This hour brought to you by Rush and his self-professed desire to "leave" New York
By Simon Maloy

Rush kicked off the show by noting an AP report: "Prime Minister Gordon Brown says leaders at the G-20 summit have agreed to give $1 trillion to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to help struggling nations around the world." Rush's takeaway from this was that Obama's attendance at the G-20 is a "slow surrender of the United States and its national interests." After accusing Obama of engaging in "first-grade conflict resolution," he attacked Hillary Clinton for "slowly surrendering" to the Taliban," and asserted that Richard Holbrooke "will no doubt surrender support for new democracies and the missile defense shield that protects the EU as well as the U.S. and Israel." According to Rush: "We are surrendering U.S. national interests for the sake of demonstrating that Obama is not the hated George W. Bush."

From there, Rush turned to the economy, noting that the Dow was up significantly. Shocking no one, Rush said that his has nothing to do with Obama or anything he's done. Rush went on to say that the new unemployment figures show us all "what a jobless recovery looks like." To hammer the point home, Rush read from this AP story, which reported that "stronger-than-expected U.S. economic figures boosted confidence the world's largest economy is on the mend." Rush called this "false hope," just like Obama's campaign. The real reason for the Dow jump, Rush argued, is because of some loosening of mark-to-market regulations. Not Obama, though. He wanted to make that clear, although Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, according to Rush, has the power to destroy these gains instantly -- all he has to do is "slice the cheese the wrong way."

Then Rush heaped some praise on Fox News' Neil Cavuto for his combative interview with Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), saying that anyone watching this should have known that "the wrong guys are in charge at the wrong time."

Back from the break, Rush noted that New York Gov. David Paterson was asked about Rush's threat to abandon his back-up studio in New York, and Paterson allegedly responded that he would have raised taxes sooner if he'd known Rush would leave. Rush said that if Paterson cares so little about the money he "confiscates" from Rush, then he should call off the 12-year tax audit Rush has undergone by the state. Then Rush announced it was his "firm belief" that the stock market was up so much "because President Obama is out of the country." Rush expanded on this: "If Obama said that he'd stay out of the country for a month, the markets would hit 8,500 today. They'd jump another three or four hundred. In fact, all he's have to say is that he's extending his stay for maybe a couple of weeks." Rush's musings were immediately flagged by Matt Drudge.

Back from the break, Rush returned to Paterson's alleged response to Limbaugh on the tax issue, saying that the "crux" of his remarks had been "intentionally missed," and that he had to clarify. Rush isn't actually "leaving" New York, he said, because he already "left New York" years ago. He's just not going to do business there. Rush said he had to clarify because everyone who said he was "leaving" New York got the story from somewhere other than his website, where all his remarks are transcribed. Well, we took a look at the transcription on Rush's website, and we have to say that we can't really fault anyone for reporting that Rush said he's "leaving" New York: "I don't know what the breaking point in New York is, Mr. Snerdley when people leave. (snorts) I'm leaving. I'm leaving. I am seriously."

