Speaker 1: But like to welcome to the program. Jim Garrity from
Speaker 1: National Review Online has a blog called The Carry Spot
Speaker 1: t K s uh. Just a brilliant body of work
Speaker 1: during the campaign of two thousand four, cited often by me,
Speaker 1: not stolen by me, but cited often by me on
Speaker 1: this program. Jim has a book out called Voting to
Speaker 1: Kill but not since September nineteenth, and he went out,
Speaker 1: has gone out, and the interviewed a number of Americans
Speaker 1: about the issues on their mind as the mid term
Speaker 1: elections come up in November. Jim, welcome. It's great to
Speaker 1: have you here with us Rush some very long awaited
Speaker 1: mega diddos. Thanks so much for having me up you bet, Jim. Now,
Speaker 1: I want to start off by telling you a little
Speaker 1: story because uh, and let me ask. I don't want
Speaker 1: to I don't be wrong in my in my presumption,
Speaker 1: but but the the focal point of the of the
Speaker 1: book is that the people you've talked to do take
Speaker 1: seriously the threat posed by terrorists around the world. Whatever
Speaker 1: you want to call him, Islamo fascist, the war on
Speaker 1: terts a serious thing to them. Correct. Okay, So I'm
Speaker 1: up in New York over a weekend and I went
Speaker 1: to a dinner party Saturday night at a friend's house
Speaker 1: which is in plain view of West Point, and a
Speaker 1: bunch of people looking out across the Hudson River at
Speaker 1: West Point, and one of them made mentioned, you know,
Speaker 1: this is the birthplace of the American Revolution. And I
Speaker 1: wonder how many people today even think about the American Revolution.
Speaker 1: How many people are taught the American Revolution. And it
Speaker 1: was until Dolly Madison had to run out of a
Speaker 1: burning White House with a picture of George Washington that
Speaker 1: the American people back then got serious about the threat
Speaker 1: posed by the continual presence of the Britties. The British
Speaker 1: had burned down the White House, and that finally got
Speaker 1: the American people all upset. History textbooks today say the
Speaker 1: American Revolution began when Bill Clinton was elected. And so
Speaker 1: the question, the question came up at dinner is is
Speaker 1: America finished? You think enough people care? And one of
Speaker 1: the one of the guests that I believe in the
Speaker 1: total resiliency the American The American people fully aware of
Speaker 1: the threat that we face, and they will respond to
Speaker 1: leadership when that leadership tells I'm in a convincing way
Speaker 1: that the threat that we faced and I raised my
Speaker 1: hand said, well, when when are they When are they
Speaker 1: going to respond to say, what was nine eleven? If
Speaker 1: it was not a wake up call? So what what's
Speaker 1: your take on this? After having spoken to a number
Speaker 1: of Americans? Is there a when you think a majority
Speaker 1: of them that are going to vote, that are well
Speaker 1: aware and prepared to vote on this as an issue?
Speaker 1: Rush We used to hear about the silent majority, and
Speaker 1: I think what I would call these folks? Are they
Speaker 1: not vocal plurality? Uh, there are a lot of folks who, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the day by day they don't necessarily think of these things.
Speaker 1: You hear about high gas prices or some other issue
Speaker 1: that's in the news, and then you get something like
Speaker 1: that foiled plot to bomb the London airliners, or the
Speaker 1: bombing plots that were in Denmark and Germany and all
Speaker 1: these other places around the world, and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden people wake up to it and they realize, oh,
Speaker 1: my goodness, this is we are in a life and
Speaker 1: death struggle. Um, do I have time to share the
Speaker 1: anecdote of the security moms in my book? Right? Um?
Speaker 1: They sickly the tiny of the attacks on the morning
Speaker 1: of nine eleven, For many parents came after they had
Speaker 1: dropped their children off to school and either they're on
Speaker 1: their way home or they just arrived home. They turned
Speaker 1: on the TV. They see something is terribly wrong. Uh,
Speaker 1: and then they realize that I've got to get to
Speaker 1: my kids. They've got to make sure that they're safe.
Speaker 1: And they faced this sudden, terrible decision of having more
Speaker 1: than one child at more than one school, and they
Speaker 1: many of them described it as feeling like a gun
Speaker 1: had been put to their heads, saying which child do
Speaker 1: you pick up first? Which child to make sure is
Speaker 1: safe first? And this to them was probably for many
Speaker 1: of the most traumatic moment of their lives, something absolutely horrific.
Speaker 1: That all they want in a leader is someone who
Speaker 1: will make sure they never face that moment again, that
Speaker 1: sort of choice again. Well, I guess that's questions that
Speaker 1: sentiments still prevail. I saw Washington Post pole or story.
