RUSH: St. Joseph, Missouri, this is Sarah. Glad you waited. You’re next on the big program. Nice to have you here.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: Good. Never better.
CALLER: I have a son in Afghanistan, a son-in-law in Iraq, and these phony soldiers — and by that I mean these guys that were not men enough to cut basic or to get through basic — they make me sick. I’m so angry I’m shaking. And Harry Reid, to get up there and make us think he cares one whit about our guys, our family members, our loved ones, is just so wrong. And censorship comes from the government, right?
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: And Harry Reid being the leader of the Senate, isn’t he coming close to censoring you?
RUSH: Trying to, via intimidation. In ways I really don’t want to mention, but yeah, you’re very perceptive.
CALLER: Yeah, because, my son and son-in-law are going through things that these, I’m not even going to call them men because they don’t deserve to be called men. They have no idea. They’re doing it because they love this country, they love us, my son and son-in-law would be the men that would — they would give their lives for you regardless of whether they were on the battlefield or not. And for Harry Reid to denigrate them like this and to denigrate you because you have done so much for our soldiers — I’m sorry. I’m getting emotional now.
RUSH: So am I. We’re in it together.
CALLER: And, you know, I’m just so angry. He has no right to do this. And, you know, the things that him and Dick Durbin, the things that they have said about our guys, and I’m sorry. I’m aggravated.
RUSH: I know what you mean. Durbin called the soldiers that run the prisons Nazi Gulags, Soviet Gulags, Nazi assassins, and Pol Pot’s murderers. He had to do a quasi-apology for that because there was an outraged reaction to it. You know, Sarah —
CALLER: Yes?
RUSH: — when you say that your sons would die for me on or off the battlefield, you render me speechless. Those of us in this country who have a great and deep appreciation for what people like your son and your son-in-law do, know full well they volunteer —
CALLER: That’s right.
RUSH: — to lose their lives on the battlefield for the country. That’s why we are so offended when their service is impugned or their character is impugned or when they’re demoralized or when leaders of their government attempt to sabotage their mission. I think that the country has a debt of gratitude to you and your family members who served that it can never repay. I know I can’t.
CALLER: You don’t owe me anything because —
RUSH: Not that we owe you anything. It’s just a simple form of gratitude and wanting to show it, and sometimes it’s difficult, beyond words, charitable donations, this kind of thing, to do so. So the support for what they do, particularly in light of the criticism they get, is something we embrace eagerly. It’s a great honor to have such members of our population and country as your son and son-in-law.
CALLER: I just ask that people pray for them. That’s all I ask.
RUSH: Well, I guarantee you that will happen. What are their names?
CALLER: My son’s name is Vance, and my son-in-law’s name is Kevin.
RUSH: Vance and Kevin?
CALLER: Yes. And I love them very much.
RUSH: How old are they?
CALLER: Kevin is almost 25, and Vance is 20.
RUSH: And they’ve been gone how long?
CALLER: Kevin has been gone since the middle of January. I might add about three weeks after his son was born. My son has been in Afghanistan since April, and I don’t even know where he’s at. He’s an airborne trooper. He’s airborne. I’m not exactly sure where he’s at.
RUSH: How often do you hear from either of them?
CALLER: Infrequently. I send them packages and letters often. Every time I do I tell them how proud I am of them. My son was disheartened after the November election because he felt like the people — he didn’t care about the politicians, he didn’t expect anymore from them, but he felt like the people were turning their back on him. And he wants to know why people pretend that they’re not in Afghanistan.
RUSH: That’s a good point. The critics say, ‘We ought to be in Afghanistan. We’ve diverted to Iraq, we ought to be in Afghanistan.’ That is an excellent point. We are in Afghanistan, and we are in combat missions in Afghanistan, and we are engaged in successful combat missions, routing out warlords and the Taliban there. That is an excellent point.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: When I was there on the troop visit, it was pretty quiet. In the eastern parts, there were some skirmishes. I heard the gunfire when I was on the base there. But it was pretty quiet. The questions I got from the troops, ‘How come nobody is talking about us in the media? How come it’s all about Iraq?’ ‘Because you guys are succeeding here. There’s no trouble to report here, so you guys are being ignored right now.’
CALLER: It may not be as quiet there now.
RUSH: No, it’s not. It’s not. The Taliban is trying to move back in via Pakistan with Bin Laden and his buddies.
CALLER: Right. And he’s on blackout quite frequently, which means, you know, no contact. But we live our lives one day at a time, and we have to. Because if I let the fear and worry overtake me, I would be in a ball in the corner talking to an imaginary friend.
RUSH: Well, that’s — I know. And this is what we all know. It’s perhaps an unfortunate thing to say, but the strategy, the political strategy, behind the Democrat Party’s anti-war movement is, when it comes to elections, there aren’t that many members of this population who are military, or military family, maybe two to three million. And so their attitude is, ‘Well, we can lose them. We’ll pick it up from some other group and still win the election.’ Remember, this is the bunch that tried to not count military absentee ballots in Florida in 2000. It’s gotta be tough. I mean your son and son-in-law volunteer, it’s always been something valorous and admirable to be a member of the US military. Now all of a sudden for the first time in American history — well, it got bad in Vietnam for a while, but never to the extent that I’ve seen it here. Now all of a sudden there’s a whole political movement out there designed to secure defeat —
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: — wave the white flag of surrender for the whole country and in the process impugn the character and integrity of people like your son and son-in-law who volunteered to do this.
CALLER: And I will never vote Democrat again, ever. I don’t care who the person is, they will never get my vote.
RUSH: Well, if it’s Joe Lieberman someday, you can vote for him.
CALLER: No. Because he’s part of the —
RUSH: They tried to drum him out of the Senate.
CALLER: Yes, I know, that’s what they do, and I’ve had it with them. They are less than zero to me.
RUSH: Sarah, I have to go, but I’ve really enjoyed talking to you. Thank you so much, and God bless you and your family and your son and son-in-law from all of us, okay?
CALLER: Okay. Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: You bet.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: By the way, folks, that last call from Sarah is a great illustration of what I was talking about in an opening monologue in this program, and that is how the Democrat Party, led by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, MoveOn.org, Media Matters for America, why it’s so upsetting, the continued use by Hillary’s groups and the liberals in Congress of the troops for political gain, self-aggrandizement is just more of the abuse of our armed forces. You heard this mother describe what it has been like listening to Democrats while her son and son-in-law are in Afghanistan. It’s just abuse. We owe them respect, and a lot of Democrats can’t even do that. Just stunning.