Replies

Rush to the President: Debate Me
March 4, 2009

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: It is on the record — thanks to Politico.com — since last fall, the White House, led by Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff to Barack Obama, has been targeting me, your host, your harmless, lovable little fuzzball. Their standard operating procedure: they need a demon to distract and divert from what their agenda is. They need a demon about whom they can lie so as to persuade average Americans that they’re the good guys, the benevolent good guys, and the mean SOBs are their enemies trying to stop this great young little president from doing miraculous and wonderful things.

Here is a new ad that this union bunch is running in Washington, DC, ladies and gentlemen. And, of course, it’s been picked up all over the Web. You guys, if you haven’t done so, you gotta go to RushLimbaugh.com. The DNCC, whatever it is, they have a questionnaire up there. It’s hilarious. I have to give ‘em credit. You can see it right now at RushLimbaugh.com. It is a form letter where any Republican can send a note of apology to me. The note is an apology note to me, and you can fill in your name and the reason you’re apologizing. It is funny. I had to laugh when I saw it last night. I instructed Koko, just put it up there, ‘cause it’s hilarious. It’s as good as the old Saturday Night Live stuff back when Saturday Night Live was actually funny. But there’s a new ad targeted at your lovable, harmless little fuzzball host from that union bunch. It starts today in Washington, DC, which means it’s going to be all over the cable networks pretty soon.

ANNOUNCER: Who is the leader Republicans hailed as a hero last weekend? Was it Sarah Palin?

PALIN: Nope, nope, nope.

ANNOUNCER: Bobby Jindal?

JINDAL: No, no, no.

ANNOUNCER: Michael Steele?

STEELE: No, no, no.

ANNOUNCER: Mitch McConnell?

MCCONNELL: No, no, no.

ANNOUNCER: Then who? Not Rush Limbaugh?

RUSH ARCHIVE: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

ANNOUNCER: Call the Republican leadership. Tell them to just say “no” to the politics of Rush Limbaugh.

RUSH ARCHIVE: I hope he fails.

ANNOUNCER: Paid for by Americans United for Change.

RUSH: That’s the union bunch. Can you just see...? (laughing) “Call the Republican leadership and say no to Limbaugh.” (laughing) Now, ladies and gentlemen, the Politico story today. I got an e-mail last night from the writer of the story, Jonathan Martin, who did not tell me the full details of what the story they were working on was. He did not tell me that they have discovered that there is a team inside the White House targeting me and that they’ve been doing this since last fall, when they went out and did some polling data and found out I’ve got very high negatives among certain groups. So they thought, “Well, this is the guy to demonize! Since Bush is leaving, we need somebody,” and so this is being led from the White House. There is an orchestrated attack, daily drumbeat on me from the White House. The participants here are James Carville, Paul Begala and Rahm Emanuel.

But make no mistake about it. Emanuel is the leader of all of this. Carville and Begala are just trying to ride my fame into their fortune and become relevant again. Begala and Carville, don’t confuse them with the power brokers that are managing this. It all Emanuel. Begala and Carville are second-rate talking heads on CNN. CNN has no audience. Rahm Emanuel is the power behind the throne — and don’t let his effeminate nature and his ballerina past mislead you on this. He may look effeminate (he was a ballerina at one time) but he has the feral instincts of a female rat defending its young. Well, take a look. When Emanuel and Carville and Begala are together (and I’ve seen pictures) it looks like a reunion of the Village People. (singing) Y! M! C! A! They are really the official greeters in Roswell, New Mexico, in Area 51 where Carville was born.

My point here is that these are really odious, empty, nasty people who are feasting on their own arrogance. They are power hungry. But, you know what? They’ve never had a serious debate over ideas. Their goal is to destroy opponents, which is what they’re trying to do now. They don’t want to engage opponents. Their idea of victory is the destruction of the opponent. They’re not for a level playing field. They want to clear the playing field so that their ideas do not have to undergo any scrutiny. So what do they do? They leak stories to The Politico intended to create impressions about their own importance and their brilliance, when in fact they aren’t even bit players on the nation’s stage. This is Emanuel, and this is Obama.