Speaker 1: I think it was by Jim Van Derhey, but I'm
Speaker 1: not I'm not sure that he was the writer. But
Speaker 1: the headline says Republicans losing security moms, and it was
Speaker 1: about a poll. If you read the whole story, it
Speaker 1: did indicate that Republicans were losing this important trust to
Speaker 1: security moms, but that the Democrats weren't picking it up. Uh,
Speaker 1: and it was that was a problem from the Washington Post.
Speaker 1: But what is the emotion of these security moms. You've
Speaker 1: just described the same today as it was in the
Speaker 1: days after nine eleven. I think so um. I remember
Speaker 1: the carry spot coverage. I had a mentor named Obi
Speaker 1: wan Kenobi use that because I didn't want it. He
Speaker 1: didn't want his name out there. But he basically says
Speaker 1: that once you go into the voting booths, all of
Speaker 1: the attack ads, all of the screaming headlines, all of
Speaker 1: the shouting back and forth goes away. It's almost like
Speaker 1: the whole room goes silent and it's just you and
Speaker 1: your ballot. And he described it as an almost sacred experience,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, it takes away all of
Speaker 1: the riff raffle, all of the other distracting messages out there,
Speaker 1: and you look seriously at the two names on the
Speaker 1: ballot in front of you, and you've get to think
Speaker 1: more seriously about what that choice signifies, and that, you
Speaker 1: know what, it is a pretty rare experience in human
Speaker 1: history to get the right to choose your leaders. It's
Speaker 1: Americans do take that seriously, and so you know, they
Speaker 1: may not have the same seriousness when they're talking to
Speaker 1: a polster on the phone or even talking to and
Speaker 1: then I, um, but I think Americans do basically take
Speaker 1: this extraordinarily seriously once you get all the distractions out
Speaker 1: of the way, something like say, Congressman Fully, well, let
Speaker 1: me let me bring that up. By the way, if
Speaker 1: you're just joining us talking with Jim Garretty, his book
Speaker 1: is Voting to Kill and he is a blogger the
Speaker 1: Terry spot at National Review Online, which is one of
Speaker 1: this program's favorite websites and blog sites. Um. The the
Speaker 1: the the folly episode has now had uh, you know,
Speaker 1: full throated treatment ever since Fully resigned on Thursday, after
Speaker 1: whiles actually since the emails were uh leaked and their
Speaker 1: existence known since I guess Thursday Friday morning, what have you? Uh.
Speaker 1: The the impression is that this is the issue now,
Speaker 1: the Republican corruption culture. Corruption is back, George Allen, Tom delay,
Speaker 1: Janine Pierro up in New York is a nationally known story,
Speaker 1: and now this folly business. And it does appear the
Speaker 1: Democrats have once again lost their footing on their opposition
Speaker 1: to the war on terror and Iraq, and now they're
Speaker 1: rallying around this folly thing. Um. And I wondered how
Speaker 1: you felt about it, since your book is basically supporting
Speaker 1: the premise that the war on terror and the threat
Speaker 1: America faces the issue on which people to vote, going
Speaker 1: to vote? Does this change that? Um? These starts of
Speaker 1: issues come along every now and then, Uh, you know, scandals.
Speaker 1: We we saw them believing that the Abramov scandal was
Speaker 1: going to absolutely be the issue that decided this year's elections,
Speaker 1: and yeah, where is that? It's nowhere? My My first
Speaker 1: instinct is that this might be the second coming of
Speaker 1: the Wellstone funeral um, which I'm sure you remember from
Speaker 1: two thousand two. Was this, you know, an event that
Speaker 1: Republicans attended and everyone wanted to, whether they agreed with
Speaker 1: Paul Wellston or not, pay their respects and and you know,
Speaker 1: pay tribute to a guy who, even if you didn't
Speaker 1: agree with them, seemed like a very decent guy. And
Speaker 1: it turned into a partisan pep rally um. And I
Speaker 1: think that eagerness to score political points. We're seeing it
Speaker 1: a bit in the coverage so far. And I could
Speaker 1: see this if the Democrats are not careful. They will
Speaker 1: echo that's exact same sentiment of cticizing, what is it?
