Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
Testing 123.
Do the engineers know what they're doing?
Testing, testing, testing.
There it is.
From the subterranean depths of the EIB Southern Command, it's Rush Limbaugh, the EIB Network, and the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
Great to have you with us.
Here it is, President's Day, and we are happy to be here behind the golden EIB microphone.
In fact, five full days of broadcast excellence straight ahead for you.
The telephone number 800-282-2882, the email address LRushbo at EIBnet.com.
I'm going to have to seriously rethink going to New York because the last two times I have gone to New York, I have gotten severely ill.
The first time, laryngitis, over a two to three day period on Friday night.
I came down with this 24 to 36-hour intestinal flu bug, and it was miserable.
Even today, ladies and gentlemen, I am here serving humanity, still running a fever, feeling much better, however, but boy, this was wicked stuff.
Every time I go up there, at least in the wintertime, this kind of thing, this kind of thing happens.
But nevertheless, we are, no pun intended, gutting it out here.
And we've got lots of stuff here slated for you in the next three hours.
And of course, looking forward to speaking with you during this period.
Controversy has erupted in the Obama campaign.
He has been accused of plagiarism now by Howard Wolfson, who is one of Hillary's big-time campaign advisors, Jim VanDeHey at the Politico will soon post that Howard Wolfson has called this plagiarism.
The plagiarism is of Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts.
And during Deval Patrick's campaign for governor of Massachusetts, he too was accused by his opponent of making a bunch of nothing speeches.
Great words, flowery lingo, inspiring, uplifting, elevating rhetoric, but devoid of substance.
And now Obama has been accused of copying him.
Here are some soundbites side by side.
Let's start with number 13 here.
We'll go back to October 15th of 2006 in Boston at a campaign rally.
Here is Deval Patrick, the ultimately successful Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate, responding to then-Lieutenant Governor Carrie Healy.
We hold these truths to be self-evident.
All men are free to be free.
I have a dream.
Could you hear all that amidst all the applause?
And so you hear what he was saying?
He'd been accused there of just a bunch of meaningless words, and so he came back with some words of his own.
We hold these truths to be self-evident.
All men created equal, yeah, just words.
Here is Obama Saturday night in Milwaukee, the Democrat Party Wisconsin Founders Day gala, a portion of his remarks.
Don't tell me words don't matter.
I have a dream.
Just words.
We hold these truths to be self-evident.
That all men are created equal.
Just words.
We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Just words.
Just speeches.
Here is Barack Obama responding to the claims of the Clinton campaign that he's just making speeches while she is offering substance.
But my question, ladies and gentlemen, how many speeches that say absolutely nothing can there be to plagiarize?
So I don't know if this is going to have a negative effect on Obama.
What some people are saying is that, well, you know, in fact, a Massachusetts congressional representative guy named Jim McGovern is saying, you know, if Obama is going to use those words and doesn't credit their origin, why those words seem a little less inspiring.
Now, the Clinton campaign obviously is showing many signs of defensiveness and that they're losing.
Among those signs are things like this, demanding more and more debates, toying around with the delegate process in Texas.
Mrs. Clinton continuing to have trouble with her undies, meaning the undecideds that once were decided, who are now undeciding against her.
It's looking grim for Mrs. Clinton on paper right now, but way, way, way too soon to cut her out.
Do you know, ladies and gentlemen, 1968, when I was 17 years old and actively interested in this, well, I know this is sort of lame of Mrs. Clinton to go after this kind of plagiarism.
We expect better from them.
Kneecapping personal smears, leaks of FBI file information, you know, knife in the gut kind of stuff, not parsing Barack's speeches.
But I mean, it goes to show you how weak the Clintons are on this, and this is how they're going after him, trying to take away from his inspirational value by saying it's not him.
He's lifting the words of others.
In 1968, when I was 17, Hubert Humphrey, see if you remember this, Mr. Snerdley, Hubert Humphrey got the Democrat nomination without winning one primary.
Do you remember that?
And it was the smoke-filled rooms.
That was how it was done in those days.
And that's what Mrs. Clinton is counting on now.
They're trying to go through all kinds of machinations and manipulations, particularly in Texas, the way delegates and the popular vote are apportioned district by district there, which I will explain to you as the program unfolds.
Now, on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning, they are discussing Barack Obama's speech, and Scarborough asks a question here of Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, and Mika Bzezinski, the co-hostette with Scarborough, is Obama guilty of plagiarism.
