RUSH: Who’s next? Ann in… umm… in,… Pennsylvania, great to have you on the program.

CALLER: Kresgeville, Pennsylvania. (giggles)

RUSH: Kresgeville.

CALLER: Hello?

RUSH: It’s spelled K-r-s-g-e, and that’s “Krs’geville,” and I never heard of that, and I know Pennsylvania.

CALLER: No, it’s K-r-e. Kres, K-r-e-s-g.

RUSH: I’ve got it now.

CALLER: (giggles)

RUSH: You’re in Kresgeville.

CALLER: It’s an honor to speak to you, sir.

RUSH: I know. I know. Thank you very much.

CALLER: I’ve listened to you since you burst through the airwaves with your excellence in conservatism.

RUSH: Thank you very much.

CALLER: And I need to speak to you about three points if I can.

RUSH: Sure. Fire away.

CALLER: And the first one is about Romneycare, and I’m very concerned because he defended Romneycare the night of the debate. When Perry talked to him about it, he said, “Well, all of the children in my state have health care and your state doesn’t,” and when he said that, he was defending his Romneycare.

RUSH: Well, he’s made a decision, he’s not gonna back off of it.

CALLER: No.

RUSH: That’s the decision that he’s made.

CALLER: And then he said, “Well, I wasn’t with President Obama on this,” but yet I’m concerned about his ideology and what his subliminal message is regarding his love for Romneycare, and it just concerns me that people are just talking about his performance. I listen to Fox News, all I hear is performance, performance, performance. Everybody says, “You know, you gotta have the great performance!”

RUSH: You know, that is an excellent point you’re making. That is how these people are judged. It’s the television age, and that’s how Obama is still judged. I can watch the inside-the-Beltway media types marvel. “Obama makes a great speech,” it doesn’t matter what he says.

CALLER: Well, just give him an Emmy and send them on their way for their acting ability, ’cause they’re getting away with… They’re trying to put Cain in who has no governance experience.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: He is an excellent person, I love Mr. Cain, but he has no governance experience. And then you look at the others who have no governance experience, and the only one that does is a man who doesn’t speak — and that’s Perry. He won against Kay Bailey Hutchison.

RUSH: Now, wait. He speaks.

CALLER: Hmm? I’m sorry?

RUSH: He speaks. I mean Perry talks. He just doesn’t —

CALLER: Yeah, but he coulda come back at Mr. Romney and said, “Oh, well, then you do love your Romneycare. You’re defending it.”

RUSH: Yeah. So you don’t believe Romney when he says he’d repeal Obamacare?

CALLER: No, I don’t believe that! How would I believe that? He’s like Obama. He moved to the right and he’s like what Mr. Perry said: He’s Obama light.

RUSH: Well…

CALLER: I don’t believe this.

RUSH: Okay, so —

CALLER: I think that we’ve gotta stop this with the “performance.”

RUSH: All right. So you’re —

CALLER: And look at — look at — you know, we’re put — we’re trying to put people in who have no experience in governance.

RUSH: Yeah. Yeah. Well, so your default choice, then, is Rick Perry?

CALLER: Pardon me? I couldn’t hear you.

RUSH: Your default choice is Rick Perry, then?

CALLER: Yes! Because he’s successful and he is against global warming. He comes out and says it, and he’s not perfect. Nobody’s perfect. But I think the people in Texas really like him.

RUSH: He’s a damn good-looking guy, a lot of people tell me.

CALLER: Come on!

RUSH: (laughing)

CALLER: And, you know, nobody’s really listening to what he’s saying. They all attacked him, I remember at the first debate. He says, “Nobody will let me finish talking,” and when he said that with his — that injection, that, you know, the — whatever that was —

RUSH: (laughing)

CALLER: — that immunization thing, he said, “Oh, oh…” He says people could have opted out.

RUSH: You know, you can lament this, Ann, all you want, but it isn’t gonna change. It’s the TV Age, and how one comes across on television is crucial, and nothing is really going to change that. It’s a reality that everybody involved has to deal with, process however they wish. But, I’m glad you called. I appreciate it.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Look, it’s not over for Rick Perry by a long shot. There’s much more than debates that people get judged on. Speeches on the stump that are seen on television, campaign ads and so forth.