Speaker 1: It's hard a tragedy that you know knows no no
Speaker 1: partisan lines. I mean, this is just a terrible thing
Speaker 1: to happen in this poor kid's life. And now they're
Speaker 1: going to, you know, refocus the entire Democratic campaign for
Speaker 1: two thousands six over this, you know, I mean honestly, well,
Speaker 1: I know, I don't think I think there's gonna be
Speaker 1: more of this kind of stuff. I think the Clinton
Speaker 1: war room is in full speed, and I think there's
Speaker 1: a whole host of these things they're holding, uh to
Speaker 1: release in a timely fashion, i e. Press leaks or
Speaker 1: bombshell stories, not just about sex scandals and so forth.
Speaker 1: But you know, Jim, the one thing about this this
Speaker 1: this when you compare it to the Wellstone memorial, understand
Speaker 1: it in the sense of Democrats really overplayed it. Uh
Speaker 1: Wellstone's death of tragedy. But this is pedophilia. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of people who just they have no patience tolerance.
Speaker 1: They don't want to be made to try to understand
Speaker 1: anything about it. Uh, they don't want to be bought
Speaker 1: off with trips to rehab. This is pedophilia, and there's
Speaker 1: some people who fear it's gonna have legs because of that. Oh,
Speaker 1: there's no way that every Republican should be saying they'd
Speaker 1: like to, you know, beat this guy with their own
Speaker 1: bare hands. I mean, there's no doubt that, you know,
Speaker 1: no one should make any effort to defend this guy,
Speaker 1: but you know, to say that this is some sort
Speaker 1: of issue that I have my doubts that people when
Speaker 1: they look at their congressmen and the challenger in front
Speaker 1: of them, and their Senate race, their governor's race, I
Speaker 1: have my doubts that this is what it's going to
Speaker 1: be on their minds, because ultimately, this is one guy
Speaker 1: and as far as we know one page. Maybe there
Speaker 1: are some others, but this is, you know, this is
Speaker 1: not necessarily the grand issue of the republic that was
Speaker 1: going to affect every single person on the level of
Speaker 1: terrorism is So I would I would assume you would
Speaker 1: then believe that the Democrats are making a mistake by
Speaker 1: not giving voters something about them to vote for on
Speaker 1: whatever the issue is. They still are not doing that.
Speaker 1: They're still trying to run on the basis that Republicans
Speaker 1: are scumb and you can't trust them and put us
Speaker 1: back in power because it's ours and we deserve it.
Speaker 1: But in terms of UH, the issue of terrorism, I
Speaker 1: would assume, if your theory is correct, that you would
Speaker 1: have to believe that they're actually hurting themselves with their
Speaker 1: position on a rock and Jack Murtha cut run the
Speaker 1: president fighting back on it. You think this will prevail
Speaker 1: an election day? Absolutely, And what's interesting, well, we will see.
Speaker 1: But we saw a very similar dynamic in two thousand
Speaker 1: four where Carrie was pulling on certain issues very well.
Speaker 1: Everyone liked his plans to give us all free healthcare
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm going to spend more money on this.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna spend more money on that. Uh. And nearly
Speaker 1: across the board he was doing fine except for this big,
Speaker 1: glaring weakness on the issue of terrorism that you know,
Speaker 1: Bush was beating him like a drum on this. And
Speaker 1: the lesson of two thousand four, or even to a
Speaker 1: certain extent, two thousand two, is if voters don't think
Speaker 1: you can handle protecting the country, they don't care what
Speaker 1: you have to say about prescription drugs or healthcare or
Speaker 1: any of these others issues which you know they can
Speaker 1: be important, but no issue is more important than who's
Speaker 1: going to keep me safe. Who's going to make sure that,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody doesn't plow and it's scott An airline
Speaker 1: or into my skyscraper. There could be a lot of
Speaker 1: people comforted by this, and I'm one of them. I
Speaker 1: have to tell you that I'm uh not as confident
Speaker 1: as you are that the nine level was five years ago.
Speaker 1: We don't even show videotape of it anymore. We never
Speaker 1: are allowed to see the suicide jumps from either of
Speaker 1: the two towers. Those are suppressed. It's too soon. We
Speaker 1: can't deal with it emotionally. The Democrats have tried to
Speaker 1: paint a picture that it was, you know, just an
Speaker 1: episodic event, not part of any systematic effort on a
Speaker 1: part of people that want to kill us, not just
Speaker 1: a battle in a war. It was just we kind
Speaker 1: of screwed up. But these things happen now and then
Speaker 1: there not much we can do about it. We need
Speaker 1: to go back to having our normal lifestyle. They're trying
Speaker 1: to do their best to a race from people's memory
Speaker 1: that had happened. In the meantime, we have not been
Speaker 1: hit since uh Madrid has London has foiled a plot
Speaker 1: among the airliners. As you pointed up, we haven't been hit.
