Another Day When I Can’t Do Anything Right for You

RUSH: To the phones we go! St. Joe, Michigan, this is Jim. Jim, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Thanks, Rush, for taking my call.

RUSH: Yes, sir.

CALLER: Rush, I’ve been listening to you since 1988, and I love you, but you’re driving me nuts.

RUSH: Oh, no. No, no.

CALLER: I’m pulling my head off.

RUSH: How is whatever has happened today about me?

CALLER: Rush, because, listen, after the last elections, you were really upset. You got on your program and you proclaimed to all of your millions of listeners that you were through ‘carrying the water’ for the Republicans, and here you are doing it again. You’ve been doing it all week.

RUSH: I’m not carrying the water for Republicans today! I’m telling them what they ought to be doing. Carrying the water for Republicans would be defending them no matter what they do, good or bad. I’m not defending. I am criticizing the Republicans today and trying to give them a road map for how to deal with this.

CALLER: Rush, you’re doing what the Republicans should be doing, but they can’t because they’re spineless jellyfish. What you should be doing — remember the lady that called a few days ago and accused you of not doing enough?

RUSH: Yes.

CALLER: I knew what she meant. When I heard her say that, I knew exactly what she meant.

RUSH: What?

CALLER: Here’s what she meant Rush.

RUSH: What? What was it?

CALLER: You are the voice of conservatism. You can say what we can’t say.

RUSH: And I do.

CALLER: If I had a voice right now and I could speak to Congress for some strange reason, I wouldn’t want to talk to the Democrats. I’d want to talk to Republicans, and I’d want to tell them they better get in gear or they’re never going to win an election again.

RUSH: Wait a second! Wait a second. What do you think I’ve been doing today? Look, I don’t mind being assaulted and attacked and taken down here when it’s worth it, but this isn’t worth it. I’ve not been carrying anybody’s water today. I’ve been trying to give a road map for how they’ve got a golden opportunity to go after the Democrats by demonstrating it.

CALLER: Rush, the Republicans don’t have a clue. They don’t know how to fight. All week long, I’ve watched Republicans.

RUSH: All right, then. What am I supposed to do, then, in your mind when I see what I see today with this issue and with this story about the fired US attorneys? Am I just supposed to shut up?

CALLER: No. You should shame the Republicans for not doing what you’re doing. The Republicans should be getting in front of every microphone, every TV program, and doing what you’re doing, and they’re not because you’re doing it for them.

RUSH: I think that that’s what I was doing by being critical of them, by telling them, “Look, if you’re afraid of tying yourselves to Bush, you don’t have to do that. There’s a way to go after this,’ and I demonstrated it for them. Look, if I were carrying water for them, I’d be telling you, ‘You’re wrong. Republicans are handling this just right and you don’t understand politics.’ That would be carrying the water. I’m responding to this as I respond to virtually everything. When there’s an outrage out there about what the Democrats are doing, I call attention to it. But, look, let me tell you what this indicates. While this caller wants to make it about me (and most people want to make it about me, all roads lead to Rush, all roads lead to EIB) what is really noteworthy about this is the anger at Republicans that’s out there on the part of Republicans. You know, people ask me, ‘Who’s your preferred Republican presidential candidate?’

My guess is that there isn’t a candidate who is yet behaving in such a way to make some of these people out there who are very angry, think they are fighters. That’s what people want, and it hasn’t shown up. They’re not getting it, and they haven’t gotten it for a while. In fact, you can trace a lot of this back — I still maintain this — to the ’95 budget deal. Do you remember it? There were all those attacks on Republicans that they wanted to starve kids in school, and the Republicans just stood there and didn’t say a word. From that day forward, after just one or two years of the Republicans controlling Congress, that has still gone unrequited — and it is built from that point. I appreciate the call, Jim.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: This is Aaron in Nashville. Aaron, welcome, sir, to the EIB Network.

CALLER: Hey, Rush. I love you man.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: In a macho, manly type way.

RUSH: Good, not in the Brokeback way.

CALLER: Exactly.

RUSH: Yeah, good.

