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Rush Limbaugh

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RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday afternoon after the program I hotfooted it over to the Breakers Hotel where I sat… How long did that go, H.R.? Yeah, a little over an hour interview with Jamie Gangel of the Today Show, NBC. She’s the wife of the noted author Daniel Silva. She’s been asking us to do this interview for, what, a year? Over a year, and I had said way back when, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it, but I’m not going to commit to any time soon, blah, blah.’ She kept asking, kept asking, and finally I said, ‘Look, I gotta do this because I said I would do it.’ I went over there, sat down for a little over an hour (interruption) and, yes, Snerdley I did the obligatory walk. The entire formula was on display. The interview was formulaic, I’ve done these things before.

I had a blast. I gotta tell you, I had a ball doing this. At one point H.R. had to leave the room because he was laughing so loud. (interruption) And then the obligatory walk. It was not a beach, Snerdley. I didn’t go that far. They have a beautiful sidewalk there at the Breakers that abuts the beach. Yeah, I did the walk. And the question that she asked me twice. She asked me once inside in the sit-down portion of the interview, and then during the obligatory walk. She asked me if I was invited to go to the White House by Obama, would I go? And she said, ‘What would you say?’ I said, ‘I’d say hello.’ (laughing) I don’t want to give it all away. It’s going to run in two parts, Monday and Tuesday. Now, she told me that the Monday part is going to run at 7:30, half hour. It’s going to run an entire half hour. Now, an entire half hour on the Today Show is about 14 minutes, ’cause they gotta come out and have Al Joker and the weather, and then they gotta do whatever news headlines there are; and then they gotta talk to, you know, whatever fashion person is on that day with the latest fashions on Madison Avenue, wherever they are; and then they get to this. And then the second part is Tuesday. And it’s just a shame they can’t use the whole thing. I mean it was…ho! You are going to love this. And they teased it this morning. And here’s their tease, this is how they appropriately showed it.

RUSH ARCHIVE: My audience for ratings. I will admit it — let me — let me shock the world right here on NBC. I am doing my radio show for ratings. I want the largest audience I can get because that’s how I can charge the highest advertising rates which means what else do I want? Money!

GANGEL: Are you the leader of the Republican Party?

RUSH ARCHIVE: I am not the leader of the Republican Party. I don’t want to be the leader of the Republican Party. It’s silly for them to keep talking about how I’m the leader of anything. It’s just creating more curiosity about me. After 21 years, more popular than ever. Lord, thank you for my enemies.

VIEIRA: Well, he certainly says what he thinks.

LAUER: But it is unusual for him to sit down and do an interview like —

VIEIRA: Right.

LAUER: — that because generally he leaves all his talking for his own airwaves.

RUSH: I’ve got words for everybody. They don’t have to reserve them exclusively for this microphone. My words fit any microphone. Now, this business of ‘doing it for ratings,’ 60 Minutes asked me this way back in 1990. And, of course, my whole answer… I’ll put the whole answer here in context for you. She asked me what my priorities were, how do I use my power. I said, ‘I don’t want to think about my power. I’m sure I have it but I don’t think about it. I’m not trying to wield any power.’

‘You’re doing it for ratings!’ as though it was an accusation, as though there’s something immoral about succeeding in this business.

I said to her, ‘Yes. Let me shock the world! Let me admit it. Let me get rid of the secret. I’m doing this for ratings. I am doing this for money, too.’ I went on and on. I said, ‘If I don’t succeed in producing a profit every year, then I will have to fire my employees, and they’ll go on welfare and have to depend on Obama for health care, and I simply wouldn’t tolerate that. So I continue to work very hard so I can pay the people who work with me.’ I said, ‘Do you think NBC’s concerned about the stock price? Are you having me on this show so your ratings go up on the Today Show? Or are you just doing this because you’re just doing it? Do you want the NBC stock price to go up? Do you want advertising rates of the Today Show to stay up? Do you want to stay employed?’

I’m not being critical. I’m not being critical of Jamie Gangel because I had a great time, don’t misunderstand here. ‘Your critics say…’ Finally after hearing that for four or five questions, I asked, ‘Who are they? Name these people. I don’t have any critics. Everybody that listens to me loves me. I’m not controversial.’

‘You’re not controversial?’

‘No.’

That’s all I’m going to say. Give you a flavor for it. It’s Monday, 7:30. That’s what they said. TiVo the whole show because that way you can see how standout this segment is compared to whatever else they do on the show.

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