Unofficial Summary of the Rush Limbaugh Show for Monday, October 10, 1994 by John Switzer This unofficial summary is copyright (c) 1994 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 ftp.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 than as a daily listener. ************************************************************* October 10, 1994 BRIEF SUMMARY OF TOPICS: Chicago bans pay phones to stop drug dealers; Fulton County mandates warning labels on guns; Raoul Cedras is reportedly stepping down and leaving Haiti; Rush discusses the dinner he emceed to honor Charlton Heston; conservatives should take confidence from how many of them there are; Ross Perot claims that Clinton knew about the Iraqi troop build-up weeks ago, but delayed releasing this information until now because he needed more help at the polls; media is praising Clinton for "not repeating Bush's mistakes" in the Gulf; Rush wonders if any journalists will investigate Clinton's "October Surprise"; caller notes that Clinton was able to make Hussein blink only because of what Bush had done during the Gulf War; Haiti and Iraqi situations are going well, but how long will American troops remain?; CNN's Jonathan Mann snidely comments that Clinton won't be "zipping around Kennebunkport in his motorboat" during Iraqi situation; caller wonders if Hussein is just trying to make himself look good so as to get the sanctions lifted; caller says Simpsons TV show tried to portray Rush as the leader of the non-thinking crowd, such as Homer, while portraying Larry King as representative of mainstream America; Bill Moyers blames Rush, "Harry and Louise" ads, and special interests for defeating the Clinton health care plan, but Moyers' show is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which paid for the NBC two-hour special that was biased towards the Clinton plan; mainstream media has rejected Rush's Op-Ed piece on "Why Liberals Fear Me"; dominant press is just getting too predictable; Dee Dee Myers finally gets the White House Press Secretary's office, and Rush suspects White House the delay is due to the glass ceiling being installed; Rush lists some Italian achievements, given that places like Denver are refusing to honor Christopher Columbus; ABC is reporting that Clinton faced off Hussein "eyeball to eyeball" and Hussein blinked; caller finds it curious how quickly Clinton was able to send 50,000 troops to the Gulf; regardless of Clinton's motivations, Rush thinks it is heartening and good news that the deployment of U.S. troops forced Hussein to back off; Perot supporter thinks there are still reasons to support Perot; solution to Iraqi problem is not the end of sanctions, but the elimination of Hussein, so will Clinton cut a deal with him as he did with Raoul Cedras; caller asks if Jimmy Carter will cut a sweet deal with Hussein as he did in North Korea and Haiti; Robert Novak writes that Fidel Castro is delaying emigration from Cuba so as to help Democratic governor Lauten Chiles of Florida; rare, endangered Kestrel falcon gobbles up equally rare and endangered Pink Pigeon; Peter Arnett is back in Baghdad; Republican is made at how Perot cost George Bush the election, but Rush warns against thinking that; caller thinks Judge Lance Ito is prejudiced towards prosecution in O.J. Simpson trial; Rush is not interested about talking too much about the Simpson case; caller thinks that Clinton has handled the Gulf situation in a reasonable manner, although Bush would probably have done it better; Jill Doherty claims April Glaspie "practically invited Iraq" to invade, while Clinton is massing troops. LIMBAUGH WATCH October 10, 1994 - It's now day 629 (day 648 for the rich and the dead, and 29 days until the November elections) of "America Held Hostage" (aka the "Raw Deal" which has 833 days left) and 692 days after Bill Clinton's election, but Rush is still on the air with 659 radio affiliates (with more than 20 million listeners weekly world-wide), 250 TV affiliates (with a national rating of 3.7), and a newsletter with nearly 500,000 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" was on the NY Times paperback non-fiction best-seller list for 28 weeks. Rush's second book, "See, I Told You So," was on the NY Times best-seller list for 16 weeks and has sold over 2.45 million copies. LEST WE FORGET The following are from the Rush Limbaugh show on Monday, October 12, 1992: o Rush had done a 900 Presidential poll the previous Friday, and it had 88.8% of callers voting for Bush, 7.7% voting for Perot, and 3.5% voting for Clinton. Because the first Presidential debate was held over the weekend, though, Rush repeated the poll to see whether the debate had any effect. Thus, Rush gave the following instructions: - To vote for "the President", call 900-446-6661 - To vote for "Robo-policy wonk Bill Clinton", call 900-446-6662 - To vote for "the guy who's all ears, Ross Perot", call 900-446-6620 At the end of the day, the new 900 poll gave 87.2% to Bush, 10.6% to Perot, and 2.2% to Clinton, with Perot being the only one whose standing had improved. Rush noted that during the debates Perot was likeable, homespun, and appeared as a repeat of what he was like back in February and March - an outsider who was not either Bush or Clinton. Clinton was a "robo-candidate" filled with programmed answers from his platform and the liberal Democratic handbook. Whenever Clinton heard a keyword, the appropriate prepared speech was the answer he brought up, regardless of the true context of the question. However, Clinton paused before every answer as if thinking intently about it, and Rush found Clinton to be especially slick and disingenuous. George Bush said many, many right things, but few people seemed to be impressed. Bush had the right answer about the stock market's response to Clinton, about Magic Johnson and AIDS, and about many other things. Yet Bush's answers never seemed to cut through the debate noise; Bush seemed to be overly coached, without much passion. Steve from West Bloomfield, MI thought Al Gore looked like a fool for saying that Clinton scored a "knock-out" punch during the debates, especially since he said this right after NBC's John Chancellor declared that nobody was a clear winner. Senator Joseph Biden also commented on the debate, using some of the meanest and most vindictive rhetoric ever. Biden, who had never shied away from attack Ronald Reagan during the 80s, reached the heights of hypocrisy by claiming that Bush was a phony while "Reagan was the real thing." Amazingly, the press never challenged Biden on this. It didn't seem that the debates had changed anyone's minds, but Rush did get a letter from a Martinez, CA listener who was also livid at the openings that Bush frittered away. For example, Bush didn't challenge Clinton's comments about how he increased jobs in Arkansas, pointing out just how many of those jobs were minimum wage jobs. Bush also didn't refute Clinton's charge that he had never put forth a health care plan. Pat Buchanan was visiting the EIB studios, as he was in New York City for a Columbus Day celebration, and Rush told him that one thing which irritated him more than anything else during the debates was that both Gore and Clinton talked about how Bush was out of touch. In the debates, Bush had tried to show that the US economy was not apocalyptic nor the worst economy of the past 50 years, he early on in the debates talked about the reality and told the people that things are not as bad as they thought. Clinton and Gore, however, attacked Bush for being out of touch. Gore, in particular was condescending and insulting in