Latest / BOB DOLE : 1995 Clinton's Comeback / Episode 486: BOB DOLE 1995 Clinton's Comeback (Part 27) - (Special Event 5) A Drop in with Wendy Gramm, wife of Senator Phil Gramm in Hodges SC

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Episode 486: BOB DOLE 1995 Clinton's Comeback (Part 27) - (Special Event 5) A Drop in with Wendy Gramm, wife of Senator Phil Gramm in Hodges SC · BOB DOLE : 1995 Clinton's Comeback

0:33
SPEAKER_00: This is a Randall Wallace Presents special event.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Welcome everybody.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: This is Randall Wallace.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: And this is a Randall Wallace Presents Special Event Podcast edition.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: And it's a little low, lower key than the other three special events that we've done in the past, because this one is exclusive footage from an event in Hodges, South Carolina, that was hosted by Ellie Liz, who was a very active member of the Greenwood County Republican Party.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: This was not at her home.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember the lady's name.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: Whose home it was, uh, but this is an afternoon get together with Wendy Graham.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: He is the wife of Phil Graham, who was a U.S.
1:51
SPEAKER_00: senator and probably Bob Dole's strongest challenger in the first part of the Republican primary campaign.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: He was the Republican from Texas.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: And we'll hear him again in our next special event because he will be speaking at the Republican County Convention for the or district convention for the third district.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: But this is Wendy Graham.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: He will speak as he is a very impressive lady.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna put our camera in right as a question with the ladies there.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna go live back to 1995 in the spring of 95 to Hodges, South Carolina.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: And for those of you who don't know where that is, it is a very small town outside of Greenwood, South Carolina, near Abbeyville, Batesburg, Greenwood area of the state.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: And uh this tells you when people run for president, they go to some of the smallest places because Hodges is very small.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: But this was a great event, and Mrs.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: Graham is a very, very impressive lady.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: So now let's go live to Hodges, South Carolina, to hear from Wendy Graham, the wife of presidential candidate and U.S.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: Senator from Texas, Phil Graham.
3:28
SPEAKER_02: There are other people who might talk about if a will were there, they infected.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: See, Phil went out all across the country to talk about how socialized doesn't.
3:39
SPEAKER_02: He's fought for welfare reform.
3:41
SPEAKER_02: He had to fight against the Canada leadership, it was saying, to get a real work requirement, to try and get a family candidate payment to get more.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: That loss.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that loss, but he said he won't vote for it.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: Well, fellow for the must be cabinet, so hopefully they could have been cut out.
3:59
SPEAKER_02: Well, vote for it must be cabin.
4:00
SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
4:01
SPEAKER_02: Unless it's in there.
4:01
SPEAKER_02: Unless unless his amendment in there, which probably listen, I'm talking like a washing person.
4:09
SPEAKER_02: Unless it's eliminated from wealth.
4:11
SPEAKER_02: I got it.
4:11
SPEAKER_02: He also had to fight to get into welfare for that.
4:15
SPEAKER_02: I got it.
4:15
SPEAKER_02: And here they're not fighting like it.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: But they don't pay welfare for people who come to this country to, you know, as immigrants.
4:22
SPEAKER_02: Even if they're illegal.
4:23
SPEAKER_02: Mind you, if they're illegal, they shouldn't be here, right?
4:26
SPEAKER_03: Fair enough.
4:27
SPEAKER_02: But if they're legal, they shouldn't come here.
4:29
SPEAKER_02: I mean they should come here to come here to give them welfare.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: So we had to fight, yeah?
4:35
SPEAKER_02: They had to fight for tax cuts.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: Which one?
4:40
SPEAKER_02: The last, just the most oh, but most recently.
4:44
SPEAKER_02: Contract with America promised tax cuts for families.
4:48
SPEAKER_02: And a reduction in inheritance taxes, a reduction in capital aid taxes.
4:53
SPEAKER_02: Senator Gomez said, maybe you can't we can't get the full$245 billion.
4:57
SPEAKER_02: He said that just two weeks ago.
4:59
SPEAKER_02: And Phil said, wait a minute, we promise that we can get it.
