RUSH: We’re going to start in Madison, Wisconsin, with Andrew. It’s nice to have you on the program, sir. Thank you for waiting.
CALLER: Hi. Thanks for having me on, Rush.
RUSH: You bet.
CALLER: I go to UW Madison. I’m a student here, and I went last night to watch the debate at our student union. So I was probably one of maybe two out of a thousand Republicans here that tried to go, and in this debate, right away at the beginning I was one of the people that said, ‘It was like a deer in the headlights watching it for her,’ and even people around me who were Democrats in the tank for Biden, loving it. They thought that, you know, they felt sorry for her and all this. But after she took control, when she made that comment that you just played to the moderator, they started biting their lips. They didn’t know what to say anymore. Halfway through the debate, some of them — a lot of them — started leaving. I could really get the consensus from these hard-core liberals here that they didn’t like what happened at all. I think they know… Well, I got the feeling as I was leaving at the end, a lot of them had the feeling in their gut that they didn’t like because they like her now, and they wish that they could vote for her.
RUSH: Now, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. Now, this is very, very important. You said the liberals walked outta there.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: You said half of them or some of them walked out of there.
CALLER: A lot, a significant amount left during the debate.
RUSH: Why all of a sudden? In their gut they didn’t like her; now they like her? A typical liberal would hate her even more.
CALLER: Oh, but she can talk to them, and there were some girls around me that even said that. They said, ‘Wow, I mean she’s a great speaker. I really like her.’ I mean those are their exact words. Even though — I mean, in my opinion — half the people here are mindless. They don’t know why they like Obama. So when they hear things they do like, they don’t understand why they’re supposed to be disagreeing with her. Do you know what I mean?
RUSH: Exactly. (laughing) Well said. ‘They don’t know why they like Obama, so, they hear things they’re supposed to disagree with, and they don’t know why they should.’ (laughing)
CALLER: Yeah. Exactly. And I remember my mom bought me a subscription to Rush 24/7 this year so I could listen to your show and the first episode I got on my iPod was where you talked about Obama at the Cole Center. I went to that. I was on the floor watching — and he signed a baseball, which I kind of want to burn up now, but I think I was the only person there who realized he never said anything. ‘Hope’ and ‘change,’ that’s empty words.
RUSH: He said it very well. See, that was back in the magic days, that was back in The Messiah days —
CALLER: Oh, yeah.
RUSH: — saying nothing better than anybody had ever said nothing —
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: — at least in my lifetime.
CALLER: And this campus has cooled down for him. He used to be plastered everywhere here, but now —
RUSH: Well, now wait, I’m confused here. Let me read you a couple media reports and I’ll tell you why I’m confused.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: First off, let’s see, what’s this? This is AP. Charles Babington, the headline: ”For GOP, a Grim Week in DC, Elsewhere’ — [N]othing has exposed the depth of the party’s problems and disarray more than this week’s House rejection of a massive,’ blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It goes on to say, ‘McCain has abandoned efforts to carry Michigan, once a top target. Several key Senate races, including those in Oregon and North Carolina, show Democratic challengers making strong gains against’ Republicans. You can sum up this AP story by saying: ‘Media to GOP: Drop Dead Now.’ Washington Post, page A-9: ‘Lobbyist Hired by Freddie Mac to Work on McCain Is Now Senator’s Aide,’ by Matthew Mosk and David Hilzenrath. ‘When mortgage giant Freddie Mac feared several years ago that Sen. John McCain was too outspoken on the issue of executive pay, it pinpointed a lobbyist known for his closeness to McCain and hired him to work with the senator. Mark Buse, a longtime McCain adviser who had been staff director of the Senate commerce committee, signed on as a Freddie Mac lobbyist, and his firm, ML Strategies, earned $460,000 in lobbying fees in late 2003 and 2004, according to lobbying disclosures. Buse is now chief of staff at McCain’s Senate office.’
So you see, McCain pulled out of Michigan. Republicans are losing everywhere. Yesterday this race was officially said to be over. ‘All the polling data is trending Obama! There’s no hope! Republicans should quit! You shouldn’t even go vote!’ Now they’ve found somebody that Freddie Mac hired to lobby McCain, and now he’s McCain’s chief of staff. This means McCain is corrupt. Then there was this from the Financial Times. Here’s the lead in this story: ‘Rush Limbaugh has been accused of many things over the course of his career but, this week marks the first time he has been blamed for a global finance crash.’ Now, my point here, Andrew, is that everywhere I go in the Drive-By Media, they’re saying, ‘Drop dead, GOP! You haven’t a prayer. The election is over,’ and yet you’re telling me that in the heart of liberalism in Wisconsin, Madison —
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: — that you’re seeing some chilliness to Obama among the young skulls full of mush on the campus.
CALLER: Yep. They’re completely losing their love. I mean, they used to love him here. You’d walk down the streets and people would randomly be chanting, ‘Yes, we can!’ as if they’re these hypnotized mummies walking down the street.
RUSH: Well, that’s before the football team started playing.
CALLER: That’s true. But now, honestly, they used to have a ton of events, they used to have their headquarters right on campus. Their headquarters have had to move away a little bit, the events have dwindled down —
RUSH: Okay.
CALLER: — they don’t have their chalkings (sic) anymore, and McCain is starting to make a presence here.
RUSH: But they still know how to slash the tires of Republican get-out-the-vote vehicles on Election Day. Don’t sell ’em short.