1 00:00:15,396 --> 00:00:23,196 Speaker 1: Pushkin. There's a place in our world where the known 2 00:00:23,276 --> 00:00:29,276 Speaker 1: things go, a corridor of the mind lined with shelves 3 00:00:29,476 --> 00:00:34,236 Speaker 1: cluttered with proof. Inside. I've been cataloging my collection of 4 00:00:34,316 --> 00:00:40,396 Speaker 1: evidence about propagandists, hypnotists and conspiracy theorists, labeling reels with 5 00:00:40,516 --> 00:00:45,356 Speaker 1: masking tape and sharpies, organizing them by date, reel after 6 00:00:45,436 --> 00:00:48,516 Speaker 1: reel of tape. It's like the Nixon Oval Office in here, 7 00:00:49,636 --> 00:00:51,716 Speaker 1: recordings of the sorts of people we've been listening to 8 00:00:51,756 --> 00:00:57,916 Speaker 1: all season, episode after episode, the whole light among the world, 9 00:00:57,956 --> 00:01:00,756 Speaker 1: line on a man who makes his living by telling 10 00:01:00,756 --> 00:01:08,476 Speaker 1: the truth. I want you to keep on going back, 11 00:01:09,116 --> 00:01:13,156 Speaker 1: back and back, and your mindful of them wall of secrecy, 12 00:01:13,196 --> 00:01:16,956 Speaker 1: the news media being silent, and the pants he's locked up, 13 00:01:17,036 --> 00:01:21,716 Speaker 1: and the psychological profile Robert Ripley, actss Sally Maury Bernstein, 14 00:01:22,116 --> 00:01:31,796 Speaker 1: May Brussel Valentin zor yeah, okay, each of them asking you, 15 00:01:31,836 --> 00:01:35,516 Speaker 1: the listener, to doubt what you think you know, and 16 00:01:35,676 --> 00:01:38,796 Speaker 1: very often that doubt is delivered through the medium of radio. 17 00:01:39,956 --> 00:01:42,836 Speaker 1: I've got just one more of these voices. He's all 18 00:01:42,836 --> 00:01:47,076 Speaker 1: the rest, all balled up together. You are, my friends, 19 00:01:47,076 --> 00:01:50,036 Speaker 1: about to be exposed to the kind of bristling, cogent 20 00:01:50,116 --> 00:01:54,276 Speaker 1: analysis available nowhere else. Because of this, your initial reaction 21 00:01:54,356 --> 00:01:57,636 Speaker 1: may be shock and disbelief. That's the voice of mister 22 00:01:57,716 --> 00:02:01,076 Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh. And I'm Jillipoor, host of a show that 23 00:02:01,116 --> 00:02:03,876 Speaker 1: could hardly be more different from the Rush Limbaugh Show. 24 00:02:04,316 --> 00:02:07,156 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Last Archive, the show about how we know, 25 00:02:07,236 --> 00:02:10,316 Speaker 1: what we know and why sometimes it seems lately as 26 00:02:10,316 --> 00:02:13,756 Speaker 1: if we don't know anything at all. Step over the 27 00:02:13,836 --> 00:02:16,876 Speaker 1: threshold and along the passage of time to the year 28 00:02:17,076 --> 00:02:23,436 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight. Don't fight it, don't even try. Just 29 00:02:23,756 --> 00:02:29,236 Speaker 1: surrender yourself. Surrender yourself. That's his mantra, It's not mine. 30 00:02:29,956 --> 00:02:37,276 Speaker 1: My mantra is never surrender. What's the first thing you 31 00:02:37,356 --> 00:02:40,956 Speaker 1: do when you get in the car, Click the seatbelt, 32 00:02:41,676 --> 00:02:46,436 Speaker 1: switch on the ignition, turn on the radio. Yeah, find 33 00:02:46,476 --> 00:02:52,796 Speaker 1: the right station here a little there, you want their 34 00:02:52,916 --> 00:03:09,036 Speaker 1: dingle one Grace is Roman her car. Radios first became 35 00:03:09,196 --> 00:03:12,876 Speaker 1: comment in the nineteen thirties. For decades, radio was AM radio, 36 00:03:13,316 --> 00:03:15,956 Speaker 1: local stations, maybe with some top of the hour news 37 00:03:16,196 --> 00:03:21,236 Speaker 1: in a lot of sports, red baseball is love. Do 38 00:03:21,356 --> 00:03:23,476 Speaker 1: you buy the first bank of the Bank of Sintobaty 39 00:03:23,836 --> 00:03:26,836 Speaker 1: or your money grows deeply in high return certificates of 40 00:03:26,876 --> 00:03:29,756 Speaker 1: the populo. Something else that had long been popular on 41 00:03:29,876 --> 00:03:33,956 Speaker 1: AM radio gospel shows, the voice of the Hour of Decision, 42 00:03:34,116 --> 00:03:37,996 Speaker 1: Billy Graham, So for you, for the nation, this is 43 00:03:38,036 --> 00:03:46,876 Speaker 1: the Hour of Decision. By the nineteen seventies, the most 44 00:03:46,956 --> 00:03:50,836 Speaker 1: popular AM radio shows were drivetime shows, the ones that 45 00:03:50,916 --> 00:03:54,436 Speaker 1: aired during your commute. Rock and Roll, hosted by fast 46 00:03:54,436 --> 00:03:59,756 Speaker 1: talking DJs nine O three and fourteen k on the 47 00:03:59,796 --> 00:04:03,196 Speaker 1: award winning a ridy rocky roll radio show with funny 48 00:04:03,196 --> 00:04:04,796 Speaker 1: and probic for all some of you. No doubt you're 49 00:04:04,916 --> 00:04:07,876 Speaker 1: wondering one award I am one. I'll tell you not 50 00:04:08,076 --> 00:04:13,956 Speaker 1: other than the mark warning that young buckaroo, that's the 51 00:04:14,076 --> 00:04:19,476 Speaker 1: young Rush Limbaugh Jeff Christie was a named radio back 52 00:04:19,516 --> 00:04:22,196 Speaker 1: then boy could graduate our name and claim a winner. 53 00:04:22,236 --> 00:04:24,556 Speaker 1: Jeff royan with a East bad and also Jeff almost 54 00:04:24,556 --> 00:04:27,236 Speaker 1: think he's two six packs of carefree sugar list gun 55 00:04:27,236 --> 00:04:30,796 Speaker 1: against it all day. Limbaugh was born in Missouri. He 56 00:04:30,836 --> 00:04:33,556 Speaker 1: went to Southeast Missouri State University for a year, but 57 00:04:33,716 --> 00:04:37,236 Speaker 1: dropped out to work in radio. In nineteen seventy one, 58 00:04:37,436 --> 00:04:39,356 Speaker 1: he got a job as a disc jockey at an 59 00:04:39,356 --> 00:04:42,836 Speaker 1: AM station outside Pittsburgh, He got fired after a year 60 00:04:42,836 --> 00:04:45,116 Speaker 1: and a half and went to a station called KQUV 61 00:04:45,796 --> 00:04:48,236 Speaker 1: and Elmin made the twelve more empreys for you in 62 00:04:48,316 --> 00:04:51,356 Speaker 1: the Camprey Rock Conser contest. Even jack Box for tomorrow 63 00:04:51,436 --> 00:04:54,476 Speaker 1: is two hundred and forty dollars and fourteen. Then he 64 00:04:54,556 --> 00:04:56,116 Speaker 1: got the guys that you can remember it. Bob the 65 00:04:56,196 --> 00:04:58,236 Speaker 1: Carnal makes the next call to one. Limbaugh died in 66 00:04:58,316 --> 00:05:01,716 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one at the age of seventy. His obituaries 67 00:05:01,716 --> 00:05:05,396 Speaker 1: head headlines like we're living in the world Rush Limbaugh created. 68 00:05:05,996 --> 00:05:08,636 Speaker 1: And that's true. But even though you may think you 69 00:05:08,676 --> 00:05:11,436 Speaker 1: know all ways, we now live in Rush Limbaugh's world. 70 00:05:12,036 --> 00:05:16,436 Speaker 1: There's more to understand, and has to do with what 71 00:05:16,476 --> 00:05:19,036 Speaker 1: a lot of this season has been exploring how we 72 00:05:19,156 --> 00:05:22,956 Speaker 1: hear voices on the radio. There were lots of testimonials 73 00:05:22,956 --> 00:05:26,236 Speaker 1: to Limbo after he died, but one comment really stuck 74 00:05:26,276 --> 00:05:29,676 Speaker 1: with me. A guy wrote on YouTube his show was 75 00:05:29,716 --> 00:05:32,636 Speaker 1: the only one that came in clearly, so I listened. 76 00:05:33,996 --> 00:05:43,036 Speaker 1: People are slinkingly started sportive way to fail the Limbaugh 77 00:05:43,076 --> 00:05:45,436 Speaker 1: Even when he was Jeff Christie, he was a big guy, 78 00:05:45,476 --> 00:05:49,276 Speaker 1: wide grin waved his hands a lot, big personality, a 79 00:05:49,356 --> 00:05:53,756 Speaker 1: little George Costanza meets Fred Flintstone. In nineteen seventy four, 80 00:05:53,796 --> 00:05:56,396 Speaker 1: he lost yet another job. He moved back home with 81 00:05:56,436 --> 00:05:59,396 Speaker 1: his parents in Missouri. He was twenty three. It was 82 00:05:59,436 --> 00:06:01,516 Speaker 1: a very tough time to try to make a career 83 00:06:01,556 --> 00:06:06,196 Speaker 1: in AM radio, mainly because FM radio was on the rise, 84 00:06:07,956 --> 00:06:11,316 Speaker 1: a faith free start, a threem or FM stereo car 85 00:06:11,516 --> 00:06:18,436 Speaker 1: radio sounds starting in the nineteen fifties, the era of 86 00:06:18,476 --> 00:06:22,036 Speaker 1: Elvis Little Richard. People bought FM radios for their houses, 87 00:06:22,356 --> 00:06:25,916 Speaker 1: but the FM dial only really exploded in the nineteen seventies, when, 88 00:06:25,916 --> 00:06:28,076 Speaker 1: for the first time, you could get FM in your car. 89 00:06:28,756 --> 00:06:32,436 Speaker 1: At this point, AM radio was mono, just one track. 