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Podcast: Rush Morning Update
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_____________________________
Stack of Stuff Quick Hits
EIB Wednesday:

Crazy Joe Klein Wants You to Kill Your Air Conditioner 
RUSH: Joe Klein, TIME Magazine, latest issue. His piece is entitled, "Kill Your Air Conditioner."  Now, this is a political reporter, Joe Klein. I've seen Joe Klein on TV a bunch of times the past two weeks, month, what have you, and I'm reading this piece, and I'm genuinely concerned: What has happened to Joe Klein?  Joe Klein used to be a down-the-middle political reporter.  He's always been a Drive-By, oriented toward the left, but he has become increasingly angry, bordering on being out-of-control. He's not making any effort to hide the activist agenda that he has been responsible for, but this piece is simply deranged.  There is no other polite way to describe this.  These are his words. "The unnecessary refrigeration of America has become a chronic disease. It seems to have gotten worse over the past few years, with thermostats routinely set at 68 deg. F, and sometimes even 65 deg., in the (far too many) hotel rooms I've suffered on the campaign trail.


"'Americans seem to keep their houses cooler in summer than they do in the winter,' muses Edward Parson, an environmental expert at the University of Michigan Law School." Seem to keep their houses cooler in summer than they do in the winter? I don't know how they could ever prove that assertion.  How in the world does anybody know what the temperature in somebody's house in the summertime is versus what it is in the winter?  Secondly, what is an environmentalist wacko doing at the University of Michigan Law School?  Anyway, he says, "'Americans seem to keep their houses cooler in summer than they do in the winter,' ... But it's hard to know for sure, since there are no comprehensive studies that measure air-conditioning trend lines."  So, Joe, why quote the guy? 

What's happened to Joe Klein?  He then says, "I will confess a bias here. I love warm weather, even when it slouches toward humidity. I detest the harsh, slightly metallic quality of the air forced through even the fanciest AC systems. The only air conditioner I own sits, unused, in my car; my home is happily unrefrigerated. But given the energy mess we're in, I can now gild my personal preference with a patina of high-mindedness: Air-conditioning is bad for the planet, and for national security, and for our balance-of-payments deficit. Unfortunately, it is not as bad as I'd like it to be -- in part because not all of our electricity is provided by fossil fuels (although coal does predominate). And also because air-conditioning represents a relatively small slice of our energy use, an estimated 4%." 

So he's asking for a greater crisis.  Joe Klein wants there to be a greater energy climatic crisis than there is, because of air-conditioning. (No, Snerdley, I don't know what his beliefs in toilet paper are. I don't know what his beliefs on flushing the toilet are.) Clearly, something's happened to Joe Klein.  He's either on the meds or he's off of them.  What a thing to get riled up about.  What a thing to get upset about.  But then when you stop and think, "No, he's in the left-wing media, and the left-wing media is on a crusade to promote the hoax of manmade global warming."  Folks, if these people were ever to succeed with this... You just need to go back and take a look at the Twenties! You talk about the work output that would cease, the productivity in this country that ratcheted way up once air-conditioning was discovered?

Why Obama Says He's Against the Fairness Doctrine
RUSH: You know, the Fairness Doctrine, this comes up and we talk about this every now and then.  Now, Obama, I have to tell you, I've got the story in the stack. It's from a couple of days ago.  Obama says, or somebody in his campaign said, "We don't care about the Fairness Doctrine. We got bigger fish to fry than that. We have no intention of reinstating the Fairness Doctrine." Obama doesn't have to say it because Nancy Pelosi has; a number of other Democrats have.  But the Fairness Doctrine, they may try, folks, but, look: They're not going to just be able to succeed with this overnight if they try it.  They're going to have all kinds of opposition and the kind of opposition that they fear most, and that's going to be from you, the American people. 

