RUSH: Gerardo in Westchester, New York, I’m glad that you waited. Welcome to the program, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Rush, I cannot believe this. I gotta tell you, I gotta thank God, Mr. Snerdley, and yourself for letting me on and for not getting a service call. I’ve been a police officer in the New York area for a few years and now I’m working in Westchester. And you’ve been a beacon of hope for me, Rush. I mean, I listen to you, I got a nine-year-old son, couple daughters, six years old, and, you know, my son, I always have you on the radio, and he’s always quizzing me about you. I just gotta tell you, you’ve been a beacon of hope, but I gotta disagree with you today.
You know, I deal with people. I obviously deal with good people, bad people, and I see what’s going on in the world nowadays. I just feel, honestly, Rush, that the hope that this country at some point is gonna turn around, is not there. And it’s because of the media in this country, Rush. To me, the media in this country is like Pravda.
When the United States would say with the facts back in the day and I’m old enough to know this, they would have some facts, they would, you know, bring it to the attention of the media over there, and they would just say, you know what? We don’t know what you’re talking about. This is what reality is. And that’s what’s going on now in this country.
RUSH: I understand. I understand, you’re not alone. And I’m with you. I think the media is poison, and there certainly is no change in store for the media. They are who they are. But there are things happening even within the media universe that are going to threaten the power of what was called the mainstream media. This program did and the rise of conservative media destroyed their monopoly. There’s another generation now coming up doing the exact same thing. Gerardo, can you hang on through the break here?
CALLER: Absolutely, Rush.
RUSH: You see the belly of the beast every day and I can understand the impact that would have on you. But let’s finish this up when we have more time after the break. So don’t hang up, Gerardo.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: And we are back with Gerardo in Westchester in New York City. Gerardo, before we go any further. You said you have three kids and two of them are young.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: And if you wouldn’t mind I would like to send you some copies of the Rush Revere books for your kids.
CALLER: Oh, Rush, thank you so much. But, you know, that was gonna be one little thing I was gonna tell you. I bought Rush Revere for my son last year.
RUSH: Yeah?
CALLER: And the kid is a voracious reader, Rush. When I tell you voracious reader, he’ll get up at 5:30 in the morning and read books on end. It’s just unbelievable. He will not read your book.
RUSH: He will not?
CALLER: He will not read it. I mean, like I said, he’ll sit in the car with me, we’ll listen to you going places or what have you, but for some reason, I don’t know whether it’s because I got it for him and I said, “Here, read this, it’s good.” I don’t know, Rush. I feel awful about it.
RUSH: (laughing) Don’t feel bad about it. I’ll tell you what, let’s do this. Let me send you the audio version and the CDs.
CALLER: Awesome, awesome Rush.
RUSH: That way you can put ’em on in the car. Yeah, then he can hear them that way. That’s what I’ll do. So when we finish here, don’t hang up, we’ll get your address and I’ll send you some audio versions.
CALLER: God bless you, Rush.
RUSH: Maybe he’d read it if I sent it to him.
CALLER: Oh, Rush, are you kidding me? Oh, thank you, Rush.
RUSH: We’ll do that. We’ll make this work. ‘Cause if he is a voracious reader, he would love these books, there’s no question. I know how it can be. Sometimes parents don’t know anything.
CALLER: (laughing) Absolutely, Rush. Absolutely.
RUSH: Just like husbands don’t know anything.
CALLER: (laughing) That’s true, Rush. That’s true.
RUSH: Anyway, I know you’re a cop. You see the belly of the beast. You see the underside of it, and I can totally understand you have your realistic view of things that you probably think, and I wouldn’t blame you, and most cops, that if you finished every day saying, “You know, we can’t even keep up with the crime. Half of it gets thrown out. We catch ’em. Half of ’em get tossed back. There’s just no end to it.” And I’ve heard so many cops, and not just cops, but executives in law enforcement openly express — it’s not a fear so much, it’s just a resignation. We’re never gonna fix crime. We’re never gonna stop these guys.
There’s always gonna be, and it’s always gonna be outrageous, and we’re always gonna be shocked at how inhuman some of it is and so forth. But my point about we all hope that one day something happens and a turnaround takes place — and you don’t think it will because of the media — I totally understand what you’re saying. One big difference, though, you mentioned Pravda. You may not have stopped to think before this. At least Pravda lied to the Soviet people in trying to prop up the country. The Soviet media lied about the crop reports, told ’em, “Oh, man, we’re producing more wheat than you can imagine.” They lied to the Soviet people in the process of building up. Our media tears our country down every day.
CALLER: I have to agree with you a hundred percent on that, Rush.
RUSH: Now, as far as the turnaround, I think the media doesn’t yet know how their version of journalism is over. They’re so upset, you can read it in places like the New York Times, they’re so upset at bloggers. They’re so upset at people that don’t have formal journalism training. We now have websites and bloggers have blog posts and anybody can be a journalist now, and they’re fed up with it and they’re threatened by it. It’s the wild, wild west in the media now.
But there’s also gonna be something happening at some point, it may be your kids’ generation, who knows. But some generation is going to come of age in a period where things are so rotten and corrupt that they’re just not gonna put up with it, and they themselves are gonna say, “We don’t want to live this way,” and they will effect change. I can’t predict when; I don’t know when. But I’m always optimistic that in the long run the country’s gonna survive and that the country’s gonna triumph. There are always signs of it. These last two midterm elections to me are good indications. They’re not proof, but they are good indications, reason to be optimistic. Certainly there’s every reason in the world not to give up on this.
CALLER: Well, I haven’t given up, Rush. It’s just that, you know, even when we elect a Congress and a Senate that’s Republican and then they turn around and stab us in the back, that’s disheartening.
RUSH: I know.
CALLER: You know, before we’re done, I just want people to know that your average cop just wants to do his job every day, do it, respect people’s constitutional rights, keep everybody safe, and go home at night.
RUSH: Yeah.
CALLER: And the media is basically making that not a reality for people. They’re basically saying the police are out there to hurt ’em, and that’s not the case, Rush.
RUSH: I know. I know. I know exactly what you’re up against. I do. You are like the military in some ways in that regard, in terms of the way the left views you. Now, don’t hang up, Gerardo. I need your address so we can send some audio CDs of the Rush Revere series. I might even sneak in a — hey, Gerardo, are you still there? Is he still there?
CALLER: Yes, yes, I’m here.
RUSH: Gerardo, look, it’s Christmastime, and I’ve got an extra iPhone here. Would you like it?
CALLER: Are you kidding me, Rush? God bless you, Rush.
RUSH: Cool. Do you know which kind you’d prefer, the iPhone 6 or the iPhone 6 Plus?
CALLER: Rush, you’re the expert. Make it a Christmas surprise for me.
RUSH: Well, but, do you like using your phone one-handed?
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: Okay, then you need the iPhone 6. The 6 Plus, that’s the one with the five-and-a-half-inch screen, but to really use it you need both hands with it. You certainly wouldn’t use it in the car.
CALLER: Rush, God bless you.
RUSH: It’s the greatest couch phone.
CALLER: Merry Christmas. I can’t even believe this.
RUSH: Well, believe it. Believe it.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: You bet. So hang on, you’ll have it tomorrow.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush.
RUSH: And the Rush Revere stuff, we’ll get that out to you as soon as we can.