Kerry Blows Off Lawrence, Kansas

RUSH: All right, I told you earlier in this hour, my friends, that we're in the lighthearted Stack of Stuff, the humorous stories. Such we've got two such stories involving the Democratic presidential contender, Senator John Kerry and his running mate Senator John Edwards. And one of the stories involves Senator Kerry's wife, the lovely and gracious Teresa Heinz Kerry. See her dirty dancing at one of these campaign stops over the weekend? Whew. At any rate. Well, to each his own. Ladies and gentlemen, remember now the slogan of the Kerry campaign, "Help is on the way." Well, given that help is on the way, this is our John Kerry official campaign update theme song, ladies and gentlemen.

RUSH: You are listening to the John Kerry update theme here on the Rush Limbaugh program, the Mighty Mouse theme: Here I Come to Save the Day. I'm only talking now, my friends, to prevent competing programs from copying this and using it as their own, EIB, Rush Limbaugh.

RUSH: So John Kerry is in Missouri and Kansas, what are they calling this, the Believe in America Tour. This is the tour where he's hanging out the bus window, you know, with his wife Evita looking over his left shoulder holding a couple of cornstalks. Did you see this picture last week, H.R.? You were on vacation? He's holding a couple of cornstalks upside down like he doesn't know what they are, and I said he's showing the people of America what his policies will give and bring to them, two ears of corn for every home. He's trying to relate to Iowans by showing that he knows what corn is. He's holding it upside down having to explain to his wife probably what the stuff was.

Our first story comes from a story in the Kansas City Star. "Energy was the feature topic at the outdoor forum Friday, but it was agriculture — particularly related to hog farming — that drew testy comments. Kerry and Edwards pledged to help small hog farmers as large commercial operations began overshadowing them. Teresa Heinz Kerry handed her husband a note, and he invited her to stand up to speak. She talked about organic hog farming, saying she had met an Iowa hog producer who supervised 300 farms that raised hogs organically. 'It's really inspiring to see the work that they did,' she said. 'It can be done. It's economical, and there is a huge market in America.'

"Before she could finish, hog farmer Winston Simpson of Clarence, Mo., jumped to his feet to say that although he appreciated her comments, farmers bristled at the idea that the Kerry campaign would make organic farming a priority. 'They freak,' Simpson said, explaining that conventional farmers did not consider organic farming to be practical and that they feared that a President Kerry would try to regulate them in that direction. Comments like those by Kerry's wife could be made into a sound bite, fueling support for Bush in the campaign, said Simpson, who called himself a diehard Democrat." Well, we keep learning more and more about the Kerry economic plan, organic hog farming, when he's talking to farmers.

The next story is the pièce de résistance. Lawrence, Kansas, is a typical college town, very liberal. It's where the University of Kansas is. And very liberal, lots of professors there, lots of students, lots of students that date the professors, and it's just all that you've thought liberal academia is rolled into one little population center. And so Kerry and Edwards are going to go there, and they're gonna drive through there on the train.

"More than one thousand cheering people greeted the Amtrak train carrying candidates Senator John Kerry and senator John Edwards as it rolled through town just before one a.m. The train passed the station moving about 25 miles per hour, as the last car cleared the station platform, Kerry momentarily stepped outside and waved, before ducking back inside. The train arrived an hour and 15 minutes after campaign organizers had predicted, not promised, and almost five hours after the crowd began assembling." So the crowd got there at eight p.m. hoping to see Kerry on a train. It gets there at one a.m., Kerry comes out the back window and waves as the train speeds by at 25 miles an hour. And then the crowd yelled, "That's all?" In what I think is the metaphor for the whole Kerry campaign, "That's it? That's all?"

