Rush Limbaugh Radio Talk Show WWDB September 12, 1996 Tape 1, Side A COMMERCIAL RUSH Greetings to you. Greetings to one and all. Conversationalists all across the fruited plain. ItÔs the Rush Limbaugh program. The most eagerly anticipated program on the radio today, a program which meets and surpasses all expectations on a daily basis. A program which has quite simply become part of the American fabric on a daily basis. Introduction RUSH Thank you Johnny Donovan. Thanks one and all. ItÕs always nice to be with you people here from the Excellence in Broadcasting Building high atop the building here in midtown Manhattan where it is overcast and dark and dank and cold. 66 degrees, rain and in the 50s tonight. Man oh man. This has been no summer. No summer. And the only thing exciting about the fact that thereÕs been no summer in New York is that those snobs in the Hamptons probably had a rotten summer. And thatÕs, well it doesnÕt make it worthwhile, but thatÕs some consolation. HereÕs a phone number...... I was watching television yesterday afternoon. I was channel surfing around and what I am going to tell you about I will guarantee you you havenÕt heard much about and you havenÕt heard the big news about it anyway. IÕve seen one report about this and the report I saw was the lamest excuse for a report that I can imagine. Now let me set the stage here. ItÕs after my program yesterday and IÕd take a little break and come back to the television. IÕm channel surfing. And I decide IÕm going to watch PMS/NBC because I havenÕtÕ watched PMS/NBC in a long time. I want to find out what theyÕre doing. They went on the air the first week and they had the TWA Flight 800 crash back in the middle of July and they got a baptism under fire with that. And I sort of been watching other things so I decided to go back to them. And what PMS/NBC does is during the day they got their various news anchors and every now and then, and it seems to be unpredictable when it happens, they bring in 2 or 3 people to sit at a round table with the anchor. These people are called contributors. Some of them, youÕve heard of and some of them you havenÕt. TheyÕre obviously in the business of trying to establish their own stable and stars over there mixing these people with others that you know. For example, I know DuRoy Murdoch. HeÕs a conservative columnist. I think he writes out of San Diego. HeÕs syndicated nationally. So I know who DuRoy Murdock is. HeÕs the only guy I recognized. John Gibson was the anchor of this particular roundtable. I didnÕt catch the beginning of it. I got in probably about 20% of the way through so my curiosity was more heightened because I really wasnÕt sure what had happened. I was hearing the details of what when on, but I wasnÕt sure what the occasion was. And the one guy who had my attention, I donÕt even remember his name. I didnÕt write it down, I donÕt know his name, if you told me his name I wouldnÕt know it now. IÕve never heard of this guy before. DonÕt misunderstand me. IÕm just saying you know television thereÕs so many stations, networks now that youÕre going to see people all the 1 time and you donÕt know who they are. This is one such guy. And he used to be, heÕs a Democrat, a well known Democrat, established Democrat, makes no bones about it and assumes that position on this round table discussion. He was apparently a former member or a legislative aide to some senator so heÕs a partisan guy, heÕs been on the hill and heÕs worked with Democrats in the senate for a little while. HeÕs not a young guy, not an old guy. IÕd say he looked to be 35-40 years old. IÕm just trying to paint the picture here for you. So this is what I hear him say. He says, Òyou know as a Democrat IÕm about fed up with itÓ. Of course that caught my attention. As a Democrat IÕm about fed up with it. I donÕt know how much more ridiculous this is going to get. Well, I turned up the volume a little bit on my easy snappy remote control unit which sits just to my left. I turned up the volume and the guy was going on and on and on about how embarrassed he was to be a Democrat and at what point was this stuff going to stop. I still didnÕt know what they were talking about. I was to engrossed with trying to figure out what it was they were talking about because it hadnÕt said yet. And then the guy finally alluded to what was going on in this normal conversation. Apparently yesterday six senators staged an unofficial senate hearing on the dangers and the ravages of tobacco and nicotine and smoking. And they brought up a bunch of witnesses. It was another parade of whiners. The sobbing of America continued yesterday. Now let me ask you just at this point, Mr. Snerdley, have I just given you news did you know this happened before I talked about it today. Did any of you guys know, nobody knows that it happened. Well waitÕll you hear this. The first witness is a 12 year old kid who claims that heÕs been hooked on cigarettes for 3 years or 6 years. He got hooked when he was 6 years old and itÕs the governmentÕs fault and the government has to do something about it. He said to the senators, Frank Lautenburg was the chairman, and they had Tom Harkin there and Senator Kennedy and some others. He said, this is the 12 year old, his name is Justin Hoover, ÒI hope you guys can help my brother and sister and stop them so they donÕt smoke like I have. My brother who is 3 acts like his crayons are cigarettes because he sees all of us smoking. I started sneaking cigarettes from my mother until I needed more than just 1 or 2 a day. I started to steal cigarettes and then I started to steal candy. I started to steal bubblegum. I started to steal screw drivers.Ó Frank Lautenberg then said this. ÒSince the RepublicansÓ, embrace yourselves, Òsince the Republicans gained control of Congress in 1994, 600,000 Americans have died from cigarette smokingÓ. (note: static on the tape). And this Democrat former senate staffer on PMS/NBC was just mad as he could be about. He was saying for example, ÒWhere is this 12 year old kidÕs parents? Why is it the fault of Republicans?