RUSH: We’re going to have John Rich from Nashville on the phone when we get back about the flood. He’s calling it an ‘inland tsunami.’ He recorded a song and is leading some efforts to fundraise because the whole situation there has been ignored. In fact, Newsweek magazine has a piece on their website today, why the media missed it, because it wasn’t sexy enough, they were focused on the oil spill and the stock market and it just didn’t register. The reason it didn’t register is because there aren’t any victims down there, it’s flyover country, they don’t care about it, but John Rich has got some things to say about it, Big & Rich, we’ll be back with him right after this.
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RUSH: Country music super crooner John Rich on the phone with us now from Nashville. John, welcome to the EIB Network. Great to have you here with us, my friend.
JOHN RICH: Thank you, Rush. I appreciate you having me.
RUSH: I have to tell people where we met. We were having dinner one night at the Kobe Club and I’m sitting there minding my own business in this giant booth and the waitress comes and brings a drink and says — my hearing is very bad, it’s very loud in there — and said, ‘Mr. Big wants to give you a drink.’ Mr. Big, who the hell is Mr. Big? So the waitress goes back and finds him. It was John Rich. He had come in with Randy Jackson and a cadre of people with American Idol and I never got a chance to personally thank you for that so I’ll do it now.
JOHN RICH: You’re quite welcome. I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time, I appreciate what you say, and you owe me one now I guess.
RUSH: I do. Maybe this is it because I saw you on Fox yesterday afternoon trying to drum up some attention and interest over what’s happening in Nashville, it’s not being covered by the media, they’re distracted by other things. What are you doing, John, to try to call attention, and what needs to be done there?
JOHN RICH: Well, let me tell you, it’s like an ‘inland tsunami,’ that’s what I call it. You’re sitting there one second and it’s just raining, and then the next thing, there’s ten feet of water, you know, cars are covered, houses are covered. Over 30 people have died now from this. My own grandmother, Granny Rich, had to be rescued on a police boat at her front door and, you know, all the grandmas, the grandpas out there in the country here in Tennessee that aren’t fortunate enough to have family members to help ’em out, they’re just outta luck.
RUSH: A bunch of bitter clingers, John.
JOHN RICH: (laughing) Right, exactly. But, you know, I’m a songwriter, Rush, I’m a country singer, but I’m a songwriter and I thought what’s something I could do that might be bigger, I’ve donated, but something that might get a lot of people to donate. And I wrote a song — I actually wrote it yesterday — called Lend a Hand, and it’s a really cool kind of Pentecostal, Memphis blues feeling kind of song, and I made it as a free download, free song, I’m giving it away at JohnRich.com. If you’re at your computer just go to JohnRich.com, you’ll see it right there to your right, free download. Just put your e-mail address in so we can e-mail it to you, and then there’s the donation link right there, you can click on that —
RUSH: We’re not going to hear from ASCAP or BMI on this?
JOHN RICH: (laughing) Well, I’m sure they will donate their part as well, man —
RUSH: Oh, good. Good, good, good.
JOHN RICH: Yes, everybody’s chipping in, the players on it all played last night on it for free. It’s just something I’m trying to do to help the folks out.
RUSH: John, you cited some of the damage that affected you personally, but obviously the Grand Ole Opry, that’s underwater, the inside, how much water got inside the Grand Ole Opry?
JOHN RICH: I saw a video clip of a guy taking a canoe across the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. I mean it’s heartbreaking. You know, for a country singer and all the country fans, the Grand Ole Opry is — that’s it. That’s the biggest, greatest thing we’ve got, and to see it underwater like that is just unbelievable. The Opryland Hotel, they’re saying it won’t be open until probably Christmas. I mean the economy here is gonna take just a massive, massive hit. And then, like I said, you got all the good country folks out there that just got flooded out, and, like you said nobody’s hardly talking about it in the media. I find it ironic that our president will go on and make a special speech about everything under the sun every other minute but hasn’t come on to talk about Tennessee.
RUSH: He hasn’t. Well, he knows he doesn’t have any constituents there to speak of. Well, seriously, I mean this is — I don’t want to poison the well here you’re trying —
JOHN RICH: I mean, we don’t have to go off on a tangent on it but it is —
RUSH: It’s true though —
JOHN RICH: — rather noticeable to me.
