RUSH: It is unheard of. Well, not unheard of, but, I mean, it is really rare what you all did. It is unbelievably rare what you all did yesterday. Wait ’til you hear what you did.

JOHNNY DONOVAN: And now, from sunny South Florida, it’s Open Line Friday!

RUSH: Greetings, my friends, and welcome to the one and only Excellence in Broadcasting Network and Rush Limbaugh behind the Golden EIB Microphone and three hours of broadcast excellence called Open Line Friday, where you, when we go to the phones, get to talk about whatever you want to talk about. Telephone number, 800-282-2882.

So yesterday I announced that I have written a new book, a children’s book. I told you all the reasons why, which I’m gonna recount here in just a second. I told you it’s available in hardcover, in e-book format, and audio. And we gave you the links, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks/iTunes. And about an hour after the program yesterday, the book was number one on Amazon, and it’s not even available. The book will be available on October 29th. This doesn’t happen. This was not number one in pre-orders. This was a pre-ordered book at the top of the Amazon list. That is what you people did yesterday.

This is why I love you. This is why I continue to sit here and really deeply appreciate and marvel at the bond that has always existed between me — and actually all of us here. Me, the overrated staff, all of us — and you. I can’t tell you how much happiness and joy you brought to everybody, including me yesterday. And I tell you, it was so funny. Poor old Carol Costello tweeted she was sick. She tweeted it in two places, the Huffing and Puffington Post and somewhere else, that she was sick.

(interruption)

She what? No, no. She’s sick that the book came out. She’s been sick over her ratings, I mean, ever since, 20 years. There aren’t any ratings. I mean, she’s immune to sickness from her ratings. You have to be at CNN. Anyway, people were sending me links to websites I’ve never heard of. Young, snarky liberal bloggers. Some of this stuff was just funny. I can’t remember the guy’s name. It might have been a woman, and this woman was outraged. They could not believe that I was gonna get away with this, writing a children’s book.

Her post said (paraphrasing), “After all of the time it has taken us to finally expunge from the record the lies of the founding of this country, we’ve got Limbaugh who’s gonna go back and try to reestablish what has taken us all these years to get rid of.” And then she said, “But I have to admit, and you all have to admit, the guy’s a genius. He’s just an absolute genius.” And she spelled out why she was irritated, and that equaled me being a genius. And then she said, “But don’t be fooled why Limbaugh’s doing this. He’s not doing this ’cause he cares about the kids, and he’s not doing this to reverse the historical record, and he doesn’t really want to sell any books. He’s doing this to make us mad. He’s doing this to make liberals mad.” And there were countless posts like this.

The left is in a tizzy. They can’t believe, after all the success they think they’ve had with their multicultural curriculum, that I am gonna come along and reestablish what they had to get rid of, which they think are lies in the first place. I’ve told you there are people who do not like the way this country was founded. They do not think that it was just and moral and all that. Evil white guys that came here and ended up destroying everything that was and corrupting everything that came after. They really believe it. This is what they’ve been taught.

By the way, that professor at Michigan State University that we played the audio sound bite, he’s been suspended for three months, with pay, big whoop. But he’s been suspended.

So, anyway, here’s another thing, folks. This book, Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans, let me tell you what else you did. The people at Simon & Schuster sent us a note last night, just came across the transom, “By the way, we’re going to get the search problems fixed ASAP.” I said, “What is this, search problems?” “Oh, yeah, we had some problems with search today.” “What problems?” I didn’t get an answer to it, didn’t matter. Even with search problems the book was number one on Amazon. I imagine the search problem was probably rooted in Rush Limbaugh versus Rush Revere. I’ll bet you it was related to that. You ought to be able to search either one and get the book, which you now can, but even with that, folks, even with that you vaulted this book, which doesn’t come out until October 29th, to number one.

I’m having people e-mail me, “You wrote a book for kids and you didn’t try to tell ’em what to eat? You’re not hectoring them for being fat?” That’s exactly right. There’s nothing in this book about what they should eat or what they shouldn’t eat, whether they’re fat or not. There’s nothing in it about conflict resolution. There’s nothing in it about feelings and getting along. It’s the truth about the Pilgrims is all it is. This book is a way of teaching what is not being taught.

I have been frustrated, as have you, over what kids are learning in school, at all schools, at all levels, but primarily in their really formative years. Elementary school, on into middle school and high school. I’ve talked about it a lot here, how we’ve lost our presence in education, academia, and in the pop culture. And every one of us always asks of ourselves, “What can I do? What more can I do?” And I’ve always wanted to do something about education, so this book is an effort to get started, and it is written for children, it’s a children’s book, ages 10 to 13, but it is intended for everybody. It’s intended for parents and grandparents.

