This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the "brain dead" Democratic voters
By Simon Maloy

Well, the 4,800-calorie burger didn't kill us, so we have to acknowledge that Rush was right on that one, though we were laid up for a little while after eating it. But after some Maalox and a quick coronary bypass graft, we're ready to go.

It's "Open Line Friday," and Rush got things started with some praise for Angela Merkel for being "unique" among European leaders in that she's not "spellbound" by President Obama, noting that analysts say Merkel is "skeptical" of Obama and his policies. Rush reiterated his belief that the G-20 is just a "giant dog-and-pony show," and launched into some invective directed at Obama for saying in Germany that the Iraq war was a "distraction" that soured the U.S. relationship with Europe. Referring to Saddam as "the other Hussein," Rush attacked France, Russia, and China for having business deals with Iraq prior to the war, and said that the moral component of removing Saddam did not interest them. But none of that matters, according to Rush, because Obama is willing to blame everything on Bush. And why, asked Rush, if the Europeans were so committed to Afghanistan before the distraction of Iraq are they not all fighting in there with the United States? According to Rush, Obama wants to turn the United States into "a Western European socialist democracy."

Noting that the AP reported that Obama vowed at the G-20 to work on repairing damaged relations between Europe and the U.S. as a consequence of Iraq, Rush said Obama was just blaming Bush again. Limbaugh said Obama's solution to repairing relations with Europe is bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia (not Europe) and telling the Russians that the U.S. will get rid of all its nuclear weapons. All the while, according to Rush, the other world leaders are laughing behind closed doors that the U.S. elected this "dunce."

After the break, Rush noted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to The Wall Street Journal, "expect to pay about $210 million in retention bonuses to 7,600 employees over 18 months." Rush wanted to know what Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) will say about this, given his and the "pitchfork mob's" opposition to the AIG bonuses. If Rush had continued reading the article, he might have picked up a clue: "Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has called on Mr. Lockhart to cancel the bonus program."

Then Rush returned to attacking Obama, chastising the president for saying in France today that impoverished nations are entitled to help, but they also have to help themselves. Rush wished that Obama would say that here in the U.S. Upon hearing Rush say this, we were immediately reminded of Obama's comments at a February celebration for Abraham Lincoln's birthday, where the president said that Honest Abe "recognized that while each of us must do our part, work as hard as we can and be as responsible as we can, in the end, there are certain things we cannot do on our own." But Rush was having none of that, and instead played a parody of the Police's "Every Breath You Take" with a refrain of "I'll Be Taxing You," with Obama providing lead vocals.

After the break, it was time for our first caller, who wondered how ostensibly smart people can be so stupid when it comes to supporting Obama. Rush said that you have to define smart, because there are smart people who are also ignorant and misinformed. Case in point, according to Rush, was the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll in which 80 percent of Americans blamed the economic downturn on Bush, the banks, and financial institutions.

Another caller, asked about the death of actress Natasha Richardson and the evils of socialized medicine like they have in Canada. Rush repeated his stock argument that if you don't like going to the DMV, wait until the government controls health care. Rush pointed to Charles Krauthammer's Washington Post column this morning, in which he wrote: "Obama didn't get elected to warranty your muffler. He's here to warranty your life."

At the end of the hour, Rush attacked Robert Reich for comments he made this morning defending the stimulus package and its effectiveness compared to tax cuts. Rush said this was dishonest, pointing to the newly released unemployment numbers and asking "what was all that damn stimulus about?" According to Rush, Democrats want to make it their business how you spend your money, asking his audience: "Do you realize just what a bunch of brain-dead idiots they think you are? And a bunch of braid-dead idiots voted for him. Why would they not think it?"

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Obama -- Charles Krauthammer refers to it today this way: Obama essentially wants to give you not an automobile warranty but a life warranty. He wants to warranty your life. Anything that goes wrong, he will deal with, the government will fix. Anything, any injustice, any economic injustice, any kind on inequality, anything that's not fair that happens to you, the government will make it right. That's what he seeks. Krauthammer calls him the great leveler. This is -- this is -- basically, you have to destroy capitalism. You have to wipe it out and then you have to take everything from everybody you deem has too much, and then you have to redistribute. That's what he wants to do.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Do you realize just in how much contempt the Democrat Party holds you? Do you realize just what a bunch of brain-dead idiots they think you are? And a bunch of brain-dead idiots voted for him. Why would they not think it?

Echo chamber

Cited Charles Krauthammer's Washington Post column today.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by zombie James Madison's thoughts on gay marriage
By Simon Maloy

At the top of the second hour, Rush noted that Slate.com featured an article titled "Should You Feel Guilty About Having a Job?" According to the article: "Many people who are working say they've stopped asking unemployed friends about job prospects, and they make sure not to gripe about their own jobs when those friends are around." Rush claimed that this is a "full frontal assault" on the 91 percent of Americans who are working to make them "feel guilty" for having a job. That's a hell of an assault -- one article in an online news magazine. Anyway, Rush said this attitude of feeling guilty for having a job is not what made America great. It's senseless to Rush, this "overwrought self-focus," which is "political correctness run amok."

