RUSH: We’re gonna start in my adopted hometown of Sacramento. This is Doug. I’m glad you called, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Well, thank you for taking my call, Rush. I appreciate it.
RUSH: You bet, sir.
CALLER: Before I get to my point, I have to point out, ’cause you were talking about the natural gas thing, if you remember, Jimmy Carter outlawed natural gas and prices just skyrocketed. Anyway, I just wanted to throw that out there.
RUSH: All right.
CALLER: The reason I’m calling is because you deserve total credit for Newt Gingrich’s new book.
RUSH: Well, I deserve total credit for a lot of things, but what in particular about Newt’s book do you think I deserve credit for?
CALLER: Well, his book is about Ronald Reagan.
RUSH: Mmm-hmm?
CALLER: And if you recall, a little over a year ago Newt said, ‘The era of Reagan is over.’
RUSH: Newt did join that chorus for a while.
CALLER: And the very next day, after he said that, you lambasted him on your radio program, and he had to retract what he said — and he knows that in order to run in 2012 he’s gotta take that back and that’s why he wrote this book. So it’s all credit to you.
RUSH: (chuckles) Well, that’s… Ehhh. Look, you think that Newt wrote the book because I called him out when he said, ‘The era of Reagan is over,’ so he had to write the book now in praise of Reagan to overcome it? Is that essentially what you’re saying?
CALLER: That’s correct.
RUSH: Well… (sigh) Who am I to dispute that?
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: I try to run a polite show here.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: If that’s what you think, that’s what you think. I enjoy hearing the way people think. I always have, and I very much appreciate your call.
CALLER: I think it because it’s a fact. I think he’ll admit it if he has to.
RUSH: You know, you remind me of Snerdley. Snerdley is one of the most loyal employees. Snerdley believes that I have only received about 2% of the credit that I deserve for a whole bunch of stuff. So any time he gets a caller like you he’ll put you to the top.
CALLER: (chuckles) Yeah.
RUSH: Because he thinks that there has been a whole bunch of history revisionism going on out there, and that I, El Rushbo, have not been given my due in certain media quarters — and I keep telling him I never will. It’s not gonna happen, and it’s not why we do what we do. But I nevertheless appreciate your reasoning there. You’re obviously a man of considerable depth.
CALLER: Thank you very much.
RUSH: You bet, Doug. And who’s next? Mike, Falls Church, Virginia, nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello, sir.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. I, um… I’m calling because… Well, first of all, I’m a liberal, and I seriously don’t understand this, uh, Reagan idolatry on behalf of conservatives. I’ll get… I’ll give you my reasons. Instead of privatizing Social Security, he raised taxes. We’re all paying higher taxes today out of our paychecks every single week because he decided to save Social Security. He —
RUSH: Wait, wait. Hold it. I need to go…
CALLER: (speaking rapidly)
RUSH: Wait. Jeez.
CALLER: The Greenspan Commission. He signed it into law, and it raised taxes on Social Security.
RUSH: What…? Wait, you’re talking about Reagan or Clinton?
CALLER: I’m talking about Reagan. Reagan did that. He raised taxes on Social Security. He negotiated with terrorists, sending — over and over again — arms to Iran in exchange for hostages; by contrast Jimmy Carter didn’t give an inch to the Iranians.
RUSH: What in the world…?
CALLER: Not an inch. Instead Reagan (crosstalk)
RUSH: Testing the true depth of my politeness here on this call, folks.
CALLER: Say that again?
RUSH: Let me ask you a question. What do you think, given all this that you believe, when you hear Obama and the Democrats cite Reagan as they have been doing since about a week before the State of the Union?
CALLER: It’s funny you ask that. Because as a liberal I think Obama owes his presidency to Reagan. They’re both kinda stuffed suits that say one thing and then do another. Obama hasn’t been anywhere near liberal enough for me. He said he’d close Guantamano (sic), he hasn’t done that.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: He said he’d help people out with foreclosures, he hasn’t done that.
RUSH: I feel for you on that.