90 00:06:34,276 --> 00:06:39,476 Speaker 1: FM was stereo was immersive. Naturally, everyone wanted to switch 91 00:06:39,516 --> 00:06:42,956 Speaker 1: from plain old mono to stereo. You'd bring your car 92 00:06:42,956 --> 00:06:45,356 Speaker 1: into the shop and switch out your AM radio for 93 00:06:45,396 --> 00:06:54,196 Speaker 1: an FM radio with stereo speakers. This change in the 94 00:06:54,236 --> 00:06:57,116 Speaker 1: sound of radio from AM to FM would have vast 95 00:06:57,156 --> 00:07:01,676 Speaker 1: repercussions for the history of knowledge. A very long reverb, 96 00:07:04,396 --> 00:07:08,796 Speaker 1: AM radio suffered, listenership plummeted, and then so did AD revenue. 97 00:07:09,196 --> 00:07:12,236 Speaker 1: By nineteen eighty seven, the majority of AM radio stations 98 00:07:12,236 --> 00:07:15,076 Speaker 1: were no longer making a profit, and people who worked 99 00:07:15,076 --> 00:07:17,956 Speaker 1: at AM radio stations in the nineteen seventies were losing 100 00:07:17,996 --> 00:07:22,196 Speaker 1: their jobs, including in Kansas City, where Limbaugh, who'd been 101 00:07:22,236 --> 00:07:25,356 Speaker 1: moving from job to job, had landed. All the DJs 102 00:07:25,396 --> 00:07:29,836 Speaker 1: got fired. I was spared as assistant program director, and 103 00:07:29,836 --> 00:07:34,516 Speaker 1: you know what that meant, programming the automation machine. Limbo 104 00:07:34,596 --> 00:07:37,716 Speaker 1: didn't last long as an assistant program director. He took 105 00:07:37,716 --> 00:07:41,396 Speaker 1: a job instead with the Kansas City Royals baseball team. Meanwhile, 106 00:07:41,476 --> 00:07:44,316 Speaker 1: AM radio stations were beginning to figure out that if 107 00:07:44,356 --> 00:07:47,276 Speaker 1: they could leave music to the FM band and concentrate 108 00:07:47,356 --> 00:07:50,636 Speaker 1: on talk shows, they could start making money again. In 109 00:07:50,796 --> 00:07:53,676 Speaker 1: mono talk sounds fine, even if you might not agree 110 00:07:53,676 --> 00:07:56,236 Speaker 1: with what someone's saying. The simple fact matter is that 111 00:07:56,796 --> 00:07:59,956 Speaker 1: the homeless advocacy in this country is, I think, based 112 00:08:00,036 --> 00:08:05,476 Speaker 1: upon fraud. In nineteen eighty four, broadcasting under his own name, 113 00:08:05,916 --> 00:08:09,636 Speaker 1: Limbaugh started a new kind of talk radio show, Incremento 114 00:08:09,956 --> 00:08:14,076 Speaker 1: on KFBK. He pretty much invented a whole new format. 115 00:08:14,836 --> 00:08:18,796 Speaker 1: Soon he had a deal for national syndication. The opinions 116 00:08:18,796 --> 00:08:22,276 Speaker 1: expressed on the Rush Limbaugh program do not necessarily reflect 117 00:08:22,316 --> 00:08:26,556 Speaker 1: those of WABC Radio or its management, and now here's 118 00:08:26,556 --> 00:08:31,276 Speaker 1: a Rush Limbaugh. By the way, that's a gutlass disclaimer. 119 00:08:31,316 --> 00:08:32,996 Speaker 1: The view is expressed by the host of this show 120 00:08:33,036 --> 00:08:35,716 Speaker 1: ought to become federal law in the station and sponsors 121 00:08:35,996 --> 00:08:40,796 Speaker 1: all who heartily endorsed them. The Rush Limbaugh Show was 122 00:08:40,836 --> 00:08:44,116 Speaker 1: a one way wall of talk. Limbaugh was funny, he 123 00:08:44,236 --> 00:08:47,596 Speaker 1: was angry. His program started with a news digest, then 124 00:08:47,596 --> 00:08:50,756 Speaker 1: a series of opinions, mixed with calls from listeners who 125 00:08:50,836 --> 00:08:54,796 Speaker 1: agreed with those opinions. Here's voice now, and it sounds 126 00:08:54,836 --> 00:08:58,396 Speaker 1: so utterly familiar. That's because it's the voice of the 127 00:08:58,436 --> 00:09:03,876 Speaker 1: political YouTuber, or of a certain sort of podcaster. Brash, annoying, 128 00:09:04,156 --> 00:09:06,836 Speaker 1: no at all. But it was a new voice then, 129 00:09:07,156 --> 00:09:09,716 Speaker 1: and it spoke to listeners for three hours a day, 130 00:09:10,276 --> 00:09:13,916 Speaker 1: five days a week. So to give you just a 131 00:09:13,996 --> 00:09:17,996 Speaker 1: bit of an idea about the show, there are no 132 00:09:18,156 --> 00:09:23,716 Speaker 1: guests never. We don't talk about single issues or themes ever, 133 00:09:24,036 --> 00:09:28,556 Speaker 1: unless they evolve as the program goes. It is pretty 134 00:09:28,596 --> 00:09:33,836 Speaker 1: much an open line discussion each end, every day. Limba 135 00:09:34,076 --> 00:09:39,396 Speaker 1: revolutionized radio open line. It was all him, even some 136 00:09:39,476 --> 00:09:42,876 Speaker 1: of the ads. At a time when human resources departments 137 00:09:42,876 --> 00:09:46,996 Speaker 1: were newly requiring sexual harassment training, Limbaugh spent a lot 138 00:09:47,036 --> 00:09:50,396 Speaker 1: of his time on air attacking feminists, especially after Anita 139 00:09:50,476 --> 00:09:54,556 Speaker 1: Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. 140 00:09:55,236 --> 00:10:00,276 Speaker 1: Limba made a fake ad about Feminazi trading cards. I'll 141 00:10:00,276 --> 00:10:02,796 Speaker 1: give you two glorious items, mon Anita. Trading cards have 142 00:10:02,876 --> 00:10:05,436 Speaker 1: always been for males only. It's just not fair, It's 143 00:10:05,476 --> 00:10:07,916 Speaker 1: not right, ya. I still nail post. I'm Betty Freedom. 144 00:10:08,156 --> 00:10:13,036 Speaker 1: Feminaz card are design the woman in mind. I remember 145 00:10:13,036 --> 00:10:15,716 Speaker 1: in those years my dad listening to Limbaugh. I drove 146 00:10:15,716 --> 00:10:18,076 Speaker 1: my mother nuts. I bet a lot of families had 147 00:10:18,116 --> 00:10:21,836 Speaker 1: an experience like that Limbaugh. He'd say it seemed anything, 148 00:10:21,996 --> 00:10:24,916 Speaker 1: so partly people tuned in for the thrill of it, 149 00:10:25,076 --> 00:10:28,116 Speaker 1: to hear what he'd say next. For the rest of us, though, 150 00:10:28,116 --> 00:10:30,116 Speaker 1: it was like getting kicked in the face every day. 151 00:10:30,476 --> 00:10:34,076 Speaker 1: He went after feminists. He liked him mock environmentalists, gays 152 00:10:34,116 --> 00:10:36,756 Speaker 1: and lesbians. He made a lot of jokes about AIDS. 153 00:10:37,916 --> 00:10:41,156 Speaker 1: Despite or really because of all that, Limbaugh's audience just 154 00:10:41,276 --> 00:10:45,356 Speaker 1: grew and grew. Mainly that audience was men, white men 155 00:10:45,676 --> 00:10:48,476 Speaker 1: who are angry. His angry as rush seemed to be 156 00:10:49,276 --> 00:10:51,596 Speaker 1: real wages for white men who had gone to college, 157 00:10:51,596 --> 00:10:54,916 Speaker 1: were dropping. They're still dropping. Some of these guys really 158 00:10:54,916 --> 00:10:57,756 Speaker 1: did have a lot to be angry about. Rush told 159 00:10:57,796 --> 00:11:01,356 Speaker 1: him who to be angry at. The people who loved Rush. 160 00:11:01,396 --> 00:11:05,036 Speaker 1: They called themselves ditto heads because they believed everything he 161 00:11:05,116 --> 00:11:11,196 Speaker 1: said and would say it back. Ditto Limbo's format, the 162 00:11:11,236 --> 00:11:14,556 Speaker 1: wall of talk push nearly everything else off talk radio, 163 00:11:15,156 --> 00:11:18,116 Speaker 1: all the kookie chit chat and cooking shows and carpentry 164 00:11:18,116 --> 00:11:23,276 Speaker 1: shows and community theater everything. Meanwhile, radio stations, which for 165 00:11:23,316 --> 00:11:26,196 Speaker 1: a long time had been mom and pop operations, were 166 00:11:26,196 --> 00:11:30,916 Speaker 1: getting bought out by giant, consolidated national and even global corporations. 167 00:11:31,796 --> 00:11:35,756 Speaker 1: Here I've got to disclose something about that consolidation. The 168 00:11:35,836 --> 00:11:38,876 Speaker 1: Rush Limbough Show was eventually syndicated by an outfit called 169 00:11:39,236 --> 00:11:44,396 Speaker 1: clear Channel. More recently, clear Channel rebranded itself as iHeartMedia, 170 00:11:44,516 --> 00:11:47,716 Speaker 1: and an arm of iHeart now sells ads for Pushkin Industries, 171 00:11:47,996 --> 00:11:50,596 Speaker 1: which is the production house that makes the Last Archive. 172 00:11:51,436 --> 00:11:53,716 Speaker 1: So this is like when the Washington Post reports on 173 00:11:53,756 --> 00:11:56,196 Speaker 1: Amazon and then has to mention that the Post is 174 00:11:56,196 --> 00:11:59,236 Speaker 1: owned by Jeff Bezos. Okay, the Last Archive is not 175 00:11:59,356 --> 00:12:03,756 Speaker 1: the Washington Post, and iHeart doesn't own Pushkin. But still 176 00:12:03,796 --> 00:12:07,476 Speaker 1: it's important to disclose these things. Limbough liked to present 177 00:12:07,556 --> 00:12:11,436 Speaker 1: himself as a cowboy, a rick, bold, reckless, and unpredictable. 