CALLER: But you don’t have to make fun of the guy. I mean, I think everybody in America saw the webcast of you sitting in your seat and kicking around and —
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait! Hold it a minute. Make fun of him? Who says I made fun of him?
CALLER: I’m saying you made fun him. I could see it on the webcast.
RUSH: Did you watch the webcam when the show was going on, or where did you see that?
CALLER: No, and I told your producer: I didn’t hear your show. I’m a pretty regular listener but the last two days I’ve been busy, haven’t had a chance to get to the radio. I actually heard about it from my mother who is a severe liberal Democrat (who) called and she was very upset about it and she knows I listen to you.
RUSH: Well, tell me where you saw this.
CALLER: I saw it on the Today Show this morning.
RUSH: You saw it on the Today Show.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: All right. Let me tell you what was happening.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Because they’ve —
CALLER: I’m a big fan of telling both sides. That’s why I like to listen to you.
RUSH: Here it is from the very beginning. I go to the Drudge Report, and I see the link that there’s this controversial ad by Michael J. Fox running. So I figure it’s a political season, no big deal, and I watch it, and I listen to it, and I am stunned because I’ve never seen Michael J. Fox that way. I’ve seen him on Boston Legal; I’ve seen him in interviews. I have never seen him in the full force of the ravages of his disease. So I have a radio show here, and I am trying to describe for the audience watching on my Dittocam what I am seeing — and I hope you heard the words. His face and his body never leave the frame, and as I’m describing this (I’m even doing it now, and as I’m describing this) I’m starting to move around like he does, but never once was I making fun of him. I was trying to illustrate for my audience watching on the Dittocam what I had seen.
CALLER: Okay, well, you know, that’s fair. Like I say, as a Democrat I like to listen to your program so I can get both sides of the story. I’m an intelligent person. I’m a moderate Democrat. I think both ways, and so I like to hear both sides of the story, and it’s kind of why I wanted to call and say it really looked like you were trying to make fun of him.
RUSH: Well, that’s what media can do when they take words and pictures out of context. I didn’t see the Today Show report, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the commentary that accompanied that little Dittocam clip helped create the impression that that’s what I was doing because they’ve also reported that I was accusing him of “faking,” which I didn’t do. I accused him of “acting, or being off his medication,” and the reason I raised the speculation of being off his medication is because in his own book, he has written in chapter eight that before Senate committees he goes off the medication so that people can see the ravages of the disease, which I said I can understand.
CALLER: Yes, that’s true, but he hasn’t done that since — the last time he spoke in front of the Senate that I’m aware of was 1999. Now, as an RN, I can tell you that the progression of that disease, especially in one as young as he is —
RUSH: I understand.
CALLER: — I mean is fairly severe.
RUSH: But one of my favorite TV shows is Boston Legal and he’s been in it within the last year or two appearing entirely normal. So I’m just using what I have seen with my own eyes and what I know. I understand the degenerative nature of the disease, but the idea that I was making fun of him, that is a media concoction and creation because they have an agenda with this, which is understandable. I mean, I’m their favorite guy wearing a black hat. I’m glad you called so I could set it straight because anybody who watched this did not see a smile on my face while I was mimicking this, just trying to illustrate for people watching what I had seen in the ad that shocked me — and it is shocking. It’s horrible to watch.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: Would you agree?
CALLER: Yes, I would agree. It is difficult to watch for people that don’t understand what it is that Parkinson’s does to a person. I mean, it’s very difficult to watch, and what makes it even more difficult to watch is to understand that he can’t control that. He’s not acting. I mean, there’s nothing that he can do that can stop those movements from happening —
RUSH: Well, now, wait a second.
CALLER: — and to go on the drug makes people very sick. We’ve all seen Mohammed Ali, and we’ve all seen —
RUSH: Wait. Wait. Wait.
CALLER: — what these drugs can do to people.
RUSH: Wait a second, now. I’m just going to be human with you here. “There’s no way to control it,” yet he finds a way. He can appear on Boston Legal. Now, I understand that they have to do a bunch of different takes and it’s hard to do, but I’ve never seen him that way. I have seen him far more recently than 1999. When you say “you” can’t control it, or he can’t?
CALLER: It’s controlled by the drugs that he’s taking, the doses and the day. I mean we all know everybody with or without a disease, everybody has good days and bad days, and when patients have those kind of degenerative diseases, it’s worse.
RUSH: I understand that. But the bottom line remains all of this is a very sad use of this to politicize all this, and to go out and claim that there’s one political party that doesn’t want to find a cure here and the only other political party around, the Democrats, do want to find a cure is just dangerous and it’s cruel. It gives false hope and all that, and that’s what I spent the vast majority of my time talking about, including trying to educate people about the issues on the ballot in the state of Missouri, and in Maryland, and in Wisconsin. You know, they took that little video clip and they took maybe a seven- or eight-second audio clip out of three hours of things I said, and it’s no wonder that you would conclude what you did.
CALLER: Well, I agree with you there — and like I said, I’m generally a pretty regular listener to you, and I can kind of see where people get the wrong impression. However, sometimes you do put yourself out there, and, you know, saying or insinuating that he was acting, I don’t know. I think that’s kind of —
RUSH: I said, “He’s either..” You know, words mean things.
CALLER: True.
RUSH: “Either acting or off the meds,” and I had a reason for speculating on both.
CALLER: Sure, because he said before that he was off the meds, that he’s gone off the meds.
RUSH: And he’s an actor, plus you couple the fact the fact that I’ve seen him on television in recent months and years with no such symptoms. I’m human.
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: That’s why (I don’t know if they told you this) I said, “If somebody can prove to me that I’m wrong about it, I will bigly, hugely apologize.”
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: I don’t know if they mentioned that. Did they mention that on the Today Show?
CALLER: That was actually in the Washington Post this morning that I read.
RUSH: Huh. Well, somebody got it. All right. Well, look, Patty, I’m glad you called. I’m happy for the chance to straighten you out (or try, anyway) and you do sound intelligent. I appreciate that.
CALLER: Well, thank you, Rush. Thank you for taking my call.
RUSH: You bet.
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