I was talking to Snerdley today about the concept of Rush Babies. A Rush Baby is somebody who grew up with their parents having this radio program on every day and didn’t get talked out of it when they got to school. They remained Rush Babies all the way through school. And how many of you parents believe what you believe, it’s in your hearth, you live your life that way, and you want to be able to instruct your kids in that but you’re not sure that you’re going to be able to do it, and frankly if you say, “Well, look, you ought to listen to this guy on the radio with me.”

“Come on, Dad, I don’t want to listen to talk radio. Give me some Jay-Z or whatever. I don’t want talk radio, Dad, I want video games.” So here comes a way — you know, parents are never right, folks. Mom and dad never have the right answers, particularly at a certain age. So here comes Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims, Rush Revere time travels, his horse, Liberty time travels, can go anywhere in American history, anywhere they want, any time. They can take people with them. And in this book they time travel back to Holland. Then they get on the Mayflower. They get off the Mayflower. Come back to present day. Then they go back to the Mayflower a couple of weeks later, see what’s changed. Come back to present day, ’cause the Rush Revere character who is the icon for Two If By Tea brought to life now is a substitute teacher at a middle school anywhere in America.

No, no, I’m not giving any details away. I’m just giving you what’s possible, the magic here, the things that appeal to kids. They can go there. They don’t have to have history told. They can be taken to it. And that’s what the book does. It takes them to the Mayflower. They’re on it. They are at the settlement in Plymouth. They are at the first Thanksgiving. They go back and forth and they can go anywhere they want. Liberty, the talking horse, is what makes it all possible.

This Rush Revere guy goes dressed up as Paul Revere everywhere he goes ’cause it’s one of his heroes. It’s fun, folks, because there are no limits on where Rush Revere and Liberty can go. So that broadens up just in a creative sense — that just expands — the universe of possibilities in great ways. But, you know, we live in an amazing free country, founded by people with unwavering spirit and determination.

Not just to survive, ’cause that was difficult enough for them, but they wanted to triumph, regardless of the hardships and the obstacles they faced. And it was just… Oh, there was a brief blurb in the Washington Post, a Q&A thing: What do you need to know about Limbaugh’s new children’s book? One of the questions the writer posed, “Does Obama get elbowed?” Meaning, can I do something without mentioning Obama.

Obama is not in the book. There’s no way. Obama’s not in the book, but yesterday I talked about Obama because Obama said recently that exceptional Americans are few and far between, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things doesn’t happen all that much. He cited people that never, ever get to do anything extraordinary — busboys, porters, waiters, maids — and it’s not true. It’s the story of America: Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

I’ve always believed that kids’ dreams are where their futures live, and there’s no reason to shut them down. There’s no reason to tell kids at a young age negative things. “You can’t do that! Stop thinking that. You’re never gonna be able to doing doo that. Who do you think you are?” That’s pointless. We go at this an entirely different way. Anything’s possible, because you’re an American. Whatever you want to do, if you’re willing to do what it takes, you can do it.

This isn’t being taught. It’s not even really part of the message that elected leaders carry any longer about America. It’s sorely missing, and people be had after me for years to write another book, and to me it’s been there; done that. I did two books and they sold magnificently, and they were of the conservative manifesto genre, which is crowded. A lot of people have done so; so why should I reenter that?

And then Kathryn gave me the idea: “Look, you care about kids. You care about education. Why don’t you write a children’s book?” and then we did and put it all together, and it was so much fun. You hear people talk about, “I want to make a difference.” Here is an entree for me. I don’t have kids. I have nephews and nieces. The idea of sitting down and talking to them about the things I believe, things that I think are important, like my dad with me, did with me?

I would like to do that, and I have not known if I could make it interesting, just me telling them what I think, to kids. That’s what the book is. It’s an entree to, really, people that you want to think positively. You want them dreaming. You want them understanding why things are possible. I do, anyway. I want the children of this country to grow up believing in themselves, thinking that whatever they want to do, they can do. No matter who the president is. No matter what political party is in power.

I want them believing that they can do what they want to do, and all people need is role model examples. Most people, if you tell ’em, “It’s been done before,” it gives them the idea that it can be done again. You don’t need to hear what’s not possible. They don’t need to hear what’s too hard. They don’t need to have risk taken out of their lives. Speaking of that, Snerdley, has this program ever been delayed because of lightning?