Ó And John Gibson of PMS/NBC said ÒYou know, IÕve been watching this Congress like all of us have, but I have never seen one of them go out to a 6 or 12 year old and offer them a Camel and say hey buddy you want a lightÓ. And then for Lautenberg to sit there and say that 600,000 Americans have died. You talk about negative campaigning. Now, the bright side of this is IÕm sure news to all of you. It didnÕt get reported. I saw one report of this thing. It was on CNN and they had their science and medical correspondent report it and he reported none of what Lautenberg said. He talked about how the Democrats are continuing to more forward here on their efforts to make America safer. He treated it as a legitimate news event. Talked about how this poor, pathetic 12 year old kid came up begging for help and he had some former Winston man named Landers who was also testifying and of course nothing that he did in his life was his fault. It was all CongressÕ fault, the Republicans fault, the tobacco companyÕs fault, everything everybody does in this country thatÕs bad is somehow now not their fault, but the fault of Republicans in Congress or evil corporations. 600,000 Americans have died since the Republicans took control of Congress from cigarette smoking and this Democrat who was fed up with this, the Democrat was embarrassed, he was angry about it, he said Òyou know letÕs stark itÓ. And by the way they then get into a discussion of whether Dole was right on nicotine. And youÕre going to love this. But first this guy started saying you know you donÕt die from smoking cigarettes in 2 years. It takes 40. And inn that case the Democrats are the ones responsible. My own partyÕs responsible for all these tobacco deaths, because when they were in power look at how many millions of Americans must of died and they 2 didnÕt do anything about it. You donÕt start smoking now and 2 years later die because of it. ItÕs a slow thing. It doesnÕt happen to everybody, and that got them into a discussion. Gibson said, ÒWell was Dole right nicotineÕs not addictiveÓ. And this Democrat said ÒOf course heÕs right. ItÕs not addictive. Addictive means you canÕt stop it yourself without some sort of professional, psychological help. You just canÕt do it.Ó ThatÕs exactly what I said. And they said I was a nut. They said DoleÕs a nut. This Democrat said ÒItÕs just a bad habit itÕs like chocolateÓ. And DuRoy Murdock said ÒI want to go back to this business of where were the kidÕs parents? Do they have no responsibility in any of this whatsoever?Ó And apparently ladies and gentlemen - no. This is the sad reality weÕre coming to. Parents donÕt have any responsibility. WeÕve got surveys this week from baby boom parents who say that they have nothing to do with what their kids do. Drugs, alcohol, whatever, they have no control over it. I have been, I was talking to Marta about this for the longest time, we had a long conversation starting at dinner. I called my mom last night because in my conversation with Marta I was trying to explain....you see my friends I turned out just fine in terms of all this. No drug addicts in my family, no bozo alcoholics, none of that, and, and, I, I called my mom and said ÒMom, how did you do it?Ó And she said, ÒWell it was primarily your dad, but son we just think that we lucked outÓ. Because, and she reminded me what all was going on when we were growing up. The Vietnam War, the protest, the marijuana, and the newness of the drug scene in connection with music and the war and so forth. And we just think we lucked out. Then she said something that was very, I hadnÕt thought of this she said Òbut look we werenÕt the only ones that did. Think back of all of your friends, everyone one of them with maybe one or two exceptions. Those exceptions youÕd have to make a stretch here to call them exceptions. But all your friends. They all turned out ok too. They did not end up destroying their lives. They did not become addicts, they didnÕt become alcoholics or any of that stuff...Ó. And so we got to talking in greater detail about it, and one of the things that I came to realize was that my parents never really sat me down and preached the evils of drink or drugs to me. I just knew it. I just knew that those things were wrong and bad and I think its because I had I had a foundation of right and wrong that was laid for me early on. And I also had this desire not to disappoint my parents. And Marta said, ÒYou know IÕve got a theoryÓ. SheÕs very much interested in all of this. She said, ÒI have a theory that parents rebel against whatever their parents are and thatÕs whatÕs weird about whatÕs going on now Rush. Because you know if you have a a parent whoÕs an alcoholic or a drug addict itÕs going to repulse you, its gonna bother you so youÕre not going to touch that stuff. Now these baby boomer parents who are doing drugs, their kids instead of rebelling against them are saying Òhey you did it to whatÕs wrong with me doing itÓ? And, theyÕre not being told anythingÕs wrong about it because these stupid idiot baby boomer kids do not think they have any credibility because they did it themselves.Ó They do not under.... And Marta came up with a great example, so simple, so simple. As we say here the most important thing adults do is teach their children how to behave. They teach them the difference between right and wrong and they do it primarily to keep them alive. You teach a kid donÕt run out into the street in front of a car. Now letÕs say that I am a baby boom parent. LetÕs say I had run out in front of a car once chasing a baseball. And my kid somehow has heard me talking about this how I narrowly escaped being hit by the car and my kid hears me talking about it. And I tell my kid, DonÕt you run out into the street anymore. I donÕt want to see you running in the street for any reason thereÕs car in thereÓ. ÒWell dad you did it.Ó And I say to myself ÒYeah, OK youÕre right. Go ahead I have no credibility with you. I have no authority you go ahead and run into the street. I canÕt stop you.