This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Obama's policy of anti-Americanism
By Simon Maloy

Good afternoon, everyone. In the wake of yesterday's show, we've been trying to game out scenarios by which the United Auto Workers union could assume control of Goldman Sachs. When no obvious or feasible route presented itself, we realized that we're thinking about it the wrong way. So we decided to view the problem through Rush's eyes, and the answer manifested almost immediately. Step 1: ACORN gets billions more from the federal government. Step 2: ACORN uses that money to send William Ayers to North Korea. Step 3: Something to do with Obama's teleprompter. Step 4: Ron Gettelfinger becomes CEO of Goldman Sachs. It's elegant in its simplicity ...

Rush got things off to a rollicking start today, quoting White House senior adviser David Axelrod saying of the results of Obama's Latin America trip: "I think what has happened is that anti-Americanism isn't cool anymore." Well, Rush was having none of that, saying the truth is "just the opposite," explaining: "Anti-Americanism has never been more cool, especially at the White House, where it is now policy." And just in case you weren't sure as to whether Rush really said that, he added: "Yes, I said that. Anti-Americanism is now policy. It is cool at the White House, where it is policy now."

Rush then offered to explain what he meant by anti-Americanism, noting that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner testified on Capitol Hill that his primary concern is the health of the financial system as a whole and its ability to extend credit. Rush said there is not credit, and that is by design, because Obama wants to promote "economic uncertainty" and chaos. So now we're back to the Grand Unified Theory of Obama Chaos, part of which, according to Rush, is the "stress tests" for the banks. Rush claimed we never had stress tests before Obama came along, they're his creation and he's using them to gain control of the financial industry. Of course, stress tests for financial systems are nothing new -- the International Monetary Fund released a report in 2004 titled "Stress Testing Financial Systems." Regardless, Rush insisted that they're actually "possess tests," because Obama is going to use them to repossess financial institutions, and government ownership of the financial system is "not American." Rush added: "Anti-Americanism is sprouting up all over the world and it has been for a long time and the only different thing about it today is that we have an American president sympathetic to it, wants to understand it, probably agrees with half of the anti-Americanism out there."

Then Rush expanded on his admittedly "conspiratorial" theory about the stress tests Obama allegedly created -- that they were designed by the administration in such a way that the banks would have to fail them, because that would create a "crisis," and you can't have "change" without a crisis. Rush also alleged that the reason the Obama administration "tip[ped] everyone off" on the Sunday shows that they weren't sure of the results of the stress tests was that they knew that doing so would roil the markets and the public.

After the break, Rush aired audio from yesterday's show in which he said that Obama's call for the Cabinet to cut $100 million in spending was a direct response to the tea parties, and then followed that with a montage of media personalities saying the same thing. This shows, Rush said, that The Rush Limbaugh Show is "show prep" for the rest of the media. Now, see, that's funny, because just last week Rush was blasting the media for intentionally distorting the message of the tea parties. Of course the Cabinet cuts were about the tea parties, said Rush, and the Obama people are scared because they've been going around saying that you can't criticize the president because he is the most popular guy in the world. That's why Michelle Obama did not go to "the Summit of the Americas and show off another new classless wardrobe," said Rush, because "she overwhelmed his popularity in Britain. All the press was about Michelle, the new Jackie O -- Michelle this, Michelle that, Michelle's wardrobe, Michelle here, Michelle -- the friendship with the queen, arm around the queen."

After another break Rush took his first call, this one from a man wondering what America's relationship with Venezuela, North Korea, etc., will look like in a couple of years. Rush responded by airing audio of his appearance on Fox News' On the Record last night, which was essentially a condensation of yesterday's three-hour unhinged rant (Obama has a Messiah complex, he's reckless in meeting with Chavez, blah blah blah). Rush said former Vice President Dick Cheney was right about Obama's handshake with Chavez -- people like Chavez see him as someone who can be "exploited." Rush said Obama made it clear to Chavez et. al. that he has more of a problem with his own country than he does with them, and that now they view the U.S. as "ripe," and see their goal of cutting the U.S. "down to size" as being "easier" now. We have to say that Rush seems to have a very dim view of America's influence -- military, economic, diplomatic, whatever -- if he thinks that a presidential handshake with Hugo Chavez so gravely threatens the security of the country.

