Did anyone see "Politically Incorrect" on ABC at 12:00am on October 28th? [Archive]

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November 2nd, 1999, 11:46 AM

Bill: Let me switch because something happened this week that I wanted to talk about.
I've been wanting to talk about it for a long time.
There's something called "B.A.S.E. jumping."
Do you know what this is?
It's people who risk their lives.
"B.A.S.E." stands for building, antennas, spans, bridges and Earth.
People like to jump off things to get a thrill.
There's a cliff at Yosemite called El Capitan that the National Park Service did not want them to jump off, something about jumping off cliffs being risky.

[ Laughter ]

So naturally, there was a protest, and five people did it, one of them, ironically, died.
Okay?

[ Laughter ]

And the point I always want to make is that adrenaline is a drug.
We have a very inconsistent drug policy in this country, which bothers me, and --

[ Laughter ]

This is a drug that you score by risking your life.
And why is that any worse than a drug you score by going to the park?

[ Laughter ]

Mariel: "Going to the park."

Bill: And you risk your life going to your park in this country to get drugs because of the drug policy.

Bill: Absolutely.

Bill Horn: The liberal position on this -- and here's how liberals think.

Larry: Good start.

Bill Horn: Liberals say, "If it feels good, jump off the cliff.
We're gonna build a hospital at the bottom of the cliff, and if you happen to live, we'll put you back together."
Conservatives say, "Let's put a fence around the top of the cliff, so people can't fall or jump.

Bill: No, that's not what conservatives believe.
Conservatives believe you should be able to do anything as long as it doesn't hurt someone else.

Dan: As long as you're not gay.

Bill Horn: No, I disagree with that.

Bill: Same thing with the gay thing.
Real conservatives, old-time conservatives, like Eisenhower and Barry Goldwater wouldn't be against this or against being gay or anything that doesn't affect another human being.

Bill Horn: They're talking about an ordinance or a law.
Why do we have laws?
To protect people.
If people are doing things that are -- that could harm them.

Bill: Yeah, from others, not from themselves.

[ Applause ]

Bill Horn: Why do we have people wearing seat belts today?

[ Applause ]

Why do we have a law --

Bill: We shouldn't.

Mariel: The truth is, we put regulations and rules to everything that we do.
And frankly, we're supposed to be in a free country.

Bill Horn: So you're against the helmet law for the motorcycle?

Bill: Yes.

Mariel: I have children, so I mean, there's a part of me that says I don't want my kids to be able to do that, but --

Bill Horn: So you don't think a child should be in a car seat then, you think that you shouldn't be told to have a child in a car seat.

Mariel: I think that parents should be able to say, "you know, I'm gonna put my kid in a car seat."
I think we should be able, as adults, to make those choices, to make those choices as adults saying, "listen, these are the laws --" not the laws, these are sensible things to do because then you teach your children how to be sensible.
And how to be right citizens.

Bill Horn: And jumping off a cliff and dying is sensible?

Dan: But there's only so much the government can do to protect people from their own stupidity.

Bill: Right.

Dan: You have a right to be stupid in a free country.

[ Laughter ]

And if you want to jump off a cliff and die --

Bill: Right.

Mariel: Yeah, be stupid.

[ Applause ]

Bill: And if you think that's the government's job, you have lost all thread with conservativism.
You are not a conservative.

Bill Horn: I am a conservative.

Bill: You are a big liberal.
I know that bothers you.
When you want the government in your life this much, that's not conservative.

Dan: Liberals want the nanny state, conservative's want the granny state.

Bill Horn: I am for small government, but --

Bill: No, you're not.

Bill Horn: Yes, I am.

Bill: You're obviously not if you want to put a fence around a cliff.

[ Laughter ]

Bill Horn: I want less regulation, but if it can protect somebody's life or save someone's life --

Bill: Where does it say in the Constitution that it is the government's job to protect you from killing yourself, from dying?
It is not the government's job.

Bill Horn: Then, you're opposed to wearing seat belts.

Bill: Yes.

Bill Horn: You're opposed to having children in a -- children in a --

Mariel: I'm opposed to making laws for it.
I don't smoke, but I am opposed to somebody saying that I can't smoke in a restaurant.
I don't smoke.

[ Applause ]

But I think that we should be able to make that choice.

Dan: My kid rides around town in a car seat because I am a responsible parent, not because there is a law.
All the time, I go out and I see little babies in the front seat in parents' laps who are driving, regardless of the car-seat law, it's not the law that got the car seat into my car.

Larry: The baby's driving?

[ Laughter ]

Dan: So it's not the law that made me a responsible parent.
It's my own responsible sense that made me a responsible parent.

[ Applause ]

Bill: And I'm a responsible talk show host, so I have to take a commercial.

[ Applause ]

...see the rest here:

http://www.abc.go.com/pi/forum/xscripts/19991028.html