Who’s next? Tina in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, you’re next on the EIB Network. Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. It’s an honor always. Before I get to my point, I can’t agree with you more. My husband’s in a small business in charge of several — it’s an LLC of, you know, Hilton’s, and they would love to be hiring, and when they extended the tax rates, my husband says, “Yeah, great, except we make five- to ten-year plans, not two-year plans.” They’d love to be hiring, but they’re not. But my point was that I called about is that I’m really sick of these kind of Krauthammer and Karl Rove — I have to put him in there, too, because as much as I like him, I’m sorry — holier-than-thou Washington crowd who are just so quick to diss people who aren’t Washington or aren’t them like Sarah Palin. And I hate it.
CALLER: Because she’s not from their ilk. That’s the only thing I can think of. But they do have an air about them that they think, you know, “We’ve been in politics our whole life, and she’s only done this,” or, “Just because she’s right on every damn issue doesn’t give her enough credibility.”
RUSH: You know, not to do an “I told you so” here, I really don’t like doing those, but I think I’ve been pretty clear for the last two years of the internecine battles in the Republican Party. There’s a struggle there. In the midst of Obama and the Democrats imploding, there is not unity on the Republican side for the answer to it. Conservatism in the Republican Party is still considered an outsider no matter who you are. If you’re a conservative you’re an outsider — I mean a genuine conservative. Yeah, there’s some class aspects here. I think that’s what you’re talking about — you know, being “of” Washington, being “of” the political elites and so forth. No question that that’s true. This comes as a surprise to people because a lot of people thought for many years the Republican Party is conservative and it’s united behind conservative candidates. I think the way Palin has been treated has really been a shock and an eye-opener for a lot of Republicans, because it really has been vicious. It is breathtakingly mean-spirited from the Republican side what’s been done to Palin, not just the Democrats where you would expect it to come from.
CALLER: Well, you know what, though, Rush? A lot of people when she drew the crowd she drew with McCain? I think people who actually voted for McCain were voting more for Palin than they were for him.
RUSH: Well —
CALLER: I know I was.
RUSH: I think so. Yeah, there’s no question. She’s in Massachusetts today and there’s a story (I just read it in the Boston Herald) that she is drawing mobs of people, and not one protester. She is drawing mobs. It is hilarious, folks, to read some of the press about Palin. They just are bugged to no end, accusing her of creating traffic dangers with her bus convoy! You know, she snuck out of the hotel in Gettysburg. She snuck out the back door to head up to New York, I think maybe to meet Trump or something. She beat the media out and they’re livid that she gave them the slip. They just can’t believe that she got away with that. They can’t believe she gave ’em the slip. They can’t believe that she would even try to give ’em the slip.
They can’t believe she succeeded in giving them the slip because she’s not that smart — and then she goes these places, and she’s loved and adored. Throngs of people show up, and they all want autographs and pictures and they all want to be close to her. There aren’t any protest signs. There aren’t any anti-Palin people showing up. They just are beside themselves. She really has them running in circles. She has got them so discombobulated, folks, it’s hilarious to watch. I’m looking for something here. There’s a piece by Martin Bashir who, I guess, works at PMSNBC in the afternoon. Yeah. Get this. I found this at Real Clear Politics. Martin Bashir: “It’s time now to Clear the Air and to ask a question: what is the purpose behind Sarah Palin’s current bus tour?
“It’s difficult to ask that question directly because Sarah Palin specializes in checkbook journalism. That is, she only gives interviews to a network that pays her in excess of $1 million a year. So we’re forced to make judgements [sic] from the outside and it all looks like the precursor to a presidential campaign.” Then he goes on to say that her bus tour might be in breach of federal law! The bus tour “could be in breach of a federal law because the United States Flag Code establishes important rules for the use and display of the stars and stripes, the flag of the United States. Under standards of respect and etiquette, it’s made clear that the flag of the United States should never be used for any advertising purpose whatsoever.
They’re ragging on her for eating pizza with knife and fork, and Trump, too. Trump is being ripped for eating pizza with a knife and fork. That story at Yahoo or somewhere, it’s the top story of the day at some websites aggregation. I was flying back from my super-secret meeting yesterday and, you know, I hadn’t eaten all day. It was middle of the afternoon, late afternoon getting back, and there was a miniature little pizza there. So I grabbed that and I ate it with a knife and fork. I never pick up a pizza and eat it with my hands. I always use a knife and fork. They’re ticked off at her about that. This guy, Martin Bashir, is dead serious. She’s in violation of flag law!
She is driving them insane. In fact, this story in the Boston Herald makes mention of the fact that Romney’s not too happy about this because this is his big coming out day, his big announcement. She’s up there stealing his thunder in a different part of the state. He’s in New Hampshire announcing. She’s drawing all the crowds; says that she’s not concerned about the party; she’s not concerned about delegates and this, that, and the other thing. You know, I have never met Sarah Palin. I’ve spoken to her twice in interviews. I don’t know her. People ask me for insight. I couldn’t tell you. So I don’t know. People ask me, “Is she doing this stuff because she has a score to settle with the Republicans, too?
“Does she think they were unkind to her during the campaign with some of the stuff they put out or let get out about the wardrobe?” and I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t know if she’s settling scores. I don’t know if what she’s doing is, quote, unquote, “establishing the brand” and making money. I don’t know if what she’s doing is having fun tweaking the media. Well, yeah, I do know she’s having fun doing that — and I think that represents a stunning reversal. That she’s able to is a stunning reversal. She has them on the run, she has them on defensive, she has them making themselves look like utter high school gossip-mongering fools. It actually is hilarious to look at the dander these people have been worked into.
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