CALLER: But Reagan, I mean, amnesty to people who are breaking the law and living in the country illegally. He said, ‘Forget about it. Stay here forever.’ He cut and ran from Lebanon. How many hundreds of Marines were killed —
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: — and he just decided, ‘Well, you know, instead of the fighting the bad guys I’m gonna run away’?
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: Why is Reagan a hero to conservatives?
RUSH: ‘Why is Reagan a hero to conservatives?’ I don’t think you… Given what you’ve said, and I’m not trying to avoid the question, I don’t think you’d ever understand it.
CALLER: Well, he’s a tax raiser, an amnesty giver, a cut-and-runner, and he negotiated with terrorists. Why is he a hero to conservatives? I don’t think you understand it.
RUSH: No, I do. Most assuredly I do. I just don’t think that you would understand it. Where did you get this silly notion that Reagan raised taxes on Social Security? What websites do you read? Where did you pick that up?
CALLER: Look up the Greenspan Commission. It’s not too hard to find. I mean, it’s a matter of history.
RUSH: Where did you get it? I mean, you’re asking me questions. I’m just reversing one on you here.
CALLER: I’m sorry. It’s just general knowledge. It’s something I’ve known for a long time. I can’t remember where I got it from.
RUSH: You can’t remember? You’ve never heard of a website called Media Matters which highlighted it yesterday?
CALLER: (static) Oh, no. I know Media Matters very well but that’s not where I got it.
RUSH: Oh, not where you got it. It’s an amazing coincidence.
CALLER: (static) I mean, I’m a liberal. Of course I know Media Matters.
RUSH: Amazing coincidence out there.
CALLER: (static blaring) They’re a fantastic website. But why are you dodging the question? I want to know why a tax-raising, amnesty-giving, cut-and-running, negotiating-with-terrorists guy is a hero to the conservative movement.
RUSH: Well, because you understand Reagan in a way that is flawed. You —
CALLER: (static)
RUSH: Your call is actually kinda interesting because you represent the impossibility of ‘bridging the gap.’ Somebody like you just has to be defeated. There’s no crossing the aisle and finding common ground with you. You’re free to be who you are, don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to be insulting. I’m just saying, you are unreachable. You don’t want to be reached. This picture of Reagan, you’ve just described somebody you should love, and you hate him! You just described somebody you should absolutely love, all these things. He’s an anti-conservative, as you say, but you don’t love him. You’re having trouble understanding why he’s viewed as heroic to a lot of people.
I could talk to you about anti-communism. I could. You want to talk about amnesty? Yeah, that was Simpson-Mazzoli, and that was one-and-a-half, two million illegals; and he was told, ‘Okay, if we’re gonna do this, this is it, then. We’re gonna secure the borders and that’s it.’ It’s the same thing with every tax increase he signed. It was also accompanied by promises to cut spending, and it never happened. Reagan’s not perfect. Nobody is. But I think the proof of Reagan is the fact that when your guys get in trouble, who do they seek to associate themselves with? Remember, Obama and these people are all about getting votes.
The fact that he’s trying to surround himself with Reagan, the fact that he’s trying to position himself with Reagan is the best indication anybody could have of what this country really thinks of Ronaldus Magnus. I think if you want to focus in on hypocrisy, you’ve got far more of it on your side of the aisle to explain and dig through than we do. Reagan was forced to raise payroll taxes by a crisis in Social Security in 1983. He endorsed that rescue plan that was written by Alan Greenspan. It was reluctant. He was not a big supporter of that. Remember, Reagan did not have a congressional majority with him.
Everything he got, the tax cuts, he had Democrats outnumbering him in the House and Senate everywhere. There were certain realities that he faced. But the biggest tax increase on Social Security was authored by none other than Bill Clinton. But did you understand the notion? Ronald Reagan fought for America. He loved America. He feared where the left, based on history, wanted to take the country. Ronald Reagan set the stage for the end of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan defeated Soviet communism without firing a shot. I don’t know… But none of that would matter. So you, sir, a nice individual, I’m sure you’re a fine guy (probably not too much fun at a ball game, unlike Bill Clinton), but still, you illustrate that people like you just have to be defeated, not met halfway and gotten along with. I mean politically.