{"id":30636,"date":"2008-10-15T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T03:15:14","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T03:15:14","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T03:15:14","slug":"debate_prep_expect_the_worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2008\/10\/15\/debate_prep_expect_the_worse\/","title":{"rendered":"Debate Prep: Expect the Worse"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: We\u2019re going to go to Pemberton, New Jersey. This is Rebecca. Thank you so much for waiting, Rebecca. Great to have you with us here.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Rush, no problem. I\u2019m really stressed out, and I\u2019m calling you because I\u2019m stressed and I\u2019m tense. I\u2019m really worried about the debate, and I\u2019ve been listening to you today, and I\u2019ve gotten more and more hyped up about it, and I have my own business in South Jersey, so I was sitting in my office listening, and then I started writing notes, and I said, I want to prep John McCain on the Ayers issue because I don\u2019t have confidence, I\u2019m worried that they\u2019re not going to get this issue across correctly.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Which issue?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, a few, and I thought, I don\u2019t have any power, let me call Rush, maybe someone in the McCain campaign will hear him, even though I\u2019m not as politically smart as you. I think the first thing Obama is going to say is, again, he\u2019s going to again downplay this, he\u2019s going to trying to diminish McCain with his arrogance and he\u2019s going to say you didn\u2019t bring it up in the debate and you\u2019re desperate. And I think McCain has to emphasize, call out the media and emphasize that citizens are coming up to him, which is true, that haven\u2019t heard about the Ayers issue, they\u2019re concerned about it, they don\u2019t know why the media has kept it quiet, and I agree with these citizens, and I\u2019m not going to disregard their questions, and Senator Obama, if you\u2019re going to disregard their questions, then you don\u2019t understand how concerned these citizens are. That\u2019s the first thing that he\u2019s going to try to do.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. Well, you\u2019ve given me a profound challenge here.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh. I did? (laughing) <\/p>\n

RUSH: You have. You should join the crowd of those who seek and wish to advise the McCain campaign. I can\u2019t tell you the number of people, just average people, friends of mine —<\/p>\n

CALLER: Right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: — send me notes: ‘I know you know how to get through, would you tell them to X?\u2019<\/p>\n

CALLER: So I\u2019m just one of those many people, and I\u2019m thinking, you know, well, maybe I can get through and someone will listen. We\u2019re frustrated. We are frustrated.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, wait a second, now. I\u2019m trying to help you here. You\u2019re stressed and you\u2019re tense and I\u2019m saying, ‘You gotta deal with reality as it is.\u2019<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You start building up expectations for yourself —<\/p>\n

CALLER: Right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: — and they aren\u2019t met tonight by somebody you have no control over, you have no control over what McCain\u2019s going to say, you\u2019re just going to be worse off tonight after the debate, if you do that. What I want to try to do is give you a dose of reality.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay.<\/p>\n

RUSH: This campaign\u2019s been going basically — when did McCain secure this, February?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay, I would venture to say that throughout most of that period, you\u2019ve been saying, ‘Why didn\u2019t he say this? Why didn\u2019t he do that? Why didn\u2019t he go there?\u2019<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Hasn\u2019t done it, has he?<\/p>\n

CALLER: No. (laughing) <\/p>\n

RUSH: So what is there, what is the evidence here three weeks before election that we\u2019re going to get a 180?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay, this is what I\u2019m thinking. I\u2019m thinking that maybe they\u2019re starting to listen to us, and they realize how important this Ayers issue is and how McCain has to bring it home. And the American people might not get it, and Obama is very convincing, and he\u2019s very good at diminishing the things that McCain is saying. I mean I think if McCain just came out and said, ‘Listen, do you think if I started off my political career in an unrepentant abortion bomber\u2019s living room, would the press give me a free pass?\u2019 You know, he\u2019s gonna think that Obama would go, ‘Oh, I was only eight.\u2019 If I hear that — if I hear that — hello?<\/p>\n

RUSH: It\u2019s not going to happen. He is not going to criticize the media.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Why?<\/p>\n

RUSH: ‘Cause it\u2019s a no-win. Somebody running for president, you have to know that you\u2019re going to get an anal exam. To criticize the media is considered to be starting to cry and whine and there\u2019s no upside for a candidate attacking the media. Even though a lot of McCain supporters would love it —<\/p>\n

CALLER: Right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: — it isn\u2019t going to happen, plus he doesn\u2019t look at them the way you and I do. Despite what they\u2019ve done to him, I\u2019m telling you he doesn\u2019t see the media the way you and I do.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, you know, the other thing I was thinking, I just want to say this one thing, okay? Obama keeps saying he was only eight and it\u2019s driving me crazy, it really is. And all I can think of is, John McCain should say, ‘I don\u2019t care if I\u2019m one or ten or 15, I would never be in the living room of Bill Ayers. He would never have me in his living room. That\u2019s like being in Timothy McVeigh\u2019s living room.\u2019<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yes.<\/p>\n

