RUSH: Guess what’s being recycled? Remember the picture of Mrs. Clinton that Drudge posted back in December? The unfortunate picture, it was called, looking very tired, wrinkled, haggard, made up improperly during campaign swings in New Hampshire. And, of course, I raised a question that few would have had the courage to raise, and that is, ‘How’s this going to play if she’s the nominee?’ Here we are a culture that is so devoted and addicted to perfection, particularly in women, and I don’t want to repeat the whole monologue, but it was very brilliant, and I knew that when I asked this question, everything else that I said prior to it would be ignored, turns out it wasn’t totally ignored, but I knew this question would be the hook. ‘Does the country really want to watch a woman grow older by the day, as she leads the country?’ That woman is not going to want to appear as though she’s growing older every day, will take steps to correct it, whatever are necessary, because of the need to suppress declining poll numbers. That story is back. It has been brought back to life at ABC News.
Of all the things to talk about regarding the South Carolina primary and the Democrats on Saturday, why in the world would ABC News think that it’s time to recycle a story with the headline: ”Is Clinton Scrutinized About Her Looks Too Much?’ Some Experts Say NY Senator Criticized More Than Her Male Opponents.’ Yes, that was my point. That’s going to be the case. That’s the case throughout all of life. Go ask aging Hollywood actresses how easy it is to get lead roles as opposed to aging Hollywood men and their ability to get lead rolls. Look, whether it’s fair or not, it probably isn’t, it’s the way we are, it’s the way our culture is. We all know, and people, some women get mad having to admit this with some disgust, that, as certain men grow older they look more distinguished, they look more powerful, they look more accomplished and more achieved. It’s the way it is. You can blame God. You can blame our culture, and, of course, people immediately retort, ‘Well, Rush, what about Margaret Thatcher or what about Golda Meir and Indira Gandhi?’ I’m talking about US culture. Besides, you’re talking about women who were elected with strong ideas who weren’t running on a bunch of species slogans and so forth.
Anyway, ABC brings this back to life: ‘Is Clinton Scrutinized About Her Looks Too Much?’ And, of course, the obligatory reference to yours truly, America’s Anchorman: ‘Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh spoke about the photograph in December, posing the question that was on many people’s minds.’ Oh, now it was on many people’s minds? ”Will Americans want to watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis? And that woman, by the way, is not going to want to look like she’s getting older, because it will impact poll numbers,’ Limbaugh said. ‘It will impact perceptions.” So, writes Emily Friedman at ABC News, ‘While it’s too soon to tell whether a droopy physical appearance will translate into drooping support at the polls,’ no, it’s not. ‘While political gurus told ABC News that gender bias is responsible for the media’s willingness to openly discuss Clinton’s Botox options while hardly mentioning Obama’s worn-out appearance.’ What worn-out appearance? Has Obama appeared worn out to you? This is the first I’ve heard of this. He doesn’t look worn out to me. And, by the way, we discussed John Kerry’s Botox frequently here, Emily, during the 2004 campaign.
But anyway, let me address this. I think the reason they bring this up, the reason why ABC’s bringing this up, is that she doesn’t look good, she looks tired. And that’s why she has got beaten by landslide proportions in South Carolina, right? This ABC trying to say it wasn’t race, maybe it’s the unfairness of the American — because remember the quote here. When they quote me, they say I posed the question that was on many people’s minds. Back when I originally said this I was the only person who thought it, remember? Now the question was on many people’s minds and so this is ABC’s attempt to deflect that this had anything to do with race. It’s a feeble attempt. I’ll explain to you why. I’ll be honest here, ladies and gentlemen, this is nothing personal. This is something that affects every candidate running and every president who’s elected. They get older. They age faster when they’re in the stress of the office or stress of the campaign, both men and women. This was my point. It’s just that when women age, it’s not as graceful as when men do, according to the way society looks at things. I am not pronouncing this from on high. We all know it. Some of us don’t have the courage to admit it, but it’s true.