this. Bush, though, did not seem able to refute these charges, and Buchanan agreed, saying that Bush had to get more angry and confrontational, and "come out like Joe Frazier." Rush added that Bush should have gotten mad about Clinton's charges of McCarthyism; these charges were just another example of his robotically prepared answers. Buchanan noted that he was amazed that in the current age of public hatred towards big government and politics, people seemed willing to elect the most pro-government politician in decades. Cathy from Thornton, IL thought that during the debates Clinton seemed to be groping for his prepared, memorized answers every time he spoke. Buchanan noted that Clinton at least spoke directly to the cameras; Perot, however, didn't start looking at the right camera until half-way through the debates, evidently not understanding that the active camera was lighted with a red dot. Charlie from Lake Grove, IL thought Perot won the debate, but "Bush gained big time" because he looked Presidential and in control. Clinton wasn't able to deliver a knock-out blow, and Charlie felt Bush was setting himself up for the next two debates in which he would be more aggressive. Buchanan said Clinton was obviously playing things cautiously so as to protect his 10-point lead, which meant that Bush needed to shake up Clinton's game to force him off his prepared speeches. Charlie added that Clinton appeared very contrived last night, and Rush agreed - "this guy's a walking, talking, public policy manual - we're looking at a robot here." o Jane Yolan's "Encounter" celebrated the 500th anniversary of Columbus Day by saying the following: "Columbus didn't really discover a new world - it was new to him, but people had lived on the island he had discovered for centuries. For them, it wasn't a new world, it was home. The discovery of America brought many good things to the people of Europe, but it brought many bad things to the people who already lived here. It is important to remember this on Columbus Day." The University of Minnesota continued in this vein by holding a mock trial of Columbus, with the 12-member jury finding him guilty of slavery, torture, murder, forced labor, kidnapping, violence, and robbery; jurors, however, could not agree on charges of genocide, rape, and international terrorism. Columbus was sentenced to 350 years of community service; the death penalty was ruled out because "his victims were not a violent people and do not condone death." Grace from Bellingham, WA loved America and thought it was a great country, but she believed Columbus did deserve the condemnation he was getting. Columbus' own diary praised the natives he saw for being loving and generous, but he wrote his king that all he needs was 50 soldiers in order to subjugate and enslave all of the natives. Grace's sources for this information were the books "The People's History of the United States" and "Conquest of Paradise." Grace thought Columbus was not irrelevant because "he did wipe out almost an entire race of people - the Indians! They were kind to him and they did not have the technology the Europeans did, they did not have the weapons the European did, and he enslaved them!" Rush noted that many Indians were cruel and violent, even to the point of offering infant sacrifices. Grace didn't care, saying "who's to say we aren't any better? Who's to say that if Columbus didn't come over, they wouldn't be a thriving country now?" Grace added that she didn't like how western civilization was still "incredibly racist" against Native Americans, and she used as one example of this the Washington Redskins. o EIB substitute broadcast engineer Tony Lo Bianco celebrated his 29th birthday. o A new monkey species was discovered in the Amazon. Rush bet this monkey would undoubtedly be proven even more intelligent than man, which was why it hadn't been discovered before now - it was hiding out. o A grand jury decided not to indict a man who broke into a woman's apartment and raped her because the woman had told the man "stop - please use a condom." The man did use a condom during the rape, so the jury decided that the woman's request meant that she had consented to the sex. o Time magazine did a fairly accurate biography of Rush, but one of the pictures they used was not a "beautiful photo"; he sighed "it makes me look like one of the meanest, cruelest, most deceitful sons of a gun on the planet - it is not a beautiful thing." Pat Buchanan agreed, remarking that the photo looked like "Hannibal Lector just before he got out of that cage." ******** MORNING UPDATE There are some new measures being proposed to fight crime, and Rush bets everyone will feel safer just knowing these changes are being made. In Chicago, for example, the city council passed an ordinance outlawing about 500 pay phones, claiming that drug dealers were using those phones to conduct business; thus, according to the city council, banning the phones will curb the drug dealers' illegal trade. From now on, a maximum of two private pay phones will be allowed on private property, with the exception of sports stadiums and shopping malls. Mayor Richard Daley, though, is not totally pleased since he wanted to ban all outside pay phones. Rush, though, notes that by this sort of logic, you'd stop drive-by shootings by getting rid of all automobile batteries. However, Fulton County, GA has gone several steps further to curb violence by requiring warning labels to be placed on all guns. The labels will inform all prospective gun buyers that a gun is a dangerous weapon and that having it in the house will increase one's chances of being killed. Rush, though, doesn't think this plan goes far enough - there should be warning labels on tire irons, knives, baseball bats, and every possible item that could be used as a weapon, including cars. In fact, the logical extension of this idea is to put warning labels on people - everyone should carry a sign saying "Warning, this person might be dangerous!" Rush bets everyone would be much safer if only his recommendations were followed. FIRST HOUR Items o Raoul Cedras has reportedly stepped down from power in Haiti and is planning to leave the country; Aristide is expected to re-enter the country next Saturday. The only question that seems to remain is whether the congressional Black Caucus will free American troops so they can join their brothers and sisters in the Gulf. o Rush was at the Century Plaza Hotel on Saturday to attend and emcee a tribute to actor Charlton Heston for his efforts on behalf of conservatism over the years. The National Review Institute sponsored a series of seminars on conservatism and Hollywood over the weekend, and the gala dinner on Saturday was a fitting tribute to Heston, especially as it included a number of people who recounted what Heston had meant to them personally and professionally. Rush had to sit back and reflect, though, how if someone had told him eight years ago that he would not only be at such an affair but emceeing it, he would have been astounded, given that just meeting all these people was the goal of his life. Rush even sat with Heston and his wife Lydia, who are great people, and Rush thanks the National Review Institute and everyone else involved for allowing him to be part of it. The entire evening couldn't have gone better, thanks in part to the emcee's efforts to move the night along, mainly because there were planes to catch later that night, most notably the emcee's. However, it was the people at this event who not only made it fun but very meaningful, and the entire weekend's theme was that there are far