RUSH: All week long we have been discussing Sarah Palin — why the conservative intelligentsia doesn’t like her, why they don’t think she has the smarts, the heft, or what have you — and I’ve been checking my e-mails all week long, and I have to be honest with you. I am getting a tremendous amount of e-mail from women who despise Sarah Palin, and the reasons run the gamut. It’s like Dawn: “Well, she’s got so many kids, she ought to be staying at home. She has no business doing that, working and running for president. Be a mother first.” Others say that it’s embarrassing for women. Folks, I’ve always known that…
Here’s the best way to express this. You’re walking down the street and you look across the street and there’s this woman you find attractive. So you go, “Whoa. Oh, wow.” What you don’t see is other women walking down the street also noticing the beautiful woman shooting her daggers. “How dare she wear a skirt that short? Who does she think she is?” I mean, we don’t see it because we’re too occupied ourselves but I’m telling you the long knives are out here — and it’s from women e-mailing me, identifying themselves as conservatives; and as I say, the reasons run the gamut. Now, it’s really getting ridiculous. They’re pulling out all the stops.
Public Policy Polling, which is a liberal polling group out of North Carolina, has polled Sarah Palin with independents against Charlie Sheen (laughing) and they claim that the independents prefer Sheen. You people who are independents, you may not like this, but you prefer Charlie Sheen to Sarah Palin in a presidential contest. The headline is: “Palin Trails Sheen with Independents — We’ve found a lot of brutal poll numbers for Sarah Palin so far in 2011: down in South Dakota, down in South Carolina, down in Arizona, only up by 1 point in Texas, only up by 1 point in Nebraska to name a few. But this has to be the worst — independent voters say they would support Charlie Sheen over Palin for President by a 41/36 margin. Seriously.”
Now, who would even conjure a poll question like this? Charlie Sheen preferred by independents! What is this news gonna do? All these political consultants who think that every presidential election is won by whoever can win the majority of independent voters? If Charlie Sheen beats Sarah Palin, what does that say about independent voters? “Despite her deficit with independents versus Sheen, Palin does lead Charlie Sheen 49-29 overall. Only the independents prefer Sheen,” who, of course, doesn’t know where he is — and he certainly isn’t running for president.
Public Policy Polling says that (laughing) Charlie Sheen (this is ridiculous) “is one of the most unpopular figures we’ve ever polled on. 10% of Americans rate him favorably to 67% with a negative opinion of him. The only people we’ve ever found worse numbers for are Rod Blagojevich in Illinois (an 8/83 favorability spread), Jesse Jackson Jr. in Illinois (a 10/73 favorability), and Levi Johnston in Alaska (a 6/72 favorability). Sheen’s -57 spread ties what we found for John Edwards in North Carolina … Obviously,” they say, “Charlie Sheen’s not going to run for the White House but the Palin numbers are one of the more interesting benchmarks yet pointing to just how minuscule her chance at the Presidency would be even if she did decide to get into the race.”
Man, oh, man, is this…? Look at the stops that they are pulling out. Now, bear in mind, ladies and gentlemen, that the latest polls here on Palin are designed with a single purpose. The single purpose of all these polls is to convince Palin that she has no chance of winning. Whole purpose is to convince her that she has insufficient support to run. So it’s really ratcheting up and it’s getting down to the point of being ridiculous. If they start polling Sarah Palin against Charlie Sheen, there’s some genuine, real fear of this woman in a lot of places. I still have to tell you: A lot of it mystifies me. You know, I live in Realville. I live in Literalville.
I’m a conservative. I believe in conservatism. I think we got a guy running the country who’s destroying it. Against that, I don’t see what the problem is. I know people say she can’t win, but that’s what I don’t get. I think well-articulated, solid conservatism can mop the floor with this guy in the 2012 election. That’s what I have no doubt about. I don’t think we need to pussyfoot around here and beat around the margins. It’s very clear what will win. It wins every time it’s tried: Forceful, confident, well-articulated conservatism. I don’t care out of whose mouth it comes. All things being equal.
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RUSH: Here’s Carrie in West Windsor, New Jersey. Great to have you on the program. Welcome.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: Very good. Thank you.
CALLER: Thank you very much first of all for being my lunch buddy for over 25 years. I really appreciate it.
RUSH: Well, thank you.
CALLER: I wanted to comment on the poll they took and it’s just my personal theory that sure people picked Charlie Sheen over Sarah Palin. My feeling has been that I’ve watched men over the years, and certainly not in my age bracket but younger, and I honestly feel that they look at Sarah Palin as somebody who’s gonna demand more of them. I mean she’s not standing up there and giving anything away.
