RUSH: Georgia in Enfield, Connecticut. I’m glad you called. She’s 16 years old. It’s nice to have you here.
CALLER: Hello.
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: Mega dittos from a Rush Baby.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: Listening for my whole life, for as long as I can remember. I have been homeschooled for most of my life and I recently started going to a public school this year.
RUSH: Yeah? My condolences, by the way.
CALLER: (giggles) Thank you. My English teacher ever Monday opens it up for ‘cultural events and discussions,’ and (sigh).
RUSH: Wait a second. Wait a second. Wait a second. I want to understand this: your English teacher every Monday opens up the discussion for ‘cultural events and discussions’?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Your English teacher?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Okay. What happens?
CALLER: I listened to you, and I pointed out about Jeremiah Wright because that’s kind of a cultural event.
RUSH: I’d say so.
CALLER: Yes, it is. I said that Jeremiah Wright is racist and Barack Obama has been listening to him for very many years, and then my English teacher stopped me and said, ‘Well, he’s being sound-bited and taken out of context.’
RUSH: And what did you say?
CALLER: I pointed out that he was talking about Jesus being a (sigh) poor black man who’s being oppressed by the white Italian rich people, and I was like — because that’s from the sound bites I remembered on your show — and he was like, ‘Well, that was taken out of context and everything,’ and I was just —
RUSH: What in the world is out of context about that? He said it! He said it. Your teacher is just trying to convince you that he didn’t say these things, that it’s mean people like me who are poisoning your skull full of mush with lies about Reverend Wright. Your teacher is irresponsible. I shouldn’t say that. I shouldn’t. This kind of stuff… I hope you hold firm in there, Georgia, because they’re after your mind.
CALLER: Yes. And then she said, ‘Well, most old people hold their racist beliefs from way back when, and how many of you can honestly say your family has never said anything racist against any other race?’ I was like, (snort). A couple people raised their hands and I raised my hand, and she’s like, ‘Well, I find that very hard to believe,’ and then she looked at me and said, ‘I can’t believe you raised your hand. You’ve made some racist comments and prejudicial comments yourself,’ and I was like (snort), so ticked. It was pretty funny.
RUSH: Wait. What racial comments, prejudiced comments did you make? Just quoting Reverend Wright?
CALLER: No, another cultural event I pointed out that. Because we were talking about getting into college, I pointed out that if the college just found that you are black and you have the same grades as a white male or something; then you’re going to get into the college ahead of the white male, and so it’s not exactly an equal society. So she took that as a racist comment or something.
RUSH: So all you were doing was telling her the principle behind affirmative action, and she accuses you of racism?
CALLER: Yes. She’s kind of being… Affirmative action is kind of racist itself.
RUSH: Well, of course it is. It decides who gets to go where because of their skin color, black or white. It doesn’t matter. Well, obviously this is quite different from your homeschooling.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Are you enjoying the challenges that are presented here by dealing with teachers that probably don’t have same IQ that you do?
CALLER: Well, I suppose, yes.
RUSH: I’m glad you admitted it. You’ve got a hold firm in there, Georgia, because they’re going to try to beat you down. It will be very subtle, but they’re going to try to tell you — just like your teacher told you that there was racism in every family, and it goes way, way back and so forth. It’s an attempt to just laden you with all kinds of guilt over things about which you had nothing to do with. But it could be a good experience for you because you find out the assault that other kids your age are under in these schools. But it sounds like you’re well prepared and steeled for this.
CALLER: I suppose.
RUSH: I’d do more than suppose. I can tell by your answers that you are. Well, look, I’m glad you called. I appreciate this firsthand report from inside the classroom in Enfield, Connecticut. We’re always happy to have these kinds of reports, and I’m glad you called.
CALLER: Thank you!
RUSH: Okay, thanks, Georgia, very much. Jason in Norman, Oklahoma, you’re next on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hello, Rush. Mega dittos. It’s an honor to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I was calling because I’m a student at the University of Oklahoma, and in my History of Journalism course —
RUSH: Oh, no.