But I have an idea. If these guys are so impressed with themselves, and if they are so sure of their correctness, why doesn’t President Obama come on my show? We will do a one-on-one debate of ideas and policies. Now, his people in this Politico story, it’s on the record. They’re claiming they wanted me all along. They wanted me to be the focus of attention. So let’s have the debate! I am offering President Obama to come on this program — without staffers, without a teleprompter, without note cards — to debate me on the issues. Let’s talk about free markets versus government control. Let’s talk about nationalizing health care and raising taxes on small business.

Let’s talk about the New Deal versus Reaganomics. Let’s talk about closing Guantanamo Bay, and let’s talk about sending $900 million to Hamas. Let’s talk about illegal immigration and the lawlessness on the borders. Let’s talk about massive deficits and the destroying of opportunities of future generations. Let’s talk about ACORN, community agitators, and the unions that represent the government employees which pour millions of dollars into your campaign, President Obama. Let’s talk about your elimination of school choice for minority students in the District of Columbia. Let’s talk about your efforts to further reduce domestic drilling and refining of oil. Let’s talk about your stock market. By the way, Mr. President, I want to help. Yesterday you said you looked at the stock market as no different than a tracking poll that goes up and down.

There’s no “up and down” here. We have a plunge. The president yesterday suggested “we’re getting to the point where profits and earnings ratios are approaching that point where you want to invest.” Uh, Mr. President? There is no “profits and earnings” ratio. It’s “price and earnings” ratio. He’s the president of the United States. He doesn’t know anything about the stock market. He’s admitted it before. Let’s talk about it anyway. You want to maintain it’s a tracking poll? I’d love to talk to you about that. Let’s talk about all of these things, Mr. President. Let’s go ahead and have a debate on this show. No limits. Now that your handlers are praising themselves for promoting me as the head of a political party — they think that’s a great thing — then it should be a no-brainer for you to further advance this strategy by debating me on the issues and on the merits, and wipe me out once and for all!

Just come on this program. Let’s have a little debate. You tell me how wrong I am and you can convince the rest of the Americans that don’t agree with you how wrong we all are. You’re a smart guy, Mr. President. You don’t need these hacks to front for you. You’ve debated the best! You’ve debated Hillary Clinton. You’ve debated John Edwards. You’ve debated Joe Biden. You’ve debated Dennis Kucinich. You’ve debated the best out there. You are one of the most gifted public speakers of our age. I would think, Mr. President, you would jump at this opportunity. Don’t send lightweights like Begala and Carville to do your bidding — and forget about the ballerina, Emanuel. He’s got things to do in his office. These people, compared to you, Mr. President, are rhetorical chum.

I would rather have an intelligent, open discussion with you where you lay out your philosophy and policies and I lay out mine — and we can question each other, in a real debate. Any time here at the EIB Network studios. If you’re too busy partying or flying around giving speeches and so forth, then send Vice President Biden. I’m sure he would be very capable of articulating your vision for America — and if he won’t work, send Geithner, and we can talk about the tax code. And if that won’t work, go get Bob Rubin. I don’t care. Send whoever you want if you can’t make it. You don’t need to be leaking stories to Politico like this thing that’s published today. You don’t need to have your allies writing op-eds and all the rest. If you can win at this, then come here and beat me at my own game, and get rid of me once and for all, and show all the people of America that I am wrong.

In fact, Mr. President, you know what, I know these are tough economic times, and you’re trying to convince people that you’re “saving” the taxpayers money, that you’re cutting spending, that you’re cutting the deficit. In that vein, I, Mr. President, will send my jet, EIB One, to pick you up and bring you here and take you back to wherever you want to go. You’d love it. It’s not as big and luxurious as your jet, but it’s got enough seats for your Secret Service detail. But it is something to behold. I’m very proud of it, Mr. President. I worked for it. I paid for it. Taxpayers pay you for your travel. Nobody pays me for mine. I pay for it. I pay for the airplane. I pay for the travel. I pay for practically everything I do. We can talk about that, too. I could tell you what that’s like.

And once you land, by the way, I have a fleet of SUVs because I have guests here all the time. I have four or five SUVs. I can send a caravan to pick you up. I’ll even put you up at The Breakers. It’s a five-star resort. I’ll do it all on my dime. We don’t want the taxpayers footing any of the bill for this — and my jet burns a lot less fuel than your two and your C-130 to bring your limousine and SUV caravan here. In fact, you know what, Mr. President? I’ll tell you what I will do, if you will do this. I will promise to order some Wagyu Kobe beef at $100 a pound, just like you serve at your cocktail parties and your Super Bowl parties. I’ll get it from Allen Brothers in Chicago, since you like that. I know you like $100-per-pound beef. You serve it at the White House.

