RUSH: Pam in Lansing, Michigan, I’m glad you waited. Welcome to the program.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. Semper fi dittos from a Marine mom.
RUSH: Well, thank you.
CALLER: I’m a little nervous. I’ve listened to you for a long time. I worked for John Engler and that?s when I started listening to you, like in ’91. So I’m a big fan. I’m calling to thank you for the courage that you gave me last night when I was interviewed for my reaction about the president’s speech.
RUSH: You were interviewed by who?
CALLER: I was interviewed by some local media here. They had called the Marine Corps and asked if they had any local families that had an active duty —
RUSH: Was it television, local TV?
CALLER: It was local TV, yep, local news.
RUSH: From Detroit or in Lansing.
CALLER: In Lansing.
RUSH: Okay.
CALLER: And they actually cover two news stations, and I did a taped thing, they watched my husband and I watching the president, and then they wanted to interview me, and I —
RUSH: Wait a minute. They had their cameras in your living room while you’re watching the president?
CALLER: Correct.
RUSH: You gave them permission to do this, obviously, but that’s what they did?
CALLER: Yes, I did, yes.
RUSH: Okay. All right.
CALLER: And the reason I did that was because I wanted to have them cover a side of the story that was supportive of the president.
RUSH: Well, let me guess. After it was over, you told them what you thought of the president was positive, and all that, and they weren’t interested?
CALLER: Well, yeah, they taped the version but then they asked if they could go — their reporter asked if they could do a live report for their ten o’clock live report, and I said live? He said yes, and then again for the 11 o’clock news. So they did the interview for the ten o’clock news live, and I was asked three very pointed questions, you know, about increasing troop levels, ?Did I worry that that was going to extend my son’s deployment,? and one was about that my son’s company has suffered several casualties in the last few months, and they came in right at the heart of all this insurgence.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: It was very rough. Then I can’t recall the third question, but, you know, I answered them. I couldn’t watch it, but my husband watched it upstairs, and my sister said, ?Oh, you came across really strong. It showed that you supported your son and the troops, and you were very calm.? So I felt good about it. Then they told me it would run in a longer version on the morning news, and they ended up deciding not to do the 11 o’clock. They rushed to the airport to cover a Marine that was coming in who had been injured in Iraq and was with my son’s company. So they ran to the airport to cover that. But the thing that caught me in the morning was they had run at six o’clock and then again at 11 after my few minute, brief thing that they ran on me, was there was a young woman they interviewed who was a wife of an Army soldier, and her saying, ?Oh, no, I’m against it. I don’t think the president should do this. My husband’s been gone a few months already and he’s going to be gone a year, and that’s too long, and we don?t need to be there,? and then my piece never ran. So they basically focused on this very young wife who I think —
RUSH: They found something better to fit their agenda.
CALLER: Absolutely. I was very offended because actually I presented the opportunity for them to present both sides of the story.
RUSH: Let me tell you something. Pam, that’s a great education for you. Welcome to the media. But I just want to understand the timeline. They took you after the speech last night live?
CALLER: Well, they first did a taped one that they were going to use for their morning program.
RUSH: Okay, but they instead ran it on the ten o’clock news.
CALLER: No, then they did another one with me, a second one that was live on their ten o’clock report.
RUSH: Okay, okay, and then they were going to cut that up and use it in the morning?
CALLER: No, the first taped one they were going to use in the morning.
RUSH: Okay. So you were on the air once with your story?
CALLER: Yes, I did get on once.
RUSH: You got on once, but these other two times, it didn’t happen?
CALLER: No, I take that back. The 11 o’clock did do a small blurb, but it was basically about my son’s enlistment in the Marine Corps.
RUSH: All right, well, look it, I can’t tell you — you should call back sometime, because I don’t have time — to tell you the number of times that that has happened to me, it’s one of the reasons I so infrequently do this anymore. They’ve got the story done when they show up. I don’t care how big or small the town in which the media is, the media is focused on doing damage to the president’s policy and trying to show American families, military families in pain, in suffering, and disagreeing, and you just didn’t fit the bill. Don’t take it personally. It’s just you didn’t say what they wanted to hear. The lesson is they’re not out there collecting news. They are out there producing an agenda.
<a target=new href=”http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/0/862118B78A217B808525726000663A0E?opendocument”>(Marines.mil: Medal Of Honor Citation for Cpl. Jason L. Dunham)</a>
<a target=new href=”http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/11/iraq/main2351853.shtml”>(CBS: Fallen Iraq Marine Awarded Medal Of Honor)</a>