I want to prove here something else. I want to prove that we members of the vast right-wing conspiracy are above the superficialness of her outward appearance. Let’s take a look, ladies and gentlemen, if you will, with me, since I started this, let me close the loop on this. Let us take a look at how Mrs. Clinton really looks. Now, you Drive-By women and Media Matters people, I’m going to give you ten seconds here to get the tape-recorders going or to get your computer set up or to get a notepad and pencil, because we are going to discuss how Mrs. Clinton really looks, okay? Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Mrs. Clinton looks desperate when she launches those personal attack ads against Barack Obama. Mrs. Clinton really looks lost when she has to rely on Bull Clinton to campaign so much for her. Mrs. Clinton looks foolish when Bull Clinton loses his temper campaigning for her and personally attacking Obama and then blowing up at reporters. Mrs. Clinton looks ridiculous when, to hurt Barack Obama, she tries to give LBJ credit over Martin Luther King since he’s the guy who signed the legislation the civil rights movement pushed so hard for. The reason she looks ridiculous is, we can’t find outside the state of Texas a street or building named for LBJ. Well, there may be one in Washington recently, but they’re all named for Martin Luther King. She looks ridiculous. Mrs. Clinton looks, actually looks spiteful when she says that she can’t win South Carolina because of all those blacks. Mrs. Clinton really looks silly resorting to crying about how hard American life is for female candidates and thinking that’s a serious argument for electing her president.
What, we owe her because she’s a woman? America owes Barack because he’s black? America owes McCain because he’s a hero? The question is not what do we owe these people? The question is what do they owe us? They owe us honesty; they owe us honor; they owe us ethics, which have been in short supply in way too many parts and places of government. But to get beyond the superficiality of Mrs. Clinton in any photo, if you in the Drive-By want to know how she really looks, she looks desperate, she looks lost, she looks foolish, she looks ridiculous, she looks spiteful, and she looks silly.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Fabian in Staten Island, nice to have you on the program. Hello.
CALLER: Hello, Rush, and thank you for taking my call.
RUSH: Yes.
CALLER: I just wanted to speak briefly about that photo again from Drudge Report of Hillary, and in your defense, I remember when you first made your comment on that photo it was back in December around the time when actress Jennifer Love Hewitt was caught by the paparazzi on a Hawaiian beach where she was judged as being fat. And you brilliantly coined the term, ‘culture of perfection’ that is imposed upon women. And here’s this young actress who wears a size two as being judged as fat. Now, how is this culture of perfection going to look upon a 60-year-old woman in the White House who is aging? And you’re seeing it almost in that context, if I remember well.
RUSH: I was. But, look, they brought it up for a different reason this time. Let me go back and get it. Where’s the Democrat Stack here? I appreciate you wanting to defend me here, but I really don’t need it. Let’s see. Well, I don’t know where I put it. It’s somewhere in one of these stacks. But the ABC report on this stuff now is that the question I asked was on everyone’s mind, not just mine at the time, it was on everybody’s mind. I went beyond just the surface appearance of Mrs. Clinton and asked some very serious questions about how she actually looks, beyond the superficial. She looks silly; she looks ridiculous; she looks mean; she looks put out based on some of the things that are happening in the midst of the campaign. ABC brings this thing back up again today, changing the context a little bit saying that a lot of people were asking the question I was asking, when they weren’t. I was the only one asking and they really ripped me for it. Well, some did. Others took it and ran with it and said, ‘You know, this is something we gotta deal with, because our culture is a culture of perfection.’ But today I went beyond the surface. I dug deep to get to the real looks of Mrs. Clinton: silly, incompetent, angry, childish, mean. This is how she is looking. She looks incapable. Her husband has to go out and campaign for her. She looks the other way when her husband starts playing the race card in the Uncivil War and doesn’t do anything to stop it. None of these looks that can be attributed to her are flattering at all. But none of them have to do with her physicality either.