The American people are not going to put up with it.  There's too high a level, degree of sophistication now, understanding what would happen if the Fairness Doctrine were implemented and reinstated.  The broadcast community, yes, it's regulated by the FCC. But when I started my national radio show in 1988, there were 125 radio stations doing talk.  Today, some 20 years later, it's over 1200.  Now, that means that the talk format has withstood all the other downturns, formatically, in radio.  You know, certain music formats are having trouble. A lot of formats are having trouble.  Talk radio is not.  The industry is just not going to sit around and let the Democrats make it worthless without a fight.  It's going to take much more than the snap of a finger or the waving of a magic wand to bring this about.  I have no doubt the Democrats want to do it.  I have no doubt that Nancy Pelosi wants to try it.  They are typical in that way.  They don't want to put up with people that they disagree with.  They don't want to put up with criticism.  They don't want to engage it.  They just want to silence it. What do you think political correctness is?  Political correctness is nothing more than using intimidating tactics to make people shut up and not say things that liberals don't want to hear, pure and simple.

TIME: Ten Things You Can Like About $4 Gas
RUSH: TIME Magazine, Amanda Ripley: "'10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas' -- The world had long assumed that Americans were just unrepentant energy pigs."  That's the lead.  So the lead has to do with what the world thinks of us, talking about four-dollar gasoline.  The world just assumed we're a bunch of unrepentant energy pigs.  "If gas prices went up, well, we kept our Explorers aimed at the horizon, and little changed. We truthfully didn't have lots of options. Unlike Europeans, we didn't have jobs we could bike to or convenient public transit. Gasoline prices never stayed high enough long enough to force those kinds of shifts in how we lived.  Now here we are. Gas prices are near $4 per gal., as no one needs to tell you, and they are likely to stay that way. Most of us still don't have the alternatives we need to adapt with grace."  We don't have the ability, so... "we will adapt by suffering.  We will run out of gas on I-80, ease our minivans over to the shoulder and tell the kids everything is O.K. We'll fall behind on Visa bills to pay for gas so we can buy food made ever more expensive by energy costs.  But it's also true that Americans are finding options where there seemed to be none. They're ready to change -- just waiting for their infrastructure to catch up. They are driving to commuter-rail lines only to find there are no parking spots left. They are running fewer errands and dumping their SUVs. Public-transit use is at a 50-year high. Gas purchases are down 2% to 3%. And all those changes bring secondary, hard-earned benefits."

Now, here, in the final paragraph, is the real reason for writing this story. "Eric Roston, author of a new book about energy, The Carbon Age, says, 'You suddenly are reminded how the economy works. Nobody wants high prices for oil. But there's also no faster mechanism to change behavior.'  The suffering will go on. But the story, like any good tragedy, is not without redemption." This is TIME Magazine, Amanda Ripley.  And so what's the great thing about gas prices going up?  You pigs will change your behavior.  You unrepentant energy pigs will change your behavior, and you'll get on the rotten, unreliable mass transit, if you have any. Otherwise you'll find a job where you can ride your bicycle to like these brilliant Europeans.  But you are an unrepentant energy pig, and it's about time your behavior changed, and thank God for four-dollar gasoline to do that. 

So here we have the arrogance and the elitism and the snobbery of the Drive-By Media and their noted experts in a short little piece, "10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas," and it's all predicated on the fact that you are pig, that you are guilty, that you deserve to suffer, but there is redemption.  And so we're happy for high prices in energy 'cause you are going to change your behavior, 'cause you are destroying the planet, you are greedy, you are this, you are that.  Hello global warming.  This is a microcosm.  The same kind of arrogant, snob effetes want to tell you how to live 'cause you're too stupid to know how to live right.  And when you are too stupid, and don't live the way they want you to live, then you embarrass them in the eyes of the Europeans.  And our elite, effete-snob Drive-By Media leftists and other leftists do not want to be embarrassed in the eyes of the Europeans! So you, you worthless shreds of human debris, we're going to change your behavior -- because you're too stupid to live in a way that won't embarrass the elites.
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Rush Bio
Rush Limbaugh launched his phenomenally successful radio broadcast into national syndication on August 1, 1988, with 56 radio stations. Seventeen years later it is heard on nearly 600 stations by 20 million people each week and is the highest rated national radio talk show in America.
Known as the media pundit who reshaped the political landscape with his entertaining and informative brand of conservatism, Mr. Limbaugh is also widely credited with resuscitating AM radio by many industry experts.