"There was a collective groan that evolved into roars of laughter before the crowd quickly dissipated. Julie Tucker of Lawrence said, 'Well, at least they thought they'd do a slow roll.' 'I think they sped up,' said one Lawrence policeman working crowd control. The train was headed toward Denver as Kerry and Edwards spoke to thousands of people at Union Station in downtown Kansas City." I got to tell you about liberal Lawrence, Kansas. They hate Bush there as much as they hate Bush anywhere in the country, and they desperately want to love Kerry. They were told the train would stop, and that Kerry would speak, and so they came, they saw. He didn't stop, he waved. That was it, at 25 miles an hour from the back of the train, at one o'clock in the morning. And a guy in the crowd says it all. "That's it? That's all?" Guy nailed it. That's all there is from Kerry, a wave and a then a duck back in. This is believing in America, my friends, a stinking wave to crazed followers in a liberal college town at one in the morning?

We're not through, folks, with the John Kerry and Senator John Edwards story in Lawrence, Kansas. No, my friends. It was a huge boondoggle and I've only scratched the surface with this story. One last note on this: the campaign, after this debacle -- you've got to understand what happened. This is a college town in a state that has voted Republican for president for a long, long time and they got two Republican senators out of there. One of them Sam Brownback. In national elections, this state votes Republican, and these students and the people of Lawrence hate Bush, and they so desperately want to love Kerry. And they were so excited that Kerry would take time out from his busy appearance at a hog farmer rally in Kansas City to take the train on the way from Denver and actually stop in Lawrence. Nobody stops in Lawrence. The only people that go to Lawrence are the students and the visiting football teams. Nobody goes there. But Kerry was going to come, and they so desperately want to love Kerry. And so this big boondoggle happens. The train is five hour late, goes through there at one a.m.

Somebody had to go tell Kerry, "Hey, there's a thousand people out there outside the train there, senator." He said, "Where are we?" "You're in Lawrence, Kansas." So he had to hustle them to the caboose where he went out and waved at them like elitist royalty, waved at them like the queen does and people in the crowd said, "That's it?" Somebody was so mad. "I could swear I saw that train speed up. He didn't even want to be here." They were disappointed. So the campaign said they never intended to stop in Lawrence and have Kerry speak. That was never part of the plan. Then, when that didn't fly, they blamed the conductor! The Kerry campaign said the conductor screwed up and didn't stop. It's just like the speechwriters were supposed to take that line out but they left it in there for a month. (Kerry sing-song voice impression) "I kept saaaying, I told those speeeech writers, 'I don't want that in the speech.'" Why, why did you keep saying it? "Weeeell, it was in there. I told 'em I didn't want it in theeere." So now the conductor screwed up, the conductor on the campaign trail.

What does this mean, ladies and gentlemen? That Kerry voted not to stop before he voted for stopping but was denied the stop because none of the results of his voting reached the conductor? It was the conductor's fault? So what did they do? They had to send little Senator John Edwards back to clear up the mess. They sent Edwards back there to make amends for the screw-up. But what did John Edwards do when he got there? He came out with some of the most contradictory information that he has said yet. Fox News reports Edwards as saying at the appearance in Lawrence that they had to make up for the conductor blowing it. "Kansas traditionally has voted Republican in presidential elections," said Edwards, with President Bush beating Democrat Al Gore by 21 percentage points in 2000. That's Fox saying it. Edwards dismissed the history. Edwards said, "I am not buying it. There is no red state. There's no blue state. There's only one United States."

John Edwards said this! He of the two Americas theme, says, "There's only one United States. There's no red state. There's no blue state." Then in the Lawrence Journal World, which is the international newspaper of Lawrence, Kansas, says this: "Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, flanked by wife Elizabeth and their three children, told the crowd that John Kerry's election in November would put an end to two Americas, one for the rich and privileged and the other for people who work hard but still remain in poverty because of low wages." Now, on the Fox News site when he's asked to comment on Republicans always winning the presidential election in Kansas, ah, there aren't two Americas. "There's no red state. There's no blue state. There's only one United States."

