RUSH: Of course the Harvey Weinstein situation — folks, this is big. It’s not just about a Hollywood mogul and his misbehavior. As is always the case, it’s a teachable moment and it is filled with life lessons for people about liberalism. And I’m gonna tell you where all of this really began.
And then we move forward to Bill Clinton in the second term of his presidency with the Monica Lewinsky episode. And once again, after the full era of militant feminism and the modern era had become entrenched into our society, the Democrat Party defending Bill Clinton at all costs, led by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is what gave us the ongoing behavior of major prominent Democrats up to and including Harvey Weinstein.
Ted Kennedy, you might say, made it all possible. Bill Clinton came along and put an exclamation point behind Ted Kennedy. And now even with Harvey Weinstein, look at what he thinks he has to do to save himself: Come out as an even more strident leftist, promise to take out Wayne LaPierre, promise to take out Trump, endow $5 million worth of charity work for women’s issues and so forth. And it’s that simple to buy off the left. In this case, however, time will tell if that will be successful.
Weinstein’s now been fired from the company he cofounded. But the details of this story and the elements of it as it continues to unfold are once again a gigantic teachable moment. You know what else they are? They’re a giant See, I Told You So. Twenty-five, 30 years of See, I Told You So. But I’m telling you, folks, do not discount this. The Democrat Party and the media going out of its way at all costs to defend Bill Clinton sends a signal to every other Democrat heavyweight predator.
It sent a signal to virtually every powerful individual on the left that they were not going to be held to account. That excuses would be made and tolerances would be expanded if they remained devoted to the cause or causes. Now, the Harvey Weinstein situation, look at what everybody is saying about how everybody knew. Everybody knew for all these years. We’ve now learned that the New York Times had a story ready to go in 2004 by Sharon Waxman that was gonna detail all of this up to 2004. The New York Times killed it.
The New York Times killed it, and they’re getting kind of creamed here by Sharon Waxman (no longer writing there) who says (paraphrased), “You know, it’s kind of funny to listen to the New York Times moralize about how the media looked the other way all these years with Harvey Weinstein when they led the league in looking the other way and striking stories about Weinstein.” Saturday Night Live did not talk about Weinstein. They didn’t make any jokes about Weinstein. They didn’t do a thing about Weinstein. And you know what Lorne Michaels said, the producer of Saturday Night Life?
Trump hasn’t done diddly-squat compared to Harvey Weinstein. Trump is nowhere near Harvey Weinstein’s league. Trump hasn’t done anything remotely close to what Harvey Weinstein knowingly did and for which he was excused for all of these years. Somebody did a survey of a number of years of Oscar ceremony broadcasts, and they found that over a long period of time… I forget the number of years. I think it’s at least 10, maybe 14 years. In examining acceptance speeches of Oscar winners, Harvey Weinstein was thanked more than God.
I mean, he was a thug, he was a pig, he was powerful, he was a bully, and everybody was afraid of him and was sucking up to him and did everything they could to try to make sure Harvey never got mad at them. But all that time people were seething that he was getting away with it, and nobody had the guts to come out and say it. A couple of women did, but they were ignored. So now the comparisons are on between Trump and Harvey Weinstein, and there aren’t any comparisons to Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein.
And, yes, they both are New Yorkers and Saturday Night Live is routinely engaged in trying to destroy Donald Trump.
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RUSH: Folks, this is not about hypocrisy. The left never is held accountable on their hypocrisy anyway, no matter how blatant — and this is as blatant an example or case of hypocrisy as you can get. They’re trying to compare now Trump to Weinstein. There’s a big difference here. Donald Trump talked. Donald Trump talked the talk with some host at NBC coming out of a trailer — and interestingly, Trump was talking about what celebrities like Weinstein could get away with simply because they’re celebrities. But Trump? There’s no record of Trump doing any of this. Trump can’t hold a candle to Weinstein in this regard. Weinstein walked the walk.
