This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the stupid turtles
by Simon Maloy

Welcome to a brand spankin' new week of the Limbaugh Wire. We're too excited to make some snarky observation, so let's get to it.

Rush kicked it off with the big news of the day -- President Obama's newly unveiled plan for the American automobile industry. As you might expect, Rush was quite critical of Obama, asking if he or anyone in his administration knew how to change a tire or what manifold pressure is. And as you also might expect, Rush was quite proud of himself, airing "prophetic" audio from last November in which he said that the Big Three were being asked to submit plans to Congress that could not possibly succeed because of the needs of unions and environmentalists and such.

From there, Rush proclaimed that when history look back at this "power grab" and attack on capitalism, they will ask: "Where was the media?" According to Rush, the media and all the "dime-store liberals" out there are in complete agreement with Obama "because this is all about punishment. This is all about getting even. This is all about chopping the heads off evil, chopping the heads off they bad guys, the CEOs." Yes, it's all about "payback," according to Rush, on behalf of the UAW, who are going to make out like bandits: "That's what this is all about. Plus, everyone in the auto industry has to make concessions except the unions. This is also payback for the unions." As per usual, this theory does not stand up to even the most cursory fact-checking -- Obama himself said today: "What we are asking is difficult. It will require hard choices by companies. It will require unions and workers who have already made painful concessions to make even more." Rush later added, "This is a union coup at the behest of the president. This is payback."

Anyway, Rush claimed Obama was lying when he said that the government has no intention of running GM, and Rush wanted to know if there was someone -- anyone -- in the Obama administration who is an experienced business person. Well, as it turns out, there is -- Steven Rattner, a private equity executive who serves as lead adviser to Obama's automobile industry task force. But according to Rush, Obama is nothing but a "community organizer" who has no knowledge of the auto industry. Rush then went on to attack Obama for saying: "[Y]our warranty is worth more than ever. Your warranty is safer than it's ever been because the United States government will stand behind it." Rush's reaction was typically measured: "Is Hugo Chavez able to possess this man and have him go out and make speeches?"

Back from a quick break, Rush attacked Obama over reports that his "traveling party" for his trip to the G-20 summit will consist of 500 people -- Rush said he's been told that it is "a little excessive." But, as for the G-20 itself, Rush proclaimed that despite misgivings among European leaders about Obama's economic and foreign policy initiatives, Obama has a "feather in his cap" -- he can brag to the Russians that now he "owns" the automobile industry.

Back from another break and Rush had "another Obama success story," the St. Louis Business Journal reporting that Centrue Bank's president "has resigned because his income will be severely restricted by new federal limitations on bank executives." Rush explained that this is a "success story" because a successful president of a successful bank quit, which meant the Obama administration can put in their own people. From there, Rush told us that his father, were he still alive, would have considered all this an "outrage," and that he would have told his boy that capitalism is now "dead" because Obama has crossed the line between public and private that no president has ever crossed before.

El Rushbo then returned to bashing Earth Hour, claiming that he lit up his entire house, except for the back yard, "because of the stupid turtles."

Rush segued from that rant into an attack on New York Gov. David Paterson and the state legislature for crafting a proposal to raise taxes on the well-to-do in response to the state's budget deficit. Rush was excised over this because it punishes the "achiever class," it won't raise enough money anyway, he should be cutting taxes to incetivize people to work more, etc. But Rush quickly abandoned these ideological reasons for opposing the tax increases and got to the heart of the matter -- the personal reasons Rush opposes New York tax increases. Specifically, Rush has a back-up studio and a condo in New York that he rarely uses, and he's going to vacate the city if taxes go up.

Rush closed out the hour with yet another explanation of how he bravely fights against the "tyranny" and "dictatorship" of the Obama administration.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: You run into your average ordinary dime-store liberal today, and let me tell you what that dime-store liberal's reaction's going to be: "Good, good. It's about time that CEO found out what it's life -- what life is like for the rest of us. It's about time for him to find what it's like to get fired just like the rest of us got fired. Good." You're going to have 100 percent slavish, total support of this move by the media and by most liberals and Democrats who voted for Obama because this is all about punishment. This is all about getting even. This is all about chopping the heads off evil, chopping the heads off the bad guys, the CEOs. It's about time they find out what it's like to walk out the door having been canned.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Now, all of a sudden, your warranty is worth more than ever. Your warranty is safer than it's ever been because the United States government will stand behind it. Is Hugo Chavez able to possess this man and go out and make speeches? Poor old teleprompter, having to get Obama say these kinds of things.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: And so if you listen to this program, and you are new to it and you listen to us review -- listen to me review the Obama takeover of the GM plant, understand it has nothing to do with a personal animus about Obama. It's about the fact that we fear -- 62 million Americans fear by virtue of those who voted against Obama -- we love and we fear the loss of our liberty, the loss of our freedom. We fear a government tyranny. We fear any form of a dictatorship. We fear the notion that government has all the answers and will do everything necessary to solve every problem for individuals. It scares us.

