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Nov. 19, 2007 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:29
November 19, 2007, Monday, Hour #3
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Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.
Great to be with you.
Rush Limbaugh Thanksgiving week as we kick off three days of broadcast excellence this week.
What are we doing on Thursday, HR?
We got a best of on Thursday.
Oh, best of on Thursday and Friday.
So and then we'll be back to our normal schedule one week from today.
Telephone number if you'd like to join us, 800-282-2882.
And the email address is rush at EIBnet.com.
That was fun.
We haven't done that before.
It was shaky this morning.
I did not make a big deal out of this because we're all professionals here and highly traded specialists.
But this television business, you would not believe the amount of equipment brought in to pull off 30 minutes of a simulcast.
In this room alone, there are two lights, two cameras, cables all over the place, a teleprompter.
And Martha did her first half hour from another studio, and we made the mistake of loading up all that equipment on our, and it's a big UPS, uninterruptible or uninterrupted power supply.
And we, well, we didn't fry it, but we overloaded it, which caused the broadcast facilities, not the rest of the space in the building, the broadcast facilities went totally dark about 10 till 11.
And we didn't get everything back up and running, computers, the atomic clocks and so forth until about 11.25.
And Brian Johnson, the broadcast engineer down here, did miraculous work in getting this all back up and running.
And it all happened in a seamless way.
It was very much fun to do.
And I want to thank the people at Fox News Channel for coming down and doing this because it's something we hadn't done before.
It was a lot of fun, very unique.
But now we move on, ladies and gentlemen, other items in the news.
And I'm just going to start with what's left here at the top of my stack before we went to the simulcast of the last half hour.
Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was heckled by a member of the audience during a forum on global warming on Saturday.
Clinton was interrupted by a code pink anti-war demonstrator shouting that she had voted for the war in Iraq.
Taking it in stride, Hillary heckled the code pink anti-war demonstrator right back as he was escorted out.
Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Clinton and Kucinich detailed their positions on global warming, energy conservation, and other environmental issues, occasionally talked about other issues, including the war in Iraq, before an invitation-only audience at the Wadsworth Theater in Westwood.
Let me move on to something here.
Speaking of the war in Iraq, great piece today by Jack Kelly in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
And the headline, it's true, Iraq is a quagmire, but the real story is not something that you have heard.
You know, people, and I mentioned this last week, people are beginning to use the word victory in the current context more frequently, more and more.
And it's not being reported, obviously not.
Our strategy is flawed, and it's too late to change it.
Our resources have been squandered, our best people killed.
We're hated by the natives, and our reputation around the world is circling the drain.
We must withdraw.
But these are not the words of Dingy Harry or any other Democrat.
Mr. Kelly writes, I'm channeling Osama bin Laden, for whom the war in Iraq has been a total catastrophe.
Al-Qaeda had little presence in Iraq during the regime of Saddam Hussein, but once he was toppled, Al-Qaeda's chieftains decided to make Iraq the central front in the global jihad against the great Satan.
The most important and serious issue today for the whole world is this third world war, which the Crusader Zionist coalition began against the Islamic nation.
That's bin Laden from an audio tape posted on Islamic websites in December of 2004.
Jihadis, money, and weapons report into Iraq all for naught.
Al-Qaeda has been driven from every neighborhood in Baghdad, according to Major General Joseph Phil, the U.S. commander there, who reported this on the 7th of November.
This follows the expulsion of al-Qaeda from two previous capitals of its Islamic Republic of Iraq, Ramadi and Baskuba, or Bakuba.
Iraq has proved to be the graveyard, not just of many al-Qaeda operatives, but of the organization's reputation as a defender of Islam.
Now, you may not be aware of the calamities that have befallen al-Qaeda because our news media have paid scant attention to them.
The situation has changed so unmistakably and so swiftly that we should be reading proud headlines daily, says Ralph Peters.
Where are these headlines?
They are not there because they don't fit the narrative.
I have a whole stack of news out of Iraq and how good it is.
Let's just start with the first one at the top of the stack.
This is from the New York Times.
