************************************************************ Unofficial Summary of the Rush Limbaugh Show for Wednesday, November 10, 1993 by John Switzer This unofficial summary is copyright (c) 1993 by John Switzer. All Rights Reserved. These summaries are distributed on CompuServe and the Internet, and archived on CompuServe (DL9 of the ISSUES forum) and Internet (cathouse.org and grind.isca.uiowa.edu). The /pub/jrs directory at netcom.com contains the summaries for the past 30 days. Distribution to other electronic forums and bulletin boards is highly encouraged. Spelling and other corrections gratefully received. Please read the standard disclaimer which was included with the first summary for this month. In particular, please note that this summary is not approved or sanctioned by Rush Limbaugh or the EIB network, nor do I have any connection with them other as a daily listener. ****************************************************************** November 10, 1993 LIMBAUGH WATCH November 10, 1993 - It's now day 295 (day 314 for the rich and the dead) of "America Held Hostage" (aka the "Raw Deal") and 373 days after Bill Clinton's election, but Rush is still on the air with 636 radio affiliates (with more than 20 million listeners weekly world-wide), 234 TV affiliates (with a national rating of 3.7), and a newsletter with over 370,000 subscribers. His first book was on the NY Times hardback non-fiction best-seller list for 54 consecutive weeks, with 2.6 million copies sold, but fell off the list after Simon and Schuster stopped printing it. The paperback version of "The Way Things Ought To Be" has been on the NY Times paperback non-fiction best-seller list for eight weeks and is currently at number one. Rush's second book, "See, I Told You So," has been released with pre-order sales of over 500,000 copies. NEWS o Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) today during the debate about the Brady Bill on the House floor declared that "the Brady Bill will keep guns out of the hands of people like convicted felons and adjudicated mental incompetents and thus protect the right of the legitimate law-abiding firearms owner to continue getting access to firearms." Sensenbrenner, however, didn't point out that federal law has made it illegal to sell guns to convicted felons and the mentally incompetent since 1968. o Today's San Jose Mercury News is reporting that the State Department has discovered that Clinton administration employees might have violated federal law by searching through the archived personnel files of 160 Bush administration officials, and then discussing what was discovered in them. In particular, files about Elizabeth Tamposi and Jennifer Fitzgerald were the subject of much office gossip. Jennifer Fitzgerald was romantically linked to President Bush during last year's Presidential campaign, while Elizabeth Tamposi was fired by the Bush administration after she was accused of searching through Bill Clinton's passport files in an attempt to find some dirt on either him or his mother, Virginia Kelley. Then candidate Bill Clinton, however, attacked the Bush administration for not taking immediate action against Tamposi, saying that if he had been President, he would have fired those responsible for such illegal searches immediately. However, while Clinton had promised that his administration would have a higher ethical standard than that of President Bush, the State Department has forwarded the results of its investigation to the Justice Department for "possible prosecution." No administration employees have yet been disciplined or fired. o Mohammed Farah Aideed warned Wednesday that American troops in Mogadishu must not leave their established compounds or they'd face "bloody confrontations" in the streets. Aideed's threat came one day after the Pentagon announced that U.S. troops would not patrol Mogadishu "aggressively" or dismantle roadblocks while talks with Somali warlords were continuing. According to a UPI news service report, the Pentagon said this decision was consistent with President Clinton's policy of providing humanitarian assistance to Somalia. Since October 13th, when 18 American soldiers were killed by Aideed's Somalia National Alliance, foreign troops in Somalia, including U.S. troops serving under U.N. command, have virtually deserted Mogadishu's streets, allowing them to be ruled by the forces of rival Somali clans. o New York Governor Mario Cuomo today promised that his plans for "maglev" trains travelling between Albany and Boston at speeds up to 300 m.p.h. would create 75,000 jobs between now and the year 2003, when the project would be completed. These trains, which have been tested in Japan and Germany, are lifted off their tracks a fraction of the inch by magnetic rails. This allows the trains to attain their very fast travel speeds. Cuomo also called for the construction of non-magnetic "bullet trains" which could travel between New York City and Buffalo at speeds up to 125 m.p.h. The governor insisted, however, that the federal government would have to pay a major portion of the project's $7.7 billion price tag. He warned that unless the U.S. continued to invest in projects such as this, Germany and Japan would dominate the field. "We will not accept that our competition is so superior to us that we give up the contest," Cuomo stated. LEST WE FORGET The following are from the Rush Limbaugh show on Tuesday, November 13, 1991: o A former aide to David Duke left Duke's campaign because he felt Duke was lying about his change of heart from his racist and KKK past. Duke, however, claimed the former aide was a plant from Democratic rival Edwin Edwards. Rush noted that the 41-year old Duke had said he was "born again" when he was 13, which meant that his nazi and KKK involvement was during the period he was supposedly a Christian. Duke had responded to these charges by saying that he was misquoted, but he couldn't point to any churches that he actually attended. Rush feared that Duke, whether he won or lost, would seriously harm the Republican party, as Democrats would claim that anyone who agreed with Duke on quotas and affirmative action had to be a "nazi" and "racist." Rush called it a sad and frustrating situation and lamented that all of it could have been avoided by proper action on the part of President Bush. Chauvin from Baton Rouge, LA saw a CNN poll that showed the nation agreed with Duke on welfare reform, affirmative action, and quotas with a 67% to 70% margin. Thus, once Duke was taken out of the picture, people supported his platforms. Rush agreed with that, but was still concerned that having Duke as the spokesman for major issues was the surest way to discredit those issues. o Rush caught the end of Arsenio Hall's monologue last night, in which Arsenio was discussing the topic of safe sex with two young "space cadets." The trio insisted that "abstinence was not the answer," and that the real answer was spending even more money on all the diseases which could be contracted via sex. Jeff Baltimore, MD said Sarah Bernhard was one of Arsenio's guests, and he confirmed that both she and Arsenio were not only making fun of abstinence, but were attacking Dan Quayle for his support of the idea. Rush noted that if adults could make decisions to protect themselves, why couldn't this same information be made available to teenagers, so that they could benefit from the hard-learned experience of others? Rush was bothered by the selfish attitude he saw being promulgated - an attitude that assumed people could do anything they wanted with impunity. The magic term "safe sex" was being used as a panacea that could eliminate all possible consequences from sex, especially