RUSH: Cheryl in Montgomery, Alabama, I’m glad you waited. Welcome to the program.
CALLER: Hey, thank you. Rush, I just wanted to make a couple of comments. One of them is, you know, I’m just really curious as to why you feel it necessary to continue to run excerpts of Reverend Wright and Reverend Wright and Reverend Wright, as if your listeners aren’t intelligent enough to make decisions based on the issues.
RUSH: Because he keeps talking.
CALLER: Well, I’m saying, but why do you keep giving him a platform?
RUSH: Because I don’t believe Barack Obama’s statements about him. I don’t believe anything Obama is saying about this, and Obama is running for president.
CALLER: Okay, if that’s the case then, if it’s based on what it reflects about Obama, then why is it that you were such a staunch supporter of Mitt Romney, and he belongs to a church that, he says, you know, at one time —
RUSH: This isn’t about religion.
CALLER: — black people were human.
RUSH: Cheryl, Cheryl, Cheryl.
CALLER: — why isn’t that an issue with you?
RUSH: Cheryl.
CALLER: Yes?
RUSH: You’re not going to sit here and use this program to start telling a bunch of garbage about religions when this is not about religion.
CALLER: Well, he said it himself that they no longer subscribe to that.
RUSH: No, nope, nope, nope. My objection to Jeremiah Wright has nothing to do with religion. As long as he keeps it in the church —
CALLER: No, it doesn’t have anything to do with religion, it has everything —
RUSH: Then why did you bring up Romney? What’s Romney got to do with it? Your comments about Romney were totally religion based. This is about —
CALLER: You said that you’re holding Barack Obama responsible for the things that his — supposedly he believes in the same thing that his pastor believes in.
RUSH: No, no, I’m not saying —
CALLER: So, if that’s the case, then —
RUSH: You’re missing the point here, madam.
CALLER: — why wasn’t that same standard applied to Mitt Romney? But that’s just a question. You don’t have to answer it.
RUSH: For one thing, Romney did not have a wacko, lunatic fringe, anti-American preacher running around saying this is what I told in my church and Romney was in the audience. We are examining the character of people who run for the presidency of the United States of America. Who they associate with, like this nutcase preacher, is crucial for us because Obama’s a blank slate. He’s been trying to hide who he is. We’re starting to find out. That’s why you don’t like it.