CALLER: Hey, Rush, how you doing?
RUSH: Just fine. Thanks much.
CALLER: Good. I just had to share this with you. A couple weeks ago, I was going door-to-door for a candidate running for state senate, and while I was doing it, I start talking to this gentleman, and he said he was a Democrat until 2008. And I said, “Well, can I ask you what changed your mind?” And he said, well, he travels a lot for his job, and he decided to turn on the radio “to hear what the enemy was saying.” And so he started listening to you, and he thought, “Wait a minute, this is good. Rush really makes sense,” and he started to see who the Democrats really were and how they were hurting our nation. So now I just think that you’re making such a difference, and people will see who the real enemy is, and they will see that you’re a friend and a hero to our nation.
RUSH: Wow.
CALLER: I just had to share that with you.
RUSH: That is such a cool story. To hear that in the midst of all this is really uplifting. I thank you for that.
CALLER: Thank you for what you do.
RUSH: Ah, no, no, no, no. We all have our roles here, but that’s just… You know, I’ve heard versions of that story over the years. Two or three, four instances of this — actually more than that. And every time I hear it… Look at what this guy told you. “Ah, tune in and find out what the enemy thinks.” He’d never listened. He’d never listened, and yet he thought he knew everything about me. Where do you think he learned all this stuff that was wrong?
CALLER: Media.
RUSH: Course. Why would the media…? The question that I ask myself — and, folks, don’t laugh here. I’m trying to make a point with it. Why would the media want to try to waste time telling people whether what I’m saying is right or wrong? In other words, why does the media treat me like a political opponent? Why does the media treat me as though I’m a candidate running for office that must be discredited? Why do they do this? I mean, I’m not.
The first eight sound bites in my sound bite roster today are me being discussed over the weekend in the usual, “He’s just a flamethrower! He’s just out trying to agitate.” They didn’t call me a racist in any of these bites, but they got very, very close. (interruption) No, I haven’t played ’em yet. I’m gonna start with Rudy and audio sound bite number nine. Even Rudy was asked to respond to me. They’re not telling you that. What got Rudy going on was being asked to respond to me. So here’s this guy.
I’ve been on the radio since 1980 — well, 1988 here. Twenty years later, 2008, this guy says, “You know what? I’m gonna listen to the enemy.” Why? What does he think is the enemy? And then, I will guarantee you it didn’t take him very long to realize everything that he thought he knew was not true, and now he’s an acolyte. Now he’s a daily listener because Jennifer here has let us know about that. So the guy tunes in and he listens, and he has an awakening and says, “Oh, my gosh, I don’t disagree with this guy at all.”
One of the things that we do here as well as anybody is deconstruct liberalism and liberals and Democrats. And that is probably one of the most beneficial things that happens here in terms of potentially persuading people, persuading liberal Democrats to give it up. But it still is… I’ll tell you why. Let me answer my own question. Why do the media spend time discrediting me? I’m a guy on the radio. I have a three-hour radio show every weekday. Why does the media — and not just one or two elements.
But why is the entire Drive-By Media devoted to trying to convince people that I’m a liar, that I’m a reprobate, that I am a provocateur, that I’m whatever they say I am? Why? And the answer is very simple. You notice they never challenge what I say. All they do is try to destroy my credibility with people, and that’s what they do with everybody on the right. I’ve never seen ’em actually engage in a debate about ideas. When they encounter somebody that is trying to expose them, rather than show how the people like me are wrong, they never do.
They just try to tell people, “You can’t trust what this guy says. This guy’s racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe,” whatever it is they throw out there. And they convince people, “You can’t listen what this guy says!” But they cannot refute what I say, and so each person that has this preconceived notion… It’s not just me. It’s what conservatism is. When people find out what conservatism is, they find out how close to it they already are, and they learn why it is they think all this — and it’s the media. Jennifer, thanks very much. I appreciate it.