Rush on Sarah's book: 'I hope she sells five million copies'

Here are some excerpts from today's transpcript of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

RUSH: I have lost my temper, which I don't like doing, when people on our side start parroting the Drive-By Media and Democrat Party version of Sarah Palin. "Oh, I hope -- I hope she's not our nominee. Oh, no! I mean, she's an idiot. Why, did you see her Katie Couric interview? She needs to study up on the issues."

For crying out loud, do you people not understand what all that means? I have been for a couple of years -- well, a year, ever since McCain chose her. I have been pointing out that the Democrat Party and the media will tell us who they fear most -- and they're not afraid of Huckabee, and they're not afraid of Mitt Romney and they're not afraid of Rudy Giuliani. But they have gone out of their way to destroy Sarah Palin. They have gone out of their way to destroy me. The sound bite roster today is half me in the Drive-By Media yesterday. Half me! I hope Sarah Palin sells five million copies of her book. It's going to be interesting to see just what connection she does have with the voting base, conservatives and Republicans. I hope she sells five million copies. I hope it does great. It will be interesting to see because that will just send them into an even greater tizzy on the left.

[...]

Now, I'm not a Republican, in terms of I'm a conservative first, and I'm certainly not elected to anything. We shouldn't let them set the agenda 'cause that constantly puts us on the defensive. It's offense, offense, offense, offense. And that's why the Sarah Palin thing was so obvious to me. There was one particular time, there were some people that started talking to me, and these are Republicans first, but they're also conservatives, but they're Republicans first with electoral politics on their minds, winning elections is the important thing to them. Which, of course, is not bad, but how you win them and what you're going to do after you do so is just as important to me. And to sit there and accept the premise put forth by everybody on the left that Sarah Palin is an idiot just offended the hell out of me. She was the only one that excited anybody on the Republican side at all during the presidential ticket.

Now, the press would love to have some stupid, uh, the press would love to have some old line moderate Republican running the show like McCain. By the way, a Rasmussen poll out today: 61% of Arizona Republicans say McCain out of touch with the party base. Well, duh. It's an important poll for him because he's running for reelection. Sixty-one percent of Arizona Republicans say that McCain is out of touch with the party base. Here comes Sarah Palin, she does the Katie Couric interview; she's being made fun of on Saturday Night Live all over the place by Tina Fey. I was on Barbara Walter's top ten personalities of the year, whatever it was last year, and Tina Fey was on the list because of her imitation of Palin. Tina Fey made the top Ten Most Fascinating People of the Year because of her impersonation of Palin. Why not put Palin in there? I mean without Palin being on the scene Tina Fey wouldn't have had somebody to impersonate to make Barbara Walters' top ten list. But it just really irritated me. It happened, I can't tell you, even through the spring and summer of this year, "I don't think we can have Palin, Rush," because everybody thinks that what the press says about somebody seals the deal. "Rush, the press has already destroyed her."

No they haven't. They're trying to. Why are you going to let them? Don't you understand that's who they're scared to death of when they go after her and they go after her children? Some of the most despicable things -- the Democrats want to lecture us about civility?

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One of the most frustrating things to me to this day, despite the weakened state, despite the obvious, journalism is dead as we've known it, despite the fact that they're in the tank, so many people on our side are still worried what the New York Times says. Still worried about what is on the evening news as though we gotta conquer that before we'll ever succeed, you gotta get the New York Times to like our candidates; we gotta get the Main Street press to like our candidates. It's never going to happen. We set ourselves up for constant failure if that becomes the way we validate ourselves. I get sick and tired of the defensive nature of this. So we have to sit here and listen to people, "Sarah Palin, some idiot there, Sarah Palin, her books, do you think she'll out sell you?" I hope so. It would be fascinating to see.

- JP