In addition to his radio program, broadcast weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. ET, Mr. Limbaugh hosts "The Rush Limbaugh Morning Update," a 90-second commentary which debuted in March 1992 and airs Monday through Friday at 7:45a during The Dan Sileo Show on 540 WFLA. "The Rush Limbaugh Show" and "The Rush Limbaugh Morning Update" are produced and distributed by Premiere Radio Networks.

With his diverse media background, Mr. Limbaugh is also the author of "The Limbaugh Letter," the most widely read political newsletter in the country, as well as two best-selling books, The Way Things Ought to Be and See, I Told You So, which have sold more than 8.9 million copies. The sales of See, I Told You So set an American publishing record.

In 2000, Mr. Limbaugh conquered the Internet, expanding his media dominance with the launch of RushLimbaugh.com. It is one of the most popular websites on the Internet, offering visitors the unique opportunity to sample the top moments of his broadcast each day. The website also provides live streaming audio of the complete radio program, select video and audio clips, text highlights and article links.


Mr. Limbaugh has been profiled on CBS’s "60 Minutes," ABC’s "20/20," and in numerous publications including US News and World Report, National Review, Time Magazine and USA Weekend. Other guest television appearances include ABC’s "Nightline" with Ted Koppel, CNN’s "Crossfire," "Good Morning America," "CBS This Morning," "The Today Show," "The Phil Donahue Show," "The Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show," "This Week," with David Brinkley, and "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert.

Recognized for his achievements, Mr. Limbaugh received the Marconi Award for Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year given by the National Association of Broadcasters in 1992, 1995, and 2000. In 1993, he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame and in 1998, into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Born Rush Hudson Limbaugh III in Jan. 1951 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri to a family with generations of attorneys, he chose to explore his passion for broadcasting at age 16 by working on-air as a disc jockey for a radio station in his hometown. After four years, he left for Pittsburgh to work at the former ABC owned and operated KQV. He later moved to Kansas City where he eventually tired of disc jockey life and left broadcasting for business. He joined the Kansas City Royals as director of group sales in Feb. 1979 and later served as director of sales and special events.

By 1983, Mr. Limbaugh got the broadcasting bug back and re-entered radio as a political commentator for KMBZ in Kansas City. A year later, he was the host of a daytime talk show on KFBK in Sacramento, Calif., where he nearly tripled the program’s ratings in four years. From there, he went to New York in 1988 where his record-breaking national show was born.

Rush currently resides in Florida, and often broadcasts from his "EIB Southern Command."
_____

EIB Thursday July 3, 2008
Thursday 07-03-2008 9:26pm ET



Minnesota's "Mr. Right," Jason Lewis of KTLK-FM in Minneapolis, guest hosted an installment of Open Line Friday on Thursday. Visit Jason's Stack of Stuff right here. El Rushbo returns to the Golden EIB Microphone after Independence Day Weekend.


Rush Signs a Contract for America:
"I've extended my partnership at Clear Channel through 2016. I'm not going anywhere. I'm your host for life. As I've said on many occasions: none of this would have been possible without you, and I can't thank you enough. It's a debt I can never repay."
(details)

» The New York Times Sunday Magazine Profile:
Late-Period Limbaugh

Jason Lewis Pearl of Wisdom: "Rush's big deal underscores the power of radio, my friends. For advertisers that are missing out, this is a signal that says, 'The radio business can afford this 'cause it works, while other media are imploding.'"

The left seeks to redefine patriotism as ripping America, compulsory national service, and paying the confiscatory tax rates Democrats pile on us. The USSR had patriotism, too. Every country does. Patriotism in America is more than loving a geographic area. It's about loving the ideals of the Founders.

» Reuters: Obama Issues New Call for National Service

» Ayn Rand Center:
Reject Citizen Service - Your Life is Your Own


Jason Lewis Pearl of Wisdom:
"These troops are not fighting on July 4th for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They are fighting for freedom."

