it seems that all the recent attention on late night host david letterman has resurrected — unbidden — bittersweet memories yesterday for conservative bonehead gangster godfather rush limbaugh:
(unfortunately i could not find footage of the original late night segment being referenced; if anybody has a link to it, feel free to share it.)
CALLER: i'd like to go back to the early nineties when [letterman] made the following statement to you. he said on his show to you, "do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and ask yourself, 'am i just full of hot gas?'" i think it's time -- primetime -- to turn around that statement to him. "are you full of hot gas, david, considering that you're now the hindenburg of late night talk shows?"
RUSH: now, my memory of that is a little different from yours. he said that. there's no question he said it. but i was there.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: and i know that statement he made, the left-wing blogs have loved it and lived on it for years, but what he said, i think... i could be wrong but i think that before he said that, he said, "are you like me? do you ever go home late at night and say, 'i'm talking to all these people and i'm just full of hot gas.' do you think you're ever full of hot air?" and the audience just erupted. they just loved it. they thought it was fabulous, and when that happened letterman started going, "no, no, no, no, no," as though that's not what he meant. and after that happened, he invited me back two times, i think, maybe three. not to be a guest, but to appear in fake, phony commercials. and he was very kind every time on those two or three returns. i've never been invited back on the show since, and i don't think i ever will be. i'm too famous to go on that show. those kinds of shows, they're not... those are the kind of shows obama goes on. there's too much substance and all that i have to waste time on shows like that. but my memory of that instance is a little bit different than that. he did say it, but i think he prefaced it by saying, "are you like me?"
translation: y'see folks, letterman wasn't really referring to me ... letterman was actually talking about letterman! he wanted to make me sound just like him!
CALLER: and you don't think that was a setup, because i remember you seemed to be really caught by surprise. it was kind of an insulting thing to say to a guest, i really thought, and then that's kind of the way i remember it.
RUSH: oh, i remember what i said to him. i said dave, "isn't it a wonderful thing people like you and i growing up in this country can have shows like this and just be, you know, be this successful," this kind of stuff. of course, yeah. we were just hitting light speed at that time; the program was just taking off. now, here's another thing. at that time... i'll give you some details that people don't know. at that time, i lived in a building in new york that paul shaffer lived in and i saw paul shaffer all the time, letterman's music director. i'd see him coming in. they tape at five o'clock in the afternoon. i'd see paul shaffer at six or seven if he happened to be coming in the building at the same time. i'd talk to him and at that time letterman was on nbc, but he had just gone to cbs when this had happened.
but i remember, i gave paul shaffer a box of cigars. at the time, letterman was a big time public cigar smoker. gave a box of cigars and a note that said, "please, i think dave's one of the most funny, creative people there is," and schaffer gave him the box, and i got a nice thank-you note from letterman from this.
translation: hey, dave! i'm white, rich, living in the big apple with a megaphone just as big, chomping ceegars with your boy paul! see dave! i'm in the club! i'm just like you!
RUSH: i remember when i got there for the appearance on that show, schaffer came up to me and said, "boy, the street's really wired about this." i said, "what are you talking about?" "your appearance, the street's hot," meaning everybody is buzzing about this, as though it was going to be some kind of confrontation. the reason i don't go on these shows... if you've noticed even when they drag out a politician, it's not all political discussion. when they have some actress, i mean, it's always...
translation: somebody tell me why dave did that to me ... c'mon, i thought he was just like me!
RUSH: these are comedy shows. but when people like me are invited on these shows, it's bare knuckles, clenched fists, and, "who the hell do you think you are?" kind of stuff. and there's no interest in showing the humanity of a guest such as me, and i have lots of humanity. it's all about other things. so it's a waste of time to go on. but, you know, i had no indication prior that there was going to be any kind of a cutting comment because of all the polite and nice things i had said. even during the interview, i tried to say to him on the show, i said, "you know, i think you're the best at what you do and you". "nah-nah-nah, we don't need that," as though he were embarrassed to be complimented and so forth and came out with the thing. so it is what it is. you live and learn. what i learned is shows like that are beneath me.
hmm ... you keep using that word, rush. i do not think it means what you think it means — unless you think it's measured in pounds ...
CALLER: i think (garbled) more contentious, because you remember you being a gentleman, and i don't recall the reciprocation, but i stand corrected on that but at least you cleared the record for me.
RUSH: i understand. i felt it was contentious, too, don't misunderstand and i can understand why you think so because of the hot gas bag comment. everybody else thought that, too. letterman, you know, got a bunch of gold stars from the left even back then, before there were blogs. they were all hot to trot about it and it's still one of the most favored quotes trotted out. it's shown up if you looked at the right blogs in this palin business. as people have sought to defend letterman, they have brought that appearance out and talked about, "see, he's a good guy. he's got these people down pat," meaning me. this is what i mean. he's not what he once was. he's turned cynical. he's not creatively funny anymore. he just seems angry and he's turned really 100% political, which he stayed away from. so it is what it is. these things happen. you always take a risk when you go on these shows. but i appreciate your comments. don't misunderstand. i'm not arguing with you.
CALLER: i know you're not. it's just always a pleasure to listen to you. i'm a great fan of yours and listen regularly and have called numerous times.
gee, rush, not that i agree, but you make it sound like dave's just like you after all ...