5:02
SPEAKER_02: It's easy, we'll just make government a little smaller.
5:07
SPEAKER_02: And um then after a few days, the leadership said, Well, maybe we'll have a tax cut, but it'll only be for a few years.
5:17
SPEAKER_02: And Phil said that I had to go to TAPS cut.
5:20
SPEAKER_02: First they own the job in the finance committee.
5:22
SPEAKER_02: Phil got a torch by$50 caps cut.
5:25
SPEAKER_02: The way he did it was finance committee members, any of whom are you know more senior.
5:31
SPEAKER_02: No, and they've got um you name it the second.
5:40
SPEAKER_02: And Cosmia is the only one who can make the change because you need to have someone who can make a change, a failure who knows what needs to be done.
5:51
SPEAKER_02: But also Tennessee.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: Oh, from Tennessee, my goodness is a long way to come.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh the camera.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: We just want to say thank you, Sarah.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: Um she's she's still sweet despite a tremendous loss.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: This is for you, the Yellow Rose of Texas.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: There, this home is historical.
6:34
SPEAKER_01: This home has a lot of message, and I hope you'll take time to just um say thank you and appreciate her offering this home to us.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: I'd also like to say thank you to the co-host.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm sitting in front of you.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: Nora Curtis from McCormick, who is McCormick County Chairman for Graham, and Juanita Hughes from Lawrence, who is co-chairman for Graham in Lawrence, and then myself who agreed to accept Graham County Chairman for Greenwood.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Now, you did have, I hope, a nice luncheon.
7:13
SPEAKER_01: And yes, we will accept donations.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: On the way out, there's a Graham hat.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: If you care to make a donation, uh, we'll appreciate it.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: If not, that's that's okay too.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: We're just glad that you all came and I thank you for coming.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: There's also some information papers, some buffer stickers, uh, sign-up sheet to volunteer for Graham on your way out.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: Wendy.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you ladies can either move back or sit down because Wendy's gonna be on the I'm supposed to say a few words about Wendy.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: And I could tell you how talented, how energetic all of those adjectives about Wendy and in her own right with her career.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: But I think Wendy's come to talk to you about someone that she knows very well, and that I've known for the past four and a half years.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: And I get very upset when I get these papers about this mean, ugly man.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: Because I told Wendy that her husband always hugs me.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: And he does.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: He's very sweet, he's very fake in his beliefs.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: He has never yet, in the four and a half years that I've met with him on the political circuit, changed his mind.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't go this way or he doesn't go that way.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: His famous phrase is over my cold dead political body.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: I don't care if I stand alone, I will stand for what I believe.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: I really find him the most comfortable politician to be with.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: He's the kind of a man that I could invite into my home, even if it wasn't all fixed up and be comfortable, and we could share a cup of coffee and talk about people and things.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: He's the most people politician that I have met, who has a heart and a concern for people.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: I give to you Dr.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: Wendy Graham, our next first lady.
9:22
SPEAKER_02: I'll have to tell you that still calls Wendy Lee, who leaves my mega name, but you know, being the good Georgia boy.
9:34
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
9:35
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Norman and Martha, for your help and Ellie.
9:38
SPEAKER_02: I really do appreciate all of you coming here and giving me a chance to visit with you.
9:43
SPEAKER_02: I'm delighted to see Doctor.
9:45
SPEAKER_02: He's so nice to that.
9:48
SPEAKER_02: But the campaign is very important, it's going well.
9:57
SPEAKER_02: Phil is doing well because he is so consistent.
10:02
SPEAKER_02: But also, I believe, and I am convinced of it, he is the only person who can really make the change this country.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: And this country dies need to change.
10:16
SPEAKER_02: It's not that hard, but he's the only one who has the vision to know what to do.
10:23
SPEAKER_02: He already knows.
10:24
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't have to think about it, he doesn't have to look at the polls.
10:27
SPEAKER_02: He already knows he's always been fighting for you.
10:30
SPEAKER_02: But he also has the commitment and the courage to make the changes.
10:35
SPEAKER_02: And he cares about it.
10:37
SPEAKER_02: He cares about the future of our country, of our children, and our grandchildren.
