RUSH: My friends, I made a rediscovery last night. I discovered something that I already previously discovered. I relearned something last night. I learned something last night that I knew long ago and then I stopped doing it, but I inadvertently started doing it a couple weeks ago, and man, oh, man, life is so much better.<\/p>\n
JOHNNY DONOVAN: And now, from sunny south Florida, it\u2019s Open Line Friday!<\/p>\n
RUSH: Yes, siree. Here we are headed into the Memorial Day weekend, Rush Limbaugh behind the EIB Network for three straight hours of broadcast excellence. Telephone number, if you want to be on the program, 800-282-2882. The email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.us.<\/p>\n
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Okay, so it was last night or maybe the night before, I forget which. And I was chatting with somebody who was remarking on the radio program. They said, “You know, all of a sudden you\u2019ve been laughing at things. It sounds like you\u2019re actually enjoying this stuff going on. I found it kind of strange.” And I had to stop and think, “Now why would this person think that?” Then I thought, yeah, yeah. Like yesterday, we laughed at a whole lot of stuff, day before that.<\/p>\n
You know what this is, folks, honestly — and I did not do this on purpose; it just happened — I have stopped watching cable news. It was not an active decision. It was not, “I am going to go on a diet starting Monday right after dinner,” nothing like that. I just stopped watching it. When I want to watch TV, there\u2019s other things I want to watch. I stockpile programs I like and binge-watch, like Bloodline season 3 on Netflix today, and then House of Cards is next week on Netflix.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m constantly scouring the BBK, Channel 1 in the U.K. for TV shows. I just don\u2019t need cable news. There\u2019s nothing that happens on cable news that I don\u2019t already know. I\u2019m talking about just the acquisition of information, learning things. What is on cable TV is not that. Cable news isn\u2019t news. What is happening on cable news right now is a political assassination of not just Donald Trump, but of ideas and cultural mores that I believe in.<\/p>\n
As I say, it wasn\u2019t an active decision. I think it was just a subconscious thing where I said, “I don\u2019t need to subject myself to this.” Once I assured myself that there was nothing really to learn — I mean, the only thing to learn is if you want to watch and find out what somebody else thinks about something. But that, of course, I\u2019ve never done that. That\u2019s why I don\u2019t listen to other people on the radio, never have, \u2019cause I don\u2019t want to inadvertently, even unaware, end up repeating something somebody else has already said. So I have just decided that I don\u2019t need to know what somebody else, particularly the same people over and over, panel after panel, same formula, the same no resolution to anything, there is no authority.<\/p>\n
At the end of all this there is no conclusion that one side was right and one side was wrong. It\u2019s just, “Well, we\u2019ve run out of time for now. We\u2019ll have to continue this on a later show.” And they do, and it\u2019s a never-ending cycle. And it is all shrouded in pessimism. It is all shrouded in defeat or fatalism. Plus you have other aspects like people just seeking fame or saying things to get noticed or what have you.<\/p>\n
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But look, the bottom line is that not watching this — I see it for three hours on the air here. I\u2019ve got the monitors on, but I don\u2019t listen to it. The volume is obviously down and off, it\u2019s muted, closed-captioning up there. But I\u2019m telling you, it\u2019s had a remarkable and demonstrable impact on my overall mood. And I think that it is inescapable.<\/p>\n
You know, my story about Roger Ailes, he sent out memos to the staff periodically when he thought there was too much pessimism or negativism. He said, “Negative people make healthy people sick.” And it\u2019s true. Now, some people love to wallow in misery and negativism. You know, some people are happy miserable. That isn\u2019t me. And I\u2019m just telling you, even when looking at news stories now, I see them when I\u2019m sourcing them in my own way rather than their presentation on cable news with contrived, phony, fake debates and all that. I have a different take on much of this stuff.<\/p>\n
But the upshot is, I don\u2019t end the night angry; I don\u2019t end the night making notes, “They gotta fix this tomorrow. I can\u2019t believe what I heard that clown say,” whoever it might be. So you should try it. Now, I\u2019ve suggested it before, and I\u2019ve done it before. I have gone periods of time without watching the news, and on occasion it\u2019s not been good. On occasion I did miss things. But I don\u2019t think that\u2019s gonna be the case \u2019cause because I don\u2019t think anywhere you go to get news is news anymore. It is commentary, but mostly it is the advancement of agenda.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re watching the political assassination of Donald Trump, and the assassins are on television every day, and they\u2019re in the New York Times and Washington Post, and those people are guests on TV. Try it, folks, try it. Try it for a week without watching cable news. Now, if you\u2019re a news consumer and if you are quasi-addicted, then you\u2019re gonna have to find other ways of informing yourself, and you can do that. You can inform yourself of the same things you\u2019ll see on cable TV. What you will miss is all the incendiary opining on both sides. You\u2019ll miss the anger. You\u2019ll miss the constant lack of resolution to anything. And most of all you\u2019ll miss the frustration.<\/p>\n
How many of you watch these shows at night and you have a vested interest in whatever it is that\u2019s being discussed, but whoever is on representing your side just doesn\u2019t quite get there and you sit there and say, “You need to be saying this! You need to be saying this!” And then you say, “I need to be on that show.” Or you say, “Why didn\u2019t you make this point?” and you end up frustrated. Oh, yes. And some people say, “Why isn\u2019t Rush on this show? If Rush were on this show, it would end everything.” But I\u2019m not on those shows.<\/p>\n
But my point is, you will not experience the never-ending frustration that accompanies whatever you think you\u2019re doing in informing yourself by watching these shows. Now, I must stress, this is not an attack on cable news. I\u2019m not in any way, shape — I\u2019ve been very clear over what I think the news has become anyway. I\u2019m talking about the impact, positive impact on me not watching this stuff. Plenty of other things to do. And I have not sacrificed an ounce of knowledge in casting it aside, and that I think is so telling.<\/p>\n
