October 15, 1992
Get Angry, Bush
By RUSH H. LIMBAUGH

Rush H. Limbaugh, a syndicated radio and television talk show host, is author of "The Way Things Ought to Be."

The most important thing President Bush must reveal in tonight's Presidential debate is anger. Make no mistake -- his Democratic opponent richly deserves it.

In addition to being disingenuous, Bill Clinton is Robo-Candidate, a walking, talking public policy manual. Friends, you could see his programming at work Sunday night. Step 1: Pause 2.6 seconds while the requisite issue is installed in the brain. Step 2: Grimace to provide the illusion that human thought is occurring. (Bite lip if emotion is necessary.) Step 3: Play back Sincere Policy Answer 5b. This is a candidate, folks, whose most effective weapon is to stupefy voters.

And -- though it boggles the mind -- the strategy appears to be working. How else can you explain, in this era of virulent distrust of government, that the candidate ahead in the polls is the one most infatuated with making government bigger and more intrusive and more expensive? Obviously, no one is thinking about what the man actually says.

As Ross "I'm All Ears" Perot provided comic relief, George Bush went about giving a rock solid performance in St. Louis. You won't find this assessment anywhere else, friends, but the fact is: Mr. Bush told the truth. What he said was correct. He spoke with assurance and he was composed. These observations are unassailable -- go back and watch the tape.

The key to these debates, however, is television ability, pure and simple. President Bush needs to cut through the noise so that his strong message will connect with the public. To do this, he must marshal his passion, his energy, his conviction, his confidence. And he must do so in such a way that it forces Governor Clinton off his formulated answers, allowing the public to take a true measure of the man.

The starting point must be the economy. Granted, this is a tough economy, but the President should not be defensive about his optimistic message, which is absolutely correct. I am weary, as he should be, of his opponents sneeringly characterizing him as "out of touch" because he dares to portray the American economy as the strongest in the world.

It is.

Inflation has been whipped, inventories are lean, interest rates have been wrestled to 20-year lows. Housing starts, retail and car sales have been posting gains. Although politically tempting, Mr. Bush must not, as Mr. Clinton has, pander to the electorate's current masochistic desire for tales of economic pain, misery and woe. The President's upbeat reckoning is, in fact, an honest one.

When Bill Clinton says we are in the worst economic period in 50 years, the President has a right to be angry. The worst economic period in the last 50 years was under Jimmy Carter, which led to the 1981-82 recession, a recession more punishing than the current one.

Indeed, let Mr. Bush press Mr. Clinton to do the math on his "Putting Government First" economic plan, which will devastate American business. And when the Governor says, "We don't need any more trickle-down economics," the President must pointedly ask why the Democratic Party always runs against prosperity.

When Mr. Clinton links the President with McCarthyism, Mr. Bush can again be furious. The double standard here amazes me. Conservatives in every area of life -- Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas, for example -- have been crucified for past statements and activities, real or imagined. Yet examine the record and judgment of a liberal Democrat (say, a vaguely explained trip to Moscow when Moscow was literally enemy territory) and you are denounced for using sleaze and dirty tricks.

This, to quote a great leader, must not stand.