Ó Same thing with putting your hand on a hot stove. You tell your kid donÕt put your hand on a hot stove. You can burn yourself, you can hurt yourself. DonÕt do it. You do it because youÕve learned in your life that itÕs not a good thing to do. ItÕs a dangerous thing to do. So you teach your kids not to do it. WhatÕs the difference in telling them not to run out in front of a moving car, not to put their hand on a hot stove, and telling them not to do drugs. Why all of a sudden is it not ok to tell them not to do drugs. The point is thereÕs no shame. Kids apparently are not concerned today with their parents approval. They donÕt 3 care whether their parents approve of them or whether they disappoint theyÕre parents. And when youÕve got a President like we have who has decided heÕs going to be the parent of America, is it any wonder that this sort of thing is going on. YouÕve got a 12 year old kid before a bunch of senators. The senators ought to be ashamed. This is what bothers me in the news media looking at this story. Ought to be outraged that theyÕre bringing a 12 year old kid up to testify before a bunch of senators and how itÕs somebody elseÕs fault that he smokes cigarettes. How horrible. They donÕt want to talk about drugs in any way, shape, matter or form. Note that. But boy when it comes to cigarettes and tobacco they bring this kid up, thereÕs no discussion of the kidÕs parents, their responsibility, itÕs just the Republicans fault that this is happening because they donÕt think that this is dangerous. So my friends it gets even more frustrating and mind boggling. And whatÕs more frustrating and mind boggling than anything is that a supposed objective journalist or a bunch of them, I mean there were a bunch of people watching this hearing yesterday only one network PMS/NBC decided that what they saw was crazy. And talk about CNN and none of the other networks this is no big deal, thereÕs nobody outraged by any of this. ItÕs just stunning, literally stunning. Got a quick break here weÕll be back with more after this. Our phone number is 800-282-2882. COMMERCIAL 4 RUSH WeÕre back ladies and gentlemen. How many of you were watching the USA Network last night. We have the first movie about the Unibomber on TV last night. HereÕs what happen if you didnÕt see it. The movie portrayed Ted Kazynski, the Al Gore worshipping Unibomber, as having been influenced by chaotic societal forces where dope smoking was rampant, long haired types and all sorts of similar individuals run around protesting everything. Governmental lies and misinformation abounded and free love was all over the place. Today the White House said that they have never talked to Kazynski so he doesnÕt know where they got that idea. HereÕs Al in Jupiter, Florida. Al, IÕm glad you called. Welcome to the program. AL How ya doing Rush. Hey do we have any statistics on the 40 years the Democrats held Congress as to how many smoking deaths there were. RUSH Sure. Sure. IÕm sure we could find, yeah, find out in fact do this. Mr. Snerdley get somebody, call the American Heart Association, and get total number of deaths. Call the American Cancer Institute whatever it is. Get the number of deaths attributed to smoking from letÕs say from 1954 to 1994. AL This 12 year old. Does he look familiar to you. Perhaps youÕve seen him before. He probably came out of the Democratic pool. (Rush laughs) You know the one they trump it up for so they can have somebody testify that theyÕre violent, they were probably in front of a pita convention or something, big labor rally. Have you seen this kid before? RUSH No, I didnÕt see it. This is the whole point. I saw people talking about it. I did see only one clip and it was of Tom Harkin holding up a half gallon of milk saying that Dole has said that milk can hurt you too. He says I donÕt know about milk. Milk builds strong bodies. AL DoleÕs probably responsible for the high price of milk though too, ThatÕs probably his fault too right RUSH Everything is. That it? AL Yep thatÕs it. RUSH 5 OK thanks very much. HereÕs Flo in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. IÕm glad you called. Welcome to the program. FLO Hi Rush. I had a question for you. The Monday Courier Post, our local paper...... RUSH What is it? The Courier Post? FLO The Camden Courier Post has said we should be thankful that you arenÕt going to be campaigning for anyone this fall, not even Bob Dole. This was in an editorial. RUSH Why should we be thankful for that? FLO I guess because anybody you supported isnÕt good, or they donÕt want to hear your campaigning. My theory is that they are putting that out stating that you need more campaigning so that they can be accurate you arenÕt campaigning, but try to give the impression that you donÕt support Bob Dole. I think itÕs their little way of making people think look even Rush Limbaugh doesnÕt support Bob Dole. I wanted to write a letter to the editor and say whether you were supporting him or not but I didnÕt want to do it without first knowing what your........ (Rush interrupts) RUSH Well this is so stupid and its so silly. It just goes to show. HereÕs the editorial writer for this Camden newspaper. All he or she would have to do was turn on this show to find out whether or not I support Dole. This, this, weÕll be back in a minute. COMMERCIAL RUSH This is Rush Limbaugh with the Excellence in Broadcasting Network. Now I have a little bit more time here. About this Camden, NJ newspaper editorial trying to say that itÕs so bad out there for Dole, not even Rush LimbaughÕs campaigning for him. My friends let me ask you a question. This is the last candidate any of you say in the last 5 years you remember me campaigning for. I mean by campaigning I guess this means going out on a stump and making speeches for, actually trying to rally troops and get votes. I donÕt, you know the closest IÕve ever come to that in the last 5 years was in 1992 Madison, NJ, I introduced George Bush on election day early in the morning last day of the campaign and that was it. You know it reminds me prior to the Republican National Convention we got a hot breathy 6 panting phone call from a woman at the Los Angeles Times who thought she had come across a scoop. The scoop was that I was not going to the Republican National Convention. She wanted to write a story, and she called give her credit, to check out the reason. She was hoping to hear me say that I was so despondent, so fed up with the Republican Party, so unhappy with Bob Dole as the nominee, that youÕre not going to find me anywhere there. But I said, ÒNo IÕm not going because I donÕt want to go. Ò ÒYou donÕt want to go?Ó ÒNo, IÕve been to 2 of these and IÕve learned more not being there. I donÕt want to be sidetracked by all the parties. I donÕt want to go a convention hall where you canÕt hear any speeches. And I canÕt because I canÕt go in there and just sit there and listen. IÕve been through all of this with you before, and plus I want to be able to watch the convention on TV the way the rest of you see it on TV so that I can talk with you about what you say or didnÕt see. And if thereÕs any inside scuttlebutt theyÕre plenty of people I know who are there who can fill me in on it. So I donÕt have to.Ó So she said, ÒYou really just donÕt want to go because of the inconvenience?Ó. I said, ÒLet me ask you something. Would you go if you didnÕt have to.Ó ÒDaaaaa, wellllllllÓ. I said, ÒIt has nothing to do with whether or not I support the ticket or not. Have you ever listened to my radio program. Do you think that I am supporting Ross Perot or Bill Clinton?