Anyway, Rush spent the rest of the hour attacking the media for their "syrupy sweet" coverage of the Obamas at the G-20 and attacking Obama for giving Queen Elizabeth an iPod. He claimed that the protesters at the G-20 "are just community organizers," adding: "The United States leader was spawned by ACORN; he is a proud community organizer. So the people that are wrecking the town down in London at the G-20, these are future leaders of our countries. I don't really see what the problem is. In fact, President Obama ought to be out there with them giving them pointers on how to agitate." At the very end of the hour he quickly returned to Gov. Paterson, calling him an "illegitimate governor" because he wasn't elected according to liberals' terms because he wasn't elected and liberals called President Bush unelected.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: I'll tell you what's happening over there, and it's real simple. Obama at the G-20 is a slow surrender of the United States and its national interests. You know, we haven't talked about this on this program, but the North Koreans -- we've joked about it -- the North Koreans are going to launch this missile. There's nothing we can do to stop it, or there's nothing we will do to stop it. The Defense Secretary Bob Gates says there's nothing we can do. The Japanese are gearing up some interceptor thing. You've got the Iranians nuking up. You've got Hamas getting bolder and bolder and bolder. You've got the Russians helping the Iranians. And what is our policy? Our policy is exactly what you would expect a left-wing president's policy to be. And he's doing what he said he would do during his campaign. He's meeting with people. He's telling them we're no threat. He is -- don't worry about us, we're no threat. He's hoping that telling them there's a new day here in the United States will make them nicer. It's first-grade conflict resolution. So what Obama is doing is surrendering U.S. national interests over there in an effort to get the EU to spend more stimulus. He's surrendered the U.S. as responsible for the global financial crisis; he did that yesterday. Will he surrender to a global financial regulator, like Sarkozy wants? Hillary slowly surrendering to the Taliban, and Richard Holbrooke will no doubt surrender support for new democracies and the missile defense shield that protects the EU as well as the U.S. and Israel. We are surrendering U.S. national interests for the sake of demonstrating that Obama is not the hated George W. Bush.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: By the way, my firm belief is the stock market -- what is it up now? Waiting for the number -- it's hovering around 260, 265, 270, whatever it is. And I maintain this is because President Obama is out of the country. The market loves it when Oba -- oh, it's up 306. There must be news that he's extending his stay overseas. There must be news he's not coming back as soon as they thought he might be going back. I mean, the markets going nuts, and the only thing here that's different is that Obama's gone. He's out of the country. If Obama said that he'd stay out of the country for a month, the markets would hit 8,500 today. They'd jump another three or four hundred. In fact, all he would have to say is that he's extending his stay for maybe a couple of weeks.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: By the way, the protesters continue to go nuts over there. And I think -- folks, you gotta understand that these people -- these protesters, the anarchists, the globalists, the anti-globalists, the anti-capitalists or whatever -- these are just community organizers. These are potential future leaders or countries around the world. The United States leader was spawned by ACORN; he is a proud community organizer. So the people that are wrecking the town down in London at the G-20, these are future leaders of our countries. I don't really see what the problem is. In fact, President Obama ought to be out there with them giving them pointers on how to agitate -- that's where he comes from -- and then invite them to the White House, hook them up with ACORN, and tell them how it's really done. You could be looking at a future leader of a country in these protests.

Echo chamber

Rush's theory on the stock market's rise was immediately picked up by the Drudge Report: "LIMBAUGH: 'THE MARKETS LOVE IT WHEN OBAMA IS OUT OF COUNTRY... IS THERE WAY TO KEEP HIM OVER THERE FOR AWHILE'..."

Clips this hour

Limbaugh's latest market theory: Dow up today because "President Obama is out of the country"

Limbaugh on the Pay for Performance Act of 2009: "When the leftists start talking about fairness, they are the slave masters"

Limbaugh: "In liberal terms, being an unelected governor, [Paterson] is an illegitimate governor; remember, they said Bush was an illegitimate president because he wasn't duly elected"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the "liberal professors and professorettes"
By Simon Maloy

At the top of the hour, Rush continued to insist that the surge in the markets had nothing to do with anything Obama did (except leave the country). In fact, Rush ran with a headline he said he thinks he saw (although he said he wasn't sure) on television about the alleged establishment at the G-20 of a "global regulator of the world economy," claiming that the markets will "level out" once they got wind of it. According to Rush, this is more evidence of Obama's "slow surrender" of the country's interests, and "the truth of the matter is that the socialists at the G-20 have prevailed, and Obama is, for all intents and purposes, one of them."

Rush took a quick moment to attack a caption of a photo of Michelle Obama on her way to the opera with a button on her sweater undone. The caption's sin, according to Rush, was to describe the rogue button as "endearing." Rush said that Laura Bush or Sarah Palin could never get away with have their buttons undone.

