Ryan Rhodes Calls the ProgramAugust 16, 2011
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RUSH: Somebody help me out here. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm drawing a blank. Who was it that said we need to go out there, argue with our neighbors, and get in their face? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, it was Obama, right? It was Obama. That was way back, September 18th, 2008. (imitating Obama) "You go out there and you get in their face. I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to 'em whether they're independent or whether they're Republican. I want you to argue with 'em. I want you to get in their face." Still, from here on in Obama's gonna have to avoid all those pesky people who might try to ask him questions, like the Tea Party people. I don't know, folks, it's fascinating to watch all this.
We got Ryan Rhodes on the phone. Is he ready to go now? We got Mr. Tea Party in Iowa, Ryan Rhodes on the phone. Ryan, great to have you here on the EIB Network. You know, I was just going to observe that unlike whenever there were people that, quote, unquote, heckled Bush, CNN made a beeline to have them on their network to discuss it. Has CNN called you to come in and talk about your experience with President Obama?
CALLER: CNN has. I want to thank you for letting me on. This is unbelievable. I've always wanted to get on and I've never been able to get in. But, yeah, no, CNN and about every station's pretty much contacted me.
RUSH: Are you gonna appear?
CALLER: Yeah, I mean, it's time somebody started talking about the other side and letting Obama know that he's not getting a free pass.
RUSH: Well, God bless you. You are Mr. Guts and Mr. Courage, and what you did yesterday, especially, Ryan, in the face of all this bogus news that the Tea Party was losing favor, you know, plummeting in the polls and so forth, what you did was gutsy and inspiring to a lot of people because we've all heard the staged comments that his supporters were telling him, "You hang in there, Mr. President, nobody's faced tougher odds than you, a meaner bunch of opponents," blah, blah, blah. How did you find him in your conversation? I haven't heard it, but it sounded like he was flustered.
CALLER: It was actually somewhat cordial. I mean I'm sure it flustered him a little bit. I stood up and he didn't -- he obviously -- I mean it's hard to miss somebody standing there so I said I'm gonna ask this question anyway and I respectfully waited 'til the very end of the town hall, and then he didn't want to answer it. His vice president's gonna go out and say that, they're gonna deny it, their whole party's narrative is we're terrorists, when he was the one hanging out with Bill Ayers, and, you know, the fact is the Secret Service didn't even budge because they knew I wasn't gonna do anything, they knew all I wanted to do was talk to the president and let him know that I did not appreciate what he was doing to our country.
RUSH: Well, you got the message across.
CALLER: Well, I hope so. It's amazing the e-mails. I've had an awful lot of thank-you e-mails and thank-you requests, but I've also had some pretty visceral e-mails, if you will as well. It's kind of funny.
RUSH: Oh, you're gonna have --
CALLER: So, you know, and that happens when you stand up for what's right and --
RUSH: Oh, it does.
CALLER: -- I remember when Ronald Reagan said that when Bill Buckley got in there and was making waves he asked everybody else what they're doing.
RUSH: Well, Obama didn't call you a hostage taker or the enemy to your face, did he?
CALLER: No, no, no. He said that in fairness he was called, he's been called a socialist, not born here, ruining our country and everything, but in fairness, he embraced the socialist title when TIME Magazine put it out and now that we've made it unpopular by standing up, now all of a sudden he thinks it's dirty name-calling.
RUSH: Yeah, exactly right. Well, you know, you illustrated a lot of things just by showing up. How many people were at that event at the time you spoke up, you think?
CALLER: I want to say 500 plus. It was a ticketed event. You couldn't get in without a ticket, and I kind of I guess snuck through those cracks there, but I requested a ticket to go and to be a part of this, and, you know, it's a town hall. It's time he heard from everybody. I was at the state fair, I was at the straw poll, you know, they sent people to heckle our people. I mean somebody virtually jumped Michele Bachmann and that's why she had to be rushed out with security at the state fair, and, you know, that's why I said, you know, I'm gonna be respectful but I'm gonna go out there and let him know this is not right to do this. This is not right for you to call us this and then tell us we're unreasonable. He said, "I'm Mr. Reasonable, I'm accused of being Mr. Reasonable," and I did say, "I will never accuse the president of that."
RUSH: Ryan, what do you do for a living?