178 00:12:12,316 --> 00:12:14,836 Speaker 1: In reality, he was more like the wonder bread of radio, 179 00:12:15,236 --> 00:12:18,156 Speaker 1: the factory made white bread of radio. He was the 180 00:12:18,196 --> 00:12:21,836 Speaker 1: same every goddamn day, rant, rant, rant, ad rant, rant, 181 00:12:21,876 --> 00:12:26,316 Speaker 1: ad rant, rant, big rant, station break rant. What he 182 00:12:26,396 --> 00:12:29,516 Speaker 1: was selling was his own predictability three hours a day, 183 00:12:30,276 --> 00:12:34,036 Speaker 1: five days a week. But the forces that had to 184 00:12:34,036 --> 00:12:36,596 Speaker 1: do with Limbaugh's success had to do with more than 185 00:12:36,636 --> 00:12:41,276 Speaker 1: just radio formats. For years, Limbaugh's fortunes rose while other 186 00:12:41,356 --> 00:12:46,316 Speaker 1: media's fell. Daily newspapers were going out of business. Limbaugh 187 00:12:46,396 --> 00:12:50,356 Speaker 1: didn't seem to mind. If you listen to this show 188 00:12:50,356 --> 00:12:52,356 Speaker 1: every day, you never need to read another newspaper again, 189 00:12:52,676 --> 00:12:54,916 Speaker 1: never read another magazine. I do it for you. When 190 00:12:54,916 --> 00:12:56,756 Speaker 1: you get a bonus, I tell you what to think 191 00:12:57,276 --> 00:13:02,516 Speaker 1: about this incredibly complicated and controversial issue. I tell you 192 00:13:02,556 --> 00:13:06,836 Speaker 1: what to think. And he wasn't joking. Limba presented himself 193 00:13:06,876 --> 00:13:10,276 Speaker 1: as a prophet liberals and feminine sees. They were heretics. 194 00:13:10,716 --> 00:13:13,316 Speaker 1: Limbaugh was talking politics, but his show was less like 195 00:13:13,356 --> 00:13:16,196 Speaker 1: a news program than like those old radio gospel shows. 196 00:13:16,676 --> 00:13:21,676 Speaker 1: Politics as preaching listening as worship conservatism as a new religion. 197 00:13:22,356 --> 00:13:27,316 Speaker 1: Scholars call this political sectarianism, and in this era, sectarianism 198 00:13:27,356 --> 00:13:31,116 Speaker 1: was headed to Washington at GOPACK. Our mission is to 199 00:13:31,156 --> 00:13:34,676 Speaker 1: gain control of the US House of Representatives. We're developing 200 00:13:34,676 --> 00:13:38,276 Speaker 1: a farm team of future congressional candidates. That's audio from 201 00:13:38,276 --> 00:13:41,476 Speaker 1: what's known as a GOPACK tape, one of the thousands 202 00:13:41,476 --> 00:13:45,156 Speaker 1: of tapes made by a GOP political action committee that 203 00:13:45,236 --> 00:13:49,076 Speaker 1: had become the mouthpiece for just one man. This is 204 00:13:49,116 --> 00:13:51,996 Speaker 1: congress In nud Gingrich. As a candidate. You've probably been 205 00:13:52,036 --> 00:13:54,076 Speaker 1: listening to tapes from GOPAC all year, and you know 206 00:13:54,156 --> 00:13:58,116 Speaker 1: that we've emphasized certain basic ideas and certain basic approaches. 207 00:13:58,836 --> 00:14:02,676 Speaker 1: Newt Gingrich, then a Congressman from Georgia. Gingridge, heard what 208 00:14:02,756 --> 00:14:04,956 Speaker 1: Limbaugh was doing on air and in the late nineteen 209 00:14:04,996 --> 00:14:08,076 Speaker 1: eighties started to record his own version of that format 210 00:14:08,316 --> 00:14:11,916 Speaker 1: through these GOP cassette tapes. If you were a Republican 211 00:14:11,996 --> 00:14:15,116 Speaker 1: running for office or working on a campaign, he'd probably 212 00:14:15,116 --> 00:14:17,356 Speaker 1: listen to these tapes in your car as cassette player. 213 00:14:18,036 --> 00:14:20,516 Speaker 1: In this tape, we have a speech I gave to 214 00:14:20,556 --> 00:14:23,796 Speaker 1: the Republicans in California. We decided to share with you 215 00:14:23,876 --> 00:14:26,356 Speaker 1: as an example of how you can bring all the 216 00:14:26,436 --> 00:14:30,556 Speaker 1: basic values together. This is the sound of modern political history, 217 00:14:30,676 --> 00:14:35,876 Speaker 1: shifting gears and burning out the clutch. The tapes were 218 00:14:35,876 --> 00:14:39,356 Speaker 1: mailed to thousands of people every month. One Republican from 219 00:14:39,356 --> 00:14:43,476 Speaker 1: Minnesota told PBS's Frontline how crucial they were. When they 220 00:14:43,476 --> 00:14:45,916 Speaker 1: would come. I mean, and you spend some time in 221 00:14:45,956 --> 00:14:48,356 Speaker 1: a car, particularly going back and forth to the state legislature. 222 00:14:48,716 --> 00:14:50,116 Speaker 1: When they would come in the mail, I mean, I 223 00:14:50,156 --> 00:14:52,916 Speaker 1: would open them up right away, and I would put 224 00:14:52,956 --> 00:14:56,556 Speaker 1: them in a cassette player within twenty four hours. The 225 00:14:56,556 --> 00:14:59,196 Speaker 1: purpose of the tapes was to create a single national 226 00:14:59,276 --> 00:15:06,436 Speaker 1: message for a conservative insurgency, to make newt dittoheads. There 227 00:15:06,436 --> 00:15:10,276 Speaker 1: are two movements in America. There's a La Twing radical movement, 228 00:15:10,476 --> 00:15:14,676 Speaker 1: and there's a common sense, practical, center right majority, the 229 00:15:14,756 --> 00:15:17,636 Speaker 1: basic conservatives. Let me give you an example of how 230 00:15:17,676 --> 00:15:21,636 Speaker 1: we think you can draw those lines. Kingridge proposed a 231 00:15:21,676 --> 00:15:25,156 Speaker 1: set of dualisms for candidates to use in ads. You 232 00:15:25,236 --> 00:15:28,316 Speaker 1: might think this kind of hyperpolarized rhetoric is more recent, 233 00:15:28,676 --> 00:15:31,836 Speaker 1: a product of social media maybe, but you'd be wrong. 234 00:15:32,156 --> 00:15:35,996 Speaker 1: We believe in locking up criminals, especially dangerous criminals, but 235 00:15:36,116 --> 00:15:39,476 Speaker 1: allowing honest citizen stone guns. The radical left introduced to 236 00:15:39,476 --> 00:15:42,676 Speaker 1: build a legalized sex with animals, but we oppose legal 237 00:15:42,676 --> 00:15:45,596 Speaker 1: sex with animals. In fact, frankly, we oppose any kind 238 00:15:45,636 --> 00:15:51,156 Speaker 1: of sex with animals. In the early nineteen nineties, and 239 00:15:51,196 --> 00:15:53,876 Speaker 1: a memo sent out with the tapes Go Back supplied 240 00:15:53,916 --> 00:15:57,876 Speaker 1: candidates with a vocabulary list. It suggested words to use 241 00:15:58,116 --> 00:16:06,756 Speaker 1: to help to find your campaign change opportunity, legacy, challenge, control, truth, moral, courage, 242 00:16:06,836 --> 00:16:21,236 Speaker 1: who form, prosperity, cruci, aid, movement, children, family, debate, compete, humane, pristine, provide, liberty, commitment, duty, fair, protect, confident, incentive, 243 00:16:21,436 --> 00:16:27,956 Speaker 1: hard work, initiative, common sense. Gopeck also listed words to 244 00:16:28,076 --> 00:16:38,236 Speaker 1: use to describe your political opponents, words like sick, pathetic, liberal, lie, shallow, traitors, sensationalists, 245 00:16:38,316 --> 00:16:48,876 Speaker 1: in danger, coercion, hypocrisy, radical, threatened, devour, waste, corruption, incompetent, permissive, attitude, destructive, impose, 246 00:16:49,276 --> 00:16:58,156 Speaker 1: self serving, greed, sheet steel, abuse of power, obsolete. This 247 00:16:58,236 --> 00:17:02,236 Speaker 1: was political warfare on all fronts. Gingridge trained the officers, 248 00:17:02,636 --> 00:17:06,756 Speaker 1: Limbaugh rallied the troops. Gingridge's political power grew, and so 249 00:17:06,876 --> 00:17:10,996 Speaker 1: did Limbaugh's audience to round fifteen million listeners each week. 250 00:17:11,676 --> 00:17:15,516 Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety one, Limbaugh appeared on CBS's sixty Minutes. 251 00:17:16,076 --> 00:17:18,316 Speaker 1: What are you trying to do with this show? I'm 252 00:17:18,356 --> 00:17:21,916 Speaker 1: trying to attract the largest audience I can and hold 253 00:17:21,956 --> 00:17:23,996 Speaker 1: it for as long as I can so that I 254 00:17:24,036 --> 00:17:27,636 Speaker 1: can charge advertisers confiscatory advertiser rates. This is a business. 255 00:17:27,796 --> 00:17:33,676 Speaker 1: You're in it for the money. Sure, of course, I'm 256 00:17:33,676 --> 00:17:36,596 Speaker 1: doing a lot of this for money. That's Limbaugh earning 257 00:17:36,596 --> 00:17:39,876 Speaker 1: points for being honest. It's also a tactic. Donald Trump 258 00:17:39,916 --> 00:17:44,996 Speaker 1: would adopt honesty about loving money. Listeners adored it. For 259 00:17:45,076 --> 00:17:47,596 Speaker 1: talk radio, the money came rolling in, and not just 260 00:17:47,676 --> 00:17:50,996 Speaker 1: for Limbaugh. Between nineteen eighty nine and nineteen ninety four, 261 00:17:51,196 --> 00:17:53,836 Speaker 1: an average of twenty new talk radio stations went into 262 00:17:53,876 --> 00:17:59,116 Speaker 1: business every month. Their shows weren't all conservative, at least 263 00:17:59,116 --> 00:18:02,316 Speaker 1: not at first, but soon station owners discovered that if 264 00:18:02,356 --> 00:18:06,796 Speaker 1: they ran only conservative talk, they had more listeners. No spots, 265 00:18:06,796 --> 00:18:12,796 Speaker 1: no back, no information sat Kay BBL Talk Radio, and 266 00:18:12,916 --> 00:18:15,836 Speaker 1: Al Springfield's favorite conservative and author of the well selling 267 00:18:15,836 --> 00:18:19,956 Speaker 1: book Only Turkeys, Half Left Wings, Ladies and Gentlemen, Burch Barlow. 