{"id":29338,"date":"2008-05-16T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T03:50:20","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T03:50:20","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T03:50:20","slug":"rush_s_speech_to_the_graduates3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/05\/16\/rush_s_speech_to_the_graduates3\/","title":{"rendered":"Rush\u2019s Speech to the Graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: Here is Jacob in Austin, Texas. Great to have you with us, Jacob.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Happy Friday mega dittos, Rush, from the University of Texas in Austin.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Great to have you here, sir.<\/p>\n

CALLER: This weekend here is graduation weekend at the university, and thousands of us are graduating, and this morning I went to the graduation for the department of government and you got a round of applause.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I got a round of applause at the department of government at the University of Texas at Austin?<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s right. The commencement speaker mentioned you, said he was honored to be the commencement speaker because he is a Rush Limbaugh Dittohead and he was proud to be selected to speak.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait a second. This is the student commencement speaker?<\/p>\n

CALLER: The official one for the department, the actual — has a Ph.D., and he was I think eight years as the chair of the Republican Party here in Travis County.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, now, wait a minute. This is great news, don\u2019t misunderstand, but this is not the big graduation commencement that takes place somewhere on the football field with gazillions of people. This is just your department commencement?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Right, the department is so big we have to have little ones where people walk across the stage and get their name announced.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Really? And so I was mentioned favorably from the stage of your commencement by a professor at UT?<\/p>\n

CALLER: And the people gave you a big round of applause.<\/p>\n

RUSH: See, this confirms everything that I\u2019ve understood and believed out there: We\u2019re loved out there. This country is made up of far more people like us than those of us right now probably currently constituted would believe.<\/p>\n

RUSH: That\u2019s right, Rush. But I want to ask you a question here, you know, it\u2019s every Rush Baby\u2019s dream out there that we have you, El Rushbo, as our big commencement speaker at the big one, the big one is the football field at the tower of the University of Texas —<\/p>\n

RUSH: When is that, by the way?<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s tomorrow night.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Tomorrow night, okay.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Tomorrow night and we\u2019ll have fireworks and a big, big show. My question is, what would you say, what would be your 10-, 15-minute speech to all the thousands of graduates graduating from college campuses across the nation as they go forth to be the future leaders?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Excellent question. Before I answer that, I saw somewhere on the Internet a list of the remaining major — not even major, but I guess division 1, division 1A to put in a sports context, graduation ceremonies commencement speakers, and there\u2019s not a damn conservative anywhere. I mean, it\u2019s all liberals, some from media, some from the State Department. This is nothing new, by the way. I think P. J. O\u2019Rourke wrote what he would say at Stanford. You know, Jacob, once long ago, I prepared a commencement address way back when I was still in Kansas City, what I would say to students if they were graduating high school. I\u2019ve thought about it and I\u2019ve updated it since. Ten to 15 minutes is tough, but the first thing that I would say is the world does not revolve around you, yet, and you are not the future leaders of this country, yet, just because you\u2019ve graduated. Now it\u2019s up to you to decide what to do with the education that you have. And I would launch into a spirited celebration of the American capitalist system. <\/p>\n

I would tell \u2019em how much of a head start they have over quite a few other people because of their education. Their education was for a purpose. It was to get them into the free market and engage in capitalism and secure the growth of this country because, like their parents, they someday are going to be worried about the future for their kids and they\u2019re not going to improve the future of their kids by joining protest marches or wearing ribbons or putting bumper stickers on the backs of their cars. They\u2019re going to have to go out, roll up the sleeves, and start working and become productive and further the capitalistic engine of the United States of America. That\u2019s how growth is created. I\u2019d probably just continue with that theme. I\u2019d spend some time inspiring them and teaching them a little bit about America to counteract what I thought they had been taught in their classrooms over the course of these past four years or five, depending on how long they\u2019ve been there. But it would be optimistic, it would be upbeat, it would be positive: You live in the greatest country in the world, and you\u2019re gonna hear every day how we\u2019re the worst, you\u2019re going to hear how we\u2019re responsible for global warming and we\u2019re destroying the world. <\/p>\n