more conservatives in America than you'd believe if the only people you listened to was the mainstream media. It was thus all the more encouraging to see how more and more of those in Hollywood are becoming more confident about expressing their conservative views. This helps give all conservatives confidence, which is a truly important thing for people to have. If you have confidence and strong desire, you are nearly invincible, whether you are dealing with professional or personal matters, and now that the choice between conservatism and liberalism is so clearly defined in politics today, it's all the more important that conservatives be confident. It's okay if people quietly live their lives, without getting too involved in politics, but conservatives shouldn't be thinking that perhaps they are the kooks the dominant media seems to think. It's not too often that the major media - TV, movies, etc. - portray moral life-styles in a positive manner; instead, such people are ridiculed and portrayed as backwards and behind the times, yet as the recent sex survey demonstrated, most of America is "normal." This is the point - there are more Americans who are normal, believing in the traditional American institutions, than the dominant media seems to think. Dan's Bake Sale proved this, as did the many protests against the Clintons' Health Security Express bus tour. The more that these conservatives realize that they're part of the majority, their confidence increases, and this confidence helps propel conservatives in making more of a difference in the nation. *BREAK* Rush notes that he has some callers on-line who want to talk about the parody of him that was on last night's episode of the Simpsons, which he didn't see. Also, one caller wants to talk about how Bill Moyers last night blamed Rush for the failure of the Clinton health care plan. Unfortunately, Rush didn't see this show either. Rush is interested in these callers, but first wants to talk about how the U.S. is sending 60,000 troops back to the Gulf, to reinforce the 12,000 already stationed there in case Saddam Hussein decides to do something stupid. Ross Perot made some interesting accusations on "Face the Nation" yesterday about all this, although he did so in a rather maniacal fashion. Perot's basic claim was that Clinton, a "draft-dodger running a war in Haiti to put a drug dealer back in power," decided to go back to the Gulf to start a second war because the one in Haiti wasn't helping him in the polls. Perot also said that the U.S. has known for at least a month about the Iraqi troop movements, insisting "the CIA knows the license plate of everything that moves over there!" Perot concluded that the administration wanted to fight one war at a time; Clinton kept the Iraqi situation silent so he could see if Haiti would help bump him up in the polls, and when that didn't happen, he announced that Hussein was moving his forces towards Kuwait, so as to get to start a second front. Thus, according to Perot, because the administration didn't get a bump from the polls from the Haiti invasion, "suddenly" a massive Iraqi troop build-up was detected near the Kuwaiti border. Within a matter of days, there were nearly 60,000 American troops on their way, which is an amazing response. One would therefore think it would be appropriate to find out if this is true - has this troop build-up really been going on for weeks before it was publicly announced? Perot is clearly implying that the timing of the administration's response to Hussein is politically motivated, and he thinks the country could have stopped this build-up without having to resort to sending tens of thousands of troops. Rush therefore has to wonder whether mainstream journalists are interested in finding out the truth of this. Shouldn't the DC press corps be very interested in looking into this? Rush doubts this will happen, though, because he hasn't heard one word of protest about the American troops being sent. President George Bush, of course, had to fight liberal Democrats tooth and nail to get the troops over there, so there seems to be a bit of hypocrisy among the Democrats about this. Meanwhile, the NY Times has a story headlined "Clinton's line in the sand," and it makes a point about how Clinton "seeks to avoid Bush's error" by clearly warning the Iraqis; this, of course, implies that not only did Bush not do it right but that he encouraged Hussein to invade via U.S. inaction. Rush is not surprised by this sort of approach and bets that the next bit of spin will be "if only Bush had not quit early but instead had gone into Baghdad, we'd all be safe now." Rush, though, recalls that the U.N. mandate for the Gulf War had the express purpose of getting Hussein out of Kuwait, not to destroy either Hussein or Iraq. In fact, nobody wanted to see Iraq destroyed, given that it would have made the nation, which had just concluded an eight-year war with Iran, a sitting duck. So those who would claim that Bush just "didn't finish the job" are ignoring a lot of history. Besides, there's been a lot of talk about an "October Surprise," but if this U.S. troop movement has truly been engineered for Clinton's political gain, then couldn't what is going on be called October Surprise 2? Some might claim this is an unfair charge to make, but Rush notes that Gary Sick wrote an entire book on the alleged Republican October Surprise, and the Democratic Congress held a full investigation about it, in spite of the lack of evidence. Nothing was found, of course, so it will be interesting to see if anyone picks up the ball from where an admittedly maniacal Perot left it yesterday. *BREAK* Phone Jim from Springfield, VA Jim says that his local top of the hour news reported that the Iraqi ambassador had announced that Iraq was pulling its troops back. Jim notes that he was involved in Desert Storm and Desert Shield, and wants to make the point that the reason Hussein is backing off is because President Bush did such a good job in destroying the Republican Guard. Rush agrees, and remarks that the "Bush made a mistake" spin that's being heard so often right now is really starting to get him mad. There was some initial confusion about whether ambassador April Glaspie misled Saddam Hussein in the summer of 1990 into thinking it would be all right to invade Kuwait, but regardless, as soon as Hussein did invade, Bush sent one warning after another about what would happen if Iraq didn't leave. The U.S. followed through on everything it promised, executing the military actions flawlessly, and thanks to this record, Hussein now knows better than to challenge the U.S. again. Jim adds that each Republican Guard division back in 1990 and 1991 had about 26,000 men, so if there are only 20,000 of them left, it shows the lesson that Bush taught Hussein. The Republican Guard was hurt really bad, and Jim hopes that Americans remember this. Rush thinks most Americans remember how Iraqi soldiers were surrendering even to news reporters, but he pledges to show some of the Gulf War pictures to the nation, just so that the press can't get away with its assertion that Clinton was so decisive and tough that he forced Hussein to step back with just one wave of his hand. Of course, someone like Hussein sooner or later would test a President such as Clinton, who has not had a very successful military record to date. The thing to watch now, though, is how long the additional American troops will stay in the Gulf - will Saddam back off a few hundred kilometers, only to inch back in when the U.S. troops start to leave? However, just as has happened with Haiti, everything