U.S. says attacks in Iraq fell to the level of February 2006.
The American military said yesterday that the weekly number of attacks in Iraq had fallen to the lowest level since just before the February 2006 bombing of the Shiite Shrine in Samarra, an event commonly used as a benchmark for the country's worst spasm of bloodletting after the American invasion.
So the levels have reached the pre-Samara mosque blast that was destroyed, the spark, the so-called civil war that never was, and Jack Murthy is constantly railing about.
But there is no civil war.
In fact, on page two, these trends are stunning in military terms and beyond the prediction of most proponents of the surge last winter, said Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, referring to President Bush's troop reinforcement plan.
Nobody knows if the trends are durable in the absence of national reconciliation in the face of major U.S. troop withdrawals set to start in 2008.
In the Los Angeles Times today, despite persistent sectarian tensions in the Iraqi government, war-weary Sunnis and Shiites are joining hands at the local level to protect their communities from militants on both sides.
In the last two months, a U.S.-backed policing movement called Concerned Citizens, launched last year, has spread rapidly into the mixed Iraqi heartland.
Of the nearly 70,000 Iraqi men in the awakening movement started by Sunni Muslim sheikhs who turned their followers against al-Qaeda in Iraq.
There are now more in Baghdad and its environs than anywhere else.
And a growing number of those are Shiite Muslims.
Commanders in the field think they have tapped into a genuine public expression of reconciliation that has outpaced the elected government's progress on mending the sectarian rift.
So, a question, if Shiites and Sunnis are working together, you don't have a civil war.
There never was a civil war, but there certainly isn't one now.
Every Democrat ought to be forever discredited on this issue because of what has happened, because of the greatness of the United States military, because of the perseverance of their commanders and the perseverance of the president, by the way, who refused to buckle and to capitulate for calls to give up and surrender.
I read this news, and admittedly, now it's in the New York Times and the LA Times, and it's out there, and it is what it is.
But it is not being picked up by any of the broadcast networks, and I doubt that it will be.
And of course, Democrats are not going to be asked about this because it will take them into areas that they don't wish to go.
If they are asked about it, they say, oh, this is temporary, and the real problem is the Iraqi government hasn't been able to put itself together politically.
This doesn't really mean anything.
They ought to be punished at the ballot box next November, both as a party and individually, profoundly for doing everything they've done to try to sabotage victory, to impugn the honor and the integrity of U.S. troops.
Ralph Peters is right.
There ought to be all kinds of banner headlines celebrating the great work of the men and women in the United States Armed Forces, but it just doesn't fit the template.
It's a shame.
It doesn't matter, folks.
We are not going to go silent.
Check this from Newsweek, Rod Nordland.
Baghdad comes alive.
For the first time in years, the Iraqi capital is showing signs of life.
The calm is all too fragile.
And it's an opportunity for the government.
It cannot afford to miss.
This guy, Rod Nordland, returned to Baghdad after being gone for four months.
And he was stunned by what he saw.
For the first time, however, returning to Baghdad after an absence of four months, I can actually say that things do seem to have gotten better and in ways that may even be durable.
Emerging from our bunkers in the red zone, I see the results everywhere throughout Baghdad.
Shops and street markets are open late again, taking advantage of the fine November weather.
Parks are crowded with strollers.
Kids are playing soccer in the streets.
Traffic has resumed its customary epic snarl.
The Baghdad Zoo is open.
Caretakers have even managed to bring in two lionesses to replace the menagerie that escaped in the early days of the war.
The nearby fun fair in Zahra Park, where insurgents used to set up mortar tubes to rocket government ministries, where a car bombing killed four and wounded 25 in October, is back in business.
In fact, in certain parts of Baghdad, you can even get a martini.
People are buying adult beverages again, as they always had in Baghdad, until religious extremists forced many neighborhood liquor shops to close.
This is phenomenal news.
It is profoundly phenomenal news.
And you're probably only hearing about it here.
In fact, the Washington Post, Peter Baker, for Bush, advances, but not approval.
The war in Iraq seems to have taken a turn for the better.