promiscuous sex. Rush emphasized that promiscuity was the major cause of AIDS, and while abstinence might be unrealistic for many, it still should be the goal for kids, at the very least. o Fox Television announced that they would be the first major network to accept condom commercials, but a spokesman said such ads would be allowed only for disease prevention; contraceptive ads would not be aired. o Expected Presidential candidate Paul Tsongas gave a speech to the AFLCIO in which he said "David Duke is the son of George Bush." His comment was not applauded by the union delegates. o Sports Illustrated had an article by Magic Johnson on how he contracted AIDS. o Millionaire Robert Maxwell allegedly had a heart attack while walking on his yacht after which he fell into the ocean. Rush wondered, though, why Maxwell was found nude in the ocean. The EIB staff suggested that salt water dissolved his clothes, but Rush doubted Maxwell's death was due purely to natural causes. o Rush apologized for his previous statement that the Quayle family newspaper was running the Doonesbury strip that accused Dan Quayle of drug use; the editor of the paper called EIB to say that they were not running the strip. Meanwhile, the DEA files on the charges made against Quayle were also opened for public scrutiny, while the convict who originally made the charges admitted he did so to impress a friend. Frank from Madison, WI, a self-described liberal, had seen the Doonesbury cartoons and came away only with the impression that a reporter was simply looking for the DEA files on Quayle. Rush said it was fine to consider this sort of thing "harmless," but if liberals were to be allowed to "make things up" for their parodies, then conservatives should at least be allowed to state the truth about liberals. o Gary Sick appeared on Nightline to promote his new book on the "October Surprise." Rush remarked that Sick looked like a man who "got caught," thanks to articles in Newsweek and the New Republic which thoroughly discredited the idea that Reagan and Bush in 1980 cut a deal with the Iranians to delay the release of their American hostages. Rush bet that Sick's book wouldn't sell well enough for the publishers to recover Sick's advance, and he noted that both Sick's book and Trudeau's comic strip were more examples of liberals trying to discredit the Reagan/Bush administrations. o The World Women's Congress for a Healthy Planet ended in Miami, after producing a 12-page list of recommendations for the 1992 UN conference on the environment. Their recommendations included restrictions on the use of biotechnology and the conversion of all military forces to "environmental protection forces." o A Monroe Country judge overturned the 1989 convictions of ten women who went topless on a public beach; the judge ruled that women's breasts should not be classified differently than men's breasts. Rush wondered what this would do to sexual harassment. o Pat from Manassas, VA mentioned the recent studies that showed links between the hypothalamus, sexual orientation, and the environment. Rush said he thought homosexuality was probably not environmental and that someday parents would be able to scan the womb to identify homosexual tendencies in their children. He wondered what would then happen should women start aborting their children because of a predilection towards homosexuality. o President Bush and Congress were still working on a compromise bill to extend unemployment benefits. Rush pointed out that this would be the third time that Bush had caved in on his principles - first the tax increase, next the civil rights quota bill, and then the unemployment extensions. Although the bill would cost $5.1 billion, USA Today reported that "Democrats would get up to 20 more weeks for the jobless, while Bush avoids increasing the budget or deficit." Rush was amazed that the Democrats were already getting credit for this "social compassion." The bill allegedly would avoid impacting the deficit by requiring independent contractors and other self-employed, such as doctors and lawyers, to pay their quarterly income tax estimates by essentially filing a full tax return every three months. This would not bring in any new money, however, but would just bring it in a little sooner. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, however, also insisted the extension in benefits would also be paid for by reducing the delinquency rate on student loans. Rush didn't understand Bush's motivations in supporting this idea. Bush was also expected to announce $2 billion in new Soviet aid. Rush theorized that Bush was assuming he had the 1992 elections sewn up, regardless of whoever the presidential Democratic candidate would turn out to be. o Lawsuits were filed against the manufacturers of fine china in California because the contents of the china allegedly violated California's toxic laws. The Coalition for Safe Ceramic Ware rejected the lawsuit, stating that their products were safe and completely within the law. o Heart disease patients with friends and money live longer than the poor and friendless, according to a new study. Rush noted that this was true for everyone, not just heart patients, and he pointed out that the incidence of death was 100% for everyone. o Mayor David Dinkins arrived in South Africa, announcing that he was "finally home." Rush was confused because he thought Dinkins was an American. Dinkins gave Mets caps and multicultural crayons to Soweto South Africans, but he became incensed at the suggestion that circumstances for blacks in South Africa were similar to that for blacks in New York. Rush recalled that Jesse Jackson had recently called for UN intervention to get statehood in Washington, DC because blacks in DC were no better off than blacks in South Africa. o Milton Friedman wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal in which he said there would be a lot more money for health care if the bureaucracy was reduced. Friedman wrote that he would end Medicare and replace it with a system under which each family would have a medical policy with a high deductible; each employer would also have to offer medical insurance as a fully deductible benefit. Rush thought this would be one "good idea," but since it didn't advance socialism, he doubted if it would ever be accepted by the Democrats. A coalition that was promoting the idea of national health care, however, was insisting that its plan would save $600 billion over the next ten years. This plan would impose increased payroll taxes on both the employer and employee. Rush wondered just what Republicans were doing in Washington, especially with Bush's announced support for national health care. o Rush told his fellow CompuServe subscribers that the ISSUES forum on CIS had opened a Rush Limbaugh section. CIS users could type "GO ISSUES" to enter the forum, and the Rush Limbaugh section was section 9. o The vote on a Washington state initiative to keep abortion legal in the state was so close that vote counting was still continuing. The "YES" votes were leading by only 350 votes, a change from the previous week which had "NO" votes leading by 4,000 votes. However, there were still 13,000 votes left to count. Rush asked if Americans supported pro-choice matters so strongly, why was the vote so close? o Oral Roberts stated that he needed "big money" to fight a satanic assault on his ministry. Roberts wanted one million followers to donate $500 apiece, for a total of $500 million, and he warned that if he didn't get the money, he wouldn't be able to continue his ministry. In a letter he sent to his followers, Roberts said he and his family would sacrifice one week's salary so that they could share