RUSH: Did you know Gallup did an approval rating — (addressing Snerdley) Snerdley didn’t know because when I take the week off, these people, they go on vacation like you can’t believe. Last Friday, February 6th, on DNCTV, the anchor Jeff Rossen spoke with Alex Witt about a new Gallup poll about me. He said, ‘Let’s go to Alex Witt now with some surprising poll numbers that show it’s not only liberals that disagree with Rush Limbaugh. Right, Alex?’
RUSH: Now, why did they do this? You know, Obama mentions me, ‘Don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh,’ I proclaim myself the de facto leader, not necessarily the desired leader of the Republican Party, and they go out and poll a talk show host in terms of a politician’s approval or disapproval. They were hoping for horrible numbers. They did not get horrible numbers. I would venture to say the actual number out there, by the way, among Republicans is 62%. I would say that makes me the most popular Republican in the country. Can you name for me another Republican polling at 62% approval rating out there? Can you give me one, folks? The Gallup poll, I think they shot themselves in the foot here. We need to do a poll of conservatives on Gallup. What do we think of Gallup? Here, folks, listen to this. When I got in today, Snerdley said, ‘Have you seen the audio sound bite roster?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ ‘How many of the bites are about you?’ I said, ‘All of them.’ (laughing) Well, not all of them, but 48 sound bites here, and I’ll betcha 35 are, even when I’m not here.
In fact, I was watching PMSNBC right before the program started, and they still got guests on there to comment on my comment hoping Obama fails. They’re not letting go of this. I did see that there was a story that hoped I was forced, that I was removed for a week. I predicted all this. We need to go back and get the sound bites from last week. I predicted what would happen. I had this normally scheduled vacation since last October, I predicted that various media outlets would either say I was cutting-and-running and getting out of dodge ’cause the heat was getting too hot or because I had been forcibly removed for some mind training, some reorientation, if you will. Neither was the case. But, yes, I did see it. Here’s probably the piece de resistance, ladies and gentlemen, of the sound bites last week typifying the Drive-By Media obsession with me. It’s a James Carville montage.
CARVILLE: Rush Limbaugh’s running this party. He is the most influential and important Republican in the country. Rush Limbaugh is the de facto head of the Republican Party right now. I congratulate Rush on his position as the number one Republican in the country. He is the most exalted Republican, he is, he is the leader of their party, they quake at mighty Rush. He’s the one that’s setting the Republican agenda. He is the most powerful person in that party. He is the daddy — the daddy of the Republican Party, he has ascended to political power that’s unseen, unheard of in American politics. He is the intellectual center of the Republican Party. I’m pointing out a fact. I’m a weatherman. No sense in getting mad at me if it rains, I’m just telling you what the weather is. Rush is very — he’s very popular. Rush is the person that they follow. The modern Republican Party has as its most influential member Rush Limbaugh.
RUSH: Now, don’t misunderstand this. He’s not giving me a compliment. He read the Gallup poll, see. I’m Daddy Rush, (laughing) I’m Daddy Rush. The reason he went on and on for so many minutes in this montage is they think that claiming I lead the Republican Party is going to destroy it. I am the only hope it has. In fact, there’s a column in the Politico today that is an open letter to me, and it is written by John Feehery. John Feehery worked for the House Republican leadership from 1989 to 2005. He is the founder of The Feehery Group, a strategic advocacy firm. It says he blogs at this website. I’m not going to answer it right now, but I’m going to answer it later in the program, I’ll just give you a flavor.
