RUSH: You know, all these people — and this has been I guess the narrative or the template of the Drive-Bys ever since McCain became the front-runner in Florida during our primary season. They attack people like me or Hannity or Ann Coulter as we’re just doing it for ratings; just doing it to sell books; we just want somebody that we can argue with. It’s the most shortsighted, blind analysis possible. The way we look at it is, whether it’s McCain or Obama or Hillary, we’re going to be opposing somebody! If what they say was true — Ann Coulter’s right about this — if what they say was true we would be supporting McCain like we can’t wait for him to win. We’re criticizing him, right, we succeed on criticism. Here’s a dirty little secret, folks. This is the truth. It ain’t us angling for ratings, book sales, or whatever. The sycophants on our side from the New York Times conservatives, to the Weekly Standard, to some at National Review Online, these are the people that want jobs with the McCain administration. These are the people that want influence with the McCain administration. These are the people who are doing what they’re doing for their careers.
If my success of my show depended on who wins elections, I’ve lost a couple here that are pretty big, my guys did, I should be pushing up flowers right now, in the career sense. I know my career. I know where I’m headed. I know how to do what I do better than anybody else does, including these people that analyze it. I’m telling you, the people on our side, the conservatives at the New York Times that write conservatism for liberals, some of our magazines, some of our vaunted intellectuals, they’re the ones whose support for McCain is calculated to benefit their careers. And yet they are being ignored in this. In fact, they’re being described and characterized as brilliant intellectuals when they’re nothing but a bunch of sycophants. They either want jobs in the McCain administration, or they want influence in the McCain administration, or they’re just front-runners, whatever the hell it is. I’m telling you, the true independents and intellectual application to the events of the day and the future of our country are being expressed on talk radio today. You’re not going to find them on cable news, chat shows at night. That is vapidity. Those people are rivaling Obama in saying nothing in a compelling way.