All Trump was doing was talking about the very kind of behavior that is permitted when celebrities are involved. But hypocrisy is not… I mean, there’s plenty of it, but that’s not what this is about. What this is about is plain and simple: The abuse of women, the mistreatment of women that was ignored and tolerated — and, in some quarters, laughed at and applauded. “Hey, man, great work if you can get it. Hey, Harvey, way to go, bud! Hey, Harvey, way to get away with this.” Harvey had his supporters.
Harvey had lots of women in Hollywood who owed him a lot, they believed, and they got silent, and they stayed silent. Although Meryl Streep… Have you heard about this, Mr. Snerdley? Meryl Streep, one of those who has called Harvey Weinstein “god,” has now slammed Weinstein’s disgraceful behavior. She’s finally spoken out. I have it right here my formerly nicotine-stained fingers. Here it is. A lengthy statement released early today. “The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed and those whose good and worthy causes he supported.”
Because that was the news on Friday. That everybody knew. She says no. “Not everybody knew.” (sigh) Well, we’ll give her that, if that’s what she wants to say, but it’s awfully hard to believe. But, folks, this isn’t about hypocrisy. This is about the ongoing abuse, serial abuse of women by a prominent the Democrat Party fundraiser, bundler, and donor — a very, very powerful person within the Democrat Party. And they knew, and they willingly looked the other way. They willingly went after everybody else that they thought had anything like this going on in their lives.
You can name the names — Bill O’Reilly, Roger Ailes, you name it — and these people cannot hold a candle to Harvey Weinstein, and you look at the efforts to destroy them compared to the Democrat Party’s overwhelming (and Hollywood’s overwhelming) talent of ignoring Harvey Weinstein and propping it all up. I’m telling you, it all began with Teddy Kennedy and then really crystallized with Bill Clinton, because when the party and the media spent every bit of capital they had — went to every length possible — to defend and maintain Bill Clinton in office, what’s the message that was sent?
I’ll tell you, folks, here’s the thing to learn about this. The left doesn’t care about people. The left cares about power. They don’t care about people. Yet they own the image of being the only people who do care about people. It’s the left that owns this moniker of compassion and only they have compassion. Conservatives, Republicans, are cold-hearted, mean-spirited racist, sexist, bigot, homophobes. And the people on the left are princes, and they respect, and they hoist women up, and they sponsor women’s causes!
And they defend women at all costs against the overreaching behavior of so-called conservative predators. When in fact the predation is heaviest and most intense on the left. That’s why the left stayed silent and even lied for Ted Kennedy. It’s why Democrats stayed silent and/or lied for Bill Clinton. It’s why the left mobilized to “hide the decline.” That’s why Democrats wouldn’t let anyone see the Affordable Care Act before it was crammed down our throats. That’s why the left stays silent or lies about baby butchers at Planned Parenthood. They care more about power than people.
With the left, folks, it’s never about people. Look at the people they claim to champion! Look at the groups, look at victims they claim to be protecting and looking out for. Ask yourself, how is life for people in those groups? Those groups are routinely angry, are they not? They’re routinely angry and unhappy and discontented, and they are constantly looking for the Democrat Party to make it better. And how does the Democrat Party make it better? By promising to get even with the people who are responsible for the plight of all the people investing everything in the Democrat Party.
For 50 years, African-Americans in this country have been complaining and whining about (you name it), and the Democrat Party has been promising for 50 years to fix it and get even with the people perpetrating all these evils, and nothing changes. The same complaints, the same misery, the same unhappiness for 50 years. Ditto for Latinos and Hispanics. And what would you say about women now who are investing in the Democrat Party thinking it’s the Democrat Party that looks out for them, the Democrat Party that’s gonna protect them from these evil conservative Republicans who are out there just waiting to mistreat them and be misogynists and racists and sexists and male chauvinist pigs?