that has happened so far has gone well. There have been only two suicides in Haiti and no other deaths, and it appears that Aristide will be installed right on schedule. Those predicting major trouble have so far been proven wrong - there was no shooting invasion, and the U.S. occupied the country peacefully. Thus, the Clinton administration can genuinely claim the Haiti invasion has gone smoothly, but how long will U.S. troops stay there? Clinton has rejected Congress's request to pledge to leave by next March, so just how long will America stay in Haiti, using its troops and money to sustain Aristide? Similarly, how long will American troops stay in the Gulf? Rush thanks Jim for his call, and notes that while the Iraqi army and Republican Guard were decimated, the U.S. didn't totally destroy them because 1) it didn't have the mandate to do so and 2) a weak Iraq would have just created more trouble with Iran. Also, a door-to-door search in Baghdad to find Hussein would have caused a great loss of life, not to mention that Hussein had dozens of look-alikes. Perot, though, seems to think that if the U.S. couldn't get Hussein, then America should just call the Israelis. Rush, however, doubts that the Israelis want any part of this, given that if they're found responsible for taking out Hussein, they'll be facing a bunch of angry and unified Arabs. Phone Steve from Waldorf, MD Steve was watching Jill Doherty and Jonathan Mann on CNN yesterday talk about the Gulf crisis, and they made a point about how Clinton cut his vacation weekend short to come back to deal with the situation. Right before they went to a commercial, Mann stated in an aside "well, I don't think President Clinton will be zipping around Kennebunkport in his motorboat during this time." Rush is amazed that things are even worse then he thought, and notes that the dominant press just hates it when any Republican does anything right. They'll wait until the right time, but then will just launch whenever they get the chance. This sort of comment, along with the stories about how Clinton is not going to repeat "Bush's error," just shows the efforts being made on Clinton's behalf by the press. The question, though, is will Clinton get any sort of meaningful bump in the polls from all this; will the press's efforts be effective? *BREAK* Phone Mike from Albany, NY Mike thinks there might be some more to the Iraqi situation - the U.S. has troops all over the world, so perhaps Saddam Hussein is just making a big play: sending forth his troops and then pulling them back so that he can make himself look good, in an effort to get the sanctions against Iraq listed. Rush doesn't know if Hussein thinks this intricately - these are United Nations sanctions, after all. Would Hussein really go to such great lengths to deceive the world and take such chances? Anything is possible with Hussein, of course, but it's hard to predict what's going on in the mind of a lunatic. Mike adds that the Simpsons last night not only parodied Rush but Larry King, and he thinks the show did a good job of parodying Rush - Rush came off as himself, and Mike thinks Rush should be pleased with the show. Rush says he hasn't seen the show, so he can't make any observations on it, but thanks Mike for his call. Phone Tex from Laguna Beach, CA Tex gives "tube riding dittos from all us surfers," but he doesn't think the Simpsons made Rush look that good. Larry King came off looking good, as representative of the general public, but Rush, though, came off as leading the non-thinking crowd, with people such as Homer just following Rush blindly. Rush laughs and says this is to be expected - you aren't going to get fairness from the mainstream media; anyone that portrays King as a mainstream guy isn't going to portray Rush fairly. Tex says he was surprised because he likes the Simpsons - it's just a cartoon that's supposed to be funny, and he hates when such things try to make a political statement. He hates movies that preach to him, too. Rush agrees - it's ridiculous that when you go out to be entertained to have your movies and cartoons preach to you. Tex adds that he used to hate politics and politicians, but he started following it after listening to Rush; Tex is not a mind- numbed robot but rather likes Rush because Rush thinks like him. Phone Chris from Columbia, MD Chris agrees with Tex about the Simpsons - it didn't portray Rush very well at all. Rush, however, notes that historically he hasn't been portrayed well in shows like this. The only time he was portrayed well was on "Hearts Afire" when he portrayed himself; of course, Rush admits, Beavis and Butthead didn't do too bad a job. Chris agrees, and adds that Bill Moyers last Friday blamed the "Harry and Louise" ads, special interests, and Rush Limbaugh for killing the Clinton health care plan. The show tried to laugh at Rush, and Kathleen Hall Jamison admitted that Rush was "very witty" but "so one-sided." She then went on to claim that Rush was so dangerous because "he has a captive audience." Chris was frustrated to hear someone on PBS, a network that's supported by taxpayers' dollars, make this claim, given that it's really easy to turn off Rush's show if you're so inclined. Rush agrees, and notes that Chris, like the previous callers, shows how his is a thinking audience. Chris adds that what was really interesting about the Moyers show was that at the end it announced it had been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is the group that paid for NBC's two-hour "unbiased" special on health care which ended up portraying Hillary and her plan in a very positive light. Rush is not surprised, but notes that these sorts of shows illustrate how those in the mainstream media are upset at how the people in Rush's audience no longer need liberals, including those in the dominant media. The EIB audience thinks for itself and all they want is the facts with which to make their decisions. Rush notes he has written a 5,000-word piece called "Why Liberals Fear Me," which is appearing in the Heritage Foundation's Policy Review, and he's excerpted from it an Op-Ed sized piece which has been submitted to the NY Times and Washington Post, both of whom have rejected it as self-serving and not newsworthy. Yet Rush is only doing the mainstream media's job for them, and they don't like how Rush and others like him are challenging their monopoly on informing the public. *BREAK* During the break, Rush was being told about Marlon Brando's appearance on Larry King Live; Brando was talking about plants that could save the Earth and how you can feed dog bones to dogs by holding them in your mouth. When asked if he were an "environmentalist wacko," Brando noted that "they called Louis Pasteur a weirdo, but now we're all drinking pasteurized milk." Returning to the subject of the news media portraying Clinton as the "guy who did it right in the Gulf," Rush remarks that the press is just getting too predictable. It's become no big deal to look at a situation and conclude how the press will cover it. *BREAK* SECOND HOUR Rush congratulates Dee Dee Myers - on Saturday, some 20 months after she was appointed White House Press Secretary, she took custody of the office that's normally given to the person with this job. Previously it had been given to some guy, but after successfully going to Clinton and not only saving her job but getting a promotion, Dee Dee's finally moved in. Rumor has it, though, that the reason it took her so long to get in that office is that the White House only just now has finished installing the glass ceiling in it. ******** Although