Limbaugh on Obama: "If he's got fire in his hands, what has he got in his pants?"

On the January 18 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, discussing Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) smoking, Rush Limbaugh said: "If he's got fire in his hands, what has he got in his pants?"

Earlier, Limbaugh had played an audio clip of Manhattan Institute senior fellow John H. McWhorter from the January 17 edition of The Big Story with John Gibson, during which McWhorter said, referring to Obama: "I think a lot of people find him sexy, and I think, even in today's America, there's a sense that there's something vaguely sexy about cigarettes; you've got fire in your hand."

Limbaugh also called Obama a "godlike figure to the godless," adding, "[Y]ou don't criticize gods or godlike figures."

From the January 18 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Gibson says, "Obama's dirty little secret: He's ... a cigarette smoker. ... [Q]uestion is: Would you vote for a smoker as president? John, is that kind ... of an impediment" for him?

McWHORTER [audio clip]: Obama is seen as very, very cool. I think a lot of people find him sexy, and I think, even in today's America, there's a sense that there's something vaguely sexy about cigarettes; you've got fire in your hand.

LIMBAUGH: Now, I love John McWhorter, and I -- John McWhorter is brilliant -- but where has he been? Is anybody portraying cigarette smoking as sexy? Oh, Holly -- Hollywood does -- Hollywood, and I've -- you know, it does. I'm going to -- I'm sure I'm going to infuriate some of you people, but it looks cool. I mean, people who know how to smoke cigarettes look cool. Why do you think Hollywood does it?

They're freaking out in there on the other side of the glass. Dawn's face is turning four sheets of red. I'm not talking about it is cool, I'm saying it can be made to look cool. Why do you think Hollywood does it? Why do you think movies -- why do you think kids end up trying it? It looks cool. They make it look cool. It's one of the big seductive problems with it, and this guy's effectively saying it here.

He's saying there's something vaguely sexy about cigarettes. You've got fire in your hand. And now that's -- what he's saying is Obama can make smoking sexy. What If Obama is seen smoking in public, and it is said because no one wants to criticize him because, he's above criticism, because he's a godlike figure to the godless. Now, you don't criticize gods or godlike figures. What if the whole anti-smoking bunch has to come out, 'cause they're a bunch of libs too, has to find a way to justify Obama's coolness? Because he's got fire. If he's got fire in his hands, what has he got in his pants? You're gonna hear all of these things.

—A.D.S.