RUSH: Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Hi, Susan. Great to have you here. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. I never had so much fun being on hold listening to all the oldies but goodies. (giggling)
RUSH: Ah! Glad you enjoyed ’em.
CALLER: First I would like to say that although there are many things I disagree with you on, I do admire you for the fact that at this point in your life you could kick this all aside and just say, “To heck with it. If the American people want to be a bunch of leeches, let ’em have it,” and leave. But you don’t. You stick with it. So I do admire you for sticking with your principles.
RUSH: Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. I’m actually trying to hold onto what I got so that the leeches don’t get it.
CALLER: Well, this is true. (laughing) I do disagree with you on several things. One of them, as I told Mr. Snerdley, is Mitt Romney. It’s not just that he’s dull and boring and awful. It’s we can’t stand him. We don’t trust him. There’s nothing there. I mean, it might be politically incorrect to say it, but he’s Obama minus the tan.
RUSH: Now, wait a minute!
CALLER: I don’t see any difference.
RUSH: Now wait. You can’t seriously believe that!
CALLER: Yes, I do.
RUSH: I know that there is a lot of distrust and lukewarm support for Mitt Romney politically on the Republican side. He’s a placeholder for people. But he’s not Obama! The one thing that we know for sure is that he’s not gonna continue what Obama has done.
CALLER: But I think he will. Just one example is he, along with the rest of the Republican establishment, when they talk about health care. They’re saying, “Well, we want to keep the thing about, you know, if you have a preexisting condition you get insurance.” Well, that right there is going to destroy the insurance market. What we need is somebody who stands up like Reagan did for free market principles and say what we need in health care is less insurance.
RUSH: Okay.
CALLER: We need more freedom. We need doctors and patients interacting directly.
RUSH: Okay. Let me accept your premise then, and I’m gonna ask you a question.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: What are you gonna do about it?
CALLER: Ohhhhh. That is the sixty… Now, I live in Oklahoma so it really doesn’t matter who I vote for. It’s a slam dunk that Romney’s gonna win.
RUSH: No, no, no, no, no, no! I’m not gonna let you off the hook that way.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: No, no, no, no, no, no. With the primary is over —
CALLER: Mmm-hmm?
RUSH: — it’s all now official except for the convention. Romney is the nominee.
CALLER: Because it’s his turn.
RUSH: There’s nothing you can do about it.
CALLER: Oh, I know.
RUSH: So everything that you’re saying to me is what we heard about Romney during the primary fight, okay? Fine and dandy. That’s cool.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: But he ended up winning. I’m not arguing, I’m just asking: What are we supposed to do now? If Romney’s no different than Obama, if the Republican establishment’s gonna do exactly what Obama’s done ’cause they’re all the same, what do we do?
CALLER: I don’t know! That’s just it. That’s what’s so frustrating. That’s why my sister-in-law and I are always commiserating, because we can’t escape. We’re about the same age you are. We’re not wealthy people. And when it all hits the sand (sic), we’re stuck. I’m just hoping our children and grandchildren can get out before it all collapses around us. Because apparently the American people do want to live off the government or we wouldn’t have the people in office that we do. It’s very disturbing.
RUSH: Well, I have to express sympathy for that point of view. ‘Cause I’ve always said that the American people get what they want. However, there is one aspect of that: A lot of these people tell bald-face lies during campaigns.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: I don’t believe the American people have knowingly, willing, in a majority way voted for the welfare state that we’ve got.
CALLER: Oh, I don’t know about that. (giggling)
RUSH: You think that a majority of the American people have consciously, desirously voted for the welfare state?
CALLER: When it comes to their own particular form of welfare, yes. Like I was talking… Go to any farm state and see how willing the farmers are to give up their subsidies. Or go to any old coot and ask them how willing they are to accept changes in Medicare, which is another thing I really get upset with you about: When you dog on Boomer. Because I’m a Baby Boomer and we’re the ones right now paying the exorbitant taxes to support previous generations.
RUSH: I have been perfectly clear that the Baby Boomers are not a monolithic bunch of reprobates.
CALLER: Thank you. (chuckles) A lot of people seem to think they were.
RUSH: Well, because —
CALLER: We’re gonna be the ones left holding the empty bag! We’re gonna be the ones that the death panels are gonna come for and put the old pillow over our faces (chuckling) and it’s gonna be all over.
RUSH: I understand that, unless you’ve got money and can avoid the death panels and stuff. I understand that fully.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Look, maybe it’s too fine a point on this. I know what you’re talking about. I have people who are more conservative than I am, but they’ve got a 24 year old who just got out of college and can’t find a job.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: And they want to be able to keep their kid on their insurance policy, and if a federal law does it, they’re fine with it.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: But think they are the most ardent, hell-bent, small-government conservatives ever. So you have a point when you talk about the welfare that individuals like.
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: But when you’re talking about farm subsidies, I don’t include that in the welfare state. Farmers are still working.
CALLER: Well, yes, but then you have businesses like GE and other things and Solyndra (unintelligible).
RUSH: That’s not the welfare state. That’s crony… Wait a minute. That’s not the welfare state. That’s crony capitalism.
CALLER: Oh, okay. Okay.
RUSH: That’s not the welfare state. GE, yeah, okay. Here’s GE. They’re rolling in money. What in the hell are they taking $700 billion for from Obama for some stupid green energy project?
CALLER: Ha ha! Yeah.
RUSH: Well, because the CEO is like anybody else. If he can spend somebody else’s money, do it.
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: If the government is gonna give it to me and I can show my stock price going up and make it work for me, I’ll do it.