The opposition at home has failed in all efforts to impose its own strategy.
North Korea is dismantling its nuclear program.
The budget deficit's falling.
A new attorney general has been confirmed despite objections from the left.
In many ways, the shifting political fortunes may owe as much to the absence of bad news as to any particular good news.
Well, yes!
Absence of bad news.
But then they make a great effort here to point out that it isn't helping Bush in the poll.
See, and that's what they are deliriously happy about.
Just be patient, folks.
Hang in there, be tough.
This is the United States of America.
Our military is a typical example of all of our country.
It is exceptional.
And the United States of America is exceptional.
It's just a shame that a major political party refuses to see it.
This exceptionalism refuses to trust it, refuses, in fact, may even resent it.
Country may be too wealthy for them to actually create the dependence that they so desperately need to keep winning elections.
Be right back.
Stay with us.
Hi, welcome back.
El Rushbo, a man, a living legend, a way of life, meeting and surpassing all audience expectations on a daily basis.
All right, to the phones, we go to Bob in Pittsburgh.
Nice to have you with us, sir.
Hello.
Rush, I can't believe this.
Pittsburgh Steeler dittos, buddy.
But I'm too upset to talk about them.
They upset me yesterday.
Rush, first of all, I can say so many things to you.
Just thank God for you.
That's all.
I'm just going to keep that concise because you just thank God for yourself.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you very much.
The Steelers will be okay.
That was a trap game.
I knew that was going to happen yesterday.
Miami is another trap game, but since they got the trap game out of the way.
Oh, but that was they snunk up the place.
You know what happened?
Can I tell you what happened yesterday?
Tell me.
The New Jersey Jets are a hapless bunch.
They are so bad that their fans don't even want to watch them.
So there were more Steelers fans at Giant Stadium with terrible towels than there were Jets fans.
The place holds 78,000 people.
And the Jets players got fired up by that.
They got mad that there are more visiting fans at a home game of theirs than there were their own fans.
And it's, you know, Steeler fans are amazing.
Steeler fans are like your fans.
They are just amazing.
They're amazing people everywhere, all around the world.
Gary Myers.
Gary Myers wrote about this today in the New York Daily News, a very esteemed and distinguished football columnist.
And he wrote, Steeler fans have been known to infiltrate the stadiums of their absolutely.
Infiltrate.
Absolutely.
No infiltration.
They bought tickets and walked in there wearing their Steelers, terrible towels.
Anyway, I know you didn't want to talk about the Steelers because they made you sick, but it was a trap game.
It was bound to happen.
Better to get it out of the way now.
The biggest problem is Steelers cannot beat anybody on the road, and that's a big problem.
And they tend to play down to their competition, too.
It drives me crazy.
They've done it for years, but I love the Steelers.
And Rush, just to get right to it, the president, I love President Bush, but his silence drives me crazy.
He could have laid this groundwork for the past eight years of how wonderful, how wonderful our armed services are, our soldiers.
I think he should have ran to that microphone every single chance he got and every question he was ever given as to what's going wrong in Iraq.
He should have said, yes, I'll tell you what's going wrong in Iraq, but not until I first tell you what all these young men and women have done.
And just A to Z, told them everything, every wonderful thing they've done, and then say, okay, now let's touch on what's going wrong.
Because of course there are things going wrong.
And in this case, Rush, it would have been set up perfectly for him to go right back to that microphone and say, this is what I've been telling you all along.
He has driven me crazy with his silence, Rush.
Well, you know, you're echoing sentiments that I hear about not just the president, but by a lot of Republicans.
They just don't have good PR communication skills.
I hear you, man.
I don't have an answer for you.
I don't know.
The president is not one who touts his achievements.
He doesn't tout himself personally.
He doesn't lead, as I mentioned earlier, a politically ideological movement.
And he really, the thing that maybe this will help you and others to understand President Bush more than anything else.
He really has an awe and a reverence and a respect for the office of the presidency.
That's rarefied air.
That is a small club, the number of people who've held that job.
And he thinks that one of his most important duties is to do nothing to besmirch it, to cause it disrespect.