few Americans other than federal employees and bankers will know it, today is Columbus Day, at least in most places in America. Denver, CO, in addition to not having a new airport with a working baggage system, does not have any Columbus Day parades because such things are offensive to those with multicultural sensitivities. Rush knows that the politically correct crowd doesn't like Christopher Columbus because he was just a white male who opened up the New World to pillaging by western civilization. Therefore, since Americans of Italian descent no longer have him as a hero, Rush would like to present some other achievements of the Italian people. As appropriate ethnic music plays in the background, Rush lists the following contributions that came from Italy, in the hope that he can at least get them on the record before the politically correct crowd makes them verboten as well: o 1480 - Leonardo DaVinci invented the parachute. There wasn't anything to jump out of in 1480, but DaVinci nevertheless had the foresight to invent this device which even now is allowing Clinton to bail out of many of the problems he gets himself in. o 1492 - Christopher Columbus sails the ocean blue and destroys a civilization in the process, not to mention polluting all of North America. Columbus, though, balanced out these heinous acts with his one overriding and supreme discovery: the cigar. o 1500 - Octavio de Petrucci printed music for the first time with musical type, without which EIB could not do its musical parodies. o 1504 - Venice sent its ambassadors to Turkey to first propose the Suez Canal. o 1537 - Nicolo Fontana invented the science of ballistics. o 1596 - Galileo invented the thermometer. o 1608 - Galileo invented the first astronomical telescope, without which peeping Toms would be squinting Toms. o 1643 - Evangelista Torricelli invented the barometer. o 1771 - Luigi Galvani discovered the electrical nature of nervous impulses. o 1779 - Spolenzani proved that semen is necessary for fertilization, finally cluing in his countryman about how this happens. o 1800 - Alessandro Volta produced electricity from the first battery made of zinc and copper plates, and this, of course, made the boombox possible. o 1894 - Marconi invented radiotelegraphy, making EIB possible, for which the entire world is grateful. o 1942 - Fermi split the atom, making the end of WWII possible and displeasing all sorts of environmentalist wackos for decades to come. o 1994 - Rush's good friends at Patsy's marketed their incredible marinari sauce world-wide. Rush hopes these achievements are not forgotten because places such as Denver are reviling Christopher Columbus. *BREAK* Rush forgot a couple of important Italian events and discoveries. First, in 79 A.D. the city of Pompei was destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which, although tragic, did preserve the city, making it possible for modern archeologists to discover that the women of Pompei - fat, hairy, and plagued by headaches - started the first National Organization for Women chapter. Also, the great dish Fettucini Alfredo was invented by Alfredo whose wife was having trouble nursing their newborn child; Alfredo thus came up with a sauce that would help correct this problem. And of course, Vespugi Vermicelli invented boiling water, while Al Fresco was the original homeless gentleman who discovered the beauty of eating outdoors. Phone Tony from Kalamazoo, MI Tony thanks Rush for saving his life - he's an Italian, so because of today's holiday he was wallowing in despair about how his culture and religion led an entire continent to destruction. Not even going to Mass helped him - he was even looking in the phone book for Jack Kevorkian's number, but Rush's show rescued him and brought him back to the land of the living. He's now going to go off for a lovely meat-filled Italian dinner, drink some fine red wine, and top it all off with a fine, fine cigar. Rush thinks this is a great idea - cigars are barely over 500 years old now, having been discovered in 1492 by Columbus. Of course, the first cigars were wrapped in corn husks, so the world owes much to Columbus and his gang for not only discovering these wonderful stogies, but for improving on them, swapping out the corn husks for fine tobacco leaf wrappers. Phone Hani from Bethesda, MD Hani says that ABC News has already begun the praise of Clinton, saying "eyeball to eyeball and guess who's blinked?" Rush is not surprised that ABC is portraying Clinton as a war hero, and Hani says it's hard to avoid this impression from ABC's coverage. Rush asks if Hani thinks Hussein would not have blinked, and Hani says that it's obvious Hussein would back down, but has the dictator gained anything from this? Will Hussein come out ahead, even after backing down? However, Hani finds it strange that Clinton didn't at least hold an emergency session of Congress to discuss this matter. Rush says it's not necessarily true that a President would hold such a meeting prior to taking action, but the timing of this situation is curious, given that Congress is not in session right now. Rush thanks Hani for calling and for confirming his suspicions about the press. There are some rare exceptions, of course, but for the most part the mainstream press is predictable as hell. Phone Bob from Coral Springs, FL Bob has started to think that Ross Perot might be right with his analysis of the Gulf situation. For example, he was amazed at how quickly and decisive 50,000 U.S. troops could be sent off to the Gulf, given that the country had to take some freighters out of mothballs to get a far smaller number of troops to Haiti. Rush says that he had some callers who said that they had been training for months for the Haiti mission, so if Perot is right with his charges, then it could be possible that the Gulf War deployment has been planned for weeks. He agrees with Bob, though, that this deployment has been going incredibly smoothly. Bob says that this is why he thinks Perot might be right about this and that the build-up was planned weeks ago. Rush says the question is not whether the U.S. knew about the Iraqi build-up for weeks - America most certainly had to be aware of these troops; the real question is whether the administration delayed this news until after testing the winds of public opinion about the Haiti mission - was the administration waiting to see if the polls looked good from Haiti before moving on the Gulf? This is a question the press should be investigating, given how angry the people are now whenever pure politics seems to govern so much of the nation's policies. He thanks Bob for calling. Phone Craig from Yorba Linda, CA Craig says the Iraqi build-up was known about weeks ago, and he thinks the administration just let it stew quietly so that Clinton could make a major move in response, making himself look like a big tough guy. Rush would like to ask Craig a question about this, so asks him to hang on through the break. *BREAK* Phone Craig from Yorba Linda, CA (continued) Rush asks Craig if he, as an American, is glad when the use of American military might forces back a tyrant such as Hussein; doesn't this make Craig happy and proud, regardless of how Craig might feel towards Clinton? Craig agrees this is something to be proud of, but only if it's done honestly, which he doesn't think is the case here. Craig notes that if Clinton knew about this situation weeks ago, why didn't he deal with it early on, before it became a crisis? He thinks Clinton's big moves in the Gulf were done solely for show. Rush asks how Craig thinks this - is the U.S. telling