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Sept. 14, 2005 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:24
September 14, 2005, Wednesday, Hour #1
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Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
I tell you, this Bush guy, folks, this Bush guy is tone deaf.
Here we got another hurricane, this time about to hit New Orleans.
And where is he?
He's at the UN.
He's talking about terrorism.
He actually addressed the Security Council.
Very unusual for a president.
Meanwhile, the hurricane's about to hit the outer banks.
It has hit North Carolina, and he hadn't even taken any action.
He hadn't tried to move North Carolina.
He hasn't gone out there and tried to steer the hurricane away.
It's unbelievable how tone deaf the guy is.
Greetings, my friends.
And welcome to the award-winning, thrill-packed, ever-exciting, increasingly popular, and growing by Leaps and Bounds Rush Limbaugh program here on the Excellence in Broadcasting Network.
Thrill and delight to be with you.
Already Hump Day.
Here we are, the fastest week in media and already at the middle of the week.
And we're looking forward to these next three hours.
Lots of stuff to do today.
Telephone number 800-282-2882.
The email address is rush at EIBnet.com.
The Inquisition of John Roberts goes on.
Actually, this has turned into really a sort of a milquetoast event.
But I want to warn you people of something.
It was exactly at this stage of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings that the Democrats dragged kicking and screaming Anita Hill to the forefront to claim pupy cares on Coke cans and sexual harassment.
And there is a little buzz going on that Dick Turbin thinks that he's found a killer memo.
Happened late last night.
We have a review of some of the action that took place this morning.
When the hearings convened today, there wasn't one Democrat in sight.
Not one Democrat showed up as the hearings convened today.
We have some reviews of yesterday afternoon and last night and what's going on this morning, but there are some other things first.
I am stunned at the reaction Tom DeLay's comments have gotten.
Everybody, I think, has fallen for this.
In case you have not heard about this yet, here's the story in the Washington Times.
Headline, Delay Declares Victory in War on Budget Fat.
Let me read this to you.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday the Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an ongoing victory and said that there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget.
Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans' choice to borrow money and add to this year's expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief.
Some Republicans have said that Congress should make cuts in other areas, but Delay said that doesn't seem possible.
He said, my answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets.
I'll be glad to do it, but nobody's been able to come up with any yet.
So a reporter said, well, does that mean the government was running at peak efficiency?
Delay said, yep, after 11 years of Republican majority, we've pared it down pretty good.
So everywhere I've gone today, Republicans think Delay's lost his mind.
And even Mr. Snerdley, Mr. Sterdley walked in.
What's wrong with delay?
I was getting instant messages and flashed emails all morning.
What's wrong with delay?
And I said, absolutely nothing.
Delay's pulling a rush limb bawl on everybody here.
And let me explain it to you this way.
Back in the early 90s, when I was routinely out there making paid speaking appearances, I showed up at the Bakersfield Business Conference.
I forget the specific year, but this was, I don't know if it still goes on, but it was a huge, huge thing.
In fact, this appearance resulted in my not being invited back for like eight or nine years.
But that's another story.
This thing attracted thousands of people.
And the creme de la creme of American media and politics are brought out to speak in 30-minute segments.
And it went on for like a day and a half or two days, some country club out in Bakersfield.
Well, I don't remember, as I say this specific year, and I'm not even that clear in my memory over what the specific action in Congress was, but I do remember this.
I remember that there was an ongoing battle about the federal deficit.
This month had to be the late 80s, maybe in the 1990 or 1991.
And there was an ongoing battle about federal deficit.
And who was, the Speaker of the House at the time was Tom Foley.
This was before he resorted to stealing food off of airlines in his retirement.
Remember that, Mr. Snurdy?
And they had just passed a Bush-Bush, might have been when Bush agreed to raise taxes, Bush 41.
Bush 41 agreed to raise taxes, and everybody was all celebrating that's the end of deficits.
Well, we've slayed the deficit monster.
So I went out there and part of my remarks were, you know, folks, I am so happy to come to you today and report that the deficit has forever been slain.
Why, we've raised taxes now and we've reduced the deficit and everybody's happy and we've gotten rid of this.
And from this day forward, I don't want to hear another word about deficits because our Congress has taken care of it.
And the audience laughed and chuckled and they got my point.
Robert McNamara, the former Secretary of Defense in the Kennedy administration, followed me and felt compelled to say, you know, I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Limbaugh.
I don't believe this at all means it's the end of federal, which of course was my point.