Ó ÒWell no of course notÓ. ÒSo then whatÕs the deal.Ó And I would ask this of the same thing of the Camden, New Jersey or whatever it is newspaperÕs editorial. The fact that IÕm not out campaigning which is something I donÕt do anyway indicates that I somehow donÕt support the Dole ticket. All you got to do you people in the media. You know the Annenberg Report just came out and explained this whole thing. You donÕt listen to the program, and therefore you donÕt know what goes on here, and there right about knowing it anyway. You think you know everything, I think, you think you know every personal opinion that I have, you think you know the direction of this program on a daily basis, and yet you donÕt listen to it. Now if I had a history of being out on the stump and seeing this event, making this speech here or going to that fund-raiser there, and was not doing it this year, than people would say Òhmmm, I wonder whatÕs going on. Ò IÕd have an answer for it, but thatÕs not the case. ItÕs just. IÕm amazed. IÕm amazed at journalists. IÕm more amazed at it all the time. Because all you have to do is listen to the program. You donÕt even have to leave your office, and if you leave your office youÕre in your car, you got a radio in the car, turn it on. Listen to what happens on the program. ThereÕs no mystery here. Anyway, whoÕs next on this program. 7 Flint, Michigan Jim. Hello and welcome to our program. IÕm glad you called. JIM Hello Rush. How you doing? I just want to say I listen to your program a lot and you know although we do have a lot of differences politically I just got to say youÕre right on the money on this tobacco thing. You know it irks me when thereÕs like real issues to be discussed. When politicians come up with like these false issues, and try and just take up media time with something that you couldnÕt possibly disagree with. Who is going to get up and disagree with smoking cigarettes. You know, who in their right mind. You might, you might disagree with the severity of whoÕs responsible or how long its going to take to kill you. RUSH Well IÕll disagree with you right now. This is the United States of America. We have done everything we can to put out the truth about the effects of smoking JIM Right, right (Rush interrupts) RUSH But if you want to take the risk yourself, itÕs still a legal substance. So you go right ahead. I donÕt care. You go right ahead and smoke if you want to. I donÕt look at it as my job to sit here and preach in a parental way to people about what they should and shouldnÕt do in a situation like that. That is, smoking a cigarette is not the same thing as running out in front of a moving car, it is not the same thing as putting your hand on top of a hot stove, itÕs not the same thing as grabbing a gun and putting one bullet in the chamber, spinning it around and playing Russian roulette. ItÕs not that way there are distinctions that must be drawn and thereÕs a sense of proportion that must be present here and it isnÕt on this. WeÕre talking. I think itÕs a freedom issue. I really do, and did you see Crossfire last night by any chance. JIM No I missed it last night RUSH Ohhhhh James CargillÕs going nuts folks. James CargillÕs losing his mind. Last night he was losing his mind. And Geraldine Ferraro was doing her best to keep him reigned in and she said what you just said. She said, you know, they were talking about character last night that was the subject on Crossfire. And she said character doesnÕt matter. The American people, and especially the women of America where Bob Dole has this huge gender gap, they care about health care, they care about unemployment benefits or whatever it was they care about, real issues. And the same day after she gets through talking about all this serious real serious issue stuff what do we have but a sham and a show up on Capitol Hill with a 12 year old smoker and a bunch of Democratic senators calculating the number of deaths due to smoking since the Republicans assumed office. If thatÕs not trivializing, and insulting and negative and mean spirited and all these other things I donÕt know what it is. JIM 8 Well, you know, itÕs like I said IÕm a Democrat I donÕt mean to say that weÕre completely free of any type of guilt in that respect. You know I think that youÕre totally on the money when you say itÕs a freedom issue. I mean thereÕs a lot of things like that. ItÕs funny how people are willing to give away some of their personal liberties you know and usually the explanation is like you know well if you put on your seat belt you know youÕll lose the risk of accidents, and then you know the insurance rate will come down and things like that. And ostensibly thatÕs what theyÕre trying to say about cigarettes you know well we curbed from smoking cigarettes unless people will die and cost us less money in the long run. Again itÕs like theyÕre asking us to give up one by one our own personal liberties. RUSH Let me make this point to you. To all of you. About this whole smoking controversy. We got 2 people, well three, but letÕs leave the third one out for a second. We got 2 primary candidates running for President. We got Bob Dole and Bill Clinton. One of these candidates smokes, and one of these candidates quit smoking. The candidate who smokes is a member of a party whoÕs on this rampage against smoking. And the candidate who quit smoking is being pursued by these savage anti-smoking Nazis as though heÕs personally responsible for killing people. Now would somebody explain this to me we all know Bill Clinton smokes cigars. But Rush but Rush he doesnÕt inhale. How do we know that and I donÕt care about that any way. WeÕre talking about once again, integrity and credibility. Dole quit. And DoleÕs out there saying if I were you I wouldnÕt start. And if you are smoking if I were you IÕd quit. Pure and simple. WhatÕs wrong with that. On the other hand we got the candidate of one party who smokes cigars when his wife will let him and where his wife will let him. WhoÕs party is out there creaming on Bob Dole and everybody else in the Republican Party because of the rotten example they set. And their lack of willingness to take this issue seriously. Jim thanks for the call. This is Rush Limbaugh on a roll. Back in a moment. COMMERCIAL RUSH Rush Limbaugh puffing away on Excellence In Broadcasting Network. We are available to you on 800-282-2882. Burlington, Vermont. This is Tom. IÕm glad you called sir. TOM Hello rush. Mega dittos from