David Axelrod, who was the chief political strategist for both of them, says that they are good friends, that they trade lines all the time.
Nobody is denying the similarity.
But what Axelrod and others in the campaign are saying is that it's just that they trade lines and they're friends.
That's backed up, Andrea.
Look at the tape.
Close friends.
Deval Patrick himself says this.
The Obama campaign emailed this to me.
Senator Obama and I are longtime friends.
We often share ideas about politics, policy, and language.
The argument in question on the value of words in the public square is one about which he and I have spoken frequently before about.
Given the recent attacks from Senator Clinton, I applaud him.
So you see what's happening here.
The Clintons are not used to this.
They launch a salvo, somebody plagiarizing somebody, and here goes DNC TV, MSNBC circling the wagons for Obama.
Oh, come on.
It's no big deal.
He and Deval Patrick are good buddies.
They trade lines all the time.
Why, Snerdley and I do that, folks.
We sit around here during the breaks, the top of each hour.
We trade lines back and forth.
Everybody trades lines.
Of course, there's no originality out there at all.
Everybody trades lines.
Hardy Harhar.
What do you expect of all Patrick today?
I say, yeah, yeah, the dude is plagiarizing me.
Expect him to come out and say that?
Expect him to get mad about it.
Hell no, it isn't going to happen.
I just got a note here from H.R. says there's going to be a special on DNC TV tonight devoted to the issue of Obama plagiarizing.
Joe Biden and Mike Barnacle will lead the panel.
Doris Kearns Goodwin with a special appearance.
Joe Biden, Mike Barnacle, and Doris Kearns Goodwin on did Obama plagiarize.
Hey, there's an upside to the foreclosure subprime for get this from Cleveland.
The nation's foreclosure crisis has led to a painful irony for homeless people.
On any given night, they are outnumbered in some cities by vacant houses.
Some street people are taking advantage of the opportunity by becoming squatters.
Foreclosed homes.
I guess you'd call this the upside of foreclosure.
Foreclosed homes often have an advantage over boarded up and dilapidated houses abandoned because of rundown conditions.
Sometimes the heat, the lights, and water are still working.
James Burton, 41, an ex-con, self-described bando, or somebody lives in abandoned houses.
Is this what you call convenient?
Many homeless people see the foreclosure crisis as an opportunity to find low-cost housing.
Low-cost, free, low-cost housing.
Yes, this is what.
Yes, old buddy, Thomas Sheeran at the AP.
Many homeless see the foreclosure crisis is an opportunity to find low-cost housing with some privacy.
Brian Davis, director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, said in the summary of the latest census of homeless sleeping outside in downtown Cleveland.
This is a homeless spokesman saying this is low-cost housing.
So there's good news in everything, folks.
There's positive news in, if you just look for it, in virtually everything that happens.
All right, quick time out here.
We'll be back.
Lots to do.
Sit tight.
The EIB network rolls on right after this.
Let me ask you another question.
All men are created equal.
Thou shalt do what no other shall do.
Famous phrases, famous words.
How in the world do you plagiarize them?
How can you plagiarize Dr. Martin Luther?
Something that's well known and you repeat like that.
Why wasn't, for example, Deval Patrick accused of plagiarism with his original line, and now Obama is.
Let me ask you which is worse.
What Obama supposedly plagiarized from Deval Patrick or the fact that Bill Clinton is running around bullying Obama supporters from Canton, Ohio, the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Robert Holman came to Timkin Haskrule.
This is on February 17th, yesterday, with a message to deliver to Bill Clinton.
He did, and he said the former president wasn't happy about it.
Clinton spoke to a capacity crisis.
By the way, have you noticed?
Did you watch any of the Sunday shows yesterday?
All of a sudden, now the drive-bys are starting to talk about what a campaign liability Bill Clinton is.
I asked you, ladies and gentlemen, where did you first hear that theory espoused?
You heard it here by me, and not just this campaign season.
You heard it back in 2006, and you heard it back in 2004.
Wherever Clinton goes to campaign for people, the results generally are negative for the people he's campaigning for or endorsing.
All of a sudden, the drive-bys are now onto this phenomenon as though they've just discovered something.
Anyway, Clinton was speaking to a capacity crowd in Canton.
It was the third of five events in Ohio.
