Revisiting Dr. Death on Good Friday

Rush Limbaugh , CA
March 25 2005

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

You know what I want to do, folks? We’re going to go back to 1996,
Rush Limbaugh the Television Show. Jack Kevorkian. I think it would
be interesting because I want to review three things that Kevorkian
said in a National Press Club speech that was carried and heralded at
the time by many, and I want to play for you my reaction to what
Kevorkian says. The reason I want to do this is because it was 1996,
which is nine years ago, and for those of you that are relatively new
to the program and have only heard the subject of human life
discussed on this program by me this week, I’m going to take the
occasion to go back, play what Kevorkian said on our TV show in 1996
(Video Clip) and then what I said following Kevorkian, so as to
establish for those of you new to the program that the things that
you’re hearing from me are things I have said consistently over the
years. The warnings that I issued nine years ago are now becoming
reality. I just want you to hear Kevorkian and what he has to say
about “death with dignity” and just to prove to you that there’s a
culture of life in this country, that it’s been building and that
this is not an isolated case. The reason people are choosing sides on
this is because of this battle over the meaning of life in this
country. It is clear.

John Podhoretz has a great piece today in the New York Post. His
op-ed piece. If I may paraphrase. Podhoretz says that there are two
groups in this battle over life. One group holds the belief that life
is created, it’s sacred, we all only have one. It’s nobody’s business
to start tampering with this life, and this life is beyond our
definition because of the inclusion of the soul. And the soul is our
connection to the divine, our creator. The other side doesn’t believe
in any of that. They’re irreligious or secularists and they think
that we’re just a miracle of nature, a bunch of things happened when
the sperm and the egg meet and bammo! You get a human machine. But
when the machine goes south, it’s time to get rid of the machine
because the machine, if it can’t perform optimally and save itself
and do things for itself, it’s not worth living. There’s no
connection to the spiritual on the part of these people, and those
people are deathly afraid of those who do believe in the soul and the
divine connection to life and so the battle thus ensues. We’ll link
to the piece on the website. You could read it yourself. It’s the
NewYorkPost.com in their opinion section, but I think for the sake of
the simplification of this discussion all week long it’s a great
piece and will help people understand the dividing line here. I think
it’s pretty right on the money what Podhoretz says about how those
who are secularists view human life. You know, we’re just the most
supreme form of a natural accident, the meeting up of genes and cells
and sperm and egg and voila! We’re the most advanced machine on the
planet but we’re nothing special, we’re just the most advanced. And
when our machines go wrong, aspects of our machines go wrong, then
it’s time to just pull the plug if it’s necessary to keep that
machine running and going with no knowledge, no recognition, no
acknowledgment whatsoever that there may be a divine connection to
human life, or with human life, and the creator. It’s really well
done. Let me take a quick time-out here. We’ll come back and go back
to the TV show from 1996. Jack Kevorkian. We have three bites of
Kevorkian. I’ll play for you my summation as it aired on the TV show
back in 1996.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Before we move on to this Kevorkian stuff from my TV show from
nine years ago, I want you to hear where the case is now, according
to Bob Schindler, Terri Schiavo’s father. He spoke to the press not
long ago this morning, and this is his view of where the case is at
this moment.

SCHINDLER: The information that was presented last night in front of
the judge, the federal judge in Tampa, was very, very strong, and
we’re encouraging these judges, when they review that it’s under
appeal, to make the right decision. And we’ve had some of the best
legal minds in the country working on this, and, you know, we’re
always — seems that we’re losing in court, and it’s not because we
have poor attorneys. They’re offering sound legal motions, but we
haven’t been very successful. But I do think that what was presented
last night in the federal court is very, very viable and we’re, you
know, encouraging the appellate court to take a hard look at this
thing and to do the right thing.

RUSH: Unidentified reporter then asked, “Well, what’s your best hope
now, Mr. Schindler.”
SCHINDLER: Our best hope right now is the appellate court. What’s in
front of them is very, very — I can’t say how strong it is, and it’s
important. The legal opinions that we’re getting are telling us that
this thing should — the judge’s decision last night should be
reversed. That’s the information we’re getting, and we’re now
hanging, waiting for that.