America's Truth Rejector

Falsely claimed Obama exempted unions from "concessions":

LIMBAUGH: I'll tell you what's headed down the road. You're going to see union members on the board of directors. You're going to see green wacko environmentalists on the board of directors, and General Motors is going to be designing and directing and building cars, selling cars that satisfy Obama's desire for green, environmentally friendly cars, blah-blah-blah-blah -- that's what you're going to see coming down the road. That's what this is all -- plus, everyone in the auto industry has to make concessions except the unions. This is also payback for the unions.

Clips from this hour:

Limbaugh on requirements for federal aid to GM: "This is a union coup at the behest of the president. This is payback"

Limbaugh: "Is Hugo Chavez able to possess this man and go out and make speeches?"

Limbaugh on requirements for federal aid to GM: "This is a union coup at the behest of the president. This is payback"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Obama's apparatchiks
by Simon Maloy

Top of the hour, and Rush returned to attacking David Paterson and the proposed New York tax increases, claiming that after Limbaugh announced his intention to vacate the Big Apple, his affiliates have already begun offering their studios. Rush also claimed that Paterson has to come up with a new slogan for "liberal capital of the world" New York, something like: "It's never enough." In what might be his closest-to-accurate statement of the afternoon, Rush predicted that New York would rejoice in Rush's absence.

After some quick attacks on Vice President Biden and Spanish President Zapatero, who "cut and ran" from Iraq after the Madrid train bombings, we once again returned to the grand unified conspiracy theory of Obama chaos, specifically that Rush still maintains that Obama "wants" all the chaos he can get. This all goes back to November, according to Rush, when the auto companies were asked to submit bailout plans that were never going to be accepted by the government because Obama's intention was always to take over the industry and turn it over to the unions. According to Rush, it's never the unions' fault, it's always the leadership. Well, leaders tend to take responsibility because they're in positions of responsibility. Funny how that happens. And, as we noted in the last hour, Obama said quite specifically that the unions would have to make more concessions to get things going, so they're not looking like the beneficiaries of yet another conspiracy.

Rush returned from the time out very upset that Obama had named a "labor economist," Edward Montgomery, as the director of recovery for auto communities and workers. According to Rush, Montgomery is an "apparatchik," and his new job sounds like something created by "totalitarian," "authoritarian" regimes. From there Rush read extensively from an American Thinker article by Thomas Lifson, who wrote that government "assumes people must have whatever it produces." According to Rush, that is the essence of Obama and his "arrogance." Before heading into another break, Rush took a call from a man wondering how Ford had managed to avoid all the problems Chrysler and GM are facing. Rush said it was because Ford turned down bailout money, and that if he ran Ford, he would look at what car models the government will force GM and Chrysler to build, and do the opposite. That's because Rush is not convinced that green cars are the future of the industry, because Americans want big cars, and because "there is no shortage of oil!" And harmful carbon emissions are a "hoax!"

Back from the break and Rush took another caller, a woman outraged that GM CEO Rick Wagoner was asked to step down. Rush commiserated, claiming that there are ways to fix what ails the auto industry without government involvement -- like bankruptcy. People who know more about economics and such disagree on this particular point, arguing that auto industries going bankrupt would be "devastating." Anyway, Rush repeated his not-at-all true claim that the auto industry unions are "never" asked to make "concessions," and attacked Obama and the other "radicals" and "leftists" for attempting to seize American industry by using ACORN to stoke "hatred" and "envy" at corporations. According to Rush, America was the most prosperous nation on Earth "until Obama was elected."

El Rushbo capped off the hour by attacking Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm for saying on Today this morning that Wagoner was a "sacrificial lamb," and for saying that Obama's intention is for everyone to make "sacrifices" to get through these tough times. Rush "translated" this -- "sacrifice" means tax increases and losing personal freedom.

*Note: We're a little light on transcripts this hour due to a problem with our radio feed, which we have fixed.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Liberals, whether it's Granholm or Obama, they want every one of us to make sacrifices. We have to suffer, and that's their version of life: suffering. We must all suffer. We must pay for the consequences of our prosperity, and the only way to fix things is with mass sacrifice, mass suffering. Well, let me translate and define that for you. Mass sacrifice is tax increase upon tax increase upon tax increase upon loss of freedom upon loss of freedom. That's what they mean by sacrifice. You give up a little bit of you for the sake of the government growing large over you.

Echo Chamber

Cited Thomas Lifson from the American Thinker.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by screw-in health care
by Simon Maloy

For the final hour, Rush got things started by reading extensively from his favorite news articles and press releases of the day. First out of the gate was the Center for Consumer Freedom's claim that PETA "killed 95 percent of the adoptable pets in its care during 2008." Rush suggested that former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, incarcerated for animal cruelty charges related to dog fighting, be made PETA's spokesman. Then it was on to Fox News, which was reporting that women who've lost their jobs in these tough economic times have turned to stripping. Rush was incredulous, particularly at news reports that gyms in his area offer pole-dancing classes.

