RUSH: Here’s Tim in Hillsborough, Oregon. Great to have you with us, sir.
CALLER: Good morning, Rush.
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: I just wanted to tell you, ‘You rock, man.’
RUSH: Thanks!
CALLER: You know, up until 9/11, I did not give a rip about politics or any of that stuff. I thought you were just this bombastic big voice, you know?
RUSH: Well, I am.
CALLER: Well, I know.
RUSH: I have a big voice and I am bombastic.
CALLER: I didn’t care. I just thought you were a jerk because I never listened to you, but I had a friend who used to listen to you all the time. This is around the time of Waco.
RUSH: Ah, the Waco invasion of Janet Reno.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: That was kind of where I first picked up on you. But I’ll tell you, since 9/11 and the last elections, you’ve turned me into a political animal.
RUSH: All right!
CALLER: You just… Man! I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing out there.
RUSH: Well, I appreciate that very much. My heart is always warmed with these kinds of call, and Snerdley dutifully finds a bunch of them each day.
CALLER: (Laughs.)
RUSH: I really appreciate that. Thank you.
CALLER: You’re welcome. I mean, I just…ugh!
RUSH: Well, what were you politically before 9/11?
CALLER: I was pretty much probably liberal.
RUSH: But you didn’t care. Tell me something. I’m fascinated by this I am still fascinated by this. I literally do not understand how it is that my bombast, how that is a turn-off. It is for a lot of people. I will admit that I am bombastic, but I will admit no more than that, but what was it…? See, I have a different theory. I don’t think it’s the bombast that would turn people away such as you. I think it’s people are uncomfortable who hear somebody who is so certain he’s right, so confident, so self-assured. That’s what’s offputting, not the bombast, because the bombast, frankly, if you have an open mind, it’s funny.
CALLER: Oh, absolutely. I know now it’s just part of your schtick, you know?
RUSH: I am not schtick! I am real.
CALLER: Well, I know, but, you know, it’s you. It’s how you do your thing, and I so really appreciate it now.
RUSH: Well, thank you.
CALLER: You know?
RUSH: It took you how many years? Once you started listening, how long did it take to you realize that you had made an error in judgment prior?
CALLER: Oh, Lordy.
RUSH: Six weeks?
CALLER: Less. (Laughing.)
RUSH: Well, then you beat the national average. Normally for a new listener it takes six weeks to fully comprehend the vast horizons possible on this program.
CALLER: Yeah, but I’m home today recovering from some spinal surgery. It’s one of the few days I can listen to the entire show.
RUSH: Oh no. Upper or lower?
CALLER: L5S1, down at the bottom I blew a disk out.
RUSH: Man, was there no other option than to have them cut on you? When they start cutting on the spine, that’s risky.
CALLER: No.
RUSH: I’ve got some problems with my C5 and C6 near the top and back of the neck, and the surgery to fix this goes through my larynx, so I’m not doing it. They say, ‘Oh, there’s only a 2% chance.’ Well, I can’t take the 2% chance, and I don’t take it.
CALLER: No kidding.
RUSH: My grandmother had similar surgery, and after she had it, her voice always sounded like she was gargling, because just a little nick is all it takes. Cutting on the spine, that’s —
CALLER: Well, this was the very lowest one by your tailbone.
RUSH: Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, that’s (sigh).
CALLER: It was causing great sciatic pain.
RUSH: We just lost the people in Rio Linda.
CALLER: (Laughs.)
RUSH: Has it worked? Is the recovery successful?
CALLER: Well, I just had the surgery Wednesday, and I’m home yesterday. It’s almost outpatient. It’s called a microdiskectomy.
RUSH: Right. Well, we wish you the best out there. I know this stuff is not easy. I’ve had surgery fairly close to what you’re talking about.
CALLER: Yeah, but it’s just I’m able to listen to the whole show. Usually I can listen during my lunch hour. (Laughing.)
RUSH: Yeah. Well, when you’re home now, so you can listen.
CALLER: Today I can listen to the whole show, and I decided I’m going to call this man and express my gratitude.
RUSH: Well, again, I thank you so much. It means more than you know.
CALLER: Well, thank you, Rush.
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: And keep it up, man.
RUSH: I’ll do that. I know no other way out there, Tim. And all the best to you, okay?
CALLER: You, too, Rush.
RUSH: All right. We gotta take a brief time-out here, ladies and gentlemen, and we’ll be back and continue with more ‘bombast’ in a moment.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I asked the staff, I said, ‘I wonder how many people even know what ‘bombastic’ means. Do you know what it means? What would you say it means?’ Just give me a couple of words to describe or define bombastic. Vociferous? Well, you’re close. Here’s the dictionary definition of bombastic: ‘Rush Limbaugh.’ No. It’s: ‘Pompous, blustering, turgid, verbose, high flown, high sounding, overwrought, pretentious, ostentatious, grandiloquent, informal, highfalutin, puffed up, Faustian, and rare,’ and when you are ‘pompous, blustering, high flown, high sounding, overwrought, pretentious, ostentatious, and grandiloquent, and right at the same time, that’s what sends them over the edge! Nobody’s supposed to be that certain of themselves.
‘Gee, folks, I really don’t know… This is what I think, but I don’t want to offend any of you when I say this.’
That’s what makes people feel comfortable, but of course, that ain’t me.