‘Dear Rush, Congratulations! You have been selected by the Obama administration, the mainstream media and 20 million of your most passionate followers to be the new head of the Republican Party. As such, you are given all the rights and responsibilities that come with being a true political leader. Your mission is simple: Restore the Republican Party to its former greatness by single-handedly helping Republicans to regain control of Congress and to offer a reasonable and viable alternative to President Barack Obama.’ And then there are paragraphs here where he asks what I would do to help the Republicans overcome various obstacles. For example, he says this. ‘While 20 million listeners is an impressive number, Obama had nearly 70 million voters. Fifty million is a pretty big gap to make up, but we are certain that, with your effervescent personality, you will be able to close that in no time. We would also like to see your plan to help Republicans compete in the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, the West Coast and Florida, in the big cities and in the suburbs. … We would like to see your plan to attract more women’s votes. While we always get creamed by single women in elections, even married women turned against us this time. Not sure if calling female leaders ‘feminazis’ really works in this atmosphere.’ (laughing) We’d like to see your plan to attract more women’s votes. (laughing)
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I’ve been thinking more on this Gallup poll business. They tried to come up with negative numbers on me. I can’t quote this exactly, but when Gallup reported their own poll, basically here’s how it came out, Brian. Sixty-two percent approval among Republicans; 23% disapproval. Among moderates and independents and Democrats it was just the opposite: 22% approval, 62% disapproval. They had the audacity…
I didn’t see a male-female breakdown. I didn’t see that, Dawn. They might have done that, but I didn’t see it. At the end of their story when they reported this they actually said something, and I gotta paraphrase this. They actually said something along the lines of, ‘But since most Americans are only marginally interested in politics, the mention of Limbaugh’s name barely caused a ripple out there in our poll.’ Well, okay. Fine and dandy, but why is that only applicable when they take approval numbers of me? If America is only marginally interested in politics, why doesn’t that apply to every politician? They’re trying to slap me down out there, folks, but let me put this in perspective for you because I’ve been thinking about it even more. I had a 23% disapproval rating among Republicans. Sixty-two percent approval rating.
Now, I maintain if the Democrat primaries had gone on another ten minutes, Obama probably would have lost. You remember Operation Chaos was working like a champ. Operation Chaos practically gave Hillary the nomination of that party. It kept her in the game. She had to be bought off, now we know, with the Secretary of State gig. She had to be bought off to convince her not to demand a delegate count at the convention because Obama was concerned about how weak his support was. It was very close. The delegate count was very, very close and they wanted to not have that so as not to show how close it was. They wanted to portray Obama as a landslide winner in the Democrat primaries, but his support was not that strong among Democrats. Tell me, when did Obama ever have 77% approval among the Democrats? Did he have 77% approval among the Democrats during the primaries with Hillary?
Does he have 77%, 62% of the country now? His approval numbers are 60%. Now, that’s nationwide, but I got a higher approval number among my guys than Obama does, and his stimulus numbers are falling rapidly according to Rasmussen Reports. ‘The support for the stimulus package has fallen to 37% for the first time, according to Rasmussen. A plurality of voters nationwide oppose the plan.’ Now, today the Treasury secretary was supposed to announce the details of TARP 2, but they’ve put that off until tomorrow. You know why they’ve put that off until tomorrow? Because it’s another trillion dollars. TARP 2 is another trillion dollars aimed at the banks added to this thing which Dingy Harry is now bragging is going to be close to a trillion. We’re going to have $2 trillion, and both of them are going to pass. We have $2 trillion of inflationary, socialist, stimulus, Porkulus spending, and Obama’s up there telling these people in Elkhart, Indiana, things right now which aren’t true. He’s saying that most of the jobs are going to be created in the private sector. That is not true. It’s impossible when you read the details of the bill. He actually said, by the way — this is hilarious. He said, ‘People cannot spend money if they don’t have it.’ Well, that’s never stopped the government, has it?
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Here is Denise in Charlotte, North Carolina as we grab a phone call before we have to go to the break. Denise, I’m glad you called. Nice to have you on the program. Hello.
CALLER: Hi.
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: Hi. I think the poll that they’re doing of you is dangerous, and I think that because I think they’re using — the left is trying to thrust you more and more into the political process and actually the more support you have, the more of a threat you are. And I know that sounds kind of paranoid, and I don’t mean it to, but I see that it’s not so much to diminish you or discount you in any way, but, ‘Look what Rush is doing, he’s generating all the support against our beloved president, who’s just trying to do the right thing, he’s become such a threat now,’ and they’re going to want to deal with you sooner or later.
RUSH: Well, I appreciate your having that concern. This is a concern that people have shared with me over the course of the past 20 years, especially from the Clinton years forward. But I don’t think that’s what this is about. I think you’re partially right.