Hussein what to do? Craig says no, but notes that the U.S. controls the airspace over Iraq, and America had to know what was going on over there as soon as it happened. Rush, though, asks if Craig thinks Hussein and Clinton came to any sort of agreement about this. Craig says no, but Clinton has had to known about the Iraqi build-up for four to six weeks; such military troop movements take time to accomplish - they don't happen overnight. Craig knows that America has regular reconnaissance that could pick up these troop movements, and Clinton should have been talking tough to Hussein back then, not now. Hussein knows what the U.S. is capable of doing, so Clinton's threats back then would have had some impact. The fact Clinton didn't move when he first learned of this matter shows that his movements now are just a put-on for political effect. Rush asks if Craig thinks Clinton would really use the military for political gain, and Craig says yes. He notes that he voted for Perot in 1992 precisely because he wanted real change. Rush thanks him for his call and notes that he is hearing from a lot of people who think similarly to Craig. Of course, it's too early to say anything about whether Iraq is really pulling back; Hussein could be playing yet another cat and mouse game, so the question is what should the U.S. do now - pull its troops back or keep them in the Gulf for a while? And if the troops stay there, how long will they remain there? Will it take a month, six months, or two years to make sure Hussein stays pulled back? Will Hussein come creeping back if the U.S. brings some of the troops home? These are the important considerations now, and this really has nothing to do with President Clinton; the country cannot allow itself to be distracted by a cat and mouse game with this lunatic in Iraq. Besides, the U.S. doesn't need troops to stop Hussein now - the troops were needed in Desert Storm and Desert Shield because they had to take back Kuwait, given that you need ground forces to take and hold onto ground. However, to keep Hussein in check now, behind his borders, doesn't need a major ground force; air power such as sea-launched cruise missiles will keep Hussein on his side of the border. The U.S. should thereby be wary of sending more troops over there without first establishing a clear mission. Rush bets, though, that sooner or later people will start talking about how this President, who avoided the draft and despised the military as a youth, is now sending U.S. troops to more places than any other President in recent memory. If the people think for even a moment that Clinton is using American military forces for his personal political gain, then his poll numbers will fall, not increase. The American people will not tolerate a President who is willing to risk American lives for his personal gain; certainly the Perot people will think this, so it would be worthwhile for the press to investigate just how long the administration has known about the Iraqi troop movements and why they were announced only last Friday. Rush thinks a journalistic career is waiting to be made with this. Phone Ron from Peoria, IL Ron thanks Rush for "getting on board a little bit with us Perot people"; he thinks change is needed, and notes that Republicans and conservatives are regularly painted with the same sort of brush used for Perot's supporters: every time they say the truth, they're accused of being kooks, maniacal, and mind-numbed robots. Perot's supporters, though, are people who can think for themselves - they aren't bored Yuppies. Ron was sorry that Bush lost in 1992, but Perot was the only one back then that was making any sense. And as to Perot being maniacal, you have to be maniacal to deal with a maniac such as Hussein, especially if you have a President that's deploying the military so thin that it's not known if they can handle all the jobs it's being given. Ron doesn't know if "Billy-Bob" Clinton is cynically using the military, but he doesn't think that Bill Clinton is really running the country. There seem to be a lot of "smoke-filled room" types pulling his strings, and Ron needs someone like Perot to help make sense out of it. Rush chides Ron for criticizing "smoke-filled room types" because he's in a smoke-filled studio right now. Ron admits he's about to try some of Rush's recommended Perfecta cigars. He's not married, so he doesn't have to worry about a wife; he does have a dog "but he don't care!" Besides, the dog eats bananas and spaghetti, so he'd probably eat the cigars as well. Ron, though, says that things are getting so weird that it takes someone like Perot to make sense of it. Rush notes that he has agreed with Perot on some things, such as how he identifies problems and goes after some of their solutions. Perot is a genius at defining problems in ways most people can understand. Rush's problem with Perot, though, is that Perot must have known during the 1992 campaign that Clinton was a draft dodger who wouldn't know how to use the military properly. Perot said nothing about this, though, and Rush has to wonder why he chose to kept silent. If Clinton were a draft-dodger in 1994, he was one in 1992, and if Perot thinks Clinton is unqualified to lead the military now, he had to come to the same judgment in 1992. Perot didn't say any of this stuff during the campaign, and it's just strange that Perot didn't say what he's saying now two years ago. Ron notes that he and his fellow Perot supporters were not so much against Bush as being tired of the lack of difference between the Republicans and Democrats; Perot was a voice crying in the wilderness. Rush says he has already detailed all the things about Perot that have bothered him; Rush has never doubted the man's patriotism or devotion to his country, and Rush was impressed with Perot's son when he met him in Dallas a few months ago. *BREAK* Rush notes that Saddam Hussein might be jealous of all the attention being paid to North Korea and Haiti. The U.S. is mobilizing to help some podunk leader in Haiti, while Hussein is dealing with 24,000% inflation, not to mention the loss of $21 billion of oil revenues because of the U.N. embargo. So maybe Hussein is just trying to get the attention of the world community. Hussein has got the world's attention, but the question is whether he'll get his ultimate goal of ending the sanctions. Rush suspects that such a move would backfire, given that Hussein has just shown how crazy he is, and everyone remembers how he acted when he had the supplies with which to fuel his army. The world knows the solution to the problem in Iraq is not the sanctions, but rather Hussein himself. The world undoubtedly would love to see Hussein die, but Rush has to wonder if a "Cedras-style retirement package" will be eventually offered to Hussein. Rush recalls that he predicted a while ago that Cedras would leave power in Haiti after being bought off, and now he's leaving a week early for parts unknown. One has to wonder just what kind of goodies Cedras will be taking with him. *BREAK* Phone David from Washingtonville, NY David notes that his dog doesn't like it when he blows smoke in the pooch's face; the dog just glares at him. Rush agrees that if your dog doesn't like smoke blown in its face, don't do it. David adds that he thinks what is going on now is "Carter 3" - Carter was sent to North Korea, giving that country more time with which to build nuclear bombs. After that "success," Carter was sent to Haiti to give Cedras some kind of golden parachute. David therefore just has to wonder what will happen next - what kind of sweet deal will Carter