We are not anything but the world\u2019s solutions. We are not the problem in the United States of America. I would try to instill in them a pride for being Americans, something that would swell their chests. I would take them through this country and various things that they should be proud of and can be proud of, because it\u2019s necessary, because they\u2019re going to be bombarded daily, in news, coworkers and so forth, with people whining and moaning and complaining it can\u2019t get done, America is evil, and basically my objective would be optimistic inspiration. I would hope — this is a little bit of a stretch — but I would hope that immediately after the graduation they would eschew the party and head right to a job interview. They wouldn\u2019t do it of course, and I want them to go to the party, but love for the country, appreciation for it, understanding their role in it, and someday they are going to be responsible for its greatness, but that has to be earned. It doesn\u2019t just come to you because you\u2019re an American.<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s awesome, Rush, that\u2019s the best commencement speech I think I\u2019ll hear all weekend long.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, that\u2019s just ad-lib off the top. I would have to put a little more thought into it, Jacob. Do I remember you, Jacob? You\u2019ve called here before, right?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I have, about two years ago John Kerry came to campus after he was done with his campaign and I called you up to see if it was worthwhile to go hear him speak.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh, that\u2019s right, you were going to go to a rally because I said, ‘You\u2019re going to go to a liberal presidential rally, it\u2019s a great place to pick up chicks.\u2019<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s right, that\u2019s right. And I came back next week and I reported in that I did, I did pick up a few phone numbers.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You did.<\/p>\n

CALLER: And like I expected, they were very enjoyable people to meet, but nothing that came to fruition.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, you were at a Democrat rally. Be thankful.<\/p>\n

CALLER: (laughing)<\/p>\n

RUSH: If it didn\u2019t come to fruition with a liberal babe, count yourself fortunate.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I agree.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019ll tell you something else I would talk to these graduates about, and that\u2019s failure, and how everybody does it. There\u2019s not a book in the library on how to fail because we all know how.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, Rush, before we go, I just wanted to take a moment and thank you because during this time of celebration I also want to give thanks to all the people that supported me, and you\u2019ve been with us here, Rush 24\/7, even if I don\u2019t get to hear the program live, I\u2019ve been with you three hours a day every day, and you\u2019re the best three-hour course I\u2019ve taken every semester here at the University of Texas.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, you made my day. You know what I\u2019m going to do? You deserve a graduation present.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, Rush.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You do, you deserve a graduation present. What do you want?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I appreciate that. I wish I could send one right back to you, Rush.<\/line><\/a>RUSH: No, no, no. You\u2019ve gotta learn to receive. I had to learn to do that, too. It\u2019s sort of like learning to deal with failure. Everybody does it, everybody knows how, it comes naturally, success, that\u2019s not — I mean, look at the people that write books on how to succeed. They make millions of dollars telling other people how to do it, right? Same thing with thinking positive. You won\u2019t go to a book, library, and find how to feel depressed, we all know how, but thinking positively, people make millions of dollars writing those books. By the same token, somebody wants to give you something, you\u2019ve got to let them experience the joy of that. If you send it back to them, I know you think you\u2019re being chivalrous and humble and so forth, but you gotta learn to receive.<\/line><\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, I appreciate it very much.<\/p>\n

RUSH: So what do you want?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hard to say, Rush. <\/p>\n

RUSH: No, no, no, that\u2019s another thing. Somebody asks you what you want, you tell \u2019em. Wanting something, there\u2019s no sin in it, there\u2019s no crime in wanting something. Doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re going to get it.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, I\u2019ve been really — I just received an Apple iPhone, and I know you\u2019ve heard the Apple products are great, I think my first purchase when I start my new job coming up next month is to get an Apple Power Book.<\/p>\n

RUSH: An Apple Power Book?<\/p>\n

CALLER: MacBook Pro. Excuse me.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You want a MacBook Pro. All right, well how about this, because that\u2019s something I think you should buy on your own. That\u2019s something you should earn, go out there, you\u2019ll get it in no time at all. But it\u2019s graduation for you and so forth, it\u2019s barbecue season, so I\u2019m going to send you a bunch of goodies from Allen Brothers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, that\u2019s wonderful, Rush! I hear you advertise them all the time, and I can\u2019t wait to try \u2019em.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I know you get a lot of great beef in Texas, and a lot of it may actually be supplied by Allen Brothers at some of the restaurants you go to there, because that\u2019s what they do, they primarily provide steakhouses, not grocery stores. So you hang on here, Jacob, and we\u2019ll get your information to send all this stuff, okay?<\/p>\n

CALLER: I appreciate it very much.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you. You\u2019re great to call, it\u2019s very nice, the things that you said, and I appreciate it. I want you to know that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Here is Jacob in Austin, Texas. Great to have you with us, Jacob. CALLER: Happy Friday mega dittos, Rush, from the University of Texas in Austin. RUSH: Great to have you here, sir. 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