RUSH: We have Joe from Billings, Montana, leading off. Great to have you, sir. What’s up? How’s it happening?

CALLER: Rush, glad to talk to you. I’m on my way in a few minutes to vote out here, as a matter of fact. And I wanted to say that ,if every Republican candidate in the country picked up a reporter and threw him to the ground, it would increase my chances exponentially of voting for them.

RUSH: No kidding.

CALLER: No kidding. Absolutely. Every single Republican candidate for the House — of course, there’s no election for two years — but if they wanted to pick up a reporter and slam them, I would donate ’til I was bankrupt, Rush.

RUSH: Now, you realize you are openly endorsing the inflicting of pain?

CALLER: Well —

RUSH: Ben Jacobs is the reporter’s name, by the way, and I think he should put some ice on it. But anyway, I’m sorry, what were you saying?

CALLER: I was saying I do realize I am openly advocating inflicting pain, but maybe it’s for the greater good.

RUSH: Inflicting pain for the greater good.

CALLER: Absolutely, Rush. I think that the more reporters get thrown down, first of all, we might have better reporting and less rude reporters. That’s one thing. And the other thing is we might have smarter reporting in the in the future, although one could never guarantee such a thing.

RUSH: Now, how would that work? How would slamming a Millennial young male reporter to the ground increase their reporting ability?

CALLER: I think perhaps reporters might be more polite, that’s one thing, going forward. And perhaps they might think through — if you look at —

RUSH: Let me see if I understand your thinking. They’re sitting there thinking if they ask the wrong question they’re gonna get beat up and thrown on the ground, and that might change the way they ask the question; is that right? Might be more respectful. Well, there you have it. There’s our first voter on the way to the polls in Montana, endorsing the action of the Republican candidate, Greg Gianforte. And of course we here at the EIB Network, we thoroughly and wholeheartedly condemn all such behavior at all times.

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RUSH: We go to Deer Lodge, Montana. Patricia, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hello.

RUSH: Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush.

RUSH: Hi. What’s happening? How are you?

CALLER: I’m great. I’m a big fan. I’m a new listener of a couple years.

RUSH: Well, I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

CALLER: I want to thank you for everything. You’ve made me smart and very well educated. Thank you.

RUSH: You’re more than welcome. What’s up?

CALLER: I have not voted yet today here in Montana. I’m gonna vote in a little bit after work, but I just wanted to say, Rush, I think the bigger message about, you know, I felt Gianforte was not in the right but it hasn’t changed my mind. I will still vote for him and stand by him and support him because he’s a better candidate.

RUSH: Hm-hm.

CALLER: Rob Quist has no message. He’s totally going on what the liberals stand for, you know, we’ve got all kinds of left money, Rosie O’Donnell has —

RUSH: Let me ask you a question. What do you think, Patricia, of this guy Quist performing at nudist colonies? They have events like Wind Against the Skin, and he goes out there and plays his guitar at those events. His daughter goes with him. He no longer does, but she I guess is still performing at the Wind Against the Skin events.

CALLER: Well, I guess, you know, that was one of his talking points on local Montana radio. He didn’t think we needed mining, coal, gas, you know, logging, any of these industries —

RUSH: There you go, typical liberal, we don’t need coal —

CALLER: We can all make it in the arts industry, and, you know, as far as the nudist camp, I guess maybe, you know, he’d be well —

RUSH: (laughing) Make it in the arts industry. The arts industry is gonna power Montana. I love it.

CALLER: That’s ridiculous.

RUSH: You disapprove of the actions taken by Gianforte, but you’re still gonna vote for him later today ’cause you think he’s a better candidate?

CALLER: Well, I don’t totally disapprove. I’m kind of sure that guy probably had it coming. We’ve got personal space up here.

RUSH: She totally disapprove now.

CALLER: You don’t get in my personal space and I won’t get in your space. It’s kind of just, you know, it’s the way we live.

RUSH: That’s a very, very wise life philosophy. Don’t get in people’s spaces and don’t let them in yours. I understand. But from the beginning of the call to the end she moderated her position. Now she’s not totally disapproving of the event. I can’t thank you enough, Patricia, for calling and being in the audience. Very much appreciate that, and thank you. I’m glad you got through.