And that's why he doesn't get partisan.
That's why he doesn't do partisan things or speak in a partisan fashion outside of some campaigns.
I do think, however, that when we get into next year and the Republicans have their nominee, I do think that he's going to take the gloves off.
And I think you're going to love what you hear.
I'm just guessing, but I think that he's going to be actively involved.
But he just, you know, he has this attitude of reverence for the office that he's not going to demean it.
And I think he thinks getting political and touting himself and this sort of stuff demeans the office.
And that obviously is a historical view that he's taking and a view regarding his own legacy of occupancy.
And I appreciate Bob the call.
This is Chris in Cleveland.
Hi, Chris.
Nice to have you with us.
Hey, Rush.
How are you, buddy?
Good, sir.
I got to actually tell the previous caller, watch out for those Cleveland Browns, because we're on the come up this year, too.
Yeah, you guys might have just found your way into playoffs yesterday.
Oh, man, that was an amazing play.
It's one of those destiny things.
You make that field goal that way, that's destiny.
That means there's good things heading for your team.
Well, I didn't call it that reason either, Rush.
The reason I called is I am young.
I'm 28, and I am prior military.
And, you know, I've been listening to your show off and on.
Actually, I would consider myself more Democrat, but I've been listening to your show so I could become educated on the right wing of this country.
Good for you.
Good for you.
Had a way to be.
Excuse me?
I said, good for you.
Ida Way to be.
Well, I got to be, Rush.
I can't talk about anything if I don't know anything.
I got to be me.
Sammy Davis Jr., 1968.
Well, the reason I'm calling is I hear about all these things about how our military is doing overseas.
And I got to say, God bless the truth because we are the finest in the world.
I agree with that, Rush.
My question and my fears are almost this, Rush, and that is, we get these reports from the higher-ups.
We get these reports, but we're not getting these reports from the grunts.
We're not getting these reports from the things like that.
You know, reenlistment is down.
Turn it on.
That's not really true.
One of these, this Newsweek story was a guy not higher up, not a high official or anything.
I've got a couple buddies over there that email me, and they've told me how well things are going.
But this is basically drive-by media reports telling us this.
I say it.
You believe it.
Rush Limbaugh, the Excellence in Broadcasting Network.
I have to share this email.
I've gotten loads of emails on our simulcast with Martha McCallum on the live desk.
Hey, Rush, I noticed that you and Martha didn't chat during the breaks.
What gives?
Don't you like her?
You know, I am stunned at the image you people must have of me.
I am a highly trained broadcast specialist.
This was business here today.
And I did chat with her a while during some of the breaks, but some of the breaks didn't fully coordinate.
But we were coordinating times when her break ended and my break ended so that we could come out in a coordinated way.
And she was talking with her people up in New York at her control room, too.
So it was, I'm just, I'm stunned.
Somebody would question my professionalism in a circumstance like this.
Robert, sell call from Paramus, New Jersey.
Nice to have you with us, sir.
Hello.
How you doing, Rush?
Good to speak to you.
Thank you.
You shock me.
It sounds like you shouldn't call sugarcoating this whole Iraq thing.
If 70% of the country doesn't even have clear water, from the way you're making it sound, is if we left today, everything is fine.
You're talking about a balloon.
You're putting words in my mouth out there, dude.
I never said if we left today, things would be cooking fine.
Yeah, you're saying everything's great.
I'm reading to you from the New York Times.
I am reading to you from the Los Angeles Times.
I was reading to you from Newsweek.
I was reading to you from a guy named Jack Kelly at the Pittsburgh Gazette.
I was reading to you from a whole bunch of different people who have to belatedly and I'm sure begrudgingly have to report this good news.
Okay, so what do you think, though?
Forget about what these people are writing.
Do you think things are going great in Iraq that we can leave pretty soon and nothing bad is going to happen?
You know, it is the premise of your question that is somewhat irritating to me.
I'll be glad to answer that, but I first want to ask you one back.
Okay.
Why are you so seemingly hopeful that things not improve?