Everybody was celebrating nothing.
You understand what delay is doing here?
The key sentence here is my answer to those that want to offset the spending is, sure, bring me the offsets.
I'll be glad to do it, but nobody's been able to come up with any yet.
Meaning, hey, you want to offset some of this Katrina spending with budget cuts?
I'm all for it, but nobody's getting any ideas to me.
Not one member of Congress is willing to do without their pork.
This is my interpretation.
Delay didn't say this.
But early on on this program, I suggested if you really want to find a quick cash infusion for Hurricane Katrina relief, go to the transportation bill, highway bill.
There's like $25 billion of pork in that bill, over 6,000 projects.
Go tell Congressman Blowhard to give up the bridge that's being built to nowhere in Alaska.
Go get these guys to give this back, but none of them are doing it.
And then Delay says, hey, I guess we're running it.
Peak efficiency.
Why, there's nothing to cut out there.
Why, if we can't cut any more, then I guess this is as thin as we're going to get.
And I think he's baiting people.
I think Delay is actually, this is his way of, it's a mock display of showing up, throwing up his arms in frustration.
Hey, if there's no more budgets to be cut, if there's no more money to be trimmed, why we Republicans need to claim victory.
We have pared federal spending down to the bare minimum.
We can't cut anymore.
Well, obviously we can.
That's why everybody thinks DeLay has lost his mind because nobody has a sense of humor anymore and nobody understands what he's doing.
He's issuing a challenge to these members of Congress because everybody's out there worried about spending, but who is it that spends the money?
It's Congress.
And if nobody in Congress is willing to give up something in their district or some pork project or even to cut spending in a redundant social program or anywhere else, take your pick, even defense.
I don't care.
For the sake of this discussion, nobody's willing to cut a dime anywhere.
What's Delay supposed to say?
Well, I guess there's nothing to cut.
After 11 years, it's time for us to claim victory.
So I actually think this is pretty funny.
And I think it's fascinating how nobody gets, particularly on the Republican side.
This is, I don't know if it's parody or satire, but it's close.
It's pretty close.
He's mocking everybody.
And he's also laying down a marker, if you will, or baiting some people.
If he's now going to claim victory for trimming the fat, and he's going to say, hey, we Republicans have done our job after 11 years, boy.
Man, there's nothing else to cut here.
We're going to ongoing victory that we're going to claim.
He's begging the Democrats to come up and say, what do you mean?
How can you say this?
And then Delay is going to fire back.
Oh, there's more to cut.
What do you have for me?
You mark my words on this, folks.
It's amazing to me how so many, particularly people, I can understand Democrats having this kind of reaction, but as far as I'm concerned, not too many of them that I've seen have.
It's the reaction on the Republican side who just, it's almost like a fatalistic mentality.
Yeah, we know our leaders are going to go south on it.
Yeah, we know our leaders are going to cave in at some point.
We know they're idiots.
So everybody's just willing now to believe that Delay is stupid and said something stupid when in fact, he's the smartest guy in the room on this.
Quick timeout.
We'll be back after this.
Stay with us.
Once again, Hurricane Ophelia van den Hoovel now creaming the east coast of North Carolina.
And it's around the Cape Fear, Wilmington area, heading up to the Outer Banks.
And nowhere in sight has been George W. Bush.
Once again, illustrating the man simply is tone deaf and simply doesn't care, folks.
I mean, we still have the aftermath of Katrina van den Hoovel.
And where's Bush?
He's up there singing songs and stuff about something as meaningless and worthless as terrorism in Iraq to that barroom scene out of Star Wars called the U.N. Security Council.
All right, other news, ladies and gentlemen.
Saw this last night.
This is one of those stories you find.
It's okay.
I'm glad I have a radio show tomorrow.
Amid the chaos and confusion that engulfed New Orleans after her, this ABC story, by the way, amid the chaos and confusion that engulfed the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina struck, a local congressman used National Guard troops to check on his property and to rescue his personal belongings, even while New Orleans residents were trying to get rescued from rooftops, ABC News has learned.
On Friday, September 2nd, five days after Katrina van den Hoovel hit the Gulf Coast, Representative William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, who represents New Orleans and is a senior member of the Powerful Ways and Means Committee, was allowed through the military blockade set up around the city to reach the Superdome where thousands of evacuees had been taken.
Military sources tell ABC News that Jefferson, an eight-term Democrat congressman, asked the National Guard that night to take him on a tour of the flooded portions of his district.