procure for Hussein? David adds that it's a bit scary at how 50,000 U.S. troops have been sent to the Gulf. Rush remarks that it's amazing he's not getting any calls from people who think that this action is a positive one. Rush asks what other explanation there could be - even if Perot is right and Clinton is acting cynically and selfishly, the fact is still that Hussein has backed off from the threat of U.S. firepower. David says he does take pride from the fact that the threat of U.S. military force can still force a tyrant to back off, if this is really what is going on. Rush thanks David for calling. *BREAK* THIRD HOUR Items o As long as the show is discussing whether President Clinton would place American lives at risk by using the military to improve his standing in the polls, Rush remarks that he's amazed at how many Americans would answer this question "yes." Rush, though, thinks it is a comforting thing to see that the deployment of U.S. troops has caused a genuine enemy to retreat; regardless what someone might think of Clinton's motivations, the results of his action have to be considered a welcome sign. Robert Novak's column today, though, states that Clinton and Fidel Castro have basically entered into a "conspiracy" - the two came to an agreement to increase the number of legal Cuban immigrants to 20,000 a year, but as of yet not one Cuban citizen has been processed for emigration. In other words, nothing has been done, and Novak theorizes that this delay is precisely to protect Democratic Governor Lauten Chiles during his tight re- election race against Republican challenger Jeb Bush. A large number of immigrants would only rile up the voters against the incumbent, so delaying the immigration from Cuba could help Chiles. It thus seems as if every one of Clinton's foreign policy moves is inspiring others to say it's being done solely for political gain, either for himself or for members of his party. It will be interesting therefore to see if Clinton and other Democrats get a bump in the polls from either Iraq or Haiti. However, any bump in the polls Clinton might get would probably be temporary at best; after all, the Gulf War did not help Bush remain President. Also, Clinton launched a cruise missile attack against downtown Baghdad in retribution for an attempted assassination attempt against ex-President George Bush. Clinton got a huge bump in the polls but it was only a temporary increase. o The Toledo, OH Blade newspaper printed a letter from dittohead Joanne Rolfe who explained what a "dittohead" really is: "Dittoheads know that the strength of a nation is derived from the integrity of the home. Dittoheads believe that people should be responsible for their actions, instead of looking for reasons to be a victim. Dittoheads know that poverty will never be cured by throwing money at it. Dittoheads also know that government is not the generator of economic growth - working people are. Finally, dittoheads would prefer not being governed by a President who thinks `harass' is two words." Update Animal Rights (Andy Williams, "Born Free" with gratuitous sound effects including one lame duck and a Kestrel falcon) Rush dedicates today's update to actor Marlon Brando, for his efforts on behalf of animals everywhere. The Kestrel falcon, one of the world's rarest falcons, was rescued from extinction by the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust of Britain, founded by author Gerald Dowel. At one point there reportedly had been only four such birds, but over the past 12 years, the Trust's breeding program has created hundreds of more such birds in their natural habitat of Mauritias. At the same time, though, there were efforts being made to save the Mauritias Pink Pigeons, which are also endangered. Deforestation and the introduction of new predators, such as monkeys and rats, were threatening the pigeons. The Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust, however, has gotten the number of these birds back up to about 250, and the Trust started introducing these birds back into the wild last April. However, it didn't take but one day before a Kestrel falcon swooped down and gobbled up a newly hatched Pink Pigeon, in full view of members of the Trust. The falcon then belched and flew away satisfied. The members of the Trust were confounded by how one bird would dare eat another, so they captured the murderous falcon and moved it to another site. Rush notes that it shouldn't be surprised that man is not the only nasty creature in the world, but he suspects that it will be only a matter of time before the Trust decides to hold classes for its falcons, teaching them that they shouldn't eat their fellow birds. Perhaps they'll put up pictures of the Pink Pigeon inside a red circle with a line drawn across it, and the falcons, fully aware of the international symbol of prohibition, will respect the Trust's wishes. *BREAK* Rush remarks that it's by no means sure that the Iraqi situation has been resolved. After all, Peter Arnett is back in Baghdad, undoubtedly having gotten his regular room at the El Rashid Hotel, with hotel officials perhaps inquiring if Bernard Shaw is on his way as well. CNN, of course, has a major dilemma - they were on the verge of another war in Iraq, only to see it, along with the dreams of sky-high ratings, going down the drain; the question they now face is whether they should keep focused on the Gulf or concentrate on the O.J. Simpson trial. CNN might even have set new standards for TV journalism by going to a split screen, televising both "Gulf War 2" and "O.J. Simpson, the Trial" simultaneously, but Hussein doesn't seem to be cooperating. Phone Beth from Houston, TX Beth is mad at the Perot people" because they cost George Bush the election in 1992, but they won't admit it, even now. In fact, although Beth is a Republican precinct chairman, two members of her own household voted for Perot, which is a major embarrassment for her. Rush can understand the anger Republicans might feel at Perot, but warns against blaming Perot for Bush's loss. Former National Review editor Wick Allison did an analysis of the 1992 election's exit polls, and he found that even had Perot not been in the race, Clinton still would have won. Perot himself is claiming only that he prevented a "Clinton landslide," and Allison's point is that if Republicans think all they have to do to win the next election is to neutralize Perot, then they're dooming themselves to more defeat. Republicans have to stand for something, so that the people have something to vote for, as opposed to simply voting against Clinton, the Democrats, etc. Rush would encourage Republicans to take Allison's advice because it's pointless to keep on blaming Perot for Bush's 1992 defeat. Beth admits that part of the problem was that George Bush was tired, but she still thinks Perot helped defeat George Bush. She is also concerned about whom Perot would have appointed to the Cabinet and to the courts had he been elected. Rush says this is a non-factor because Perot wasn't elected, and besides those appointments would not have done anything to deter the support from the Perotistas. Beth agrees with Rush, though, that Perot knew everything about Clinton he's saying right now two years ago. Rush agrees, but notes that while Perot is saying the right things right now, Republicans shouldn't consider him to be a convert to their side; should Republicans win in 1996, it's a given that Perot will be thrusting himself back into the mix, stirring up the pot, attacking whoever is in power. *BREAK* Rush remarks that he knows he's still getting new