CALLER: Let’s get that straight, yeah. I wanted to ask you about Alberto Gonzales and Mrs. Bill Clinton. Thinking ahead in 2008, you know, trying to maybe get him out of the picture as a possible vice presidential candidate or — and maybe that’s why —

RUSH: No, no, no, no. Don’t be too smart by half on this. They’re not worried about Gonzales being a candidate, maybe a Supreme Court justice. A lot of conservatives have had that fear, too, that the president would nominate Gonzales to the Supreme Court. It could be that. I think this is all about Bush. Look, more than anything, it’s Democrat politics. You’ve gotta understand that Democrats and the liberals are who they are, and they are politicizing everything. They are trying to make everything either a crime or a scandal. Republican politics is nothing more than a scandal to these people and they’re trying to isolate the president from members of his own party — and everything they’re doing is aimed at the ’08 presidential race. Don’t let that out of the equation. There’s no question that that’s what this is about. Republicans don’t see this or don’t understand. They probably think it’s about the justice department, or it’s about US attorneys. It’s about ‘we’re being criticized.’ It’s not about that. The Democrats are playing politics for ’08.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Steven in Lincoln, Nebraska. Welcome to the EIB Network, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Hello there. Welcome from the great state of Nebraska where the ethanol runs like liquid gold and the senators make decisions for nondecisions.

RUSH: Yeah, that’s true.

CALLER: How are you today?

RUSH: I’m fine. Thanks very much.

CALLER: I’ve just been listening to you every day for years and years, and I remember after President Bush got elected to the White House and the keyboards were being thrown out because the letter W was missing, and everybody was calling your show saying, “What is poor Rush going to talk about now that Bush is in the White House?” I just cannot believe all the things that have happened in our world, in our country, in our government, and you have so many things to talk about. For all those people to call into your show and say, ‘Poor Rush! What is he going to talk about?’

RUSH: Well, those people weren’t actually calling. That is a standard Democrat attempt to marginalize me and to convince people that I’m no longer worthy, that I no longer matter. There’s a long, rich history of this. This program started in August of 1988, which was a presidential election year, and it was the height of the season. We talked about it quite a bit on this program during its inaugural three months. Immediately when the election was over, the press, the Drive-By Media, said, ‘Weeeeell, what’s Rush going to talk about now? His guys are in the White House. What’s he going to talk about now?’ And then, of course, we had the House Bank; we had the House Post Office scandals. We had environmental updates. We were doing animal rights updates and so forth.

Then Clinton wins in ’93, and the same Drive-By Media said, ‘What’s Rush going to talk about now? His side’s just been defeated! He’s just been totally discredited.’ By the way, at that point we had 500 radio stations. After eight years of Clinton, the Drive-Bys then said, ‘It was the Clinton administration that made Rush Limbaugh.’ We’d added about 125 stations during Clinton’s administration. We had 500 stations going in. So after Clinton was over, it was, ‘Well, what’s Rush going to talk about now? The guy who made him who he is, Bill Clinton, is gone.’ It’s going to happen again. It happened last election. ‘Well, this is the end of Limbaugh! This Michael J. Fox thing, that’s it for Limbaugh,’ and, ‘The Democrats have won the election, and Limbaugh’s days are over.’ They do it every election. They know it’s not true. It’s part of their continuing smear-and-destroy effort trying to create the impression in as many minds as possible that any of their critics (me at the top of the list) are now old hat.

I was even referred to that way in the New York Times, lumped with John Travolta as old hat. I forget what the story was even about, but the essence of my being included in it was (summarized), “Limbaugh’s name comes up now and then, and Travolta’s name comes up, but they’re basically old hat. Times have passed them by, but at least you can still say about them, they set the trend for what’s happening.” I don’t know how Travolta got through. It was not a political story. It was a story about people that have come back from having been thought to have been dispatched to the basement and so forth. So it all runs the gamut. I’m old hat. My day is done. Tthings have passed me by. Yeah, I was a ‘fad.’ Oh, it was a fad. For the first seven years, it was just a fad.

Folks, there will never, ever be any contemporary Drive-By Media acknowledgement of the trendsetting nature of this program, the historic things that have happened as a result of this program starting. There will never, ever been a contemporary Drive-By Media recognition of the true success and size of this program. It’s never, ever going to happen, and I don’t sit around waiting for it. Oh yeah, then I became ‘dangerous.’ After the fad, then I became ‘dangerous,’ ‘the most dangerous man in America.’ All the while they’re praising Gary Hart once a week, and then Mario Cuomo once a week, the new saviors of radio, blah, blah! It’s always been a joke.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Ryan in Tampa, welcome to the EIB Network, sir, hello. Ryan in Tampa, hello.

CALLER: Hello, how you doing, Rush?

RUSH: Fine, thank you.

