RUSH: To Los Angeles and Holly. Nice to have you with us.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. It’s a pleasure to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you, Holly.
CALLER: You know, I need to (baby screaming) say you sound a little bit, uh, disturbed today about the, uh, radio thing.
RUSH: There’s a baby in the background there screaming. Do you need to do something there?
CALLER: Uh, yeah, I’m —
RUSH: Take your time, take your time. Holly, go deal with it, and I’ll wait.
CALLER: Okay (giggle) thanks.
RUSH: Yeah, yeah. I hate screaming kids. I just can’t.. (mother comforting child) Got any Ritalin or anything? (continuing to comfort child) Might be spank time.
CALLER: Hello?
RUSH: Yes.
CALLER: I’m sorry.
RUSH: That’s all right. That’s all right. Motherhood is a very important issue here on this program. (girl crying out again) How old is the child?
CALLER: She just bumped herself. What I was going to say —
RUSH: How old is the child?
CALLER: Five.
RUSH: Five, okay.
CALLER: (Laughing.) She’s okay.
RUSH: Well, good. Good.
CALLER: (Laughing.) The military is going to rebel over the entire thing, number one. There’s no way that this is possibly going to go through. You know in the movie Good Morning Vietnam, which was based on a true story, I mean the military wrote in and forced him back on the air when he was suspended. So they’re going to write in about this thing, but before it even gets to that, the Republicans in Congress are going to bring this to a challenge because the government —
RUSH: Uh, Holly?
CALLER: Yes?
RUSH: The amendment passed the Senate.
CALLER: It passed?
RUSH: The Republicans didn’t fight it. I just looked at the Harkin website, has a copy of his floor speech about this. You said that I sound upset about it. I don’t think anything is going to happen other than they’re going to end up with three hours of me on the radio, but I’m going to tell you something. You know, I don’t care what people say about me in the political arena, because that’s fair game and it’s part of the… It’s the league that a play in. But when a United States senator starts exhibiting censorship, I am going to speak up about it, and I just read this guy’s statement, and he’s lying through his teeth about what was said on this program about the prison abuse scandal. He’s lying about what I said. He’s taking it all out of context. He’s regurgitating the out of context quotes taken by this so-called analyst website, which is nothing more than an appendage of the Democratic Party, and so a bunch of falsehoods about me were spoken on the floor of the Senate yesterday, or in a paper. I don’t know if it was on the floor or not. It was official Congressional Record statement. It might have been verbal, authorizing it amendment or proposing this amendment and it’s just chock full of lies and misrepresentations and out-of-context statements. I’ve learned one thing. You say the Republicans in the House and the Senate are — I’m not going to depend on them because I haven’t seen that. They don’t stand up for Bush. They don’t stand up for the president.
CALLER: I’m frankly a little shocked, because the thing is, it’s a government radio, and it is about censorship. I mean, when you say you and Stern are completely different. That’s true. Stern is in trouble because he’s indecent, you know. They’re trying to get at you just because you’re ideological, but so are many of the others on Armed Forces Radio as you point on that are from NPR. So this shows, first of all, how scared of you they really are. You know, and they’ll go, “Oh, yeah, right, we’re really scared of Rush,” but they are, okay? Because if they weren’t worried about you, they wouldn’t even bother.
RUSH: Oh, I know. I know. That’s why I say I’m flattered by it all in the larger scheme of things.
CALLER: And if this is all about balance, you know, then they would be going after you and the NPR hosts that are extreme on the other side.
RUSH: No, if they were all about balance, then they would say balance exists and leave it alone.
CALLER: (Scoffs) Yeah. But from their side, from the left left, they think you’re wacko. (Laughs.) So, they don’t think you’re the least bit balanced.
RUSH: No, they don’t think I’m wacko. It’s the exact opposite. They’re afraid of me because I change minds. They are afraid of me because I persuade Democrats and liberals to change their minds and that’s what bothers them.
CALLER: This is all about fear or they wouldn’t even bother. But I’m, frankly, a little shocked. I mean, so is this like a done deal? You’re off?
RUSH: No, it’s got to next go to a conference between the House and the Senate and it may be the Republicans in the House will doing something about it. See, the problem is this is attached to the defense bill and they may not think this is a big enough amendment to kill the defense bill. We’re fighting the war on terror. We need the ’05 defense bill. You know, we need to authorize more defense spending. It’s no accident this was connected to this bill and this is not the kind of amendment most people are going to say serious enough to hold up a defense bill over.
CALLER: So Harkin pulled this, basically one of those things that you kind of slip into a bill because —
RUSH: It’s not. Yeah, it’s not quite like an omnibus budget bill where they throw in all this pork and the president, you know, can’t veto one of it without veto it all of it, but an amendment to the bill like this is… Sometimes amendments are huge and they cause people to revolt and say, “I’m not going to sign this. We’re not going to pass this unless this amendment to be changed or taken out,” but it may be. I don’t know how stealthfully this was done by Harkin, and I don’t know how many senators actually even knew it was in there. You know, the number of people in the Senate and in the House who actually know what’s in legislation would stun you as to how few it is. So they might not even know this is there.
CALLER: This comes out and it’s several hundred pages and they don’t — probably don’t — read most of it. (Laughing.)
RUSH: Exactly, and if he doesn’t make a big deal about adding this amendment, like doesn’t do it on a floor speech or whatever, it’s possible some wouldn’t know.
CALLER: Well, you’ve got a large audience, so I think a lot of people will hear about it today.
