RUSH: This is Bava in Brooklyn. You pronounce this Ba-va?
CALLER: That’s right.
RUSH: Hi, Bava. It’s nice to have you on the program.
CALLER: First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your 20 years.
RUSH: Thank you.
CALLER: I remember ten years ago when I first listened to you. Before that I read a book that today I consider really, really stupid. It was about you and it was called ‘Rush Limbaugh is a Big, Fat Idiot.’ But I wasn’t really involved in politics, I was busy, with kids and home, and, you know, and things like that. But then I started working with my husband, and every day I listened to the radio, and I turned it onto your program, and I heard you talking about Israel — and I’m an Israeli; I was born in Israel — and I went, ‘Oh, my gosh! I wish all Jews would talk about Israel the way you do,’ and I started listening to you on that day, and I realized — you actually helped me realize — that I am a conservative. I wasn’t really serving any party before that, but on the day that Hillary Clinton announced that she’s actually running for senator from the state of New York, I became a registered Republican.
RUSH: (laughter) (applause)
CALLER: So… And, you know, since then I have been listening to you and more and more. I am a conservative, more than a Republican.
RUSH: Good.
CALLER: I’m really very, very conservative in every possible way.
RUSH: Excellent. I love hearing you say that. I love hearing you say, ‘I’m a conservative,’ because you’re saying it with pride, and you’re saying it with conviction.
CALLER: Absolutely. Absolutely. And I have to tell you, I work in the health care industry, a small part. I collect money from insurance companies, and every day I’m convinced more and more that socialized medicine is going to be a disaster.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: An absolute disaster.
RUSH: You know, especially if you look at the economic climate that we’re in. The growth is happening, but you look at the credit crisis, the mortgage problems and the housing industry, imagine piling socialized medicine on top of that.
CALLER: I shudder to think about it.
RUSH: I tell you what’s going to happen. The sympathy play that the Democrat Party will mount upon the death of Senator Kennedy will read to the push for one of his signature issues, which is socialized or nationalized health care.
CALLER: That’s right. Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: And they’ll probably call it Kennedy Care or some such thing, and they’re going to really be tugging at people’s heartstrings emotionally, it’s going to be tough for elected members of Congress to resist this. ‘How could you deny the one thing Senator Kennedy devoted his life to? Have you no heart? And what about the children?’ Be prepared, Bava, because it’s going to be an onslaught.
CALLER: And it really scares me. It really scares me. I see what’s happening today, and people are not going to get health care. They’re just not going to get it. Exactly what’s happened in England is going to happen here and you’re not going to have doctors. You’re not going to have people going into medical schools.
RUSH: It’s already starting to happen. Doctors are already opting out, and they’re setting up fee-for-service-business. If you give them a retainer like a lawyer —
CALLER: Mmm-hmm.
RUSH: — then you can go see them off insurance, off Medicare, off this kind of — doctors are already opting out of this.
CALLER: I heard on the Brit Hume show two nights ago that doctors are signing in patients that they’re not going to go to a lawyer if something wrong is going to happen, they’re going to go to an arbitrator, and they are going to be bound what the arbitrator says, and I think there’s a limit to what the doctors can pay, like a quarter million dollars or something, in these arbitrating agreements.
RUSH: Well, that highlights another problem is the medical malpractice insurance.
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: Courtesy of the tort bar, led by estimable people such as John Edwards.
CALLER: Yes, yes.
RUSH: When he’s not hiding out in the basements of hotel bathrooms avoiding reporters from the National Enquirer.
CALLER: That’s right.
RUSH: Bava, thank you so much. It’s great to hear from you.
CALLER: Thank you, and —
RUSH: I appreciate it.
CALLER: Please do the great work.
RUSH: Thank you very much.
CALLER: It’s absolutely terrific listening to you.
RUSH: Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: This is Jason in Philadelphia. Jason, thanks for calling. It’s great to have you here.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. Super mega dittos. Quick little story for you to kick it off.
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: My father passed away about 20 years ago, and this was about the same time I started listening to you. So you’ve been sort of a father figure to me over all these years, which, I mean, it’s just incredible. I’m so happy that you are out there, inspiring people like myself. It is just incredible, and thank you for everything.
RUSH: Well, thank you, sir, but please do not eliminate yourself from the achievements that you’ve had. You’ve played a major role in them, more than I have.
CALLER: Oh, absolutely. And, you know, it really does. It rolls into why I called in, which is because of the call yesterday and this lady saying that her blood pressure was being caused by you, and I would actually say that you’re the one that’s been my blood pressure medication over the years. I have high blood pressure as well, and you’ve been one of the things that’s helped keep it down by keeping me smiling and laughing when things get tough. Like I say, I really appreciate everything you’ve done. You know, you really are the perfect blood pressure medication for us out here who think that the Congress is just insane.
RUSH: Well… (laughing) I know. It’s maddening some of the stuff we have to put up with from public figures and what they say and what they do, and what makes it maddening is that there’s no oversight of these people, particularly the Democrats. The Drive-By Media will just amplify whatever they say or ignore the really embarrassing things, like Obama and inflating your tires and getting a tune-up in order to save us from the trouble of having to drill for additional oil.
CALLER: Well, I can’t afford a tune-up now because I spent that money yesterday in my gas tank. So I guess I’ve gotta pick one or the other, either gas or tune-up.
RUSH: Well… (laughter) I know, ’cause with Obama you can’t have it all.
CALLER: That’s right. And with the Democrats, you won’t have any.
RUSH: You can’t eat as much as you want, you can’t drive as much as you want because the rest of the world is mad at us for these things.
CALLER: Well, under the Democrats we won’t have to worry about that. Because if we just give them everything they will fulfill our dreams.
RUSH: Well, that’s Charles Rangel’s plan, he’s got a new tax plan called: ‘You make it; we take it.’
CALLER: Sounds perfect.
RUSH: It’s an alternative to the AMT.