But every now and then something happens to illuminate the real message of the Democrat Party and the American left. Harvey Weinstein’s implosion is a light shining brightly on just who and just what the American left is. To preserve Hollywood’s casting couch and other vehicles for Democrats’ serial sexual harassments or worse, liberals hijacked feminism to serve as cover. And I really believe this. I think the Democrat Party and liberals hijacked feminism as cover for their own behavior. And it worked like a champ; ask Bill Clinton. It worked like a champ! Ask Harvey Weinstein. Until something happened and he lost his power in Hollywood, which is probably due to losing money.
Which, by the way, I pointed out last week.
Now, everybody over the weekend hijacked that comment. No credit to me, of course. And they’re being praised as brilliant to have figured out why now, even though you knew about it before all of them weighed in. But let’s just look, from Ted Kennedy to Bill Clinton to Woody Allen, Bill Cosby to Harvey Weinstein, Anthony Weiner to Eliot Spitzer, they all exploited women without consequence because they were card-carrying members of the liberal establishment, which includes the media and Hollywood and Washington.
Not only are prominent Democrats guilty of egregious hypocrisy when it comes to feminism, they are equally guilty when it comes to environmentalism. Leftists denounce carbon footprints. They denounce the overabundant use of CO2. They routinely shame people for their lifestyles and yet produce volcano sized carbon footprints themselves.
On practically every seminal issue, the Democrats mandate, the left mandates a certain behavior for everybody but themselves. They are always exempted from the punitive policies that they want imposed on everybody else. They claim the sea levels are rising. They’re apoplectic in public crying about rising oceans. They shrewdly buy up beachfront property when the cameras aren’t looking. They live in the very places they claim are going to be underwater in a number of years. They know the sky isn’t falling, and they know the oceans aren’t rising.
Liberalism is a con game. They have no intention of using the same health care system they devise for everybody else. They do everything they can to make sure no law affects them. Affordable health care is the kind of stuff they give us. It’s neither health care nor affordable. It’s a sop to their donors. And it turns out they’re bullies, sexual bullies in the workplace.
It’s a giant con game that liberalism has going. Harvey Weinstein now becomes a metaphor. He’s Ted Kennedy. He’s Leonardo DiCaprio. He is Bill and Hillary Clinton. He’s Bill Cosby. He’s the Obamas. He’s Eliot Spitzer. Anyway, that’s that. But there are other interesting details in this story which we’ll get to, but we’ll move on to other things when we get back folks ’cause we’ve gotta get it all in here. Hang on.
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RUSH: By the way, I don’t know who else has said this but I want to go on record right now and say Harvey Weinstein’s career is not over. Oh, no, they’ll find a way to bring him back in the fold. You watch. Brian Williams is still on the air at NBC, is he not? Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter. Mark my words. You’ll see.
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RUSH: You all looked shocked when I told you my opinion that Weinstein will be back at work before too long. This is something that I have learned. Our culture, the shame aspect of our culture has also been politicized. Public behavior that was considered immoral or lacking, greatly lacking in virtue, really did doom you for the rest of your life. It was a badge or a reputation or image that stayed with you for a long time. But as the culture rotted away, and as it was continually attacked, and when it became politicized — and it’s tough to pinpoint exactly when that was — then certain behaviors were allowed. And in fact certain behaviors even became resume enhancements if you were of the right politics.
Look at Bill Clinton. Look at Ted Kennedy. Not only did they survive within the Democrat Party, they were God 1 and God 2. And to this day both remain heralded and highly thought of and role models for many on the left. Bill Clinton, I’m sure he doesn’t feel any shame. I’m sure Ted Kennedy never felt any shame for any of the things that equaled reprobate status or behavior.
The left will not let up. I mean, even in every story about Harvey Weinstein, there are two names that you will not miss that are usually in the first two paragraphs: Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly. And they’re both there as the first stage in neutralizing the impact of Weinstein and what he’s done.