268 00:18:20,676 --> 00:18:22,916 Speaker 1: You know you're in the zeitgeist when you're satirized on 269 00:18:22,956 --> 00:18:26,436 Speaker 1: the Simpsons Good Morning, fellow freedomlikers, Burch Barlow, the fourth 270 00:18:26,436 --> 00:18:29,316 Speaker 1: branch of government, the fifty first State. The more famous 271 00:18:29,396 --> 00:18:33,316 Speaker 1: Limbaugh got, the more worried observers got, especially about how 272 00:18:33,316 --> 00:18:35,756 Speaker 1: he talked about talk, how he talked about the freedom 273 00:18:35,796 --> 00:18:38,996 Speaker 1: of speech, how he talked about fairness itself. This is 274 00:18:39,036 --> 00:18:43,196 Speaker 1: also a benevolent dictatorship. I am the dictator. There is 275 00:18:43,236 --> 00:18:46,556 Speaker 1: no First Amendment here except for me. Well right, The 276 00:18:46,556 --> 00:18:49,556 Speaker 1: First Amendment only constrains the government, not a privately owned 277 00:18:49,636 --> 00:18:53,196 Speaker 1: radio station. But for most of the twentieth century there'd 278 00:18:53,236 --> 00:18:56,036 Speaker 1: been some rules in place. Rules the date to a 279 00:18:56,116 --> 00:18:59,396 Speaker 1: time when people understood just how dangerous radio could be 280 00:18:59,956 --> 00:19:13,196 Speaker 1: if broadcasters became dictators. In the nineteen forties, a guy 281 00:19:13,236 --> 00:19:16,476 Speaker 1: named Clifford Dirr got a job offer from President Roosevelt. 282 00:19:17,356 --> 00:19:20,596 Speaker 1: Dirr was a lawyer from Alabama. He's best known to 283 00:19:20,676 --> 00:19:23,796 Speaker 1: history for something he did much later in the nineteen fifties, 284 00:19:24,036 --> 00:19:27,676 Speaker 1: when he and his wife bailed Rosa Parks out of jail. Anyway, 285 00:19:27,716 --> 00:19:31,276 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty one, Fdr appointed dir to the Federal 286 00:19:31,316 --> 00:19:35,196 Speaker 1: Communications Commission the FCC. Point in the head of is 287 00:19:35,236 --> 00:19:39,156 Speaker 1: that the FCC is the federal agency that regulates who 288 00:19:39,196 --> 00:19:42,636 Speaker 1: can get broadcast licenses to use the airwaves, which after 289 00:19:42,676 --> 00:19:46,356 Speaker 1: all belonged to the public. I want the FCC onknew 290 00:19:46,356 --> 00:19:50,276 Speaker 1: absolutely nothing about it, but at the time we will 291 00:19:50,356 --> 00:19:54,596 Speaker 1: mother fret all the actress broadcasts. I did an episode 292 00:19:54,596 --> 00:19:58,116 Speaker 1: earlier this season called The Inner Front. It talks about 293 00:19:58,116 --> 00:20:01,916 Speaker 1: how the US government monitored Radio Berlin and Radio Tokyo. 294 00:20:02,556 --> 00:20:04,916 Speaker 1: That was part of the FCC's job during the Second 295 00:20:04,956 --> 00:20:09,076 Speaker 1: World War, but the content of those enemy broadcasts really 296 00:20:09,316 --> 00:20:13,436 Speaker 1: changed how dr and the FCC thought about the power 297 00:20:13,756 --> 00:20:17,596 Speaker 1: of radio. Oh my god, this is a terrific medium. 298 00:20:17,636 --> 00:20:21,036 Speaker 1: The other can be magnificent or it can completely ruin 299 00:20:21,156 --> 00:20:24,716 Speaker 1: you if you get this thing in their long hands. 300 00:20:25,236 --> 00:20:27,836 Speaker 1: So then add again to take a more closer look 301 00:20:27,876 --> 00:20:32,836 Speaker 1: at an American broadcast. The FCC started enforcing some rules 302 00:20:32,836 --> 00:20:35,516 Speaker 1: that were on the books but that have been mostly ignored, 303 00:20:36,036 --> 00:20:38,636 Speaker 1: and Dur's influence would lead to a new rule to 304 00:20:38,676 --> 00:20:42,276 Speaker 1: would shape broadcasting for the next half century. In nineteen 305 00:20:42,356 --> 00:20:46,436 Speaker 1: forty nine, the FCC established what became known as the 306 00:20:46,476 --> 00:20:51,356 Speaker 1: Fairness Doctrine. Under the American system of broadcasting, the individual 307 00:20:51,436 --> 00:20:54,996 Speaker 1: licensees of radio stations have the responsibility for determining the 308 00:20:55,076 --> 00:20:59,516 Speaker 1: specific program material to be broadcast over their stations, so 309 00:20:59,796 --> 00:21:03,796 Speaker 1: you could broadcast whatever you wanted. Except This choice, however, 310 00:21:03,916 --> 00:21:06,636 Speaker 1: must be exercised in a manner consistent with the basic 311 00:21:06,716 --> 00:21:09,916 Speaker 1: policy of the Congress that radio being maintained as a 312 00:21:09,956 --> 00:21:12,716 Speaker 1: medium of free speech for the general public as a whole, 313 00:21:13,116 --> 00:21:15,956 Speaker 1: rather than as an outlet for the purely personal or 314 00:21:15,996 --> 00:21:19,556 Speaker 1: private interests of the licensee. The fairness doctrine is about 315 00:21:19,556 --> 00:21:22,756 Speaker 1: the public interest. It says the government has an interest 316 00:21:22,876 --> 00:21:25,916 Speaker 1: in what radio stations broadcast. It says that on the 317 00:21:25,916 --> 00:21:29,196 Speaker 1: issues of the day, radio stations have to broadcast more 318 00:21:29,236 --> 00:21:32,596 Speaker 1: than one view. This requires that licensees to vote a 319 00:21:32,636 --> 00:21:35,636 Speaker 1: reasonable percentage of their broadcast time to the discussion of 320 00:21:35,676 --> 00:21:38,996 Speaker 1: public issues of interest in the community served by their stations, 321 00:21:39,236 --> 00:21:42,356 Speaker 1: and that such programs be designed so that the public 322 00:21:42,396 --> 00:21:48,716 Speaker 1: has a reasonable opportunity to hear different opposition positions. In 323 00:21:48,756 --> 00:21:51,916 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, the fairness doctrine was strengthened by way 324 00:21:51,956 --> 00:21:56,516 Speaker 1: of Congressional action, and the Johnson administration added a guarantee 325 00:21:56,676 --> 00:22:00,756 Speaker 1: for a right of reply after a criticism during a broadcast. 326 00:22:03,156 --> 00:22:06,116 Speaker 1: It wasn't often enforced, but it did happen sometimes like 327 00:22:06,236 --> 00:22:09,756 Speaker 1: when Medgar Evers once got seventeen minutes of airtime to 328 00:22:09,876 --> 00:22:14,676 Speaker 1: respond to criticism of the NAACP, or once when conservatives 329 00:22:14,716 --> 00:22:18,716 Speaker 1: attacked Kennedy's proposed nuclear test band treaty, stations were required 330 00:22:18,756 --> 00:22:22,116 Speaker 1: to play a protest band speech by the President himself. 331 00:22:23,116 --> 00:22:25,836 Speaker 1: This was exactly the kind of thing that ticked conservatives off. 332 00:22:26,196 --> 00:22:28,956 Speaker 1: Rules that required listeners to hear more from Edgar Evers 333 00:22:28,996 --> 00:22:34,276 Speaker 1: hear more from President Kennedy. All mankind has been struggling 334 00:22:34,316 --> 00:22:39,476 Speaker 1: to escape from the dokening prospect of mass destruction on Earth. 335 00:22:41,636 --> 00:22:44,516 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty nine, the Supreme Court affirmed much of 336 00:22:44,556 --> 00:22:47,716 Speaker 1: the fairness doctrine, but conservatives are getting more and more 337 00:22:47,836 --> 00:22:51,916 Speaker 1: peeved about it, believing that the fairness Doctrine suppressed conservative views. 338 00:22:52,516 --> 00:22:54,756 Speaker 1: By the nineteen eighties, they really wanted to get rid 339 00:22:54,756 --> 00:22:57,716 Speaker 1: of it, and it was vulnerable because it was a regulation, 340 00:22:57,916 --> 00:23:00,956 Speaker 1: not a law. In nineteen eighty five, a new FCC 341 00:23:01,156 --> 00:23:04,116 Speaker 1: head appointed by President Reagan said he would fight to 342 00:23:04,236 --> 00:23:08,316 Speaker 1: end the fairness Doctrine. Two years later, in a bipartisan vote, 343 00:23:08,516 --> 00:23:11,636 Speaker 1: Congress a bill that would have established the doctrine as law, 344 00:23:12,276 --> 00:23:15,196 Speaker 1: but Reagan vetoed it and Congress didn't have the votes 345 00:23:15,276 --> 00:23:21,676 Speaker 1: to override his veto. The doctrine was dead, and now 346 00:23:21,996 --> 00:23:28,996 Speaker 1: here's Rice Limbaugh. Limbaugh could not have operated if the 347 00:23:29,036 --> 00:23:31,876 Speaker 1: fairness doctrine had still been in place, at least not 348 00:23:31,916 --> 00:23:35,156 Speaker 1: without worrying that the FCC might come after him because 349 00:23:35,156 --> 00:23:38,876 Speaker 1: he used his airtime to promote partisanship. In fact, he 350 00:23:38,916 --> 00:23:42,196 Speaker 1: was more than a partisan. Limbaugh wanted to be a kingmaker. 