little kooky but they’re all we’ve got.’ I mean I don’t like arrogance wherever I find it. Is it not the professional politician that has created this mess? Is it not the people who look good on TV and who sound good on TV and sound smart on TV and look like Ken dolls and buy hair spray and Botox by the case, is it not those people that have created the problems that we’re in? So when average, ordinary life happens people decide they don’t want to put up with the pros anymore and they want to roll their sleeves up and get involved and try to fix it, why do we demand of them standards that we do not demand of even Obama or Dingy Harry or Robert Byrd? I mean can somebody tell me what Ku Klux Klan group Carl Paladino ever belonged to? Can somebody tell me what shifty land deal Harry Reid made gazillions of dollars on exists in the Republican Party? Somebody give one.
Can you tell me where the equivalent to Harry Reid is in the Tea Party? Where is it? Where is the equivalent to Pelosi? Where is the equivalent to Barack Obama? Where is it? See, what doesn’t compute for me is the vitriol I hear from people describing Democrats destroying the country. People say this to me: ‘Rush, they’re ruining the country, they’re destroying the country.’ Right, but we prefer that to Sarah Palin or Christine O’Donnell ’cause they just embarrass us, they’re kooky. Where’s the equivalent to either of the Clintons in the Tea Party? I thought we wanted people in Washington who look like everybody else in America. I thought we want people in Washington who have had negative encounters with the government, the bureaucracy, the oppressive elements of this regime so they can relate to it and stop it. I thought we want people in Washington who really want a flat tax or a FairTax and are not concerned with the power they’d be giving up in getting rid of the current progressive tax. I thought that’s what we wanted. If you couple this, what I’m saying now, with the monologue of yesterday, folks, it’s serious.
If you think the Republicans winning the House in November ends Obama, I beg you, think again. It only just begins. The real battle just begins. Because if you think the things they’re saying about Christine O’Donnell and Sarah Palin and Carl Paladino, et al, if you think the things they’re saying about ’em now embarrass you, you wait until they’re elected, if they are, see what they say about them and then see how touch it’s going to be for you and your perfection, your flawless life to sit there and continue to stand with them and support them. People who have never made wrong decisions have never made a decision. People who have never made mistakes have not lived. I want people who have lived lives, who have made mistakes, don’t care who knows it, they’ve learned from them, they’ve made amends, and they have moved on with their lives. I’m tired, frankly, of Republicans throwing candidates under the bus for not being the political equivalent of Mother Teresa or not being professional enough to get elected. I really lose my patience with abject neophytes who don’t understand the first thing about politics, criticizing people for getting involved and trying to improve what is a terrible situation in this country, people who wouldn’t lift a finger to do it themselves.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: To Springfield, Illinois, Kathy, great to have you on the program. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. This is a real pleasure and honor. I just wanted to tell you that I’ve been listening to you for the past many years. My mother got us turned on to you, all of us kids, but I just think you’re brilliant and I think that the tirade or whatever you want to call it that you’re on right now is just absolutely wonderful. And I just want to tell you real quick why I think I’m qualified to call you brilliant. I have a Ph.D. in humanities, and —
RUSH: Wow.
CALLER: — I’ve taught at Florida State, Florida A&M and some other universities and I’m married to a football coach, who was Emmitt Smith’s head coach, and I just love the way that you do not excuse the patriotic behavior of the Tea Party people, that you aren’t embarrassed by their enthusiasm and that you stand by your principles, and I love the way that you are able to analyze a political situation, you kind of distill it and hone into the heart of the matter, and that is why I keep listening to you, because you are the best at doing that.
RUSH: Well, thank you.
CALLER: I think you’re great.
RUSH: Thank you very much. I really appreciate it and I am passionate about it. I run into it all the time and it gets more and more frustrating each time I run into this. And then I look at John Edwards. The Democrats, the media: This man was flawless, two Americas, he had the compassion. Why, his wife, even though she had cancer, they were willing to put their family concerns aside for the country. They’re a couple of frauds. But, boy, he looked good on TV, and he didn’t embarrass anybody until the truth came out. This has been delectable. I can’t tell you the number of people I knew that thought Edwards was it and now they’ve read that book out there by Andrew Young and they find out what a total fraud this guy is. I say, ‘Okay, there’s one Democrat down. Now, if you can think about all of them the way you’ve learned about John Edwards, then we’ll be making progress. Think about it.’
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You know, the kind of people that we have running for office now are the exact kind of people the Founding Fathers had in mind. I’d rather have somebody who speaks his mind, not talking points, and I certainly don’t want some hypocritical crook or some destructive liberal in charge of this country any longer than necessary. It’s not complicated at all to me.