CALLER: I was one of the car dealerships that got shut down by Obama in 2009. I was part of one of those, and then I went to work radio and I'm talking to people who were telling me, business owners who say if cap and trade gets passed I'm gonna have to fire my employees, otherwise I'm not gonna be able to pay these standards. I used to actually sell radio, even for your program as well, and after that I just decided it was time for me to get out and I do some consulting, I'm kind of between things 'cause we just finished a Tea Party bus tour around Iowa to train caucus-goers for a month on a few things as well as mention the gold standard which is the fact of getting our country back to sound money. So right I'm in the middle of figuring out what my next step is but I know the fact is somebody's gotta be standing up to these people because there are no more free passes.
RUSH: Ryan, you are in the middle of your next step.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: I'm serious. With what you're doing right now, you are in your next step. You're organizing Tea Party events, you're doing grassroots work. The kind of work you're doing is what wins elections. It really is. You are at the grassroots level, and what you're doing is gonna bubble up and effervesce and opportunities galore are going to present themselves to you as a result of this instance, of this event.
CALLER: Yeah. Well, I also have to give a shout out to my mom and dad, John and Janice Rhodes, they're up in upstate New York, but they were out there and, you know, they were Democrats in the eighties, but I remember sitting and watching your show at one point, and you were talking about rugged individualism, my dad looks at me and said, "You know, I want you to remember this, son. This is America, you can be anything you want to be," and right now the reason I'm doing this is 'cause that's under attack, and I just want to tell that's meant a lot to me, is you standing up for people, that rugged individualism and that we can do this and we don't need the government. It actually hinders us and holds us back.
RUSH: How old are you, Ryan?
CALLER: I'm 29 years old.
RUSH: Twenty-nine years old. This is why I always am optimistic and why every one of you should be. Here is a 29-year-old man taking it upon himself to do what he thinks is necessary to preserve his country for himself, family and everything else. There was a famous poet, Ryan, and this relates to you to a T. A famous poet once said, "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans." That was John Lennon of the Beatles. And that's exactly what you're doing right now. Life is happening to you. You think you're busy making other plans, and you are in the middle of your next step.
CALLER: Well, I look forward to what it is. I just know that I've been incredibly blessed that God's given me the chance to get out and represent the voice of some people who didn't have the chance to do that. I was trained at a great place called The Leadership Institute. I was Morton Blackwell's intern, and they gave me the tools to get out here and make a difference and be able to get active in this, and I'm doing my best to use them as good as I can.
RUSH: Well, you worked with a good guy there with Morton Blackwell.
CALLER: Yes.
RUSH: You did.
CALLER: He was fantastic.
RUSH: You wait. This is gonna lead to something that you're going to really enjoy doing. I'm not just saying this because of your little incident with Obama. I'm basing this on talking to you; the way you sound about life, yourself, your future. You know, you've got vistas ahead of you that you can't even see. I'm sure you've got goals, but don't narrow 'em too much because you might miss some opportunities that come along.
CALLER: Well, you never know --
RUSH: Keep your goals wide open.
CALLER: -- what the next thing is. So --
RUSH: That's it. That's the thing. You're in it.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: The next thing's happened. You keep a sharp eye. I guarantee, within 24 hours your life is gonna change in ways that you never imagined.
CALLER: Yeah. I realize there's a lot of things. I know there's gonna be a major attack coming on 'cause their idea is to vilify everybody who decides to dare to stand up.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: And, you know, nobody's perfect here, but I'll tell you one thing is I know that... For instance, just recently, my life has been changed around from what I decided to do. That's what got me involve a few years ago with a complete drastic reformation of my life. You know, God kind of saved me. God just saved me, and I owe this to Him, and that's really all there is to do, and I don't believe that He wants people who are dependent on the government, because He wants people dependent on Him.
RUSH: Ryan, let me ask you a question. Are you proficient with computers?
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: What kind of computer do you use?
CALLER: Well, I have an old Acer, I guess. (chuckles) So...
RUSH: Oh, gosh, that's embarrassing. Do you have an iPad?
CALLER: I do have an iPad. It's actually my first Apple product, ever. (laughing) So --
RUSH: Do you like it?
CALLER: Yeah, I do. I love it.
RUSH: All right. Well, I'm gonna send you another one. I'm gonna send you one of only 25 EIB Rush Limbaugh signature engraved iPads.
CALLER: Awesome! Oh, my gosh.
RUSH: And I'm also gonna send you a 13-inch MacBook Air.
CALLER: Oh, wow.
RUSH: That's a fun, cute little computer to learn the Mac on and it's light. You can carried around and you'll love it. So you hang on. Mr. Snerdley will get whatever address information we need to send you this stuff and we'll get that out FedEx either today or tomorrow.