Then it was time for a little ego-stroking, as Rush read, in its entirety, Andrew Klavan's Los Angeles Times op-ed "Take the Limbaugh Challenge." In the op-ed, Klavan chastised nameless "liberals" who profess to dislike Limbaugh without ever having really listened to him. As Media Matters noted, Klavan himself wrote that he's "never heard" El Rushbo "utter a single racist, hateful or stupid word," casting doubt as to whether he's ever really listened to Rush. But, of course, Rush loved Klavan's caricature of these "lowdown, yellow-bellied, lily-livered intellectual coward" liberals.

Then it was on to The New York Times, specifically this story about consumers running into some problems with fluorescent light bulbs, zeroing in on this sentence: "Some experts who study the issue blame the government for the quality problems, saying an intensive federal push to lower the price essentially backfired by encouraging manufacturers to use cheap components." The word "government" sent Rush on a tear, prompting listeners to take this story and replace the words "light bulb" with "health care." We tried it, and ran into a few problems: 'Experts say the quality problems are compounded by poor package instructions. Using the health care incorrectly, such as by screwing low-end health care into fixtures where heat is prone to build up, can greatly shorten their lives."

After a quick break, Rush returned to the Fox News pole-dancing story, saying that it conflicted with his view that women are as "pure as the driven snow." It's "depressing," according to Rush, to see stories like these, as they show that we are "losing" our "culture."

One more time out and Rush was back, once again praising the British press and reading from this Telegraph article that reported: "President Barack Obama has engineered a quiet racial revolution in Washington, giving more power to black women than at any point in American political history." Rush wondered why the "racial revolution" had to be "quiet," adding: "He doesn't need a whole lot of black men, he's got that handled." Then he aired clips of Obama on Face the Nation Sunday talking about the auto industry and sacrifice, and Rush revisited his views on "the left" and "sacrifice": " I talked about how the left thinks that we just have to sacrifice. We all have to -- we must sacrifice. We have to suffer. The only way this country will be just and fair is if everybody is equally miserable in their suffering and sacrifice, and he said it essentially on Face The Nation yesterday."

From there the clip train kept right on a-rolling, as he aired audio from this week's episode of Our World with Black Enterprise, during which Vibe editor-in-chief Danielle Smith called for a new kind of patriotism that doesn't allow someone to wish for the failure of the president during such perilous economic straits. Rush, as you might expect, disagreed, and did so in a fashion that has become familiar to us all: "Based on what we've seen with General Motors and the banks, if he fails, America is saved. Barack Obama's policies and their failure is the only hope we've got to maintain the America of our founding."

Before the break Rush squeezed in a quick call from a man who was curious which industry Obama will "nationalize" next. Rush joked that Obama will not go after any industry that produces ingredients "necessary to make a teleprompter." We almost laughed at this latest in a long series of increasingly hilarious teleprompter gags, but then realized that it didn't make any sense. If Obama is so keen on teleprompters, he would want to make sure that he had a steady supply. And wouldn't he view government control of the industry as the best way to ensure that? We snapped ourselves out of this line of thought just in time to hear Rush's real answer to the caller's query -- the oil and gas industry will be nationalized next.

Another break and Rush came back to story that we hoped he'd return to -- the cataclysmic sun storm that factors into the grand chaos conspiracy. Rush once again cited it, as well as a new story about the deleterious health effects of watching your football team lose the Super Bowl, as part of a campaign intended to make us think that the things we enjoy will actually kill us.

One more caller to close out the show, who claimed that Obama's willingness to "cross the line" demonstrates a deficiency of character that was downplayed during the campaign. Rush agreed: "He's a radical guy. He's a very arrogant, radical guy who is angry. No one is going to be able to convince me otherwise."

Well folks, that's it. Another Limbaugh Wire in the can. We ask that you please tune in for tomorrow's exciting installment, and, in the meantime, take a look at Media Matters' ever-expanding Limbaugh Archives.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Here's Barack Obama. I talked about how the left thinks that we just have to sacrifice. We all have to -- we must sacrifice. We have to suffer. The only way this country will be just and fair is if everybody is equally miserable in their suffering and sacrifice, and he said it essentially on Face The Nation yesterday.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Based on what we've seen with General Motors and the banks, if he fails, America is saved. Barack Obama's policies and their failure is the only hope we've got to maintain the America of our founding.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I know what you mean -- when you talk about his character, you talk about who he is, who reared him, who raised him, who mentored him, who his associations were. I agree, they're all important. They were covered up. He's a radical guy. This is a very arrogant, radical guy who is angry. No one is going to be able to convince me otherwise. I mean, he doesn't show it, but sometimes I think I notice it. I think it flares sometimes. Not the anger, but the -- he reveals that he has a bunch of chips on his shoulder, and we know his wife does, and we know Reverend Wright does. And we're getting, you know, a lot of this stuff that's happening right out of Reverend Wright's sermons. Yeah, I mean, it really is -- and a lot of what's going to happen in education, right out of Bill Ayers' curriculum, his extremist terrorist buddy.

Echo chamber

Read, from top to bottom, Andrew Klavan's Los Angeles Times op-ed: "Take the Limbaugh Challenge"

Clips from this hour:

Limbaugh: "Based on what we've seen with General Motors and the banks, if he fails, America is saved. Barack Obama's policies and their failure is the only hope we've got to maintain the America of our founding."