Malcontent Caller #2: Libertarian Says We Waste Money on Israel

CALLER: No, send them money.

RUSH: Well, I know, but —

CALLER: We borrow from China to send ’em money.

RUSH: We do a lot more for a lot of other countries.

CALLER: What do we get for it? Nothing. We give $4 billion a year handouts to Israel.

RUSH: Oh, I disagree. I disagree. We have a cultural alignment which is worth a lot, they’re the lone democratic outpost in that region.

CALLER: Socialist country.

RUSH: They do a lot, or have done a lot of dirty work in that region that we won’t do, can’t do, and much of it we’ll never hear about because it would divulge their involvement. But taking out the Iraqi nuclear reactor way back is —

CALLER: They’re a socialist economy. We don’t like socialism over here, but we love it over there.

RUSH: Well, you can look at this in any number of ways. I happen to love Israel because I love the people there. I have met them; I have been there. I have a —

CALLER: Well, that’s great. Send ’em money, but don’t take it from me to send ’em. I don’t want to send them money.

RUSH: Well, no. If we’re going to start talking about —

CALLER: If you want to contribute to them, that’s fine.

RUSH: Do you want to see Israel wiped off the map? That’s the alternative. Do you want to see them wiped off the map?

CALLER: No. They have nuclear weapons, they’re a modern country with a great economy. They’re not gonna be wiped off the map, and (stammering), you know, w-why — why…? I just don’t think we need to give them handouts.

RUSH: Well, no. According to you, they have all that because we funded it, and you don’t like that.

CALLER: We gave them a lot. They built their own nuclear weapons.

RUSH: Right, but we did that for a reason and it’s gonna go a long way toward… The alternative here is abandoning them and having them wiped off the map.

CALLER: Eh, th-th-that’s — that’s — I think that’s (garbled) over the years.

RUSH: Of course it is. Of course it is. But there’s far more to this relationship than that. You want to start calling… This is where I start having problems with you Libertarians: Everything is just black or white when it comes to money and what’s worth it and how is it worth, is it being spent and so forth. Calling Israel a “welfare queen” compared to what the kind of money we waste domestically in this country, there has to be a value attached here. There has to be . You talk about there’s no value; we don’t get anything for it. They don’t do anything for us. I just profoundly disagree with that.

I think they’re a great ally. (sigh) We, as the superpower of the world, have to do these kind of things to maintain our own position as a superpower. But there are a lot of other reasons why I support our relationship with Israel. It’s not just a conservative biblical association. I think that’s what you’re getting at, too, that there’s some biblical attachment to Israel based on conservatism and religion — and for me that’s not it. It has nothing to do with that. It’s far more real world, the value that we get from having a diplomatic and almost a brotherhood relationship with Israel. Anyway, I’m glad you called, Greg. I appreciate it.

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RUSH: Charles, or Chas I should better say, Lexington, Kentucky, hello, sir, welcome to the EIB Network.

CALLER: Thank you very much. I want to thank you and Mr. Snerdley for taking my call.

RUSH: You bet, sir.

CALLER: It is indeed a great privilege and a high honor to speak with you.

RUSH: I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

CALLER: To quote our great friend Chris Matthews I think there’s a thrill running up my leg.

RUSH: Ooh.

CALLER: And you do have fun, sir, and so do we. For any of those of us that have been privileged to sit on hold for an hour and a half you get to hear all the wonderful, funny ads and parodies and everything again. It really is fun.

RUSH: It is an added bonus for people who are on hold because it is a long time most people are on hold on this show. I appreciate your patience hanging around.

CALLER: As they say, good things come to those who wait. I send you Jewish Republican, bluegrass, Kentucky Wildcat, sharp Southerner dittos.

RUSH: Well, thank you, sir.

CALLER: And I want to thank you so much for your unconditional support of Israel. You talked probably about an hour, hour and a half ago about how the Jewish people have survived, many civilizations that haven’t. We have a joke about that any time we celebrate a Jewish holiday. There are three lines to a Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us. They failed. Let’s eat.

RUSH: They tried to kill us. They failed. Let’s eat. (laughing)

CALLER: Yes, sir. I’m gonna make a prediction here that the next GOP candidate, whoever he or she is, will get more than 40% of the Jewish vote, which is currently the record held by Ronald Reagan against Jimmy Carter.

RUSH: I keep hearing this, I keep hearing it, and I would love for that to be true.

CALLER: If it happens, it means Florida and Ohio almost certainly go to the GOP, which makes it very difficult for the Democrats to win.

RUSH: Yeah, but, you know, I tell you, liberals are liberals first, and you can confront them with all of the damning truth that you can muster, and it won’t move ’em. It depends on who tells them. The truth can be the truth, but if the wrong persons tells you, you’ll discount it.

CALLER: Yep. Have you seen Ed Koch’s —

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: — missive today in National Review?

RUSH: Yeah, I saw it. I heard Ed Koch. Ed Koch, good friend of mine, smoked cigars with Ed Koch once.

CALLER: Good.

RUSH: I say that ’cause people are starting to get… (lauging) I find I can irritate people by either saying I play golf with them or smoke cigars with them. No, Koch, I’ve heard him. He thought Obama would be an improvement, asset US foreign policy. He admits that it’s been the opposite.

CALLER: Hm-hm. Well, I have a number of Jewish friends who did vote for Obama in ’08 that are having serious second thoughts, and another point that has been made is, a lot of rich Jews are keeping their wallets and pocketbooks closed this year.

RUSH: Well, now, I have seen that story. But it’s still early. And, you know, it will depend on what those Jewish people are told about the Republican nominee, depending on who it is.

CALLER: Well, I hope enough of them will make up their own minds. I also wanted to defend the state of Israel against that person that said the state of Israel was welfare queens. I need to remind that person that we’ve been sending more money to Egypt than we have to Israel every year, that most of the technology in your cell phones is Israeli, and after 9/11 the US sent their best experts over to Israel to talk with the IDF and to talk with Mossad about how to fight terrorism. That’s not a well-known story, but of course Israel’s been on the front lines of terrorism for 60-something years now.

RUSH: You know as well as I do that you’ve got conspiracy theory bigots. You know the cliches better than I do about how you control the money, you control the power.

CALLER: Yes. Trust me, I’m a poor Jew. I don’t control as much money as I’d like to.

RUSH: (laughing) The cliches are everywhere, and exist on the left, too, I mean there just as many Jewish people, I don’t know as many, but there are Jewish people who have this distorted view of conservatives that isn’t gonna change no matter what. I’d love to see this 40% number change as you suggest. But, you know, Jewish people seem to have long memories about everything except Democrats, the same thing with blacks. Black voters have long memories about everything except Democrats. It’s frustrating and at the same time fascinating, in a political sense anyway to observe it. I appreciate the call, Chas.

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