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RUSH: Here’s John in Montana, south of Missoula right now. How you doing, John?

CALLER: Oh, great, Rush. What an honor to speak to you.

RUSH: Thank you very much. I’m glad you got through.

CALLER: I’ve been listening to you since you knocked Madonna for her Truth and Dare album.

RUSH: Wow, that’s gonna go back, that has to be the late eighties, early nineties. Thank you very much.

CALLER: You’re welcome, sir.

RUSH: So what’s up?

CALLER: Well, like I told Snerdley, I’m all for what Gianforte did to that — however you called him, sleepy ware Pajama Boy. It’s about time that people started sticking up for our side. If enough of this happens, those reporters are gonna learn to back off a little bit.

RUSH: Yeah. Well, we’ve had, what is this, the third or fourth call from Montana, and there’s one way this can happen. I need to thank all of you out there who are not calling now to make way for people from Montana. The only way we get all these people from Montana is if those of you not in Montana step aside — (interruption) Oh, they’re not doing that? You’re getting rid of them right now, is that what you’re saying?

So you people in the audience, you are so sophisticated, it’s unbelievable. You knew to stand aside for a while so that exclusive Montana callers could get through. John, I appreciate it. Where we headed next? Sharky. Sharky in Three Forks, Montana. Hey, Sharky, welcome to the EIB Network. How you doing?

CALLER: I’m doing great, Rush. What an honor to talk to you. I would like to make a few comments. I do agree with your last caller. It’s about time these reporters have to answer for their rudeness. They’re always rude. They think that they have a certain right, and if you listen to the recording, Greg had asked him to talk to one of his staff members. And the story we’re getting here is that he kept pushing the phone in his face and kept interrupting and being rude.

And so I can understand how you would get annoyed with that and want that to stop. I will say that Greg has many attributes in our area here. He has helped to start a school called Petra Academy, and they teach a classical education which actually causes you to think. Also, Greg is a great philanthropist. He’s given a lot of money to different charities. And I don’t think it will change anyone’s mind as far as voting for him.

RUSH: You sound like you know him personally. Do you?

CALLER: I do know him personally. I sat and talked with Greg appear, you know, he started a business called RightNow Technologies in his home, him and his wife started it together. And after I don’t know how many years he finally did sell that. He did have an unsuccessful run trying to defeat an incumbent governor here, Democratic governor. That put him into the political spectrum. But since then he was quiet until, of course, Mr. Zinke was appointed the interior secretary.

RUSH: Right. Your observation about the phone, I have heard that, too, Sharky. Apparently, the statement that the manly and studly Gianforte campaign put out was that the reporter, the Millennial pajama-clad reporter, Pajama Boy, I don’t think he was actually wearing pajamas at the time, but you get the picture. Apparently the statement from the Gianforte campaign was that the reporter kept inching the phone closer to the guy’s face.

Now, the Fox News eyewitness said she didn’t see that. She said she saw this thing and she doesn’t remember the reporter being aggressive with his phone being thrust in the face of Gianforte. In fact, CNN had a lot of fun with it. CNN played the audio of this and then read the statement from the Gianforte campaign and said they couldn’t find any commonality. CNN said the statement just doesn’t bear any resemblance whatsoever to what our eyewitnesses report having seen.

And so that’s where they left it. Well, Sharky, again, thank you for the call. I appreciate it. So how many did we get from Montana this hour? Four or five? In every case — and of course this the anecdotal. We cannot extrapolate, there’s no way we can project scientifically what this represents, but every caller here supported the actions taken by Gianforte on the basis that the media is rude and impolite and needs to understand that they should stop behaving that way and maybe this will teach ’em something. I wouldn’t hold out for that happening.

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RUSH: Let me go to the phones here and I’ll get the Dittocam back in proper focus. We have Missoula, Montana. We’re still there, and we go to Joanne. Welcome. It’s great to have you here, Joanne. How are you?

CALLER: I’m great. Dittos from Missoula. Longtime listener and homeschool mom with kids that love your books.

