Flashback 1992: Rush Limbaugh Calls Chelsea Clinton, Age 12, the ‘White House Dog’

Liz Lauten, left, in 2012, and Rush Limbaugh in 1992, the year he called Chelsea Clinton, "the White House dog"
Glass houses: Liz Lauten, left, in 2012 and Rush Limbaugh in 1992, the year he called Chelsea Clinton, “the White House dog”

Here is hope for the tens of people who are worried about the future of Liz Lauten, who was fired as communications director for tea party congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee yesterday because of a rant she posted on Facebook in which she called Pres. Obama’s daughters, Sasha, age 16, and Malia, age 13, classless sluts.

Based on Rush Limbaugh’s experience insulting daughters of Democratic presidents, Lauten, a former Republican National Committee employee and press secretary for former Rep. Joe Walsh, the infamous deadbeat dad from Illinois, is sitting pretty. Limbaugh has accumulated a net worth of $400 million, reportedly, even though (or perhaps because) he has a history of insulting the appearance of the daughters of Democratic presidents.

On Nov. 6, 1992, just days after Bill Clinton was elected president, Limbaugh, then 41, called Clinton’s 12-year-old daughter Chelsea “the White House dog.” (Some source say Chelsea was 13 at the time of Limbaugh’s insult but she was born on Feb. 27, 1980.) In 1988, eight years after the Carter administration, Limbaugh called Pres. Carter’s daughter Amy, then age 21, “the most unattractive presidential daughter in the history of the country.” Later he quipped that when he made that sweeping statement, he’d forgotten about Pres. Harry Truman’s daughter Margaret.

Jenna-Bush-At-it-again---155Not surprisingly, Limbaugh was silent about the appearance of George W. Bush’s twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara. He had little or nothing to say when they were kicked out of Argentina for excessive partying, or when they were cited for underage drinking in Texas and the rest.

Around the time she was fired yesterday, Liz Lauten issued a non-apology, claiming that after praying and talking with her parents — she’s pushing 30 — she’d come to see that her smears against the Obama girls might be hurtful. Maybe she took her cue from Limbaugh’s non-apologies in 1992.

After his smears against Chelsea Clinton and Amy Carter had had their intended effect of ginning up outrage and drawing attention to himself, Limbaugh resumed his schtick with a faux apology. He was sorry if the presidents’ daughters were hurt by his insults, Limbaugh said. After all, they couldn’t help the way they looked.

photo-young-rush-limbaughLimbaugh’s propensity for insulting the appearance of young women is particularly odd given his own condition. The fact is, even before he was elderly, morbidly obese and bloated from decades of drug abuse, he was hardly an attractive person by anyone’s standards.

Here’s the transcript, via Media Matters:

LIMBAUGH: So, my friends, in today’s New York Daily News right here, holding it here in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers, it’s the obligatory in-out list. Every time there’s a massive change somewhere, people are in, people are out. I’m now out. It says about me on here, Rush Limbaugh, loud-mouthed conservative and Bush favorite, trusts no one to the left of Pat Buchanan. He’s out.’ You know, they wish. In their dreams. The simple fact of the matter is that this show’s era…

(Applause)

LIMBAUGH: Thank you. This show’s era of dominant influence is just beginning. We are now the sole voice of sanity, the sole voice of reason. We are the sole voice of opposition on all television. This is the only place you can tune to to get the truth of the opposition of the one-party dictatorial government that now will soon run America. Oh, I mean, we are only beginning to enjoy dominance and prosperity. Most of these things on the in-out list are not even funny, but a couple of them–one of them in particular is.

David Hinckley of–of the New York Daily News wrote this, and what he has–he’s got–it’s very strange. He says, In: A cute kid in the White House. Out: Cute dog in the White House.’ Could–could we see the cute kid? Let’s take a look at–see who is the cute kid in the White House.

(A picture is shown of Millie the dog)

LIMBAUGH: (Voiceover) No, no, no. That’s not the kid.

(Picture shown of Chelsea Clinton)

LIMBAUGH: (Voiceover) That’s–that’s the kid. We’re trying to…

(Applause)

LIMBAUGH: No, just kidding. I’m just getting. Oh. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. That was a terrible thing. That — that was an absolutely terrible — I am — I am sorry. You know, I just — the end of the week, the pressure’s on — actually the pressure’s off, and I relaxed a little bit too much. You know, when my radio show started in August of 1988, a presidential campaign then, and Amy Carter was protesting everything American while at Brown University. And I didn’t, of course, like that. I didn’t like her protesting everything American, and I made a remark on my show that I’ve now since apologized for and I’ve taken it back; I didn’t mean it. I said, You know, she may be the most unattractive presidential daughter in the history of the country.’

(Laughter)

LIMBAUGH: Well, there was outrage. No, there was. I mean, there was just plenty — my — my mom called me at home that night. She said, Son, you know, you — if you’re going to be serious about this, you can’t make fun of the way people look. You’re not supposed to — you’re not — you can talk about how you disagree with Amy Carter. You can talk about how you disagree with her politics and you think she’s doing some bad things, but she can’t help the way she looks, and you can’t — you shouldn’t make fun of that. And, besides, you forgot Margaret Truman.’

(Laughter)

LIMBAUGH: But I — I apologize…

(Applause)

LIMBAUGH: There I go. My friends, I apologize again. I — that’s the third time the crew makes a mistake by showing you Millie the dog when I intended to show you Chelsea Clinton, and then I followed with that terrible story. I’m — I hope you’ll forgive me. I’m fatigued. I’m tired. I really don’t — in fact, you know what I’ll do? Let’s pretend this is a daytime talk show and that I’m a guest on, say, Sally, Phil or whatever. How can I make amends to you for what I just did? I can spank myself. People who spank themselves, next RUSH. Watch this. (Rush stands)

I’ll do it with my left hand. I — I’m right-handed, so it won’t hurt as much. Do it with my left hand.

(Rush spanks himself, screaming and crying; written on screen, Ouch!!!’)

LIMBAUGH: There.

(Applause)

LIMBAUGH: We’ll be back with the rest of our show in a moment.

Limbaugh revisited his insults four days later:

LIMBAUGH: Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry. Let me tell you very quickly what happened last Friday night. There was a new in list and new out list that was published in the newspaper. The writer said in, cute kid in the White House; out, cute dog in the White House. Could we show the cute dog in the White House who’s out, and they put up a picture of Chelsea Clinton back in the crew. And many of you people think that we did it on purpose to make a cheap comment on her appearance. And I’m terribly sorry. I don’t — look, that takes no talent whatsoever and I have a lot of talent. I don’t need to get laughs by commenting on people’s looks, especially a young child who’s done nothing wrong. I mean, she can’t control the way she looks. And we really — we do not — we do not do that on this kind of show. So put a picture up of her now and so we can square this.

(Photo shown of Bill and Chelsea Clinton, who is making a sour face)

(Laughter and applause)

LIMBAUGH: All right. We’re sorry. We didn’t intend to hurt her feelings. We’ll be back with our final segment right after this. Don’t go away.

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9 thoughts on “Flashback 1992: Rush Limbaugh Calls Chelsea Clinton, Age 12, the ‘White House Dog’”

  1. Just like there is no limit to human greatness, this individual ‘s lack of consideration of an innocent 12 year old child’ s feelings, simply because he hates her parents amply demonstrates that there is no limit for the mean spiritedness and utter cruelty of humans. Can this man be even considered human? Perhaps he had the most despicable kind of a mother and father for him to turn out the monster that he is. A 41 year old grown man to redicule a 12 year old child for her appearance… A pathetic excuse for a human being – this Rush whatever his surname is…

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