Burlington, Vermont. I tend to disagree with you on this smoking issue yet, I find I agree with you on most other issues. In reference to the smoking issue, if cigarettes were invented today obviously the Food and Drug Administration and all the other government protection agencies would view it as something to not become legal. And rightfully so in my opinion because cigarettes do kill you. So what IÕm recommending is, as a matter of freedom, you have to grandfather in all those people that have experienced smoking. However,..... (Rush interrupts) RUSH Why. Wait a minute. It kills, it kills. If its ok to kill some because they started earlier, but itÕs not ok to start killing now? 9 TOM Yeah, you canÕt take the right of people to smoke from those who experience and love it. (Rush interrupts) RUSH No wonder weÕre in trouble. TOM Well wait a minute. No. If you grandfather it out say all those born after the year 2000 (Rush interrupts) RUSH Listen to yourself. YouÕre going to grandfather killing in your words here. IÕm not even going to agree with you on this point. But what youÕre saying is that your going to grandfather death. END OF SIDE A, TAPE NO. 1 10 Rush Limbaugh Radio Talk Show WWDB September 12, 1996 Tape 1, Side B TOM (cont) People born after the year 2000 itÕd be illegal for them to take up smoking. RUSH Well, if you want to try to ban the substance feel free. This is a democracy, this is the United States of America. If anybody wants to try this within the confines and the structures of the democratic process you go right ahead. And if our society determines that tobacco is sufficiently dangerous and should be banned and made illegal and only available for medicinal purposes then of course do it. You wonÕt have any problem with me if this stuff happens in the democratic fashion. But IÕm not going to sit here and listen to a bunch of namby-pamby allegoric dictator like smoking Nazis disguised as members of the United States Senate and the White House Staff sit there and preach and by virtue of executive order or whatever start harassing tobacco companies. I mean these guys are being served subpoenas (Both men are speaking at the same time) Then Rush says Òthat is whatÕs happening, that is what is happening right now and its not the democratic process. ThatÕs not the way to go about this. And these people donÕt even care about it. ItÕs simply an election year issue for them and it as long as it survives as an election issue theyÕre going to keep pummeling away at it this way. But this is not the way a democratic society decides whatÕs good for it and bad for it and have a bunch of people who put on show trials like happened yesterday at the US Senate to do this. YouÕll have no problems from me. (Tom interrupts) TOM I donÕt mean that they canÕt sell cigarettes to the Japanese or the other countries, and IÕm not promoting killing people RUSH Wait, where is your concern for your fellow man. The Japanese are human beings too. Is it ok to kill them. 11 TOM All IÕm saying is that for the way the situation is today in the United States where cigarettes is absolutely legal, and the cigarette companies have such a strong power if you only limit those people that can smoke in the future itÕll slowly die a natural death. RUSH What power do the cigarette companies have? What power do they have any more than General Motors? TOM I totally disagree with going against those institutions today like by stopping by them.... (Rush interrupts) RUSH What power do they have? Give me an example of the greater power than R. J. Reynolds has greater power than say General Motors? What kind of power are you talking about here? Listen to you. People have no choice. We are a bunch of people weÕre sitting around quaking in our boots saying Òoh no, here comes Joe Camel lock the doors oh my god weÕre going to die save me no donÕt light it. Oh IÕm hooked.Ó ThatÕs now how it happens. ThatÕs what they want you to think happens. Joe Camel, the villain, and he comes around and he stalks neighborhoods and he goes inside doors and in through animal doors, little doggie doors, and he finds unsuspecting 6 year old punks. And he dashes a Camel in their lips and he lights up, but itÕs Newt GingrichÕs fault. Yes, thatÕs what happens. Is that what happens. Or is there a little free will involved here. TOM Could I just turn this around a little bit? Instead of making it a exciting _______, and trying to get me riled up as though (Rush interrupts) RUSH YouÕve got me riled up!!!!! Because weÕre willing to sacrifice some people but not save all. You are willing to say that people have no choice in this. (Tom interrupts) TOM But Rush if you donÕt do anything at all the amount of people that will die of cigarettes will stay high. If you do what IÕm proposing which is the people born after the year 2003 those people make it illegal for them to start smoking slowly but surely this will self-correct. 12 RUSH Well, ok, so everybodyÕs a victim. IÕll tell you what. Death is a thing that we just canÕt handle. TOM No, no ___________________ grandfathered in because nobody knew of its health effects way back when when it really was started. You just didnÕt know how to stop it. IÕm proposing a way to..... (Rush interrupts) RUSH WeÕve known this for 30 years. ThatÕs another thing that offends the hell out of me. We have known that there have been warnings on these cigarette packages for 30 years. IÕm sick and tired of everybody in this country being made out to be a victim. IÕm about had it with this because it goes against what made this country great. And if weÕre going to start deciding these things this way then youÕd better talk to me about the wheel. We better ban the wheel first because the wheel kills too and everybody knows its dangerous. Its more dangerous to get behind the wheel of a car then to get in a Boeing 747. ItÕs more dangerous to get inside a tractor or any of those kinds of things than it is to get in an airplane. So letÕs be consistent here. Why this focus on smoking. There are so many things that kill us. LetÕs ban swimming pools. Unfortunate victims drowned because Newt Gingrich did not warn people that you canÕt breathe water sufficiently when he became Speaker of the House. Now you think IÕm exaggerating. IÕm the one speaking reasonably about this. If somebody can explain to me. Give me a reason other than political opportunism that explains this anti-smoking zealousness, this zealotry thatÕs going on I want to hear it, because I donÕt think it has anything to do with anything other than politics. TheyÕre