RUSH: Dennis in Chatham, Illinois. Thanks for waiting. You’re up next, sir.
CALLER: Hi there.
RUSH: Hi there!
CALLER: How are you this afternoon?
RUSH: Fine, thank you.
CALLER: I’m calling in about the FISA Court.
RUSH: Good. I want to talk more about that.
CALLER: It is my opinion that they gave into it to prevent congressional hearings. The administration gave in to using the FISA court for the domestic surveillance to avoid congressional hearings.
RUSH: Well, now, wait, the administration is not saying that. The program goes on. The administration is not saying they caved to FISA. They’re saying they beat FISA. They’re saying this is a win-win for them. But you think that the administration caved because they’re afraid of hearings coming up?
CALLER: Correct.
RUSH: So you think the administration punted the program? You think that we’re no longer going to monitor terrorist phone calls because the administration is afraid of…?
CALLER: Oh, I didn’t say they are not going to monitor phone calls, but they’re using the FISA Court to do it.
RUSH: To avoid hearings?
CALLER: Correct. Since they no longer own Congress, they were bound to get trapped into hearings over that.
RUSH: Ohhhh. I see your thought process now. Since they’ve lost the election, you’re saying they’re afraid of the hearings.
CALLER: Well, I know they’re trying to avoid it, whether they’re “afraid” of it is their business.
RUSH: I don’t think they’re doing a good job. Gonzales got roasted today and will be getting roasted all day before the judiciary committee on this very thing. Nothing’s going to stop the hearings. That’s all the Democrats are going to end up being able to do. They’re not going to be able to pass much of their legislation because the Senate’s going to bottle most of it up and so that’s going to leave them — and Bush is going to cave on some of it. I’m fascinated at the thought process here. Bush is afraid of the hearings, so he’s basically trying to stop them and ward them off by surrendering authority and surrendering power. The thing that you’re misunderstanding about this is, Bush could resign and there would be hearings. They’re not going to be finished ’til they bury Bush! If Bush resigned and Cheney took over, there would be hearings. If Pelosi ascended to the White House, there would be hearings on the Bush administration! This is the way liberals are. The liberals are going to make sure that they do everything they can with their buddies in the Drive-By Media, that nobody ever, ever again even thinks of voting for Republicans to lead the country. That’s going to be the purpose! The hearings? They’re going to do the hearings regardless of whether there’s a reason to or not. I’m fascinated to talk to these guys and get their thought process.
RUSH: Trish in Manhattan. Welcome to the EIB Network, madam. It’s nice to have you.
CALLER: Hi there, Rush. It’s really nice to talk to you.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I’ve never talked to you before, but I think very highly of you. You know, I was thinking maybe it’s time that you request an audience with President Bush and tell him that, you know, these people are making… I mean, here’s the thing. He’s a southern gentleman, you know what I mean? He’s such a nice guy, and he’s just doesn’t really see that these Democrats and these liberals are…. You know, he doesn’t know who they really are, you know what I mean, Rush? And I feel like —
RUSH: Now, I find this pretty incredible, because you know what I have to conclude as I listen to your plea, your request, is that you have to assume — you must believe — that this administration doesn’t understand what Democrats are and what liberals are and how they are the enemy.
CALLER: He doesn’t. He really doesn’t. You know what? I think he’s such a nice guy — he’s a born-again Christian; the guy is such a decent man — that he couldn’t imagine that there are people that would really, literally be wanting our country to lose this war.
RUSH: No, he knows that. He’s pretty much said that. He’s pretty much in press conferences he’s pretty much alluded to the media, that they are engaging in helping the enemy with their television pictures. He’s fully aware of that. There’s nothing I could tell him that he doesn’t know.
CALLER: But, you know, wasn’t that already in place? How can any kind of court overrule the president’s decision on a certain thing like wiretapping in a time of war? How could they do it?
RUSH: Because they assert their authority where they have none, and then you have to go to the Supreme Court to have that decided or a further appellate court.
CALLER: Uh huh, but doesn’t the president have also like his attorneys and the people up there in his area–
RUSH: Yeah, but —
CALLER: — that can strike that down?
RUSH: No.
CALLER: Doesn’t he have to fight to guard against them?
RUSH: He could if he wanted to engage in a so-called constitutional crisis.
CALLER: Why doesn’t he? I think it’s time for him to get a little bit tougher. I mean, the guy has just been too nice. He’s a great president, I love him dearly and he’s doing the right thing, but I mean I get so upset when I see them blatantly, you know, undermining him, and it’s just so obvious. Ugh. You know, it’s just terrible. I mean, we have to know what’s going on. We have to know! If there are people that are — there are sleeper cells — here, and there are things going on right under our noses, we have to find out about them, not for them to happen. It’s too late, you know, once they already go through it. You know what I mean?
RUSH: Oh, totally. I don’t think he’s given up on that. I think that’s still going on. You’re talking about the foreign surveillance program. That’s still going on. We just don’t know… You know, this news yesterday with the process —
CALLER: That’s what I’m talking about, the news yesterday. Doesn’t that mean that the wiretapping has come to an end?
RUSH: No, no, no, no. It doesn’t mean that.
CALLER: Oh. I got that wrong, I guess. I’m not real political.
RUSH: You must not have had the first hour of the program on.
CALLER: Well —
RUSH: Because that’s all we discussed, you must have been at Bergdorf.
CALLER: Not quite.
RUSH: (Laughing.)
CALLER: No, but, I just —
RUSH: Well, I’m running out of time here. I appreciate the call, Trish, but that has not happened.
CALLER: They’re trying to get it to happen, God forbid.
RUSH: The White House is claiming that they had a big win with this FISA Court business. They just won’t tell us what it is.