After a quick break, Rush came back to talk football with a caller from Denver, who said that Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner should have fired the general manager of the Denver Broncos to prevent the trade of quarterback Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears. Rush's next caller wanted to comment on Slate's "full frontal assault" on the American worker, saying that he was unemployed for a long time, which cost him many things -- his house, car, and fiancée. Rush quipped: "Well, that's not all bad, then." After the caller said he then started his own business, Rush mockingly chastised him for being insensitive for not feeling guilty.

Back from another break, Rush read from a Politico article offering details of Obama's meeting with bank CEOs last week. Rush was incensed that Obama was quoted in the story as having said to the bankers: "My administration ... is the only thing between you and the pitchforks." He's talking about "the mob," according to Rush, that Obama and ACORN "inspired" and "fueled." Rush claimed to be "literally out of words to describe his anger." We didn't believe that for a second, and our incredulity was promptly rewarded, as Rush attacked Obama for "dragging" the CEOs into the White House to "threaten" them.

Time for another caller, this one wanting to know if "card check" permits employers to encourage unions to dissolve. Rush says that's not the point, "card check" is all about "Tony Soprano standing in your business with a baseball bat or a lead pipe." It's still as silly as when he said it before. But according to Rush this is what liberalism is all about -- the left is never satisfied, they always want more and they never give up. "It's like the Soviets. They didn't have four-year plans based on the service of term of their leader. They had forever plans, and if you had to, you know, take a year off, maybe a step back before you took two steps forward, then fine. But they had the objective, it was there, and whenever it got done was fine as long as you're always working for it." Apparently it's also like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and "[w]e're getting an early sign of what Chavez did by watching things happen here. But they just -- they don't stop." Rush said that the Democrats have to be defeated, but even when they lose elections they find other ways to accomplish the agenda -- take a look at the Iowa Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. Rush said that if you were to dig up James Madison and ask him if he thought the Constitution should say that gay people can get married, he'd say you were crazy. Based on our experience, if you were to reanimate James Madison the first thing he'd say would be "Braaaaaaiiiinnnnsssss..."

Then Rush turned his attention to the media, attacking the Politico for the story he referenced earlier in the hour, as well as Newsweek, McClatchy, Howard Fineman, The New York Times, and MSNBC. Apparently David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel are the "executive editors" of all these media outlets. Rush's primary objection was to stories that recounted Obama's role at the G-20 in smoothing over a dispute between France's Nicolas Sarkozy and China's Hu Jintao.

Rush capped off the hour by returning to his theory that Russia and China "can't believe their luck" that this "dunce" Obama is the president of the United States, because all they have to do is sit back and make him look good while Obama dismantles all the nuclear weapons and empties the U.S. Treasury.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

CALLER: I have a question about an aspect of card check that has not been explored, and it's this. If card check allows union organizers to intimidate workers into joining unions, does it also permit employers to encourage workers to dissolve the union?

LIMBAUGH: Well -- no. I mean, you might be able to say that it would permit it, but that's not the point. With Tony Soprano standing in your business with a baseball bat or a lead pipe, you as the business owner are not going to try to convince your workers to A) throw him out and decertify because even if you throw him out, Tony Soprano is waiting outside the door when the employees leave.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: For how many years were they talking about gay marriage? How many years were they talking about demonizing the SUV? That started in 1995. Here it is 14 years later, and they're on the verge of doing it. They don't stop. It's like the Soviets. They didn't have four-year plans based on the service of term of their leader. They had forever plans, and if you had to, you know, take a year off, maybe a step back before you took two steps forward, then fine. But they had the objective, it was there, and whenever it got done was fine as long as you're always working for it. Same thing with Hugo Chavez. Hugo Chavez taking over the banks now. Hugo Chavez nationalizing the oil industry. Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. We're getting an early sign of what Chavez did by watching things happen here. But they just -- they don't stop. They advance these ideas, and this is why an electoral majority needs to happen in order to defeat these people.

Ladies' man

CALLER: I wanted to comment on the young lady with the job situation, you know. I was out of work for about a year and a half. It cost me my house, my car, cost me my fiancée, cost me everything.

LIMBAUGH: Well, that's not all bad, then.

CALLER: You know, I just couldn't sit around. I took the last hundred bucks and I had to start a company so that I could have a job so I could pay my bills and, you know, here I am. I'm not going to take any government money. I'm not going to take any handouts.