351 00:23:42,956 --> 00:23:46,356 Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety two, after his preferred candidate, Pat Buchanan 352 00:23:46,516 --> 00:23:50,276 Speaker 1: failed to win the nomination, Limbaugh stumped for George Bush, Senior. 353 00:23:50,876 --> 00:23:54,236 Speaker 1: But when Bush lost to Bill Clinton, Limbaugh sounded a 354 00:23:54,276 --> 00:23:57,116 Speaker 1: battle cry. He made it his mission to take down 355 00:23:57,156 --> 00:24:01,676 Speaker 1: the Clintons, both of them. The Clintons are running around 356 00:24:01,716 --> 00:24:04,476 Speaker 1: on this national tour. Now, you know, I don't know 357 00:24:04,516 --> 00:24:06,876 Speaker 1: how else to say this. I mean, the president gets 358 00:24:06,876 --> 00:24:10,116 Speaker 1: away when he says something it isn't true later being 359 00:24:10,116 --> 00:24:12,876 Speaker 1: told about, Oh yeah, I was an inadvertent statement. The 360 00:24:12,876 --> 00:24:14,796 Speaker 1: motto of this administration every day is what can we 361 00:24:14,836 --> 00:24:17,636 Speaker 1: do to fool them today? Bill Clinton for sure did 362 00:24:17,676 --> 00:24:21,476 Speaker 1: sometimes lie, no question, but fooling people was not the 363 00:24:21,516 --> 00:24:25,796 Speaker 1: motto of his administration. Clinton got exasperated. You can hear 364 00:24:25,876 --> 00:24:28,556 Speaker 1: him on Saint Louis am radio practically begging for a 365 00:24:28,716 --> 00:24:31,836 Speaker 1: right of reply after I get off the radio today 366 00:24:32,156 --> 00:24:34,836 Speaker 1: with you, Russ Lamball have three hours to say whatever 367 00:24:34,836 --> 00:24:37,556 Speaker 1: he wants, and I won't have any opportunity to respond. 368 00:24:37,956 --> 00:24:40,716 Speaker 1: And there's no truth detector. You won't get on afterward 369 00:24:40,796 --> 00:24:44,276 Speaker 1: and say what was true and what was In nineteen 370 00:24:44,316 --> 00:24:47,276 Speaker 1: ninety three, Democrats in Congress tried to bring back the 371 00:24:47,316 --> 00:24:51,076 Speaker 1: fairness doctrine. Limbaugh like to call their effort the hush 372 00:24:51,156 --> 00:24:54,796 Speaker 1: Rush Bill, but other people on talk radio didn't see 373 00:24:54,836 --> 00:24:58,076 Speaker 1: it that way. I'm a proponent of the fairness doctrine. 374 00:24:58,516 --> 00:25:02,036 Speaker 1: That's longtime radio and television host Larry King in nineteen 375 00:25:02,116 --> 00:25:04,916 Speaker 1: ninety three. I like it. I like the fact that 376 00:25:04,956 --> 00:25:07,436 Speaker 1: we as broadcasters have to be fair. It is not 377 00:25:07,476 --> 00:25:09,756 Speaker 1: out to get any broadcast I know Rush Limbaugh thinks 378 00:25:09,796 --> 00:25:14,596 Speaker 1: they're out to get them. All it means is that 379 00:25:14,676 --> 00:25:17,876 Speaker 1: a station who has if you have eight right wing hosts, 380 00:25:18,076 --> 00:25:20,236 Speaker 1: you better put some left wing hosts on. I don't 381 00:25:20,236 --> 00:25:23,836 Speaker 1: know what's wrong with that, but the fairness doctrine was 382 00:25:23,916 --> 00:25:27,996 Speaker 1: not reinstated, and in nineteen ninety four, in the midterm elections, 383 00:25:28,316 --> 00:25:32,116 Speaker 1: Republicans flipped the Senate and the House. It was a wipeout. 384 00:25:32,316 --> 00:25:35,876 Speaker 1: They took ten governorships, they won state legislatures. They elected 385 00:25:35,916 --> 00:25:39,676 Speaker 1: Newt Kingbridge Speaker of the House. The Freshman Republicans in 386 00:25:39,716 --> 00:25:42,716 Speaker 1: the House named Rush Limbaugh an honorary member of their class, 387 00:25:43,236 --> 00:25:46,036 Speaker 1: and he went to Capitol Hill where he was besieged 388 00:25:46,076 --> 00:25:48,996 Speaker 1: by reporters asking him how talk radio had led the 389 00:25:49,036 --> 00:25:52,636 Speaker 1: Conservatives to victory. These reporters who asked me questions about 390 00:25:52,636 --> 00:25:55,956 Speaker 1: talk radio were all trying to say, in a roundabout way, 391 00:25:56,236 --> 00:26:00,116 Speaker 1: that I took a bunch of brainless people and converted 392 00:26:00,156 --> 00:26:04,396 Speaker 1: them to mind numbed robots, and every day would send 393 00:26:04,436 --> 00:26:08,396 Speaker 1: out code in my show that would force them to 394 00:26:08,556 --> 00:26:10,716 Speaker 1: march to the polls on November the eighth of the 395 00:26:10,756 --> 00:26:14,676 Speaker 1: poll the lever I wanted them to pull. Listening to 396 00:26:14,756 --> 00:26:17,396 Speaker 1: Limbaugh's speech to the Freshman Republican members of the House, 397 00:26:17,916 --> 00:26:20,396 Speaker 1: you can hear them giggling as Limbaugh turned to a 398 00:26:20,436 --> 00:26:24,276 Speaker 1: new topic, reports of secret meetings that Bill and Hillary 399 00:26:24,276 --> 00:26:28,436 Speaker 1: Clinton were holding in the White House about me. They're 400 00:26:28,436 --> 00:26:30,996 Speaker 1: trying to come up with a liberal version of me. 401 00:26:32,036 --> 00:26:35,876 Speaker 1: They're scouring America looking for some liberal host who can 402 00:26:35,916 --> 00:26:39,676 Speaker 1: automatically end up on six hundred and sixty radio stations. 403 00:26:39,796 --> 00:26:42,636 Speaker 1: They think that they can just pluck some liberal out 404 00:26:42,636 --> 00:26:44,436 Speaker 1: of the sky and put him on the radio and 405 00:26:44,636 --> 00:26:48,356 Speaker 1: create a bunch of liberal mind numb robots. Point taken 406 00:26:48,596 --> 00:26:53,596 Speaker 1: Limbo's listeners, any listeners weren't mind numbed robots. But remember 407 00:26:53,756 --> 00:26:57,156 Speaker 1: he asked his listeners to surrender to his point of view, 408 00:26:57,676 --> 00:27:00,516 Speaker 1: and millions of them did just that. You might not 409 00:27:00,596 --> 00:27:03,036 Speaker 1: like the fairness doctrine. You might want some other sort 410 00:27:03,036 --> 00:27:05,836 Speaker 1: of guidelines or mechanisms in place, you might want none 411 00:27:05,836 --> 00:27:08,556 Speaker 1: at all. But whatever your view, you've still got to 412 00:27:08,596 --> 00:27:11,876 Speaker 1: wrestle with this fact. A democracy can't really work if 413 00:27:11,916 --> 00:27:14,916 Speaker 1: people only listened to one kind of political opinion all day, 414 00:27:15,076 --> 00:27:18,556 Speaker 1: every day. Limbo was right about one thing, though, in 415 00:27:18,676 --> 00:27:21,676 Speaker 1: this era with the fairness doctrine dead, some people really 416 00:27:21,676 --> 00:27:24,516 Speaker 1: were looking for a liberal version of him, not someone 417 00:27:24,516 --> 00:27:29,596 Speaker 1: who would hush rush, someone who would crush rush any 418 00:27:29,636 --> 00:27:32,956 Speaker 1: welcome the Al Franken Show. I'm Al Franken. The left 419 00:27:33,036 --> 00:27:35,916 Speaker 1: answer to Rush Limbo would be for a while, this 420 00:27:35,956 --> 00:27:41,516 Speaker 1: guy Alan Stuart Franken, a comedian best known at the 421 00:27:41,556 --> 00:27:45,436 Speaker 1: time for his work on Saturday Night Live. Franken had 422 00:27:45,436 --> 00:27:47,876 Speaker 1: written a book called Rush Limbo is a Big, fat 423 00:27:47,916 --> 00:27:51,756 Speaker 1: Idiot and Other observations. He came out in nineteen ninety six. 424 00:27:52,436 --> 00:27:55,196 Speaker 1: The audiobook version gives you an idea of Franken's vibe 425 00:27:55,196 --> 00:27:58,236 Speaker 1: at the time. I thought the title, aside from the 426 00:27:58,276 --> 00:28:02,076 Speaker 1: obvious advantage of being personally offensive to Limbaugh, would sell books. 427 00:28:02,636 --> 00:28:05,676 Speaker 1: Let me explain why it makes fun of Rush Limbaugh 428 00:28:05,716 --> 00:28:08,756 Speaker 1: by pointing out that he's a big lard butt. Franken 429 00:28:08,756 --> 00:28:12,876 Speaker 1: told he wanted to be Limbaugh's kryptonite. If Rush Limbaugh 430 00:28:12,916 --> 00:28:14,916 Speaker 1: were to write a book about you, or would its 431 00:28:14,916 --> 00:28:20,556 Speaker 1: title be The Guy who got me, the guy who 432 00:28:20,596 --> 00:28:26,316 Speaker 1: held me accountable, the guy who nailed my ass. Franken 433 00:28:26,356 --> 00:28:30,916 Speaker 1: owned his comedy style deadpan, a bit obnoxious, part smart alec, 434 00:28:31,076 --> 00:28:33,956 Speaker 1: part frat boy. Here he is talking to an audience 435 00:28:33,996 --> 00:28:39,236 Speaker 1: of college students. What I do is in propaganda. What 436 00:28:39,436 --> 00:28:42,676 Speaker 1: I do is taking what they say and using it 437 00:28:42,756 --> 00:28:49,236 Speaker 1: against them. What I do is jiu jitsu. They say 438 00:28:49,276 --> 00:28:53,076 Speaker 1: something ridiculous, and then I subject them to scorn and ridicule. 439 00:28:54,436 --> 00:28:58,836 Speaker 1: That's my job. Franken had a lot in common with Limbaugh. 