He told voters that the contest was the power of speeches against the promise of solutions by a world-class change maker.
Now, throughout the event, as Clinton made his case for his wife, Robert Holman's dissenting voice could be heard.
At times, he simply shouted Obama's name.
When Clinton would step up, set up a sure applause line.
Holman could be heard heckling.
As soon as Clinton finished speaking, the Canton native Holman made a beeline to the rope line to give Clinton a peace of mind.
That's right.
I asked the president to please stop the bickering between the campaigns.
All this name-calling is like the bully in the yard.
He can't get his way, can't get nothing done.
Holman said he thought Clinton was gasping for air.
This is a last hurrah.
March 4th, Hillary Clinton will be out of the race for good.
Obama will take the commanding lead.
She should back him with her delegates immediately.
That's what I'm asking them to do.
Holman said that Clinton responded by saying Obama came after him first.
Holman also described Clinton's reaction to him as irate.
Holman said, I think Clinton even hit me in the face with his hand.
He did give me a little pop.
It was okay because I understand his tenacity for his wife.
Clinton did engage Holman for a few minutes, at times pointing directly at him.
Unclear whether he did make physical contact, however.
One thing about this that's fascinating, the drive-by news media did not disclose that Robert Holman is African-American.
The guy that was hassling Clinton about Obama was African-American, and Clinton, the first black president, went up and started jabbing his finger at him in his usual Clinton way.
And the drive-bys didn't report this.
But our buddies at Newsbusters did.
And they write about it this way, if a supremely prominent Republican who was John McCain's chief surrogate had gotten into an angry confrontation at a campaign event, do you think the broadcast networks would have promptly let us know his interlocutor was African-American?
I do, but none of the broadcast networks' morning news shows, at least during the morning's crucial first half hour, disclosed the African-American identity of the man with whom Clinton got into just such an argument yesterday in Ohio, Robert Holman.
And there was another, at a different place in Ohio, there was another argument Clinton got into with an abortion rights supporter or a pro-life supporter.
He's just lashing out at everybody on the campaign trail.
I just wanted you, what's worse?
Obama and his reputed plagiarism or Clinton and his campaign antics of actually engaging these hecklers or these people who have questions for him.
And how about this?
I need to ask you people your thoughts on this.
I saw the video, saw the YouTube video, and I've read the reports that people are fainting at Obama rallies.
Well, now that's interesting.
I mentioned that.
I look at the facial expressions of the three people on the other side of the glass here and their looks go, yeah, right.
You don't believe they're legit?
You think these are staged and set up?
The idea here is that Obama's presence is so messianic that people cannot handle it.
And that they are so overcome with joy, salvation, what have you, that they are fainting.
And Obama does a great play-by-play when this happens.
I think she's going to be all right.
She's going to be fine.
Bring some water here.
Get it over here.
Bring that gurney in.
And the water and the gurney materialized very quickly.
It is kind of tough to believe because I'd say it's happened.
It's happened more than once.
Well, he hadn't gotten to the point of saving people or curing anybody that walks up there with a limp or anything.
But depending how successful Mrs. Clinton's attacks are, wouldn't rule anything out here.
A quick question for you, ladies and gentlemen.
What's been going on longer in your mind?
What does it seem has been going on longer?
The war or this 2008 campaign?
I mean, after all this time in the campaign, after all this time, all the players still have problems.
And all of these players say that they would have solved Iraq and it'd have been done with.
We'd have been out of there.
We'd have, you know, finished that problem.
We've got incompetence in the White House, incompetence at the Pentagon.
And yet all of these players, all of this time, this campaign seems like it's been going on as long as the war.
They still have problems.
McCain has problems.
Mrs. Clinton has problems.
Obama has problems.
Democrats and Republicans have problems.
The media have problems.
I, your host, have some problems.
Even you have problems.
Think about it.
Here's McCain's problem.
His key issue, winning the war against Jihad is supported most strongly by the folks who support him least strongly.
Hillary's problem, she couldn't win without her husband, and he's making so many gaffes, it looks like she can't win with him.
Obama's problem.
We won't know until the Clintons or the friends of the Clintons or surrogates of the Clintons drop their surprise.
But then, wait, Obama made a secret visit, caught on videotape to the home of the Breck girl.
28,000 square foot house.
I wonder if Obama had any trouble finding his way out of there.
Democrat Party problem.
