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Sept. 22, 1992 - Rush Limbaugh Program
20:47
19920922_S01E03
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And good evening once again, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to Rush Limbaugh, the TV show, a big show tonight, an exciting show tonight.
We're loaded.
You're going to have to watch fast because we're going to have to go fast, and you're going to want to, by the way, start your VCRs and tape this because you're going to keep this because this show is going to the Museum of Broadcasting for archival purposes because it's going to be so good.
Our first topic of discussion tonight, wouldn't you know, Murphy Brown.
But you don't know precisely what we're going to say about it, so stay with us.
Also, there continues to be more controversy surrounding my performance with the president yesterday when he came by my radio program.
The press is telling you things that aren't true, but we have the tapes and we have the truth.
Me, and we'll show you and tell you both tonight.
Also, we're going to do a feminazi update tonight, ladies and gentlemen, revolving around this woman and her cat, Gloria Steinem.
This, of course, involves, let me just tell you, she has called father-figure-headed families the result of Nazism.
And we'll explain that as the program unfolds.
And I don't know how many of you have read TV Guide to get an idea what this show is, but there was something I didn't know that we were going to do on this show, and that is movie reviews.
It said it in TV Guide, so I guess we're going to have to do movie reviews.
And tonight, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, How Liberals Have to Resort to Conservative Solutions to Solve Their Own Problems.
All coming up on our program.
right where you are.
And once again, welcome back.
Let me Let me run a test here.
I asked some people earlier today, some people on my radio show staff, how many of them had watched Murphy Brown?
None of them had.
Anybody here see Murphy Brown?
Just say so.
You saw it, Sam, you saw it.
John, you saw it?
You saw it.
See, TV people all watched this show.
People on my radio show didn't.
You probably watched it too, but you didn't have to.
You know why you didn't have to?
Because I told you.
You didn't have to.
I have the script.
I told you everything that was going to happen on this show.
I told you it wasn't funny.
I told you it was defensive.
I told you this show was a little heavy-handed.
I said that they're focusing on the wrong thing in this show, and they really did.
You've heard a lot of people say a lot of things about this show, but I'll tell you the most important thing is that they got very defensive about what a family is.
They trot out all these various examples of what a family is, and that's not what the vice president or any of the family values people have been talking about.
The key word in all this is values, not family.
Nobody criticizes families except those that are dysfunctional.
That's why I like to call it functional values anyway.
The family is just the first place you learn the difference between right and wrong if it's a good family.
The family is just the first place you learn the differences between right and wrong and how to respect other people and how to take life seriously and all that.
That's why the family aspect of this is important.
But it's just adults teaching kids.
It doesn't matter what the composition is of the family.
And nobody has been critical of that.
When Quayle said that they glorified single mothers, what he was trying to point out, my friends, was, and I think this show proved it last night.
This is another thing.
This show's got an agenda, and they say all day long they don't have an agenda, but last night's show proved it.
It's okay that they have an agenda.
Just say so.
Like this show, we are perfectly upfront and honest about what I am and what I believe on this show.
And we'll let that float out in the marketplace and let you accept it as it is.
There's no attempt here to fool you.
There's no attempt here to deny what I am.
But that's what they're all about.
This show, ladies and gentlemen, was strictly about trying to prove the irrelevance in the modern era of fathers.
It wasn't just me who said this.
I talked to people at CBS.
I have high-placed friends.
And I also talked to some people who are liberals, and I read the newspapers today.
Tom Shales of the Washington Post, Matt Rausch of USA Today.
None of these people thought this show was funny.
And that's another point.
Wasn't funny.
These are entertainment shows.
People don't watch these shows for messages.
And they got very defensive and took it very seriously.
Now, there's another aspect to this, though, that I haven't heard anybody mention.
And I would like to illustrate it for you and show you now.
We got some footage from the show last night.
I would like you to watch the way Murphy Brown handles a baby.
She supposedly loves this baby.
This baby is supposedly one of the highlights of her life.
You watch how you roll a tape, Turner, and watch, folks, how she handles Baby Brown.
Look at this.
She's acting like it's a bomb.
Where's the dearest trash can?
What can I do with this thing?
Would you hold your baby that way?
Look at the poor baby's arms.