A five-ton military truck and a half-dozen military police were dispatched.
Lieutenant Colonel Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard tells ABC News that during the tour, Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, asked that the truck take him to his home on Marengo Street in the affluent uptown neighborhood in his congressional district.
According to Schneider, this was not part of Jefferson's initial request.
Jefferson defended the expedition, saying he set out to see how residents were coping at the Superdome and in his affluent neighborhood.
He also insisted he did not ask the National Guard to transport him.
He said, I didn't seek the, well, in fact, here's what he said.
This is from, but we have the audio anyway.
This is what he said.
Seek the use of military assets to help me get around my city.
There was shooting going on.
There was sniping going on.
They thought I needed to be secured by some military guards.
So he didn't seek the use of military assets to help him get around the city.
He says there was shooting going on.
There was sniping going on.
They thought that I should be escorted by some military guards both to the convention center, the superdome, and uptown.
Now, when they got to the affluent neighborhood where the Democrat Congressman William Jefferson lives, the water they found reached to the third step of Jefferson's house.
This again, according to a military source familiar with the incident.
The vehicle pulled up onto the front lawn of the affluent William Jefferson's home so that he wouldn't have to walk in the water.
Jefferson, the affluent William Jefferson from Democrat, Louisiana, went to his house alone in the affluent neighborhood, the source says, while soldiers waited on the porch for about an hour, while Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat, Louisiana from an affluent neighborhood in New Orleans, was inside his home for one hour.
Finally, according to the source, Democrat Congressman William Jefferson, Louisiana, emerged from his affluent neighborhood home with a laptop computer, three suitcases, and a box about the size of a small refrigerator, which the enlisted men loaded up into the truck.
Two weeks later, the vehicle's tire tracks were still visible on the lawn of Congressman William Jefferson's affluent neighborhood home.
I don't think there's any explanation for an elected official using resources for their own personal use when those resources should be doing search and rescue or they should be helping with law enforcement in the city, said Jerry Hauer, a homeland security expert and an ABC News consultant.
Democrat Congressman William Jefferson said the trip was entirely appropriate.
It took only a few minutes to retrieve his belongings, he said, from his home in his affluent neighborhood.
And the truck stayed at his house for an hour in part to assist neighbors.
This wasn't about me going to my house, said Democratic Congressman William Jefferson.
It was about me going to my district.
The Louisiana National Guard told ABC News that the truck became stuck as it waited for William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, to retrieve his belongings.
The soldiers signaled to helicopters in the air for aid.
Military sources say a Coast Guard helicopter pilot saw the signal and flew to the home of Democrat Congressman William Jefferson while he was inside the home in his affluent neighborhood, returning gifts and items from his home to the truck.
The chopper was already carrying four rescued New Orleans residents at the time that it came to the front yard of the home of Democrat Congressman William Jefferson in his affluent neighborhood.
After spending approximately 45 minutes with William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, the helicopter went on to rescue three additional New Orleans residents before it ran low on fuel and was forced to end its mission.
45 minutes can be an eternity to somebody's drowning to somebody that's sitting in a roof and it needs to be used its primary purpose during an emergency, said Hauer, the ABC consultant.
So the helicopter had to come get the truck unstuck that was stuck in the yard of the home of William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, in his affluent Uptown neighborhood.
While had had four people rescued aboard the helicopter, the UH Coast Guard commander Brendan Mcpherson told ABC NEWS we did have an aircraft that responded to a signal of distress where the congressman was located.
The congressman did decline rescue at the time so the helicopter picked up three other people.
I can't comment on why the congressman decided not to go in the aircraft.
Mcpherson said, did it take a little more time to send the rescue swimmer back a second time?
Yeah, you'd have to ask the congressman if it was a waste of time or not.
The Louise Louisiana National Guard then sent a second five-ton truck to rescue the first truck that was still stuck in the front yard of the home of William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, in his affluent uptown neighborhood of New Orleans.
Jefferson said that his UH personal items were returned to the Superdome.
Schneider said he couldn't comment on whether the excursion was appropriate, so we're not in a position to comment on an order given to a soldier.
You're not going to get a statement from the Louisiana National Guard saying whether it was right or wrong.
That was the mission we were assigned.
Now, remember William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana uh, claimed that uh, he was going to go to his neighborhood anyway.
And uh and the guards said, oh no no, there's sniping going on out there, there's shooting going on out there.
You have to go with us.