But I’ll cover the cost. I will cover the cost, Mr. President, so that the taxpayers do not have to pay for it, as they did your Super Bowl party, and as they do your Wednesday afternoon cocktail party. So you have no excuses. Your flunkies are demanding this debate. Your flunkies are targeting a private citizen with an enemies list that so far has three or four names on it: Mine; Rick Santelli; Jim Cramer at CNBC; and let’s not forget Joe the Plumber, who your allies in Ohio also tried to destroy. The difference is that Joe the Plumber does not have his own microphone every day. They’re shutting Santelli up at CNBC. They’re going to shut Cramer up pretty soon, too, but he’ll go down with a fight. That isn’t going to happen here, to me.

I’m calling. I’m ready. I’ll do everything I can to facilitate it. You’re a very courageous man, Mr. President. I am, after all, just The Last Man Standing. If you take me out, if you can wipe me out in a debate and prove to the rest of America that what I say is senseless and wrong, do you realize you will own the United States of America? You will have no opposition. You have America’s media in your back pocket. It’s amazing. In 1972, Richard Nixon had an enemies list, and the media was outraged by this. They were outraged. At the same time, those who weren’t on it were a little jealous. But they were outraged that a president would engage in this kind of behavior toward the media. Now they go after a private citizen.

Rahm Emanuel is leading the team going after a private citizen, and the Drive-By Media applaud, get on board and help further the mission. We live in different times. So if you can wipe me out — and, by the way, Mr. President, and Mr. Emanuel: Don’t make the mistake of assuming I’m wiping myself out here in the process. I want to thank you guys for elevating me beyond the stature I already earned and achieved, because now more and more Americans have the opportunity to learn who you really are, what your ideas will really accomplish, and what damage and harm I think your policies will bring for a very, very long time to them and to this country. So I want to thank you for the opportunity. Obviously, it’s a threat targeting me. I’ve extended the invitation. I’m looking forward to hearing back from whoever in your cabal one way or the other on accepting my offer.

END TRANSCRIPT

Obama Ambushed Caterpillar CEO
March 4, 2009

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: A fascinating story. Do you remember the Caterpillar incident? This is just an amazing story and another reason, another reason why I am so grateful for the Heritage Foundation. Man, I’ll tell you, they are just doing some fabulous, fabulous work in shoring up our end of things. You know, I say I’m The Last Man Standing here, but I have a support crew and a support staff at the Heritage Foundation which I cherish.

Let me give you the scenario of what happened, in case you have forgotten. One day, it happened to be a day prior to President Obama flying to Peoria to meet with the CEO of Caterpillar. The president announced that he had talked to the CEO of Caterpillar and the CEO of Caterpillar had assured him that he was going to start hiring people after the stimulus bill was passed, going to start rehiring laid-off employees. Well, we go to the next day, after the event is over and the reporters get to the chairman of the company, Caterpillar, he says, (paraphrasing) “Well, no, no, not really. We’re facing some more hard times before we can actually start hiring people back.” But that didn’t make much coverage in the Drive-By Media because all they were interested in was promoting Obama’s photo-op and his lie. As it turns out, it was a bold-faced lie, it was a bold-faced ambush, it was a bold-faced example of manipulation, where the CEO of Caterpillar was tricked into saying that he would hire new workers if the stimulus bill were passed.

The Heritage Foundation put on a conservative bloggers briefing yesterday and a congressman showed up, Aaron Schock. Now, Aaron Schock is 27. He visited the conservative bloggers briefing at Heritage yesterday, and he spoke on a range of issues, but he told a particularly interesting story regarding a visit of President Obama to the Caterpillar plant in Peoria, which is Aaron Schock’s district. Now, the giant plant’s on the east bank of the Illinois River, it’s home to Caterpillar. By the way, Caterpillar makes more than just heavy equipment. They make construction mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines. They make industrial gas turbines. The CEO is Jim Owens, and in response to Obama’s claims that the stimulus bill’s power to create jobs, remember he said, (paraphrasing) “I think realistically, no, the truth is we’re going to have to have more layoffs before we start rehiring again.” This happened on February 12th. The February 12th speech in Aaron Schock’s home district merited him a ride on Air Force One, which Aaron Schock took, said the president didn’t lobby him heavily, it was really when they got in front of everyone that he began doing that.