RUSH: You still will not find a donation link at a White House website for Tennessee. You will find it for Haiti, and you will find it for people in the Gulf because of the oil slick. And the reason the media is ignoring this, John, look, you don’t have any victims, you don’t have anybody on the roofs of houses saying, ‘Where’s my goodies?’ You’re banding together with your churches and your families and you’re solving the problem, you’re not complaining about it, there’s no story here, there’s no story for the media saying look how rotten America is —
JOHN RICH: Yeah. Tennesseeans aren’t looking for a handout, I can promise you that, but a guy like me, I live here, I write songs, so what do I do? I write songs about it and give it away as an incentive for people to send a couple of dollars our way if they feel like helping us out. That’s kind of what I’m trying to do.
RUSH: In addition to downloading the song — we have it, we’re going to play it in the next segment out of the next break — but is your website also available for people to make some sort of donation?
JOHN RICH: Yes, the link is on the website. When you go to get the song for free, Lend a Hand, it’s a free download right there you’ll see the link where you can make a donation if you feel like that’s what you want to do, which I hope you do.
RUSH: Oh. John, rest assured, it will happen. I’m sure it’s happening now. What’s the website again?
JOHN RICH: JohnRich.com.
RUSH: Okay. We take pride, John, in shutting down websites on this program.
JOHN RICH: Well, I know the folks in Tennessee will appreciate it, Rush. They really will.
RUSH: Now, John, you haven’t talked about yourself, you talked about your grandmother, what about you, did you suffer any damage in your home?
JOHN RICH: No, I got lucky. I was up high enough that it didn’t get to me, but I just got off the phone with my little brother, and we’re going to buy a few power sprayers to start going through neighborhoods with bleach and start knocking it out ’cause the next thing that happens is once the water gets out of there, now you got the mold and you got everything else. It’s an absolute mess, Rush, it’s like an inland tsunami. That’s the best way I can put it. They said this is not a hundred-year flood; this is a thousand-year flood.
RUSH: Yeah, I saw that.
JOHN RICH: Yeah. It’s unbelievable. So anyway, you know, I appreciate you letting me come on and talk about it.
RUSH: Great to talk to you, John. The American people, particularly in this audience, are extremely generous, and love to reward people like the people of Nashville who are not asking for a thing, they’re simply rolling up their sleeves and doing it, so you’re going to have a lot of traffic at JohnRich.com and thank you for your time on the program today. We’ll play Lend a Hand right after the bottom of the hour break when we come back, which is now, and then get to your phone calls right after that.
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RUSH: JohnRich.com, we did shut it down for a few seconds, came back up. It’s very slow. Stick with it. JohnRich.com where you can help out if you want with the flood devastation in Nashville. This is the free song you can download from the site, John Rich, Lend a Hand, wrote it, recorded it yesterday.
(playing of song)
RUSH: Have the ChiComs offered any assistance to Tennessee? Hugo Chavez, Venezuela, offered any? No? Barack Obama? No? Has Haiti offered any assistance? Well, they got a lot of money flowing in there.
(continued playing of song)
RUSH: John Rich, Lend a Hand, recorded and written yesterday, a free download at JohnRich.com, we slowed it up here, a lot of traffic. You can also make a contribution or donation, since the Chinese haven’t helped, the Saudis haven’t helped, Obama hasn’t helped, no word of any assistance from Hugo Chavez, either. (interruption) Do what? Well, I don’t know. We haven’t heard from Fidel. I don’t think Castro has a history, but the United Nations, now, there’s someplace we might go. I mean they beat tracks to get into Haiti and — (interruption) yeah, hide your kids because you know what happens when the UN blue helmets show up in there. But it is, it’s amazing, when you see the videos of what’s happened and when you realize how bad it is, the Opryland Hotel will not open until December? This happened in a period of 24 hours and hardly any media coverage because there are no victims, there’s no mainstream media template here that they can plug into so they don’t understand it. Anderson Cooper was expressing shock that there was so many church people gathering together. Anderson Cooper last night live from Nashville on Campbell Brown’s show. She said, ‘Anderson Cooper joining us right now from Nashville. Anderson, I know you talked to a lot of those people, how are they holding up?’