Superdelegates, insiders, party bosses, undies.
For all their talk that every vote counts, it's beginning to look like only 796 count.
The superdelegates.
So much for words versus actions.
Republican Party problem.
Their best chance to hold the White House is a run against Mrs. Clinton, her negatives, her records, her left-wing ideas.
But if Mrs. Clinton loses to Obama, they can't blame it on a right-wing conspiracy.
Media's problem, if Obama's momentum keeps up, TV news ratings will start going down.
It's in their interest to make the race, the contest seem up in the air as long as possible.
My problem, I got core beliefs.
I got conservative roots that make it difficult, if not impossible, to just get along.
So I'm not going to do things just to get along.
But you have the biggest problem, and I'll tell you what that is when we get back.
On the cutting edge of societal evolution.
And today just confirms it.
I love waking up.
Never know what the day is going to hold.
It's always exciting.
I went through everybody's problem.
Let me repeat my problem again that everybody has in this campaign.
I have core beliefs, conservative roots, that make it difficult, if not impossible, to just get along.
It's not a problem for me.
It poses a problem for others, and they wonder at my intransigence.
But the most important problem of all is for you, my dear audience, during all of this, this seemingly endless campaign, which seems to be going on longer than the wall.
And your big problem is I'm only on three hours a day.
That is a problem that affects real lives.
If I were on longer than three hours a day, you would have less to be undecided about.
But I always rely on the creed that has guided me to this point in time, and that is this.
Always leave them wanting more.
Let's start on the phones with Shelly in Louisville.
Nice to have you on the program.
You're up first today.
Hello.
Thank you.
Hello.
Rush, I listen to you to be well-informed, and I feel I am well-informed because of you.
I trust you, and I believe in you.
But I am sick and tired of you coming on so often, bawling out the people who work with you.
It doesn't sound very good.
It makes me think of Arthur Godfrey, and I'm that old that I can remember Arthur Godfrey.
And it bothers me a great deal to hear you putting down someone as often as you do.
And it strikes me that you must have an awfully good group of people working with you who produce such a good program.
Well, I'm sorry that you've interpreted my helpful guidance and my staff the way you have.
I don't interpret it any differently than it sounds, and you sound like the kind of boss that very much.
What in the world spawned your call today?
What happened?
When you came on hollering at Mr. Engineer or something, you often put these people down.
Perhaps they know you well enough that they don't feel that they are being put down.
But it comes across to the audience as if you would be some kind of an ogre or something to work with.
Now, you may pay them well.
You may give them all kinds of wonderful benefits.
I don't doubt that you do.
But I just simply do not think if you have problems with them, take it up with them during a break or after the program or before the program.
Don't come on bawling them out.
It just doesn't go over well.
Shelly, would you mind if I put you on hold for just a second?
I really would.
I have waited long enough.
And I'm not complaining about waiting.
I mean, I cannot wait any longer.
No, no, no, no.
I'm not going to make it.
It won't take long.
I just want to continue the conversation.
I've got to do something, though.
I mean, I'm distressed that you have this reaction.
This staff that I have is among the best treated, the most respected staff, anybody in major media today.
Now, I don't doubt that, right?
I just think it doesn't sound that way when you come on yelling at someone.
Maybe did you bring that music from home or just things that you say that sound so arrogant.
And I just think I'm sorry to hear it because I really count on you to keep me informed, to keep me.
I think I'm about as well informed as anybody that I know that I associate with.
Well, I appreciate that.
And I applaud your perceptiveness on the fact that I do my job well here.
You do it well.
I appreciate that.
Yes.
You do it well.
You know, one of the things that happened at the beginning of the program today, and you may not see, I've got a camera in.
I don't know if you watch the program on the.
No, I do not.
No.
Well, I've got a DittoCam in here, and I've got hundreds of thousands of people watching the program today.
And when it started today, I turned on the microphone, and I started to greet and welcome the audience, and it wasn't on.
And the broadcast engineer panicked, and I see him in there.
I thought I had a technical problem.
And then I see him panicking in there, and he throws a switch and activates my microphone.
There's no union prescription here from preventing me from turning on my microphone like there is in New York.
And he simply forgot.
So I was just teasing him.
Rush, this may be.
And if this were the only time you did it, I would not have felt compelled to go to the telephone.
I said to my husband, I am so sick of him bawling out to people that work with him because they must be doing a good job.