440 00:28:59,076 --> 00:29:01,396 Speaker 1: They were both born in nineteen fifty one, They're both 441 00:29:01,436 --> 00:29:04,516 Speaker 1: from the Middle of the country. Limbo's from Missouri, Franken 442 00:29:04,556 --> 00:29:08,276 Speaker 1: grew up in Minnesota. They both loved to perform. Then 443 00:29:08,316 --> 00:29:11,756 Speaker 1: there are the difference. Limbaugh dropped out of college, Franken 444 00:29:11,796 --> 00:29:15,476 Speaker 1: graduated from Harvard. The same year that Franken published Rushed 445 00:29:15,476 --> 00:29:18,316 Speaker 1: Limbaugh as a big fat Idiot, a new cable television 446 00:29:18,356 --> 00:29:23,436 Speaker 1: network started up, Fox News. Its motto was fair and balanced. 447 00:29:28,516 --> 00:29:31,116 Speaker 1: This was the cable TV version of stuff that Limbaugh 448 00:29:31,116 --> 00:29:35,676 Speaker 1: and Gingrich had pioneered. Really, you can put everything on 449 00:29:35,716 --> 00:29:38,516 Speaker 1: early Fox News into one of two bins. The first 450 00:29:38,596 --> 00:29:42,996 Speaker 1: labeled Limbaugh, the second labeled Gingridge. The courser stuff Limbaugh, 451 00:29:43,436 --> 00:29:46,676 Speaker 1: the more professory stuff Gingridge. But it was all the 452 00:29:46,716 --> 00:29:50,236 Speaker 1: same in the end, lots of opinion monologus getting viewers 453 00:29:50,276 --> 00:29:56,676 Speaker 1: to distrust other sources of information, rewriting American history. Meanwhile, 454 00:29:56,796 --> 00:30:01,596 Speaker 1: talk radio was getting harsher, meaner, more vulgar. Limbaugh did 455 00:30:01,636 --> 00:30:05,916 Speaker 1: a lot of schoolyard name calling. He called MSNBC p MSNBC. 456 00:30:06,276 --> 00:30:10,036 Speaker 1: He called US News and World Report, US snooze, Meet 457 00:30:10,076 --> 00:30:14,636 Speaker 1: the press, meet the depressed. Things got darker in nineteen 458 00:30:14,756 --> 00:30:17,876 Speaker 1: ninety eight, when the Monica Lewinsky scandal drove ratings through 459 00:30:17,916 --> 00:30:21,076 Speaker 1: the roof, both for Fox News and for talk radio. 460 00:30:21,676 --> 00:30:29,796 Speaker 1: Bill Clinton got caught jump legant turn Monica Lewinsky the 461 00:30:29,996 --> 00:30:35,396 Speaker 1: blue stand dress. All this time, and especially after nine 462 00:30:35,396 --> 00:30:38,396 Speaker 1: to eleven, a lot of liberals were still wishing there 463 00:30:38,436 --> 00:30:41,916 Speaker 1: was a liberal Limbaugh, So they started a new radio 464 00:30:41,996 --> 00:30:46,436 Speaker 1: network called Air America. Air America would launch all kinds 465 00:30:46,436 --> 00:30:51,556 Speaker 1: of careers, including Rachel Maddows. Before joining MSNBC, she had 466 00:30:51,556 --> 00:30:54,716 Speaker 1: her own Air America show. Al Franken came to Air 467 00:30:54,756 --> 00:30:58,676 Speaker 1: America from the USO. He'd been going on tours entertaining 468 00:30:58,676 --> 00:31:02,116 Speaker 1: the troops overseas Bob Hopestyle. He saw that work as 469 00:31:02,116 --> 00:31:04,036 Speaker 1: a chance to show that right wingers didn't have a 470 00:31:04,116 --> 00:31:08,116 Speaker 1: monopoly on patriotism. Franken, like all of Air America, had 471 00:31:08,156 --> 00:31:11,716 Speaker 1: the idea that left radio would offer listeners the opposition 472 00:31:11,756 --> 00:31:15,116 Speaker 1: positions that the fairness doctrine would have required if it 473 00:31:15,156 --> 00:31:17,516 Speaker 1: had still been in place, so he didn't put it 474 00:31:17,516 --> 00:31:24,476 Speaker 1: in such lofty terms. It's about answering these fuckheads that 475 00:31:24,596 --> 00:31:31,236 Speaker 1: have been on the air and lyon and delivering this simplistic, 476 00:31:31,596 --> 00:31:35,796 Speaker 1: black and white babble about how the world works, as 477 00:31:35,876 --> 00:31:38,996 Speaker 1: if they know something, and they have built this infrastructure 478 00:31:39,716 --> 00:31:50,716 Speaker 1: of feeding people misinformation about about economic justice and about 479 00:31:50,716 --> 00:31:55,476 Speaker 1: how our society is run. And it's about time that 480 00:31:55,676 --> 00:32:10,036 Speaker 1: somebody fought back to talk about the ride wings dishonesty. 481 00:32:10,956 --> 00:32:13,756 Speaker 1: Franken launched his own Air America radio show in two 482 00:32:13,756 --> 00:32:17,796 Speaker 1: thousand and four. He delivered something surprising, an old fashioned 483 00:32:17,876 --> 00:32:20,956 Speaker 1: variety show sort of Marx Brothers, but about politics with 484 00:32:21,076 --> 00:32:26,156 Speaker 1: lots of skits. Shall brought to you by the Union 485 00:32:26,276 --> 00:32:30,596 Speaker 1: of Jewish Archaeologists. We look at fossils of early man 486 00:32:30,716 --> 00:32:36,556 Speaker 1: and asked was this a jill? What Al Franken was 487 00:32:36,596 --> 00:32:39,676 Speaker 1: doing was different from anything else on the air. Mostly 488 00:32:39,716 --> 00:32:42,876 Speaker 1: though it was different from the Rush Limbaugh Show. Everything 489 00:32:42,876 --> 00:32:46,116 Speaker 1: about Franken show was designed an opposition to Limbaugh's show. 490 00:32:46,636 --> 00:32:50,636 Speaker 1: Unlike Limbaugh, who only had guests occasionally, franken show featured them, 491 00:32:51,116 --> 00:32:54,676 Speaker 1: and unlike Limbaugh, Franken invited calls from people who disagreed 492 00:32:54,716 --> 00:32:58,596 Speaker 1: with him. When Franken did monologues, he often got serious. 493 00:32:58,996 --> 00:33:02,316 Speaker 1: In the early sixties, we'd watch TV. We watched news, 494 00:33:02,476 --> 00:33:05,316 Speaker 1: rare TV trays in there, watched the news. We'd see 495 00:33:05,836 --> 00:33:11,516 Speaker 1: Southern sheriff's sicking police dogs on black demonstrators. My dad 496 00:33:11,556 --> 00:33:13,996 Speaker 1: so that no Jew can be for that. The most 497 00:33:13,996 --> 00:33:16,956 Speaker 1: important part of franken show came when he fact checked 498 00:33:16,956 --> 00:33:20,036 Speaker 1: the Rush Limbaugh Show. How many people listen to him? 499 00:33:20,116 --> 00:33:23,556 Speaker 1: Fifteen twenty million, right, right, right? Okay, so those people 500 00:33:23,676 --> 00:33:26,996 Speaker 1: believe him, right, yeah, okay, so most of his listeners 501 00:33:27,076 --> 00:33:30,876 Speaker 1: believe is seventy five percent people making minimum wage are 502 00:33:31,876 --> 00:33:34,756 Speaker 1: teenagers in their first job. I had our staff look 503 00:33:34,796 --> 00:33:37,956 Speaker 1: at up. Sixty one point one percent of people earning 504 00:33:37,956 --> 00:33:40,436 Speaker 1: minimum wage are twenty or over. You know, we got 505 00:33:40,436 --> 00:33:43,796 Speaker 1: our statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and he 506 00:33:43,876 --> 00:33:47,756 Speaker 1: got it from the Bureau of Limbaugh's butt. Franken put 507 00:33:47,756 --> 00:33:50,396 Speaker 1: on a good show, but Air America turned out to 508 00:33:50,396 --> 00:33:54,636 Speaker 1: be a disaster. The company was underfunded, badly run, beset 509 00:33:54,676 --> 00:33:58,676 Speaker 1: five financial mismanagement and scandal. Also, the audience for Al 510 00:33:58,756 --> 00:34:01,076 Speaker 1: Franken's show never got above a million and a half 511 00:34:01,076 --> 00:34:03,996 Speaker 1: weekly listeners, just a tiny fraction of the audience of 512 00:34:04,036 --> 00:34:07,516 Speaker 1: the Rush Limbo Show. There are lots of theories about 513 00:34:07,556 --> 00:34:10,156 Speaker 1: why left wing radio failed. One of them is that 514 00:34:10,196 --> 00:34:13,036 Speaker 1: liberals would rather listen to something more thoughtful and temperate 515 00:34:13,156 --> 00:34:16,956 Speaker 1: like NPR. But then again, liberals flocked to Comedy Central, 516 00:34:17,196 --> 00:34:20,356 Speaker 1: where John Stuart's Daily Show and The Colbert Report were 517 00:34:20,476 --> 00:34:22,836 Speaker 1: very much in the mold of Air America, so I 518 00:34:22,876 --> 00:34:26,396 Speaker 1: tend to think the problem was the company. Franken jumped 519 00:34:26,436 --> 00:34:29,516 Speaker 1: ship before the ship sank. In two thousand and seven, 520 00:34:29,716 --> 00:34:32,556 Speaker 1: he went off the air and announced his run for 521 00:34:32,636 --> 00:34:35,836 Speaker 1: a Senate seat from Minnesota. Two thousand and eight was 522 00:34:35,876 --> 00:34:41,396 Speaker 1: a wild election year. Barack Obama was seeking the Democratic nomination, 523 00:34:41,796 --> 00:34:44,916 Speaker 1: and after he defeated Hillary Clinton, he made his historic 524 00:34:44,996 --> 00:34:49,116 Speaker 1: bid for the presidency. Rush Limbah turned the fire hose 525 00:34:49,156 --> 00:34:52,596 Speaker 1: of his fury from the Clintons to the Obama's. He 526 00:34:52,676 --> 00:34:55,836 Speaker 1: played on air a song called Barack the Magic Negro. 