So believing he was on friendly turf, Obama called out the young congressman at the beginning of his speech. Obama said, “Congressman Schock — where is he? He’s back here. He’s right here. Stand up, Aaron.” There was applause. Aaron is still trying to make up his mind about our recovery package. So Obama said, “He has a chance to be in the mold of Bob Michel and Ray LaHood. And so we’re, we know that all of you are going to talk to him after our event, because he’s a very talented young man. I’ve got great confidence in him to do the right thing for the people of Peoria.” Schock said yesterday at Heritage, “’I was surprised to be called out the way I was.’ His next line drew hearty laughter from the surrounding bloggers. ‘The funny part was, I stuck around for 45 minutes while he was in there taking pictures…and [the Caterpillar employees] came up to me and said “Hey Aaron, stick to your guns. This is a bad bill.” The irony was the local UAW did not endorse the stimulus bill.’

“Later, through calls and emails, Caterpillar employees continued to urge Schock not to vote for the stimulus bill. ‘I had fourteen hundred Caterpillar employees alone urging me to vote against it,’ he said. After the rally, Schock, the President and CEO Jim Owens boarded Air Force One. Schock said he sat nervously next to Owens, having believed Obama when he said Owens supported the stimulus. ‘I know Jim Owens, guy’s a PhD, graduate of Wharton. This guy’s smarter than this. I don’t think this is something he’d say. So I got on the plane and leaned over to him and said: “Jim, are you really promoting this bill?”’ Schock paraphrased Owen’s response: ‘Aaron, I got ambushed. The President called me up and said, “Jim, what would it take for you to rehire people at Caterpillar?”’ Owens responded by saying if a ‘responsible stimulus bill’ was passed, he would be able to rehire workers. ‘And so the President left that phone call and went out and said “The CEO of Caterpillar said if my bill passes —” well, he made a couple of assumptions: first, that his stimulus bill was responsible — which it wasn’t. And number two, that it was going to get the economy going again — which it didn’t,’ concluded Schock.”

So, Obama tricked the CEO of Caterpillar into supporting publicly his stimulus, and Aaron Schock revealed this at a little seminar at Heritage yesterday. “What would it take, Mr. Owens, to get you to support my stimulus, a responsible one?” So Obama goes out the next day, “He supports it, he’s going to rehire workers.” Well, he hadn’t started rehiring workers. This is Barack Obama, this is the White House of Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama, manipulating, ambushing supposed supporters, misleading them and using them to advance an agenda they do not support. This kind of thing is starting to happen more and more. There’s not massive fallout right now, but there is not unity in the Democrat Party. Do not believe for a moment that there is. Opportunities abound, ladies and gentlemen, to stop this. Opportunities abound to at least put some boulders in the road and slow this down. At some point, the America that we know, the America that we love, the America that we all want to succeed, its survival is going to depend on this administration being stopped.

END TRANSCRIPT

Drive-Bys Fail to Ask Gibbs About Emanuel’s WH Anti-Rush Operation
March 4, 2009

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: All right, audio sound bite time, Robert Gibbs, this morning, White House press briefing, unidentified reporter. Now, get this question. It’s a butt boy question. “The Republicans are criticizing the White House for engaging in the Rush Limbaugh issue. You and the president have used the term ‘cable chatter’ a lot. You guys have kind of decided that you’ve also said — I’ve heard administration officials derided sort of superficial food fight political reporting, but you’ve repeatedly engaged in the podium with CNBC reporters as well as Rush Limbaugh, seems to feed that process that you’re criticizing...” It’s actually not a butt boy question. I take it back. I misread it when I read so hurriedly. “It seems that you guys are a little hypocritical, Mr. Gibbs. You decry what you are encouraging.”

GIBBS: It may be counterproductive. (snickering) I’ll give you that.

PRESS POOL: (laughter)

GIBBS: Look, are there days in which I just turn my television off? Yes. (nervous cackling) I wish I had a radio. I don’t.

WOMAN: HA! HA! HA!

GIBBS: Maybe I should just hook my iPod up. Look, there — there are days in which, yeah, y-y-y-you — your head throbs from listening to arguments that aren’t necessarily centered on d-delving into some important issue but founding two people at completely opposite ends of the spectrum to yell loudest in a seven-minute segment before we go on to something else.