RUSH: As time continues to dwindle away. I went ahead during the
break and printed out the Podhoretz column. Let me just read to you
the relevant sections I was talking about mere moments ago. He tries
to line up the two sides here, and point out what the fight is really
all about. He says, “Those who want her to live tend to view life as
a gift ~W a treasure beyond value that has been bestowed upon us and
that we therefore have no right to squander. The giver of the gift
cannot be seen by the human eye, and the essence of the gift cannot
be seen either. We usually call that essence the ‘soul.’ Our souls
define us: They make us who we are in the deepest sense. And they
transcend us as well: They are our connection to the divine, to all
in the universe that is unseen and unknowable but is still there.
Most religious people share this set of beliefs, which is why those
who have pushed hardest to save Schiavo are devout Christians. Many
of those who want her to die, by contrast, view life as a natural
phenomenon ~W a collision of egg and sperm that gives rise 280 days
later to a baby. That baby is the product of human interaction,
deriving genetic information equally from mother and father and
recombining it into a new human form. It’s a wonder, but it’s not a
miracle. It’s explicable within the laws of nature, and so there
isn’t anything necessarily transcendent about it. In some sense,
then, the human body has a mechanical quality to it. We are created
by a rational process. We all look kind of similar (arms, legs, eyes,
nose, mouth, shoulders all in the same place), and we all have an
inborn capacity to communicate, to learn and to develop complex
relationships with other people. We’re created and grow in the same
way. Our core desires are the same ~W food, shelter, sleep, love. In
this way of thinking, we are the world’s most marvelous, most
spectacular machines. This is the view of life shared by most secular
people, who are uncomfortable with the idea of a divine spark within
all of us and prefer to think that science is the best explanation
for everything.” That’s John Podhoretz in the New York Post today
attempting to shape the two sides and what the fight is really all
about. All right. Let’s go back to the TV show. Rush Limbaugh, the TV
show in 1996, National Press Club, Jack Kevorkian discussed the
dignity in which people die with his assistance versus the dignity in
which some other people die.

KEVORKIAN: Well, let’s take what people think is a dignified death.
Christ. Was that a dignified death? Do you think it’s dignified to
hang from wood with nails through your hands and feet, bleeding for
three or four days and slowly dying? With people jabbing spears into
your side and people jeering you? Do you think that’s dignified? Not
by a long shot. Had Christ died in my van (laughter) with people
around him who loved him, the way it was, it would be far more
dignified. My rusty van.

RUSH: This is Dr. Death, Dr. Kevorkian, making the case for his
euthanasia movement which was to take people who weren’t even
terminally ill and talk them into dying and take them into his van
and he would inject them. I forgot his method. But I don’t know that
everybody’s ever really talked about crucifixion as dignified. That
is mystifying for me. But let’s move on here. Here is Dr. Death,
another portion of that audio, the National Press Club, 1996.

KEVORKIAN: God sets things in motion and then hands off. Let humans
run it. And that’s why he set this country up the way it was.
Hands-off? The Pope has got his hands on our neck. He’s wringing it.
Now, I’m not anti-Pope. Basically he can do whatever he wants and say
whatever he wants. But I think he’s got a grip on our government. I
know he has a grip on the Michigan Supreme Court. Grip? He owns it. I
know he’s got a grip on our Supreme Court. Therefore, I don’t care
what any Supreme Court says. I don’t care what any legislature does.
Pass any law you want. I don’t care.

RUSH: Here’s your modern icon. This is the modern icon of the
Culture of Death movement. Here he is, Dr. Death, Jack Kevorkian.
Let’s listen to one more from this speech. It happened July 29th,
1996 at the National Press Club, and the audience is members of the
media. They’re the ones who are laughing.

KEVORKIAN: We’re trained to lie as we get older. That’s the way you
survive. That’s the grief that society is lying. To yourselves and to
others. And the epitome of lying is in the epitome of society, the
government. I don’t think what I’ve said is wrong so far. If there’s
any disagreement I’ll hear about it later. These questions I’m
asking, “Does that baboon heart become sacred?” You can’t answer it.
Why not? You know what sanctity is, don’t you? Can the body be partly
sacred? Is the fecal material in your intestines sacred? You’re a
human body. You’re a biological organism like every other biological
organism. You bleed when you cut and when you die you stink. Now,
what’s sacred about that?