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I think that is one of the most compelling points to make, that I have not missed anything in terms of learning or being informed by not watching cable news. That\u2019s not the way it\u2019s supposed to be. The news is supposed to be telling you what you don\u2019t know. But it hasn\u2019t been that in I don\u2019t know how long. So go for it.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: We\u2019re gonna start in Pie Town, New Mexico. This is Jay. And it\u2019s great to have you. Welcome, sir.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Hey, Rush, honor to talk to you once again, my friend.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Thank you, sir.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Can you hear my all right?<\/p>\n
RUSH: Yeah, hear you fine.<\/p>\n
CALLER: That\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Why did you think I couldn\u2019t hear you when I was answering you.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Well, \u2019cause, I tell you I can\u2019t imagine the frustration some people experience when you\u2019re saying hello, I can\u2019t hear you, I can\u2019t hear you and then you lose them —<\/p>\n
RUSH: Oh, I got, you were just doing preemptive damage control. Your phone line\u2019s fine here.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Awesome. Well, Rush, like I —<\/p>\n
RUSH: What kind of phone are you using out there, Jay?<\/p>\n
CALLER: I\u2019m using an iPhone.<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well, that must be why, \u2019cause it\u2019s crystal clear. I probably won\u2019t even need the transcription of your call, but I\u2019m gonna use it anyway, but, no, it sounds ideal, it sounds perfect. How do you hear me? Do I sound okay?<\/p>\n
CALLER: Rush, you always sound like a foghorn in the fog, but —<\/p>\n
RUSH: Well, thank you. Thank you very much. I sincerely appreciate that.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Hey, when you opened up this morning, I mean, it hit me like a ton of bricks, because I quit watching, I disconnected anything cable seven years ago. And once in a while I find myself running into a hotel room or somewhere and I need to turn on Fox News. I tell you what, there\u2019s nothing edifying that comes through many of these channels. Fox News has fallen I think, you know, below my expectations for some time now. But the reality is, like I was telling Mr. Snerdley, it takes a special kind of strength, you know, people like you, people like many of my friends, you know, who flip here and watch CNN, MSNBC, you know, to get the other side, so to speak, I don\u2019t have that kind of strength, Rush. I don\u2019t have that kind of ability to be able to remain objective because those people\u2019s objective is to do nothing but discourage and dishearten people like me.<\/p>\n
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RUSH: Yeah. But, see, I understand that, and I think if that\u2019s the circumstance, it\u2019s wise that you not even mess with it. As long as you have this show each day, you don\u2019t need it. And I\u2019m not trying to sound funny or in a phony, egotistical way. Really, I\u2019m serious. If you\u2019ve got this show every day, you don\u2019t need that, folks. Whatever is important that it\u2019s happening, we talk about it here, and not in a way that\u2019s going to enrage you, at least we\u2019re not gonna lie about it.<\/p>\n
For example, I just watched some of the coverage on CNN. I didn\u2019t listen to it because the program was on. I watched some of the coverage on CNN. We\u2019ve got an audio of it that I might play. One of the panelists on CNN, after the Hillary commencement speech, literally started crying, “I can\u2019t believe, I can\u2019t believe the election actually happened and she lost.” I don\u2019t need to see that. I don\u2019t need to see a bunch of whimpering leftists who themselves are incapable of grounding themselves in reality, whining and moaning.<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s another thing. This is a story that just cleared from TheHill.com. It\u2019s a poll. “Majority Says Mainstream Media Publishes Fake News. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the mainstream press is full of fake news, a sentiment that is held by a majority of voters across the ideological spectrum. According to data from the latest Harvard-Harris poll –” this Harvard-Harris poll has been loaded with stuff. We\u2019ve been quoting from it here for a few days.<\/p>\n
“According to data from the latest Harvard-Harris poll, which was provided exclusively to The Hill, 65 percent of voters believe there is a lot of fake news in the mainstream media.” Now, the Drive-Bys are gonna say that\u2019s \u2019cause of Trump. But I\u2019m telling you, folks, look at what they\u2019re doing with Trump and this whole Russia thing. Eli Lake has a column today at Bloomberg, and the headline says it all: “Trump\u2019s Allies Convicted of High Crimes Without a Trial.”<\/p>\n
This is a story about how there is yet to be, in nine or 10 months of reporting, there is not a morsel of evidence backing up any of the claims or any of the narratives or any of the premises that make up today\u2019s news. There is not a morsel of evidence on anybody. There\u2019s not a morsel of evidence on Flynn! On Manafort! On Carter Page! There\u2019s no evidence on Trump! And yet the reporting goes on. Convicted of high crimes already without a trial. It\u2019s a great piece by Eli Lake.<\/p>\n
My question is, if you think this stuff is fake news, why watch it? There\u2019s no value in it. Unless you\u2019re entertained by it and you have boundaries and the stuff\u2019s not gonna affect your mood, fine and dandy. But if it\u2019s gonna frustrate you, make you mad, you\u2019re not missing anything turning it off.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: This is not a crusade. I\u2019m not encouraging massive boycotts of turning off the news. That\u2019s what the left does. I\u2019m just telling you my own personal experience. I\u2019m just in a much better mood. I\u2019m in a good mood anyway, but I\u2019m in a much better mood day in and out. I look at things entirely differently not watching that crap. It\u2019s all I\u2019m telling you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RUSH: This is not an attack on cable news. I'm not in any way, shape — I've been very clear over what I think the news has become anyway. I'm talking about the impact, positive impact on me not watching this stuff. Plenty of other things to do. And I have not sacrificed an ounce of knowledge in casting it aside, and that I think is so telling. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n