I mean, that baby can't possibly be loved and be happy.
I mean, that kid, Murphy, I mean, if you don't start handling that kid right, you're going to end up with a serial murderer on your hands.
That kid is not going to be loved.
Now, let me show you how to do it.
And I think this is interesting, too, because what am I?
I'm a conservative, and I'm a male, and that means I hate women, and that I have no respect for women and their rights and all this, and I don't like babies, and I don't like animals.
Let me show you nurturing.
Let me show you love.
Last Friday night on this program, we introduced to you the official dog of this television show.
Now, that, let me grab this pointer.
Let me just point some things out to you.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is Jeb Stewart, the official dog of this television show, and this is me.
Note that I am cuddling and holding this dog and loving this dog with great care.
Note how I've got this dog pulled to my bosom, and I am holding this dog and protecting it and shielding it from all evil.
I'm not walking around shaking the dog and looking for a trash can to throw the dog in.
Oh my God, why do I have this?
What did I do to have this?
And why do I have this?
That's something that I think should have been pointed out, and it wasn't, proving, except by me, proving again the value to you of this show.
Now, moving on to President Bush.
Do you know he's on the radio show a couple days ago?
And I had a very tough time trying to figure out over the weekend how I should approach the president, because let me be very honest with you.
I have spent the night in the White House.
I have spent the night in the Lincoln bedroom.
And I am only happy that I made it in there before Fidel Castro or Jane Fonda made it.
And if Clinton wins, you never know.
Both may happen.
I slept in those sheets before most people did.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
And the president's a very nice man.
And I like the president.
Now, I'm sorry if that's not journalistically sound to like a Republican president, but I like Mr. Bush personally.
He's been very nice to me.
So when he came by, I said, how should I approach this?
Because I know there are going to be naysayers out there that no matter how I ask the questions, they're going to say, well, you're just throwing softballs.
All you were doing was giving him a forum so that he could get elected.
That's not what I was doing, but so what if I was?
What's wrong with me supporting the president of the United States and saying, hey, come on my show.
We've got 13 million people in our audience, more than anybody else on the radio.
You need some help.
And that's really what I did.
I asked him questions that I thought you, who are having problems with him, needed to hear the answers to.
So I did.
And then Deborah Oren, who's the Washington Bureau Chief for the New York Post, wrote about it today and said that I loved softball questions.
John Cochran of NBC News said that I was favorably disposed toward the president or sympathetic or something.
So what I did today when I got here, I went through the entire television interview with the president.
We videotaped it.
And I have put together a series of the questions I asked, bam, bam, bam, bam.
You can look at them one right after another.
And you just be the judge to whether or not I ask softball questions or whether or not...
And by the way, you don't have to get mean and disrespectful like the modern-day press does in order to ask tough questions.
All you got to do is hit the right subject matter.
I happen to be a polite, non-confrontational guy, and I ask questions that I thought were very hard-hitting in areas he needs to address.
So roll the tape, Turner, and you watch and be the judge yourself here, folks.
There are those who say that they feel let down.
They're disappointed.
There is some anger at things that have happened in your first term.
And what would you say to those people, who I think are a considerable number?
What would you say to them, those who are just frustrated at what seems to be things that went wrong in your first term?
Powell does, he's promising me to go out and create jobs.
In the first 100 days, we're going to have a healthcare plan.
We're going to have you talking in his first 100 days.
And all these people who want jobs are going to have jobs.
What would you as president do?
What can any president do to create jobs?
The average American, if healthcare were based on his ability to pay, as most other things in the country are, price of the car, hotel room, what have you, the health care costs would be much, much smaller.
Is there any way of reintroducing more market forces to the healthcare industry at large?
How would you do that?
What happens under your plan when somebody who has qualified as a member of a group insurance plan, however it's done in your plan, loses their job?
You just mentioned that this economy is solid and not nearly as precariously balanced as some global economies.
Why do you think people are feeling so negative about the economy?
And why do you think that the economy did go south?
What about debates before you go?
I know we're down to about a minute and a half here.
The press and a number of people are all over you because you won't debate Clinton on his terms.
Now that, if you watch the network news last night, ABC and NBC, that's all they focused on is what he had to say about the draft.