Has this program ever been delayed because of a weather forecast or a radar scan that showed a little rain? Could you believe that? I mean, here the NFL last night had a big countdown, all these players doing an individual numbered countdowns 30 to one for the big kickoff, and then they announce a delay because there’s lightning in the area. But there wasn’t. There wasn’t one cloud burst; there wasn’t any lightning. It’s football!

They also made no effort to get the fans out of the stadium. I mean, there’s lightning out there. Get out. Well, it’d be impossible to do anyway ’cause there are 80,000 people in that stadium. You can’t get them all under cover, but they had to get the players out there. And then the delay went about 15 minutes longer than they thought. Poor Al Michaels and Collinsworth. That’s one thing they hadn’t prepped for. It’s the first game of the season. There’s nothing to talk about. Nothing’s happened yet in the NFL season.

They did a good job vamping, but, man, what a start — and then when they finally came out, refs had to go get the Ravens. The Ravens stayed in the locker room long after the Broncos came out. and I figured out why. The Ravens are ticked off they had to be in Denver. They won the Super Bowl. They get the home game last night. But they had to go to Denver, so they’re gonna act like they’re the home team.

They came out last. They made sure of that. I’m sure that’s what went on in there, I’m sure that that’s what was happening. And, you know, the Baltimore Orioles wouldn’t change a game date last night. They wouldn’t change a night game to a day game, and nobody attended the Orioles really. They got off to a slow start. Anyway, folks, I want to thank you again for what you did.

You all have no way of knowing what just your presence, just your being there has meant to me and my family over all of these years. People tell me how important the program’s been to them, and it may be. I appreciate that. But it can’t… It pales in comparison to what your presence here every day has meant to me. You know, we want to be proud of this country again. We want to be proud of the founding principles.

We’re so proud of ’em, we want them known. We don’t want them obscured and discarded. We want the history of this country as it happened taught. It’s an honorable history. It’s a greatness. It’s a specialness that need not have been corrupted as it has with a multicultural curriculum. You people, it can’t happen without you — and it’s off to a roaring start. Again, I just thank you from the bottom of my heart. The book is Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I just got a note, and please listen to me carefully. I just got a note from a guy who said congratulations, this shows how revered you are. I wrote him back, and I said, “No, that’s not what this shows. What you all did, making this book number one in pre-orders…” By the way, it’s a real book. It’s for children, but it’s 200-plus pages, not some chintzy little cartoon thing out there. It’s a real book.

It does have illustrations, but what this is a real book. People haven’t given up on this country, and they don’t want to give up on this country, and people want to be proud of this country. People revere this country, and they want reaffirming, validating messages about what they dream and hope and desire for the country to be. That’s what this means. There is a hunger for the traditions and institutions of America being triumphant again. That’s what this means. You’re all doing fabulous now.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

One other thing I want to share with you about this, the book. Again, it’s Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans, of course by me. If you search “Rush Revere” or “Rush Limbaugh” you’ll find it, and even with the search problems, you still made it number one in pre-orders in all these categories.

But I have to tell you something, and it ought not surprise me, I guess. You know, in a way I’m glad that it does, but I wish it didn’t. People send me this stuff yesterday afternoon and last night. I was not searching for it. I would get a link to this comment on the book or a link to that comment at the Washington Post, Slate.com, you name it, supposed mainstream places. And, folks, they would write, “Limbaugh’s message is one of self-reliance, hard work, overcoming obstacles.”

They’re snarky about that.

I don’t quite know how to describe it other than to say they were mocking the message. “Limbaugh believes,” as though it’s silly to believe that hard work pays off, it’s silly to believe in rugged individualism, it’s silly to believe in self-reliance, it’s silly to believe in all of these things. Silly! I mean, it’s worth being snarky about? It’s no different than having some truly controversial conspiracy theory. As I’m reading this stuff, I think, “Who the hell are these people and what in the world have they been taught?”

They’re sneering at these time-honored, human truths, concepts of triumph over obstacles, adversity, hard work, self-reliance. There were a number of them that took shots at my version, my version of the real Thanksgiving, which is that the commune failed. They were livid, or snarky about this. And it’s not “my” version. It’s what happened! William Bradford wrote about it. The Pilgrim leader wrote how socialism failed. It was really seductive; they thought it would be nice ’cause it was fair.

I’ll give you a little hint. One of the things I do in the book is very subtly try to square this whole concept of fairness and not let it become what it’s been today: A way to shut down achievement, to shut down excellence. It’s not fair to excel at something. Not in my books, folks. It isn’t gonna be the case. Anyway, I was just reading this sneering — sneering at individual achievement, sneering at investing in yourself, sneering at hard work.