the sacrifice and contribute to this fund. Rush recalled that Robert's last appeal for money came on the heels of his announcement that he saw an 800-foot Jesus; however, Roberts did get the $8 million that he asked for. o The controversy continued in Pasadena over whether a descendant of Christopher Columbus should be the Grand Marshall for the 1992 Rose Parade. A tentative solution was found in having Rep. Ben Knighthorse Campbell, the only Native American in Congress, be a Co-Grand Marshal for the parade. ******** MORNING UPDATE A lot of people are asking why the White House wanted to be part of a debate between the "Texarcana Timebomb and the Tennessee Two-by-Four." Another good question is why the debate was put on CNN, since little more than half the nation's households have access to cable TV. The vast majority of Americans didn't even see this debate, so the question is why would the White House want to be part of this debate, especially since it could be assumed that the administration would want to totally forget about Perot and get him out of the public eye. Rush, however, says "look at the Machiavellian aspects" of this debate. Rush predicted last year that the White House would want to keep Perot a viable political force because the administration would be counting on him being their ticket back into the White House in 1996. So, why not have a debate between Perot and Al Gore, and should Al Gore get "skunked," who will know, given the relative small viewership of cable channels? Perhaps the White House knows it's going to lose with NAFTA anyway, given that its main enemy in this is not Perot but the unions that make up Big Labor. Thus, this debate could be a brilliant political move on the part of the Clintons, and Rush notes that the Clintons are capable of brilliant political moves which benefit nobody but themselves. FIRST HOUR Items o Rush demands that his secretary take away the popcorn she's carrying in because "I'm not going to have popcorn today - it's not been popped with coconut oil and as such I won't eat it!" Rush sighs because his secretary is experimenting with all sorts of new popping oils, and although the results are okay, "they're not up to my gourmet standards." Rush praises her for daring to experiment, but simply won't eat lesser quality popcorn. Bo Snerdley, however, is eating the popcorn as if he hadn't eaten for days and were afraid he wouldn't be eating again for several days more. "Welcome to breakfast!" Rush tells his call screener. o "What is the moral equivalent of cutting off a penis?" Rush asks. o EIB inaugurates a new song - set to the tune of "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Ha," the following lyrics are sung by a certain Texan who's currently in the news: "Remember when on Larry King I said I'd handle everything Cause I knew how to make this country work? Well . . . You followed me for a little while And then found out what makes me smile And now you know I got this . . . little quirk! See . . ." <> "They're coming to take me away, ha-ha They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-ha, To the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time And I'll be happy to see them volunteers in starched brown shirts And they're coming to take me away, ha-ha!" <> "You thought I was a joke, and so you laughed, You laughed when I had said `I'm all ears' And `there's nothing in it for me.' Right? You know you laughed, I heard you laugh, You laughed, you laughed, and laughed And then you left me because you knew I was certifiably mad. Well, you'll believe the conspiracy, When they have had to bury me, After the Cubans take me out like they did JFK! See!" <> "They're coming to take me away, ha-ha They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-ha, To the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time And I'll be happy to see them volunteers in starched brown shirts To a happy home where they'll have a jacket for me With a pair of real long sleeves that tie around back! They're coming to take me away, ha-ha!" o Rush thinks last night's debate was no contest, no matter how one looks at it - in terms of a debate, in terms of a contest, in terms of `points scored', in terms of who was right and was wrong or who was polite and who was not - Gore won the debate going away. A headline in today's USA Today, though, shows what the media's focus on the debates is: "NAFTA Debaters Prefer Attack to Fact." This is not true, though, but even if it were, what is wrong with Gore going after Perot? Doesn't character matter? Doesn't it matter that the major opponent to an issue has a character that's suspect? Doesn't it matter whether someone's credibility is doubtful? Yet the debate last night is being criticized for "not sticking to the issues." Rush, though, thinks there was a lot of substance presented last night, and the issues were covered. Gore obviously came off as the most stable and best informed, not to mention being the most reasonable and nicest of the two. Rush is amazed at the reviews he's read about the debates, and they remind him of last year's campaign and how character didn't matter to the press at all. The press refuses to cover character and how certain people will say whatever will sound the best at the time. The press did this with Clinton and it's doing it right now with Perot, who's demagoguing the NAFTA issue and misinforming the American public. Gore came into the debate with a clear strategy, and he implemented it with precision, keeping Perot off-balance the entire night. Rush, though, doubts this will matter much to Perot's supporters, but he does think last night's debate will matter when it comes time to decide this issue in Congress. The polls all show that the people's minds on NAFTA were changed dramatically by what happened last night. Yet the elites and pointy-head academics continue to insist that there was no clear winner. Gore strayed a bit from the real facts during last night's debate, but Perot was the one who really took liberties with the truth. For example, the "dream" of an average Mexican is not that someday he'll have an outhouse, nor are the shantytowns representative of what exists throughout Mexican society. Gore also had it exactly right when he pointed out that Perot's Alliance Airport would benefit greatly if it remained being one of the few free trade zones in the country. In fact, in the Perots' application for a free trade zone, they even told the Commerce Department that passage of NAFTA would "aid and support" their zone. Thus, when the Perots submitted their application, they pretended to support NAFTA, but now they're saying the exact opposite. This all shows why character and credibility matter - why believe what anyone says if they don't have any credibility? Gore was thus exactly right in demonstrating that Perot was not being truthful and honest with his claims. For example, Perot came out of the starting gate talking about the mequiadoras and their "phony exports," but as Rush pointed out last Friday, all his complaints were not only misleading but irrelevant. If NAFTA passes, the mequiadoras no longer have any meaning. Rush will talk more about this during today's show, as well as how Big Labor obviously is the major opponent to NAFTA, regardless of what Perot does. Rush notes that he is not on "Gore's side" but is rather in favor of free trade. He is still amazed that the issue of free trade could even be debated. o The trial of John Wayne Bobbitt is continuing to catch the American people's imagination, but Andrea Peyser has written an incredible column about how women have learned a secret that men have "hidden" from them throughout the ages: the vulnerability of "that