RUSH: Here is Joe in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania. Great to have you, Joe. How you doing, sir?
CALLER: Hi, Rush. They told me to get right to it. Fox News. My wife and I have been loyal viewers, but it’s getting harder and harder to watch it. Megyn Kelly, never watched her after that debate question, even Bret Baier a couple weeks before the election referred to Donald Trump’s sexual assaults and Bill Clinton’s affairs. If I didn’t love my TV so much, I’d have put my shoe through it.
RUSH: What kind of TV do you have out there, Joe?
CALLER: It’s a Samsung smart 55-inch.
RUSH: You should have thrown a shoe through it.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: Just kidding! Samsung makes good TVs. I’m just kidding. I have a couple of them here that were bought for me.
CALLER: The anti-Trumpers, you know, the Stirewalts, the Goldbergs, the Steve Hayes, I felt like the entire preelection I was being insulted.
RUSH: Well, now, wait a minute. Those guys work at Fox, they’re analysts, they’re Fox contributors. This may be a thin line of differentiation, but they all work elsewhere. Hayes is the Weekly Standard. Goldberg at National Review. Now, Stirewalt works there, you’re right, Chris Stirewalt.
CALLER: Right. He’s their digital guy.
RUSH: Are you happy, for example, then, that there have been some staff changes over there?
CALLER: Oh, I love Tucker Carlson.
RUSH: You like Tucker?
CALLER: Oh, yeah, he’s great.
RUSH: Okay, well, then.
CALLER: Megyn Kelly, you know, no loss there. George Will. I gotta be careful what I say on the air.
RUSH: Why? Are you thinking of going profane on us here?
CALLER: Yeah, I could get real profane with some of those people. I quit watching O’Reilly, for instance, like a year ago. I listen to you every day, and what he comes up with is three, four days old. It’s like he’s phoning it in.
RUSH: Oh, jeez. You know, this is tough for me.
CALLER: Well, you know ’em all. I understand. Chris Wallace. Look at the people he has on, on Sundays. (Unintelligible) The week before last, gave her the lead-off and let her jump all over Karl Rove, who didn’t say a word.
RUSH: I don’t know if you’re gonna ask me what I thought about all this, but if you were, you forgot and now we’re out of time. I’m really sorry. I’m glad you called, though.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Oh, man, is the email going crazy out there. “Why won’t you talk about Fox? Why won’t you mention Fox? Why won’t you answer the guy’s question about Fox?” He didn’t ask me anything about Fox. The call ended before he got there. Nah, I’ve gotta address this. … You know this Fox News stuff and the personnel changes going on over there, I almost feel like Sessions needing to recuse myself. I look at that and say, “Okay, what could I possibly…? What is there to gain by getting into this?” ‘Cause I do know a slew of people there. I know people that used to work there. I have inside knowledge of what goes on in some areas there.
And to opine on it is just very, very tough. I’ll tell you what, folks. It’s one of the reasons why I have not made an effort to get to know personally all these people in Washington or anywhere else that I might end up talking about, ’cause once you get to know them, it does change. That’s one of the problems with all the incestuousness inside the Beltway, anyway. They all know each other, media and otherwise, and believe me: It makes it more difficult. Not just be critical, but to be honest. Because there’s always fallout, personal fallout.
It’s different when it’s professional fallout. I’m like everybody else. I have opinions on things that are going on not just there, but anywhere else in the media. And it’s just… (interruption) No, I’m not afraid. That’s not… What makes you think I’m afraid? It’s not afraid of anything. It is… (sigh) “Afraid” is not the word. It’s just… I don’t know. I’ll think about it. The best I can come up with is that I’m so close to it I think I need to recuse myself. (interruption) Why…? I did. I like Carlson. I thought Tucker’s show was one of the hottest things Fox had done in a while because of the way Tucker does it.
Tucker does everything everybody else does on Fox, they take on the left. But the way he does it is genuinely unique within not done anywhere else, the way he does it. I saw fit to mention that. But that’s not deriding anybody else. I mean, that’s not ripping anybody else. Megyn’s decision to leave and go to NBC? Of course I’ve got professional thoughts on that but, you know, these are things I should tell her if she were to ask, which she didn’t. And not that she should or would. Look, it’ll all come out in the wash in time. All these things.
I’m not… (sigh) As it is… (interruption) I don’t even to want say I was I was gonna say. Just trust me on this, folks, that you can call here is and say whatever you want and it isn’t a problem. Good, bad, whatever, indifferent. I understand that Fox produces a range of emotions largely because of what people think it is, what people thought it was when it started. But… (interruption) Okay, see, they won’t let go of this. (sigh) “What do you think of Tucker at nine o’clock?” Good for Tucker. Congratulations. Congratulations. I hope it works. I really do. I have a wait-and-see attitude about a lot of media shifts and changes and so forth. (interruption)
What do I think of Greta and PMS? I think it’s a good move for PMS and a good move for her, and I think if she can inspire PMS… (laughing) Well, now wait a minute. If she can inspire MSNBC. (I don’t want her to spread PMS. That’s not what I meant. If she can inspire MS to make some changes over there that would improve them, I think that’s a good move for her and for them. She’s a hard worker. I haven’t run into anybody that works any harder than Greta Van Susteren does. I can attest to it. She’s the biggest pest I’ve ever run into. She’s relentless, and that’s to her credit.
As I say, folks, all this stuff’s gonna come out in the wash. Just be patient. It’s all gonna find its own level and… (interruption) I don’t know what that even means. Here’s Snerdley, Mr. Stir-the-pot in there, asking what do I think of O’Reilly doing stories three or four days a week. Is that what the guy’s point was? (interruption) I didn’t understand him say that. I have no thoughts on it. You know look, folks, I do not talk about “competition.” I come from the old school where they don’t exist, you don’t mention ’em, and that hasn’t changed.
That’s a formative belief from my way, way back. I mean, I’ve been doing this since I was 16, and I’m 66. Is that right? Can it possibly be right? It is. It’s 66 this week. Holy smokes! Anyway, and my belief, well, there is no competition. You don’t mention them. Of course, I think I may be the only person that still subscribes to that philosophy today. I don’t care what they are, radio, TV. They don’t exist in my mind.