RUSH: Thank you. Thank you very much.

CALLER: Yeah. So I find it interesting that this Fox reporter is pulling back her story after embellishing, because I got thinking about the recording after hearing it, and the reporter on the ground is saying, “You broke my glasses.” He’s not saying, “Quit punching me.” He doesn’t go to the Fox reporters and say, “Did you see him punch me?” It’s, “Hey, I want to get the police in here.” It just seems like there’s always a lot of embellishing. They pull it back, but, boy, you do some damage. It’s tainted.

RUSH: Well, let me tell you, this reporter was all over TV today. She was all over Fox proudly saying that she and her crew were the only eyewitnesses. And because there was no video of this, she was detailing what happened. And then later when she goes on the morning or radio show she walks it all back, “I can’t be sure that he actually grabbed his neck.”

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: “He might have grabbed his shirt.” But, look, for hours, for hours, starting last night, look what everybody has believed.

CALLER: And it hasn’t changed my mind. I am still voting for Gianforte, as is many that I’ve spoken to, and I thought it interesting, too, on Talk Back on the radio this morning, it’s a local open-line discussion program. They were forewarned that CNN was going to be listening in to kind of get a pulse of where the voters were after last night’s events.

RUSH: And what happened? What happened?

CALLER: The majority are still with Gianforte. He represents what we want politically. You know, and we all have flaws, and, okay, violence may not be the greatest thing, but this man has been through a long, long campaign. He ran for the Senate first. He’s been abused and lied about and, boy, you get to a point, enough is enough.

RUSH: I know. A lot of people have this attitude. Enough is enough. But, see, he’s a Republican. And so it’s never gonna end, Joanne.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: It’s never gonna end, even after he wins, if he does, it’s never going to end. They’re not gonna stop.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Tom in Frenchtown, Montana. Welcome, Tom. Great to have you on the program with us today.

CALLER: Well, thank you, Rush. It’s a real, real pleasure to be talking with you. I think that this whole problem here in Montana is a setup, because Gianforte has run for governor, which I voted for him, and, you know, a long campaign. This is kind of a short campaign. But it’s really peculiar to me that all of a sudden there’s a problem. And the reason for that is that Quist was heading downwards in the polls. So let’s move it up a little bit and see if we can save him. And I’ve never heard of Quist ever, although I don’t hang around folk singers at nudist camps.

RUSH: Well, yeah, unless you visit the Wind on the Skin Fun Festival, you might not have heard of the guy. He croons country songs out there with his daughter, wears a cowboy hat, bales of hay. But interesting. You think it’s a setup. That would imply the reporter is in on this in trying to create an event, and I don’t know about that.

But I’ll tell you what did happen. The only eyewitness reported that the manly and studly Gianforte grabbed this 125 pound Pajama Boy Millennial reporter for The Guardian by the neck and threw him to the ground like a dirty dishrag, and the American media erupted. This is unseemly, this is unacceptable, this is just what Trump would do, this is horrible. And they ran to condemn it, Gianforte a rotten, horrible guy.

And then a few hours later the eyewitness walked back the details. The eyewitness here is Fox News’ Alicia Acuna, and she, after a few hours under intense questioning admitted that she’s now not sure that she saw Gianforte grab the Pajama Boy by the neck. She saw his hands go up, but she can’t for sure say that his hands went around the little neck there of the guy. So she’s walking it back.

I’ve been watching CNN ever since and they haven’t mentioned the walk-back. CNN has not updated the story. As far as CNN viewers are concerned, nothing’s changed. The Republican candidate practically punched the guy out and sat on him, kept punching him some more, broke his glasses, and then told the guy to go to hell and get out and walked out of there. That’s the way CNN’s reporting it. That account has now been walked back by the only eyewitness. Now, Tom, before you go, have you voted?

CALLER: About a week ago, a mail-in, and I would vote for him 10 more times if I could.

RUSH: Right. We had a guy earlier today say he would go bankrupt donating Gianforte if he had to, but of course that would be illegal. You can’t give that much money to any one candidate, unless it’s the Clintons and their foundation, then there’s no limits. But, Tom, I appreciate the call.