thing." Rush promises to read from Peyser's column later. *BREAK* Phone Wayne from Sioux City, IA Wayne is a charter subscriber to the Limbaugh Letter and a loyal listener, but he's disappointed with what Rush has said about the debate; Wayne would have accepted Rush's calling the debate a draw, but instead Rush praised Al Gore and "blasted" Perot. Rush says that the debate wasn't a draw by any means, and he has to call them as he sees them. Besides, the Vice President was saying many of the same things that Rush himself has said, so how could Rush discount those arguments? Wayne says Gore first claimed he wanted only to talk about NAFTA, but then later he started attacking Perot and his past. Rush agrees that there were many laughable things about Gore's performance, such as how he criticized Perot for exploiting fear, which is something the Clinton administration excels at doing. Certainly there was hypocrisy on both sides, but when it came down to NAFTA and who put forth the best argument on it, Gore won hands down. Rush is no friend of the Clinton administration, but he nevertheless has to comment on what he truly believes; he can't believe any objective viewer would come away from last night's debate thinking that Perot had advanced the anti-NAFTA cause. Wayne says that Perot noted last night that Mexico gets 70% of its products from the United States; thus, how much more can the U.S. improve on that figure? And if the U.S. even manages to increase that number to 75%, will the cost paid by the U.S. be worth it? Rush says that the U.S. involvement in selling to the Mexican markets is going up, but a lot of this increase is being done by companies who are not waiting for NAFTA. Rush read a story last week about one such clothing company. However, all of the problems that Perot listed about Mexico last night certainly won't get better without NAFTA, not to mention that Perot's opposition NAFTA really has nothing to do with problems that exist in Mexico anyway. Rush promises to talk more about this after the break. *BREAK* Phone Wayne from Sioux City, IA (continued) Rush notes that Mexico does import 70% of its goods from the U.S., but that doesn't mean there couldn't be any improvements. In particular, Gore and everyone else who supports NAFTA are hoping to expand the number of goods which Mexico can import, and thereby increase U.S. exports to Mexico. Since only 10% of the U.S. exports to Mexico go to the mequiadoras, these are "real" exports, not "phony" ones as Perot claimed. None of Perot's complaints about the misery that exists in Mexico had anything to do with NAFTA, but NAFTA will increase the standard of living there, so that Mexicans can afford to buy more from the U.S. Perot, though, seems to think that the Mexicans are a bunch of skunks who don't treat their workers properly; however, President Salinas of Mexico has agreed to tie the Mexican minimum wage to productivity, which is basically what should be driving wages in the first place. As to the mequiadoras, the work done there is simple, low-skill assembly work, the kind of work which Americans are refusing to do. The furniture, clothing, etc. which is shipped to the mequiadoras is designed and initially created in the U.S., by American workers. The Mexicans add only the final bit of assembly, sewing, etc. The anti-NAFTA forces are also claiming that every product assembled in the mequiadora plants is shipped right back to the U.S. and thus is a "phony export." However, many of the products made in the mequiadoras are sent all over the world. But even if this claim were true, only 10% of the U.S. exports to Mexico are sent to these mequiadoras in the first place. Rush notes that in 1992, the U.S. exported at least $7.5 billion more in manufactured goods than it imported from Mexico. So, are these really "phony exports?" U.S. exports go all over the world, and they include everything from raw products to highly finished and manufactured goods. No case can be made that these exports are phony or "turn-around" exports. Pat Buchanan appeared on Nightline last night to say that he was sickened by the debate; however, he no longer wanted to talk about the "loss of jobs" aspect of NAFTA, simply because this issue can no longer be substantiated by the anti-NAFTA crowd. Perot's figure of 5.9 million jobs lost to NAFTA cannot be proven by any stretch of the imagination. Perhaps 500,000 jobs or so may be lost, yet on balance 500,000 jobs are created and lost in the U.S. every three or four months. The U.S. has more than 100 million jobs, and 500,000 is a minuscule amount of that. However, when talking about jobs, one has to consider productivity. Perot kept claiming that America's productivity was going down while Mexico's productivity was jumping, but this is untrue. America's productivity is continuing to climb, and one of the "problems" with the current economy is that America's workers are getting so productive that fewer workers are needed today to produce stuff than 20 years ago. If productivity is going up, then the country needs jobs that will allow American workers to maintain this sort of productivity, and expanding the country's exports is a great way to produce these jobs. Products can't be exported, though, to countries that have built walls around themselves, nor can the country export its products if it builds its own walls. Perot's claims about productivity are totally fallacious, and the U.S. is still more productive than any other nation on Earth. Mexico may be a great nation with great people, but Perot's comparison of the two is totally false. America needs jobs, which is why Rush wants economic growth. Perot was exactly right last night when he attacked those who were saddling American business with more taxes and regulations; when the Clinton taxes hit next year, the country will be in trouble. These taxes will penalize the country's job creators, and like all taxes they will put a drag on economic growth and job growth. NAFTA is thus something the U.S. really needs because this economy needs and will continue to need strong markets for its exports. *BREAK* Items o Rush got the latest sales numbers from Pocketbooks/Simon and Schuster for his new book, "See, I Told You So." After 72 hours, his second book had sold, at the very minimum, a record 250,000 copies. The audio version has sold over 100,000 copies. A reporter asked Rush why he thought this was, and Rush said "it's a good book." The reporter needed a little more detail, so Rush explained that the American people had for far too long heard what they believed ridiculed by the major media. Rush, though, is now echoing what these people were already thinking, and he thereby validates those beliefs. The sales of his book are simply a reflection of the growing resurgence in confidence among the American people about themselves and their beliefs. o Today is the birthday of the United States Marine Corps, and Rush comments that one of his favorite charities is the Marine Corps Scholarship Fund which gives out scholarships to the children of American servicemen and women who are killed in the line of duty. They originally targeted the children of Marines, but during the Gulf War they expanded that role to include all of the armed forces. Rush notes that this charity last year gave out 100% of money donated to it in scholarships. This was a "bit better" than its normal 98% average because its investments this year turned out to be particularly good. *BREAK* Phone Mike from Farmington, AR Mike is a big fan of both Rush's and Pat Buchanan's, so he'd like to know what Rush's opinion is of Buchanan's anti-NAFTA stance. Rush first wants to note that there's a big difference between Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot; Buchanan demonstrated this in a very classy way last night on Nightline. Also, though, it was evident last night that Buchanan thought the U.S. government had ceded its authority to international corporations. Rush disagrees with him about this, especially since the U.S. can get out of NAFTA in six months. Thus, if the agreement really jeopardizes the U.S.'s sovereignty and threatens to destroy the U.S. Constitution, America can abandon the agreement pretty easily. If foreigners ever did come in and were able to destroy the American Constitution, then the country has a far bigger problem than NAFTA - such a thing would show a serious problem with the country's self-government and the people it elects as its leaders, and Rush isn't willing to throw in the towel about democracy yet. Rush thus can't believe that the American people would allow NAFTA to destroy their country and its sovereignty; he's certain that if such a thing were tried, the people would rise up in mass revolt to force the President and Congress to get out of the agreement. Besides, if there really have been such huge conspiracies going on for the past 200 years, as some of the Trilateralist conspiracy theorists believe, why haven't they been able to take over before now? And if they can't take over the country after 200 years, are they really such a threat? *BREAK* SECOND HOUR Rush says that Bungee Condoms has long been one of EIB's favorite sponsors. In fact, EIB was so taken with this incredible company that it even became part owner. Bungee Condoms has seen its sales mushroom since advertising on the EIB Network, which is commonplace for EIB's sponsors; Rush notes that Juicefuls are doing an incredible business as well. Rush even had a bowl full of Juicefuls at his table at the Radio Hall of Fame ceremonies last Sunday, and he was distributing them to people passing by. Some members of his table, though, wanted to throw them at certain awards presenters, but Rush restrained his overly zealous supporters. Bungee Condoms, though, has been a bit overly zealous itself with its newest product. The company sent Rush a commercial for this product, which relates to the "issue of the day, the Bobbitt Weave." EIB, however, has decided that this commercial goes beyond the boundaries of good taste which are a hallmark of Rush's show, so Rush has rejected it. However, to illustrate why EIB is rejecting this commercial, Rush will play it once later during today's show; he is certain that once his audience hears this commercial, they will understand why Rush has rejected it as part of EIB's regular commercial rotation. Phone Mary from Albany, NY Mary is a "mega-conservative" who just moved to Albany. She and her husband watched the debate last night and was upset with how Ross Perot treated people in authority, in this case the Vice President of the United States. Mary is not a Clinton/Gore supporter, but she still thinks the President and Vice President deserved more respect than Perot showed. Rush says he thinks Perot was a bit more "ribald" than he should have been, but all this showed why character is important. Rush had to wonder, though, what it must be like to work for Perot, especially when Perot complained to Larry King that the Vice President was "interrupting" him and that King should "make him be quiet," not to mention that Perot even asked Gore "do you have a full brain?" Perot is obviously a man who decides what he wants to do and then sweeps away anyone in his way. He's autocratic, to say the least, and last night he appeared very mean, especially in how he threatened members of Congress who voted for NAFTA. Gore wasn't mean at all, though; Gore was probing, and he demanded to know some answers, but this isn't being mean. Rush thus thinks last night's debate was in many ways very eye-opening and enlightening; many of Rush's opinions and thoughts of Perot were validated by how Perot acted last night. Phone Verton from Chelmsford, MA Verton asks Rush if he would favor the inclusion of a statement in NAFTA that it couldn't supercede the laws and Constitution of the U.S. Rush says of course he'd support that. Verton thinks this is all that Pat Buchanan really wants, too. Rush doesn't know about that since Buchanan said last night that NAFTA was based on "class warfare," and would punish the working people of America for the benefit of the business elite. However, Rush admits that Buchanan is an honorable man who deserves to be listened to, simply because he believes what he is saying; that cannot be said of other NAFTA opponents. Verton recalls that a woman from Mexico City called the debate last night to say that the Japanese were "just waiting" for NAFTA to pass. Verton thinks that if NAFTA is passed, Japanese companies will be able to come into Mexico, set up production facilities, and ship stuff into the U.S. duty-free. They'll be able to hire cheaper Mexican labor and still sell to the U.S. market; this means they could get rid of their plants in the U.S. which now employ American workers. Rush doesn't think the Japanese will be doing this after NAFTA since they can do this now. Verton thinks Mexico will be glad to make deals with the Japanese companies, either with or without NAFTA, but under NAFTA the Japanese will get the benefit of selling to the U.S. duty-free. Rush sees what Verton is saying, but his fears are groundless. The Japanese certainly want to move into Latin America, including Mexico, but Japan, like the U.S., wants to export its products, not its jobs, to Mexico. There is world-wide global expansion going on right now, and the U.S. builds products all over the world; for example, Ford Motor Co. is building Fords in Europe right now. This is the nature of the world-wide economy, and even if Verton's fears were valid, what is the alternative: have the U.S. step back and let Japan move into Mexico without any fears of U.S. competition there? *BREAK* Phone Mick from Sarasota, FL Mick would like to play devil's advocate; he formerly was an "extremely avid" Ross Perot supporter, but he now believes NAFTA is a good thing. He adds that the better debate last night was on Nightline, which included Pat Buchanan and a number of others who were better educated about NAFTA than either Perot of Al Gore. Mick, though, doesn't think either Perot or Al Gore won last night's debate because neither man discussed the real issues. On page 643 (or 743?) of the NAFTA "Blue Books," there is language addressing the nationalization and takeover of American companies which are built in Mexico after NAFTA is passed. This nationalization has always been a threat to American industry, given the corrupt and insecure nature of the Mexican government. There have been three times in the 20th Century in which the Mexican government has been overthrown and/or nationalized American companies in Mexico. American business therefore has had a reason to be scared about this threat of nationalization. Mick thus wants to ask if American companies will be more inclined to move their plants into Mexico once the threat of nationalization has been ended. Rush doesn't think so for a couple of reasons which he'll explain after the break. *BREAK* Phone Mick from Sarasota, FL (continued) Rush first goes back to Verton's call and how he was worried about the Japanese taking advantage of NAFTA by moving their factories into Mexico and shipping the products they produce there into the U.S. duty-free. However, NAFTA does not allow this to happen because it specifies that goods covered under the agreement must contain a certain "North American content." The agreement's content rules make it impossible, particularly in textiles and