They said it was the first time he'd attacked Clinton on it.
But you tell me, were those tough questions?
I think they were.
I think those are questions that people who are doubting George Bush need to hear the answer to.
Those were not softballs.
Those are sold, Mr. President.
What are you going to do in your second term and let him ramble?
I interrupted him during this interview.
And see, people were saying, boy, that was awfully disrespectful to interrupt the president.
I've kept him focused on this.
Now, I know that a lot of you are probably saying, what did he say?
What did he say?
You didn't get to hear it.
We don't have time to show you all of it.
But I think that since the network news did not tell you what he said about what is probably most on your mind, and that's jobs in the future, we want to play you that question again and get his answer.
Go ahead, Turner, and roll that so everybody can see it.
What would you as president do?
What can any president do to create jobs?
One can create, even to create government jobs, you can just spend a lot more money and put people in a dead end.
I want to create private sector jobs.
That means growth.
And that's why, for example, I have favored a tax credit for the first time home buyer.
Stimulate the housing business by giving a person tax relief instead of more taxes.
He wants to tax the middle income through his, the middle-income people through his health plan, for example.
It'll burn every small business in this country.
So there we go, making a little news, giving you an answer to a question that the network news didn't feel fit for you to see or didn't, I guess, judge to be newsworthy.
Now, contrast these questions with Jane Pauley talking to Hillary Clinton.
You remember that show?
Wasn't too long ago, Dateline NBC, the question, do you cook?
And you remember they got into a discussion about headbands?
Nobody said of Jane Paulie, you just lobbed softballs.
They said, oh, she's been hit so hard, has Hillary, that it was nice to get a relaxful, peaceful environment.
And then Barbara Walters.
You got Jimmy Carter sitting there one night in a sweater.
She's interviewing Jimmy Carter and Roseland.
And Jimmy Carter was asked by Barbara Walters, if you were a twee, what kind of twee would you be?
And Carter answered it.
Now, those are softball questions.
I didn't ask softball questions.
I get to the meat of the matter.
Thank goodness this show exists so we can correct all these misconceptions in the press.
Gloria Steinem and Republican so-called Nazis when we get back.
All right, my good buddies.
We are going to lead off this segment with our ever popular feminist update theme.
We are putting this together even as we speak.
A work in progress, not totally completed, but it still gets our message across.
Take a gander at this.
We're fierce, we're feminists, and we're in your face.
I've been out of your dinner.
Open your doors.
Other than madmothers, they could for me.
We're feminists and we're in your face.
Talking about me.
We're fierce.
We're feminists.
They all want a girl.
Just like a girl.
But marry, dear old man.
They make me so mad and dear.
Now, folks, we're working on additional footage.
We're getting some footage, some of those old movies where spacemen go to Mars and it's all women there and they shoot them and they kill them.
And we're working on some great footage to put in with this.
And it's going to be used to intro our feminist update.
Now, let me explain a couple things about that.
First off, when you hear those women saying we're fierce, we're feminists, and we're in your face, nobody here made that up.
That's actual audio from a pro-choice rally in Washington this past spring.
I don't know which feminist it was, but she was down there, crowd of 500,000 or so, and there was this woman at the microphone shouting that stuff.
We just went and got it, and we put it to that music and to that video.
I just want to illustrate the point that that's us versus them kind of stuff.
I mean, that's in your face in my mind, because they actually say that.
Feminazi, one of the most misunderstood terms in my lexicon.
It has been misreported on the Phil Donahue show.
It's been misreported in practically every newspaper in the country that a feminazi is anti-feminist.
Not true.
A feminazi, ladies and gentlemen, and there are only 25 of them known to me anyway in the world.
A feminazi, it can really be summed up as any woman who gets mad when another woman is talked out of having an abortion.
Now, there aren't very many, but they do exist.
There are some women to whom the most important thing in the world, seeing to it, that abortions take place.
Now, Patsy Schroeder and Gloria Steinem have all objected to my using the term feminazi.
By the way, could you put that picture up, Turner?
Look at this.
It's just another example here, folks, of look at the way she's holding that cat and compare it to the way I held Jeb Stewart.
That is much closer to the way Gloria Stein or Candace Bergen was holding that baby and Murphy Brown.
