RUSH: Anthony in Plainview, New York,. Great to have you on the program. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. It’s real honor to be speaking with you.
RUSH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER: Before I get to my points, I just want to tell you that you helped me get through college.
RUSH: I appreciate that, sir.
CALLER: You really did. Because I was surrounded by liberals, and, you know, when I first heard you on the radio back in the early nineties, I just couldn’t believe there was someone out there that believed in what I believed.
RUSH: Yeah, and there still is one person. Me. Ha-ha.
CALLER: Yeah. Exactly. You know, I work in advertising. I have a firm, and, you know, no one knows the dangers of Obama’s economic policies probably more than I. Because when the economy tanks, businesses cut back on advertising and marketing.
RUSH: It isn’t gonna tank.
CALLER: The economy isn’t gonna tank?
RUSH: No. It’s not gonna tank. What makes you think it’s gonna tank?
CALLER: Well, it has tanked the last four years.
RUSH: No. No, it hasn’t. This is just the way it’s gonna be. It hasn’t tanked. There’s not gonna be a tank, there isn’t gonna be any inflation, and there’s not gonna be any interest rates going up. You have nothing to worry about.
CALLER: Yeah, right, right — and we’ve eradicated Al-Qaeda while you’re at it, too, right?
RUSH: Yeah, and there’s no more unemployment. Everything’s normal and everything’s cool. You need to stop worrying.
CALLER: Oh, yeah.
RUSH: Anthony, hang on. I gotta take a break, Anthony. Do not hang up.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Anthony in Plainview. He didn’t finish what he wanted to say in the massive amount of time we had for his call before the break, so I wanted to hold him over and allow him to get to his point. You had just left off saying you’re in advertising and therefore you know well the barometers of a poor economy and so forth.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: We’re not in a poor economy.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: We’re trucking right along. Everything’s great. The government’s great. Are you having trouble getting your unemployment check? No. Are you having trouble getting your food stamps? No. Are you having trouble getting your government health care? No. What’s wrong with the economy?
CALLER: (laughing) Well, Rush, we could go into that debate for a long time talking about what’s wrong with the economy. You know, we’re overspending, basically. And, you know, when you overspend and GDP is low and spending is high and you’re borrowing 40 or 50 cents of every dollar, there’s no way that the economy is ever gonna bounce back. And they want to double down on that. But my point that I was trying to make, that I wanted to make, was that you’re right: The GOP is letting Obama and the left just destroy them. You know, four years ago, when Obama was elected, we all were kind of laughing at him and scratching our heads and saying, “This guy seems to be campaigning for four years. He’s already got the job. Why does he still sound like he’s campaigning?”
RUSH: Oh, he’s still campaigning now.
CALLER: And he’s still campaigning now!
RUSH: He’s not only still campaigning, he’s still fundraising for that campaign.
CALLER: Right, exactly. But, see, there was a brilliance in that in that he or his people understand that to reach the low-information voters, which kind of made things count, you have to speak in effective sound bites and you have to use media and social media to your advantage with speaking in these sound bites. That’s why they always speak in platitudes and sound bites.
RUSH: Are you…?
CALLER: And he just does it on and on —
RUSH: Wait, wait. Is your point that Obama won because he never stopped campaigning and he came up with clever ways to reach voters?
CALLER: Yes. He kept talking in sound bites that were used over and over and over again.
RUSH: All right. So your solution is for Republicans to do what?
CALLER: To use sound bites effectively and use New Media effectively, which we don’t do. Like, I’ll give you a for instance. Remember when Harry Reid was attacking Romney about his taxes?
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: Romney could’ve nipped things in the bud and looked very strong and even… Well, maybe not presidential, but looked like a fighter compared to Harry Reid and said, “Well, look, Harry, I wouldn’t worry about a private citizen’s taxes. If I were you, I’d worry more about setting a budget.”
RUSH: And you think that’s gonna appeal to the low-information voter who doesn’t even know what a budget is?
CALLER: Not… (exasperated sigh) Not so… I think it would. I think the sound bite would get out that.
RUSH: No, you know how that would be reported?
CALLER: I know. Yeah, I know it would be slanted. It would be slanted. We have an uphill battle. We don’t control the media. We don’t control the schools.
RUSH: Yet we still could have won if the Republican base had turned out.
CALLER: Yes, we could have. We could have.
RUSH: Well, but sound bites and that stuff are not gonna be the reason the Republican base turns out. Conservatism is!
CALLER: Well, no, we have to pick a conservative candidate, and Romney wasn’t the strongest conservative candidate.
RUSH: Well, but he was the only candidate we had and had the Republican Party not run away from conservatism —
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: — had the Republican Party not acted ashamed of it, they woulda won.
CALLER: You’re exactly right. You know, you made a great point. Everybody is afraid of Obama now. But, I’ll tell you what: Reagan wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t afraid of the liberals, he wasn’t afraid of the media, and he wasn’t afraid of the RINOs in our party.
RUSH: No, and he didn’t have any media in his back pocket helping him along, either. By the way, you’re in advertising. You probably know that Obama won the award for Advertiser of the Year in 2008, given out by Advertising Age. Obama and his campaign. So what you’re saying is… See, I know what you want. You want what everybody wants. You want us to be able to compete in the sound bite war in the media. You’re forgetting something. Let’s use your example. Harry Reid says, “A friend of mine told me that Romney hasn’t paid taxes in 15 years.”
Romney goes out and says, “Harry, instead of talking about taxes, why don’t we talk about the fact that you’re being irresponsible with your budget?” Story: “Romney Does Not Deny He Hasn’t Paid Taxes!” This business of trying to get the media to be fair to us is not gonna work. That’s my whole point today. You know, there are days I throw my hands up in frustration and say, “Why am I even doing this?” I have to say these things 25 times to be understood. We’re not gonna get fair treatment, equal treatment, in the media.
We’re not gonna get respect. If Romney had come out with a sound bite that really embarrassed Reid, they wouldn’t report it. It would never see the light of day. The only thing that’s gonna happen is Harry Reid’s gonna continue to get media time saying Romney hasn’t paid his taxes, and the only thing the media is gonna care about is getting Romney to either deny it or admit it. Nothing else Romney says is ever gonna be a factor. We’re not gonna succeed here playing their game. This just isn’t gonna happen.
I know how unfair it is, and I know how frustrating it is, and I know you get sick and tired of the unfairness of it all, especially listening to a bunch of people wail and moan bet unfairness of America all day long and why they’ve gotta do all these massive changes in our culture and our politics. That’s the racism, the sexism, the bigotry and the unfairness of all that stuff. In the meantime, you’re just concerned about the basic unfairness of the media.
But their job’s to destroy conservatism. It always has been. They’re just now admitting it. So in light of that, it’s foolish to think that we can impress them. It’s foolish to think that we can come up with a sound bite here or there or a Twitter post or a Facebook post that’s gonna make ’em go, “Oh, wow! You know, maybe these guys aren’t so bad after all.” It isn’t gonna happen. That simply isn’t gonna happen. But, look, I’m glad you called, Anthony. I appreciate it. Thanks much.