RUSH: What? What I gather from that is that Mr. Gibbs doesn’t have a radio. We can do something about that. We ought to buy Mr. Gibbs a radio and send it up there — again, not using taxpayer money. I’m sure my Washington affiliate — the giant AM 630 WMAL — would be happy to assist me in getting a radio to the White House press secretary. Paramus at the next press briefing somebody at MAL could arrange for one of the reporters in the press briefing to actually present the radio to Robert Gibbs so he would have one. By the way, folks, I need to ask a question real quick. We just did the story here on the victims in the Obama War on Capitalism. Private sector jobs fell 697,000. What we’re not being told is how many jobs were “saved.” The president promised to “create or save” three and a half to four million jobs, but I haven’t seen the “saved job” figures. Has anybody seen the “saved job” figures? I’ve not seen that report, and if somebody has that data — maybe they’re still working on that bureaucracy at the labor department — I’d like to see the data on saved jobs. The unidentified reporter, by the way, answered Gibbs with this. “Shouldn’t the White House lead the way in elevating the discourse?”

GIBBS: I won’t kick the cable people out of the briefing room. I’m certainly opposed to doing something as radical as a — as an idea as that. Look, it’s out there, we deal with it, I don’t — I certainly criticize it and I even occasionally watch it.

RUSH: They’re asking cable TV (laughing) when in fact Rahm Emanuel and his merry band are targeting with an inside the White House operation — a plumbers operation — targeting me, an average citizen. Yes, a public figure, but not an elected figure. Targeting me and making me the leader of their opposition. And Gibbs says, “Ah, I can’t kick the cable guys outta here,” taking no blame for any of the partisanship that exists within our culture. All right, back to the phones. We’re going to go to Hartford, Connecticut. This is Ferris. I’m glad you waited. Nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Well, we are certainly all Joe the Plumber, but no one more than yourself. I’m sitting here hammering away at my computer with your noise in the background, trying to make a dollar out of the 99 cents as are many people who are still productively working. And, oh, by the way, I do have the saved job figures. It’s a percentage. It’s 110% of all public, government sector jobs have been saved. Just as a sign.

RUSH: You know, I hadn’t that you be that. But there aren’t any layoffs and nobody is getting fired in the government. You’re absolutely right. I hadn’t thought of that. I shoulda thought of that myself. All these government jobs are indeed being saved.

CALLER: Well, we who are about to die salute you. “Nos Morituri Te Salutamus” is what the gladiators used to say, but we say it for a different reason, and I’m sitting here working away and thinking, “Somebody has to express gratitude for what you’ve done,” and what I say for what you’ve done, nobody can understand the breadth of that, comparatively speaking. Very few people would know what it takes for a man to bring himself to the point you’ve brought yourself, and to rise to the level, to be able to be the leading voice —

RUSH: Yes?

CALLER: — for the opposition —

RUSH: Yes.

CALLER: — that’s coming from the far, far, far left.

RUSH: Yes.

CALLER: And I’m sure I speak for all my brothers, including my friend Cameron in Allison Park.

RUSH: Don’t forget sisters.

CALLER: Well, I think we must forget the sisters because, I’m going back to the days before we had women in combat, and the kind of combat that we’re facing now, I have more respect for the ladies than to ask them to step up and follow people who lead like you do.

RUSH: But they want to, and many of them are. You can’t leave ‘em outta there.

CALLER: I did.

RUSH: There is —

CALLER: I just did, though.

RUSH: Yeah, I know. but you can’t. I’m begging you. I’m asking you not to leave the ladies out here. They fully understand what is going on here, just as you do. Look, I really appreciate what you’re saying. I don’t quite know how to respond to it, other than say thank you, but I really... I know you’ve thought about it, and you do understand what you mean and I appreciate it.

CALLER: Well, I’d like to say thank you very much.

RUSH: You’re welcome. I appreciate it. I’d love to expand further but this isn’t really about me. Thanks very much. I appreciate it, Ferris. John in Wilmington, North Carolina. You’re on the Rush Limbaugh program. Hi.

CALLER: Good afternoon, Rush. It’s a pleasure to speak with you.

RUSH: Thank you, sir.