Again, get it away from me.
I'll be glad to hang it, but what am I going to do with it?
It doesn't look like we know what to do with it.
And here I am a man, supposedly incapable of nurturing and loving.
You compare those pictures of me and Jeb Stuart and these two, and I think, I mean, is there any comparison?
I mean, it bugs me.
Now, What I have to say is a quote from Gloria Steinem, and it I think is going to distress some of you, so I'm going to give you our standard warning.
If these kinds of things distress you, you might wish to watch something else.
Gloria Steinem last week was out in Marin County in San Rafael, California, made a speech, $25 a person.
I just want to read you what she said.
We're going to show you the words on the screen.
Just listen to this.
When the right wing and our current and past presidents talk about family values, what they mean are the male-headed patriarchal household kinds of family values.
And that is indeed what the National Socialists or Nazis meant when they talked about children, hearth, and church.
And we added a sentence.
Let me find a sentence.
We need to remember that fascist movements start out with the family.
If you were to put on paper the statements on women's rights, on reproductive rights, made by Reagan and Bush and by Hitler and the National Socialists or the Nazis, you would not be able to tell the difference.
Now, folks, that to me is outrageous.
That is irresponsible.
That is the kind of out-and-out distortion and attack that if you let some on the right wing do it, why all hell breaks loose.
You let Patrick Buchanan say anything at all, and they try to say that what he wants to do is similar to this, what Gloria Steinem has said.
I think now it should be clear to you that the term that I have adopted for these people actually fits.
It's accurate and applicable.
And Gloria Steinem was not on my original list of 25 feminazis.
But now, can there be any question that she may be the head feminazi?
Back in a moment with our movie review.
Don't go away.
One more thing about this Gloria Steinem business that I just want to drive it home.
Turner, put her statement back up, the first page of her statement.
Read this again here, folks.
When the right wing and our current and past presidents talk about family values, what they mean are the male-headed, patriarchal household kinds of family values.
You don't think family values are a valid matter of debate in this country when a feminist leader in the United States is trying to make the rest of this country, as many women as she can, believe that males heading families is representative of Nazism and Hitler?
I'll tell you, folks, it's a valid debate, and this woman must not be allowed to prevail.
This is absolute hatred.
And then when you have a show, which, like Murphy Brown or any other show, which tries to relegate the father to irrelevancy, it's a valid matter of discussion.
Now, one other thing.
Here's what she also said at this speech in San Rafael, did Gloria Steinem.
Hitler outlawed abortion as one of his first official acts upon coming to power.
That made him very bad.
He outlawed abortion and we can't have it.
And that's supposedly another similarity between conservatism, George Bush, Republicans, and Adolf Hitler and Nazism.
Ms. Steinem, would you also like to know that Hitler mandated abortion for undesirables?
This business of comparing the right wing to Hitler, folks, is just getting a bit overdone.
Time now for our movie review, because TV Guide says we do movie reviews here.
Now, I'm not going to do a movie review and say, don't go see it.
In fact, we're going to review a movie that's been out so long, you can already go rent it.
I mean, you can buy this video cassette.
It's called A Hand That Rocks the Cradle.
We have a little trailer.
Let me set this up.
Rebecca De Mornay is a nanny, and she's deranged.
She's crazy.
She's nut-so.
Her husband committed suicide because another woman accused him of sexual harassment.
She then wants to steal that woman's baby.
And the whole movie is about her psychological attempt to do that.
And during it, she wrecks their family and wrecks the kid and kills a couple of their friends and so forth.
Roll the preview so you can get an idea of just what this movie is all about.
Hand that rocks the cradle, family.
She blames it all on Claire.
I was coming about the nanny position.
Now, all she feels is rage.
I don't know what she's capable of.
All she wants is her rage.
So you're tearing this family apart.
What goes around to it?
Comes around.
The hand that rocks the cradle.
Now, what's interesting about this movie, and I think you all should go out and rent it and watch it, it's fascinating because this woman is just deranged and crazy and tearing up everything having to do with this family that's hired her.
And yet they do the liberal thing.
Why?
They try to understand.
And they try to have compassion.
And they say, well, she came from an upset environment, and we must understand why she's doing all this.
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