Snarky comments. Even though I know why and who and all that about those people, it just amazes me that it’s possible, that people living in this country… I could understand somebody living in Cuba or China sneering at these kinds of things. Anyway, it just added up to all being more evidence about why this is a good idea, and it just amplified the gratitude I have for all of you for doing what you did.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

I said something a moment ago about the book and an e-mail I got from a guy who said, “This just shows how revered you are.” I said, “No, no, it does not show that.”
This isn’t really about me. Okay, somewhat, but, look, what really is going on here is people want to believe in this country. I think it’s the same thing that is responsible for this program succeeding when it started. A voice validating what people already believe. People are tired of what’s being taught. They want to believe in the goodness of this country. They want to believe in the goodness and the greatness of the people of this country, and they want their kids to learn about that. So that’s what we’re trying to do here.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You know, all this talk about what’s happened with the book, the pre-order announced yesterday, and you all made that book, my book, my children’s book, Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel Adventures with Exceptional Americans, you made it number one on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as a pre-order. Not number one in the pre-order category, number one everywhere. And there were even search problems that people had. I didn’t find that out ’til last night, and even with the search problems it became number one.

Now, there’s something I forgot to mention today. We have a special price at TwoIfByTea.com in honor of the book being announced and because our tea icon, Rush Revere, has been brought to life as the lead character in the book. And so we’ve reduced the price of a case of tea, 12 bottles, to $16.20 in honor of the Pilgrims. Do you know why $16.20, Brian? Quick, pop quiz, $16.20. That’s right. That’s the year. Exactly right. Way to go. So $16.20 for 12 bottles, it’s a case, until 11:59 p.m. Pacific time, at TwoIfByTea.com, which has all the information about the book, as does RushLimbaugh.com, with all the links to Amazon, iBooks, iTunes, and Barnes and Noble.

Again, folks, I don’t know if you take the time to visit some of these obscure websites, or if you would even know of them. Everybody has a website. Everybody has a blog or tweets and Facebooks, and the left is in a tizzy. Carol Costello at CNN admitted being sick, but the general theme on the left about this is, honestly now, I’ve actually seen this in two of them. I’m paraphrasing, but it’s very close to the exact quote. “Oh, no, it’s taken us 50 years to erase the BS of how this country came to be and here comes Limbaugh trying to reestablish it.”

And then there’s been all kinds of snarkiness about my version of Thanksgiving. And it’s not my version. It’s what really happened. And the snarkiness is, the Pilgrims, William Bradford, who led the Pilgrim population, wrote about it. That’s how I learned it. He wrote about it. It was in his journal. They tried giving everybody an equal share, equal plot of land. Everybody got the same amount of money. No matter what was produced, no matter who produced what, everybody got the same. And they had a bunch of slackers, and they had others who did all the work. And the people doing all the work eventually said, “You know, this isn’t working, ’cause old Zeke over there is not doing anything, and he’s getting the same I am.”

It didn’t work. Socialism didn’t work. And the original Thanksgiving is William Bradford giving thanks to God for that. And that lesson, echoed by George Washington in his first Thanksgiving proclamation, which is a Thanksgiving for this nation to God. And the snarkiness and the sneering of critics of a book they haven’t even read yet ’cause it’s not published, about my version of Thanksgiving, all because I point out that they tried socialism and it didn’t work, and so that’s worth sneers and snarkiness. You’ve heard me talk about it, lamenting and worrying about what kids are being taught, and I know you are, too. This book is my attempt to correct what I think are mistakes.

This book is about American exceptionalism and greatness and how it’s possible, and how we wouldn’t be here if there hadn’t been those characteristics in people. Let me give an example. Slate.com. Slate snark. “Limbaugh made sure to stress that his book — one he hopes will be the first in a series — has no political agenda. ‘The true story of Thanksgiving,’ he promised listeners today. ‘There’s no politics in this.’ That’s obviously somewhat difficult to believe, in no smart [sic] because Limbaugh’s told his version of the Thanksgiving story before. Last year, for instance, he concluded his retelling like so: ‘The true story of Thanksgiving is how socialism failed. With all the great expectations and high hopes, it failed. And self-reliance, rugged individualism, free enterprise, whatever you call it, resulted in prosperity that they never dreamed of.'”

And they’re just beside themselves over that. It’s one thing for me to say this everything Thanksgiving, but now, to have it in a book where it’s written down for children — (gasping) — panic city, they’re worried about it. And just the fact that you all made it number one has got ’em spinning. You know, we even knocked Fifty Shades of Grey off of the number one best-seller spot. Ha! So, again, I can’t thank you all enough.