Before the break, Rush engaged in yet another plug for the Heritage Foundation, reading at length from a post on their Foundry blog contrasting the White House budget with the GOP's budget. Rush loved everything in the GOP budget and wished it had been unveiled during the campaign, but that was not to be, said Rush, because McCain was the standard-bearer.

On the other side of the break, Rush read from The New York Times, which reported that the White House said: "There's not going to be a ceding of sovereignty to a global regulator." This obviously conflicted with Rush's doom-and-glooming from the previous segment about "socialist" Obama going along with his "socialist" comrades, so he switched it up a bit, claiming that Obama is doing more damage on his own than a global regulatory body could ever do, so Rush might welcome such a body if it could "stop" some of the "damage" Obama is doing in the U.S.

Rush then took a caller from a college campus, just like he did yesterday, and just like yesterday this caller effectively derailed the remainder of the hour, telling Rush that he has not ever seen as much hatred towards Republicans as he's seeing now. Rush told him that this is nothing new -- George W. Bush was "despised" by the left, Ronald Reagan more so. "Ideology trumps everything" on the left, according to Rush, and now we can add "arrogance" and "cockiness" to the mix since the Democratic victory in November.

Rush returned from the break still on this topic, reminiscing about how Nixon was "despised" and "hated" by the left (we're sure that anger had everything to do with "ideology"). Rush said that "every activist liberal" wakes up in the morning angry and only gets angrier as the day goes on. From their Rush revisited his youth (at length), explaining how his spirit of rebellion, nonconformity, and individualism led him to drop out of college, and how he sees that same spirit in kids who go to college nowadays, but "it takes not but a split second and they get into these classes run by liberal professors and professorettes, and all the individualism is gone and they become sheep. They become little liberal marching robots. They forget all of their spirit of rebellion. They forget all of their spirit of individuality." What followed was an extended harangue on the evils of liberal college professors and how going to college is a "waste of time" if you're going to sacrifice your individuality to the academic left.

After one more break it was time for another caller who expressed amazement that people were "surprised" at what, ahem, "Emperor Giggles" was doing. Assuming as we did that the caller was referring to Obama, Rush said he didn't see a whole lot of surprise in the media -- they love what he's doing. The only people who might be "surprised," according to Rush, are "pockets" of Obama voters and fake conservatives.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: They arrive on college campus with the spirit of individuality. They are unique, and they're there -- and they're going to take the world by storm. Yeah, they're conforming in a way because college is what you're supposed to do, but they still arrive for the most part as individuals, and then it takes not but a split second and they get into these classes run by liberal professors and professorettes, and all the individualism is gone and they become sheep. They become little liberal marching robots. They forget all of their spirit of rebellion. They forget all of their spirit of individuality.

"Socialism" watch

LIMBAUGH: Obama is engaged in a slow surrender of United States' best interests, our national interests. But as I told you, this is being reported as a slam dunk, grand slam. He's the star of the show. The leaders there can't get enough of him and Michelle. They are American royalty. Tingles are up everybody's legs. It's just sickening. But the truth of the matter is the socialists at the G-20 have prevailed, and Obama is, for all intents and purposes, one of them. It's not just the $1 trillion they have pledged, the G-20 nations to the IMF and the World Bank to ostensibly wipe out third-world poverty -- worldwide poverty and stabilize the world economy. These clowns wouldn't have the first idea about stabilizing anything. They're about destabilization.

Echo chamber

Read from the Heritage Foundation blog post on the GOP budget.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh: Fox News headline saying "market jumps on good news from G20" is wrong; markets up because of "mark-to-market" rules change, Obama being out of the country

In discussion about college life, Limbaugh refers to female professors as "professorettes"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Rush's self-defeating efforts to win over "the babes"
By Simon Maloy

One more hour to go, and Rush got it started by once again claiming that everything that has happened at the G-20 was worked out weeks in advance, and attacking the media for reporting that the conference might devolve into anarchy because that was never going to happen.