CALLER: I actually just had a question kind of in reference to what was being spoken about earlier, people telling you that you need micromanage, basically, the Republican Party and tell them what needs to be taken care of and what needs to be done, when I believe that you should be out there telling individuals what they should be doing or I need basically knowledge of, to help me to what I need to do to influence people on an individual basis. I don’t believe that the total aspect of Republican Party is what’s going to change people and what’s going to change the explanation —

RUSH: I agree totally. I’m maybe a little confused by this micromanaging the Republican Party thing. Either you’re telling me that people think I should or you’re telling me that you think I am, and either way is wrong. I’m not micromanaging the Republican Party, and I don’t think anybody’s telling me that. As to what you can do, what do I do to make this clear? I am here each day filling you with an encyclopedia’s worth of knowledge and confidence and inspiration. You listen, you absorb it, you learn it, you love it, you live it. It becomes as much a part of you as your right arm, if you’re right-handed, and you become so fluent and passionate that you are able to argue and persuade and converse with others. We are here creating an army, and you are in it, but you have to play your role, too.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: All right, back to the phones. People have been patiently waiting as they always do because it’s a thrill to be on this program. Charlie in Inverness, Florida, great to have you with us, sir.

CALLER: Dittos, Maha Rushie.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER. It’s an honor, I’ll tell you. Listen, we seem to be fighting these constant brushfires with no fire department, other than you and a few others. Americans are wondering what the heck is going on. Are the Republicans stupid, inept, maybe just in it for the money? Because they sure aren’t thinking about this country.

RUSH: What are you referring specifically to?

CALLER: Well, just recently with this judge make-believe fiasco.

RUSH: All right, let’s talk about that. The firing of the US attorneys, you mean. Because unfortunately we can’t fire judges. The president can fire US attorneys. Your question is: what are the Republicans doing? I don’t know. I’ve got a number of theories, and I’ll explain them to you again. Particularly the US attorney thing, you have to understand the Democrats are oriented toward forcing Bush out of office, if they can. It ain’t going to happen, but that’s their objective. The second objective is to isolate the president from his own party with issues and try to paint everything he does as a scandal; everything he does as a crime; everything he does as unethical, making it tough for Republicans to defend him, because we’re only whatever-it-is away from the election of 2008, and the Republicans are afraid that if they tie themselves to the president they’ll go down in a heap.

As I pointed out today, that’s not necessary. You don’t have to defend the president in order to attack Democrats. Now, the question just becomes, “Well, why don’t they attack Democrats?” The most frequent answer I get when I ask Republicans in Washington that, is, “Well, we never get any coverage. The only time we get any coverage is when we do anything rotten and so forth. We can say all we want and nobody would cover it.” Nah, I don’t buy that. There’s any number of ways — especially in this hot button issue of the firing of these eight US attorneys — to be heard. I think there’s an absence of conservative leadership, elected conservative leadership, but I haven’t heard any of the US or Republican presidential candidates weigh in on this. This is such a golden opportunity, especially with Mrs. Bill Clinton painting a target on both the front and back of her muumuu. Her husband got rid of 93 US attorneys, two of them important. One was working on Whitewater (that’s the one in Little Rock and that was the real target, to get rid of that person), and Jay Stephens in Chicago, who was 30 days from indicting Dan ‘Rosty’ Rostenkowski.

I also think they live in Washington; that town’s run by the liberals, both politically, power-wise, and socially. You cannot — I keep saying this — you cannot disregard that. The power of social structures (who’s in, who’s out) matters, especially where you live half the year or longer. Why they don’t avail themselves of the opportunity is something we can only guess at. We try to cajole them and give them guidance here and show them the way as to how to do it, and it happens, but very rarely, and never in a coordinated way as it does with the Democrats. So I understand your frustration. We’ve been talking about it all day. Frankly, I told Snerdley — Bo Snerdley, the official screener of calls — to terminate these calls, because all the criticism ended up coming at me.

I’m the one guy doing something. Everybody is complaining and whining to me about this, and it’s run the gamut. ‘You’re carrying the water for these people when you said you wouldn’t,’ which of course I’m not. If I were carrying the water I’d be defending their lack of action. Others have said, ‘Well, you’re not doing enough.’ Now we’re back to that. As you people well know, I don’t like talking about myself. I’m very uncomfortable with that, and when I become the issue here, then we’re heading down the wrong road, especially when I become the issue on the basis of phony, false, baseless allegations, which most of them today have been. Charlie, I appreciate the call.