RUSH: I’m amazed and amused as we watch the Drive-Bys try to analyze the McCain thing, and it runs the gamut. ‘Well, his close association with Bush brought him down. Well, his close association to President Bush and the war in Iraq and supporting an increased troop buildup, brought him down.’ Whatever. They’re totally missing this, totally, totally, totally missing it. McCain was never (except maybe in his mind and in the minds of the Drive-By Media) the ‘presumptive nominee’ of this party. He was never the front-runner. They may have assumed so in his camp, and they may have assumed so in the Drive-By Media, but he never was — and I’ll be honest: I don’t think he ever stood a chance! The nomination for the Republican Party requires support from the base, and he never had it! The base has not yet folded on Iraq. It has nothing to do with it.
Illegal immigration, hugging Ted Kennedy, McCain-Feingold’s infringements on free speech, buddying up with the Drive-By Media and becoming their best friend — and how you do that, if you’re a Republican, is criticize your own party and president and so forth. He never had chance. To miss this, to get this so wrong… See, the action line is: ‘Iraq is going to destroy everybody who supports it. The Iraq war is going to destroy everybody.’ Of course, didn’t Joe Lieberman win reelection as an independent in Connecticut? I think so! Hasn’t Joe Lieberman always been at the top of the list of people who are trying to warn the American people about what’s at stake in Iraq, and hasn’t he always been a supporter? These silly presumptions that these people make just become laughable. It’s educational, folks, because it will give you a heads-up, if you need it anymore, about how to analyze what they’re doing in other news stories that they cover.
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RUSH: Jeff in Rock Falls, Illinois, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Afternoon, Rush. Mega truck driving dittos.
RUSH: Thank you, sir! Do you realize you have a greater risk for death than any other profession in this country? The Drive-By Media reported this yesterday.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: You also are a slothful slob. You sit around there in your cab all day driving along, eating all that junk and so forth, and taking drugs to stay awake at night. It’s great to have you in the audience.
CALLER: Hey, Rush, I wanted to get back to McCain for a minute. You talked about him the last two days and things that he hasn’t done, a lot of people say correctly. One thing you forgot about that you haven’t mentioned is he was the leader of the Gang of 14.
RUSH: That’s a good point. You’re absolutely right. I did leave that out of the list of things that doomed his candidacy before it started. You’re absolutely right.
CALLER: The thing about it is, he’s been hanging around long enough he ought to retire, in my own opinion. I thank him for his service, but there’s just one man right there that I just couldn’t vote for.
RUSH: Well, it’s interesting you say that. Some of his new advisors are suggesting he do just that. They say, ‘Leave the Senate, senator. Get out of there, and devote yourself fulltime to the campaign. You gotta do something to revive this. Make it fulltime, and don’t get yourself caught up in any more legislative snafus like immigration reform. Get yourself out of the process.’ He won’t do it because the governor out there is a Democrat, Napolitano, and she’ll fill the seat with a Democrat, plus he’s not going to quit now anyway because then he’d have nothing. The campaign is a long shot to get this. He has two million bucks in the bank. That’s broke at this stage.