And then will come the comparisons. “Well, what have Harvey’s contributions been?” And they will be weighed and valued, and at some point some women will come forward to say enough is enough, that Harvey and his wife have suffered enough. It’s time to move on. No such thing will ever be said about Bill O’Reilly or Roger Ailes or take your pick of any other Republican or conservative.
Once virtue became politicized, it ceased to exist for the left. There’s no requirement for virtue. Virtue is one of these things like morality: It’s for fools. It’s for idiots. “You want to penalize yourself and not have any fun in life, go right ahead, they say, but we’re not playing. We’re gonna do what we want to do, and we’re gonna grease the skids so that we get away with it.” And they do.
You can look at the names of people who, in any sane world, would have their careers destroyed, lives destroyed, reputationally or in reality and they all come back, and they all recover and they just keep going. I mentioned the name Brian Williams. Snerdley, “Yeah, but that was just lies. Weinstein’s behavior –” Doesn’t matter what it is.
Now, you contrast that to anybody in the news business on the right and how they summarily trying to destroy them just for what they think, not for even engaging in any behavior that might be considered improper or wrong. People are destroyed simply for what they believe and what they say if they’re on the right.
Do you think the Democrat Party really wants to get rid of Harvey Weinstein’s money? They don’t, and they haven’t. Have you seen the stories — I’ve got it right here. DNC gives away 10% of Weinstein’s donations. They’re making a big deal. This is filthy money, they say, we can’t keep this is, ooh, this is sticky, this is gooey, this is evil money. So they’re donating it to Planned Parenthood, or they’re recycling and donating it to other left-wing causes. Harvey’s money is staying right where it was always intended to be: in the bowels of the Democrat Party. In the prostate of the Democrat Party.
(interruption) Have they elevated sexual harassment to the level of what? No. They’re piling on to excuse themselves. They’re piling on to give themselves the moral high ground which will then permit them to keep engaging in that behavior. You don’t think this is gonna seriously change the left’s behavior? You think they’re all of a sudden gonna start treating women fairly and equally and not abusing them on the casting couch? You think that’s gonna change? Hell, no. None of that’s not gonna change.
Weinstein’s gonna pay the price for being the fall guy if somebody decided, “You know what? Somebody needs to take the fall here and buy us some time here,” or what have you. There’s a reason this happened. It goes beyond Weinstein being out of money and being out of power, being out of whatever. There’s a reason. We don’t know what it is, but there’s a reason why it happened.
There’s a reason why the New York Times, after sitting on this story since 2004, decided to run with it. They’ve been sitting on this story 13 years. And then last week they run with it. We don’t know. We’re being told, well, he’s out of money. That was my first guess, out of money, out of power and so forth. There’s another reason. Don’t know what it is. Ask away. You can ask me anything you want, and every answer is gonna be, where is Bill Clinton today? Every answer is gonna be, where was Ted Kennedy before he died? Go ahead. Ask the question.
(interruption) The question is do I think the new generation of Hollywood actresses is gonna put up with this stuff the way the old generation of Hollywood actresses did? That is a good question. This young generation of Millennials is so consumed with a mistaken concept of equality. They think it’s sameness. Equality is sameness and so forth.
I think the allure of stardom, the allure of fame, as it’s seen on Access Hollywood type shows, you gotta remember how people see fame. They see on TV, they see the red carpets, they read Page Six, TMZ, and to them, these people are having the life. Every day they’re at a party, they’re doing this, everybody’s getting laid, everybody wants everybody, everybody’s attractive, everybody’s beautiful, nobody has any hang-ups, everything’s perfect. That’s how it’s presented. And the lure of getting in that door.
They throw parties. They have fundraisers. They go to openings. They have a TV show Living with the Kardashians or Dying with the Kardashians, whatever it is, everybody wants to do that, young, impressionable people. So the future, this generation, how they’re gonna react to it, it’s a good question. At some point there may be some that just refuse to play by these rules.
