{"id":293771,"date":"2018-12-04T16:06:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T21:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=293771"},"modified":"2018-12-06T15:56:46","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T20:56:46","slug":"we-remember-the-1988-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2018\/12\/04\/we-remember-the-1988-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"We Remember the 1988 Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Folks, I just got an email from Victor Davis Hanson<\/a>, and it really has an important point to make here in two different ways. And especially in this overflowing effort of the Drive-By Media to portray Bush as the epitome of civility and dignity and sophistication.<\/p>\n

Victor Davis Hanson: Hey, Rush, don\u2019t you think the media is sort of missing the role of Lee Atwater in 1988 versus his absence in \u201991 and \u201992?<\/p>\n

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Boy, is this ever on the money. Folks, Lee Atwater, the media hated Lee Atwater. They despised Lee Atwater. They hated Lee Atwater maybe more than they hate Trump. Lee Atwater was Donald Trump to the Democrats and the media, and he was the advocate for George H. W. Bush. And he was a no-holds-barred political consultant who ran effective ads. The guy took no prisoners whatsoever, and he got George Bush elected in 1988.<\/p>\n

I mean, Atwater is considered a hero by the people who were with Bush in that era, but he died; he had brain cancer; he passed away; he was not present for the campaign in 1992. And the contrast in the two campaigns, the \u201992 reelection campaign and George H. W. Bush\u2019s presidential campaign in 1988, the difference was so stark.<\/p>\n

One of the relevant factors here is how much the media hated Lee Atwater. I cannot tell you. The hatred for Lee Atwater today remains, it is visceral, because he was one of the first effective Republican political campaign consultants who was able to turn Democrat tactics right around on them.<\/p>\n

You know, when this program started in August of 1988, George H. W. Bush was down 17 points to this loser, Dukakis. And Lee Atwater finally came on board and got that campaign turned around, and Victor here is reminding me that they hit Dukakis hard on the Boston Harbor. They were hitting Dukakis hard on being a wimp on national security; so Dukakis had to go out and pose for a picture in a tank wearing a helmet and an Army you\u2019re familiar with. And he ended up looking like out of the Beetle Bailey comic series. It was a humiliating thing.<\/p>\n

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The Willie Horton ad, Atwater got blamed for that. He might have some lineage to it but it was not Atwater\u2019s ad; it was not Bush\u2019s. It was a guy named Floyd Brown. But it was Algore who first brought the nation\u2019s attention to Willie Horton in the Democrat primaries for president that year. Oh, yeah. Algore wanted to be president in 1988, and he ran against Dukakis, Dukakis won, but Algore brought up the prison furloughs that Dukakis had become famous for, and he was the guy who discovered Willie Horton. Look. There\u2019s more on this, but I gotta take a break. We\u2019ll be right back. Oh, that\u2019s right. Already took the break. I usually take it about now but I took it earlier because I\u2019d finished the Bob Dole situation.<\/p>\n

So this is the point that Victor Davis Hanson\u2019s making in the email. After winning in \u201988, Bush — he might have felt bad about adopting the hardball tactics because Atwater was known for them. And there was — and I recall this — there was an undercurrent that Bush was not happy with the overall tone even though he won. And, by the way, they turned around a 17-point deficit.<\/p>\n

We had so much fun with that campaign. The Dukakis campaign literally fell apart because of Atwater\u2019s tactics, and we chronicled it here on the EIB Network. Atwater got brain tumor. And you know what he did? And this — I\u2019ll never forget — this did not sit well. Atwater apologized to Dukakis before he passed away in 1991. Atwater apologized for the tactics that he had used.<\/p>\n

And media said, “Well, this is just Atwater trying to get right with God, because he\u2019s got a brain tumor, he knows he\u2019s gonna die.” And so they didn\u2019t think it was serious, but they heralded it nevertheless. And so they ran stories, “Republican admits foul ball tactics used, Republicans sorry for mistreatment of Dukakis.” They did everything they could to discredit Atwater for what he had done. But no one mentioned that Dukakis didn\u2019t run a clean and pure as the wind-driven snow campaign. He ran a tough one.<\/p>\n

He had an ad, revolving door ad about a Latino who was let out of a federal furlough program under Bush, people don\u2019t remember this, but he tried to return fire on Willie Horton. It kind of fell flat. You know, Dukakis is running around Boston. He was in politics, walking around, and the press is following, \u201cI love policy, you know, I just love policy, I just love it.\u201d This guy\u2019s a sitting duck, to run around and say you love policy. He loves process. \u201cI love the process, Tim, I just love the process of politics. I just love this stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, yeah, then Bernard Shaw said, “Governor Dukakis, if your wife was raped, what\u2019d you do?” “Well, Bernard, it depends. If the rapist had come from a poor family and tough economic situation.\u201d People said, “What? You mean, you might find a way to excuse the rapist?” “Well, yes, but –” Dukakis was trying to be the good liberal. You know, no criminal\u2019s actually responsible for what a criminal does. It\u2019s socioeconomic circumstances that create a criminal. And he was trying to be duly sensitive, but he had no ability, had no range of emotion, had no desire to express any.<\/p>\n

And Bernard Shaw thought he was tossing him a softball. It was in a presidential debate. And then Kitty Dukakis. Ah, what a tragic story. She started drinking lighter fluid. Remember that? Well, sniffing it, whatever you. Well, we had a Pat Metheny tune that we used as Dukakis enters the stage song. Might grab that out of the archives. We\u2019ll maybe in the next segment play it.<\/p>\n