EIB Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Thursday 07-03-2008 5:40am ET

Rush Signs a Contract for America 


BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH:  No, no, no, no, just call it a contract for America.  That's how it should be viewed and how it should be seen.  No, I'm not going to talk about it, Snerdley.  No.  Greetings, my friends, and welcome.  It's the EIB Network and El -- why not?  'Cause, I'm just not.  We got other things to do here.  I am -- you know what -- well -- no, they won't be mad if I don't.  Nobody talks about -- no -- anyway, greetings, and welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.  Rush Limbaugh from behind the Golden EIB -- would you people on the staff shut up.  I am trying to open the program.  It's Rush Limbaugh behind the Golden EIB Microphone at the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.  Telephone number if you want to be on the program today, 800-282-2882.  The e-mail address is
ElRushbo@eibnet.com.  
 


I  assume by now, ladies and gentlemen, you have heard about or seen the forthcoming edition of the New York Times Magazine this Sunday with an 8,000-word profile of me.  They've already posted it on their website, and we've linked to it at RushLimbaugh.com.  Dawn is reading it, frowning over her quotes.  I said, "Get used to it, Dawn."  Anyway, Zev Chafets was the writer, spent a lot of time down here this winter and spring, and it's a nice piece.  At any rate, folks, we have lots to do here, and it's the Fourth of July weekend coming up, and I must tell you that I will be out tomorrow and we'll have a best-of show. (interruption)  That's right, sign the contract for America and then take a day off.  I mean, you gotta establish these things. You have to establish the pattern so that people are not surprised and shocked by this. 


This morning on PMSNBC, the discussion on the Scarborough show with Mika Brzezinski, Pat Buchanan, and Tucker Carlson, there was a leak of the New York Times story last night on TIME magazine in which they quoted me saying a couple things, one about McCain and one about Obama.  And basically the thing I told the writer about McCain is, look, when your team isn't in the game, you pull for the team that you hate the least.  That's McCain.  About Obama, I said, "He's a liberal.  I oppose liberals.  That's all there is to it."  Those two things spawned a massive discussion on PMSNBC this morning.  Here's the first take.

CARLSON:  It turns out that he despises everyone, but McCain less.  You know, I think there are probably a lot of conservatives who feel that way.  It's another indicator of where we are.  Take three steps back.  Here's the terrain.

BRZEZINSKI:  Here's what he said, Tucker --

CARLSON:  Yep.

BRZEZINSKI:  -- and this is in the New York Times Magazine coming out this weekend, if I could get it right.  "Rush is Just Getting Warmed Up," is what it's called.  "If your team isn't in it, you root for the team you hate less, and that's McCain."  Well, here's what he said about Obama.  "He's a liberal, I oppose liberals, and that's all that's involved here."  Okay.  Well, I --

CARLSON:  There's a man who knows what he thinks.  Not a lot of nuance there, but I know he speaks for a lot of conservatives in saying that.  But, look, the truth is, Obama really needs to foul this up in order to lose, partly because he's a very talented guy, but partly because it's just a Democratic year.  Bush is super unpopular; the Republican Party is in shambles. 

RUSH:  Nuance?  They were stunned that there was no nuance?  I don't do nuance.  People ask me what I think, and I tell them.  As for Obama really needing to foul this up in order to lose, he's entirely capable of that, as we have discussed over the course of many, many previous days of broadcast excellence.  Here's the second tape, and this time Buchanan and Mike Barnicle get involved.

BRZEZINSKI:  Well, in terms of Rush Limbaugh, Pat, he could be a factor.  He takes credit with this Operation Chaos --

BUCHANAN:  Right.

BRZEZINSKI:  -- for bringing down Hillary or whatever.

BUCHANAN:  He was helping Hillary. She was doing pretty well in West Virginia and Kentucky.

BARNICLE:  Yeah, your gal.

BRZEZINSKI:  Look at that cover.