What is it about this that you want it to fail?
Okay, now you're assuming that I want it to fail.
All I'm calling up is because you're talking on the radio like things are going so great.
And I'm like, oh my God, things are not that great.
And you're making it sound like things are great.
Are great, and they are vastly improved.
And I have great trust and faith in the United States military.
And I have great trust and faith that the damage we've incurred against al-Qaeda is far greater than anybody knows and hasn't been reported.
I think is reason for optimism.
I'm an optimistic guy.
The way I look at it, Rush, you have like about six to eight million Iraqis who have left Iraq or Baghdad.
They're coming back and killing them.
They're on their streaming.
There's nobody left to kill.
They're streaming.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh, what?
That's who said that there's nobody left to kill?
David Obie.
David Obie of Wisconsin.
I didn't know you were a Democrat plant.
This isn't CNN.
Oh, my God, a Democrat plant.
I'm at the motor vehicles having my car inspected.
I'm no Democrat plant.
Are you an illegal immigrant trying to get a license?
No, I'm an illegal immigrant.
No, no, Rush.
Come on.
I'm just having fun.
I'm in a frisky, frolicky mood here.
I want you to look positively at this.
Robert, I want you to be able to.
Things are improving.
And you got to be able to see what is and react to it.
Nobody's using final victory here.
Nobody's okay.
It's VI Day, victory in Iraq.
We bring everybody home.
Nobody's saying that.
But that is victory.
That's what I want to see.
I want to get us out of there.
I don't want to spend any more of my tax dollars over there.
I want it spent over here.
Nah, nah, nah.
We're spending more money here than you can shake a stick at.
Why do you want to lose?
I don't hell sure as hell don't want to lose.
That's what's going to happen.
We have to get out of there.
I want to get out of there.
That's Nancy Pelosi-Harry Reed talking.
We pull out of there now just to give you more tax dollars to spend here.
You can't mean that.
No, no, no, no.
You can't.
So you're saying we're going to stay there forever.
There's no getting out.
If we get out, we lose.
That's what you're saying.
I'm telling you that responsible leaders of this country are going to do what's necessary to protect our national security.
And they're going to pay for it.
They're going to come up with the money to pay for it.
You better get ready because I'm going to make your prediction.
The people in the Democrat Party that you apparently, well, you're echoing their words, you had better be prepared because next year, early next year, once they have their candidate, Mrs. Clinton, you are going to witness one of the biggest turnarounds on national security by the Democrat Party you've ever seen.
You're going to wonder what happened to them.
Once they've got your money for the primaries and once they've got their candidate all wrapped up, once they've fundraised as much as they can for moveon.org, you're going to see not all, I mean, you won't see Harry Reid or Pelosi doing it, but Mrs. Clinton and others are going to have a little shift here because she wants to be elected president.
And people elect presidents on part because of how they feel the candidates will do in protecting the country, national security, and we certainly are threatened.
And Mrs. Clinton's going to let it be known that she'll do whatever it takes to protect this country.
Mrs. Clinton's already said she could not commit to getting troops out of Iraq in the first four years of her presidency.
She's already throwing these little hints out.
So you better get ready to be shocked and stunned when a serious number of Democrats start talking about the bad guys as the bad guys and not Bush as the bad guy.
When they start talking about our real enemies as our enemies, I'm afraid some of you people are going to need counseling.
And you're going to have felt betrayed and you're going to be battered liberal syndrome all over again.
And this is Chuck in Bradenton, Florida.
Chuck, welcome to the program.
Nice to have you with us.
Rush.
Hey.
It's a pleasure, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Very much so.
I'm a little nervous, so bear with me.
No problem.
First time caller here.
First off, I've converted my ex-wife from a liberal to a Republican.
So there's got to be some credit given there somewhere to you because after listening to you for all these years, why I was able to use some of the things you've said over the radio and spew it towards her.
It worked, brother.
I'm so happy to hear this.
It's so rare.
Yeah, yeah.
But I have to tell you something.
It could not have been anything you did to convert your wife because husbands can't do that.
