RUSH: We go to Teaneck, New Jersey. This is Adam. Nice to have you with us, sir, hello. CALLER: How you doing, Rush? RUSH: I’m very well, sir. Thank you. CALLER: Well, I’m a liberal, and I pretty much disagree with you on almost everything but — RUSH: Thank you for being honest. I appreciate that. Most liberals call here and say that they’re conservatives but they only disagree with me on a couple things, but you are honest. And I appreciate that. CALLER: Well, listen, I’m a big fan of honesty, and I big fan of just honest debate, and I want to put all the name-calling and all the talking points aside and just ask a very simple and what I think is a nonpartisan question, and I’m curious as to what you feel about it. It regards Iraq. I was wondering if you believe that we should stay in Iraq as long as we should until we win, which I assume is how you feel, and all things stay the same and another Republican president gets elected and keeps us in Iraq and the same kinds of things keep on happening. We put more troops in, you know, 10,000, 20,000, whatever it is, and we lose more lives, and the war goes on. Is there a point where you feel that if our president still wants to keep us there where you could say, ‘You know what, it’s time that we say enough is enough,’ and we should leave? Is there a point where you would feel that? And if so, what point do you think that might be? RUSH: I would only, accepting your premise and telling you what I think about it, I would only accede to that if I determined that that president, whether he be Republican or Democrat, or she be Republican or Democrat, had given up on the concept of victory. If that president is not going to attempt to finish this off and win it, then I would suggest it’s time to pull out of there. If that had ever happened, by the way, you’d see the troops wanting out, too. They would be the first to know that we weren’t serious about it. But you don’t see that. The troops are, frankly, very angry at all this talk in this country. They are very much behind this mission, very much for it. CALLER: Well, yeah, I can’t really agree with all that completely. There are reports, you know, on both sides that say, you know, different things. So I don’t want to get into a left-right talking point kind of discussion although I can appreciate your opinion. RUSH: I wasn’t. I’m not giving you talking points. CALLER: Well, I’m just saying there are people that are soldiers who have come out and said that this war is not going well, it’s not being administered properly, and there are people that say that they’re all for the mission.
RUSH: Well, yeah, but there’s very few of them. The vast majority of them are signing up to go back. This is a volunteer force, my friend. CALLER: Yeah, volunteer now. Once you get sent back a fourth time, that’s not really a volunteer anymore. RUSH: The fact that they’re a volunteer force matters. Sure, CBS can go out and find a few stragglers — CALLER: Well, that’s not my point. My point is it’s not a question necessarily of giving up on victory. I mean even in some — like poker you have to know that if you’re in a hand that you’re not going to win, it’s better to fold and — RUSH: Adam, here’s what troubles me with the premise of your question. CALLER: Okay. RUSH: I’m just going to tell you right up front. The premise of your question is that somewhere in their mix, we can’t win. We are the United States of America. We never lose, unless we defeat ourselves. The idea that there are so many Americans absorbed with the concept of the United States losing — this is repugnant to me and makes me sick. The Democrat Party today — and this is not a talking point — the Democrat Party today is oriented and cemented to the defeat of this country, because they seek the defeat of this president. They own it. They have the deed to defeat. I don’t countenance the whole premise or the concept of defeat. Americans hate losing. Real Americans hate losing. The fact that you are absorbed with trying to define the precise moment when we lose is something that truly bothers me, not just about you, but the countless other Americans who think or feel as you do. This country didn’t get to be what it is with that kind of attitude. It will not stay what it is if that attitude becomes prevalent or the majority. I sincerely urge you to change your focus; try to become positive; try to become exemplary of the American ideal: doing the right thing, victorious, liberating oppressed people, which we have done since our founding, and in the process securing our own freedom and national security, about which Iraq is clearly a central front. This is not something about which to be focused, ‘Okay, when are we going to say we lose? And when can we get out of there and bring our troops home?’ You’ve already lost. Attitudes like that secure defeat, and you’re thinking that way about things you want to achieve in your personal life, you’ve already lost that, too.