CALLER: He\u2019s gotta get this across. It\u2019s just driving me crazy. And you know what else he should do, Rush? He should call the plumber, he should call that plumber who was talking to Obama and he should quote that plumber, because that plumber, he was a smart man, you know, the one on Neil Cavuto and maybe you\u2019re right, maybe I should just give up.<\/p>\n

RUSH: No. No. No, no, no. You\u2019re misunderstanding. I\u2019m not saying give up.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019m saying allow yourself the opportunity to be surprised. <\/p>\n

CALLER: Okay.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Don\u2019t go in with all these great expectations that are unlikely.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Right.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Go in there thinking the worst and you can\u2019t help but be happy at the end of the day \u2019cause it\u2019s not going to be that bad.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, I\u2019ll tell you one thing I want to tell you, I\u2019ve been listening to you and, you know, you\u2019ve really been out there really trying to keep everybody motivated because we\u2019ve been having our ups and downs all —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here\u2019s the thing out there, Rebecca. This is the bottom line. This is a referendum on Obama. You\u2019ve just said it. I know you want leadership from our candidate, but you\u2019re going to have to provide it yourself. How many times have I told you we are going to have to drag this campaign across the finish line?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, what you know then, this is what I\u2019m going to keep doing. I am talking to everybody I know, and I know the people who listen to your program are good people, patriots, citizens who work hard, working people, wonderful people in this country, they\u2019re doing the same thing. I mean I go to the Columbus market, I have a stand there, in Columbus, New Jersey, and I can\u2019t tell you how many people I\u2019ve gotten into conversations with and I\u2019m talking to my kids, I\u2019m talking to my grandkids, I\u2019m talking to my Jewish aunt in Florida and telling her, you know, all this stuff and that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to do it, and if you keep helping us, I think that\u2019s the only — I\u2019m going to keep doing it even though I\u2019m frustrated.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, good. Understand here we\u2019re all going to have to be self-starters in this. We\u2019re all going to have to be individual leaders among the people that we know. I\u2019ll take care of leadership here from the Golden EIB Microphone, but it is what it is. You have to face the reality of it. Now, we\u2019ve heard Senator McCain, he said he\u2019s going to whip Obama\u2019s-you-know-what, he\u2019s going to bring up Ayers and all that tonight. Good. I\u2019m looking forward to it, I want to see how it happens. I wish he hadn\u2019t telegraphed it. A marketing plan is something to be executed, not bragged about, because then you give people a defense against it, but we\u2019ll see. But, look, the debates are not going to decide anything, they\u2019re not going to decide anything. I knew this after the first one, I knew it again after the one last week, and there\u2019s going to be three weeks after this debate, and unless something highly unusual happens here tonight, the debate is not going to be the final determining factor. But beyond all that, I know, folks, that Rebecca is voicing every one of your fears, every one of your frustrations, every one. I know it. And what it tells me is what a golden opportunity we have had here for leadership at the elected level. Had there been that leadership, the American people will respond to leadership every time, and our side hasn\u2019t had a whole lot of leadership, unless, of course, your number-one issue is earmarks, and then of course you\u2019re happy as you can be. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Now, ladies and gentlemen, we just had a call representing, I\u2019m sure, millions of you: a woman desperately wanting to get through to McCain to give him advice on what to do tonight. So we have average citizens trying to advise Senator McCain. Who is it advising Senator Obama? Let\u2019s go to a media montage.<\/p>\n

DAVID WRIGHT: McCain not only has to win this debate, he needs Obama to lose. He needs Obama to make the kind of mistake Michael Dukakis did.<\/p>\n

SUZANNE MALVEAUX: They\u2019re going to play it safe and do what\u2019s working.<\/p>\n

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: For Obama he\u2019s basically in do-no-harm mode. His big challenge is just to avoid mistakes.<\/p>\n

CHRIS CILLIZZA: Barack Obama\u2019s been at this for several years now. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to make some major gaffe.<\/p>\n

GOV. ED RENDELL: …survive this debate without any damage.<\/p>\n

JOHN ROBERTS: Barack Obama is playing defense.<\/p>\n

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Barack Obama, does he play it safe tonight?<\/p>\n

RUSH: They\u2019re basically telling him, the Drive-Bys, ‘Just shut up! Whatever McCain says, just smile and laugh. Just don\u2019t make any mistakes.\u2019 Now, if they\u2019re up by so much, if this election is over and so on, why are they worried about what happens in the debate tonight? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: We\u2019re going to go to Pemberton, New Jersey. This is Rebecca. Thank you so much for waiting, Rebecca. Great to have you with us here. CALLER: Rush, no problem. I\u2019m really stressed out, and I\u2019m calling you because I\u2019m stressed and I\u2019m tense. 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