RUSH: Wait just a second. You said that you have watched men over the years?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: And you think that Palin scares men because she’s gonna demand more of them?
CALLER: Well, listen. She’s strong, right? She’s independent. She married a strong guy. She has a family with him. They work together. She’s going out there and giving conservative values that are you have to do it yourself. She’s not handing anybody anything.
RUSH: So you think that intimidates men.
CALLER: Oh, absolutely.
RUSH: And that’s why Charlie Sheen would be preferable —
CALLER: Without a doubt.
RUSH: Now, if you’re just joining us, Public Policy Polling, a liberal polling firm in North Carolina actually asked independents who they would prefer for president, and it was Charlie Sheen over Sarah Palin by a significant margin. And that’s what Carrie here is calling to talk about. Do you think the male independents out there are frightened by Palin because she’s going to demand that they be men, essentially, that they work and —
CALLER: Absolutely. Absolutely. And let me tell you something. I also think there’s a ton of women out there — because look at Charlie Sheen, what’s he on, his third wife? — a ton of women out there who support these kinda guys. Who think this is okay. And I’m not talking about sexist roles or anything. I’m talking about when you’re in a relationship and you’re working as a family unit or you’re working toward a common goal, you’re not really thinking man-woman. And I don’t think Sarah Palin is thinking man-woman. But I think when she’s viewed she’s viewed as a mom who’s always telling you things. And I gotta tell you something, I love her. I’ve been married 25 years, my husband loves her. I raised two boys, my boys love her. I think she’s awesome. I think she speaks to who Americans are.
RUSH: Okay. She does to some of them. But I’m struck by what you said about Charlie Sheen.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: I could not have heard this right. You said that women look at Charlie Sheen and they want to support Charlie Sheen, they see him in a good relationship or something?
CALLER: Oh, absolutely. I think there’s a great percentage of women who look at that as — I mean, look, at the moment he’s living with two young girls, he’s on his third wife, apparently, I don’t know if I have the story right, but —
RUSH: So you think women want to be part of that?
CALLER: Sadly enough I think there’s a percentage of woman who like to be part of that, yes.
RUSH: Well, I know that there are women who proposed to Manson and that kind of stuff and they send letters, proposals to guys on death row, but that’s —
CALLER: Look, I hate to bring up a bad point, but look at O.J. Simpson. He was able to get girlfriends after all that.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: I mean it’s astounding.
RUSH: Charlie Sheen has to go to porn stars, Carrie, in order to —
CALLER: Does it matter? Does it matter?
RUSH: What, a porn star is still a woman, is that your point?
CALLER: Yeah, and literally what intellectual threat — you know, I’m not saying porn stars are stupid. I’m sure there are probably some very, very smart women out there who are porn stars. But, you know, the whole image is that they’re not intellectuals, they’re not gonna threaten you. It’s sort of like a sex kitten type of deal. I mean, isn’t that a lot more appealing? You don’t have to do anything.
RUSH: Carrie, he’s paying ’em.
CALLER: Yeah, so what? I mean, it’s interesting. Women get paid on all kinds of levels, right? I mean in a lot of different situations.
RUSH: So you’re saying men pay for it one way or another anyway so —
CALLER: Well, no, no, no.
RUSH: That’s what it sounded like to me.
CALLER: Well, some do, some don’t. The vast majority of men out there are probably very good, working hard, and are quiet, don’t hear from them because they’re out there doing their thing, as are women.
RUSH: Those are the guys you have to worry about.
CALLER: Well, no, I don’t agree.
RUSH: Those are the guys that are doing stuff that you wouldn’t believe. It’s the guys bragging about it and getting all the news that are probably living the dream, but the guys that are not talking about it and the guys that you’re not hearing about, those are the guys to keep a sharp eye on.
CALLER: Well, it’s kind of a sad commentary. I don’t know how truthful it is. I hope and pray that it’s not and that, you know, her message is getting across, hopefully. You know, whether or not she’s presidential material.
RUSH: I don’t know. Whatever the reasons are that people don’t like her or do like her, it all fascinates me. There’s not one common reason, pro or con. They’re all over the board. I don’t think I’ve really ever seen anything like it with any other political figure. I haven’t. And it doesn’t know any noticeable boundaries. It remains a fascinating topic. Carrie, thanks for the call. I appreciate it.
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