too many things that kill us and I want to tell you if you start talking about banning this youÕre going to see an interesting thing. WeÕre talking about a multi-billion dollar industry and people have to make a living. You start talking about banning a 2 billion or multi-billion dollar industry and you look at the effects on this country and on the people who are in that industry do you think they are just going to go whimpering away saying Òok thanks for letting us get away with it for as long as you did, now weÕll go away now and weÕll do something elseÓ. It isnÕt that way. And theyÕre going to say to you what IÕm going to say to you now. How come youÕre coming after us. Why donÕt you go after everything that kills people. And I can give you a list of things that kill people a lot faster than cigarettes kill people. So you know pretty soon, weÕre going to ban meat, weÕre going to ban fat, weÕre going to ban all this stuff that clogs up the arteries, because youÕre just a victim, we didnÕt know all these decades that this stuff leads to hardening of the arteries and eventually heart attack and stroke and we canÕt handle this, but weÕll sell our beef to the Japanese and to the Europeans. Let them die. I am - no wonder Bill ClintonÕs ahead in the polls. WeÕll be back. COMMERCIAL RUSH Just got off the phone with the American Cancer Society ladies and gentlemen. I have some interesting numbers here now if youÕre just joining us Frank Lautenberg, Senator from 13 New Jersey yesterday in what can be nothing described as and nothing more than a stupid press conference disguised as a Senate hearing proclaimed that 600,000 Americans have died from smoking since the Republicans assumed control of Congress. 600,00 Americans. Well now since it hasnÕt been quite 2 years , we figured that sounds like if he were making this statement at the end of 1992 itÕs been 2 full years it might be up around 800,000. So I instructed my staff to get hold of the American Cancer Society. We talked to a man named Brant Saunders there, and we asked him do you have a figure for us on how many people, Americans, have died because of cigarette smoking in the last 40 or 50 years. ThatÕs tough to come up with because itÕs a different number every year. Fewer people smoke, more people smoke. We said look weÕre looking for a benchmark number. If we said between 3 and 400,000 thousand a year are we gonna be close. And the American Cancer Society said yeah as a benchmark 3 to 400,000 deaths a year because of cigarette smoke. ThatÕs what we believe. YouÕre very close sir. So, weÕre going to use 400,000 as our benchmark number. We ran the numbers. The last fifty years. That means 20 million Americans have died because of cigarette smoking. And out of those 50 years, 40 of those years the Democrats ran Congress. My friends the Democrats were in charge. And more Americans died then were killed by Joseph Stalin. When the Democrats were in charge more Americans died then were killed by Joseph Stalin. Not quite as many as were killed by Mao Tse Tung, but its close when the Democrats were in charge. Ask yourself how come the Democrats didnÕt care a wit until about 6 weeks ago. Think about it. COMMERCIAL RUSH Are you ready to sizzle? Welcome back for more ladies and gentlemen. This is Rush Limbaugh......... Hey guess what my friends? Saddam Hussein is shooting at us. HeÕs going to rue the day he started this. You donÕt go around making Peter Arnett and Bill Clinton mad. No, no, no, my friends. WeÕre going to fire back. WeÕve sent some Stealth Fighters over there now. This is getting serious. I expect my friends that weÕll fire some more missiles and this time weÕll aim 500 miles closer to the target than we did last time and weÕll see if they listen to us then. Oh yes. I have a column here by Maureen Dowd. Oh, by the way the phone number is 1-800, etc. And, let me ask you before I get to Maureen Dowd. Let me ask you a question does anybody know what our policy in Iraq is. What is it? Tell me. WhoÕs confusion is the policy. Who are we trying to confuse. Ourselves? So, the Clinton AdministrationÕs policy in Iraq is to confuse the American people you think? Well. If thatÕs the case my friends, if our policy is confusion, IÕd say it succeeded. WeÕve won cause somebody tell me what weÕre doing. And I donÕt suppress weÕre trying to save the lives of the Kurds. Yeah, ok. You go ahead and think that. I donÕt want to burst your bubble. Trying to save the lives of the Kurds, just like weÕre trying to get the 6 year olds to stop smoking. Maureen Dowd today has a column in the New York Times that really dovetails with the focus of discussion that weÕve had all week long here on the program. At what point do the American people look at this Administration and say ÒenoughÕs enoughÓ. How is it that poll after poll shows that 2/3rds of the American people think that Bill and Hillary Clinton are lying about Whitewater. Two-thirds of the American people think theyÕre lying about Filegate. Two-thirds of the American people think they are not trustworthy. Two thirds of the American people wouldnÕt want their children to be raised by Bill or Hillary. Two thirds of the American people wouldnÕt go into business with them and yet youÕre going to vote for 14 them. WHY? How is this? How can this be? What is the explanation? There are a lot of people are curious about this. And IÕll tell you theyÕre curious about it as Maureen Dowd is in the same sense and for the same reason that weÕve been curious about it all week. It says more about our country then it actually does about Bill or Hillary. WhatÕs happening to our country? And everybody has an answer to this and theyÕre probably all partially right. I talked to my mom last night. I told you about this earlier on in the program. I said mom IÕve just been thinking here. How did I end up not becoming a drug addict and an alcoholic. How did you and dad keep us... She said we lucked out. I said mom come on. You told us the difference between right and wrong and we didnÕt want to embarrass you. We wanted your approval, we didnÕt want to disappoint you. And IÕll tell you when we did we were punished on that basis. YouÕve let us down son. And that was crushing. Maybe that doesnÕt exist any more. Maybe kids just donÕt have enough respect for their parents any more to give a hoot in hell what their parents think about anything. ThereÕs also, this was pointed out to me, and I know some of you especially you liberals who think youÕre so progressive. YouÕre going to ________ fall at this. But it was pointed