I don't know how many have worked how long, but obviously you won't be able to do that.
Well, I'll just tell you, we're coming up about 19 and a half years.
I know how long you've been on.
Okay, well, I want to tell you, in all those 19 and a half years, three people have left the program.
Okay.
And they've all gone on to.
I'm talking about on the other side of the microphone people.
Right.
And they have gone on to what they thought were going to be steps up in their careers.
Right.
And I understand that.
And if it were the first time or the second time, but maybe you don't realize it's increasing in frequency.
And I just think it does not speak well of you to do it.
I know you're bound to have problems, what boss doesn't, but can't you take care of it later on and not make these little remarks that I don't know, maybe with my temper, I wouldn't have taken it that way.
Well, you know, we're a family here.
These people know me like a father, like a brother, like an uncle, like a son.
I'm sure.
And I want to keep listening.
I don't think this is a reason for you to abandon the program.
I don't either, but it just burns me up because I know what a boss who humiliates you.
Thankfully, I did not have more than one, but one is enough.
Well, I've had ten.
Right, and I know you've been fired and everything.
A whole lot of times.
I mean, if you knew how my staff were treated, you would be embarrassed that you were bawling me out this way.
Right.
And I don't, as I said, I'm sure you pay them well.
I'm sure you give them many benefits.
Just don't belittle them on the thank you, Shelly.
Snerdly, if you waste time on this program again, there will be a severe price to pay.
Do you realize the email I'm going to get now?
The first phone call a day after a substance show open was about how you and Brian and Dawn are treated.
It will not happen again.
Stop laughing in there.
They don't even take me seriously on this stuff.
Roy in Naples.
Roy, welcome to the EIB network.
Hello.
Thanks.
Go ahead and bawl him out.
My question is: I'm a conservative with core beliefs, and I'm a little fond of Ronald Reagan.
Reagan made it a policy to support the party nominee.
Yes.
What should I do?
You've got to do what's in your heart.
You've got to do what's in your mind.
You've got to follow your gut.
You've got to follow your instincts.
You've got to do what you think is right.
I don't think you're answering me.
That's a very good answer, Rush, but it's not up to date.
Love these Monday holidays.
What do you mean it's not up to date?
If I don't vote, based on what I hear from you, if I don't vote, I am actually voting for the guy I don't want.
There's no way out of that.
Roy, are you saying you're waiting for me to advise you how to vote?
No, I'm trying to figure out what you're doing.
What do you mean, figure out what I'm doing?
I think you've put a lot of people who listen to you and have some respect for your position.
Putting them in a corner, maybe yourself in a corner, with your opposition to McCain.
That may be your core beliefs, but McCain's the nominee of the Republican Party.
What are you telling?
You're telling them to just follow their core beliefs?
They follow their core beliefs.
They don't vote for McCain?
Not necessarily.
It depends on where your core beliefs are.
I don't know what yours are specifically.
No matter what I say, it's not good.
It's not first two calls.
I'm over two today.
I'm not trying to slither out of your question here, but I'm not going to tell you how to vote.
That's up to you.
Okay.
I know what I'm going to do.
I think I know what Ronald Reagan would do.
And that's what we hear from most of our conservative talk show hosts.
They're telling us to quit on McCain.
Nobody's.
Yes, you will.
Nobody is telling you to quit on McCain.
Oh, you're certainly putting him in the hole somewhere.
I have.
You think I'm telling you to quit on McCain?
You're telling me he's not very good to vote for.
No, I have not said that.
Oh, come on, Russ.
I have not said he's not good to vote for.
You haven't said that.
No, I have not urged anybody to vote against Senator McCain.
Well, that's not what I said.
What I have done was what I always do, and that is to share with you my concerns about Senator McCain.
Well, let's put it a different way.
Is there any condition under which you would vote for the Republican Party nominee?
Well, of course.
And I'm sorry that you have missed that.
I have said on this program and in two recent major drive-by media outlet interviews that I would never vote Hillary or McCain or Obama.
Well, we're getting close.
I have also said that.
Now, wait a second here, Roy.
I have also said that I probably am doing Senator McCain a big favor by not endorsing him.
Senator McCain's campaign right now is based on attracting a number of Democrats, moderates, and independents to the Republican Party.
Democrats, moderates, and independents have no love for me, as you know.
Many of them prefer McCain over Obama or Hillary, particularly in New York, I have discovered, having just been there.