Rush then aired some audio of Obama's remarks at his press conference at the G-20 today, during which the president said: "We made enormous strides in committing ourselves to comprehensive reform of a failed regulatory system. We agreed to increase transparency and capital protections for financial institutions. We're extending supervision to all systemically important institutions, markets, and products, including hedge funds. We'll identify jurisdictions that failed to cooperate, including tax havens, and take action to defend our financial institutions." Rush's response? "They're going to go out and create new tax cheats in order to get money from them, they're going to spend and spend and spend and spend. This is a global socialist big-time maneuver." Rush also suggested that all this talk of "we've done this, we've done that" is contrary to the White House telling The New York Times they're not going to cede sovereignty to a regulatory body for the world economy.

Then Rush returned to his dire warnings of the loss of individuality in this country. The culprits this time, according to El Rushbo, are the "vege-nazis" (and their "vego-fascism") and their assault on a minor league baseball stadium's 4,800-calorie hamburger. Noting that the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine asked that the burger "be labeled a 'dietary disaster' that increases the risk of cancer and heart disease," Rush said: "A 4,800-calorie hamburger is not going to kill anybody!"

A quick break and Rush was back, saying that Obama was "stumbling" during his press conference today at the G-20 because he didn't have a teleprompter. Gets funnier each time. Then Limbaugh noted that Obama said part of his responsibilities as president was to make people around the world less susceptible to anti-American sentiment, "which -- that means he's going to have to sort of change things he says now and then." Rush then quoted Obama saying "As president of the United States, president of the American people, I have to convince the American people that their self interest is tied to yours." Rush dismissed this as "dead wrong" and "socialist gobbledygook."

Then it was time for a caller, this one asking what she could do to stop the Obama administration between now and the election. Rush told her there are these "great things" she can go to called Tea Parties, where she can vent her frustrations. According to Rush: "It's always helpful to run around with people who have the same point of view as you do." Remember, Rush doesn't want you to lose your individuality, he just wants you to link up with a bunch of people who think exactly like you do and have a "tea party" (following the suggestion of a TV personality) so you can all vent the same frustrations to each other.

Another break and Rush came back to Michelle Obama's interaction with Queen Elizabeth, disagreeing with a "touching expert" on Larry King who said it wasn't a big deal that the first lady put her arm around the queen during their meeting. It is not OK, according to Rush, and the only reason it wasn't a bigger deal, in Rush's estimation, was because Her Majesty was being gracious and covered for Michelle Obama's faux pas. (We were previously unaware of Rush's expertise in royal family social history and etiquette, but that's why we listen to the show.)

Finished with Michelle Obama and the queen, Rush turned his sights on a larger group of women -- the female journalists at the G-20. Pre-emptively warning that his comments would not make him popular amongst women (even though he'd been trying to "ingratiate myself to the babes"), Rush proclaimed that the "female reporters I've seen so far that are getting a chance to ask Obama a question are embarrassing."

Airing a few more clips of Obama speaking at the G-20 today, Rush attacked the president for "trashing" executive compensation, and for saying that Americans "don't resent the rich." Rush was shocked at this statement: "Don't resent the rich? You just sent your goon squad ACORN after the people who got bonuses in the legislation in Connecticut that work for AIG. Don't resent the rich? Your whole career has been built on making people resent the rich."

After the break, Rush closed out the show by reading a passage from Dreams from My Father in which Obama discussed his time working at a New York financial firm. According to Rush, it showed that Obama was just like any other "street liberal" and "no friend of the free market."