RUSH: So you forgot about this? (asking staff) You forgot? A lot of
people have forgotten because this is so unpleasant to remember. Who
wants to run around remembering this kind of stuff? This is the
modern hero of the Culture of Death movement, Dr. Jack Kevorkian —
and he epitomizes here what Podhoretz has said. We’re just biological
machines, miracles, we’re all the same. We stink when we die.
Dignified? What, what, what, what, what? So I play this. I just want
to you find out the mind-set of people, and this guy’s clearly
unafraid to tell us what he thinks, which is a service. But it’s
clearly an illustration of some of the thinking that goes on about
life and death among some of us, particularly our secularists, in
this culture. Now, this is what I said at the end of the TV show that
day, and for those of you that have just been listening this week or
in the past month or even year and you’ve not heard the subject of
life come up intensely as it has this week, just to show you that
we’re consistent here, we have core principles and values, and they
are what guide this program. This is how I closed out the Kevorkian
segment on my TV show back in July of 1996.

RUSH IN ’96: I think Kevorkian’s dangerous and I think that what he’s
doing is not a service to society for this reason: He talked about
sanctity and I believe that too many Americans are losing sight of
the sanctity of life, losing respect for it. And I’ve been alarmed
about it for a long time. I know it’s going to make some of you
uncomfortable, but a million and a half abortions a year for all
these years, now we’re deciding — and that’s basically a convenience
to the living decision. We’re deciding who lives and dies based on
the convenience of those who are alive. And now we’re deciding who,
at the elderly end of the spectrum, should live or die and we tell
ourselves that we’re doing it out of compassion and understanding,
that they must die dignified deaths but basically what it boils down
to is, we’re making decisions for people based on what we think is
good for them and — or not good for them. So killing or euthanasia
or assisted suicide, whatever you want to call it, is becoming very
easy. And I don’t think you can separate what’s happening without
regard for life, or lack of it, in this country, from the crime rate,
from the illegitimacy rate and from a number of the things going on
in our society that make you ask, “Where is America’s soul?” Until
this kind of thing is taken seriously, that’s why I’m concerned with
the long-term view. I’m not anti-abortion because I want to tell
other people how I think they ought to live. I’m concerned where the
country is going to be 15, 20, 25, 30 years from now. I inherited
fortunately, because the people who came before me had a great sense
of values and purpose, I inherited a pretty great country. I hope the
people who come after me do too, but you worry about that when you
see the things that are happening all around us today and the loss of
respect for life is central to our deterioration.

RUSH: That was nine years ago, July 30th, 1996. Dr. Kevorkian was
back on TV today. He was on Good Morning America from his jail cell.
Charlie Gibson said (cut nine here Mike), “When you see Congress
begin to get involved, when you see this go through layer after layer
in the courts, does it become something in your mind of a circus?”

KEVORKIAN: Yes, of course. What bothers me is the bit of hypocrisy in
this. When the Congress and the president get involved because all
life is sacred and must be preserved at all costs, they don’t say the
same thing about men in the death row cell. Their life is just as
sacred.

RUSH: See, there’s no difference between somebody who has been
convicted of a crime, convicted of murder, and Terri Schiavo, in
Kevorkian’s mind. Now, I also might point out, is it not interesting
who Good Morning America decided to call as the source authority on
how we’re dealing with Terri Schiavo? Dr. Death, Jack Kevorkian, and
seeking — honestly seeking — his opinion about what the Congress
and the president are doing in this regard. I just remain buffaloed.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: All right. Now, let me throw some gasoline on a fire here,
ladies and gentlemen, because all of us who want that feeding tube
reinserted have been trying to get a handle, have been trying to
understand the other side in this, and there is a divide. It’s hard
to understand why there is so much enthusiasm for this woman to die
— and I don’t care what anybody wants to tell me, there is. I’ve had
it call this program. I’ve heard it expressed on this program. I’ve
seen it on television. There is an active enthusiasm for this case to
die. There is happiness and applause when these court rulings come
down. Now, you can sit there and deny it. You can call here and tell
me, “No, that’s not what you think all day long, but you’re not going
to convince me that there’s not a culture out there that has
something to gain from this woman’s death and that’s the point.” We
call ourselves a civilized society and we’re letting this woman’s
death drag on and on and on, and it is public. We are starving one of
our own citizens. The government is starving one of our own citizens.
“No. No, Rush, these are court rulings.” Three branches of
government, dummkopfs. We’ve got the legislative, the executive and
the judicial. The judicial is a branch of government and the
judiciary has decided the woman is going to starve, for one reason or
another. There was a great piece, I saw it in National Review Online.
“If she could make a phone call, if she’d dial 911 and say somebody,
‘Help me, I’m being starved to death.'” The cops would show up and
they would take action. If she could do it, she would, but she can’t,
obviously.