Speaker 1: And the theory that some people have is that we've
Speaker 1: just started getting a false sense of complacency about our
Speaker 1: security and if that transfers into people voting differently than
Speaker 1: on security, it'll have a negative outcomes. So people are
Speaker 1: gonna be comforted to hear your theory on this. I think, well,
Speaker 1: you know, it's one of those things where even if
Speaker 1: they don't have the images on the television's, they don't
Speaker 1: go out of our heads. You know that that's something
Speaker 1: that you know, even if if I never saw a
Speaker 1: picture of it or video of it for the rest
Speaker 1: of my life, I'm never going to forget it. And
Speaker 1: I think a lot of voters are that same way. Plus,
Speaker 1: you know, we saw the ratings for that past mental
Speaker 1: nine eleven movie that you actually want it's time slot
Speaker 1: one of the nights and did very well the other night.
Speaker 1: There's an interest in this, and the more that the
Speaker 1: Democrats and certain elites in the media say, oh, we
Speaker 1: shouldn't talk about this, this is something that's uh, too emotional,
Speaker 1: it stirs up too many bad memories, it's too soon.
Speaker 1: People notice that and I think people kind of resent it.
Speaker 1: They resent being treated like children, and they resent being
Speaker 1: talked down to of what they can and can't handle.
Speaker 1: Certainly they didn't have their problem with pictures of Abu
Speaker 1: Grabe or you know, uh, the the picture of the
Speaker 1: Virgin Mary with dung on it and all these other
Speaker 1: horrific images, but we're not allowed to see the one
Speaker 1: that will make us as Americans angry. I mean, people
Speaker 1: know the score on this, so it's safe to assume
Speaker 1: that your your your opinion or your thoughts on the
Speaker 1: what I call the drive by media's effort to shift
Speaker 1: public opinion on all this is ultimately going to fail.
Speaker 1: Abu grab Club getting all all these things designed to
Speaker 1: portray America and its worst, the al Qaeda Bill of Rights.
Speaker 1: We've got to give these people lawyers and trials that
Speaker 1: that's actually infuriating more people than anybody gives credit to.
Speaker 1: If I were in charge of the r n C,
Speaker 1: and sadly I am not, I would be running the
Speaker 1: footage of Senator Dick Durman, of Senator Democratic of Illinois
Speaker 1: comparing US troops in Guantana obey to Nazis seven. Just
Speaker 1: remind these people what they think of our armed forces,
Speaker 1: what do they think of our efforts in the war
Speaker 1: on terror? And how they see us as the bad
Speaker 1: guys because you know, every American, even a whole lot
Speaker 1: of conservative Democrats, a lot of Joe Lieberman Democrats out there. No,
Speaker 1: we're not the bad guys in this, you know, even
Speaker 1: and and their attitude towards our guys in guantanam Obey
Speaker 1: and our guys fighting the war on Terrell around the
Speaker 1: world is do what you gotta do. We trust you,
Speaker 1: we know you're not bad guys. You just you know,
Speaker 1: life requires you to make some difficult choices and do
Speaker 1: some tough things, and you know we're fine with that.
Speaker 1: Do what you have to keep us safe. I think
Speaker 1: is the overwhelming mentality of so many Americans. True, Jim,
Speaker 1: you know something. Uh, I'm inclined to adopt your belief
Speaker 1: and be confident about it for for a host of reasons,
Speaker 1: but one main one, and that is you've got a
Speaker 1: book coming out. It's out, it's election time on the
Speaker 1: premise of how people are going to vote. If you're wrong,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have a lot of trouble selling your next book. November,
Speaker 1: So well, best of luck with it, and thanks for
Speaker 1: your time today. This is um I'm glad that you
Speaker 1: were you had some time, because I don't think the
Speaker 1: American people can hear enough, especially in these times, positive
Speaker 1: thinking and confidence about themselves. You've obviously talked to them,
Speaker 1: researched it enough to write a book. You're ultimately expressing
Speaker 1: confidence in the seriousness of the American people, and I
Speaker 1: think they need to hear that about themselves. UM. So
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Jim, you've got
Speaker 1: Jim Garritty. The book is Voting to Kill and it's
Speaker 1: uh by a man who has got a great piece.
Speaker 1: It survived the two four two four elections. By the way,
Speaker 1: that Carry spot t k s. As I say, this
Speaker 1: piece was, this blog was just a front of information,
Speaker 1: humor and serious combined about the absolute foibles of the
Speaker 1: of the Carry campaign and the man. So this is
Speaker 1: a good read. It's a good book. Happy to recommend
Speaker 1: it until you