RUSH: You had achieved some fame.  She was immensely proud of you.

CALLER:  I’ll tell you, she was so proud of you for putting me on.

RUSH:  Uh… Well —

CALLER:  (chuckling)

RUSH:  That just happened and it worked out well and at least she got to experience that.  I appreciate you telling me that story.

CALLER:  She loved it.  She loved it.  It was a thrill for her.

RUSH:  So what is the reason that you called?

CALLER:  Well, the other day I tried to get on.  Actually, yesterday, because I wanted to tell you that I don’t think that the tormenting by the press of celebrities and sports figures is anything new.  I grew up on Long Island.  I was a huge Yankees fan during the late ’50s and early ’60s, and a friend of mine —

RUSH:  Would you hang on here just a second here, Jackie.  For those low-information voters about to punch the button, she’s talking about Tom Brady here.

CALLER:  No, I’m not!

RUSH:  Yeah, you are.  Yeah, you are.

CALLER:  No, I’m not.

RUSH:  Yeah, you are.  We were talking yesterday about how we build these people up and we build them up and we make them the big hero —

CALLER: Yep.

RUSH: — and they can’t do anything wrong and then we love it when they fall.  I didn’t say it’s new.  I said, this is part of Americana.

CALLER:  Well, yeah, but in some instances it is really undeserved.

RUSH:  So is a lot of stuff.

CALLER:  I know.

RUSH:  So is a lot of stuff.

CALLER: I know.

RUSH: You said Maris. I know exactly what you’re talking about.  Maris, that was 1961, chasing Babe Ruth’s home run record, and he was committing two sins.  He was going against Babe Ruth, of course, and then Mickey Mantle was also in the chase.  Mantle was beloved and popular, and that’s as much Maris’ problem as Babe Ruth was, was that the Yankee fans thought if anybody is going to do it, it’d have it be The Mickster, Mickey Mantle.  So these are… (interruption)

Snerdley just shouted,. “They ruined Roger Maris’s life.”  They made it miserable in a lot of ways.  But he ended up with an Anheuser-Busch distributorship.  That ain’t bad, especially in the ’80s. That ain’t bad.  When he had one that was the ticket, to be the Budweiser distributor where he lived. I think his family was in Florida, so forth.  But we do, folks, it’s just… I don’t care whether they’re Hollywood actors or actresses or sports figures, it is part of Americana.

We take people.  They exhibit talent or ability that none of us could ever do anything but dream of, and then they do it consistently, and they become unique and special, and we create stories around them, and we assume that nothing in their lives is going wrong ever.  They’ve got perfect wives.  They’ve got perfect kids.  They have all the money in the world.  They get to go wherever they want to go, whenever, and whenever they go there everybody loves them.  It’s perfect!

And that just can’t last.

We’re not going to let that last.  We’ll give them five or six years at that, and then they gotta come down.  They have to fall, because the rest of us have to have to at some point get our self-esteem back.  We cannot sit here and continue to beat up ourselves and let them tell us how inferior we are compared to them.  We have to bring them down so that we feel better about ourselves.  And that’s not a criticism.  That’s a sociological study.  This is what happens.  It’s Americana, and she’s right.

It’s not unique.

It’s not something new.

The details of each individual fall from grace are perhaps unique. Brady’s story is different from some others.  But it is inescapably Americana. (interruption) What are you frowning at me for?  The other day when I made this point, you agreed with me. (interruption) Oh, some people do! (interruption) Are you kidding me?  You don’t think there are people relishing in Brady’s fall because it makes them feel better about themselves?  You don’t know human nature like I do if you don’t understand that’s part of it.  Some people… Hell, yes!  Why do you think people fall for raising taxes on the rich when they know it doesn’t help them because it’s punishing them.  Makes them feel better.  Anyway, thank you, Jackie, for the call.