RUSH: How about Tom “Dung Heap” Harkin, ladies and gentlemen? Classic, classic illustration of the double standard. Let’s go to audio sound bite number 10, last week was in Ames, Iowa, at the Story County Democrats’ annual fall barbecue. And here’s Tom Harkin.

HARKIN: ThereÂ’s sort of this sense that, “Well, you know I hear so much of Joni Ernst. She is really attractive, and she sounds nice.” Well, I got to thinking about that. I donÂ’t care if sheÂ’s as good looking as Taylor Swift (laughter) or as nice as Mr. Rogers, but if she votes like Michele Bachmann, sheÂ’s wrong for the state of Iowa.

RUSH: So what, these people can bring up women’s appearance with impunity? Tom “Dung Heap” Harkin can talk about Joni Ernst and her appearance, good or bad, and it’s not sexism, and it doesn’t constitute a War on Women? Tom Harkin says don’t be fooled because Joni Ernst is really attractive. So you’ve got Clinton out “plugging” Kay Hagan in North Carolina. You’ve got “Dung Heap” Harkin who’s obviously got a thing for Joni Ernst. She’s attractive, but he says don’t be fooled because Joni Ernst is really attractive.

Now, if I wanted to join this fray, if I wanted to join this I could make some comments about what would “Dung Heap” Harkin say about Mary Landrieu? Would he say, “Don’t be fooled because she is really attractive”? No. What he would say is vote for her because — well, think of Rush Limbaugh’s Undeniable Truth of Life number 24. Would he say, while Bill Clinton is plugging Kay Hagan, would he say, “Don’t be fooled by Kay Hagan, who’s really attractive”? Would he say, “Don’t be fooled by Debbie ‘Blabbermouth’ Schultz because she’s really attractive”? Nobody would.

This is where I dip my toe in the water here, folks, to join Tom Harkin in the deep end. Could Tom Harkin find a Democrat female candidate about whom to say… (interruption) No. That’s why he pointed it out about Joni Ernst. This is unreal. All these supposedly sensitive, compassionate, understanding, yeah, single women can trust Democrats. Single women can totally trust Democrats. They do not objectify them, and they see them as pure human beings, and they have no grand designs. What’s he out there doing?

The thing you shouldn’t notice about the Republican Joni Ernst — who’s up seven, by the way, in the latest Des Moines Register poll — is that she is attractive. (interruption) She’s a looker, in his view, and that disqualifies her. That’s the point. People are supposed to ignore that. Yeah, she sounds nice, she’s really attractive, but that’s not a reason to vote for her. You know, she votes like Michele Bachmann!

So they went and found Joni Ernst on Fox & Friends this morning. Steve Doocy said, “When you heard Tom Harkin, the sitting senator from Iowa, say that about you — that you’re attractive — what did you think?”

ERNST: I was very offended that Senator Harkin would say that. I think it’s unfortunate that he and many of their party believe that you can’t be a real woman if you’re conservative and you’re female. If my name had been John Ernst, attached to my resume, Senator Harkin would not have said those things.

RUSH: Let me tell you what this is all about — and I’m not afraid to say this. Harkin and a number of other Democrats are intimidated by what they think is Joni Ernst’s attractiveness. Now, why would they be offended by that? I’m just asking. I want you to think about it. What is offensive, or what is intimidating about an attractive woman? Why is that a disqualifier?

Of all the things that Harkin could point out about her to try to gin up opposition to her, why mention her looks? Can you imagine if a Republican did that? What is it that’s intimidating about her looks? What is it that’s off-putting about her looks? Is it that unique, in Harkin’s world? Does he not run across very many attractive women in the Democrat Party? Is that why this is something that sounds out to him? (interruption)

Of course he’s refusing to apologize for his sexist remarks! Of course he’s not gonna apologize. The Drive-Bys are not gonna insist that he apologize. He hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s a liberal Democrat going the way… He’s heading to that big dung heap in the sky, retirement, and he’s not gonna apologize for it. “Don’t be fooled because she’s really attractive and sounds nice.”

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here’s Scott in Waterloo, Iowa. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Thank you, Mr. Limbaugh. I am really honored to be on your show.

RUSH: Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it. Honored to have you.

CALLER: Love your books. They’re fabulous. What I wanted comment on was the fear that’s coming out of the Democratic Party here in Iowa. They are terrified, apparently, because on the radio channel that I listen to, radio station I listen to all day long, they are four conservative talk hosts all day long, and during these shows, they have been bad-mouthing Joni Ernst all the way through. Not the hosts, the Democrats have been having their little say-so in their commercials saying how terrible she is and she’s gonna take away the Social Security from everybody. I mean, they scared my parents into not wanting to vote for her until I sat ’em down and talked with ’em a little bit, you know, discussed it. She can’t do that on her own and, you know, it would take an act of Congress —

RUSH: Well, wait a minute. It’s not true, either.

CALLER: Exactly.

RUSH: Jeez, not only can she not do it, it’s not true. Look, you need to tell your parents, you need to sit your parents down and say, “Hey, dad, do you remember 30 years ago when the Democrats tried this about your mom and dad? Do you remember 50 years ago, mom, when the Democrats said that the Republicans are gonna take away your Social Security? Mom and dad, has anybody ever lost their Social Security? Mom and dad, have the Republicans ever taken anybody’s Social Security away? In fact, aren’t the Republicans the guys who came up with the latest Social Security Medicare Part B entitlement?”

