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Sept. 21, 1992 - Rush Limbaugh Program
21:15
19920921_S01E02
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Did you notice how long that disclaimer was up there?
Have you ever watched any other talk show of the liberal persuasion and seen how long their disclaimer is up there?
It's gone like that.
But we, in fact, Turner, if you could, and I know you probably can't, but maybe tonight you can't do it.
But on our next show, I want to flash in just one second.
We do not have to make excuses for ourselves here.
Put it, get rid of it.
All right.
Now, that's the way it ought to happen.
We have no reason to make excuses for ourselves here.
We are proud of what we are, and we are happy that you're coming along and joining us.
Now, folks, I had a very special guest of my award-winning most listened-to radio program in the country today.
A special guest that we're going to be talking about later on the program.
Turn and roll the footage and show the people who it was that showed up at my...
There you go.
Take a look at that, folks.
Take a look at that.
The president of the United States of America, President Bush, came in.
And I'm going to tell you something.
We had a long talk today about the economy and the campaign and a number of things.
And after he left, they brought me a news dispatch from one of the wire services that just told an untruth.
Let me be judicious about it.
They just didn't tell you the truth.
And we are going to take this dispatch, coupled with some videotape from the president's appearance on my award-winning program today, to show you why you need this show to tell you what really happens when George Bush or any other conservative Republican goes somewhere and says something in public.
Also, my friends, on tonight's show, Admiral William Crow, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, over the weekend endorsed Slick Willie.
Well, now, you may be, after having watched that, thinking, hey, man, maybe this guy is really getting the military on his side.
Once again, I will have to put it in perspective for you, which I will.
With a lot of fun right after this, stay right where you are.
We're coming right back.
Once again, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have.
By the way, speaking of that, folks, coming up later on the program, I forgot to mention this in the open, we are working, even as I speak, our crack staff is putting together some funny bits that mix theme music with video.
And one of the things we're working on now is our feminist update.
And it's not all the way done.
It's not completed, but we're working on it.
I want to show you our work in progress, and that's coming up later in the show.
It's hilarious.
And it'll indicate some of you naysayers out there that we are indeed working very diligently and hard on putting this program together to get it to where you think it ought to be.
Now, I'm watching television over the weekend.
And I'm flipping around with the remote control unit.
And I stop on one of the news channels because there is Admiral William Crow, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
And here, you ready to roll this, Turner?
Here is what he was saying.
I was unbelieving when I heard this.
Roll it.
My discussions and contacts with Governor Clinton have led me to believe that he is the most qualified man to set us on a successful course for the future.
And make no mistake, At least in my judgment, the future, the future is what this campaign is about.
This election is primarily about the future of this country.
It is about leadership.
Come in real tight on this, John.
Admiral, let's talk about the future.
But before we actually get to the future, let's talk a little bit about the past.
Let's talk about you in the past.
I remember during the president's attempt to put together a worldwide coalition of partners to go into Iraq and Kuwait, get Saddam Hussein, I remember a bunch of people testifying that it wouldn't work, that it shouldn't be done, that it was misplaced and misguided policy.
Now, it seems to me, Admiral, you were prominent in that group saying that the president shouldn't do this stuff.
Yet policy worked.
The policy was executed flawlessly.
The people of this country appreciated it and demonstrated that with an 85 or 90% approval rating for the president in the polls.
You know what I think, Admiral?
I think maybe that you're trying to save a little face, maybe a little egg on your face that what you said turned out to be totally wrong, and you know you'll never get back to the Pentagon with a Republican administration, so you're trying to sidle up to what you hope is going to be a Democrat administration to maybe get back to the Pentagon or be in good graces.
Let's talk about the future.
It's 1994, maybe 95.
Somewhere around the world, let's have some real fun and say it's in South Africa.
Let's say that the situation in South Africa has gotten so untenable, that the apartheid system there is so inhumane, that the nations of the world have decided to band together to attack the South African government to see to it that the oppressed blacks in South Africa finally have freedom and the benefits of majority rule.
