Rush Limbaugh: Great Night at National Review's 50th Anniversary

Folks let me tell you a little bit about my evening last night -- and I'm here today, and I knew this was going to happen. I'm here today on about three hours, 2-1/2 hours sleep. So I'm in a giddy mood and we all know what happens when I'm in a giddy mood. The broadcast engineer's finger is poised over the deedle button at all times, as, you know, we get close to that line of pushing the envelope, as it were. Last night was the 50th anniversary of National Review magazine. Now, National Review magazine, of course, is the creation and brainchild of William F. Buckley, Jr., who will celebrate his 80th birthday in November, next month, and I realize that because of some of your ages, those of you who are young, Mr. Buckley has passed from the public scene in a prominent way in the last five to six years. He stopped doing speeches. He stopped doing his television program, Firing Line, and he's stopped public appearances other than for things such as last night, and I want to take a little time. I didn't speak last night. I did narrate a 40-minute video that was put together, a documentary, sort of retrospective on the 50 years of National Review, and I was seated at Mr. Buckley's table with his wife, Pat. Also at the table was Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who I'd never met but I did meet last night. He's a very, very nice man. We had a nice conversation.

About a thousand people were there last night. It was in the national museum building, or building of museums or something. I think it's the old Patent Office. Every time I go to Washington, there's a new building that's been there 500 years that I've never been in, and it was gorgeous. It was an absolutely beautiful building, the national museum building, whatever. It was very nice. Also, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas was at the table as well. Mr. Buckley is, in my life, a formative figure. I have told him personally, and I've mentioned it on this program: he's almost like a second father to me in the sense that fathers teach. Fathers inspire. Fathers teach and they inspire, and Mr. Buckley, unbeknownst to him all of his life, other than the last 15 years when I've had a chance to tell him, had that kind of effect on me. I've been a conservative in my heart and soul for all of my life, but like any young person, I had the instincts but I may not have known quite how to explain it to other people. I was inculcated well and my father was brilliant as well, and stimulated all this thought in me. I left home when I was 20, and it's about that time that I ran into the magazine, National Review, and I had been reading Mr. Buckley's columns since I was in junior high school.

He was published in the St. Louis paper, and of course I was in awe from the first moment I read one, with his vocabulary and his logic and his manner of explaining things, because they were inspirational and educational. I devoured anything I could get that Buckley had written, and I became a subscriber to National Review. It was funny, too, because back in those days, I thought National Review, you had to be a member of some club to get it. I thought you had to qualify, because I'd never seen it anywhere. I'd been to news stands, I'd never seen it. But I kept hearing about it. "Well, you must have to be somebody special to get this." So one day -- this is 1983 -- I'm in Kansas City. I decided. I got courageous and I called New York directory assistance and asked for the number of National Review. I didn't know if there would be one, didn't know if it would be listed and I called them up and I'm very sheepish on the phone. I said, "Excuse me. Um. Um. C-could I subscribe?"

I then found out that it was what it was: a magazine of conservative opinion. So I subscribed. I've been a subscriber ever since. Particularly Mr. Buckley, but all of those that he surrounded himself with in putting this magazine together and publishing it every two weeks have just been instrumental in nothing more fundamental than my education, and I've always felt a great debt of gratitude, even before I met Mr. Buckley, for this, because he spawned so many others to do the same thing. He spawned so many other conservative journals of opinion. He spawned others. He was the kind of figure that inspired others to want to be like him, although nobody can. There's only one William Buckley, as there's only one of every one of us, but he's special. He's unique beyond unique, and I finally got to meet him in the late '80s or early '90s. I was invited to an editors' meeting at his home in New York and it was very uplifting to be welcomed in to the movement or the circle, so to speak, and I've been a devotee and fortunately a good friend for a number of years. But I wanted to tell you all this so that when I come back from the break and describe what happened in the evening last night, you'll understand it, and I also want to tell some of you this because Mr. Buckley may not be that known to some of you. He may not be as widely known today as he was, because he's cut back on his activities.