Well, what’s happening here? You know, there is an advantage to some
people for having this play out day after day after day. There is an
advantage for all this emotion being ginned up, and what do you think
that advantage is? This is, in effect, what we have going on this
week is a week-long or however long it goes ad for people to make a
case for mercy killing. How many people do you think, after this
agonizing week, would probably say, “Yeah, you know what? We need
mercy killing now instead of this agonizing starvation and so forth.”
What do you think the reaction among some people is going to be? It’s
not going to be, “Let’s not kill people this way; let them live.” No,
the reaction is going to be, “Let’s not kill people this way; let’s
not make them suffer.” Even after we’ve been told all week, “She’s
not suffering; she’s not going through pain; it’s euphoria,” still
what we’ve got here is a week-long advertisement for those who want
to make a case for mercy killing — and how much of this country do
you think is going to be ripe for that after this week of raw emotion
that has been playing out 24/7 in the US media, versus how many
people in the country do you think will have a reaction that says,
“Yeah, this slow agonizing death of starvation, we should reinsert
the tube.” That will be the two arguments here, and there’s going to
be an even growing, I predict to you, an even larger segment of
society — I don’t know how big in terms of total percentage — but a
larger segment of society which will now decide, “It’s just too
agonizing to see and hear about this. Let’s do mercy killing.” Let’s
see. I’ve got more of Jack Kevorkian. I just want to finish him up
via Good Morning America today. In fact, let’s play nine and ten all
over again today. Kevorkian, Dr. Death, reached out to by ABC as a
source authority on what the Congress and the president have done in
this case. Charlie Gibson, talking to Dr. Death in his jail cell,
Charlie says, “When you see Congress begin to get involved, when you
see this go through layer after layer in the courts, does it become
something in your mind of a circus, Dr. [Death]?”

KEVORKIAN: Yes, of course. What bothers me is the bit of hypocrisy in
this. When the Congress and president get involved because all life
is sacred and must be preserved at all costs, they don’t say the same
thing about men in the death row cell. Their life is just as sacred.

RUSH: And then Gibson says, “Well, do you believe some good can come
from the current debate?” Listen to this.

KEVORKIAN: It has raised the consciousness level concerning this
issue, and many more people now are going to be willing to face it
squarely and discuss it among their families and in society in
general.

RUSH: If you know what Dr. Death is in favor of, “mercy” killing,
then he’s just made my point here about the consciousness-raising
toward mercy killing that this raw week of emotion is providing for
certain people. So just keep a sharp eye. In the midst of all this,
don’t forget CNN feels sorry for the polar bears because of global
warming up at the North Pole; the bears aren’t dying. The bears are
just forced to find food in different places, and they say that
they’re 15% skinnier, 20% skinnier over the last 20 years — and, of
course, this is just intolerable. It’s just so sad. They’re losing
weight, folks. They’re wasting away to nothing. Oh, how can this be?
We’ve got to do something for the polar bears. It is mind-boggling. I
predict this stuff earlier in the week as a joke and every time I
make a joke about the left, it just comes through. One other thing,
folks, about this Kevorkian business, just to close the loop. Back in
1996, and ’95, when this Kevorkian stuff was at the top of the page
and it was the lead story day in and day out, I took grief from my
audience like you can’t imagine. I didn’t understand suffering. I was
thinking too much rather than feeling. My emotion, my emotion was
lacking here. I was not relating and understanding the pain and the
suffering these people were going through, and I was the one who was
the mean, dirty SOB, cruel, rotten bastard, because I had the guts to
speak out against Jack Kevorkian — and the same kind of heat I’m
taking this week from some of the audience, same type of heat took
back in 1996. Now, the lesson is, I’ll take the heat. I don’t care.
Because I think people tell us who they are. I think we learn a lot
about people when they get mad and when people call to criticize me,
I understand that they are telling me more about who they are than
anything they know about me because not only are they wrong, as they
assess me, but they don’t know me in that sense.

END TRANSCRIPT