RUSH: Peter in Sierra Vista, California. Great to have you with us.
CALLER: Sierra Vista, Arizona, Rush.
RUSH: For crying out loud! Gee whiz, Sierra Vista, Arizona?
CALLER: Mega Dittos. It’s been a loooong time.
RUSH: Everybody knows Sierra Vista is in California!
CALLER: (laughing) Well, apparently I’m in the one from Arizona.
RUSH: All right. Well, I’m glad to have you on the program.
CALLER: Rush. Rush, it’s Open Line Friday, and I’m going to blow your mind here.
RUSH: Have at it.
CALLER: I have been listening to you for 21 years, since I was the ten years old because of Ted Kennedy. When I was ten years old… I come from Massachusetts. My family’s, you know, everybody in Massachusetts. I mean how can you reelect a murderer that many times without being in love with the family. And everybody from Massachusetts is in love with the family. My grandmother had a bust of JFK on a shelf. So I grew up, you know, thinking, ‘Wow, Kennedys.’ I found out Ted Kennedy was going to be speaking at a synagogue up the street from me asked my mom said, ‘Mom, I really want to go and hear him talk. He’s a Kennedy!’ So my mom said, ‘All right I’ll take you,’ and so she took me I sat there and I listened. He told jokes.
RUSH: You were ten years old when this happened, right?
CALLER: Ten years old.
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: He told jokes, and he’s going on about stuff that was way over my head at the time. I don’t really remember too much what he was talking about. Afterwards, my mom had brought me over —
RUSH: I guarantee you it was taxing the rich —
CALLER: See, I didn’t know about that.
RUSH: — giving away money to the poor, something like that.
CALLER: He was a Kennedy. That’s all I cared about.
RUSH: Yeah, yeah, right.
CALLER: So after the speech my mom brought me over to the rabbi there and said, you know, ‘Hey, can you introduce my son to the Senator,’ and so the rabbi said, ‘Oh, absolutely.’ Rabbi brought me over and said, ‘Senator, I’d love to introduce you to one of our youngest neighborhood kids around here who’s really interested in, you know, getting into politics,’ stuff like that. And the senator barely acknowledged me, tapped me on the shoulder. you know, sort of like patting me on the back and then immediately went on, started shaking other people’s hands, didn’t say hi. And, you know, for me as a ten-year-old kid it was kind of devastating. And a couple months later, your show goes national, and I turn you on, you know, because I liked to listen to AM radio when I was a kid, still do, and turned it on and started listening. And I’ll tell you what: If I hadn’t had that eye-opening experience with Senator Kennedy, I probably would have been just like any other brainwashed liberal kid and would have said, ‘I’m not going to listen to this guy. He says bad things about Democrats and the Kennedys and whatever else.’ You know? So it was kind of an eye-opener for me. So I really feel like I owe him at least a debt of gratitude.
RUSH: Well, a very interesting story: Senator Kennedy sloughed you off?
CALLER: That was it, Rush, and it broke my heart.
RUSH: Broke your heart, ten years old.
CALLER: I mean, Rush, I’ve been listening to you for 21 years.
RUSH: Right, bust of JFK in your house, gonna meet Senator Kennedy and he acted like he didn’t care. And then a couple weeks later you hear me. Well, that’s an interesting story. I’m glad that you called you’re now 31 years old so this happened 21 years ago.
CALLER: Yeah. Yeah, and I’ve actually got a two-year-old of my own, and every time we’re in the car, I’ve got you on. I’ve got Rush 24/7. So any time we’re in the car we’re popping on the iPod and listening to Rush.
RUSH: Thank you very much.
CALLER: No, thank you, Rush.
RUSH: Appreciate it. Have a great weekend. I appreciate the call. I really do. By the way, I’m thinking about something as I’m sitting here talking to Peter from Sierra Vista, Arizona. I’m thinking about our call from Rebecca. You know, there’s a common theme, all of these people who are calling get upset about insurance agencies and insurance companies, and they keep talking about The Middleman. We’ve gotta get rid of The Middleman, and that’s what Obama says — and that’s what is common theme among communists and socialists: ‘Take out The Middleman and let’s have you deal directly with us in the government,’ and when I hear Rebecca jumping all over the insurance companies, I think, ‘Okay, that part of Obama’s plan is working on some Americans.’ He’s demonized the doctors, saying, ‘The doctors cut off your foot when they don’t have to get 30 or 40 grand.’ Of course no doctor gets 30 or 40 grand for cutting off a foot. ‘They take out kids’ tonsils unnecessarily just to line his pockets.’ He’s demonizing everybody. The Democrat Party enemies list is the private sector. From Walmart, Big Retail, to Big Oil, to Big Pharmaceutical, to now Big Insurance. Look at the Democrat Party’s enemy list. They’re trying to demonize individuals, too, like me but they’re demonizing all of these industries and now all these middlemen. ‘The private sector middlemen, they are the problem! We need to get rid of the private sector middlemen and just open the door so we can deal directly with our beloved benevolent government,’ which, of course, is only here to help us.