And Governor Clinton, I'm sorry, such a frightening thought.
President Clinton decides that he is going to President Clinton decides.
I have not lost my train of thought despite the best efforts of people to see that that happened.
Seriously, President Clinton says, I'm going to send troops.
I am going to join this effort.
Apartheid and ending it is a vital U.S. interest.
And so he says that American troops will be sent.
And then Admiral Crow, a bunch of 19-year-olds start calling press conferences and throwing rocks at buildings and burning them down and fleeing off to Canada and so forth, saying, I disagree with President Clinton's policy.
I don't approve of this.
I'm not going to go to this battle.
I have no desire.
I'm going to avail the opportunities at my disposal to get out of this.
Now, my question for all of you and for you, Admiral Crow, is what does a president who has done that very same thing, tried to avoid it, going so far as to maybe not tell the whole truth about how he tried to avoid it, then tell others that they must do it.
Don't talk about the future.
There's the future.
Ponder that, folks.
But if this is not enough for you, if my words of wisdom somehow don't poke home, listen to what a more powerful, prominent, and shall we say, competent military man has to say about this very same thing, General Schwarzkopf.
How does a person who admits that he deliberately did not agree with the war and therefore did not want to go to that war, how does he handle it when he has to send other people to war?
That's General Norman H. Schwarzkoff.
And these are valid points to consider.
I'm told we have a phone call on this subject, and I want to go to that phone now right before we go to the break from Skokie, Illinois.
Jennifer, hi, and welcome to the Rush Limbaugh program.
Thank you, Rush.
I need to know, how come when you talk about the qualifications for president?
You are always talking about war.
What the heck is it with you and this war thing?
What, do you think I want war?
Is that what you're hearing?
You think I can't wait to send people off to war?
It just seems like you stress it all the time when you're discussing qualifications for president.
I mean, what is it?
Well, I'll tell you exactly what it is.
And I'm glad you asked this question because it gives me an opportunity to sit here and try to answer one of the most often-leveled criticisms of people like me is that we love to go to war.
We can't wait for the next battle so we can see blood and guts and so forth.
And then people say, you had a chance to go when you were 19.
Where were you?
My friends, I don't want war, and I don't know too many people who do.
There are some sickos out there who enjoy war, but I don't know any of them.
But I'll tell you this.
The United States is a nation at risk in a dangerous world.
You may think that we are snuggled all safe and secure betwixt and between the sheets because the Soviet Union's gone, but you look around the world, there are more people dying now, more bullets being fired, more ammunition being launched than during the Soviet Union's reign as the superpower number two in this country.
And I'll tell you this.
If we ever do have to go to war, and we will again, it's in Rush Limbaugh's Undeniable Truths of Life, of which there were 35, and number 33 is the United States will again go to war.
And when we do, we had better win it.
And that's why you need somebody who understands what the purpose of the military is, when to use it, and what the objective is.
The purpose of the military is not to take care of these momentary social concerns that we have now, freedom and equal opportunity and affirmative action.
The purpose of the military, very simply, brace yourselves.
The only reason you have armies is to kill people and break things.
That's how you determine who wins wars, folks.
And if we have a commander-in-chief, if we have a commander-in-chief who says he loathes the military and is not used to or doesn't have any affinity for using the military in that way, then we cannot guarantee ourselves of prevailing.
And we always have in the past, except for once, Vietnam.
You want a repeat of that?
Elect Bill Clinton.
Maybe.
Back in a moment.
You don't know this, folks.
We've been waiting here two hours for this next segment to begin.
And then they said, five, four.
We got another phone call on this military thing.
And I don't, look, I don't want to give you people the wrong idea.
And I don't want anybody to say that we're only presenting one side here.
I mean, if you've got a problem, feel free to give us a buzz about it.
But I just want to let you know something.
We don't need to be balanced with equal time on this because I am equal time.
This is the only show in America where you're getting this particular point of view and analysis of news events.
So just get used to it.
Just lighten up.
Walter from, what is this?
Is this Elmira, Ohio?
Is that right?