automobiles, for other countries such as Japan to build plants in Mexico and ship their products duty-free to the U.S. and Canada. For example, 62.5% of the Toyotas built in Mexico has to come from North America, while 100% of fabric-made goods have to come from North America. The Japanese can't just ship stuff over from Japan and assemble it in Mexico to get duty-free trade rights. Returning to Mick, Rush says he has the NAFTA blue books but they aren't numbered by pages, so he can't find the specific reference that Mick cited. However, while he agrees that the threat of nationalization acts as a deterrent of sorts to companies moving into Mexico, it's good news that under NAFTA that Mexico won't be able to nationalize foreign companies. Rush doubts, though, that ending the threat of nationalization will spur a great exodus of U.S. companies into Mexico. Mick says he doesn't want to be accused of "looking at the hole instead of the doughnut," so he's interested in hearing anything Rush can say to explain this. Rush comments that Mick must be taking elocution lessons from Perot, but still thinks that the threat of nationalization of Mexican companies is so slight now that its elimination under NAFTA won't make much of a difference. Companies build factories to manufacture products to make profit, which is one of the healthiest motives known in the free world. Companies have to be able to produce a quality product in order to do this in the world market, so low wages simply aren't enough. Mick, though, recalls the caller yesterday who worked for Boeing, which had just spent nearly $2 billion to build a new plant to manufacture the 777 airplane. If Mexico did have trained workers who could do this job, wouldn't Boeing rather build its plant in Mexico, and perhaps save a significant portion of that $2 billion? Rush says that the question which people should be asking is that NAFTA is supposedly necessary for the long-term benefit of both Mexico and the U.S. Thus, if NAFTA works, and the Mexican economy is built up as all concerned want, then it is certainly possible that in the future Boeing might build a plant in Mexico. Where will the U.S. be then? The answer to this, though, is that competition is a good thing, and it will spur U.S. businesses and workers so that they can remain competitive with Mexican workers. Mick, however, thinks that the U.S. government has stuck it to the American public with its agreements on exports and imports for years. This is what has happened with Japan; whereas U.S. workers can buy a plethora of Japanese-made products, the Japanese can't even buy U.S. cigarettes in Japan. "Try to buy a Cuban cigar in Japan," Mick adds. "Try to buy a Cuban cigar in America," Rush sighs. He points out that the U.S. consumer is benefiting from the incredible abundance of imported goods from across the world. This is part of freedom, and the importation of Japanese products is a definite boom to the American consumer in many ways. The Japanese aren't importing as many U.S. products as America would like, but this hurts the Japanese more than it does the U.S. Having the Japanese sell as many cars as they do in the U.S. has made the American automakers better, and Rush doesn't want to see his fellow countrymen start paying two to three times the current price of certain products, as the Japanese do for their rice, simply because we want to make all trade totally "fair." *BREAK* Phone Mona Charen from Falls Church, VA Rush welcomes the nationally syndicated columnist to his show, and congratulates her on her new baby boy. Mona appreciates that and says that from what she's heard while on hold, Rush is "really cookin' today!" She was glad to hear Rush refute the charge that Japanese companies would be able to use NAFTA for their advantage; this won't happen because of the requirements that products covered under the agreement have a "North American" component. She notes that many conservatives are skeptical of the NAFTA agreement since they don't think it should take thousands of pages to implement free trade. She points out that NAFTA is not a "free trade" agreement but rather a "freer trade agreement between three nations." Thus, one of the reasons NAFTA has thousands of pages is because it defines what a "North American product" is for the purposes of protecting free trade between these countries. Rush says that many conservatives such as Buchanan and Duncan Hunter are opposed to NAFTA, and Mona explains that many conservative members of Congress are opposing NAFTA because the politics of their home districts mean they have to oppose NAFTA if they want to get re-elected. Mona doesn't understand, though, the opposition put forth by other conservatives such as Paul Weyrich. Rush says that Weyrich, among others, is upset at how many deals Clinton is making with members of Congress so as to get their vote on NAFTA. Weyrich may object to some parts of NAFTA, but he seems to be mainly opposed to the kind of pork projects and sweet deals that Clinton is using to get NAFTA passed. Mona notes that Weyrich has a problem with Clinton, "but then don't we all?" She agrees with Rush that Gore walked away with the debate last night, and she loved the Ross Perot parody of "They're Coming to Take Me Away" which Rush played this morning. When Perot first appeared on the national scene, she predicted he was unstable and that his paranoia and basic silliness would soon make him a laughingstock in Washington. This is exactly what has come to pass. Rush says that one of major notions put forth by those who oppose NAFTA is that anything which is good for business is bad for the American workingman. He is amazed at how liberals and conservatives have lined up on both sides of this issue, with liberals on the side of business and conservatives standing alongside Big Labor. Mona notes, though, that there are only a handful of conservatives who have sided with labor. Rush agrees and thanks her for taking time out to call his show. He says he'll be looking for her smiling face on next Sunday's Capitol Gang. *BREAK* Rush says that he has rejected the latest Bungee Condom commercial because it simply doesn't meet EIB's standards of good taste and decorum. Rush thus plays the commercial, to show why he has refused to allow it to become part of EIB's normal commercial rotation: <> He slumbers, unaware that she is sneaking up on him, knife in hand. With a look of vengeance in her eye, she grabs hold and with one flick of her knife, what was his is now . . . hers! <> The question is what does she do with it? <> Hi! I am the president of the Bungee Condoms corporation. If you decide to do a, shall we say, `retroactive deep-cut circumcision' on your hubby or boyfriend <>, you'll want the new Bungee Bobbitt Porta-Penis Pack Condom! <> Yes, the Bungee Bobbitt Porta-Penis Pack will keep your new possession fresh, with this exclusive zipper action at the opening! <> And don't worry, guys, if it gets caught in the zipper now, it won't make that much difference! <> Ladies, if the man in your life is giving you the shaft, then take the shaft and put it in a Bungee Bobbitt Porta-Penis Pack Condom! And for a limited time, you also get this free fillet knife. <> It slices, it dices, it cuts hot dogs, cucumbers, and kielbasas, just so you can keep in practice! <> From Bungee Condoms, a cut above the rest! <> *BREAK* THIRD HOUR Rush is told that he has a "special phone call, but his staff won't tell him who it is. He picks up the line and hears a very familiar Tennessean accent on the other line. The caller has to run over and turn down his radio, but quickly comes back to give "Tennessee Two-by-Four double dittos." He asks Rush if he'll play "that Ross Perot