CALLER: What I discussed with Mr. Snerdley, my call was the Democrats are giving you a great opportunity here in the fact that they have so much mainstreamed you in the media, and I can cite my wife as an example. She’s probably one of the most outrageous liberals that walk the face of the earth. (chuckles) How we got along is strange, but anyway, we do. The point being that now she’s actually paying attention to what you say; and for years she used to criticize me for even paying attention to you at all. So I think the Democrats have jumped the shark a bit here because I think they’ve run out of options and they’re afraid of you. If they weren’t afraid of you, they would just totally not even mention you.

RUSH: Well, here’s the thing. If you read the Politico story, you find out that all this is being done on the basis of polls, that they went out — Greenberg, who was also part of the flunky team of Carville and Begala, went out — and did a poll of Republicans, and they found I had the highest negatives, even though I’m not in politics.

CALLER: Right.

RUSH: They said, “A-ha! Limbaugh is the guy.” Now, Carville tried to caution Bill Clinton not to do this back in the nineties, which is why it’s Emanuel running the show. This actually goes against James Carville’s instincts.

CALLER: Mmm-hmm.

RUSH: So they’re putting me up there. They’re totally focused on polling data. I don’t deal in polls. I deal in principle. And they have expanded my reach and given me a bigger shot at changing people’s minds.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You gotta hear this ‘cause it dovetails in a way with the Politico story today about how Obama’s minions — well, his capo de capo consigliere, Rahm Emanuel, and the minions, Paul Begala, James Carville, made a project to elevate me to the leadership of the Republican Party last fall and then to begin targeting me from the White House, using leaks to butt boy media like Politico and columnists. It’s working like a charm as far as they’re concerned. So this morning on Morning Joe, the show hosted by Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski on PMSNBC, they talked to Lesley Stahl of CBS’ 60 Minutes and here was Mika’s question. “I want to ask you what your take-away is of this whole Rush Limbaugh thing, and also the White House getting in on the conversation and then engaging TV hosts, that would be Santelli and Jim Cramer, certainly a departure from the White House we’ve covered in the past. You’ve covered in the White House. I wonder what you think in terms of your historical perspective, but also tactically.”

STAHL: What we’re looking at is a little bit of a cross between Reagan and how that White House operated, the good Reagan, first term, that was successful, and Clinton, because they’re taking from Clinton I think the war room approach, the sunniness aspect of Reagan. He never really attacked with anger, and there’s a lot of humor in what the White House is doing.

BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.

STAHL: It’s kind of velvety and molasses really than the hard hit, and letting the Republicans hit back hard. We talked about the no-drama Obama. I really do think that the watchword right there is no anger.

MAN: Right.

STAHL: And Reagan’s personality was so appealing for that reason.

RUSH: All right, so what we have here is White House velvet and molasses in their take-downs of Santelli, Rick Santelli, CNBC, Jim Cramer at CNBC, and of course yours truly, El Rushbo, the new leader anointed by them. “It’s like Clinton, taking from Clinton in the war room.” They’re not taken from Clinton. It is Clinton’s war room. It’s Rahm Emanuel, James Carville, Paul Begala, and Stephanopoulos over at ABC. It is the Clinton war room. I don’t remember, by the way, her references here to Reagan and how the White House operated. I distinctly remember both terms of Reagan he was described. The media was as disrespectful of him in press conferences as they were of George Bush, and they thought the same thing of Reagan. They thought he was a dunce. They thought he was an idiot and they were always trying to trip him up, but he did remain sunny, he did smile all the while, and I guess that is why Lesley Stahl thinks that he won because he was really vicious, he was vicious, and Reagan was mean, but he did it with a smile. It was the other way around.