He goes to Lawrence, starts talking about the two states, two countries, two Americas. Can't even stay on message. I wonder if that's the conductor's fault. At any rate, ladies and gentlemen, can we take this two Americas thing and analyze it for a second? If there really were two Americas, John Kerry would not be where he is, because the way he sets up the two Americas, there's one America of the filthy rich and then everybody else, and the filthy rich elitists don't let anybody else get to the second America. John Edwards is in the second America. How did he get there if there are "two Americas," as he says. It's all bogus. Back to the phones, in Lawrence, Kansas. Look it, we got a student, I think. Steve welcome to the program, good to have you with us.

CALLER: Mr. Limbaugh, I was told that I'd have to lower my voice because I'm really upset and your call screener was telling me to is slow down so I will try to be as patient as I can. This is actually going to be my first time voting, and I am a KU student and we actually went out around four o'clock in the morning, a group of us, because we were excited. We had heard that this potential president was going to be coming by through Lawrence, and we were excited --

RUSH: Hey, hey, Steve, hang on just a second. I'm confused. You went there at four in the morning?

CALLER: Because we were told that he was going to come, and, you know, to us, that's a big person just like if we were told you were going to come. I mean, we were very excited, and we get out there, and then all --

RUSH: Wait a second. Wait a second, though. I just want to understand this. I want to see how early you got there because I said this would be a big deal with Lawrence, and he wasn't scheduled to be there till eight o'clock, seven or eight o'clock at night. You were there at four a.m. the day they were supposed to be there at seven or eight o'clock at night?

CALLER: Our goal was to plan on doing everything all day. We were planning on having a big rally. We were going to have a party. We were going to do stuff that college students do, and I'm not going to announce on the air, but we were going to do a whole day and night thing and be excited. And then we kept looking for the news, because we kept trying to figure out, "What's going on. How come he's not here? What's going on?" And we were so upset, and, like I said, this is my first time voting. I do not agree with the president on certain issues like abortion and the war and stuff, and we were excited, and now all of a sudden we hear from the newscasters later on at night when we were watching the news that Edwards makes this stupid, totally stupid statement that you didn't see us but yet we saw you. I have a question for you: "What is that?"

RUSH: You had to be devastated when that train didn't stop. You'd been standing there almost 24 hours!

CALLER: Oh, let me put it this way. We were there at four a.m. Mr. Limbaugh, we were up at around two or three in the morning. We were there well over 24 hours, totally excited --

CALLER: Oh, yeah. Some of the students there had big banners they made for him, saying, "Kansas loves Kerry," saying, "We will vote Democrat this year! You'll see it change!" Different things. Some of the guys had their face painted with the Democratic colors and stuff. I mean, one of the guys, real dorky, even brought in Eeyore for like a donkey, and we were excited, and then all of a sudden we just get passed by because supposedly this is a Republican state. Well, why don't they come and find out for themselves instead of just assuming?

RUSH: I want to know, what are Democrat -- wait a minute. These people that painted their faces with Democrat colors. What are Democrat colors?

CALLER: Well, I mean, I know they painted. I guess I don't really know. I guess you could say more kind of Kansas Jayhawk colors they did, you know, because there's red and the blue, so obviously we've got the red and blue, and then some of them are donkeys, just different things. Oh, but Mr. Limbaugh, and I'm sorry if I'm being too loud.

RUSH: Oh, no, no, no. In fact, I want you to, Steve, slow down. Take your time. We're interested. Take as much time, we have all the time in the world here to get this story.

CALLER: This is the first time I've ever had a chance to vote, very excited, KU student getting ready to start class, you know, very soon, and for myself. Some of them already started. Myself I haven't, and I just wanted --

RUSH: So you didn't even get to see Kerry waving from the back of the train because you had gone home?

RUSH: You didn't see anything because you thought they weren't going to stop. You thought he abandoned, had taken an alternate route around Lawrence. That made you mad then you found out they had gone through there and didn't stop, and Edwards wide receiver lame excuse was, "Hey, we saw you even though you didn't see us?"

CALLER: Can I tell you something? At this point -- and I don't want to be rude so if you have to screen me that's fine -- but at this point, the only thing that Edwards would see right now would probably be one of my five fingers.