RUSH:  They just don't know what to think of this.  What's so tough to understand about what I said?  And what is so controversial about it?  What's controversial about it is that I said it.  What do you think the controversy is?  Bringing down Hillary?  They don't know the story.  We sustained Hillary.  Operation Chaos kept Hillary in the game.  At any rate, let's take a look at the Drive-By headlines today just to see where we're headed into the weekend: "Fewer Companies Plan to Hire and Give Raises in the Next Three Months," that's USA Today.  "Stocks Off 2.1 Trillion This Year," USA Today.  "For Many, Golden Years Mean Less Travel and More Work," USA Today.  "Chrysler Closing Mini-van Plant," USA Today.  "Are Big Bets by Speculators Driving Up Oil?  Experts Disagree," USA Today.  "June Car Sales Plummet, More Declines Expected," AP.  "Starbucks to Close 600 US Stores, Rein in Growth," AP.  "Wall Street Zigzags on First Day of Third Quarter," AP.  "Blockbuster Withdraws Plan to Acquire Circuit City," AP.  "Manufacturers Struggle to Overcome Rising Prices," AP. 

Is there any good news out there?  You think you could find any good news in the Drive-By Media? (interruption) Well, no, my new deal is not in the news roster.  The Drive-Bys are ignoring it.  The TV people are all calling their agents, frantically.  There's no good news.  Here's AP making up news as they go along.  The TV people are calling their agents, frantically, exactly right.  Snerdley is getting a big kick out of that.  AP making up news as they go along.  (interruption) You people in there are making me feel real guilty trying to do the program.  I'm trying to execute broadcast excellence. I'm trying to meet and surpass the audience expectations. I am taking tomorrow off.  I just announced that I'm taking tomorrow off, but it had been long planned.  I told the audience last week.  Have you forgotten?  You guys get a day off tomorrow, you don't even know.  You've forgotten.  I told the audience rather than take two weeks of vacation in summertime when things are too hot and heavy and they're percolating and too many summer spectaculars here required, take a couple days here and there.  I'm doing this for the audience, not for me.  

RUSH: I'm terribly conflicted here.  I'm getting advice from both staff and many of you in the e-mail, to acknowledge what was headlined on the Drudge Report today, and (sigh) these things are always tough to talk about. I can tell you that I have extended my partnership at Clear Channel through the year 2016.  I am not going anywhere.  I am going to be here with you.  I'm just ecstatic that this has happened, and I'm happy that I can be able to tell you about it during the Fourth of July week, because -- and I've said this on many occasions -- none of this would have been possible without you, and I can't thank you enough.  It's a debt that I can never repay you, just like we can never repay the debt that we owe the men and women of the US Armed Forces. 

I am constantly in awe of the bond, the loyalty, the length of time people have been listening to this program: 20 years coming up on August the 1st.  So, yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have extended through 2016, and yes for the most part what you've read is true.  But I want to say a couple things.  It's actually a cut, because I was projecting much more.  And since I didn't get what I was projecting, I'm looking at this not as a raise, but as a cut, because I was expecting twice this.  What I'm going to call this is the Contract for America 2008.  I know that the liberals and others will resent this, the class-envy crowd, but don't resent it.  I earned it.  And if Obama becomes president, I won't keep much of it.  For example, his Social Security "reform" will take how many millions? Who knows, but a lot.  His first tax increase, which will take us back to the Clinton tax rate of 39.6%, that will take at least another 5%.

Who knows how many millions? Then Obama's second tax increase, the one he never talks about, but the one there will be, will take heaven knows how much more out of what already is a cut -- and then his Medicare bailout, and then a tax increase on whatever else he hasn't thought of. Who knows?  I mean, I am proud. I will be honest. I am proud of my new, much-deserved contract (which, of course, is a cut.)  I'm telling you that I am proud that I will still have some of it left so that I can still be told I am not paying my "fair share."  I hope to have enough of it left if Obama is elected.  Seriously, this is hard for me to talk about.  I'm trying to joke about it here to make a point, a little satire on the way baseline budgeting works in Washington, DC. 

But to me, the great thing about it is that I have another eight years, all the way through 2016. I'm not going anywhere. I've told you, all of you, that I am not retiring until every American agrees with me.   This is the United States of America, and we are celebrating our independence this week.  And the things that have happened to me in my life are the reason that I am so optimistic and the reason that I have such love for this country and the reason I don't want anybody messing with it.  It's the reason I don't want anybody tampering with the capitalist system, the entrepreneurism that's founded in freedom and ambition and creativity that lets people fail and fail and fail and try and try and try again until it works. 