RUSH: Well, I know they’re hearing about it today. Look, I understand where you’re coming from and what you’re saying, and you’re exactly right about all of it, and what’s going to happen here — the way these things usually backfire on the libs — is that they’re now calling attention to what’s on Armed Forces Radio. When anybody looks at what’s on Armed Forces Radio they’re going to see a preponderance of left-leaning programs, and somebody is going to make the suggestion, “You know what? We need a couple more hours of Limbaugh to balance this out,” and they’re going to going to end up with the exact opposite of what they wanted. But make no mistake about something else, Holly.
CALLER: Mmmn-hmm.
RUSH: Even if the amendment doesn’t fly, the purpose of this is just as the prison photos are to Bush. This is part of an ongoing effort these people have to discredit me, do me some kind of harm in the political arena, because they consider me — exactly as you said — a threat, and that’s why this is somewhat flattering and honoring. But nevertheless, when it gets to the level of the United States Senate, it’s pretty high in the U.S. government, and one single senator putting an amendment and it’s full of half truths and out-of-context accusations. Well, as I said, I just —
CALLER: I’m going to venture that the Republicans in the Senate must have been a little blindsided and didn’t read it or got caught off guard with it or something. I’ve got to believe that.
RUSH: We’ll find out. I mean, I’m going to find out here pretty soon one way or the other. But nevertheless, see, here’s the thing. If I hadn’t told you this today you wouldn’t even know it, right? You haven’t heard it anywhere else. (To broadcast engineer:) I hit the slate button by accident. Can you bring her back up? Holly, you still there?
CALLER: Yeah. This is something —
RUSH: If I hadn’t said anything about this, you wouldn’t know it, right?
CALLER: No, I absolutely would not know about it, and it infuriates me but I count on you to laugh something like this off and you’re not laughing it off and so I guess that’s why I called in.
RUSH: Oh.
CALLER: (Laughing.)
RUSH: Well —
CALLER: Rush, you usually laugh about something like this and you sounded so infuriated, so…
RUSH: Well, I’m sorry I didn’t sound infuriated. I’m serious about it.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: I’m not angry.
CALLER: Incensed.
RUSH: Well, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound incensed. I was trying to be dramatic to make the point.
CALLER: (Laughing.)
RUSH: But, you know, there’s a degree of difference here.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: This is different than some locoweed on the left saying this or that. I mean that’s part of the territory, and I, you know, that I do laugh off, understand: this is censorship. This really is.
CALLER: This is Congress trying to snake around and do something that the public doesn’t know about, and that… We hire them, and —
RUSH: Precisely right. All I’m doing is just letting people know because otherwise — like I say, you haven’t heard this anywhere else and I just wanted people to know what was going on —
CALLER: (Laughing.)
RUSH: — and I did it with a tone of gravity in my voice to transmit the serious nature that I think this represents.
CALLER: Yeah. Very serious indeed.
RUSH: Now, Holly, you’re intriguing me here.
CALLER: (Laughing.)
RUSH: You know a lot of about Armed Forces Radio. You seem to have a lot of knowledge about what Congress is going to do. Are you an insider of anything?
CALLER: No. I’m a housewife. (Laughing.) I stay very informed, my husband and I both do. We listen to you every day. We listen to a lot of radio. We watch a lot of cable news —
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: — and do a lot of reading, and I like to be informed.
RUSH: You are. You’re very smart. I appreciate your call, and I’m sorry if I upset you by not laughing about this.
CALLER: No, you didn’t upset me. I could hear a little bit of, I guess, alarm in your voice. I don’t mean to exaggerate it, but, boy, this is really, really serious because normally you would laugh it off because it’s just politics, but I didn’t know. Now I understand that it had already gone through the Senate.
RUSH: Yes.
CALLER: I think it will still be challenged when it gets to the House, now that this —
RUSH: Yeah, but… Okay, but let me ask you a question.
CALLER: Umm-hmm.
RUSH: Why will it be — why do you think it will be — challenged?
CALLER: Because I think now that you’ve put it out there —
RUSH: All right. Well, then —
CALLER: — a lot of people in the military and armed forces will write in and contact and —
RUSH: Then —
CALLER: — the public and force people in the House to challenge it and say, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute.”
RUSH: Then —
CALLER: “If we’re going to challenge that then we’ve got to challenge the libs that are on the network, too.”
RUSH: Wouldn’t you then say “mission accomplished” today?
CALLER: I would.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: (Laughing.) Very much so. That’s why this is good that you’re talking about this today because this is going to prompt a lot of people calling their congressman and saying you better jump on this because —
RUSH: Well, now you’re causing me —
CALLER: — censorship.
RUSH: You’re causing me some whiplash now.
CALLER: Why —
RUSH: I didn’t mean to be laughing about this. Now you’re complimenting me for doing it.
CALLER: Well, I am.
RUSH: Okay.
CALLER: I think you should have brought it out. Like I say, none of us would know about this unless you said something about it.
RUSH: This is an example —
CALLER: I hire my congressman and I hire my senator, and if they’re ignoring or not even aware of something that one senator snuck through, then I’m really ticked off.
RUSH: I bet you are (laughing) wouldn’t want to be on the other end of that phone call, either. (Laughing.)
CALLER: (Giggling.)
RUSH: Anyway, I’m glad you called.
CALLER: Okay. (Giggling.)
RUSH: What is your little girl’s name?
CALLER: Shelby.
RUSH: Shelby.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Tell her I said hi and tell her I said thanks —
CALLER: (Giggling.)
RUSH: — for minding you when you called the program.
CALLER: Okay. (Giggling.)
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: You bet, Holly.