Elyria.
I'm sorry.
Hi, Walter.
How are you?
Hi, Ross.
How you doing?
I'm fine.
Thank you.
Yeah, as I was telling the monitor, I'd like your show, but I spent 20 years in the military.
And I, you know, if I don't care who the president is, I swore to uphold and to do my job.
And if it's Clinton, whether he served in the military or Dodged to draft or whatever, I'm still going to do my job as a military member.
Well, that's good, and you're to be applauded for it.
And that's all very fine.
I'm not so much talking about members who are already or people who are already members of the military so much, although I think that is a factor.
But suppose we had to have a real emergency call people up.
Suppose we had to reinstitute the draft.
That's one of my major concerns.
But even addressing yours, let's just go back to Desert Storm.
Remember this, there was a guy who joined the Marines, went down and signed up and joined the Marines, and then Desert Storm happened.
And his father, where was this guy?
This guy was a professor at, yeah, everything weird happens in Wisconsin.
This guy's a professor in Wisconsin.
I wish I could remember his name.
It slips my mind.
But this guy wrote a letter.
It was an op-age piece letter in the New York Times.
open letter to Bush claiming that if his son went over to the Saudi desert and was killed, that the blood of his death would be on Bush's hands.
This is a college professor indoctrinating the young skulls full of mush in his classroom, and his son had gone out and joined, had not even been drafted.
So there's clear evidence that nobody wants to go to war.
That's why we call the people who do it brave and courageous.
That's why we celebrate them.
That's why we honor them.
But sometimes it's a must.
Sometimes it's necessary.
This is still a world governed by the aggressive use of force.
And if a commander-in-chief is one who cannot remember or approve of an America victorious in conflict, all I'm telling you is that I personally am troubled by it.
And I think it's irresponsible that as Admiral Crow looks to the future, that he's not concerned about that aspect of the future, because there will be future military conflicts.
I am so good at this.
I mean, you take these phone calls.
All right, now, now, now.
I'm trying, by the way, folks, I'm trying to get a handle on this bragging business, but I figure it's a new show, and somebody's got to tell you about this, because press, and you can read in your newspapers, certainly won't.
But you're watching one of the best performers in America right now.
And I hate.
I hate.
I hate.
Actually, I love being the one to tell you, but it is a little uncomfortable.
Do you think I'm bragging too much?
I see, there you go.
I'm going to crew is right in there with that.
Now, as I told you, my friends, we're working on this show all the time, putting together new features, new clips, new ways to both entertain and inform you.
Now, one of the things that we're going to be doing on this show is introducing updates.
These are little bits of news that are relevant to a topic I've decided because I'm good at it.
It's going to have legs.
It's going to be something you need to know about every night maybe, or every week.
It'll be around for a long time.
Feminism, for example.
Now, we're putting together our feminist update for you, which the update consists of a musical and visual theme that will set up whatever bit of information I have to share with you.
We're working on it.
We haven't finished it, but I want to show you our work in progress so you can see how much we care and how much we're doing to see to it that you get the full scope of things.
Here it goes.
Take a look at it.
One more time.
We're feminists.
And we're in your face.
If they buy your dinner, open your door.
Other than that, brother, they could for me.
We're feminists, and we're in your face.
We're fierce.
We're feminists.
And they are girls.
Just like the girls.
Mary, you don't have to make me slow.
Let's see how.
Great.
Thank you.
Now, we've got some work to do on that.
We've got some work to do on that.
And when we get it done, we'll be using it frequently to intro news you need to know about feminism.
We've got to take a break when we come back, how the media distorts George Bush.
I can prove it.
had happened while he was on my radio program today.
Don't go away.
I'm trying to figure something out.
You know, I sit straight on, and it has a block look, and sometimes I, does it look good, like angling from the side and looking on my shoulder?
Does that look okay?
And then maybe, we're still ironing this stuff out, folks.
I think so.
More LBs, folks, are just rolling off here.
LBS, some might say, but it's the abbreviation for pounds.