But as far as Weinstein is concerned, you can see it. People on the left always survive this stuff. They just do. Name for me somebody who has been eternally shamed into invisibility, shrinking away, living on a deserted island, doesn’t want to be seen by anybody because the degree of shame is so high. Anthony Weiner? Give me a break. Anthony Weiner is gonna become one of the biggest stars when he gets out of jail simply because of what he did, simply because of what he went to jail for.
Now, Weiner’s a bit player, though. He never has been superstar status. But he’s a curiosity. He’s like an exhibit in the zoo. And he’s always gonna be the exhibit in the zoo. You can look on the right side, on the political right side of the divide here and you can see person after person after person who were destroyed forever. Look at Eliot Spitzer. Eliot Spitzer, the guy’s back, after what he did. He’s back. He’s got fame. He’s got fortune. He’s got respect amongst his peers on the left. Always works out.
Harvey will be allowed to have learned from his mistakes. He will be welcomed back as a new man. He’ll shave. No longer that scruffy beard. Maybe lose the beer gut. He’ll be a brand-new guy and they’ll be singing his praises and you’ll be hearing nothing but the great movies he produced and what a shame it would be if we’d lost Harvey forever. Can almost make book on this. But my whole point is this is another teachable moment. This is an opportunity for people to learn who and what the left really is.
Just like this stuff happening in the NFL is a great opportunity for people to learn who and what the left really is, and how they will politicize everything in your life if you let them and take the enjoyment out of everything in your life that you do enjoy. If you let them, that’s what will happen. So those are the teachable moments here.
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RUSH: Do you remember how they mocked Mike Pence when he said that he has a rule that he does not go to dinner with a woman without his wife, that he does not have lunch with a woman alone who is not his wife and with his wife not there? Remember how he was laughed at and mocked? The mainstream media making fun of that and talking about how old-fashioned and so out of touch? And they even said that it was anti-female. They accused pension… I forget the term.
Virtue — real virtue, real morality — is now mocked.
It is satirized, and it’s even attacked in the case of Pence.
He was accused of making it impossible for women who worked with him to advance by suggesting they could not be trusted. And that’s not what he was saying. He was doing this out of respect to his wife — and he knows, by the way, damn well that if such a photo ever emerged what the Drive-By Media would do with it. Compare that to the Drive-By Media wishing they were Bill Clinton. Compare that to Nina Burleigh saying she would give Clinton a “Lewinsky” just to thank him for keeping abortion legal. The women in the White House press corps would look at Clinton and then Lewinsky and say, “Why her? What about me?”
I didn’t say they said that, but by virtue of their behavior.
Clinton was treated as a conquering hero, folks, and Mike Pence was treated as a joke.
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RUSH: So, Snerdley, you just asked me a question, essentially if the young women of Hollywood will no longer put up with Weinstein kind of behavior. Well, I thought I would check into that. And, lo and behold, we have a 2010 story, and it’s from Pajiba.com, but it’s a Hollywood-oriented site. The current new actresses have already folded to Harvey and the Harveys in their world. Now just stick with me on this, and we’re gonna get to the phones here right after this.
Quote from this 2010 article on Harvey. The Harvey Girl, capital H, capital G. “The Harvey Girls are easily spotted. They are all very pretty, often in a rather generic sense. Their instant fame and the push behind them comes seemingly out of nowhere and without any justification in terms of resume or skill set.”
What did I just say? What did I just say about the push for fame and how a guy who can make it happen can do anything? “Most obviously, at least as of 2007, they are clothed exclusively in Marchesa on the red carpet.” Marchesa is the clothing line of Harvey Weinstein’s wife. I was asked earlier today if I thought Harvey’s wife would tire of all this and split the scene, and I choked on my cookie. I said, “Are you kidding?” I try not to comment on other people’s marriages. I mean, no two marriages are the same, so it’s risky, but I said to the person asking, “No way.”