527 00:34:57,356 --> 00:35:00,036 Speaker 1: Obama decided to let that pass, which is likely why 528 00:35:00,076 --> 00:35:04,076 Speaker 1: you've never heard of it. Obama won in something close 529 00:35:04,116 --> 00:35:07,156 Speaker 1: to a landslide, and Al Franken became the new Senator 530 00:35:07,236 --> 00:35:12,436 Speaker 1: from Minnesota. In Franken's comedic personality evaporated. He was mostly 531 00:35:12,436 --> 00:35:17,716 Speaker 1: known for being pretty reasonable, quiet, and hard working. In 532 00:35:17,756 --> 00:35:21,996 Speaker 1: addition to providing some budgetary certainty for the next two years, 533 00:35:22,076 --> 00:35:25,676 Speaker 1: the budget deal undoes some of the extreme across the 534 00:35:25,796 --> 00:35:29,996 Speaker 1: board cuts of the sequester that will enable us to 535 00:35:30,116 --> 00:35:33,756 Speaker 1: make more In twenty fourteen, Franken won reelection to the Senate, 536 00:35:34,116 --> 00:35:37,436 Speaker 1: he was sort of a non story. Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh's 537 00:35:37,476 --> 00:35:41,276 Speaker 1: tirades grew louder and louder all through Obama's two terms 538 00:35:41,276 --> 00:35:45,956 Speaker 1: in office. Limbaugh urged obstructionism, the rejection of all compromise. 539 00:35:54,036 --> 00:35:59,796 Speaker 1: Let's say, as conservatives liberals demand that we be bipartisan 540 00:36:00,476 --> 00:36:04,596 Speaker 1: with them in Congress. What they mean is we check 541 00:36:04,636 --> 00:36:07,076 Speaker 1: our core principles at the door, come and let them 542 00:36:07,156 --> 00:36:08,756 Speaker 1: run the show, and then agree with them. That's my 543 00:36:08,836 --> 00:36:12,316 Speaker 1: part ship to them. Okay, I've got to stop the tape. 544 00:36:12,356 --> 00:36:14,956 Speaker 1: I am so sick of this. Al Franken, when he 545 00:36:14,996 --> 00:36:16,996 Speaker 1: was writing that book about Limbaugh, said it took a 546 00:36:16,996 --> 00:36:18,756 Speaker 1: real toll on him to have to listen to this 547 00:36:18,796 --> 00:36:22,396 Speaker 1: guy all the time. I feel that it's like reading 548 00:36:22,436 --> 00:36:25,996 Speaker 1: hate mail. To be honest, I find listening to Al 549 00:36:26,116 --> 00:36:30,196 Speaker 1: Franken pretty grading. Two. But when you're researching a historical development, 550 00:36:30,596 --> 00:36:34,716 Speaker 1: you don't choose the evidence. You enjoy. Your job is 551 00:36:34,756 --> 00:36:38,916 Speaker 1: to listen to all of it. To us, by partisanship 552 00:36:39,716 --> 00:36:42,196 Speaker 1: is them being forced to agree with us after we 553 00:36:42,316 --> 00:36:46,796 Speaker 1: have politically cleaned their clocks and beaten them. And that 554 00:36:46,836 --> 00:37:05,956 Speaker 1: has to be what you're fuck is wrong. In two, 555 00:37:05,996 --> 00:37:09,916 Speaker 1: thou and sixteen, Hillary Clinton was running for president against 556 00:37:09,956 --> 00:37:14,756 Speaker 1: a new opponent. Politicians are all talk and no action. 557 00:37:16,156 --> 00:37:19,596 Speaker 1: That year, Al Franken spoke at the Democratic Convention, still 558 00:37:19,716 --> 00:37:29,396 Speaker 1: fighting the far right. I'm Al Franken, Minnesota Senator and 559 00:37:29,636 --> 00:37:40,516 Speaker 1: world renowned expert on right wing megalomaniacs, Roch Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, 560 00:37:41,236 --> 00:37:46,156 Speaker 1: and now Donald Trump. And that was the right genealogy 561 00:37:46,596 --> 00:37:50,596 Speaker 1: Limbaugh made Trump possible. Trump's whole alone can fix it. 562 00:37:50,676 --> 00:37:54,156 Speaker 1: Thing that was straight Limbaugh. The style of followership that 563 00:37:54,236 --> 00:37:58,236 Speaker 1: Limbaugh cultivated, those ditto heads that became Trump is um, 564 00:37:58,396 --> 00:38:02,996 Speaker 1: those schoolyard insults straight Limbaugh. All this led the political 565 00:38:02,996 --> 00:38:07,636 Speaker 1: outsider Trump to an unexpected victory. But long after Trump won, 566 00:38:07,956 --> 00:38:11,996 Speaker 1: Limbaugh remained fixed. Stated on the outgoing president, the first 567 00:38:12,036 --> 00:38:17,316 Speaker 1: moment that Trump does anything that he is the unraveling 568 00:38:17,316 --> 00:38:19,756 Speaker 1: of an Obama agenda item. Obama is going to be 569 00:38:19,756 --> 00:38:22,916 Speaker 1: on TV. Hey you I won't go on TV. I'll 570 00:38:22,956 --> 00:38:28,356 Speaker 1: glad you're exclusive Trump. Trump's about to destroy Obama. I 571 00:38:28,476 --> 00:38:32,556 Speaker 1: find Limbaugh's prediction super revealing because of how wrong it was, Because, 572 00:38:32,596 --> 00:38:34,996 Speaker 1: of course, Obama did not go on television and damn 573 00:38:35,036 --> 00:38:38,716 Speaker 1: Trump's every move. Instead, Obama kept quiet for pretty much 574 00:38:38,756 --> 00:38:42,436 Speaker 1: all four years of Trump's administration. Obama played by old 575 00:38:42,516 --> 00:38:46,436 Speaker 1: school rules. The ex president steps out of politics, the 576 00:38:46,556 --> 00:38:49,996 Speaker 1: rules that every other American president of whatever party had 577 00:38:50,036 --> 00:38:54,396 Speaker 1: played by from the beginning. Limbaugh, though, seemed no longer 578 00:38:54,476 --> 00:39:01,276 Speaker 1: able to imagine that anyone still played by rules. Twenty 579 00:39:01,316 --> 00:39:04,316 Speaker 1: first century political warfare is a battle for truth, people 580 00:39:04,396 --> 00:39:07,236 Speaker 1: like to say, But more and more, I think it 581 00:39:07,316 --> 00:39:10,716 Speaker 1: has been a battle about doubt. Well, leave only me 582 00:39:11,516 --> 00:39:15,276 Speaker 1: doubt everyone else. Rush Limbaugh said he was the voice 583 00:39:15,276 --> 00:39:19,796 Speaker 1: of America. Al Franken tried to fact check him. Then 584 00:39:19,956 --> 00:39:23,516 Speaker 1: Donald Trump said he was the voice of America, and 585 00:39:23,716 --> 00:39:28,036 Speaker 1: then all hell broke loose. You can do anything whatever 586 00:39:28,036 --> 00:39:34,556 Speaker 1: you want. I could do anything. After the Access Hollywood 587 00:39:34,596 --> 00:39:38,076 Speaker 1: tape came out just before the twenty sixteen election, Trump 588 00:39:38,196 --> 00:39:41,796 Speaker 1: said it was just locker room talk. I've been in 589 00:39:41,836 --> 00:39:45,036 Speaker 1: a lot of locker rooms. That's Al Franken on Late 590 00:39:45,156 --> 00:39:48,716 Speaker 1: Night with Seth Myers. I you know, I belong to 591 00:39:48,756 --> 00:39:52,916 Speaker 1: a health club in Minneapolis. I think you can tell. Yeah, 592 00:39:52,996 --> 00:40:00,236 Speaker 1: we can tell. And our locker room banter is stuff 593 00:40:00,276 --> 00:40:06,956 Speaker 1: like is Trump crazy? In the end, though, one politician 594 00:40:06,996 --> 00:40:09,036 Speaker 1: who would be brought down for Trump sins would be 595 00:40:10,356 --> 00:40:16,996 Speaker 1: Al Franken. In twenty seventeen, a conservative talk radio host 596 00:40:17,396 --> 00:40:20,996 Speaker 1: named Leanne Tweeden went on the air at KBC in 597 00:40:21,156 --> 00:40:25,716 Speaker 1: Los Angeles with a bomb show, who is your abuser, 598 00:40:27,636 --> 00:40:30,796 Speaker 1: Senator Al Franken. It was in two thousand and six. 599 00:40:31,796 --> 00:40:35,156 Speaker 1: We were going on a USO tour. He gave me 600 00:40:35,276 --> 00:40:39,276 Speaker 1: the script and you know, it was full of sexual innuendos, 601 00:40:39,396 --> 00:40:41,476 Speaker 1: and it was supposed to be funny, you know. Tweeden 602 00:40:41,556 --> 00:40:43,716 Speaker 1: told the story of how back in two thousand and six, 603 00:40:44,036 --> 00:40:47,116 Speaker 1: she and Franken had been together in Kuwait backstage had 604 00:40:47,156 --> 00:40:51,036 Speaker 1: a USO tour, rehearsing for the show, and he matches 605 00:40:51,076 --> 00:40:53,196 Speaker 1: his mouth up against mine and he sticks his tongue 606 00:40:53,196 --> 00:40:56,596 Speaker 1: in my mouth and as it happens, it happens so fast, 607 00:40:56,676 --> 00:40:58,476 Speaker 1: and he puts his tongue in my mouth and his 608 00:40:58,636 --> 00:41:01,716 Speaker 1: mouth is just wet and slimy. I was violated. I 609 00:41:01,836 --> 00:41:04,836 Speaker 1: was disgusted. That's not what I was expecting. All I 610 00:41:04,876 --> 00:41:07,316 Speaker 1: could think about was that's what you wrote that in 611 00:41:07,436 --> 00:41:10,476 Speaker 1: the script for, so you could do that to me. Also, 612 00:41:10,836 --> 00:41:13,916 Speaker 1: there was a cringey photo. A photo has surfaced today 613 00:41:14,036 --> 00:41:17,036 Speaker 1: showing Tweeden asleep on the flight back home and it 614 00:41:17,116 --> 00:41:22,996 Speaker 1: reveals Franken groping her. Franken apologized sort of vaguely, but 615 00:41:23,116 --> 00:41:27,196 Speaker 1: then seven other women made accusations against him, mostly about 616 00:41:27,276 --> 00:41:32,636 Speaker 1: unwanted touching. Pressured by his Democratic Senate colleagues, Franken resigned. 