If I were to come out and become one of the biggest foot soldiers for Senator McCain, I could drive a hole right through his primary strategy.
I've thought about this every which way from Sunday.
But he also needs a lot of support from the base.
Yes.
We may get all those moderates and this.
You know something?
I'm going to play a soundbite for you, and I want you to listen to this.
This is amazing.
This is Chip Reed of CBS, and he's on Reliable Sources yesterday with Howard Kurtz.
Chip Reed used to be with NBC.
Grab audio soundbite number five, Mike.
Get it now.
All right, now.
Don't bawl him out, buddy.
We're just having fun here.
We're duped.
Howard Kurtz says, Chip Reed, some conservatives don't like McCain.
Reluctantly supporting him, but the guy has all but won the nomination.
A remarkable comeback.
I wonder if journalists are just putting too much emphasis.
I don't think the story is McCain versus Limbaugh and Company.
It's McCain versus the base.
And I was at the CPAC convention last weekend, and I don't think I've mentioned Limbaugh in any of my stories, but I sure have mentioned these people who just don't like him and may not show up.
And that's the story.
The story is not just conflict.
The story is that he could end up losing this thing in the fall because a lot of the base stays home.
And we need to keep the focus on that rather than this rivalry between Limbaugh and have a little bit of a drive-by media guy.
One drive-by-media guy understands what's going on out there.
Chip Reed, used to be with DNC TV and is now with CBS, understands what's going on out there, Roy.
And McCain's problem is not me.
In fact, I said in a Time magazine interview last week, it would be a mistake for Senator McCain to try to reach out to me.
He is who he is.
He needs to continue to be who he is.
His job is not to satisfy one person.
The problem is much, it's a different thing than trying to appeal to me.
That's just a horse race type thing that the drive-bys are all caught up in.
Thank you, Chip Reed, for getting it.
He'll be the only one that gets it even after he's said it, though.
Back after this.
Hi, welcome back.
Rush Limbaugh here as we inaugurate a brand new week of broadcast excellence.
President George H.W. Bush endorsed John McCain today, Houston Hobby Airport in Houston.
It's the old airport in Houston.
The new modern airport in Houston is George Bush Intercontinental.
But George H.W. Bush lives closer to Houston Hobby.
And by the way, Houston Hobby is where the chartered and private aircraft fly in primarily, which was McCain flew in there.
So no big deal.
I mean, I just wanted to point out that the older airport in Houston is Hobby.
And that's where McCain flew into because it's where the chartered jets go to.
George H.W. Bush, in his endorsement, said that the attacks on McCain are unfair.
He urged disgruntled conservatives today to rally around Senator McCain, calling their criticism of the Republican presidential frontrunner grossly unfair.
He said he was annoyed by the attacks within the conservative wing of the Republican Party against McCain.
The Elder Bush said even former President Ronaldus Magnus, an icon of the conservative movement, faced attacks from the right wing of the party, citing several quotations from diaries written by Reagan in his early years in office.
One lambasted Reagan for betrayal of the conservative cause.
Another in the conservative digest accused Reagan of being kind of a turncoat conservative.
Don't you find this interesting that here we have, by the way, it's just this is such a tough day.
This is such, I started out in such a great mood, but you know, I have such respect for President Bush.
I have played golf.
I'm a member of the First T organization.
He's the honorary chairman.
But he was the one who accused Ronald Reagan of engaging in voodoo economics.
I just find it amazing that in an endorsement of Senator McCain, the focus of that endorsement tended to be turned on conservatives who were being grossly unfair.
It does seem to indicate that the people behind Senator McCain here do have a sense of the problem he faces with the base.
Even former President Reagan, icon of the conservative movement, faced attacks from the right wing of the party, citing several quotations from diaries written by Reagan in his early years in office.
I don't know how many times I'm going to say this.
This is not a personality cult.
This is not identity politics here.
Nobody is comparing Senator McCain to President Reagan except Senator McCain.
It's been an examination of Senator McCain's record, pure and simple.
But it's look, you know, that's that's you know, water over the dam, under the bridge, right?
He's the nominee.
So, at any rate, um, yes, snerdly, I think he was talking to me.
Who the hell is it these days?
All right, a sprightly and rapid first hour now in the can.
We're going to try to regroup here at the top of the hour and come back and start all over again right after this.