10:42
SPEAKER_02: And his he says, you know, we've got to make these changes, not only for our children and our grandchildren, so that they can have the American dream.
10:52
SPEAKER_02: We also want to do it so that everybody who missed it the first time around will be able to have a piece of the American tree.
11:00
SPEAKER_02: And unless we make the change, I don't think we'll get this chance again.
11:05
SPEAKER_02: I really think we've got a great opportunity to make a change because the American people are now with us.
11:12
SPEAKER_02: The way I like to put it is that Phil's been sending off this one page of the hymn book ever since he went to Congress.
11:19
SPEAKER_02: And now the whole country is sending off the same page, they're saying the same thing.
11:23
SPEAKER_02: And very frankly, it's not that the country's becoming conservative.
11:27
SPEAKER_02: What's happening is that the silent majority is finally becoming politically active and they're mad, they're angry, and they want change.
11:37
SPEAKER_02: They want to return power away from Washington, D.C.
11:40
SPEAKER_02: and return it back to families so that we can decide how to spend our own money that we are, how to raise our children, how to run our businesses and our farms, how to use our own property.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: Washington DC tell us what we can and can't do.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, when you stop and think about it, it is tough to run this big country and do broad policy and everything else.
12:06
SPEAKER_02: And I worked in the White House and I see if you have a hundred fires, you're going on it what you got.
12:13
SPEAKER_02: All you have, all the attention, all the time you have is a little squirt.
12:17
SPEAKER_02: You squirt keep all those fires under control.
12:20
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, it's no wonder that people get consumed with the presidency staff has to do things, and I can go whichever way they want.
12:29
SPEAKER_02: Unless you have someone like Phil, who always keeps the eye on the ballot, no matter how busy he is.
12:35
SPEAKER_02: He knows which direction he wants to go, and he makes it very, very clear so that the people who are for him too are never, never confused.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: They are not confused, and it's interesting because people who are for Phil.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: He's certainly being looked at and scrutinized by the pressure because a lot of people who are against him Americans are the same reason that he will make change.
13:02
SPEAKER_02: Nobody else will make change.
13:05
SPEAKER_02: And how do I know?
13:06
SPEAKER_02: All you have to do is look at the record.
13:08
SPEAKER_02: And if you look at the record of everybody in this race, he was the only one who has a real record that's actually done something, has gotten more than just himself.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: It is a record that is a consistent record of leadership on the issues of American scale for right now.
13:34
SPEAKER_02: There are some groups that are even replaying all speeches from making seven like the same thing.
13:42
SPEAKER_02: Phil also has a leadership position.
13:45
SPEAKER_02: People might know him from Graham Rodman or Gram Ladder, which was a wagon budget.
13:50
SPEAKER_02: You know that Phil was a Democrat when he wrote Graham Ladder.
13:53
SPEAKER_02: And George Phil.
13:56
SPEAKER_02: Republicans understanding the one thing in Texas.
13:59
SPEAKER_02: He resigned his seat in Congress and went back to run as a Republican when the Democrats disciplined him for writing the Grand Ladder.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: But what Phil did, and this is a telling thing, is he didn't just become a Republican, he resigned his seat.
14:13
SPEAKER_02: Even when people told him, the political people told him he was very resistant.
14:18
SPEAKER_02: But it was a matter of principle.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: And I think this is a very important point.
14:22
SPEAKER_02: Phil doesn't just want to be president, he didn't want to just be a member of Congress.
14:28
SPEAKER_02: He wanted to do these things because he wanted to change people.
14:33
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's important.
14:34
SPEAKER_02: He didn't want to just do president, he wants that job so that he can return how about the people so we can get this country.
14:47
SPEAKER_02: Phil has a record not on the budget issues, not on the academic issues, but on social issues as well.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: And there are things that stand again with the wealth reform looking for where you actually have to stand out and again show anything.
15:03
SPEAKER_02: How do I stop it?
15:10
SPEAKER_02: But on welfare reform.
15:20
SPEAKER_02: And Bill said we he would oppose well.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: He would oppose it, totally he got a whole bunch of other senators to say they would oppose welfare reform unless it had some real changes in it.