CALLER: I was so -- and I'll tell you this, and I'll be honest with you. There are at least ten to fifteen other guys that right now, if we were to vote, that I'll guarantee you, as much as I disagree with the president, I would vote for President Bush --

CALLER: That's the thing. They decided to come back. Well, let me ask you. If you get a chance to have a steak served to you, are you going to come back for leftovers to have that same steak?

CALLER: Oh, absolutely. The campus was a total buzz all weekend. You know, the whole week, and we figured if he's coming to Kansas City or to the Missouri side and he's going on to Colorado -- which you know we had heard through news and through the buzz and through our local paper and stuff, the school paper -- we knew that he had at least had to go down I-70 or, you know, then we heard a train so we figured he would be coming through and then the buzz came that he was coming through so we got excited. And I'll be honest with you, we bugged reporters, because there were reporters there and we kept asking them and yelling at them and even using foul language at them trying to figure out what's going on. "Have you heard where he's at? Why isn't he here?" And you know what their response was? "Well, we were told the same thing you were. We don't know."

RUSH: You know, it's sad , Steve, to hear you so distressed and bummed out. You are bummed out, aren't you? It really sounds like you're bummed out.

CALLER: To be honest with you, I know for older people that might be listening to your show they might think that I might be weird, but this would be like the first person that I'd ever be able to see, meet, you know, just be able to see that is, I guess you could say more like a Hollywood icon or somebody that's an icon --

RUSH: You really wanted to love this guy. You really wanted -- exactly as I said -- you wanted to get out there and you wanted to meet Kerry and you wanted him to be something special, and he essentially flipped you off which made you flip him off?

CALLER: It wasn't that I love him, but yes, I really wanted to see him. I was hoping that he might stop so that I could see him, because, you know, he has been wishy-washy on a lot of things but, you know, again I just --

RUSH: What were you expecting? I mean, if he's been wishy-washy, what were you expecting at this whistle stop?

CALLER: Well, here's the thing, and that's a good point, but my problem is I do not agree with President Bush on a lot of things.

CALLER: I'm not going to vote for an independent, that other guy, which I don't even know his name.

RUSH: All right, so here's the way I'm analyzing this, Steve. You don't like Bush. You've got a lot of Bush anger and hatred and you don't even know why, but you do. So here comes the guy that's going to get rid of Bush. You don't know much about the guy. You want to go see the guy. You want to see what he's made of. It's kind of like a rock star coming to town because nobody else comes to Lawrence, and he blows you off. He's late, and then the train doesn't stop, and your vessel for this anger that will lead to getting rid of Bush has disappointed you and now your anger at Bush sort has been overwhelmed and overcome by the disappointment you face at the fact that the guy you think is going to take Bush out stiffed you, and you're taking this personally?

CALLER: Okay, I am taking it so personally, Mr. Limbaugh, and I don't know how big of a sports fan you are. I've never listened to your station before. We actually are listening to it now because we're trying to -- right before you came on we had some other stuff, local news, so we're listening to you, too, and I heard you talking about this so I had to call in, but this is as big as a deal as when we found out that Roy Williams was leaving to go to North Carolina.

CALLER: Let me tell you something (laughing) I hear you laughing. Now, Lawrence is a very big traditional --

RUSH: I've been there! I used to sell baseball tickets there. I used to accompany baseball players on personal appearances. I know Lawrence. I have a friend who has a sports bar in Lawrence.

CALLER: Actually right now, I'm kind of undecided. Kind of like I'm undecided about the presidency right now.

RUSH: (Laughing.) I thought you -- wait a minute, I thought this forced you to make up your mind about the presidential race.