Well, ex-husbands.
It was all me.
You're right.
Husbands, and at the very least, ex-husbands.
That's true, too.
You know?
As a husband, you at least stand a little bit of a chance, you know.
As a ex-husband, forget it.
Listen, Kerr and I put our 20-year-old on a plane in Tampa yesterday bound for Iraq.
My question is.
You know, God bless you.
I'm still, I think people like you, that we talk about the troops a lot, the families are not shown proper respect and appreciation often enough.
So, really, God bless all of you.
Our question to you, and I know she's probably listening even at work.
Our question to you is: who do you think?
I mean, I just heard you talk about Hillary or whoever their nominee is making a big swing after the primary.
It's a prediction.
It's a prediction.
I know.
I know better than to trust any Democrat.
My question to you is: on the Republican side, do you see someone that we can count on to take care of not only our son, but the rest of the sons and daughters over there?
I think any of them would.
Well, we've got a, you know, our candidates, people, they're not all excited about them and so forth.
But I'm going to tell you something: compared to that roster of Democrat candidates, the Republican roster is filled with really quality people.
Well, there may be a couple exceptions, but I mean, they're good, good people, and eminently all of them qualified to represent the party in most ways.
None of them are genuinely thoroughly conservative.
You can't always get what you want in that regard.
But in terms of the question you're asking, any one of them would put the defense and protection of this country first and foremost.
You shouldn't have any doubt about that.
I mean, she's a big Huckabee fan.
She leans a little towards McKay and I'm following Romney.
I mean, it's just, I really don't.
Listen, I got to tell you, as an average American, I don't trust any of them because they're all politicians.
Okay, I really don't.
I understand that.
However, I do have, you know, as an American, I will do my part to cast my vote.
And so I pay very close attention, or try to anyway, as best I can.
So, you know, I just thought, well, you know, let's give the Rush a call and see what he has to say to me.
I think this is, look at, let me tell you what this election is going to be about.
It's not just national security.
But the Democrats have given everybody reason, doubt their commitment to it.
They have invested in defeat.
But this election is not going to be about Iraq.
Iraq is going to be off the table because things are going well.
Bush is not on the ballot.
This election is going to be about the future of the country and whether it's going to drift more towards socialism or whether we're going to maintain our capitalist roots, entrepreneurial spirit, rugged individualism.
It's a seminal, serious question.
This is, the 08 presidential race is the last chance for 60s anti-war radical baby boomers to get their hands around this country, their arms around this country, and shape it in the image that they've wanted it to be for 40, 45 years.
And this is if the Clintons lose this, they're done in terms of the White House.
You're going to have a new generation of candidates come along in 2004, 2012 and beyond.
So this is it.
And when you, when you, and by the way, the Republican candidates are going to be a baby boomer too, but not an anti-war radical baby boomer.
So this is it.
This is the final battle of the 60s baby boomers, the anti-war radicals.
And that means the future of the country is what will be on the table and what it will be like and what its purpose in the world is.
It's going to be a vicious, dirty, mean campaign to rival none other.
It's going to outdo anything that we've ever seen.
It's going to be exciting for people like me.
It's going to be frustrating for people who get turned off by that kind of stuff in politics.
It'd be up to people like me to keep them interested.
We'll do that.
Future of the country, including national security.
Make book on it.
We'll be back.
Stay with us.
Hey, hey, hey, cut the chatter in there.
There's still a radio show going on in here.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, the guy from Bradenton, Florida.
Right.
Greetings and Walker.
I was just teasing, folks.
I just love to jam these guys in there.
They were actually paying close attention.
And as always, we're talking about me.
Who doesn't?
800-282-2882.
If you want to be on the program, federal prosecutors on Friday accused Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, of soliciting bribes in two alleged schemes that had not been previously disclosed.
I'm surprised there's only two more.
The allegations detailed in a seven-page document filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia will not result in new charges, according to prosecutors.
Of course not.
Coursna is a Democrat.
But they do plan to present them during Jefferson's federal bribery trial as evidence of a pattern of intentional wrongdoing.
