RUSH: Jody, in Lake Orient, Michigan, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hi. Hey, I’m so excited to talk to you. I’m making big points with my son in college. Hey, I’ve heard you talk about all the Republican candidates but I haven’t heard you say a thing about Senator Brownback. What are your thoughts on him?
RUSH: Oh, you are right! I am sorry!
CALLER: Yeah!
CALLER: Well, apparently so did everybody. Good Morning America didn’t mention him, and I think Hillary kind of trumped him.
RUSH: Why do you think that is? Well, let’s see. Yeah. They also aren’t talking about Duncan Hunter much, who is said that he is going to run as well.
CALLER: What do you think about Brownback’s chances?
RUSH: (Laughs.)
CALLER: My son seems to think that he is too much “church and state,” and people are tired of it, and I love your song because my son’s telling me McCain’s our only chance for a Republican president in 2008, and I second your song. Your cowboy song is perfect.
RUSH: I don’t know what I think of any of it. (sigh) This is tough. You know, I don’t get involved in primaries. I generally don’t endorse in primaries. It’s so early. There is so much yet to happen and fallout.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: To be honest with you, there’s nobody out there that revs me up, so why should I pretend that there is?
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: Not to say there won’t be.
CALLER: But I don’t think… I hate to see Brownback just disregarded because he’s a no-name right now. Talk about conservative values, you know? I mean he —
RUSH: Well, you know something. I have to tell you something. It’s going to be up to him to get noticed.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: It’s up to everybody in public life who wants to run for office to get noticed. You know, when I was a struggling young disc jockey when I was 17, 16, I would have loved if my radio station had gone out and bought a bunch of billboards and television advertisements telling my little town all about me, but it doesn’t work that way.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: It’s going to be up to these guys to get it, and it’s going to be a challenge for any Republican who’s not McCain or Giuliani or Mitt Romney because they’ve got the early media attention on this. But all it’s going to take is a couple wins, surprise wins in primaries. The whole thing can be upset. You think back to 2004 when it was “Howard Dean, Howard Dean, Howard Dean, Howard Dean,” then the first primary came, the Hawkeye cauci, uh-oh — and then following that New Hampshire, uh-oh — and all of a sudden he screamed and he was gone, and John Kerry, who was being laughed at and ridiculed off the stage (and should have stayed there) was vaulted simply because Democrats thought he could win, not because they knew anything about him or thought he was really great. They just thought he was electable.
CALLER: I think if Brownback sticks with his principles and his conservative roots — I know nothing of his economic beliefs or plans, so I guess that’s where I’m kind of curious what you know, but, hey, you know what? Just talking to I’ve been catapulted into stardom with my son, so I’m just thrilled to have the opportunity.
RUSH: Where is your son?
CALLER: You’re not going to like it.
RUSH: Now, why would you think that?
CALLER: He’s at Harvard.
RUSH: That’s okay.
CALLER: Yeah? Well, he’s one of the officers —
RUSH: Everybody has to be somewhere.
CALLER: — in the Republican club. He’s really staying true to his conservative values and my daughter and my son actually are — actually I have three kids who are —
RUSH: Whatever Harvard is, one thing is it’s not easy to get in there unless you know somebody.
CALLER: No he’s a bright kid. You know, my husband… I went to two years of community college. My husband went to Penn State University. We have no connections. He’s a great kid —
RUSH: Okay, so he got in there on the basis of merit, right?
CALLER: He did, and I —
RUSH: Well, that’s fine!
CALLER: I hope he… Yeah. You know, I hope he can have his chance in 2024, actually.
RUSH: If you look, this is one of the realities of life. It’s not universal, there are exceptions to it, but these northeastern Ivy League schools produce the people that end up as bureaucrats, ambassadors —
CALLER: That’s why he went there.
RUSH: — presidential candidates and this sort of thing. What do you think the Kennedy School of Government really is?
CALLER: Yeah. It’s a catapult, yeah.
RUSH: Yeah, it’s a little indoctrination center, but if you get out of there, you’ve got a pedigree. You’re already qualified to wear the striped pants and those official diplomat shoes, the lace-up jobs.
CALLER: Well, you know, it’s great networking. He’s meeting a lot of people and important people. In fact, Senator Brownback is coming to his school tomorrow but they have their winter breaks so he’s a gotta leave, so he won’t be there to meet him.
RUSH: Well, will there be plenty of other chances to meet Senator Brownback.
CALLER: Yeah. Yeah. Well, hopefully he’ll get a chance to meet you will at Republican candidates, you know, but anyway, keep your ears open for him in 2024.
RUSH: Well, Jody, I know he had announced. I t just had slipped my mind, just as Duncan Hunter did. He’s also running.
CALLER: Yeah, well, like I said any… You know, you don’t have to keep me on the line. I know your time is precious, but any thoughts you have to, you know, either one of them, like I said, this Hillary took all the news today which was so surprising.
RUSH: The Democrats are going to get all the coverage. You better get used to this.
CALLER: Oh, I know. I know.
RUSH: The whole focus of the media is, you know, “How are the Democrats going to keep their advantage in the House and the Senate and how they’re going to win the White House?”
CALLER: That’s why we need you to remember guys like Brownback.
RUSH: Well, don’t worry: I will be there. Just don’t get depressed when the media is who they are and let you down. They are who they are.