RUSH: Jill in Philadelphia. You’re on the Rush Limbaugh program, Jill. Thank you for waiting.
CALLER: Hi, Rush, how are you?
RUSH: Fine, thank you so much.
CALLER: You know, it’s nice to talk to you. I’m a Democrat, but I enjoy listening to you.
RUSH: Thank you so much.
CALLER: What I am concerned about is your constant mocking of Obama as being The Messiah. I’m a Christian. I kind of find that offensive. There’s only one Messiah, and I kind of feel like you’re mocking God; you’re not mocking Obama.
RUSH: Oh, no, ma’am! I’m sorry you feel that way. This is not just mocking Obama. I am mocking the people who are insulting The Messiah by having the audacity to compare this guy to a messiah. This guy would be an anti messiah if anything, but I am not mocking you or anyone else.
CALLER: Well, you had just mentioned before the break that reporters were his ‘disciples.’
RUSH: Yes, ma’am.
CALLER: You seem to be comparing him. And I’m just concerned about your eternal soul. I just think you’re mocking God.
RUSH: God knows that I am on his side.
CALLER: (laughing)
RUSH: I speak with God countless times a day.
CALLER: I know you said your talent is on loan from God. (giggles)
RUSH: My talent is on loan from God. I thank God each day for how he made me.
CALLER: Well, just be careful, Rush. I mean, you can mock Jesse, you can mock Farrakhan, you can mock Reverend Wright. But you can’t mock God. ‘Be not deceived. God is not mocked.’
RUSH: I am not mocking God. I’m mocking the absurdity of what we are being told about a mere mortal human being who is no different than any of the rest of us.
CALLER: That’s true. He is a mortal man.
RUSH: I mean, they are expecting this guy to walk in Israel via the Mount of Olives on some water.
CALLER: See? There you go again. (giggling)
RUSH: Have you heard his speech in Minneapolis after he secured the nomination where he’s up there saying that when he gets in the Oval Office, he’s going to lower the sea level, that he’s going to do all of this? This guy’s got the complex.
CALLER: (laughter)
RUSH: You ought to be calling him and saying he’s mocking God by trying to act like one.
CALLER: But, Rush, when you compare him to The Messiah, that casts you as Pontius Pilate.
RUSH: No, no, no, no, no.
CALLER: You are putting yourself in that light.
RUSH: I’m not comparing him to The Messiah. I am pointing out that he’s not. This is satire.
CALLER: Okay, Rush. Well, I enjoy listening to you. You are not as mean-spirited as some of the Republican talk show hosts. I was just a little concerned that, you know, as a Christian I kept hearing ‘Messiah, Messiah, Messiah,’ and it was really annoying (giggles) and kind of scary.
RUSH: Well, can I ask you a question —
CALLER: Sure.
RUSH: — Jill, before you go?
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: You really fooled me when you said that I’m ‘not as mean-spirited as some of,’ I thought you were going to say ‘some of my fellow Democrats think.’
CALLER: No, no.
RUSH: But you said, ‘You’re not nearly as mean-spirited as some other conservative talk show hosts. ‘
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: Who are you talking about?
CALLER: I can name their names? Sean Hannity.
RUSH: Sean Hannity’s not mean.
CALLER: Oh, he’s…
RUSH: Now, see, I could have pulled a Jack Kemp, Jill. I could have pulled a Jack Kemp, and thank you for distinguishing me as a nice guy, but then I would have been selling out my brethren here.
CALLER: (laughs)
RUSH: Sean Hannity, he’s the essence of innocence.
CALLER: Mmm-hmm. Well… Okay. (giggles)
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: Mark Levin. You know, listen, I like to get different points of view, but I see a lot of mean.
RUSH: Well, Mark Levin, also known as ‘the Great One,’ is not mean-spirited. He’s passionate, and he fears for the future of the country if liberals get unchecked power over it, and he is — I mean, this guy, he was Ed Meese’s chief of staff when Meese was attorney general. He is a confrontational guy. We are in a war. Levin is in a war. We are in a constant war, and we cannot take a rest for a moment.
CALLER: Excuse me, Rush. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean Mark Levin. He’s actually kind of funny. He’s like you.
RUSH: Yeah, right.
CALLER: The guy I was thinking about was Gallagher. Mike Gallagher.
RUSH: (laughing)
CALLER: He’s terrible.
RUSH: Again I —
CALLER: He’s terrible. He’s like a puppet. He has no original thought.
RUSH: Again, Mike Gallagher is one of the nicest guys that you would run into. I don’t think… There may be some people in our side out there that, reprobates, but there are not many of them if there are. But I tell you, the hatred and the anger and the rage that comes from the American left today. One of the reasons, Jill, in all candor, why conservative talk radio is so dominant is because we are human beings and we are compassionate; we are nice. We treat people politely. And we’re not constantly mad at everybody all day long. You know, we’re optimistic. We have fun. People laugh. We have a good time, even in the midst of periods of time where everybody else is trying to make everybody feel miserable. I mean, you mentioned some names: Levin, Mike Gallagher, and Hannity. Are they as angry and filled with sheer hatred as Jeremiah Wright?
Have any of them ever attempted to blow up the Pentagon, as did Bill Ayers? Have you ever heard a conservative radio talk show host say he would like to castrate a Democrat presidential candidate, as the Reverend Jackson did? I’m serious, Jill. You are a sweet woman and I love you and I’m glad you called to give me a chance to explain this to you, but the real hatred and the real out-of-control rage — the real lack of compassion, the dehumanizing, the demonizing — exists on the left today. They’re as angry as a bunch of spoiled, rotten little kids. So it is what it is. But you were very kind to me, very flattering but I couldn’t sit here and do a Jack Kemp. What I mean by that is when Kemp was Bob Dole’s veep in 1996 in a debate with Algore, who was Clinton’s veep, Algore praised Kemp as not being a typical Republican racist, and Kemp said, ‘Thank you, sir.’ A lot of us said, ‘Hey, we got thrown under the bus here!’ I will not have my conservative brethren thrown under the bus, nor will I do it.