*Please Note: As you will read in the transcript below, it appears that Rush’s instincts on this story were right, but the staff forced him to read a hoax. Joseph Olson is a professor at Hamline University, but he has posted the following disclaimer on his website in reference to a version of the story that Rush read on-air.
“DISCLAIMER: There is an e-mail floating around the internet dealing with the 2000 Bush/Gore election, remarks of a Scotish philosopher named Alexander Tyler, etc. Part of it is attributed to me. It is entirely BOGUS as to my authorship. I’ve been trying to kill it since December 2000. For details see: http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/tyler.asp.”
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Interesting facts. Unreported statistics about the 2008 election. These stats are put together from a Newsweek poll and data that was published in the magazine. It’s been assembled here by Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul . All right, just do a quick Google search and make sure there’s a Hemline University School of Law. Just make sure. Something named Hemline, as many scams as there are on the Internet. I’d do it myself, but I’d have to turn away from the microphone, it would be unprofessional. I would have had the answer by now. Hemline University School of Law. Can’t find it? Then I may not do the story. I’ll set it aside. Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul? St. Paul , Minnesota . Hamline? See if they have a professor named Joseph Olson there. Is it a School of Law ? A School of Law . Hamline. All right. We’re getting closer. See if there’s a professor Joseph Olson at Hamline. Who would name a — well, a donor obviously is named Hamline.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay, there is a Joseph Olson at Hamline University law school in St. Paul . You’ve confirmed that. Okay. Then I just got a typo here, ’cause this says Hemline University . So this data comes from a Newsweek poll, and it’s interesting, put together by Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota , Professor Joseph Olson. This is the 2008 election, presidential race. “Number of States won by: Democrats: 20; Republicans: 30. Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000; Republicans: 2,427,000. Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million; Republicans: 143 million. Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13.2; Republicans: 2.1.
Professor Olson adds: ‘In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in rented or government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare…’ Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the ‘complacency and apathy’ phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation’s population already having reached the ‘governmental dependency’ phase.” And we put the map up, the county map, when we saw it, the square mileage, there’s no question about it. It’s incredible statistics, and again he put it together from Newsweek data.
END TRANSCRIPT
*Note: Links to content outside RushLimbaugh.com usually become inactive over time.