listeners because every time he states he has "talent on loan from God" he's attacked on CompuServe for being blasphemous and irreligious, by people who don't realize that he is saying this precisely to indicate that what talents he has have come from God. Phone Mike from Richmond, VA Mike mentions the O.J. Simpson case, and Rush comments that he drove by the Nicole Simpson apartment after attending the Charlton Heston tribute Saturday. This place is very tiny, in contrast from what the news pictures show, plus it's very close to a very busy street. Mike says that Judge Lance Ito seems to be prejudicial towards the prosecution in this case, although he's trying to portray himself as someone who's bending over backwards to the defense. This is ironic because Ito is complaining about the bias in the media, yet he himself is biased towards the prosecution, granting nearly all their motions. Mike also thinks that TV coverage is incidental to this case since the case will be decided in court, not on TV. Rush says this isn't exactly true because until a jury is selected, the TV coverage could be influential potential jurors. Mike thinks that this makes little difference, assuming that the jury is sequestered during the trial. Rush says Judge Ito is justifiably concerned about whether the TV coverage will influence potential jurors before the case even starts. Mike, though, thinks that Judge Ito is obviously biased against the defense; he seems to go out of his way for the defense, but he always sides with the prosecution when making his rulings. Rush doesn't think this is the case at all; the prosecution has gotten all but three pieces of the evidence they've introduced, but he admits he hasn't been watching this case very much, especially since he's working while the trial is going on. Rush's impression, though, is that Ito is a tough judge doing his best to run a no-nonsense, shipshape courtroom. Mike thinks Ito is on the side of the prosecution, but Rush suspects that Ito is for a fair trial. Ito is obviously angry at the media for violating its deadlines and restrictions, but Mike says that this doesn't matter. Rush, though, notes that a judge is the final authority in the courtroom and when the press violated his order not to pre- release the questions asked of would-be jurors, it's understandable that Ito would be peeved. The press has already admitted they've gotten bad information from spotty sources and run with it, and the defense seems more than willing to work with the press to engage in high-tech jury tampering. Granted, the court of public opinion doesn't matter in a court of law, except in whether it prejudices the jury beforehand. Ito is trying to let it be known that he, not the media, runs the courtroom; if the press doesn't like it, then that's tough. Rush, though, hasn't seen the bias on Ito's part that Mike has; he thinks Ito is mainly concerned that his courtroom doesn't become a circus and that whatever verdict is arrived at can withstand an appeal. The defense, of course, is in a tough spot, given that they're facing a mountain of evidence and don't have any alibi, so they're trying to taint the jury pool. Even O.J. Simpson got irate at his own lawyers for how they were thinking about posing for a cover story in Vanity Fair. Rush thanks Mike for his call and adds that his show hasn't discussed this subject for a number of reasons, mainly because this sort of thing is already being talked about everywhere else. Rush wants to do things on his show that aren't being done elsewhere. Also, though, the fact is that nobody except one person knows what happened on the night Nicole Simpson was murdered, and until the jury comes to its conclusion, it's an absolute waste of time to engage in wild speculation about whether O.J. did it or not. Furthermore, this case has become a circus which Rush has no desire to participate in; there are lawyers analyzing everything said in court down to each and every syllable, and nobody is talking about the victims. Rush knows he could easily get calls on this subject - it's like how novice talk show hosts eventually end up having a psychic on as a guest because they think it will increase their ratings. In reality, though, all psychics do is increase the number of callers, not listeners, but because the phone lines are going bonkers, the host is certain that he's hit upon a great way to pull in new listeners. Similarly, Rush could have a splurge of callers by talking about O.J. Simpson, but that's not what he wants to do. Granted, there are some interesting aspects of this case - the role of the press, the role that race plays in the Los Angeles judicial system, etc. However, there's no reason Rush should spend much time on this case because nobody really knows what happened in this case, except for the one guy who killed Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman, and no amount of talk show chitchat will change that. *BREAK* Phone Harry from Eli, NV Harry is glad he could call Rush today, thanks to the fact that he's a federal worker, which means today is a holiday and day off for him. Rush, who doesn't get such days off, sullenly sighs "yeah, I know." Harry thinks that even if Clinton has known for weeks about what Hussein has been doing, he's handled it in a reasonable manner, perhaps working through diplomatic channels. He doubts Clinton has done anything different than Bush would have done. Rush says Bush probably wouldn't have sent 54,000 troops over there; instead, he might have responded with some missiles, sending in the troops only if they failed - after all, troops are needed to take and hold land, they aren't necessarily needed to stop an aggressor. Harry agrees that Bush probably would not have had to send any troops, and Clinton has had Bush to build on; even so, though, Clinton seems to have done a reasonable job in threatening Hussein, at least in public. Harry suspects that Clinton also sent some private warnings to Hussein before this point. Rush agrees that Bush probably wouldn't have had to deal with Saddam's adventurism, but it's not yet known whether Clinton warned Hussein privately. Harry says you could give Clinton the benefit of a doubt about this, but Rush notes that Clinton also didn't tell the American people. Harry notes that Clinton could claim he didn't want to distract from Haiti, and Rush admits this is true. It's also true that it looks really good for Clinton to have sent troops, forcing this world-class despot to back down. It doesn't matter whether it was Clinton or Bush sent the troops, the threat of their use does seem to have forced Hussein to back off. Rush thanks Harry for calling. *BREAK* Phone Gib from East Iceland, NY Gib heard the earlier caller refer to Jonathan Mann's "no trips to Kennebunkport and speedboats," and adds that Mann made these comments after talking to a Pentagon spokesman and a military expert about the troop deployments in the Gulf. The implication was that Clinton, unlike Bush, was doing the right thing, that Clinton wasn't making the same mistake that Bush made, i.e. waiting for Hussein to invade. Then the comment about the speedboats in Kennebunkport was made. Then after this, Jill Doherty of the White House press corps was asked about how this situation differed from the one in 1990 and 1991, and Doherty said that Bush's ambassador April Glaspie practically invited Iraq to invade in 1990, while Clinton is massing troops to stop him. Rush notes that this refers to the memo that Glaspie wrote which allegedly said the U.S. wouldn't get involved if Iraq invaded Kuwait, and he Rush thanks Gib for calling.