RUSH: Lynette in Memphis as we start on the phones on Open Line Friday. Hi.
CALLER: (terrible audio) Hi. I just was listening —
RUSH: Hey, Lynette? Lynette! Whoa, whoa, whoa. Lynette, hang on. Are you on a speakerphone?
CALLER: No, I’m on my cell phone. It’s the only phone I have.
RUSH: Okay, you’re on your cell phone. Okay. You sound like you got an echo chamber.
CALLER: I’m not coming through very good?
RUSH: No, it sounds like you’re in a barrel. But I’ll do my best to hear you. Get as close to the microphone on your phone as you can.
CALLER: Okay. Hold on. Let me set it up. Hold on.
RUSH: That’s a little bit better.
CALLER: Is that better?
RUSH: That’s better.
CALLER: Okay. I was listening mostly to the guys grilling the IRS guys, and the first thing that popped into my head was, you know, it doesn’t matter how this is all gonna come out; I feel like the damage has been done to me at least because I’m like at the mentality where I’m not even gonna tell people my opinion. Like, I quit posting on Facebook. I’m not telling people one way or the other how I feel about things because I just don’t want ’em in my business. I don’t care what it takes, and I just wonder how many people are starting to feel this way because they’re so intrusive in the government.
RUSH: Let me tell you, I think it’s very wise. You are very wise to assume one of two things. Either whatever you’re saying is being monitored or whoever is hearing what you say might pass it on. I think so. Folks, you might think this is a little radical, but I think Lynette in Memphis has a point. This IRS thing, what’s the message? The government’s after us. Conservatives have been put on notice here. You think this is gonna stop? This isn’t going to stop. They’re just going to find new ways to do this.
Do you think the government is saying, “Oh, gosh we’re so sorry! We really didn’t mean to deny you your tax-exempt status”? The bottom line is, they want to freeze us out of participation in the political and electoral process. The primary objective of Barack Obama and all these people is the elimination of opposition. The realities of this story, what we’ve learned here, is conservatives have been put on notice. The federal government is after us.
A signal is being sent. The federal government, this administration, has been targeting every conservative group in ways probably beyond what has happened here at the IRS. You’d be wise to take this as a warning. (New Castrati impression) “Mr. Limbaugh, this is outrageous! I can’t believe you’re just out speaking like this and scaring people.” Mr. New Castrati, all I’m doing is observing. What has happened here, folks, is no small thing. What has happened here is not insignificant.
You and me — conservatives — have just seen how, for the past three years, we have been treated as enemies of the state. The people at the IRS thought nothing of denying us our constitutional rights, liberty, freedom, pursuit of happiness, political free speech (which is supposed to be untouchable by the US Constitution). This is no small thing here. This is not just the latest, ordinary, everyday scandal. You’re being sent a signal. Lynette in Memphis may not know it, but her instincts are right on the money.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: This is Deborah in Monticello, Georgia. It’s great to have you here.
CALLER: Rush! Rush!
RUSH: Deborah! Deborah! How are you?
CALLER: I am great. Thank you. All your bumper music is great!
RUSH: I appreciate that.
CALLER: Hey, listen. First of all: A great many thanks to my husband for making me listen to you since 1992. That’s when it started.
RUSH: Your husband made you listen to the program?
CALLER: He made me listen to you in 1992. Because, you know, all of the Drive-By Media, the liberal media, every time I heard your name it was, “Ooh, bad news,” what you were associated with.”
RUSH: It’s still the case today.
CALLER: I thought you could only be bad.
RUSH: It’s still the case today. They still do it today.
CALLER: Yeah, well, anyhow, he made me start listening to you. Also, I want to thank you for your confidence, because it was infectious, and it carried over to me and everything that I was learning and understanding. Not that I was a liberal, it’s just that all I heard and knew was all I heard and knew. In direct response to the previous caller, I’m having an opposite reaction to what I heard. Because, you know, this is it. I mean, I was already angry and upset about what was going on, but they’ve really gone too far now.