And I said, “Well, nobody would know who she is if it weren’t for Harvey, including she knows that.” So Harvey gets every one of the Harvey Girls to wear her clothing line, Georgina Chapman is her name, she’s got a clothing line called Marchesa, and all of Harvey’s Girls were clothed exclusively in Marchesa on the red carpet and in runway shows.
“So if you were wondering why Harvey Weinstein seems only interested in actresses who dress like fairy princesses from Planet Sugarplum, it’s his wife’s fault.” So says this story. “But the most telling sign, if you’re looking, is the Want. These girls, each of them, has the look of desperation, of need. They WILL be famous. They WILL be stars.” And Harvey can make it happen.
So we’re talking here about Amy Adams — this is what the story says — Jennifer Lawrence, Gwyneth Paltrow, Blake Lively, Uma Thurman — some of that are not in your Millennial — some of them still are. But it makes the point that never, ever discount the lure of fame. There’s a reason why there’s a term called a star maker. You and I have known one. Star makers — I don’t want to get too inside baseball, but human nature is human nature, and fame, particularly today in the social media age, it has never been a — what’s the word? A more desired status.
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RUSH: And back to the phones we go. It’s gonna be our second call of the day. Nancy, Northville, Michigan. Great to have you. How are you doing?
CALLER: Good. Thank you very much. But first of all I’d like to say to my family or friends that are listening and are driving, pull off to the side of the road, because the last time my daughter almost got in an accident when she heard my voice on the radio.
RUSH: We can’t have that. Nothing bad ever happens when this program’s on, so we can’t have that.
CALLER: Well, I called because I was reminded of when David Letterman’s indiscretions were revealed.
RUSH: Hm-hm.
CALLER: The hypocrisy of the media and women specifically. Because when he came back after a short vacation, he not only was welcomed, but he got a standing ovation. And I’m sure at least half of that audience were women.
CALLER: Stupidity. I was appalled and have never watched him since.
RUSH: Wait.
CALLER: He’s not on now.
RUSH: No, there’s reason beyond the stupidity for this. I mean, I remember the episode. He didn’t reveal it. Somebody ratted him out and it ended up being very public, found out he was cheating on somebody, cheating on his wife, kids involved, just typical reprobate behavior. He’s the guy, by the way, who was selected to introduce and honor Peyton Manning yesterday as his statue was unveiled before the game in Indianapolis, because Letterman is from Indianapolis, so he was given that high honor.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: There’s no shame. I’ll tell you, I’ll answer the question because time is dwindling. He was applauded because he survived it. He was applauded because CBS didn’t do anything to him about it. I mean, he did not suffer any punishment. Letterman has down pat how to act embarrassed and humble and caught and dumb and stupid and all that, and he prostrated himself. “It’s so sad. He’s such a funny guy, we love him.” Just hero worship. It’s what it was.
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RUSH: Let me ask you a question: Do you think that HBO will ever make a movie about Harvey Weinstein the way they did about Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas? Remember HBO did a movie on Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill just 18 months ago, two years ago? You know why they did it? They did it because it happened back in 1991; they had to remind Millennial generation what a rotten SOB Clarence Thomas is. They weren’t born or paying attention when that happened. So they did a movie to tell everybody today who wasn’t born yet what a serial abuser Clarence Thomas was and how virtuous Anita Hill was.
Now, do you think that HBO, in 25 years, will do a movie highlighting what a reprobate pig Harvey Weinstein was so that the new generation of Hollywood moguls will remember or know? No way, Jose. What will happen is if they do a movie, it will be to herald Harvey Weinstein and his comeback and how he overcame personal demons and — with therapy and the love of a devoted community from Hollywood — was able to fight back and reclaim his seat in the executive suite at the Weinstein Company. That’s how they’ll do it, and this is why I say there will not be any permanent damage to Harvey Weinstein.
Mark my words. Because there’s always gonna be some payoff to kissing up to the guy.
Somewhere in that demented world, it will be the case.
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