But everybody on the other side claims that he ordered them to take them and they can't resent or refuse this kind of an order.
Uh, Jefferson congressman William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, insisted the expedition did not distract from rescue efforts.
He said they actually picked up a lot of people while we were there.
Uh, the young soldier said it's a good thing we came up here, because a lot of people would not have been rescued had we not been in the neighborhood.
I don't know how that works out, since it took two trucks and a helicopter uh, and apparently all that resulted in three additional people getting out in an unrelated matter.
Authorities have recently searched Jefferson's property as part of a federal investigation into the finances of a high-tech firm.
Now, listen to this, folks in an unrelated matter.
Authorities have recently searched the property of William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, as part of a federal investigation into the finances of a high-tech firm.
Last month, FBI officials raided the home of William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, as well as his home in Washington, his car and his accountant's house.
Uh, William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, has not commented on that matter except to say he's cooperating with the investigation.
But he has emerged as a major voice in the Post-Katrina uh political debate.
He's gone to the floor of the house.
He's uh complained to moan about the levy system uh and how people didn't care enough to get it fixed uh.
Last week he set up a special trust fund for contributions to his legal defense.
This last week, last week, in the midst of the recovery efforts uh, William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, set up a special trust fund for contributions to his legal defense in light of the FBI investigation.
A senior federal law enforcement source told ABC News that investigators are interested in learning if William Jefferson Democrat Louisiana moved any materials relevant to the investigation out of his house during the rescue.
There's a solution.
And welcome back, Rush Limbaugh, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have while serving humanity with half my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair.
Let's go to the phones here.
Gregory from Detroit, glad you called, sir.
Welcome to the program.
Thank you very much, Rush.
Rush, I want you to say it and say it clearly and don't stutter.
Tell us that the man, William Jefferson, was black.
Tell us that he was a liberal.
Go ahead and say it, Rush.
I'm challenging you right now on this date and this time to tell the world that this man was a black, he was a brother, he was a liberal.
Because if that was a white man having his white property retrieved, they would claim, talking about the liberal race pants would claim that a white man's property is more important than a black life.
You'd hear from Jesse Jackson, L. Sharpton, they'd have a hissy fit.
Kanye West would be having, would be hollering and whining.
So, Rush, I'm challenging you right now to tell the world that it was a black liberal Democrat with the name of William Jefferson.
Gregory, I'm puzzled.
Why does race matter here?
What does the color of William Jefferson Democrat Louisiana skin have to do with this?
Because Kyan West made a point of it.
Jesse Jackson made a point of it.
The black congressional members made a point of it.
So if they're going to make a point of it, if they're going to race pimp this tragedy, then I think it is incoming upon you and others to say, well, here, Jefferson, William Jefferson, black Democrat, saw fit to have the military rescue his.
Okay, well, let me.
All right.
All right.
You know, I admittedly was purposely avoiding mentioning the race of Congressman William Jefferson, black Democrat Louisiana, because, of course, I'm sensitive to the charge of racism.
And I wanted the news to stand on its own without any mention of the man's skin color, because the news on its own is appalling.
But regardless of his race, it's absolutely appalling.
Now, I agree, when you add the fact that he's black to this, and when you add the fact that he lives in an affluent neighborhood, and we're told that only the, you know, the blacks are poor in New Orleans, and then you add all the other details to this story, it's absolutely appalling what this man did.
I should say what he is alleged to have done by numerous witnesses and helicopter pilots and truck drivers.
Rush, allege my eye.
It happened.
I'm going to go with that because if the man was a conservative Republican white male, they would be having a history of the.
Let me tell you something, Gregory.
If Congressman William Jefferson, Black Democrat, Louisiana, were white, this would be on far more than the ABC News website.
Rush, have a great week.
I appreciate the show.
Thank you, Greg.
Nice to have you on the program.
So, all right.
Well, I was forced into it, as you heard.
A resident from New Fallujah demanding that I tell the complete story on the program.
So, yes, if you're just joining us, here are the basic details of the story that is available on the ABCNews.com website.
Amid the chaos and confusion that engulfed New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck, a local congressman used National Guard troops to check on his property and rescue his personal belongings, even while New Orleans residents were trying to get rescued from the rooftops.
This, according to ABC News, on Friday, September 2nd, at a Labor Day weekend, five days after the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast, Representative William Jefferson, Black Democrat Louisiana, who represents New Orleans and is a senior member of the Powerful Ways and Means Committee, was allowed through the military blockades set up around the city to reach Superdome where thousands of evacuees had been taken.
