RUSH: This is so funny. Last Friday, the Palm Beach Post, they have a — oh, guess what? The Palm Beach Post today on their website, on their editorial page is running one of their talk back features: ‘Is Rush Limbaugh Worth It?’ Is Rush worth, whatever, $50 million a year, is what they say. And of course, this is designed to get hits, which we’re going to do. We’re going to generate hits for them. And most of the responses when I checked it this morning were in my favor. They had to post the negative responses four and five times each to balance it out. Then the last Friday, they’ve got this gossip columnist down here names Jose Lambiet, and Jose ran a piece that ran something like this: Rush Limbaugh known for his intense or something, dislike for illegal Mexican immigrants, nevertheless went to a Mexican restaurant. Now, would somebody explain to me what does opposing illegal immigrants from Mexico or anywhere have to do with going into a Mexican restaurant?
Snerdley says they ought to name a park after me down there. I am the most prominent person in this community, and I am treated the way I am. I’m used to it. These are a bunch of commie libs at that newspaper, they just had to lay off 140 people, the Obama campaign staff here in Palm Beach County just suffered major layoffs.
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RUSH: This is Rafael in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, Rafael. Nice to have you here.
CALLER: Mega dittos —
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: — Rush Limbaugh.
RUSH: Thank you, sir, very much.
CALLER: Thank you. You’re worth it, and I think you’re not making enough, but I’m so glad that you’re making what you are, because you improved my life and my family’s life, so thank you, Rush Limbaugh, and yes, you’re worth it. I have purchased I can’t tell you how many things from your advertisers, and my wife is a happy woman because of it.
RUSH: (laughing) That’s a new one, the program promoting healthy marriages to boot.
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Why thank you for that. That’s an awesome thing for you to say.
CALLER: Thank you, and I’m a disabled vet, Rush. And I just want to say one of the best things you’ve done for me and my family is, I’m not a Democrat. I’m teaching my children to be self-sufficient and to strive for the best, and I’ve learned that from you, because my dad didn’t know that, he did the best he could. But you’re like my dad, Rush, and God bless you for everything —
RUSH: Well, thank you —
CALLER: — out there for us to teach us, and I am a better American and a better father because of you, Rush Limbaugh.
RUSH: Well, I appreciate that. Thank you very much. And, you know, you’re a disabled vet, you’re a genuine American hero. You know that. You are. You have sacrificed a lot that a lot of people have not. You’re owed a debt of gratitude, you and your buddies, both in uniform and out, all these years. You’re owed a tremendous amount by the American people, you really are. I’m flattered and honored that you are in my audience.
CALLER: It’s my honor, Rush. I’ve been listening, I got out of the Navy in 1992, February ’92, that’s when I started listening to you, and I always wanted to ask, of the many things, that first year I believe you received an honorary doctorate degree from a university in Hawaii, is that true?
RUSH: If I had a degree, honorary or otherwise, it would be a big blow to my image. I don’t think I’ve got an honorary doctorate from someplace in Hawaii, unless it’s a golf course.
CALLER: Okay. Well, I am looking forward to your new advertisers, whatever may be because I know you and the guys, the crew there wouldn’t recommend it unless it was the best, and one of the first things I purchased my wife, we’re going to celebrate our first son’s 11th year birthday, and one of the first things I purchased when she got pregnant was a bed, Select Comfort bed, and we still have it, and just made her pregnancy better.
RUSH: Wait a minute, Rafael, you got the bed after she became pregnant?
CALLER: Yes, just a few months after we found out she was pregnant because I wanted her to have a — it was our first baby. I wanted everything to be well.
RUSH: Well, that is fabulous. It’s great thinking, too, on your part, very thoughtful of you. I appreciate it. Rafael, I’m honored to have you in the audience, sir, I have to run because of time constraints, but I’m glad you called.
CALLER: God bless you and the crew there. Thank you.
RUSH: Same to you.
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Dear Rush: My father-in-law has had Alzheimer’s for years now. He’s still somewhat coherent but has lost control of many of his bodily functions and he no longer knows who his daughters are. However, he was a big fan of yours for over a decade before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and last week, when Fox News reported your new contract deal, he suddenly blurted out, ‘Well, good for Rush.’ My mother-in-law, his primary caretaker, thought it was great and let her know that her husband was still somewhere in there. The human mind truly works in amazing ways and I thought you’d enjoy knowing that deep in there you’re still as important to him as you are to all of us. Take care and mega dittos from Louisville, Mr. William Kucharsky.
I read this and honest to goodness, my eyes were welling up here with tears, and I think some tears were streaming down the cheeks, because here I am, it’s at 12:30 in the morning, I’m in my office, I’m reading e-mails, and you have to know, folks, that for all the bravado and stuff, I don’t view myself as any different than any of you. We’re all in this together; we’re all Americans; we all cherish the great things about this country that make it great, kept ourselves free. And you know that I’ve repeatedly said that the people who make the country work are you, not the elites and not famous people, not B-list celebrities and this kind of thing, not the academics and so forth. You’re the anonymous backbone of America. When I get an e-mail like this or a phone call such as the one I got from Rafael in Charlotte, North Carolina, I don’t quite know how to react to it, because I envision this, I envision a man with Alzheimer’s, and his family is around, and this man has probably lived a very productive life.
I’m sure this guy and his family like all of us have had obstacle after obstacle after obstacle which is what life presents us, and they’ve overcome it, and to get an e-mail like this to suggest that in this trying circumstance, that this man with ten years’ worth of Alzheimer’s all of a sudden comes alive when my name is mentioned, I can’t describe — it’s not embarrassing, I guess it humbles me a little bit. I knew I was going to have trouble expressing this. I’m having trouble finding the words. It’s not the emotion, it’s the words that I’m having trouble finding. But I formed a vision of this family sitting out there, and I guess it boils down to, I think people like this and you and Rafael are doing far more to preserve, defend, protect the country than anybody in the media is, including me, and when I am treated to an e-mail like this, it just humbles me, so I wanted to thank Mr. Kucharsky for the note, thank Rafael again for the phone call. I appreciate it more than you know, and I wish I had a better way of expressing it, but I gotta go now.