15:32
SPEAKER_02: And they fought for it and I got most of it.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: For example, I got welfare reform to it.
15:39
SPEAKER_02: You had to get permission to get chickens, and they totally get a tattoo.
15:48
SPEAKER_02: Uh Dr.
15:49
SPEAKER_02: Foster believes that you could go in on the last day uh and have an abortion part happen.
15:58
SPEAKER_02: So not only did he have extreme youth, but also I feel that he brought together the people who also were opposed to Dr.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: Foster because he didn't tell the truth.
16:09
SPEAKER_02: Right?
16:10
SPEAKER_02: We always think competition is good.
16:13
SPEAKER_02: And one of the and so we should have competition.
16:17
SPEAKER_02: Locally elected officials and parents can figure out how they can work in competition.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: You just what kind of program?
16:25
SPEAKER_02: Competition is good.
16:26
SPEAKER_02: One reason why we have such good universities is you can take your university dollars, you can go to Texas A Clemson or wherever, and there's competition among the universities, and you have to compete.
16:41
SPEAKER_02: So there are some things that we should spend government dollars on, like the new idea.
16:47
SPEAKER_02: Um but there are things that ought to be spent at lower levels, but ultimately, not at all.
16:54
SPEAKER_02: We are a country that have attribution of movement and of charity and families working together, and people helping people through our churches, through neighborhood organizations or some about uh whatever ideas through the school.
17:11
SPEAKER_02: Government is destroying not only our charitable institutions, but also we have and no country has survived that often toxic.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: And I say too, and you know, it's government crowding up, they don't have as much money.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: But there's something nice to say I'm a challenge for Washington for their proposals, right?
17:37
SPEAKER_02: And um Washington might decide that the homeless is important, and you know that may be important, but it might not be important for 20 seconds, I'm not gonna do it.
17:48
SPEAKER_02: We need to keep the money in our own hands.
17:50
SPEAKER_02: Wait, who wants to put it to is it when you render?
17:54
SPEAKER_02: You know, is it render every season with a season?
17:58
SPEAKER_02: But you're rendering too much under season, not much left to God.
18:01
SPEAKER_02: I point out that in the Reagan years, when after we cut taxes, we created 21 million new jobs, but also charitable giving was an all-time hard.
18:11
SPEAKER_02: I like to say a man gets traveled, they're like the hard also.
18:18
SPEAKER_02: We spent too much time watching our money in Washington, and I think we're gonna take advantage of that.
18:23
SPEAKER_02: We've got a lot of political activists and they're watching Washington, we'll band them together, they can be active, we can make the change, and we can have a really better America, and we're gonna focus on the things that is our families, our community, our feet, on a those remote markets, and it will get them.
18:48
SPEAKER_02: That's the kind of America, and if anybody doubts it, but you need to read one more statistic.
18:54
SPEAKER_02: Back when we were when we had interest rates were 3%.
19:01
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine you could buy houses?
19:04
SPEAKER_02: Children will kids will be able to buy houses, they'll be able to afford furniture, businesses will be able to borrow money extending jobs, and we will have a lot of money left over to not only have better following many moms who don't want to work with their children.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: We'll be able to help them up, and we'll have to run that.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: And you know, this is this is the election to do it with your healthy candidate.
19:35
SPEAKER_02: Let me just end with a little on a personal note.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you heard the story of my family, you've heard Bill.
19:44
SPEAKER_02: But it's a great story.
19:46
SPEAKER_02: It's a story of my grandparents who came from Korea at the beginning of the 20th century to work in the sugarcane fields of Hawaii.
19:54
SPEAKER_02: They didn't know the language, they didn't have any money.
19:57
SPEAKER_02: As a matter of fact, they pay for their way over by agreeing to work in the sugarcane fields.
20:03
SPEAKER_02: They didn't come looking for more government, they only came looking for freedom and opportunity.
20:09
SPEAKER_02: My parents were born in Hawaii, and my father did what a lot of kids do now, even when he got to college age, except he did it during the depression.
20:18
SPEAKER_02: He came to the mainland to college.