Lieutenant Colonel Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard told ABC News that during the tour, William Jefferson, Black Democrat Louisiana, asked that the truck take him to his home on Marengo Street in the affluent uptown neighborhood in his congressional district.
According to Schneider, this was not part of Jefferson's initial request.
He first told him he wanted to go to Superdome, and then when he got the convoy going, he then directed them to his affluent uptown home on Marengo Street in his congressional district.
And when they got there, the truck got stuck in his front yard.
A five-ton truck.
The water was up to the third step of the fashionable steps, fashionable porch of the affluent neighborhood of William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana.
He was inside his house for about an hour, came out with a trunk about the size of a refrigerator with things in it, a computer, and numerous other personal belongings.
The truck got stuck in the mud.
A rescue helicopter with four people already aboard was summoned via distress call to help rescue William Jefferson, Democrat Louisiana, because the truck that took him to his affluent home was stuck in the mud in his front yard because of the flood.
He ended up not going on the helicopter because they already had four rescuees aboard, so they sent another five-ton truck to the affluent uptown neighborhood of Representative William Jefferson, Black Democrat Louisiana.
And then we find out that the FBI is investigating the guy for inappropriateness in some regard, and they're worried that he might have actually wanted to go to his uptown, fashionable, affluent home to remove evidence.
So they're looking into this.
Another item that I found last night, ladies and gentlemen, that made me eager to arrive today is this audio soundbite from Charlotte, North Carolina, Calypso Louie on the case, speaking to a rally in support of his millions more march.
I heard from a very reliable source that under that levee there was a 25-foot hole, which suggested that it may have been blown up so that the water would destroy the black part of town and where the whites live, it would be dry.
I'm sure that some good is being done, but not nearly enough to answer the cry.
So what we have here is the Reverend Farrakhan, Calypso Louie, leader of the Nation of Islam, telling his flock here that he had a very reliable source, that under the levee there was a 25-foot hole, which suggested it may have been blown up.
And then it's an amazing bomb that they had too, because the bomb knew to send the water only to black neighborhoods.
It must have included the neighborhood of William Jefferson, black Democrat Louisiana, because his affluent neighborhood home was also, well, I guess it wasn't flooded.
No, it wasn't flooded.
The bomb knew to stop the water at the third step on the front porch of Democrat William Jefferson's house.
on Marengo Street, the fashionable uptown section of his district.
So that's what they're called, smart racist bombs.
Mr. Snerdley informs me these are called smart racist bombs.
They've been in a U.S. arsenal unknown before today, last night, for many, many years, apparently.
And so the bomb blew up the levee and sent the water on a path to destroy only black homes.
Now, we don't know why this is the case, but probably, I can guess, they wanted to raise and get rid of these black people in these black homes.
They could build something for Halliburton or the Carlisle Group or maybe an oil refinery in that area.
And we'll keep a sharp eye as the rebuilding of New Orleans takes place to find out just what does go up on these areas of these destroyed homes.
Now, yesterday, if I may get serious about this for a moment, James Taranto from the Best of the Web Today, which is the Wall Street Journal's website.
Well, it's their blog, their online blog called opinionjournal.com, took some polling numbers about race in America and entered into an interesting analysis of them.
He said, what does Hurricane Katrina tell us about race in America?
Well, a new Gallup poll is informative.
Now, look, there's a lot of numbers here, and numbers are hard to follow on the radio.
I'm just going to give you a couple to illustrate the point.
Six in 10.
That would be 60% for those of you in Rio Linda.
60% of African Americans say the fact that most Hurricane victims were poor and black was one reason the federal government failed to come to rescue them more quickly.
Whites reject the idea.
Nearly 9 in 10, 90% say they weren't factors.
Republican efforts this year to reach out to black voters have not been helped.
By more than three to one, blacks say Bush doesn't care about black people.
By more than two to one, white people say that he does.
What this all means is the vast majority of blacks, 72%, and I'm not mentioning a whole bunch of numbers.
I'm just going straight to the conclusion here after giving you a first initial set.
The vast majority of blacks, 72%, disagree with a solid majority of the overall population, because the black population of the country is about 12% now, and the white population is around 80%.
So if you do some extrapolation, you'll see that a vast majority of the black population, 72%, disagree with a solid majority of the overall American population, 60%, on the question of whether Bush cares.