The notion that these are the people we need to punish in this country, offends me to no end, because these are the backbone of the country. The people who make it work.  They're not people seeking fame; they're not people trying to get noticed by anybody.  They're just living their lives, doing the best they can, for the most part, what they think is right. Nobody can be perfect.  But this little thing that's happened to me the last 20 years, how could I not be optimistic for everybody else?  If it happened to me, it can happen to a whole lot of people.  But if there's nobody around to inspire you, and if all you're going to hear every day is how it can't be done, "America is going to hell in a handbasket," well, that's bad, and I don't want to put up with it.


BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I want to take one more stab here at something I was talking about just before the previous hour concluded, and that is the news that popped up everywhere today on the Drudge Report, and my syndication partners at Clear Channel put out their own press release announcing that I have extended my partnership arrangement with them for eight years through 2016.  That's why I am your "host for life."  I've always said, "I am not going anywhere 'til everybody, every American agrees with me." It's a daunting challenge.  I have not shrunk from it, nor shall I.  But I wanted to tell you what this means to me in terms of my mind and my heart. You know, we all -- in this audience, you and I -- cherish this country. We cherish the freedoms that we have in this country, and especially when we stop to think about it on the Fourth of July, independence week and so forth, it takes on an even more important relevance. 

For example, I have a story in the Stack of Stuff today. The last batch of troops sent over to Iraq for the surge will be soon coming home.  They will not receive anything from the Democrat Party along the likes of, "Job well done! We're proud of you," and this is highly distressing.  Not only will Democrats nor leftists say to any returning troops from Iraq, "Good job. Job well done. We honor your service," no. They did just the opposite.  They sought to secure defeat of the US military in Iraq.  They sought to discredit the surge before it had even begun.  They called the architect of the surge, General Petraeus, essentially, a liar before he had even opened his mouth to give them, in Congress, a report.  We face really challenging times.  The left wing in this country is on a tear to restrict as much freedom and as much movement as they can. 

Two days in a row, I've had Drive-By Media stories in the stacks of stuff here celebrating the end of the SUV, and this is because people can't afford the gas price anymore. SUVs use a lot of gasoline. So people, A, aren't buying new ones, and they're trying to sell the ones that they have -- and there are people happy about this.  These are people who want to try to dictate to us what kind of car we can drive and how far we can drive it.  They want us in mass transit. They want us blamed and feeling guilty for all of the ills in the world.  The United States is the solution to problems in the world.  We are not the problem.  Too many Americans, all of them on the left, believe just the opposite.  As such, there is a battle for the heart and soul of the United States of America, and the battle can basically be described as one side wants to tear down the traditions and institutions that have made this country great and reorder them so that they feel better about themselves.

And those traditions and institutions that have made the country great can be found in religion, can be found in family, can be found in the strict interpretation of the Constitution and a number of other things.  They want there to be very little of that.  They want a utopia, they think that can be created, on the basis of perfection.  They look at the United States as a flawed country. (interruption) Yeah, Fox News is running a side-by-side comparison of the cover photo on the New York Times magazine of me with Don Vito Corleone.  That's a great picture.  You know, I've had some people say, "How come you let them take a picture of you where you look mean?"  Hey, this is how the libs see me.  You know what that picture says?  That picture says dark, sinister, confident, dangerous; and if you look at the eyes in that picture, it also says something else, two words.  (No, not "Tony Soprano.") 

It's just a great picture.  They came down here and they did the shoot right here at the EIB Southern Command. They shot some here in the studio and some of those are in the New York Times article -- it's a huge piece. It's 8,000 words -- and they shot some others out in our living room area, and that's the one that made the cover.  I saw it last night for the first time, I thought, "Wow, it's actually a good picture." You know, when you start letting Drive-Bys taking pictures of you, it's risky. I've learned now what not to do during sessions.  Don't look frustrated. Don't start waving around and get all contorted looks on your face and so forth, because "Ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching," they can snap and get anything. But they were a very cooperative crew.

