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RUSH: We have four sound bites from The View today, and here’s the first. We’ll just play these in order. I don’t even need to set ’em up.

WALTERS: I want to quote something you said: ‘Does the country actually want to watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?’ You said this about Hillary Clinton.

RUSH ARCHIVE: Yes.


WALTERS: You have watched me get older on a daily basis.

RUSH ARCHIVE: Right.

WALTERS: Sarah Palin, whom you love, is going to get older —

RUSH ARCHIVE: Yes.

WALTERS: — on a daily basis. Men get older on a daily basis.

RUSH ARCHIVE: Yes.

WALTERS: What’s with you, Rush?

RUSH ARCHIVE: (laughing) You know, the context —

WALTERS: I never thought I’d be sitting here doing a number with you.

RUSH ARCHIVE: The context of the statement was how unfair our culture is to aging women versus aging men.

WALTERS: You weren’t fighting our battle.

RUSH ARCHIVE: I was!

WALTERS: No.

RUSH ARCHIVE: I meant it as a comment on our culture in a sympathetic way.

WALTERS: Okay. I will let that go.

RUSH: Now, they discuss it on The View, and Barbara Walters starts out, but Whoopi says in this bite that it’s not what I really meant.

WALTERS: He was a good sport. I appreciated his coming on with us. He is entertaining.

SHEPHERD: Yeah. Well, what he said, though, I was reading the transcript, and he used a lot of comparisons to Hollywood, and — I don’t know, we never had a woman who’s gotten so far that we could make — that we could say that.

WALTERS: Me.

SHEPHERD: No, no, I’m sorry — (crosstalk)

HASSELBECK: In politics. In politics. (crosstalk)

SHEPHERD: Barbara, I’m talking about in politics. (crosstalk)

HASSELBECK: I think your point, Sherri, is one that’s important. I think in his transcript it was more of a social commentary on how, you know, we are obsessed with looks and aging and — and weight, and — you know, and it’s more difficult for a woman. (crosstalk) Come on and say they have a hard time getting old.


GOLDBERG: Come on. Come on. (crosstalk) He was — he was doing what he does. (crosstalk)

HASSELBECK: Read the transcript.

GOLDBERG: He’s — he did not — I — I not only will read the transcript, I listen to him. I listen to him on a daily basis, and I’m telling you —

HASSELBECK: It was social commentary. (crosstalk)

GOLDBERG: Yes. He was — and he was being a little crappy. Come on. He was — (crosstalk) no, forget the sexism– he was being crappy. Yes. He called her several other names that were not attractive.

HASSELBECK: You’re talking Hillary?

GOLDBERG: Yeah. When it — when it comes to Hillary Clinton, he was being a — not a very nice man about it. That’s all I’m saying.

RUSH: Snerdley wants to know who the guy was. That was Whoopi Goldberg. There are only women on this show, James. That was Whoopi. Okay, so the conversation continues, and it’s clear that they’ve got the transcript to know what I was talking about, but they had to keep debating this. And it’s interesting, this next bite goes 48 seconds and not one of them stops to breathe.

HASSELBECK: We don’t tolerate aging well in this country anymore — (crosstalk)

GOLDBERG: That’s not what he was talking about. He was not talking about that. (crosstalk)

WALTERS: He also said about Hillary that he thought it was such a wise decision of Barack Obama to make, because now he took her out of the running for president, but he also — (crosstalk)

BEHAR: But a lot of what he says is true because — but in this particular environment, where people are losing their jobs, and we’re worried about the wars on two fronts, and all this other stuff, looks don’t matter as much or Sarah Palin would have won the award for — would have won the election for John McCain. (crosstalk) Madeleine Albright, when you see her, she’s not a beautiful woman, and she’s getting older, but you say that woman has gravitas, she knows what she’s talking about. (crosstalk)

HASSELBECK: We are a look-obsessed society, we are a look-obsessed society, and he made the — (crosstalk)

BEHAR: I’m glad he knows that, I mean — (crosstalk)

GOLDBERG: He made that very clear, because — (crosstalk)

BEHAR: — $38 million for that comment. (crosstalk)

RUSH: All right, now let’s go back, let’s listen. This is what I said December 17th, 2007. See, we can always go back. Now, they claim they have the transcript for this. But here it is, December 17th of 2007, right here behind this very same Golden EIB Microphone.

RUSH ARCHIVE: This is a country obsessed with appearance. It’s a country obsessed with looks. The number of people in public life who appear on television or on the big screen who are content to be who they are, you can probably count on one hand. Everybody is trying to make themselves look different and in that situation, in that case they think they’re making themselves look better. It’s just the way our culture has evolved. It’s the way the country is. It’s almost an addiction that some people have to what I call the perfection that Hollywood presents of successful, beautiful, fun-loving people. So the question is this. Will this country want to actually watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis? We know that the presidency ages the occupants of that office rapidly. You go back and look at — well, you can’t use Clinton because he dyed his hair based on the audience he was speaking to. But take a look at some pictures of Bush in 2000, when he was campaigning, 2001 when he was inaugurated, take a look at him now. It’s just been eight years. The difference is stark. He’s kept himself in good shape and so forth, but you can say that this is a sad, unfortunate thing, but men aging makes them look more authoritative, accomplished, distinguished. Sadly, it’s not that way for women, and they will tell you. (interruption) Well, Snerdley, you’re sitting there thinking I’m on the precipice of the cliff here without a bungee cord. I’m not. I am trying to be honest.

Look, if I’m on the edge of the bungee cord then I’ll take the leap, bungee cord will save me, because I’m just giving you an honest assessment here of American culture. Look at all of the evidence. I mean I’ve just barely scratched the surface with some of the evidence. And so 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, it will impact perceptions. Politics, perceptions are reality. So there will have to be steps taken to avoid the appearance of aging. You know, politics is not for sissies. Now, I’m looking at the people on the other side of the glass here and they’re laughing and they’re smiling, they think I’m making a joke and there’s some big punch line. I’m not. (interruption) You’re not laughing at that? What are you laughing at? He’s smiling ’cause it’s true, okay. Maimone is smiling ’cause it’s true. And what also happens is when you say something that’s true that people don’t want to hear, man, do you catch it. I am fully prepared. I’m going to catch it here. That’s really why he’s smiling ’cause he knows I’m going to catch because you’re also smiling because you know I can take it, you know that I can catch it and throw it right back.

RUSH: And, as I look back on this, I do see that the Democrats nominated Obama.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Rosie in Cincinnati, nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Glad you’re back.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: Hey, I was commenting on Whoopi Goldberg’s criticism of you for saying not very nice things about Hillary Clinton, and if memory serves me correctly, is this not the woman who, at a family friendly Kerry-Edwards rally in ’04 grabbed her crotch and said, ‘Keep your hands off-my-you-know-what?’

RUSH: Yeah, ‘bush.’

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: Yes, but there’s a different standard for liberal entertainers and comedians. And of course I didn’t say anything about Hillary. We played the full statement. I was engaged in a discussion of the harshness of our culture toward aging and women and so forth. But look, you know, Rosie, I appreciate your support. You have to understand, these people all want to be me.

CALLER: Well, I think Whoopi listens to your show, if she does, because I think hers has failed miserably, has it not?

RUSH: She did do a radio show in the morning in New York. I don’t think she’s doing it anymore. That’s why she’s at The View. This is what I mean. It’s easier to list Hollywood and TV people who don’t have a radio show now, take less time to do that than to list those who do. They all want to get into radio and I’ll guarantee you, it’s not because of the Disney network.

CALLER: Thanks, Rush. Got your back.

RUSH: You bet.

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