Rush Limbaugh Transcript of Interview with Clarence Thomas

The transcript of today's interview is here. I liked this portion:

RUSH: What would you do if you weren't a judge? Other than being a judge, what would you like to do?

JUSTICE THOMAS: (laughing) Oh, goodness. My wife always sort of has problems when I answer questions like that, because what I'd like to do is a little bit different --

RUSH: Well, is she there?

JUSTICE THOMAS: No, she's not.

RUSH: Well, then go ahead and answer it!

JUSTICE THOMAS: (laughing) I would like to run a small- or medium-size business in a small community. That would be sort of the more top-end of the options. I'd like to be a coach. I would love to know enough football or basketball to coach teams, and my one dream job was to be a truck driver. I still have that in my system. I love being around tractor-trailers, 18-wheelers. I love working on large vehicles, driving them. Maybe that goes back to delivering fuel oil and working on the farm. But I love being around people who work with their hands, who do the hard things to keep our country going. They're just my kind of people.

RUSH: That is a great point to make. You have this huge bus.

JUSTICE THOMAS: (laughing) That's right.

RUSH: It's an RV, right?

JUSTICE THOMAS: It's not an RV. It's a motorcoach.

RUSH: Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to be insulting.

JUSTICE THOMAS: (laughing)

RUSH: I understand RV can be insulting. Okay, so it's a motorcoach. He's got a bus, folks. He drives the bus around. He loves to drive the bus. Now, obviously, you meet all kinds of people wherever you go. You've got a huge wingspan. I saw you at Lincoln, Nebraska, in the middle of the month for USC-Nebraska. I saw you in the end zone, and it didn't matter what color the fans were; everybody was applauding you and liking you. You are not an elitist. What's it like when you get out there amongst the people?

JUSTICE THOMAS: Oh, I love it.

RUSH: In your bus.

JUSTICE THOMAS: Well, I love it. I love being there. Whether it's a football game -- I bleed Cornhusker red, as you know, and I've been there. I talk to the players. I love the players. I love the people out there, the people I meet in the RV parks. That's how I got into it. Someone told me the best people in the country, or some of the best people in the country, are in the RV parks. I meet them at truck stops, rest stops. Those are my kind of people. These are the people who do the heavy work, the hard work in our society. They're the people who teach the kids; they're our policemen, our firemen; they're the people who work in the manufacturing facilities; they're our salespeople; they're all the good people, and you have an opportunity to be with people who are like you. You're not looking down on them; you're just enjoying the country with them, and it's been very, very interesting over the eight years that I've had my bus, and it's probably not, from a financial standpoint, a good idea. But, boy, it's been priceless in getting me out among my fellow citizens.

RUSH: Now, does that impact your work?

JUSTICE THOMAS: Oh, I can work from anyplace now. Thank God for technology.

RUSH: No, I'm sorry. I meant meeting the people who make the country work. Does it impact your work?

JUSTICE THOMAS: It reaffirms my work. It makes me understand better why I do it the way I do. I know who I'm doing it for. You know, I had a chance, Rush, to talk to some wounded veterans from Iraq, these young kids. And they're just, you know, serious wounds, you know, amputations, et cetera. And they were thanking me for spending time with them, and I was so ashamed. I spent a few hours with them. They actually had suffered major wounds to uphold what we believe in in this country, the kind of country we have, the Constitution. I've suffered no wounds. People say, "Well, you had a tough confirmation." I have no wounds. I have my arms; I have my sight. They've given so much more in defense of liberty than I could ever hope to give.