His reputation is there; there's no question, but the best thing I guess I can say, is he was like a second father to me in the terms of learning and being inspired and wanting to emulate someone in terms of knowing as much as there is to know about something, being conversant in it, being persuasive. My father and Bill Buckley are probably the two most influential people in that regard, and so it was a thrill and an honor to be asked to be one of the hosts. George Will was the other, along with Henry Hyde. I was one of the three hosts for the evening last night, and to narrate the video. But I've got to tell you some of the things that happened last night when we come back from the break, because it was a hoot, folks. I mean, there had to be a thousand people there, and when it was over I was there for 90 minutes, an hour and a half, signing autographs, posing for pictures, engaging in conversation. I was just surrounded by a bunch of people and it was just a hoot. There were 11 recovering wounded soldiers from Iraq, from Walter Reed Hospital who were there. The priest that offered the invocation and the benediction? People were laughing during the benediction! This was a step back in time. It was refined. It was erudite. It was funny as it could be. It was emceed by M. Stanton Evans. It really was a step back. It was the kind of good time that was... I don't want to say it. Well, I'll say it: It was just 100% healthy. There was no evidence of the modern decline of public culture. No cheap laughs. No easy laughs with bathroom or sex humor. It was all just really good stuff, and I was thrilled to be included and be a part of it. We'll take a break. I'll come back and I'll give you some of the details that happened last night, because it was a stellar cast of people that showed up.

I have to say a little bit about this night because it was just uplifting in so many ways. As I say, one of the big topics of conversation all night long was the Supreme Court nomination, and people from both sides of the issues were coming up from me.

"Ahem. Well, you got to keep what you're doing, Rush. You're saving the republic. You just got to keep doing it."

You know, I'm just being as polite as I can, listening, thanking everybody -- and everybody was great, everybody in this audience was. I want to thank all of the people that were there that were so nice to me before and after the event. One moment just prior -- in fact, it was during the salad course and I never eat at these things because I'm never seated long enough -- I'm standing there, minding my own business. I'm talking to somebody and I get a tap on my left shoulder. So I turn around and there's this very elegant, erudite man and he said, "Hi, I'm so-and-so." I couldn't hear his name because of my hearing problem in crowded rooms like that, but I did hear him say, "I'd like to introduce you to my wife, Janice Rogers Brown." So I look and it was her. It was her! I just gave her a huge hug. She had asked if she could have her picture taken. She wanted to thank me, and everybody who had been so supportive of her and she said, "I want to also thank you for explaining to people what a three-year nomination battle in the middle of a filibuster does to somebody and what that's like," and I said, "No, you're great. You're a walking lesson. You hung in there and you didn't cave during any aspect of it." So I gave her a big hug and I said, "Do I get to get my picture taken with you?" So her husband snapped the picture. We had a little conversation for two or three minutes. Judge Bork was there. As I said, Kay Bailey Hutchinson was there along with, I met, Senator Lieberman, and you may ask, "Well, what was Senator Lieberman doing there?" Bill Buckley is responsible for Senator Lieberman being in the Senate.

Back in the '80s, Bill Buckley and the National Review staff got fed up with Lowell Weicker. They had had it with Lowell Weicker. So they set up a PAC called BuckPAC, and BuckPAC essentially got Lieberman elected. They knew they weren't going to elect a Republican up there. So he was there and Buckley, even in his speech last night, made mention of the fact that Joe Lieberman is his favorite Democrat. We talked a little bit about BuckPAC because I remembered reading all about that in National Review when it was taking place. (interruption) What did who? Oh! He talked a little bit about his job, how he goes about it, a little bit about my job, how I go about it, about Buckley? This night was about Bill Buckley. What everybody had in common with Buckley, one way or the other. Some of the speakers last night took some real shots at politicians, and I caught... Kay Bailey Hutchison was on one side of our table, circular tables and Lieberman was two seats to my right. He was on Buckley's right; I was on Buckley's left, and Kay would just look over at Joe Lieberman and smile whenever these politicians accused of selling out or whatever. (Laughter) But it was all in good fun. Nobody got mad about it but they're sitting there; they're taking their shots. You know, it was funny. But during this video, the 40-minute retrospective video, it concluded with an excerpt of Ronald Reagan, President Reagan, addressing the 30th anniversary of National Review from a podium with the presidential seal, and I don't know what made me do it, but a couple times during it -- and folks, I wish everybody could see this.

Seeing Ronald Reagan as president, being just perfect in a circumstance like this, awarding National Review and commemorating it for 30 years of service -- and Reagan was a subscriber. The magazine was instrumental in turning him from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, in fact. But there were a couple times I looked over and Bill was tearing up. Now, they were really, really close friends. Bill's going to be 80 next month and he's watching Reagan and, you know, there's only one Ronald Reagan, and a couple times, he's wiping tears from his eyes. It was just touching. I think a lot of people in the audience were, and Bill went up and he gave the closing remarks, and he choked up at the end and it was just... Everything about the evening was genuine; it was touching. But I really wish there were a way to convey, better than I have today, just how important Buckley and National Review have been to me. He's just irreplaceable and it's such a dream for me. I mean, this man was godlike. The only difference between him and my father was I knew my father, but I never thought I would meet Bill Buckley, much less become a friend of his -- and there I am sitting next to him at his dinner last night and I was honored and I'm happy to be able to share the evening with you.