Now, earlier today on my radio program, and I told you this at the top of the show, the president of the United States came by, and I want to tell you how this happened.
Last Thursday, Mary Madeline called our office.
She is the deputy campaign director for Bush Quayle.
And she said, hey, Rush, the president's going to be in town on Monday for his UN speech.
You mind if he comes by your show?
I said, hey, Mayor, we don't have guests on our show.
And there was this stunned silence on the other end of the line.
But we said, no, we'd be happy to have him by.
So the president came by today, spent 40 minutes, and I started off asking him what a very tough question had to do with the economy.
I said, Mr. President, as I talk to people, I get mail from people, talk to them on the phone and so forth.
It's not so much that people in this country can't wait to be led by Bill Clinton.
It's that they're mad at you.
What would you say to these people?
He started listing off some things that he would say.
And it was, I thought, very good.
I thought he addressed the issues pretty straight on and in a fairly passionate manner.
So he leaves, and then the Associated Press runs a story, and they bring it into me, and they slug it this way.
Sluggish economy is causing a let-down feeling about me, Bush.
That is not the main point that people who listened to this radio interview came away with today, that Bush is thinking that the country is all disappointed in him totally.
It was a very positive, uplifting thing.
But here's the most important thing.
If your newspaper tomorrow reports this, or if your television news tonight did, and they use this story, you're not going to get the truth.
They said Bush predicted the economy would improve, but acknowledged that the anemic recovery from recession was hurting his standing in the polls.
He said the nation was poised for a dramatic recovery, but he did not mention any specific evidence of that.
Well, but he did mention specific evidence that signifies an economic recovery and how we're poised on it.
And here it is.
Turner roll it and show America what he said.
I think you're feeling negative about the economy because I hear 92% of the coverage on the television, where a lot of people get their news from, on the economy has been negative.
There are some good things.
Interest rates are down.
People aren't being robbed by inflation anymore.
Inventories are down.
We have it.
I think we're poised for a dramatic recovery.
Now, how in the world can a reporter listening to this show, this interview, hear the president say we're poised for an economic recovery and not hear him tell why?
You clearly heard him say why.
We've got interest rates down.
We've got inflation at an all-time low.
And we've got inventories down.
That means that people are buying things and so forth.
There's all kinds of good news that he...
Now, you may disagree with this.
I'm not trying to stand here or sit here and sound like a shill, but you may disagree with the fact that his assessment of the situation is accurate, but he did give evidence.
Yet they sit here and say he did not mention any specific evidence of that.
Then it goes on to say that he attacked Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton on his draft record.
He didn't attack Clinton on his draft record.
I brought it up.
I raised it.
president has been very specific going around the country last week he was in Salt Lake City and he didn't bring it up I asked him about it and this business of attacking anyway he's simply responding to what Clinton is saying Clinton is saying this this this every week it's something new with Clinton yet every week he says that's it that's all there is there is no more then every week there's something new The last new item was J. William Fulbright, former senator from Arkansas, tried to do something for Clinton.
So Clinton says this and Bush responds and the press says it's an attack.
It is not an attack.
And you know something, folks?
This is something that I think you ought to keep in mind as you watch the news beyond this presidential election.
I'm called a basher.
I'm called an attacker.
And I don't do anything of the kind.
And we've illustrated that on tonight's show.
All I have done is play some clips of what other people have said and have responded to what they've said.
Many cases, on the radio program, and as you'll see on this TV show as it unfolds, they'll say these things about me or about institutions and traditions that have made this country great that I believe in.
So I'll come on this show and I'll defend those institutions and traditions.
And I'll tell you why I think what they said is wrong.
And they'll say, there goes Limbaugh again, bashing.
There goes Limbaugh again, attacking.
We conservatives don't bash.
We conservatives don't attack.
We are under attack.
The institutions and traditions that have made this country great, the values, if you will, are under assault.
And there are some of us who care that they survive.
And so we defend these attacks, and they say we bash.
We're simply defending.
We're doing it quite well, aren't you?
See you on our next show, And commercial fees paid by the following.
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