Clip from this hour

Limbaugh continues mob references in discussion of Employee Free Choice Act: "Tony Soprano standing in your business with a baseball bat or a lead pipe"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by zombie housing falsehoods -- just can't kill 'em
By Simon Maloy

Top of the final hour of the day and the week, Rush hit us with some bad news -- Mark Steyn will be in for him again on Monday ... we still wake up in a cold sweat sometimes thinking of Steyn's last turn behind the golden microphone. Anyway, Rush kicked things off by reading extensively from an AP article reporting: "Lenders are boosting their attempts to avoid home foreclosures, but fewer than half of loan modifications made at the end of last year actually reduced borrowers' payments by more than 10 percent, data released Friday show." According to Rush, these are the people Barney Frank and the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 forced the banks to give loans to. The "losers," said Rush, and even after the terms of their loans were modified "they're still losers." It's worth noting at this point -- as we have many times in the past -- the CRA and Barney Frank are not responsible for the housing crisis. The majority of subprime loans were made by institutions not covered by the CRA, and Frank supported tightened regulations and oversight for Fannie and Freddie both before and after Democrats gained control of the House in 2007.

From there Rush moved on to a Washington Post article from this morning on the backlog of 57,000 unsold cars sitting at the Port of Baltimore. Rush attacked the Post for blaming the American people for the backlog in reporting that it "exists because many of the factors that contributed to the collapse of the housing bubble -- cheap credit, easy financing, excessive production, consumers buying more than they could afford -- undermined another large and vital American industry." According to Rush, you have all these cars piling up, all the while the government is taking over the auto industry, and all the while the government is "taxing people out of their cars." Rush said this only makes sense to a liberal.

After the break, Rush convinced himself that Geraldo Rivera is the "grim reaper," because every time he sees Rivera on Fox News that means someone died, referring to the shooting rampage in Binghamton, New York, today. Time for another caller, this one dismayed that he wasn't seeing any anger at "all these things" that are going on. Rush corrected him, saying there are a lot of people out there who are angry, and they're organizing these things called "Tea Parties." We're going to make this point again because, well, we love making it. Rush frequently rails against people surrendering their "individuality" in pursuit of a cause that will accomplish nothing -- he went on quite a tirade against "Earth Hour," claiming that people participating in it were simply demonstrating their willingness to "mindlessly play[] along" just so an actor (Edward Norton) can "feel relevant." But when CNBC loudmouth Rick Santelli suggests that we need "Tea Parties," Rush encourages his listeners to join up with a bunch of other faux-populists to vent their grievances.

Anyway, Rush went on to explain to the caller that there are two ways to challenge the Obama administration -- one effective and the other ineffective. The ineffective route, according to Limbaugh, is to challenge the administration on policy grounds, because people aren't going to listen to it. The effective route is to "irritate" the White House by teasing and mocking Obama. Now we understand why Rush makes the same teleprompter jokes over and over.

Another caller, this one responding to the woman from earlier asking how smart people can act so stupid. Rush referenced an article William F. Buckley wrote for Playboy many years back (good to know Rush actually does read the articles) regarding human intelligence. Rush's point in citing this article is that liberals are all the same -- Obama, Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, "some toad on a blog," all the same.

Rush spent the rest of the hour attacking Larry King and radio host Stephanie Miller. Miller said on King's show last night: "You know, Rush Limbaugh said the other day, if -- if Barack Obama fails, America wins. How does that make sense to any rational person?" Rush said it was "ridiculous" that he had to run through this again, asking how could it be "success" if Obama intends to "seriously dent" the auto industry, and later chastising Miller for suggesting that it is "irrational" to hope that a president fails. "That's what you say about kings!" said Rush.

Speaking of kings, Rush also had some unkind words for Larry. On his program last night, King said last night: "[Y]ou can be individuals as much as you like. ... Somebody has got to think for the masses." This set Rush off, demanding to know at what point in American history has anyone ever thought of the masses. Rush said FDR might count as an example, but look at how people lived under him. Rush expanded on this later on, saying that the "masses" are "you faceless dorks who can't fend for themselves," and "elitists" like King who demand that the masses be considered. (This from a guy whose fans proudly call themselves "dittoheads.")

And that's a wrap for this week's Limbaugh Wire. We enjoyed it so much that we'll be back next week, and we'll even tune in to Mark Steyn on Monday. We're that committed. As always, we urgently recommend that you take a gander at Media Matters' informative and entertaining Limbaugh coverage.

Highlights from Hour 3

America's Truth Rejector

Falsely claimed that Barney Frank, the CRA are responsible for housing crisis:

LIMBAUGH: Plus, I mean, the dirty little secret is this is the -- this is a cruel thing to say, cruel thing to say. But these are the -- these are the beneficiaries of Barney Frank's definition of affordable housing: Give you a house. These are people who couldn't qualify for the loan in the first place and weren't asked to. These are the people who had to show no history whatsoever in order to get a loan. Clinton, ACORN, Community Redevelopment Act, Obama forced the banks to make these loans. These people can't pay. They're losers in the first place. And even after old buddy federal government steps in to try to help them out, they're still losers. It's not turning them into winners. I just -- I wonder how many of them have tattoos.

Clip from this hour

Limbaugh forwards myths that Community Reinvestment Act, Rep. Frank responsible for mortgage crisis