Last night, I must have received 20 -- what's the word for this? Yeah, I guess proposals, solicitations, 20 requests from different women applying to be my mistress. (interruption) No, I didn't get hit on 20 times. If I got hit on 20 times, I'd say that. These were classy, upstanding females, and they were from all over the country. There was a big crowd. One young woman even proposed, seriously proposed -- and that's why I only got three hours sleep last night. (laughter) She even gave me a little ring, but here's the thing. I'm leaving. I guess I left the place, the museum national, whatever the building was at 11:15 and I got out to Dulles about midnight and I'm walking through the terminal. I'm walking through the building and I'm looking down the end of the hall. It's a pretty long hallway, and I said, "That person, this woman approaching me, looks familiar," and as she got closer and closer, by gosh it is, it's Andrea Mitchell! So I stopped and said hello to Andrea Mitchell and she said, "Boy, you have been on fire this week."

I said, "You ought to be with me on the weekends, if you think this has been something." (Laughter) It just was a fun night. I'm happy to be able to share a little bit of this with you, folks -- and there were all kinds of cameras there. There were TV cameras. I don't know if C-SPAN taped this and is going to air it sometime later. I know it's their 25th anniversary weekend this weekend at C-SPAN. Starting tonight, they're doing 25 hours of call-ins. I'm assuming that there's going to be some video of this. M. Stanton Evans, Stan Evans, was the emcee. We've interviewed him for the Limbaugh Letter, one of the driest wits and funniest people; he just had us laughing all night. One of the bits he did, he said, "For those of you who have been busy today, preoccupied with whether or not George Will is going to survive (laughter) at the White House or because of all these Supreme Court nominations, there was big news today out of California. The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals saying that women and minorities were not present during the writing of the Constitution. The Ninth Circuit today declared that the US Constitution is, therefore, unconstitutional," (laughter) and of course the reason it's funny is because it's true. It's got this element of truth to it. You can believe it might happen!

It's too bad that Reagan didn't live to be there. Reagan, Buckley and Rush are the fathers of conservativism.

This is what I love the most about Rush. He can go on and on about how great a time he had spending an evening with the godfathers/godmothers of conservatism ... meeting his heroes .... being in awe of his company ... and he will throw in a joke or two about getting "hit on". What a hoot! He's still a kid at heart and still a conservative. The guy is genuine.

Please! Whatever Rush and Reagan were (or are), it's not fathers of conservatism. Russell Kirk and F.A. Hayek (even if he was not an American)can be reasonably called the fathers of modern American conservatism. Buckley can be added to the list because he helped fuse Kirk's traditionalism with Hayek's economic views. And maybe even latecomers Milton Friedman and Barry Goldwater can be added. But Reagan and Rush got on board well after conservatism's intellectual base had been well established. They were and are the beneficiaries of conservatism.

His account of that event was fun to listen to. His happiness was so evident in his voice. And his descriptions made me feel like I was there! Glad to hear he got all those solicitations - as a female Rush listener, I would have done the same when he was here in LA not long ago, but he skedaddled away from the podium and out of the room too darn fast!

I disagree. Kirk and Hayek certainly were among the "founders" of conservative thought. And Goldwater was the first to express the ideals on the national stage. But none of them really expressed conservativism in a way that made it appeal to a broad range of people.

Buckley, Limbaugh and Reagan are the ones who gave conservativism life and made it exciting. For this, they deserve to be considered the fathers of the movement.

Now I really feel old. I remember at the NR's 10th anniversary dinner in 1965. The dais was stellar,Bill Buckley, Barry Goldwater, Clare Boothe Luce, John Dos Passos, Steve Allen just to name a few. What a night.

Bush was there for a luncheon for Buckley, Rush didn't leave for DC until his show finished yesterday. Here's a link for Bush's remarks before lunch.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1498795/posts

"True but ya gotta give credit where credit is due

Fact is the GOP controls congress and the presidency cause of one man

BUBBA"

Yeah, but Bubba was elected case of one man

ROSS PEROT

Anal alert! Anal alert! Give me a break...99% of conservatives don't know who these guys are. Reagan and Rush are the modern day touchstones for this great movement. Reagan would be damn proud to see what Rush has accomplished. BTW-Rush has done more in 15 years for this country than any repub. in congress could dream of in a lifetime.

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