RUSH: John Gibson, who has done great work on this whole Dingy Harry thing with Media Matters and the smear letter, talked to J.D. Hayworth on The Big Story With John Gibson on the Fox News Channel yesterday, and Gibson said, ‘Rush says this has not happened before with the Senate, where 41 Senators have called out a private citizen for saying something. Is he right about that?’
HAYWORTH: As far as I know, he’s absolutely correct. And who am I to dispute El Rushbo? Because I will tell you, Rush is proving again that just what Babe Ruth meant to baseball back in the twenties and thirties, Rush Limbaugh means to broadcasting in the here and now, specifically talk radio. And I will tell you, in the pantheon of political, slash, public relations Jiu-Jitsu, this is the single greatest counter move in political and public relations history. It is a masterstroke.
RUSH: Thank you, J.D. He’s talking about the posting of Dingy Harry’s letter on eBay and auctioning it off with the proceeds going to the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, of which I’m a board member and a contributor, and I’ve raised money for them and so forth. So thanks very much, J.D. I’ve been told by some friends that I probably need to address something semantically. It’s not a big deal, but it’s worth clarifying for those who are confused about it, because I have gotten some e-mails, ‘What do you mean, you’re a private citizen? What do you mean when the Senate attacks you, a private citizen? You’re a public figure. You are one of the most well known, recognized names in the country, in the history of the world. How do you call yourself a private citizen?’ Folks, I can understand how some might think this. But within the context of the relationship between government, the public sector, and me, a private citizen working in a private business, and the private sector is regulated by government, which is a frightening thing, but it attests to my courage in taking this on even further. It really does. I’m not going to say anything more about that. I’ll let you figure that out.
Just because I’m a public figure does not mean that I am not a private citizen in terms of the United States Congress singling out somebody who’s not in politics. I am not running for office. I don’t take any federal money for what I do here. I’ve never sought any federal money, grants, state, or what have you. So in the sense of citizenship, in the sense of civics and the relationship between citizens in government, I’m a private citizen, and they have targeted a private citizen. You know what this is all about. They’ve targeted my ability to do business, to harm and impugn my integrity and reputation, as Ms. Pelosi states. So that’s the distinction. I may be a lone case in terms of individuals, but look at their enemies list. They target private businesses all the time. Big Oil; they target Wal-Mart; they target Big Food, Big Fat; they target all these things, in the private sector. They are statists; they are socialists.
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