617 00:41:33,156 --> 00:41:36,796 Speaker 1: His speech on the Senate floor was bitter. I have 618 00:41:37,036 --> 00:41:41,836 Speaker 1: all people am aware that there is some irony in 619 00:41:41,996 --> 00:41:45,956 Speaker 1: the fact that I am leaving while a man who 620 00:41:46,116 --> 00:41:50,796 Speaker 1: is bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault 621 00:41:50,956 --> 00:41:54,556 Speaker 1: sits in the Oval office. When the New Yorkers Jane 622 00:41:54,596 --> 00:41:58,796 Speaker 1: Mayre reinvestigated the case, Franken told her that he regretted resigning. 623 00:41:59,516 --> 00:42:02,396 Speaker 1: Seven current and former senators who urged him to resign 624 00:42:02,476 --> 00:42:06,236 Speaker 1: said they regretted it too. His mayor told NPR there 625 00:42:06,276 --> 00:42:10,516 Speaker 1: were holes in Tweeden's story. She had ever been subjected 626 00:42:10,556 --> 00:42:14,156 Speaker 1: to any fact checking. She had never produced any corroborators. 627 00:42:14,316 --> 00:42:17,516 Speaker 1: And I spoke to eight people on that USO tour 628 00:42:18,276 --> 00:42:20,396 Speaker 1: who had no political ACHENDA. Most of them were in 629 00:42:20,436 --> 00:42:22,996 Speaker 1: the military, and they were right there and they just 630 00:42:23,196 --> 00:42:27,636 Speaker 1: didn't say a woy she saw it. As mayor pointed out, 631 00:42:27,956 --> 00:42:31,276 Speaker 1: Leanne Tweeden claimed Franken wrote the controversial skit in two 632 00:42:31,356 --> 00:42:35,356 Speaker 1: thousand and six for her but in fact, and this 633 00:42:35,516 --> 00:42:38,436 Speaker 1: is indisputable he wrote it in two thousand and three. 634 00:42:39,316 --> 00:42:42,996 Speaker 1: Other actresses had played that same role, but something else 635 00:42:43,116 --> 00:42:46,476 Speaker 1: was lost in the frenzy around Tweeden's allegations. Her employer, 636 00:42:46,676 --> 00:42:50,316 Speaker 1: k ABC is a conservative talk radio station. Tweeden is 637 00:42:50,356 --> 00:42:53,596 Speaker 1: a radio personality in the style of Rush Limbaugh, and 638 00:42:53,756 --> 00:42:55,996 Speaker 1: k ABC did not reach out to get a comment 639 00:42:56,076 --> 00:42:59,916 Speaker 1: from al Franken about Tweeden's accusations before airing them because 640 00:42:59,956 --> 00:43:02,756 Speaker 1: a right to reply that was a rule that dated 641 00:43:02,956 --> 00:43:06,636 Speaker 1: to the forgotten era of the fairness doctrine. I'm not 642 00:43:06,716 --> 00:43:09,916 Speaker 1: saying Al Franken is the hero of the story. He's not, 643 00:43:10,716 --> 00:43:14,516 Speaker 1: but he isn't the villain either. Hyperpolarized politics will always 644 00:43:14,596 --> 00:43:19,276 Speaker 1: tend to dualism, good versus evil. The error of the 645 00:43:19,436 --> 00:43:22,556 Speaker 1: left is that it keeps joining this game of mayhem 646 00:43:22,996 --> 00:43:30,436 Speaker 1: instead of restoring the rules. In February of twenty twenty, 647 00:43:30,756 --> 00:43:33,916 Speaker 1: during his State of the Union address, Donald Trump awarded 648 00:43:33,996 --> 00:43:38,476 Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal 649 00:43:38,596 --> 00:43:43,756 Speaker 1: of Freedom. Here tonight is a special man beloved by 650 00:43:43,836 --> 00:43:49,076 Speaker 1: millions of Americans, who just received a Stage four advanced 651 00:43:49,236 --> 00:43:54,636 Speaker 1: cancer diagnosis. This is not good news. But what is 652 00:43:54,716 --> 00:43:57,756 Speaker 1: good news is that he is the greatest fighter and 653 00:43:57,876 --> 00:44:02,036 Speaker 1: winner that you will ever meet. Limbaugh was dying of 654 00:44:02,156 --> 00:44:06,036 Speaker 1: lung cancer. Al Franken was wandering in the political wilderness. 655 00:44:07,076 --> 00:44:10,796 Speaker 1: All that year, Trump and Limb kept saying that Democrats 656 00:44:10,836 --> 00:44:14,076 Speaker 1: were going to steal the twenty twenty election, but stealing 657 00:44:14,116 --> 00:44:17,836 Speaker 1: elections was a go pack golden oldie, a two knute 658 00:44:17,836 --> 00:44:22,196 Speaker 1: Gingridge had played back in nineteen eighty eight. They're gonna 659 00:44:22,236 --> 00:44:24,996 Speaker 1: buy a registration, They're gonna buy votes, They're gonna turn 660 00:44:25,076 --> 00:44:27,756 Speaker 1: out votes, They're gonna steal votes. They're gonna do anything 661 00:44:27,916 --> 00:44:31,676 Speaker 1: they can. Now you have to understand that, stop the steal, 662 00:44:31,796 --> 00:44:34,516 Speaker 1: Gingridge said in nineteen eighty eight, and by twenty twenty 663 00:44:35,116 --> 00:44:37,956 Speaker 1: he was saying it all over again. Two days after 664 00:44:38,036 --> 00:44:41,116 Speaker 1: the election, no one should be of any doubt. You 665 00:44:41,236 --> 00:44:46,436 Speaker 1: are watching an effort to steal the presidency. Ansis Joe 666 00:44:46,516 --> 00:44:51,516 Speaker 1: Biden won, but Donald Trump refused to concede. Then two 667 00:44:51,596 --> 00:45:03,116 Speaker 1: months later, on January sixth, the next episode of The 668 00:45:03,196 --> 00:45:06,396 Speaker 1: Last Archive, I'll go paddling down the many rovers of 669 00:45:06,516 --> 00:45:09,476 Speaker 1: doubt that dumped us into this sea of political gadab astrophe, 670 00:45:10,116 --> 00:45:13,956 Speaker 1: the day when supporters of a defeated president rioted inside 671 00:45:13,996 --> 00:45:22,316 Speaker 1: the nation's capital. But for now, I'll just say this. 672 00:45:23,156 --> 00:45:27,116 Speaker 1: Against this backdrop of murder and mayhem, some pillars of 673 00:45:27,276 --> 00:45:31,276 Speaker 1: right wing media began to crumble. A corporation that owns 674 00:45:31,396 --> 00:45:35,116 Speaker 1: talk radio stations across the country ordered its hosts to 675 00:45:35,316 --> 00:45:38,636 Speaker 1: stop saying the election was stolen and told them instead 676 00:45:38,956 --> 00:45:44,916 Speaker 1: to induce national calm. Now, Rush Limbo, though he was 677 00:45:44,996 --> 00:45:47,556 Speaker 1: having none of it. There's a lot of people calling 678 00:45:47,716 --> 00:45:53,076 Speaker 1: for the end of violence. There's a lot of conservatives 679 00:45:54,036 --> 00:45:58,996 Speaker 1: social media who say that any violence or aggression at 680 00:45:59,196 --> 00:46:06,316 Speaker 1: all is unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances. I'm glad Sam Adams, 681 00:46:08,196 --> 00:46:15,236 Speaker 1: Thomas Payne, the actual Tea Party guys the minute Lexington 682 00:46:15,316 --> 00:46:21,836 Speaker 1: and Conquered didn't feel that way. Rush Limbaugh died six 683 00:46:21,916 --> 00:46:25,996 Speaker 1: weeks after that broadcast. The King of AM Radio left 684 00:46:26,076 --> 00:46:30,436 Speaker 1: behind in America more bewildered and angry than ever, the 685 00:46:30,596 --> 00:46:34,636 Speaker 1: nation split by a growing canyon of talk with no 686 00:46:34,916 --> 00:46:38,116 Speaker 1: bridges of meaning. That canyon looked like it might just 687 00:46:38,236 --> 00:46:49,036 Speaker 1: swallow up the oldest democracy in the world. The Last 688 00:46:49,196 --> 00:46:52,236 Speaker 1: Archive is written and hosted by me Jill Lapour. It's 689 00:46:52,276 --> 00:46:55,316 Speaker 1: produced by Sophie Crane mckibbon and Ben Natt of Hafrey. 690 00:46:55,676 --> 00:46:58,676 Speaker 1: Our editor is Julia Barton, and our executive producer is 691 00:46:58,756 --> 00:47:03,076 Speaker 1: Mia Lobell. Martin Gonzalez is our engineer. Fact checking by 692 00:47:03,156 --> 00:47:06,916 Speaker 1: Amy Gaines. Original music by Matthias Bossi and John Evans 693 00:47:06,996 --> 00:47:11,356 Speaker 1: of Stellwagen Sympinet. Our research assistants are Kamani Panthier and 694 00:47:11,516 --> 00:47:16,396 Speaker 1: Lillie Richmond. Our full proof players are Yoshia Mao, Raymond Blankenhorne, 695 00:47:16,556 --> 00:47:20,996 Speaker 1: Matthias boss Dan Epstein, Ethan Herschenfeld, Becka A. Lewis, Andrew Perella, 696 00:47:21,236 --> 00:47:25,356 Speaker 1: Robert Ricotta, and Nick Saxton. Special thanks to Brian Rosenwald 697 00:47:25,596 --> 00:47:29,276 Speaker 1: for his book Talk Radio's America. We couldn't have written 698 00:47:29,316 --> 00:47:33,716 Speaker 1: this episode without it, and thanks to Simon Leek. The 699 00:47:33,836 --> 00:47:36,876 Speaker 1: Last Archive is a production of Pushkin Industries. At Pushkin 700 00:47:37,116 --> 00:47:40,876 Speaker 1: thanks to Jacob Weisberg, Heather Fame, John Schnarz, Carly mcgliori, 701 00:47:41,116 --> 00:47:45,476 Speaker 1: Christina Sullivan, Eric Sandler, Emily Rostek, Maggie Taylor, Maya Kanig 702 00:47:45,676 --> 00:47:49,036 Speaker 1: and Daniella Lacan. Many of us out effects are from 703 00:47:49,036 --> 00:47:52,236 Speaker 1: Harry Janette Junior and the Star Jenette Foundation. If you 704 00:47:52,316 --> 00:47:54,836 Speaker 1: like the show, please remember to rate, share, and review. 705 00:47:55,196 --> 00:47:58,356 Speaker 1: To find more Pushkin podcasts, listen on the iHeart Radio app, 706 00:47:58,556 --> 00:48:02,756 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Jillapoor.