But now contrast this not to Reagan, but Nixon. If this were Richard Nixon doing this, Mika, if you ever get Lesley Stahl back, what you need to do is ask her the same question, but ask her to go back beyond Reagan and ask her how this measures up with Richard Nixon and say his enemies list, and then ask her what she thinks of going after private citizens like this. Mika, this is a huge, huge evolution in the Drive-By Media. In the seventies when you had an administration — now, admittedly it was already the enemy, it was a Republican administration — but when that enemies list was discovered, there was outrage, and it was part and parcel of the media support for impeachment once the Watergate stuff hit. There was some jealousy among those not on the list. But still, it was thought to be horrible, it was rotten, it was just terrible, why this is unbecoming of the president. They called it un-American, or it was not in America’s best interests or what have you. So what you need to do is get her back on there and ask her to compare what this administration is doing with what Nixon did. That would be the more interesting answer from Lesley Stahl. I can’t have her on, Mika. I have to keep this show open for if Obama accepts my offer to debate.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Frank in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, nice to have you with us, sir, on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Rush, mega dittos, sir. You are a national treasure. You have frustrated the Drive-By Media so much that they have now become the kamikaze media, Rush. They’re throwing everything at you! They don’t care about the integrity, the credentials. They’re just trying to hit you with anything and everything. Rush, you, sir, are one of the best entertainers, a radio talk show host extraordinaire. You are not the elected leader of the free world. They anointed you as such. Rush, I’m very happy for your success and I’m happy that they are so frustrated that they have picked you as a target and not the socialist agenda of Obama or the fact that... I’m a school director here in Pennsylvania. Obama says he’s going to get additional funds for school teachers? Rush, in Pennsylvania the taxpayer could be dead on the side of the road, they would never laugh a teacher. There is no problem with funding teachers in Pennsylvania. The media has to point this out. It can’t be cart blanche, “Rush Limbaugh is no good, Obama bad.” I’m just very happy for you, sir.

RUSH: Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Folks, let me be serious about this. I don’t know how to address these compliments other than to say, thank you. I really don’t. I’ve got so many people who are worried about me, and I hear from them when I get home at night, and they ask, “Are you okay? How are you bearing up under all this? I understand, they may be using your name, but it’s not just you they’re going after. We’re going to be there for you,” and so forth. I appreciate all that. I really do. But, you know, when I’ve talked about work over the course of the years I’ve hosted this program, when I’ve talked about talked about how lucky I was to learn at age eight, if not earlier, what I wanted to do — that’s so important to success. It’s actually finding out what you love and then being able to do it, do it the best you can.

That’s success. So I’ve been doing this all of my life. And I have — ever since I started hosting talk shows, I have — been subject to criticism and attack. Now I’ve got the people saying, “Can’t you sue them for what they’re saying about you.” No, you can’t. It’s just the territory. It comes with it. What I tried to is slap it right back at them and have fun with it. Frankly, folks, I don’t want you to worry. I’m enjoying this. I am. I’m enjoying it. I was made for this. I was the built for this. It has taken... Let me expand on this work business. I admit if this were happening my first year behind this microphone, I would probably be a little panicked and I’d be backing off and I’m sure my broadcast partners would say, “Ooooh, maybe gotta back away here, a little bit too out front there,” blah, blah.

But I am at a point where destiny has taken me, and the experiences that I’ve had leading up to it have prepared me for this. I’m made for this. I was built for this. I’m doing what I was born to do — and don’t worry. Without my enunciating it, ‘cause, you know, magicians don’t give away the tricks, but I have not lost focus of who I am and what I do, and that is my focus. (interruption) What? (interruption) Snerdley is so itching to say something, and you’re distracting me. What? (interruption) All right. Okay. Okay. Okay. (sigh) Snerdley says, “This is different than anything that you have been in. This is the full force of the government coming at you. This is the full force of the president coming at you in the open, right out in the open, with the media proudly leaking the story of the operation.”

It’s not really the first time. This is my point. Don’t forget Clinton telling a racist joke about me in front of 1200 media people in Washington. Don’t forget Bill Clinton tried to blame me for the Oklahoma City bombing. Don’t forget that Clinton tried to get our radio station in St. Louis to button down on me when he called them from Air Force One, when he was going in to dedicate some train station or something in St. Louis. Of course, if you watch cable TV, I’m mentioned and attacked and mischaracterized all the time. To me it’s not that big a step up from what I’ve been going through. So it’s not impacting me the way it is people who are close to me. They think it’s far more serious than I do. I think it’s serious, but I think it’s a teachable moment.

I think it’s a learning opportunity for a lot of people. This is the Obama government in action. And also, here’s the bottom line. That CPAC speech, when I accepted that, I said, “Okay, I’ll come and do it.” I did it only because they’ve asked me for ten years and I haven’t gone. Okay, I’ll do it. That CPAC speech has had more far-reach, deep impact than anybody will ever admit. That CPAC speech is largely why they’re ramping up all this stuff at the White House. I know that. The White House is presenting me an opportunity to branch out beyond the confines of my normally format, radio, and at least get to the minds and hearts of Americans who normally aren’t here. So to me it’s an opportunity. I thank all of you for your support and kind words. I really do. I just don’t know what more to say than that, and I feel like I should, so this is it.

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