RUSH: Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Peter, you’re up first. It’s great to have you here.
CALLER: Hello, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: Very well. Thank you.
CALLER: I’m honored to be your first caller today.
RUSH: It’s a big responsibility. It sets the tone.
CALLER: Yeah, I know, I know, I know. Listen, I have to put you on the spot. You keep saying, on practically a daily basis, that if the election were held today, Obama loses in a landslide. Well, to WHOM?
RUSH: Whoever runs.
CALLER: Oh, yeah? Uh, Ron Paul beats President Obama in a landslide?
RUSH: Well…
CALLER: Huntsman beats Obama in a landslide today?
RUSH: Huntsman might, but you want to stick to the list of potential nominees?
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Well, we know that Huntsman’s not gonna be the nominee and Ron Paul’s not gonna be the nominee. You know, I’m using a rhetorical device. I am trying to illustrate that this is not a lock. I know there are people out there thinking this guy can’t be beat, and there are people on our side who are thinking, “This guy is not gonna be easy, Rush. You’re overstating it here. I mean, he’s got a billion dollars!” My point in saying this is that the people of this country want a change badly. They are not happy with this. There is nowhere near a majority of people who want any more of this, but it’s never reported. I really believe that the majority of people in this country, if they had a chance to get rid of this administration, would do it. That is my point.
CALLER: But they wouldn’t do it just, you know, with anyone. I mean, if somehow Ron Paul was a nominee? I mean, he’s way, way down there compared to Obama. You know, I point to every major poll and —
RUSH: You don’t.
CALLER: — matchups, Obama would win in a landslide.
RUSH: Yes, but Ron Paul’s not gonna be the nominee.
CALLER: So you’re just saying of the most likely nominee, like Romney or Newt, or whatever?
RUSH: Yeah. Sarah Palin, you name it. Romney, Newt, Santorum. Bachmann would have, I think.
CALLER: Okay. So you’re saying Romney, Newt, Santorum would all beat Obama in a landslide today?
RUSH: Yeah.I think the real meaning here is that Obama can be beat! Obama could be defeated. He’s not invincible, and it’s not automatic he’s gonna be reelected and the point is that the vast majority of people in this country don’t want four more years of this.
CALLER: Right, but they have to think, “What’s the alternative?” You know —
RUSH: The 2010 elections show us the alternative. The alternative is the Republican Party. The people that abandoned the Democrats in 2010 weren’t voting for a guy. They were voting against a guy. They were voting against a party. That 2010 election was a massive landslide victory. All the way down to dogcatcher on the ballot, that was big.
CALLER: Well, it’s a shame that people have to vote against one party and not for a candidate or for a party.
RUSH: Well, naturally I would prefer that there be a “for” vote, because that’s how you get a mandate. Of course I would prefer that, and that will be the case by the time we get there. By the time there is a nominee and the circumstances exist and the contrasts are drawn, there will be that.
CALLER: Well, hopefully.
RUSH: And I think people instinctively understand it already. They know that they don’t want this. They now know what liberalism is; they know what Marxism is. They don’t want it! They don’t want the health care bill. Sixty-five percent, 58%, pick your poll, don’t want the health care bill. Now, you disagree with me, obviously.
CALLER: I’ve seen polls. I look at, you know, all the major polls out there, Rasmussen. You know, I track the daily polls, particularly Rasmussen almost every day, and actually in the latest poll — for whatever it might mean to you — Romney trails Obama by about three points.
RUSH: I didn’t see that poll. I saw a poll that says Romney beats him by three points on Fox this morning.
CALLER: That was I think about… Yeah, I — I think I — I — I saw that. That was Fox. Rasmussen I know only polls likely voters.
RUSH: Well, you should know, ’cause you’re a regular listener. You should know I couldn’t care less what a presidential poll today says.
CALLER: You know, victory, it’s tie at best.
RUSH: Victory is a tie at best? In the poll? Yeah. As I’m saying, I don’t care about a poll of an event in November today, I don’t care about it. I’m using my instincts here. I’m not arguing with polls. I’m not telling you I disagree with the polls. I’m saying don’t pay any attention to him. That’s not how I roll. I have empathy. I have gut instinct about things. Polling data for me is… (sigh) It’s like, “Investing in hope is the recipe for not doing anything.” Relying on polls means you don’t have to think, means you don’t have to take a risk. “The polls say this, the polls say that,” so that dictates everything else you do. Sorry, not me.
CALLER: So this is coming from your own gut?
RUSH: You mean if there is a poll out there right now, and you’ve told me there is, that says Romney loses to Obama, “Well, then, let’s quit. Let’s pack it in! The poll says…” I don’t do that. This is why I’m not in politics, I guess, but I don’t use polls. In fact, I think polls are used to make news. I think polls are part and parcel of the “news-making,” quote, unquote, process. But I get your point, I get it. You think I’m wrong. You think that I’m not living in the world of reality. You think I’ve moved out of Literalville and into Fantasyland, and you think that I’m existing entirely on hope and prayer — wing and a prayer, whatever — and I am so devoid of reality that if I keep this up, people are going to have false confidence and I’m gonna be responsible for Obama winning. You think I totally moved out of Realville — and I’m telling you that I don’t think the polls are reality, pure and simple. Let’s take a poll on who’s gonna win, Tebow or Brady tomorrow night — and then when the poll is over, let’s not play the game. The poll said, and it’s the fans — and the fans are sacrosanct! Whatever they say, that’s the way it’s gonna be, right? Same thing in a poll.
Let’s just forget it and not even play the game.