That's it for today's Limbaugh Wire. We skipped lunch and couldn't get away from our desk until now, so we're gonna scare ourselves up a 4,800-calorie hamburger and test Rush's theory that it won't kill anybody. Hopefully we'll see you tomorrow. If not, please honor our memory by taking a look at Media Matters' continuing and engrossing coverage of America's Anchorman, Rush Limbaugh.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: He was talking about what his job is as president of the United States and what he's got -- he's got to get involved in globalism, and he's got to make people less vulnerable to anti-American propaganda, which -- that means he's going to have to sort of change things he says now and then. And then he said -- then he said that his -- one of his biggest challenges will be to convince us, citizens of the United States, that our self-interest is tied to the rest of the world's.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Don't resent the rich? You just sent your goon squad ACORN after the people who got bonuses in the legislation in Connecticut that work for AIG. Don't resent the rich? Your whole career has been built on making people resent the rich.

 "Socialism" watch

OBAMA [audio clip]: We made enormous strides in committing ourselves to comprehensive reform of a failed regulatory system. We agreed to increase transparency and capital protections for financial institutions. We're extending supervision to all systemically important institutions, markets, and products, including hedge funds. We'll identify jurisdictions that failed to cooperate, including tax havens, and take action to defend our financial institutions.

LIMBAUGH: Stop the tape. This was all reported before this started. This is what Sarkozy wanted. This is what Sarkozy threatened to walk out over. This is -- this was already -- tax havens, hedge funds. They're going to raise taxes. They're going to go out and create new tax cheats in order to get money from them. They're going to spend and spend and spend and spend. This is a global socialist big-time maneuver.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: "As president of the United States, president of the American people, I have to convince the American people that their self-interest is tied to yours" is what he said. Now, I don't want to split syllables here, but our self-interest as a nation derives from our self interest as individuals. Our self-interest -- we lead the world or we have led the world -- the world, you know, follows our lead. This is all just getting so -- it's frustrating and it's so dead wrong. Our self-interest is tied to who? Who? I get up every day, and I've got to wait to figure out what somebody else in the world is doing before I decide whether or not what I'm doing is going to work? Whether it's good for me or my country, our self -- what? Our self-interest? That must -- alternative fuels -- so we've got to get rid of oil so somebody else can come up with a new green technology. What is -- all this is socialist gobbledygook. It sounds just brilliant. It sounds just unified and compassionate.

 "[Vego-]Fascism" watch

LIMBAUGH: There's a minor league baseball team in Wes Michigan called the West Michigan Whitecaps. They're in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They are a farm team of the Detroit Tigers, I believe, and they have created a new food item for their concession stands for their games this year. It is a giant 4,800-calorie hamburger. I have a picture of the thing here. It's bigger than a pizza, and it looks like it's about six to seven inches tall. There's a guy holding it at the ball park. So they're going to sell this 4,800-calorie hamburger, and if you can eat it all, they're going to offer you some prize like a -- I don't know what the prize will be. Twenty dollars is what it will cost. It's four pounds. The $20 burger features five beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and salsa and corn chips, and it's all on an eight-inch bun. Spokesman for the West Michigan Whitecaps, Nicky Graham, says the burger is a gimmick that's being promoted as a very unhealthy menu item, but they're putting it on there. All this despite a vegan advocacy group's request to put a warning label on the thing. Susan Levin, a staff dietician for the Washington-based Physicians for Responsible Medicine, sent a letter to the West Michigan Whitecaps on Tuesday, and she's asking that this 4,800-calorie burger be labeled a dietary disaster that increases the risk of cancer and heart disease. Now, why is it that when people discover a lifestyle they feel is important for them to embrace, they also feel that they have to impose it on everybody else? This is vego-fascism. These are the vege-Nazis. No, no, no -- I'm serious about this.

Ladies' man

LIMBAUGH: And I should point out that this is not going to ingratiate me to women, and I'm making a supreme effort to ingratiate myself to the babes, but I'm sorry, ladies. The female reporters I've seen so far that are getting a chance to ask Obama a question are embarrassing. "Thank you, Mr. President, for calling on me. Thank you, Mr. President. You're wonderful. Thank you so much for calling on me."