out to me last night. Rush now you just didnÕt have your parents though. When you turned on the TV at night you had sappy shows. You had Bonanza. You had Father Knows Best. You had The Nelsons, the beaver cleaver show. You had every, look at the top 10 shows when you were a young kid in the formative stages of your life. Every show was about the family. And the family was a specific thing. And so there was this constant reinforcement every night. The people today look back Òthat wasnÕt reality that was sap. Reality today is 2 mommies as your family. Reality today is 2 daddies as your family or whatever we want our family to be and thatÕs the progressive to look at itÓ. But, my mom thinks that she had more help than just our household. She had our whole extended family and she you know the stuff that was on TV was not poisoning our minds. Compare it to whatÕs on television today and you have to think about it at least. Even you liberals have to think about it in terms of influence today. ThereÕs nothing like that stuff on TV and that stuff is made fun of. But whatÕs wrong with a 4, 5, 7 year old watching Andy Griffith for crying out loud. Andy Griffith is still a very high rated show by the way on TBS. WhatÕs wrong with that. A lot of people find things wrong with that. So there are major differences, and you can point to the media in some of it and you have to point to the parents as well. EverybodyÕs now writing about this. Maureen Dowd. I must tell you that I donÕt specifically Maureen DowdÕs leanings. I would have to assume that when it comes time sheÕs going to vote for Clinton, but I think sheÕs very troubled by it. Let me read to you just some passages from her piece here just to show you that even in certain quarters, in certain sectors and IÕve been interviewed by Maureen Dowd. I know her a little bit, not well, but I, I know some of what IÕm saying here about her leanings. If Mr. Clinton is trivializing he presidency in his campaign. For example he announced yet another toll free number this week to help match those who want to get off welfare with employers. If Mr. Clinton is trivializing the Presidency in his campaign heÕs only reflecting trivial yuppies used to a world not of heroic proportions but of Seinfeldian proportions. A world defined not by a battle between good and evil, but a choice between skim or whole, caf or de, foam or no foam, carbonated or still, lemon or lime. The scary thing about Bob Dole is that just below the surface we fear we canÕt live up to his standards. That heÕs an old fashioned curmudgeon whoÕs never going to think we have enough starch. On the other hand we know we could live up to Bill ClintonÕs standards. So its futile for Republicans to argue that Mr. Clinton is flawed because all he does is respond in change. ThatÕs exactly why people like him. WeÕre in a consumer culture. Baby boomers are the most spoiled over-marketed cohort in history. Accustomed to having products tailored to them. Why should the Presidency be any different. ItÕs gratifying when someone changes for you. Someone gets more conservative if you want or stops hatching unnerving big plans to revise government or helps you discipline you kids if you want. In the absence of a Republican candidate with charm and leadership who can persuade people of what they should want rather than merely than go along with what they do want the public will be practical. Given a choice between a politician who ignores us or one who caters to 15 us why not take the one who seems to be listening. The joke is weÕre looking to Bill Clinton for continuity and stability. and heÕs looking to us for continuity and stability. But even if we donÕt like what we see in the mirror we canÕt really blame the President because the image in the mirror is our own. Well, have you not heard portions of this on this show this week. We like Clinton because he is us. We say things we donÕt mean. He says things he doesnÕt mean. Right up our alley. I like this little swipe here at Jerry Seinfeld too. ThereÕs not too many people that do that. But how about this paragraph. The scary thing about Bob Dole is that just below the surface we fear we canÕt live up to his standards. That heÕs an old fashioned curmudgeon whoÕs never going to think we have enough starch. On the other hand we know we can live up to Bill ClintonÕ s standards. The question there if thatÕs correct is why do we choose lower standards? Cause we feel better about ourselves? Cause we have such little self-confidence. Perhaps, but I think thereÕs something very telling here. And the reason I bring this to your attention. I always respected my fatherÕs standards. To people today he would be the same as Dole, an old-fashioned curmudgeon although he was far more energetic and boisterous and loud. He had his own charisma. I mean my friends 17 years old weÕre suppose to be out doing drugs and smoking dope and drinking booze, right, getting away from our parents. The big excitement on Friday night was for all of us to get around and get my dad at the table and one of us would take a stab getting us riled up about something and sit back and listen for the next 3 hours. Because you always learned something. And it was entertaining, it was fun, and it was passion. All that. That happened I canÕt tell you how often that happened. Both with my brothers friends and with my friends, and we always did want to please him. Always did and it was tough to, and I you know, he was not a perfect father, and you know there were many times where I would say youÕre never going to be satisfied with what I do. You just never.... And a lot of sons have that lament about their fathers, but when its all said and done thereÕs one reality that throughout the human condition cannot be denied. Somebody sets high expectations for you. You get better. When somebody sets the bar low you will by definition sink to what is the least necessary to get by. And thatÕs what Bill Clinton is doing to this country. He doesnÕt raise anybodyÕs expectations. Bill Clinton accommodates peopleÕs failures. In fact in a way encourages them. Because it allows him to position himself as the savior of all American failures. IÕll tell you thereÕs nothing wrong with you, and weÕll fix it and weÕll take over and whatever it needs to be done to make you feel better about yourself. Leave it to us. WeÕll handle it. WeÕll be your bridge to the 21st Century with Ted Kennedy driving. This my friends is why I would flunk in my first day as a candidate because you know what I would say. I would say on the