At any rate, back to the internal war that we face here.  There are people who seek power to deny us freedom.  And this is something that's crucially important to me, to maintain it.  The thing that Drudge wrote today on his website that's appeared in a number of other places about the contract extension, it's for the most part accurate. There are some things in it that are not quite true, but for the most part it's true.  But the main thing is that another eight years, right here, with you, defending and protecting the freedoms that we all cherish in this country.  It's quite an honor for me to have this position. You know, you look around -- and I don't mean to sound smug about this, but you've seen it yourselves.  The print Drive-By Media is in trouble.  They are laying off newsroom staff in newsrooms and newspapers across the country.  Their advertising revenue is plunging.  Their circulation is plunging. 

They don't know what to do about it.  The Drive-By Media news media has a characteristic that is unlike most other businesses, and it is a business, and you can listen to the editors and the managers these papers talk about, "Yeah, we gotta make these cuts so they can stay profitable."  They rip everybody else trying to make a profit, like Big Oil, but they reserve the right for themselves.  But most of their employees don't care about the profit, other than that's how they get paid.  Most people in the Drive-By Media, when a customer complains, the customer is told he's wrong. The customer is told he's stupid. The customer is told he doesn't understand how journalism works.  Well, if the customer gets sick and tired of reading something that's predictable, that goes against the grain of cultural and political beliefs that the reader has, then bam! The reader is out of there.  Why subject yourself to it? 

So, it is happening.  They're out there losing jobs, losing advertising, losing subscribers.  Meanwhile, here at the EIB Network, it's just the opposite -- and you know what the big difference is?   The big difference -- and I've said this a number of times, but I want to relate it to this instance.  The big difference is they have no connection with their audience.  When you get to the big Drive-By Media, such as in New York and Washington, most of them are writing for each other.  They write what they write hoping other Drive-Bys will then read it and be impressed.  They do.  And then they hope to come up with something unique that everybody will then copy for when they go on the roundtable discussions on cable TV shows.  So it's become very incestuous. 

There is no connection with the audience, and newspapers have audiences.  They might call them readers or subscribers, but they are audiences.  And if they are unable to establish a bond with the audience, then they're going to have trouble.  That's what's happened here, and it's even referenced in the Clear Channel press release announcing the contract extension in the quote that I gave them.   There's something special here, the bond of loyalty between audience and host.  And it is something that I cherish and am in awe of myself; and, as I said last hour and on numerous previous occasions: There's no way I can ever adequately say thank you in a way that expresses the depth of emotion I actually feel about it.  It's just phenomenal, and it's unique, and it's incredible.

And that bond is what makes me want to continue to do this. You know, look at all of the attempts over the course of the years that have been made to weaken this bond, to try to convince you that this show isn't what you think it is, that I'm some sort of lying fanatic making it all up, and yet you're here. You stayed here throughout it, and the reason for that is that you know the truth because you have a daily relationship with the program, and we have a bond.  So what the media says about what happens here, when it's mostly lies what they say, doesn't affect you. 

It goes back to the old thing.  If the media didn't make you, the media can't destroy you.  But if you allow the media to make you by virtue of, say, buzz -- let them build you up bigger than you are -- they can then tear you down.  That can't happen with me because they didn't make me; you did.  Without you, none of this that you're reading about today would happen.  But the important thing is to be able to stay here for another eight years on our own terms and not give up the fight that is in the midst of really a fevered pitch right now for our basic liberties and freedoms.

Just yesterday -- this is not anything that hasn't happened before but it just continued to happen. Just yesterday, we learned that owners of land will not be able to develop it in Montana because of a grouse, a grouse population.  The ultimate aim is to get the grouse put on the endangered species list so the owners of that property can't do diddly-squat with it.  There's oil underneath that land, and there's an opportunity for developers to make residential areas out of it or what have you.  So there are people active in this country, doing everything they can to destroy the country's ability to grow, to remain prosperous, and to remain a superpower.  Here's another example.  This is from Investor's Business Daily: "A state judge has blocked construction of a power plant on grounds that its emissions permit does not set a cap on carbon dioxide."  So global warming, the hoax of manmade global warming, has won another round.  
 
"Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore of the Fulton County, Ga., Superior Court," this is Atlanta, for those of you in Rio Linda, "invalidated on Tuesday a government permit issued in 2007 for construction of a coal-fired plant in the southwestern part of the state. She based her decision on last year's US Supreme Court ruling that forced the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate CO2 as a pollutant, even though it is harmless to humans and animals and is necessary to plant life." The Supreme Court had no business taking the case; they did.  Their ruling, obnoxious.  So this is how the left intends, with unelected people who have lifetime appointments who institute personal policy preferences on the basis of their liberal beliefs, to stop a coal-fired power plant.  We need more energy. 

If we're going to grow, if your kids are going to have the opportunities that we had -- and every parent wants their kid to do better than they did. If you want a country that is constantly growing and proud of itself and remains exceptional in as many ways as possible, you're going to have to fight these people who want to establish an America in a permanent state of decline.  These are the naysayers, the doomsayers, the doom-and-gloomers.  This is how they look at life themselves; they want everybody else to be miserable with them, because in the midst of that misery you might vote for people otherwise because you're so mad, you want a change.  So I'm looking forward to the next eight years, looking forward to being with you.  I'm calling this, ladies and gentlemen, the contract for America.  You made it possible.  I thank you much.

Read the Background Material...
New York Times Magazine: Late-Period Limbaugh - Zev Chafets
Rush Renews Long-Term Contract with Premiere Radio Networks and Clear Channel Radio
RE: Megasplash, Megadeal. Rush In NYT Cover Story, Stunning Contract Renewal
DrudgeReport: Limbaugh Signs Through 2016; $400 Million Deal Shatters Records
USA Today: Fewer Companies Plan to Hire, Give Raises in Next Three Months
USA Today: Stocks off $2.1 Trillion this Year
USA Today: For Many, Golden Years Mean Less Travel, More Work
USA Today: Chrysler Closing Minivan Plant
USA Today: Are Big Bets by Speculators Driving Up Oil? Experts Disagree
AP: June Car Sales Plummet; More Declines Expected
AP: Starbucks to Close 600 US Stores, Rein in Growth
AP: Wall Street Zigzags on First Day of 3rd Quarter
AP: Blockbuster Withdraws Plan to Acquire Circuit City
AP: Manufacturers Struggle to Overcome Rising Prices


----------------------

The media uses polls to manufacture news. Examples: Voters would rather BBQ with Obama, and prefer Cindy McCain -- which is a cue for the Drive-Bys to smear her.

Pearl of Wisdom: "Wesley Clark is a political hack, and he's trying to take away from McCain the #1 attraction that he has, and that is his character, dignity and heroic war service that has contributed to this status. They know exactly what they're doing."

» CBS:
McCain on Clark to Obama: "Cut Him Loose"

As Obama attacks McCain, the Politico reports: McCain Game Plan Worries Insiders. Four months have passed since McCain effectively captured the GOP nomination, and the insiders are getting restless now?

Pearl of Wisdom: "I'm telling you here and now: 'crossing the aisle' and working with the left is not going to make this country better. The country is not going to improve, and it isn't going to do much for you personally."

Rush teaches a caller to be sensitive to liberal redefinition of terms. "Patriotism" now means bashing your country. "Swiftboating" now means an unjustified, dirty political attack -- when all the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth did was tell the truth about Kerry.

Pearl of Wisdom: "You Recreate '68 protesters aren't worthy of your name if you're just going to sit here as a bunch of docile little puppies and agree to be placed in a cage at the Democrat Convention. I mean, for crying out loud, why don't you guys at least go talk to Bill Ayers in Chicago and get some tips, or maybe a couple bombs?"

A Homeless Update: Denver is going to round up the homeless for the Democrat convention, and put them in rooms with flatscreen TVs. This is going to be boring.

»
Denver Preps for DNC with National Anthem Snub

»
Power to the Street People


Help for a father whose son has been duped by the manmade global warming hoax: We can't destroy the planet, or save it. Research it in
Rush's Essential Stack of Stuff.

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