CALLER: Well, going back to the welfare state, though, when you talk about food stamps, the poor people basically are getting the crumbs off the table. They don’t realize it. The people who really benefit from the food stamp program are the big agricultural businesses. I bet you anything if you truly tried to reform the food stamp program you’d have supposedly conservative Republicans from farm states saying, “Oh, no, wait a minute! We have to take care of the poor.” When what they’re really saying is, “We gotta keep buying government cheese or government corn or government wheat.” It’s the same thing with ethanol. Everybody’s got their face in the trough.
RUSH: Oh, I know. I have felt the wrath, on the phone, of Iowa Republicans when I have discussed ethanol. They’ve called here, and they have been enraged, and they have said things like, “Do you not care about winning elections? Do you know what it takes to win Iowa?” And I said, “What?” “Ethanol! We have to have ethanol. If we don’t — if the Republicans take it away — we’re gonna lose to the Democrats.” That’s what the kind of stuff you’re talking about, and I fully understand it.
CALLER: Yeah. And that brings me right back around to Romney because basically what you and I have heard other talk show hosts saying is, “Well, he stinks, but we’ve gotta vote for him.” So, in other words: Sacrifice your principles.
RUSH: I am not saying that!
CALLER: This guy is a total weasel, but vote for him anyway. I mean, we’re really in a bind here. It keeps getting worse, from McCain to Dole.
RUSH: So what are you going to do?
CALLER: Oh, I don’t know. Start drinking heavily. (laughing) Does that count? (laughing)
RUSH: Well, who you gonna vote for?
CALLER: Well, I won’t be able to vote… I only have two choices because Oklahoma doesn’t allow third parties. So I probably just will not vote in the presidential. I’ll vote in all the down[-ballot] races, which is what I did last time. I did not vote for McCain. But then McCain won every single county in Oklahoma, so it doesn’t matter. Like I said, it really doesn’t matter what I do.
RUSH: (huge sigh)
CALLER: Which is another feeling of… You know, people like me and my sister-in-law I was talking about, we’re starting to feel hopeless, which is a terrible thing. Hopeless and helpless, because there’s nothing we can do. We can see the greatest country in the world going down the tubes and becoming like Greece and Italy.
RUSH: Yeah, and you’re really gonna fix it by not voting.
CALLER: But I’m not gonna fix it if I vote!
RUSH: Wrong!
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: If you don’t vote, you’re voting for Obama.
CALLER: (loud groan)
RUSH: I’m gonna tell you —
CALLER: Well, somebody’s gonna have to put a gun to my head to make me color in that little box for Romney.
RUSH: You’re telling me that you don’t see any difference in the two parties, none whatsoever?
CALLER: No. The Democrats are taking us to hell on a high-speed rail; the Republicans are taking us there on a freight train. Like I said, I’m about your age, and all my life my Republican parents always said, “Oh, if only the Republicans could be in charge of all three parts of government,” you know, both houses: the Senate, the House, and the presidency,” then we’d get something done.” Well, what happened when we did that? They spent like Democrats, and that’s why they got thrown out of office.
RUSH: Yeah, so I guess votes matter.
CALLER: Well, I don’t know that they do, though!
RUSH: Well, that’s —
CALLER: We vote for conservatives and they get squishy.
RUSH: They got thrown out of office and the Democrats got put in there, and what happened?
CALLER: (big sigh) Yeah?
RUSH: Did it not arguably get much worse?
CALLER: Yes, but I don’t think it’s gonna get any better. I think we’re just taking these steps downward, and nothing seems to be slowing them.
RUSH: Okay. Well, then let’s… You mentioned this at the beginning of the call. Let’s just pack it in! It’s over.
CALLER: (big sigh)
RUSH: We’re beyond the point of no return.
CALLER: That’s what I’m afraid of. I really am afraid of that. And it’s sad.
RUSH: Well, in terms of the lifespan of the country, the Republicans have been in charge of all three branches of government for about a nanosecond.
CALLER: That’s true. Well, I hope they’ve learned their lesson, and I hope that there are enough Tea Party-type Republicans. But, you know, once they get to Washington it’s like… I think was Walter Williams who said, you know, people always ask him if he’d run for office and he said, “What would happen to me the first time I stood up in front of the Chamber of Commerce and said, ‘I’m not bringing home any pork.'”
RUSH: My problem with this is multifaceted, and please don’t take this personally. I’m just gonna share something with the whole audience. I, as a human being, have a shortcoming. I really don’t mean this personally.
CALLER: Uh-oh.
RUSH: I’m talking actually about myself here and being ill-equipped. I don’t know how to deal with people that complain. I don’t know what to say to them.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: I don’t. I don’t know if I should be sympathetic and agree. I don’t know if I should try to slap you upside the head to get you to focus.
CALLER: (chuckling)
RUSH: I don’t know if I should be rah-rah and try to build you up. I don’t know how to deal with whiners. I just don’t.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: I’m thinking, “You’re sitting here saying it’s all lost, and I am totally devoted to saving it.” You’ve given up. I’m looking at Wisconsin. I’m looking Obama being in trouble here. I’m being realistic, yeah. Romney’s not the best we’ve got, but there wasn’t anybody that was the best we’ve got in the last choices we had. But it’s over now!
CALLER: I know.
RUSH: I don’t understand what’s gained by continuing to complain about it.
CALLER: Somewhere my son is chuckling because he would agree with you a hundred percent. (laughing)
RUSH: Don’t take it personally, but —
CALLER: That’s okay. (laughing) My son dogs on me all the time. (laughing)
RUSH: It’s like continue to complain that the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 1979.
CALLER: Oh, I know. I will. I’m a Cowboys fan. (laughing)
RUSH: (laughing) All right. Well, look, I have to run, Susan. I’m glad you called.
CALLER: Thank you.
RUSH: And thanks for spending so much time. It’s not as bad as you think. It really isn’t. Not yet. I’ll tell you when it is.