song," and Rush is more than happy to oblige. The caller has to hang up because he needs to go back and turn his radio back on, so Rush calls out "so long, Mr. Vice President" before replaying "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Ha!" After the song ends, the EIB staff tells Rush he has another special call. Rush picks up the line and this time hears a familiar Texas accent that gives "Texas Longeared dittos" and then asks, "How much ya want for it, Rush? How much - I don't care how much it costs, just name your price. I'll buy all the copies, I don't care. I've been blackmailed before! Ya follow me?" ******** The previous call made Rush wonder if Lorena Bobbitt was a fan of Ross Perot and his famous advice "measure twice, cut once." Rush again mentions the column by Andrea Peyser in the NY Post which makes some amazing comments about the Bobbitt case. Peyser, like many female columnists, is having a field day with this case; in fact, on his TV show tonight Rush will play a clip of a female psychiatrist who excitedly insists that what Lorena Bobbitt did was "every woman's fantasy." Peyser writes the following in her column: "With all the groaning aloud by men, and uncontrollable giggling by women, generated by nimble-wristed Lorena Bobbitt, one pertinent and potentially dangerous angle has been overlooked: it was so easy! Laugh if you will, but men now have good reason for sleeping on their stomachs. This is one of those `slice of life' stories that could have major, global impact. "When Little Lorena, the doe-eyed Ecuadorian professionally trained to wield sharp implements, caused her man to sing soprano, she did more than damage her husband. Think about it - with a single flick of a filleting knife, an act that probably lasted a fraction of a second, Lorena Bobbitt revealed to the women of the world a fact that has been swaddled in mystery, obscured in mythology, and generally concealed by the male of the species since time began. "When Lorena lifted the sheet from the slumbering, naked form of John Wayne Bobbitt, a curtain was raised on a closely guarded truth: those things are really vulnerable. `Ouch!' scream all the men in the office, crossing their legs in imagined agony. Now we know why. Maybe all the world's greatest discoveries come by accident, or maybe Lorena Bobbitt whose childish dream of America features accessible shopping malls, operates on a level of understanding most women do not possess. "But if Lorena had aimed her wrath at her husband's arm, or his stomach, or even his throat, big John Wayne probably would have jolted from his post-coital drunken sleep bleeding, angry, and wounded. He might have even died. But his foot, let's say, would not have come off. There would have been no body part to recover from a field, and the act would not have instigated an international obsession about whether the `thing' still works. "On some primal level, Lorena understood that her husband's manhood was . . . detachable. It was not the powerful weapon, the craggy mountain, the craggy skyscraper of literature and film. It was not with fear or loathing or awe, or even jealously, that Lorena Bobbitt viewed her husband's penis, but with a familiarity that bred contempt." Rush was stunned when he first read this, and wonders if this particular vulnerability is just now making itself aware to women. He asks if women such as Ms. Peyser really think they've discovered something "revelationary." Rush interrupts himself to tell Kiki Dela Garza that she is not scaring him by waving a butterknife around. Rush is very curious about what Ms. Peyser is saying, so he'd like to ask what the moral equivalent of removing a penis is for a woman; what would one do to a woman that would be comparable to removing a man's penis? Rush gets distracted again by Kiki who's now waving a saw; he points out that he isn't threatened by Kiki because he knows Kiki's character. He adds that he's not asleep; "pack it in," he tells WABC's broadcast engineer. He admits he would be a bit stunned and surprised if Lorena Bobbitt has really revealed something revolutionary to women. If Peyser, on the other hand, has written her column with tongue firmly in cheek, then he's fallen for the joke. But if there really are women out there who think this is "every woman's fantasy," then Rush's suspicions about the feminists are confirmed. The EIB staff suggest that Rush run a 900 poll to find out if what Lorena Bobbitt did is really "every woman's fantasy," but Rush refuses to do so, pointing out that he has to maintain a certain sense of decorum on his show. If it's news to women, though, that "the thing" is really vulnerable, then what did they think about it before? Rush would like to continue this discussion, but the comments he's getting from his staff tell him that he'd best stop it now. He says he'll have to reserve this topic for tonight's dinner table, but the staff think a barbecue, perhaps a weenie roast, would be better. "You guys are hopeless," he sighs. *BREAK* Rush and the EIB staff were musing over the break whether the White House was monitoring today's show to get some feedback on NAFTA. If they are, then they've heard a great two hours that were full of pertinent information; however, then the third hour started with a discussion about the "Bobbitt Weave." If the President and First Lady were listening, Bill undoubtedly would have started screaming "turn that off," while someone could have reminded Hillary that she did say there were "bigger things" than herself. Phone Phil from the Bronx, NY Phil thinks the moral equivalent of cutting off the penis is the clitorechtomy, but Rush disagrees since the actual equivalent would have to be done while one's sleeping and be quick. Rush knows what the moral equivalent of Lorena Bobbitt's action is, but he really doesn't want to discuss it right now. He adds that if it were summertime, with kids home from school, he wouldn't be talking about this subject now. Rush points out that Phil had been on hold for over two hours, so the only reason he got on the air was because Rush wanted to be polite. Thus, Rush will let Phil's comment "stand on its own." Phone Jeff from Ravenna, OH Jeff just received a Barnes and Noble Christmas catalog which has Rush's "See, I Told You So" on its front cover. On page three, this book is again featured, with a nice advertising blurb. "And it's on sale!" Jeff exclaims. Rush says he had heard Barnes and Noble would actively market his book, and he's gratified to hear about their catalog. Jeff also wants to commend Rush for the way he handled Sally Jesse Raphael's remarks about him during the Radio Hall of Fame awards. Rush says that his TV show got the video of Raphael "presenting" his award to him, and while the TV staff watched the clip in the production room, Rush did another slow burn about it. He notes that one can get inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame only once, and to have it trivialized and denigrated in such a manner is incredibly insulting. However, Rush had second thoughts about his TV show after it was taped, so he called his mother to see if she thought he went too far with his comments about Raphael's actions. His mother, though, didn't think Rush went far enough. Jeff says that Rush went just far enough; had he gone further and perhaps lost his temper, it would have been a victory for the liberals. Jeff, though, says Rush distinguished himself nicely in his handling of Raphael's attack. Rush thanks Jeff for saying that and notes that had Raphael really felt strongly about his receiving of this award, she could have refused to participate and made her comments later on her own show; however, to denigrate the Radio