RUSH: Dan in Kawai, in Hawaii, great to have you on the program. Hello.
CALLER: Aloha, Rush. I just wanted to call and say thank you. I used to be an angry, hateful, raging liberal just like the rest of them. And I’m a young guy in my early twenties, and if it weren’t for me listening to you and opening my mind and actually listening to you and not just the sound bites out there about you I’d still be hopeless, and I just want to call and thank you for it, because you truly have changed my life and my perspective —
RUSH: Wow.
CALLER: — on the world as a liberal.
RUSH: I sincerely appreciate it, I really do, and I know you mean it. Can I ask you a question?
CALLER: Absolutely.
RUSH: Why were you so angry?
CALLER: Well, because the media wants you angry. The establishment wants you angry. They want you dissatisfied with the way the system is. Part of the liberal conditioning is that you’re never happy, and that’s what liberals don’t like to admit. I mean I can honestly say that because I used to be a liberal. I was unhappy. I was angry. I didn’t like Rush Limbaugh, he was a terrible person as far as I was concerned. Even though I’d never listened to your show, I somehow knew you were a terrible person. When I actually listened to your show, I realized how wrong and I was and I feel almost ashamed that I was duped.
RUSH: But it wasn’t just me, you’ve nailed it. You were unhappy at everybody. And nobody wanted you to be happy. It just wasn’t in the cards. Something was wrong with you if you were happy.
CALLER: Precisely.
RUSH: Well, have you ever heard of a right wing community agitator? You ever heard of a right wing community organizer?
CALLER: No. I thought those were only on the left wing.
RUSH: They are. They are. You’re exactly right. Agitating people, getting ’em all worked up, getting ’em ticked off, keeping ’em ticked off, keeping ’em mad, keeping ’em unhappy, that’s a job for people on the left and it’s not just keeping ’em unhappier. They’re easier to lead when they’re mad. They’re easier to shape, bend, flake, and form. But it’s what you get them mad at. The guy’s exactly right. Get ’em mad at the system. Get them mad at the status quo. Get them mad at capitalism, at prosperity, at the inequities, the unfairness. You made my day, Dan, I really appreciate it. I thank you very much.
I’ll never forget, I guess it was after the 2002 midterms. Yep, it was. Tom “Puff” Daschle, who was at the time the Senate majority leader, let slip with a truth. They had been somehow studying ratings for this program. They’d hired some people, some experts to go out and do some research. And Tom Daschle let it slip that their experts had told them, the Democrats, that I was not just preaching to any choir, that I was actually changing Democrats’ minds, and they were quite alarmed at that. As Daschle said, (imitating Daschle) “We’re very concerned, Tim. We’re very concerned, highly, highly concerned. Our experts have told us, Tim, and we’re concerned that Limbaugh’s not just preaching to the choir. No, no. Limbaugh, our experts say is actually convincing Democrats to think a new way. We’re highly concerned about this, Tim,” which is the way Daschle spoke. Dingy Harry does the same thing, speak in these soft tones and so forth.