CALLER: — we have a chapter in our textbook dedicated to pretty much that you’re a liar and —
RUSH: A chapter dedicated to the premise that I’m a liar?
CALLER: Uh, essentially. The reason that Republicans —
RUSH: We are moving up. Now a whole chapter; It used to just be a couple pages; now it’s a whole chapter!
CALLER: Yeah. It’s a very liberal book. The whole book looks at the history of journalism through a very liberal point of view, but basically that you said racist things; that you don’t believe in women’s rights; that you lie about Bill Clinton. All those things.
RUSH: (laughing) What year are you? Are you a freshman, sophomore? What year is this?
CALLER: I’m a junior.
RUSH: Junior! For crying out loud, this is like a second grade textbook! This is so infantile. All right, your teacher what?
CALLER: Well, on Tuesday, he said that we’re going to be talking about you more extensively and he’s going to show some — I guess show or we’re going to listen to some — clips of you, and he did ask if there were any Dittoheads in the room, and me and one other kid raised our hand out of about 150 in the class. So…
RUSH: There are more than that. They just don’t have the courage.
CALLER: Right. So…
RUSH: What did he do? Did he then target you?
CALLER: Oh, he just said that we’d have our chance to talk, that we’d have equal time.
RUSH: Well, how gracious.
CALLER: But we’ll see. (laughs)
RUSH: How gracious. How gracious.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: One hundred fifty students; two of them will get equal time.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: So he’s probably going to play clips from my television show, a copyright violation.
CALLER: (laughs)
RUSH: They don’t have permission. He’s probably going to play clips from the radio show, and I guarantee you that they will fit a prejudice that your professor has.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm. They’re probably just taken completely out of context, so I’m looking forward to that.
RUSH: Please keep us posted. Mr. Snerdley, get his number. When is this going to happen?
CALLER: Tuesday.
RUSH: Tuesday. This is Friday. Wednesday is a big day next week for a lot of reasons — nothing to do with the radio program — but we’ll look forward to talking to you on Wednesday. If you’ll get us your number, we can call you back for a firsthand report on how they’re doing it?
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: This is cool. A whole chapter —
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: — in a University of Oklahoma journalism textbook!
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: What was the name of the young student at the journalism school at the University of Oklahoma? Hey, Jason? I know you’re still out there. At some point in your class — because they’re focusing here on what a liar I am and I make things up and so forth; and I know some of you, I checked the e-mail, ‘Rush, why are you laughing at this? This is very serious. They’re trying to discredit you!’ I know. Folks, it’s a testament to the effectiveness of the program. It’s now a whole chapter of the textbook, a lecture. This professor is fully aware that there are far more than two Dittoheads in his class, and the whole point is to dissuade ’em, to intimidate ’em. I know exactly what’s going on here. But they’re not going to be deterred.
Now, Jason, when the time comes in this class and you get your chance to speak, I want you to stand up and just sort of innocently say, ‘Professor Slobodnik,’ or whatever his name is, ‘We’ve heard how Rush Limbaugh lies and makes things up and is a racist. This is a journalism school. Could you teach us about Dan Rather? Dan Rather made up some stuff, I’m told, about a National Guard story; and Jayson Blair at the New York Times was literally making up stories. There have been Washington Post reporters, Newsweek reporters. Could you explain to me, professor…?’ Jason, I want you to say this. ‘Could you explain to me, professor, why the New York Times is getting ready to let go hundreds of reporters and others? Why advertising revenue is declining at major American newspapers? Why there is restructuring? Why are there layoffs? Why is the circulation down at major newspapers; while at the same time, Professor Slobodnik, how come Limbaugh’s audience continues to grow? He’s reporting no revenue problems, and yet some of the biggest names in break journalism have been humiliated from Dan Rather on. Could you explain this, since this is a journalism class here?’ and just see what he says.