To me this is a sign of utter crisis, failure, disaster impending. If the Democrats are reduced to claiming a woman, who’s not even in the Senate yet, is going to take away their Social Security — the reason why it used to work is because, if that’s all you had as a seasoned citizen, you couldn’t take the risk. If somebody came along that you trusted, your friendly neighborhood Democrat charlatan, and told you that the other guys wanted to take away your Social Security, you didn’t have time to analyze, “Oh, no, they won’t.” You vote against those guys.

But it stopped working. You know where it really stopped working? In Florida, it doesn’t work. God’s waiting room, and it doesn’t work. And you know why it doesn’t work? Because nobody’s ever lost their Social Security. To me this is a last-ditch, panic effort. And, Scott, you can’t stop ’em from running the ads. This is all they’ve got. I know it scares you that it scared your parents into not voting for her. That’s the intended result, and you did the right thing by telling them that she couldn’t do it by herself anyway. But you need to go back to ’em and ask them to think if they know anybody or have heard of anybody who ever had their Social Security taken away from them.

Now, sometimes when there’s a death in the family and their SSI benefits are disputed and so forth, but outside of that, it doesn’t happen. It never has. Ask them, have you ever heard, do you ever remember a single piece of legislation where the Republicans advanced a bill that said, “Resolved: We will eliminate Social Security on everybody over 55.” Have you ever heard that? It’s never happened. It’s never even been contemplated, except by the Democrats. It’s called death panels and Obamacare. If you want to tell your parents the truth about who’s planning to take things away from the elderly, you point ’em to Obamacare, Scott. And you call these local hosts or whatever, anybody you need to call, and you tell ’em.

If your parents or any other seasoned citizen, if they’re really worried about government taking away things, tell ’em Obamacare, tell ’em the Democrat Party, tell ’em death panels. Tell ’em it’s the Democrat Party and Obamacare that’s gonna make a decision based on somebody’s age and their future productivity versus a young person, whether it makes any sense to cure whatever ails them. It’s right there in Obamacare. There will be health rationing. It’s a Democrat Party idea.

Joni Ernst hasn’t even gotten anywhere near that. Joni Ernst opposes Obamacare and everything in it. As is most often the case, when the Democrats level a charge like this, Scott, they’re actually describing themselves and trying to lay it off on their opponents. It’s called projection. It’s the Democrat Party that has already cut people’s health benefits, already raised their premiums, already eliminated the relationship with their doctors and nurses and health insurance company. The Democrat Party’s already started destroying their relationship with health care.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: This is Frank in Des Moines, Iowa. Glad you waited, sir. Hello.

CALLER: Yeah. Thanks, Rush. As a lifelong Iowan, this sexist slam by Harkin against Joni Ernst was just a way to belittle her looks, to marginalize her looks in saying that there’s nothing behind the looks. It’s just fluff.

RUSH: Right.

CALLER: Hillary Clinton slammed our state when she left the last go ’round saying that we weren’t diverse enough and that we’ve never put a woman in office from our state. And you got Bill Clinton out there saying, “We need to get rid of identity politics,” and then Hillary’s over in Cedar Rapids embracing identity politics. So these guys need to get their stories together.

RUSH: No, they don’t. (sigh) It obviously worked. You’re concerned about it. You’re calling concerned they’re getting away with all this lying and misstatements. You’re worried about people falling for it, right?

CALLER: Well, when’s the press gonna call ’em on it?

RUSH: Never! N! E! V! E! R! It is never going to happen.

CALLER: If Chuck Grassley would have made the same statement against a Democrat woman running for Senate of this state, he would have been hauled out of DC on a rail.

RUSH: No kidding. Absolutely right. If Bill Clinton would have talked about Joni Ernst’s looks, somebody would have tried to set ’em up on a date. It’s a double standard that has always existed, and it will continue to exist. You know, Bill Clinton once said (impression), “Yeah, I got a look at that mummy, that 500-year-old mummy. That mummy, I tell you! If I’d have been alive back when she was, I’d have asked that mummy out.” People thought, “He’s the coolest!”

He’s married, his wife’s in the White House somewhere, and here’s come some six-foot-tall female college basketball star. Clinton’s looking up at her, and you can actually see him drooling. (impression) “You know, I saw a mummy last week that looked almost good as you do, Babe. Ha-ha-ha! I love these tall women.” He said that.

He actually told the press, “You imagine these tall women? I mean, ha-ha! There’s nothing like it,” and he’s just romanticized and, “Ah, he’s such a cool dude, man,” and all that. Here comes Dung Heap, “Pay no attention to Joni Ernst. All she is is pretty.” That’s as sexist you can get. That is exactly the kind of behavior the feminazis claimed that they wanted to wipe out: Only noticing a woman’s appearance.

The better it was, the less anything else about her mattered. Here comes old Dung Heap! I mean, these guys spit in the faces of their own supporters. They spit in the face of their own policies. But when is the media gonna hold ’em accountable? Never. Doesn’t Hillary have…? Isn’t Hillary still fuming a little bit over what happened to her in Iowa in 2008 with Obama coming in and mastering the caucus process?

You know, so for Hillary to go insulting Iowa? I would think there’d be a different way of handling this than asking the press to do it. I’d say, “Mrs. Clinton, are you still upset that that Iowa REJECTED YOU in 2008, for the young, attractive black guy nobody knew?” That was the start of it all. He mastered the caucus process by busing in a bunch of people from out of state doing whatever he had to do.

Mrs. Clinton was playing by the rules and so forth, and she got smacked out of there. So it makes perfect sense she’d go back to Iowa and insult people again or whatever it was that she did. But she is the preferred Democrat nominee in 2016. So, Frank, you’re not gonna have anybody in the media or in the Democrat Party in Iowa call the Clintons on any mistakes that they make.