20:20
SPEAKER_02: He was going someplace in the Midwest, he got off the train, went to Tri-State College in Angola, Indiana.
20:27
SPEAKER_02: Raped leaves, washed dishes, slipped hamburgers, worked his way through college, became an engineer, went back to Hawaii and became the first Asian American.
20:36
SPEAKER_02: Everybody gave an officer, a sugar cookie in the district.
20:39
SPEAKER_02: Now, I was born in Hawaii, grew up there.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: Like growing up around here.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: Small community.
20:50
SPEAKER_02: We could run around the neighborhood.
20:51
SPEAKER_02: My parents would call us in at dinner time with a whistle, and every kid in the neighborhood, every family had a different whistle.
20:57
SPEAKER_02: You know, long, short, long was that with those folks over there.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: We had a whistle.
21:02
SPEAKER_02: Um, we could run around there, but uh, but then that was it was really the gross dogs, it was little late.
21:09
SPEAKER_02: My father was a rotarian, he was a moderator for church.
21:14
SPEAKER_02: Mom, you'd have to work with you.
21:17
SPEAKER_02: It's so expensive.
21:19
SPEAKER_02: Contributed so hardful.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: I went away to college, one little farther east, and then went to Northwestern for my Kabis, and went to Texas I feel like.
21:31
SPEAKER_02: Got married, had two boys who are now in college.
21:35
SPEAKER_02: This November we all have been married 25 years.
21:38
SPEAKER_02: And um then when Phil was elected to Congress, we all moved to Washington.
21:44
SPEAKER_02: And uh after working at a defense thing tech for a few years that convinced me to work in a Reagan research.
21:52
SPEAKER_02: I started at staff level.
21:53
SPEAKER_02: My last job in government in the Bush administration was chairing the commodity features trading commission.
21:59
SPEAKER_02: President Reagan and President Bush often pointed out that I oversaw the trading of all commodities, including the same cane sugar.
22:07
SPEAKER_02: My grandparents had done harvest.
22:10
SPEAKER_02: That really is a story of America in action and what our country can do if we only let it.
22:16
SPEAKER_02: That vision of America that brought my grandparents here, where they could come here and because of farm work, working, working hard as a They can make a better line with themselves with the children and their grandchildren.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: I think we should keep that in mind as we can.
22:39
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, and I'd be happy to answer any questions about I'm not sure.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: We can take a few minutes.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: I've got some cards out there who don't have time to answer the questions and they can write them on and we will send them to you.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: My dear friend Susan Swanson is expecting you.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: And there are some people who haven't met you, or you haven't met.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Right.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: She's like her husband.
23:15
SPEAKER_01: If there's somebody that wants to ask a question, or somebody that wants to meet him, it doesn't matter what his staff is saying in the background.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: You know, we've got to go, the plane is leaving.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because they care about people.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for coming.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate it.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: This is um Debbie Stumble and her children.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: And Debbie is always late, and there's the truth in there.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: But that's all right because I understand.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: Okay, thank you.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
23:46
SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, I think it's a good question.
23:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, welcome to Saturday.
23:54
SPEAKER_03: Oh, it's great to be here.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Mrs.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: Graham is very gracious.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: She's going to stay and answer some questions for a few minutes.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: We're going to put our camera down there and see if we can pick up a little bit of what she said in her answers to questions.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: The folks there in Hodgis.
24:15
SPEAKER_02: And I should have mentioned this Saturday.
24:20
SPEAKER_02: Oh, really?
24:26
SPEAKER_02: Well, he believes it for higher education.
24:30
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, he's like higher education.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: Same idea of competition when you take care of educational.
24:40
SPEAKER_02: He does believe that we have a great educational system, especially for higher education levels.
24:48
SPEAKER_02: The best in the world is like a higher education level.
24:53
SPEAKER_02: He does believe in it and he supports it.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
25:01
SPEAKER_02: I want to know about bossy kids.
25:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, wait.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: So it means going to be in Greenwood.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: We need your support.
25:25
SPEAKER_02: Bye-bye.
25:27
unknown: Bye.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: This has been a Randall Walls Presents podcast special events.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: You can quote it.