stump that you know IÕm running for President or whatever the office and IÕm gonna do my job and hereÕs the things I think I can do and should do to try to make things better whatever, but let me tell you something I really have high expectations of you and IÕd point straight to whoever was watching, live or on television. I have expectations of you. You are the people who make the country work and if you donÕt reach your pinnacle neither does the country. And I donÕt know if you want to hear me say that. I donÕt want to know. I donÕt know that you want to hear me talk about how much is expected of you. I have _______ people rally to that. I think thatÕs why so many sons bust their rear ends to please their fathers. Sometimes the fathers take it too far and are never pleased. Daughters too. But the process still of trying to gain the approval because you respect an elder involves setting that expectation bar very high, and that, thatÕs what troubles everybody in this country right now. WeÕre lowering our own expectations of ourselves and of everybody around us. And if somebody refuses to play by that rule and instead seeks to be better then their neighbor then all of a sudden we make them a target. TheyÕre not playing by the rules. YouÕre trying to show me up arenÕt you. YouÕre trying to outdo me. YouÕre trying to make me look bad. So we go to our schools and we say a gifted child will learn at the same rate as the average child, and if somebody knows 2 plus 2 is four in the first grade, well itÕs not right if they all donÕt know that 2 plus 2 is four so we wonÕt acknowledge that 2 plus 2 is four until everybody figures it out. So weÕre not with this President and this Administration making our nation better. We are becoming slaves to our 16 laziness and our worst instincts. WeÕre not doing whatÕs necessary to keep this nation forward all because itÕs too hard. WeÕll be back. COMMERCIAL RUSH Thank you ladies and gentlemen and welcome back and to the phones now at 800-282-2882. This is Bob in Philadelphia. Hey, IÕm glad you waited. Thanks for the call. BOB Rush itÕs already started here with the smoke place in Philadelphia and Jersey. A local station about a week or so ago jumped on the bandwagon. They put hidden cameras in a local drug store and the image showed the clerk was selling cigarettes to under age kids. In the meantime the same station a week later reported that Philadelphia was now number 1 in the nation in the amount of people that they treated in the emergency wards for drug overdoses. We have a school system that canÕt keep the drugs and guns out of the schools. They have a 300 man full time police department that comes under the school districtÕs budget - 24,000 per man. And they have 300 part time police officers. And their union leader, last year when they negotiated their contract, he was trying to get bullet proof vests for all the officers that patrolled the schools and he said it was the most dangerous job in the city. In the meantime...(Rush interrupts) RUSH ThatÕs a very smart police chief because you know we canÕt make kids stop bringing guns. If theyÕve made the decision to bring guns to school weÕre going to deal with it. I suggested in fact Bob long ago that the teachers in such schools wear vests because we are told we canÕt stop kids from having sex, we canÕt stop them from smoking unless we somehow get the Democratic party in action and ban Joe Camel or whatever and we canÕt stop them from carrying guns. So the only smart thing to do is what your police chief down thereÕs done. Now I applaud him. BOB Well that wasnÕt the police chief Rush that was the head of the police for the school board. RUSH Well whatever, it was a smart move because everybody knows. My friends I know IÕm sounding silly but arenÕt you a little bit tired of the excuse kids are going to do it anyway we canÕt stop them. If that were the case we would of long ago lost our civilization and we wouldnÕt even be a country today because thousands of years ago society would of broken down if you couldnÕt control what kids were gonna do. Now why all of a sudden in the age of liberalism and me-tooism and anything you want to doism, why all of a sudden can you not stop kids from taking guns to schools, and the solution to it is vests. And we think everything is just hunky dory and fine, man, weÕre going to vote Bill Clinton. I get more and more amazed at stuff like this as I hear it. Go ahead Bob I didnÕt mean to interrupt. BOB Rush IÕve been trying to find out IÕve been calling all the local politicians finding out what 17 percentage of Philadelphia public school teachers send their kids to the Philadelphia public schools. And nobody will give me an answer. They just went and reassessed all the houses up in Philadelphia to ....... (Rush interrupts) RUSH And in the meantime your local TV station in Philadelphia is out monitoring convenience stores sales of cigarettes to kids. See, my friends thereÕs no sense of proportion on any of this. HereÕs Mark in Salt Lake City. Welcome to the EIB network. MARK Thanks for taking my call Rush. I really appreciate this. IÕm very nervous. IÕm a first time caller. IÕve been listening to you for a long time. I used to live in Southern California and was introduced to you there, and have been very impressed with a lot of the things that youÕve done and have helped this country with. And you brought up an excellent point and think that people really need to listen to you. You have a simple message. IÕm in Sales and weÕre always trying to boil (?) very complex things down to the simplest point. And we really just need to choose standards, and thatÕs what I guess IÕm really nervous about is that if we really put it to the American people that they might choose low standards. TheyÕve done it so far. RUSH Yeah thatÕs what Maureen Dowd is saying. ItÕs easier. MARK Well and not only that it answers most of their problems. One of the reasons why I moved to 18 Utah is that people demand higher standards here and the people that have been moving in with me from California that donÕt want those high standards. They want an easier life style. They want a more relaxed life style because its so beautiful and simple out here. They complain because of the, well, we have a large group here that they maintain higher standards and its hard for other people to maintain (Rush interrupts) RUSH I know it makes you feel guilty. And you donÕt want to be made to feel guilty because you donÕt measure up so you got to tear those people down. COMMERCIAL END OF SIDE B, TAPE 1 19