Hall of Fame awards in this way was a "classless act" at best. Jeff also thinks Rush's assessment of Raphael's show was not only accurate but very timely. Rush explains that his show simply listed a number of recent topics Raphael did on her show, and they pretty much spoke for themselves. He thanks Jeff for calling and for his support. *BREAK* Phone Frank from Talladega, AL Frank says that now the precedent has been set that a private citizen can debate the Vice President on national TV, it's time that he be allowed to debate Hillary on the Clinton health care plan. Rush points out that the White House issued a challenge to Perot, but Frank thinks the health care plan is a challenge for everybody. Rush agrees, but says that Perot did run for President last year, plus he's the most visible opposition to NAFTA right now. Frank says his congressman are voting against NAFTA, but he was convinced by last night's debate that NAFTA must be a good thing; Perot's performance scared him. Rush says that this is how American politics functions today. People can lament this fact, or they can get involved and try to change how things really are. Rush, though, still thinks that the debate was exposed to a very limited audience, and CNN didn't give a feed of the show to other networks. CNN didn't even make the full debate available to other networks after all was said and done; instead, CNN offered only 10 minutes of the debate to the networks, which is a bit strange. Thus, the debate played to a most limited audience, which Rush feels must have been part of the White House plan. Rush's TV and shows, for example, can't play any video or audio clips of the debate, even though EIB would be paying for the privilege; CNN simply isn't allowing this use of the program. Perhaps CNN will release the full video after they've replayed it for a while, but offering only 10 minutes of an event is pretty unusual for the broadcasting business. Phone Michael from Atlanta, GA Michael finds it interesting that the Clinton administration tried to claim that low interest rates were a sign that it was doing a good job with the economy; as Rush showed at the time, this was not the case at all. Michael has noticed, though, that precious metals started moving to new highs back when Clinton announced his economic plan last spring; curiously, the metal markets have done better over the past several months than they have for the past 13 years. Rush says this is true, although gold is starting to go back down. He notes that gold always zooms up in price if inflation comes along. Gold has always been a hedge against inflation (or the excessive printing of money by a government), but Rush still doesn't think that there will be much inflation on the horizon. Michael says this is his point - gold is going up, not because of inflation, but because of the people's lack of confidence in the future. People are buying gold because they have confidence that it will hold its value but are not confident that the U.S. dollar will. Michael doesn't want to sound too ominous, but he does note that should the dollar collapse, the U.S. will have solved its deficit and national debt problems. Michael wonders, though, why nobody else has noticed this move in precious metals. Rush says that the economic press on balance is as ignorant about economics as the political press is about politics. Most of the press really seems to think the Clinton economic plan will be good for the economy. Rush still hasn't heard anyone point out the dichotomy between the Clinton administration's presenting itself as "good for business" and its massive tax increases which are just waiting in the wings to pummel business starting next year. The press seems to be have bought into the Clinton administration's notion that low interest rates are a panacea for anything that happens in the economy. Rush also thinks some people would welcome an increase in inflation, so perhaps those who are aware of the metals markets are hoping inflation will increase some more before they start talking about it. Michael says that inflation still is flat - people shouldn't look at the government statistics, but rather look at copper prices, given that copper is a fundamental raw material for the economy. Rush says he doesn't want to be overly pessimistic, but he also wants to be honest and realistic about what the future holds. He doesn't see any economic growth in the future, especially since health care, along with Clinton's new taxes, will suck all sorts of money out of the private sector. Rush still thinks 1993 will be a good year because it will be the last year in a while that people will have control of their money. Starting in 1994, those who run businesses will lose control of a sizeable portion of their money since it will go to the Clintons who will use it for their own pet projects. This is why Rush thinks NAFTA is a must-pass issue because it will to some extent help stimulate the economy and counter-balance these other negatives. *BREAK* Phone Rick from Youngstown, OH Rush remarks that he owes Youngstown a big debt of gratitude because before Pittsburgh's massive KDKA picked up his program, the only way Pittsburgh listeners could hear his show was by tuning into EIB's Youngstown affiliate. Rick says that Youngstown is the "armpit of the East" because although it has 14% unemployment, it still re-elected all of its Democratic leaders. Rush tells Rick to have hope, though, because sooner or later the voters will learn. Rick heard an interesting statistic during last night's debate: Gore said that over the past five years "we've created 500,000 new jobs in this country." Rush finds that strange, given that the administration has claimed it created 1 million new jobs just in the past 10 months. Rush last month disproved this claim, showing that it included mostly undocumented "bias factor jobs" as well as new jobs in the government sector. In the 80s, though, 23 million jobs were created. Rush adds that 500,000 jobs in five years would be a horrible record; it would be a miserable performance, especially since the country normally creates and loses that many jobs in just three months. The American economy is far more robust than most people think, and if an administration really only created half a million jobs in five years, it'd be time to "throw the bums out." Rush thanks Rick for calling, and Rick adds that he used to read only the comics and sports pages in his daily newspaper. Now, though, because he's been listening to Rush's show, he's reading the rest of his newspaper far more thoroughly. *BREAK* Phone Betty from Marietta, GA Betty read that a federal district judge has ordered the Clinton administration to stop stalling in releasing information about the Clinton health care plan. Rush says he saw this story - the judge gave the administration 20 days to come up with the missing records on the Clinton health care task force, (records which the administration claims it didn't keep), or the administration will be in big trouble. Phone Marilyn from Seattle, WA Marilyn thinks Sally Jesse Raphael and Ross Perot are very similar in their rudeness and how they're "out on the edge." She also thinks Al Gore must have been taking lessons from Rush on how to be a class act since he dealt with Perot in a very classy manner. Rush agrees, yet a bunch of journalists don't seem to recognize class when they see it, given how they are accusing Gore of engaging in personal attacks. Rush agrees, though, that a great Presidential ticket would be Perot/Raphael. They could form a third party, complete with the logo of a cuckoo bird. This would probably be some people's "dream ticket" for 1996. He thanks Marilyn for her call.