COOPER: It’s an incredible place. I’ve never seen so many volunteers so quickly after a disaster descending and helping out neighbors, thousands of members of church groups and individuals who just come out. You see people in front of homes, and you say, ‘Is this your home?’ They’re like, ‘No, I’m just here. I just came down here to help.’ It’s an incredible sight to see, it’s a real testament to the spirit and the strength of Nashville. But there’s a lot of frustration here, you know, a lot of people feel the national media hasn’t paid enough attention to this soon enough, and, you know, they’re certainly justified in feeling that way.
RUSH: There’s Anderson Cooper on CNN last night, it’s like Nashville is a foreign country. ‘Wow I’ve never seen such volunteers. I’ve never seen this kind of quick response. Wow. A lot of people feel the national media hasn’t paid enough attention.’ I remember when Anderson Cooper and Shepard Smith and the rest of them were in New Orleans, the drumbeat, where’s the government? Where is FEMA? Where is Bush? Look at these people on the roof! Where is assistance? No such clamoring from the assembled media, whatever media is there, in Nashville. (interruption) Well, I know they’re not waiting around. He hasn’t seen this kind of thing before, he hasn’t seen this kind of quick response, church groups banding together, people showing up to help in front of houses that are not theirs. He’s from New York. He hasn’t seen it before.
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RUSH: If Detroit had been flooded as Nashville has, do you think we would have coverage? Do you think the Drive-By Media would have been on the scene practically immediately? You do? Yeah, I happen to think so, too.
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RUSH: Here’s Julianna in Orange County, California, I’m glad you called. Great to have you here.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. I’ve listened to you since 1989. I can’t top the submarine tale ’cause I was living in a trailer at the time with three children, which, I was listening to you and Tom Leykis at the time.
RUSH: Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho. Oh ho-ho.
CALLER: Very entertaining.
RUSH: I remember those days. (laughing)
CALLER: Well, I always thought you were full of yourself, but I don’t anymore, and I really appreciate what you and —
RUSH: Well, but I still am full of myself.
CALLER: Well, I know that. That’s why you have Snerdley, though.
RUSH: Yeah, right.
CALLER: I like him. (laughing) He kind of balances you out. But my question is why hasn’t Obama been to Tennessee and addressed this major flooding? What do you think? What are your thoughts?
RUSH: It’s hard to say. It’s easy to know why. It’s hard to say it. I think he looks at Tennessee and doesn’t see a risk reward there, he doesn’t see any benefit to going, he doesn’t see constituents. Those are bitter clingers.
CALLER: Well, I’m from Tennessee, and my husband.
RUSH: That’s not a winning crisis.
CALLER: Well, there’s a lot of American history there. As far as music goes, blues, country.
RUSH: Yeah, there’s also the Tennessee Valley Authority, which is charged with preventing floods like this. And the left loves it, FDR set it up. So if you go there you gotta kind of acknowledge that one of your own prized bureaucracies kinda didn’t work.
CALLER: Hmm.
RUSH: But everything that happens, every crisis is measured for benefit to him and advancing his agenda, and apparently — I mean I hate saying this, we’re talking about the president of the United States, but experience is experience, truth is the truth, willing to say so is a must.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: There’s apparently no way he can advance an agenda by going there.
CALLER: Well, all I can say is, I’m going to be putting money there. Instead of getting something for Mother’s Day from my children who I raised by myself for 14 years, I’m going to be donating to Nashville, Tennessee, instead.
RUSH: God bless you. God bless you. You know, the White House has put out a statement they’ve been on the case from day one. It went up yesterday. They still don’t have a donation page on their website, but they did put out a statement saying they’ve been on the case.
CALLER: I would never go to any of their websites.
RUSH: Well, after 12 days goes by that’s when they get in gear. That’s what happened with the oil slick.
CALLER: Well, I didn’t vote for him. I didn’t vote for him because I didn’t trust him from the get-go. It had nothing to do with the color of his skin because I’ve been raised in multicultural areas.
RUSH: Well, if you were in a trailer there’s no question you were.
CALLER: Well, that was my ex, and I got out of that situation and I’ve been on both sides of the fence, and self-reliance, there’s nothing like it.
RUSH: Amen, sister.
CALLER: You take care.
RUSH: Amen.
CALLER: And thank you for everything you do for our country.
RUSH: You do the same. Now, she said she didn’t vote for him and she answered the question, why isn’t Obama there. She didn’t vote for him, that’s why Obama’s not there. Tennessee was trending toward purple. It looks like the Democrats have given up on the state. No reason to go there.