CALLER: Well, I thank you so much. I also want to mention that I'm one of the uninsured but I believe I've decided to take care of myself -- and, you know, when some of those things happen you don't look to the government, because that's when you stop looking your own individual self and looking to God. So I just want to say that a lot of these things, they may paint as, you know, "A billionaire funded this." That's not true. I went there, I requested the tickets on my own, and I want to make sure people know that: That this was my question. It wasn't given to me by somebody else and I appreciate everything you're doing.
RUSH: We can tell that.
CALLER: I appreciate the iPad. That's awesome.
RUSH: Hey, hey, hey! You don't need to say... We could tell the genuineness of your question and your entire conversation with him. There was nothing staged about it. It didn't even appear that way.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: But, you know another thing about, you know, your point about health care and the -- and the government, there's one thing to remember, whether it's health care or your job or your career, there's nobody who's going to care more about that than you.
CALLER: Yeah.
RUSH: There's nobody that's gonna care more about it than you. There's nobody that's gonna have more passion about you than you, and so you are your own best advocate, you're your own best investment; and it's great that you have figured that out. You know, you can't fake sincerity, and you were sincere in that whole bite. So I'm glad that you were able to get through today, and stay on hold so Snerdley can get the address and send the stuff to you.
CALLER: Thanks for having me. You're welcome you to Iowa any time. We'd love to have you for an even out here.
RUSH: Thanks very much. Ryan Rhodes in Des Moines. He was the gentleman, the Tea Partier who had the exchange with President Obama yesterday wanting to know why Vice President Bite Me was calling the Tea Party members "terrorists."
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: It's very fortunate that Ryan Rhodes was able to get through. Now, get this: Ryan Rhodes is a subscriber to RushLimbaugh.com. Ryan Rhodes is a subscriber to The Limbaugh Letter. (That is the largest political newsletter, the most widely circulated political newsletter in the country.) He's a Rush Baby. He's a Tea Party guy. So we're also gonna send him a bunch of TwoIfByTea.com! Hee-hee-hee-hee. We asked him what his favorite flavor is. He's tasted it, and he likes the Regular. Is that what he told you, Snerdley? He likes the regular. So Ryan Rhodes, Tea Party leader in Iowa, is gonna get some Two If By Tea as well as some of the other stuff. There you have it: That may be our first Rhodes Scholar here at the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies. You know, the most telling thing about Obama's exchange with Mr. Rhodes? Let me go back and find the actual bite here. We have time to find it. Grab number four. This is just 20 seconds long. The most telling part, telling thing about this bite happens at the very end of it.
RHODES: A balanced budget is reasonable.
OBAMA: Where...? N-n-no. No. N-no.
RHODES: I didn't appreciate what he said.
OBAMA: No no. B-b-b-but... But... but... but...
RHODES: I didn't appreciate it. This started --
OBAMA: A-a-a-all he was saying was...
RHODES: That started it. I didn't appreciate you letting him.
WOMAN: (screeching) Stay strong, president!
RHODES: That started it.
WOMAN: Stay strong!
OBAMA: No, no, no, no. He... he ... he ... he wasn't objecting to a bal -- the Balanced Budget Amendment. He was objecting to us almost defaulting.
RHODES: Then why doesn’t somebody pass a balanced budget?
OBAMA: Uh... uh...
RHODES: We could pass that and nothing else.
OBAMA: It doesn't sound like you're interested in listening.
RUSH: Obama told him at the end, "It doesn't sound like you're interested in listening." Obama said, "It doesn't sound like you're interested in listening," and the truth is that Ryan Rhodes has heard everything Obama has said and is diametrically opposed to it. The thing about this is is that this, we're told, is supposed to be an Obama listening tour. Obama is supposed to be out there in a talk to/listen to the people extravaganza. So some guy comes up, says, "Look, your vice president's calling us terrorists. The balanced budget's reasonable. There's nothing unreasonable about it, just pass the Balanced Budget Amendment, and its that simple. We can pass that and nothing else." Obama says, "Doesn't sound like you're interested in listening," which is what I thought what Obama was supposed to be doing on this tour.
That's what these presidential tours generally are called: presidential listening tours. So Obama is the one who's not interested in listening, and that you can take to the bank. He doesn't want to hear competing ideas. Remember that glare on his face? They had a summit at the White House on health care, I believe, and Paul Ryan just... Look at that! There's that hearse. That bus, I swear it looks like something that Fox would buy for Geraldo for him to show up at, you know, horrible events as the Grim Reaper. If it's not a listening tour, then his campaign had better be paying for this. If this is a speaking tour, if this is an indoctrination tour... Of course his campaign is not paying for it; the taxpayer is.
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