I’m not a high-tech kind of person. I’m a little bit of an older lady. I’ve never done Facebook, and let me tell you how I feel right now. I feel like creating a Facebook account, telling them everything that I think, everything that I feel, and putting it all out there — this is what America is and why they’re destroying it; America’s built on freedom — and telling them what the Constitution means. Bring it on! Come and find me. Come look for me. You want my guns? Come and get ’em.
RUSH: Go for it.
CALLER: I’ve just about had it.
RUSH: Go for it.
CALLER: This is it!
RUSH: I can’t tell you how much I love hearing you say this. Go for it. I understand the previous caller. She’s afraid. This is what this IRS thing is doing. It’s telling people, “If this government wants to stop you and target you, they can find you, and they will,” and it’s got her scared to death. But I love your attitude. “Okay, come get me. You want my guns? Come get me. You want to try to silence me? Come try.” I love that attitude. I happen to think yours is gonna be the majority attitude that people have.
CALLER: They want to silence me! You know what? I’ve had it. I will not be silenced. That’s my First Amendment right. I do have a right to protect myself from my government. That’s why the Second Amendment is there. I will no longer have anybody tell me how to speak. They do not have a right to tell me how I am to engage in dialogue, what I can say, or how I can say it. I do not need an Atlanta talk show host or RINO (who I’ve decided is a closet communist) to tell me how I am to engage in dialogue with the left. Don’t tell me how I am to engage in dialogue, or what I can and cannot say. I’m not gonna be silenced. I’m done! I’ve had it!
RUSH: Don’t stop. I tell you what: You keep on. Go ahead! Hang on just a second, Deborah. Don’t go away. She said she’s not high-tech. I want to fix that.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Back now to Deborah in Monticello, Georgia. Deborah, you said that you’re not a high-tech person. Is that right?
CALLER: Not particularly.
RUSH: What does that mean, you’re not a high-tech person? You don’t have a computer? You don’t go to websites?
CALLER: No, I have a computer. I used to even train attorneys to switch from DOS to Windows, basic stuff, but I haven’t kept up with the latest and greatest. I got a Mac — oh, about two years ago — to teach myself how to do some Apple stuff. I’m using the Jitterbug right now, okay? I think “smart phones” are stupid phones, but… (chuckling)
RUSH: Gee whiz! (laughing)
CALLER: I don’t go on Facebook and the Twitter and the whatnot.
RUSH: (laughing)
CALLER: I just feel like I don’t have time for it.
RUSH: Yeah. Well, now, I hear you on that. I hear you on that. Well, okay, so you’ve got your Mac. How about an iPad?
CALLER: Oh, my gosh! Yeah.
RUSH: I’ll send you one.
CALLER: That would… I’ve heard they’re pretty cool.
RUSH: They are very cool. They’re really cool, and they’re portable, and they’re the future, and they’re fun to boot. It’s a Macintosh operating system, it’s iOS. If you want to ever do Facebook and Twitter, it’s built in. You don’t have to do anything special other than get an account and sign up, if you want to go there. Like you, I don’t. I mean, we have accounts there for the program, and we post stuff occasionally, but I would never live there.
I know exactly how you feel about it. But all that aside, I want you to hold on. Do you want a big one, or do you want an iPad Mini? I would… In my case, I would take the big one. I’ll tell you why. The iPad Mini is not Retina yet, but it will be. They’re gonna come out with a new version of the Mini by the end of the year that will have a Retina, high-definition screen in it. The current one doesn’t have that, but the big one does, and it’s just great. You won’t believe it. You will not believe the display on this thing.
CALLER: Well, I would be honored.
RUSH: Cool, because it’s EIB signature, Rush engraved on the back of the thing. I mean, the whole thing, not just a little portion of it. The backside is EIB, El Rushbo signature engraved. So, look, Deborah hang on, and we will get your shipping information and hopefully… We’ll try to get it out to you for Saturday delivery so you’ll have it tomorrow if you want it. I’m also gonna throw in a couple of tumblers from the TwoIfByTea.com website. You will love these, too. Deborah, thanks much. I appreciate it.
Related Links