RUSH: I tell you what, you know what you ought to do? You know, everything is an opportunity, Steve. Look at everything as an opportunity and a message. You have been sent a message. You have learned something about the man you were going to support. You don't have a major. This is a chance for you to go into politics, become a political science major, poli-sci and learn about this stuff. You have just been given a great opportunity here, not to mention the opportunity that you accessed and the good fortune that fell your way when you got through to this program after calling it the first time. Do you know how many people have been trying to call this program for 16 years and have never made it through, and you did on your first try. This is an omen, Steve. Take it to the classroom with you. Tell your instructors about it. Share with them what you've shared with this audience. You need to get this stuff out. Don't suppress it. It'll stay with you your whole life.

Hey, Steve -- I know you're still out there listening -- and the rest of you in Lawrence, Kansas tuning in. I have to be honest with you about something here, and it's going to hurt your feelings. I want to tell you that up front and it's going to make you mad. It may offend you. It's not the purpose. You can't figure out why Kerry shows up five hours late, you can't figure out why he didn't stop. He's got everybody bummed out out there, especially the university crowd. Kerry has some people, you know? The Gephardt campaign was, Gephardt was one of the guys in the running for the veep, and there's some people from Missouri that are on the Kerry campaign or have access to it, and Kerry doesn't even know where Kansas is, folks. Let's be honest. He knows it's next to where he was born, but how long was he there? But the one thing that people in Missouri know, if you're going to be traveling west and you're driving, you're on the ground, the one thing people in Missouri know is you go through Kansas at night because there's nothing to see there anyway. And it's probably true that Kerry was given this bit of advice. "If you're going to take a train to Denver, make sure you go through Kansas at night because there's nothing to see, and so you ain't going to be missing anything if you go through at nighttime," and this is what he did.

The conductor screwed up? They were going to stop, just the conductor never got the results of the poll or the vote or what have you? But, you know, you might -- I don't know. You gotta have something out there that will make -- if Kerry is elected president, you want him to come back and you want him to come back in the daytime, so you're going to have something there for him to see. You know, so take a poll, find out what he'd like to look at and make sure that there's a bunch of that outside the windows of the bus or the train as he's going through and he'll stop next time.

These PEONS sure get upset! Jeez, this is John F. Kerry, Vietnam war hero! Who do they think they are?(/uppity, elite rant off)

Time to change the name to John F'k-you Kerry.

Leave it to the Kerry campaign to put the blame on a union conductor.

That's right up there with Michael Moore blaming SAG stagehands with booing him at the 2003 Academy Awards. (No, no! Could'na been the audience!)

Come October 1st, the "surprise" will be if his campagn and supporters put up with Keryy any longer. That guy has almost as many excuses for his mistake as Clinton-- but not one-half as convincing. Like Clinton, they spin and apologize for everything he and his wife say, but sooner rather than later they'll dump Thurston, Lovey, and their snobby attitude.

a voice in the back of my head kept reminding me that it was Lawrence that got nuked in "The Day After".

You too, huh? I have to admit, that little bit from the film is all I know about Lawrence. I kept hearing, "Lawrence, Kansas, is anyone there?" from the film.

I heard this exchange on Rush today. Funny as hell. The guy may not vote for Bush, but he sure as heck ain't gonna vote for Kerry.

And isn't it typical Kerry to blame someone else for his failure to stop? The man just makes me sick. He's very Clintonesque in his inability to take responsibiilty for his actions.

Liberals in flyover country merit a whistle stop that blows them off. Kansas is not a state John F*ckin's gonna win in a million years.

the top ten reasons why kerry did not stop
1teresa was driving the train
2thought the crowd was realy a republican group
3since kansas is a fly over state will blow through
4 where,s kansas, by the time he explained to tereasa they were already gone
5 not a bathroom stop
6 this isnt yale
7 no macys
8dont want to talk to farmers
9 alarm didnt go off
10tereasa looked out the window and saw no mercedes no chaufers no money I cant understand these people what,s a cilo

Seriously, how stupid does this clown have to be to do something like this? Blowing off a town full of people who would have given their kidneys to vote for him? BTW, one of the things that got me about that movie was seeing trees with green leaves on them, after everything had supposedly been destroyed.

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