In 2002, the government alleges Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, asked a lobbyist for a U.S. oil service company for $10,000 a month for a family member in exchange for Jefferson's assisting the company in promoting business in Africa.
The lobbyists turned down Jefferson's request.
Three years later, according to the filing, Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, allegedly agreed to urge NASA in a letter to consider doing business with a U.S. Rocket Technology and Rocket Launch Services Company.
In exchange, the company allegedly agreed to pay Jefferson's family business and a relative.
Democrat wanting big oil money here, folks.
That's what's happening here.
You know, here's the out for Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana.
And they've already thrown the card down.
I don't know if it'll work with a jury, but it has worked for the drive-by media.
And what it is this, yeah, you know, I know these are horrible things he did, but look where he came from.
Poor sharecropper son, dirt floored.
You know, all the family in one room in the house.
He's come so far, and he's overcome such obstacles.
And look at the good that he did for the people of New Orleans.
Look at all the good that he did for the people in New Orleans.
Yeah, look at it.
But I mean, that's the formula.
Yeah, but he just wanted some money.
He was so dirt poor all of his life.
And here he is working for a meager Congressman's salary.
Who can begrudge Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, a couple of bribes?
We all have to take care of our families.
Mark in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Am I reading that right?
Welcome to the program.
Don't have my glasses on, so I couldn't really read it, but I guess number is right.
Hello, sir.
Yes, you got it right.
Dittos, longtime listener, 24-7 member, and fellow talk show host, inspired by you, my friend.
Well, I've been at it for five years on the internet.
I think I've got the biggest show on the internet, and I've got a big question for you.
All right, ask away.
All right, the question is this.
I think the most conservative candidate that we have for president is Duncan Hunter.
Going through his website, listening to what he's got on the news, his different interviews and stuff, I mean, he definitely meets the conservative agenda head on.
And we're just not hearing a lot from him.
And we're not hearing a lot from him from you.
And I'm wondering, sir, do you have any plans in the near future for interviews with him, for talking to him on the air?
I mean, I did hear you get a, you know, you spoke about an email update you got from him the other day.
But other than that, it's like, I mean, it looks like the best candidate here is not getting pushed by the strongest conservative people.
Well, here's my answer to your question.
I'm asked this a lot, and historically, I have not gotten involved in primaries because once if I had any of these people, they'd have all asked to come on this show.
And I respectfully say no because I'd have to ask them all back.
And I really don't look at this program as a campaign vehicle during primaries.
Among other things, I frankly, Mark, have the belief that political candidates have a duty to get noticed themselves.
It's an unfair process in terms of, Mrs. Clinton.
Mrs. Clinton is strictly there because she didn't divorce her husband.
In fact, she's strictly there because she married him.
If her last name weren't Clinton, you know, she'd be the dean of some all-girls school in Albania, you know, touring villages at night and doing whatever you do in a village at night when you go to all-girls school.
But she's just benefiting from conventional wisdom.
In the case of Rudy, the reason Rudy is getting a lot of attention is the Northeastern bias in the media.
The Northeastern bias of the media wants two Northeasterners to run.
I mean, even some of our conservative journalist friends who are headquartered and work in the Northeast, in New York and Washington, are willing to overlook, in some cases, the lack of genuine conservatism in some candidates because they're from the Northeast and they have a geographical bias because where they live.
And people in the Northeast think that it's the heartbeat and the pulse of the country there.
And the rest of the country is flyover country and all of that.
So it's tough to get out of the bottom tier when you're not.
You need a really humongous debate performance and you need an early announcement in some cases when you're going against somebody that's going to benefit from all the conventional wisdom of the media and others.
But I sit and watch until one of them surfaces because that's what their job is to do.
It's not mine.
Well, that's it, folks.
The first contingent of over 60 members of my family arrived today for the Thanksgiving week.
About 11 of them showing up late this afternoon.
It's going to be an interesting week here, folks, for the next couple days here.
But I've enjoyed it, had a great time.
We'll have a Ditto Cam back working right in the lighting and all that tomorrow.
And we'll see you then.
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