A solid majority of blacks, 60%, disagree with an overwhelming majority of the overall population, 78%, on the question of whether the rescue was racist.
So what we have, we have the black population totally out of sync with the white pop, or the white population totally out of sync with the black, however you wish to look at it.
But the two groups, the overall population, which includes every group of Hispanics because they were not part of the poll.
So that's why you're not dealing with 100% of the population here.
Hispanics were not part of the poll.
It was a black and white poll.
And the numbers of blacks were skewed in the poll, by the way.
They were weighted to overcome the 12% of the population figure.
But regardless, at the end of the day, when you scientifically analyze the numbers and try to come up with a correct proportion for them, you find that blacks see America in a way that whites do not.
And the difference in worldview is as stark as it has ever been.
Now, it's not helped by things like Calypso Louie and others who are making these outrageous claims, which cannot possibly have any basis.
In fact, it's not helped by idiots like Kanye West, but yet they are effective.
You stop and think who it is the black population has been putting all their hope and faith and trust in for 50 years.
You would think there would be a little bit more assimilation.
But who is it that's been telling them things are bad and getting worse for them?
You better keep voting for us.
So not only is it people like Calypso Louie and Kanye West, but you'd have to say that some of the white plantation owner Democrats have actually sponsored and fostered this divide for the express purpose of their own political gain.
But here is where Taranto says that that now falls apart.
The truth about race that Katrina, Hurricane Katrina illuminates then, is that at least when it comes to matters involving race, black Americans are extreme political outliers.
They're just out there all alone.
They see the world in a totally different way.
This is why Taranto says, this is why attempts to play the race card are politically futile anymore.
When you play the race card, you have to appeal not just to blacks, who you already own anyway, but you have to attract a substantial minority of whites to the view as well.
Well, this Gallup poll makes it clear that the current racial appeals are not resonating with whites.
While all these blacks think that this recovery effort was delayed and no energy was behind it because the people are black, nine out of 10 white people disagree with this.
So playing the race card down the road politically is not working in this case.
That's the ultimate point I wish to bring to you.
Quick time out.
Back and continue after this.
You're listening to Rush Limbaugh on the Excellence in Podcasting Network.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have to admit, my compassion must not be up to its usual snuff today because I totally missed something in the whole story of William Jefferson,
Democrat Louisiana, and the controversy over him being taken by a military armed guard to his affluent home in the uptown neighborhood of his district on Marengo Street to retrieve personal effects and property from his home while others could have been using those assets to be rescued.
It mentions in the story that he has set up a legal defense fund to handle the legal pressures that are being brought to bear by an investigation into his business practices.
It has nothing to do with this particular incident.
And I saw the story about the legal defense fund and it just went in one ear and out the other.
I was focused on other things.
And clearly, ladies and gentlemen, the man needs our help.
And I know there are a lot of things out there you can donate to now.
We've got Hurricane Katrina relief, but let's face it.
I mean, everybody's really, I think everybody's, they've been pretty fair.
I mean, people have really jumped in here.
We're spending, we're going to spend $100 to $200 billion in federal tax money.
People have contributed now privately to the tune of over $700 million.
Enough is enough.
We've got Hurricane Ophelia of Vanden Hoovel, which is going to require some digging deep into our pockets once again to help in charitable acts in the aftermath of this hurricane.
Even though it's only a category one, it's moving so slowly that these hurricane force winds are going to be battering the North Carolina coast for days and hours.
But I think we all need to find a place in our hearts.
to contribute to the William Jefferson Legal Defense Fund.
This would be the William Jefferson Democrat Louisiana Legal Defense Fund.
We're trying to find that number now.
And I want to apologize for glossing over the existence of this worthy and worthwhile fund, this charity, this member of the Ways and Means Committee, in my initial reporting of the story.
And as soon as we get a phone number where you can donate to the Legal Defense Fund of William Jefferson, Democrat, Louisiana, we will pass that on to you.
Hi, welcome back.
Rush Limbaugh here from the prestigious Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies.
Snerdley, look, I just remembered something.
Snurdley's trying to find the phone number for the William Jefferson Legal Defense Fund.
Don't confuse it with the William Jefferson Clinton Legal Defense Fund.
That has been shut down.
It's been shut down.
You may find a number for it still.
You never know about those people.
But this is the Legal Defense Fund for William Jefferson, Democrat, Louisiana.
So we can't, or have you gotten any claim?
Oh, we talked to his office and they're going to try to get us a number.
Well, that's good.
We're here to help.
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