Liddy Gets Hero’s Welcome At Spokane Opera House Felon, Talk-Show Host Shares Prison Stories With Audience

G. Gordon Liddy is proof that a convicted felon can make good.

Using personal stories gathered during the 52 months he spent in prison for the Watergate burglary in 1972, Liddy entertained a nearcapacity crowd in the Spokane Opera House on Saturday night.

During a question-and-answer period, which Liddy described as having “no rules,” several audience members told Liddy he was a hero and asked him to meet with them after the show to sign autographs.

Questions ranged from how parents can instill loyalty in their children to how Liddy helped a man escape from prison.

Liddy took no credit for the loyalty of his own five children - four of whom are in the military.

“During their formative years,” he said, “I was locked up in prison where I couldn’t do them any harm.”

Dapper in a navy-blue suit and white shirt, Liddy had an excellent rapport with the 2,500-person crowd, who cheered him, laughed at his jokes about prison life and greeted him with a near standing ovation.

One person asked what the difference was between the Vietnam War and U.S. involvement in Haiti.

Vietnam, Liddy said, was successful in halting the flow of communism.

But in Haiti, Liddy predicted a “return to primitive savagery” for a country that has “never known democracy.”

When an audience member brought up a comment Liddy made on his show about using pictures of Bill and Hillary Clinton for target practice, Liddy clarified what he’d said.

He’d been at a friend’s farm when they ran out of targets.

He drew stick figures on a piece of paper, labeled one Bill and one Hillary, and shot at them.

“Does that mean I want to harm the president of the United States? No. It was a fun thing to do,” Liddy said.

“The last thing I want to do is make Bill Clinton a martyr.”

About 10 people outside were not as thrilled as the audience was with Liddy.

People carrying signs that said: “From Watergate to Radio Hate; Get a real job G. Gordon Liddy,” and “What a Pity, G. Gordon Liddy,” protested the No. 2 talk radio host in the country.

Chuck Armsbury, of Greenacres, said he was protesting “to say that some of us don’t think this is a good drift in our country.”

Others took advantage of the event to gather signatures for Initiative 166, which protests special rights for homosexuals, or to pass out invitations to the Spokane area Young Republicans meeting.

Before the questions began, Liddy spoke about the difference between people who merely survive in life and those who prevail.

People who prevail, Liddy said, “have emotions but have learned to control them. It gives them an enormous advantage over those who have not.”

Those who prevail take calculated risks and are creative problem solvers, he said. They know the difference between a real goal and an apparent goal.

“No one can make you a victim,” he told the crowd. “You must accept victimhood. I never have and I never shall.”