CALLER: Well, when was the last time they took a poll of you?
CALLER: No, when was the last time that they took a poll of you in this context?
RUSH: It’s happened once before. I don’t remember, ’93, I think. I forget when it happened. It happened the last time the president made a big deal out of me, and that was Bill Clinton. But I think what’s going on here, Denise — by the way, one of my all-time top ten favorite female names. What’s happening here is the president mentions my name, I then take it and run with it, I’m the guy the president does not want you to listen to. The president’s more frightened of me than Boehner or McConnell, blah, blah, blah. And the media, okay, Limbaugh wants in the political process, well, let’s give him the treatment, let’s give him a mini-anal exam, so they first start out with the polling data. But the express purpose of this, remember, polling units can go out and poll in order to find a conclusion they already hold. And the conclusion they have is, I think they’re jealous, I think they’re upset that Obama singled me out. I’m the guy on the radio. Radio, to them, is the lowest rung of the show biz ladder. Television is up there, then print, but radio, AM radio, and the president is afraid of a guy on AM radio. So they want to take me out professionally and what they’re doing, they think the whole country hates me. They think that I am a fringe marginal figure.
If I were indeed a fringe, marginal totally hated figure, Obama would have never mentioned me. Nobody would be talking about me whatsoever. They would be encouraging me to go on and on and on because they would think that I’m screwing up. They are genuinely afraid. They had the Republicans where they want them. The Republicans are showing some gonads now, but they had the Republicans right where they want ’em. They were all doing the McCain, Lindsey Graham dance. Now the Republicans are standing up for themselves, and that’s not right, the Republicans are going to be intimidated, and they hope by associating me with Republicans, Republicans will cut-and-run from me. It’s designed to split me off from the Republicans so that they’re not inspired and motivated. You may be partially right with your theory as well, but we got that handled as best we can, I’m glad you called.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Elizabeth in Queensbury, New York, I’m glad you waited. You’re next on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Good afternoon, Rush.
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: Welcome back. We missed you last week. I missed you terribly.
RUSH: Thank you very much. I missed you, too.
CALLER: Oh, thank you. You’re my sanity. But, anyway, my point is that if I look at the Gallup poll correctly, it seems to me like you got a higher approval rating from Democrats and moderates than the Congress actually got from the Democrats when they polled how well the Congress was doing. I believe it was like 19% —
RUSH: You’re exactly right. My polling data in this Gallup poll, if you look at the whole thing, is much stronger than any Republican’s polling numbers are, it’s much stronger than Congress’ numbers are. And they tried to present it as though I’m a marginal figure with only support from the choir. But if you read it carefully, it can be interpreted in far different ways than that. You’re absolutely right. That’s a brilliant way you’ve looked at it.
CALLER: Well, thank you. I learned from the master. You’re an inspiration to many of us, so thank you for everything you do. We appreciate it.
RUSH: Well, Elizabeth, it’s very kind of you.
CALLER: Keep it up.
RUSH: I will. I have every intention. In fact, ladies and gentlemen, just so you know the depth of commitment I have to you, our cause, and this country. This was to be a vacation day. I was in Hawaii, and I was gonna stay there through Sunday, I was going to get the most out of it that I could, and I was going to use this as a travel day to get back. But, ladies and gentlemen, I arrived at six a.m., and I slept for two hours on the airplane trip from Hawaii. I arrived at six a.m., I was doing show prep on the flight in, I did some show prep when I got into the house this morning, I came back a day early because of the depth of my commitment to keep it up. I don’t feel jet lag now. Hawaii time right now, means it’s ten ’til nine in the morning in Hawaii. I don’t know. I don’t feel jet lagged. I very seldom get jet lag unless it’s a long, long, long, long trip. But I generally get jet lag going west, and I was coming east. So, no, I feel fine. I’m a little tired. I will admit being a little tired. I don’t feel jet lagged. I don’t know, what’s jet lag? How does jet lag make you feel? Dopey, tired, lethargic? No, I don’t even know what those mean.