One more break and Rush took another caller, who asked about Dick Cheney's intention to have declassified a series of memos showing the effectiveness of harsh interrogation techniques. Rush attacked Obama for only going "halfway" in releasing the torture memos," and claimed that now we're calling everything that causes discomfort "torture." Rush read from former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen's op-ed in The Washington Post today on the effectiveness of the harsh interrogation techniques. Rush said Obama knows what he's doing -- he's focusing on the media on the negative aspects of interrogation and focusing negative attention on his own country to advance his "silly theory" that the interrogation techniques created more terrorists.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: David Axelrod, who is the Karl Rove of this administration except that Axelrod is loved and adored by the drive-bys, responding to the somewhat overwrought critique that Obama did not properly stand up to hostile Latin American leaders during a trip to the region this past week, has accused critics -- Axelrod has -- of missing the point. "I think some people misinterpreted what happened this weekend," said Axelrod. "I think the real message of what happened this past weekend with the Cuban regime's response to the president's decision on remittances or the overtures of President Chavez. I think what's happened is that anti-Americanism isn't cool anymore." Good grief. It's just the opposite. Anti-Americanism has never been more cool, especially at the White House, where it is now policy. Yes, I said that. Anti-Americanism is now policy. It is cool at the White House, where it's policy now. Anti-Americanism has never been cooler. Look at the polling data from the left -- or of the left in this country. Look at the smiling faces of Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez and all of the other leaders there down at the Summit of the Americas.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: It's clear as a bell to anybody who wants to admit what is happening with all of this. And at the risk of repeating myself here, folks, I think this is -- this is -- look, it dovetails right here with this Axelrod comment that Anti-Americanism is not cool anymore. It's just the exact opposite. I mean, you can say that anti-Americanism is a lot of things, but I'm going to tell you that the government controlling the financial system and owning common stock in banks and the government having voting privileges in private-sector banks -- that's not American as we have understood it. Anti-Americanism is sprouting up all over the world, and it has been for a long time, and the only different thing about it today is that we have an American president sympathetic to it, wants to understand it, probably agrees with half of the anti-Americanism out there, at least judging to his reaction of its expression at the Summit for the Americas.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: They're running around, they're telling everybody, "You don't dare oppose Obama. He's the most popular man in the world. Obama is the most popular man ever. He's the most popular man in the country. He's the most popular man in the world." In fact, did you notice that Michelle did not go to the Summit of the Americas and show off another new classless wardrobe? Why do you think she didn't go, Snerdly? Give me two guesses: Why did Michelle-my-belle Obama not go to the summit of the Americas? And don't tell me she had to tend to the garden in the White House. It is because she overwhelmed his popularity in Britain. All the press was about Michelle, the new Jackie O -- Michelle this, Michelle that, Michelle's wardrobe, Michelle here, Michelle -- the friendship with the queen, arm around the queen. I'll guarantee you this whole image of Obama as the messiah, as the one, is predicated on the fact that nobody's more popular than he is and nobody has ever been more popular.

America's Truth Rejector

Falsely claimed "stress tests" for financial systems were unheard of before Obama.

Echo chamber

Cited former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen's April 21 Washington Post column, "The CIA's Questioning Worked."

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh: "[A]ppeasers" have "water[ed] down" definition of torture like "NOW gang" did with definition of domestic violence

Limbaugh claims "Anti-Americanism is now policy" at the White House

This hour brought to you by Obama's anti-constitutional presidency
By Simon Maloy

Kicking off the second hour, Rush claimed that Obama's release of the torture memos is all about "cutting the country down to size." Rush guaranteed us all that the people in the counterterrorism field are feeling betrayed by all this, and this guarantee -- based on absolutely nothing -- proved to be the basis for the entire segment. Rush claimed that Obama's "rock star" reception at the CIA yesterday was "BS." Rush explained: "The drive-by media said that Obama got rock star reception at the CIA just like he got a rock star reception in Baghdad. Do you know how they set up that photo op and all of the screaming soldiers? They went around and they only allowed soldiers that had voted for Obama in there and now at the CIA, do you think everybody other than the secretarial pool and people with hardly any clearance were able to get in there to see this thing?" This is a ridiculous conspiracy theory promulgated by credibility-challenged conservative blogs based on an anonymous email alleging that the Obama people pre-screened soldiers in Iraq and then handed out to them identical digital cameras with which to photograph the president. There's absolutely zero evidence to back up this absurd allegation (photos of the event show several different types of digital cameras), yet it's repeated as fact by "America's Truth Detector."

Anyway, Rush claimed that the idea that CIA "universally loves" Obama is "absurd," claiming that the reception Obama received was "a show." His only evidence for that statement is his "belief" that counterterrorism officials (who he claimed are all in the field and don't work at Langley) feel betrayed by Obama, and the only ones who showed up are a "bunch of secretaries, a bunch of paper pushers who have lower security clearances than the janitorial staff that cleans the director's offices." Rush wondered why anyone in the CIA would listen to a "community organizer" like Obama "condescend" to them.

After the break, Rush came back to a sound byte of Obama at the CIA, in which he said: "I understand that it's hard when you are asked to protect the American people against people who have no scruples and would willingly and gladly kill innocents. Al-Qaeda's not constrained by a constitution." Rush was outraged by this: "Our president, your president, our President Barack Obama looks at the Constitution as a constraint and we know this because President Obama is also the kind of man who has legal people around him who look at the Bill of Rights who see it as a set of quote 'negative rights.'" Now, before we go any further, let's make a couple of things clear. First, the Constitution is a constraint. It constrains the federal government in several key ways, such as the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits "cruel and unusual punishments," which was likely what Obama was referring to when he said Al Qaeda "would willingly and gladly kill innocents." Obama was praising the "constraints" of the Constitution, because they separate us from Al Qaeda. Second, that's the idea behind "negative rights" -- calling the Constitution a document of "negative rights" doesn't mean the Constitution is bad, as Rush would have us believe. It means that it enumerates the things the government can't do.

But Rush nonetheless twisted everything around: "Because, folks, to liberals, the Bill of Rights is horrible. The Bill of Rights grants citizens freedom. It tells the citizens what the government cannot do to them. The Bill of Rights limits the federal government, and that's negative to a socialist like Obama. That's negative to an elitist like Obama. The Constitution is negative, so he's got constraints." Rush claimed that Obama and "liberals" want to change or ignore the Constitution because they see it as a constraint.

Then Rush aired audio of Obama speaking to the press today, saying that the possible prosecution of Bush Justice Department officials who authored the "torture memos" is a decision best left to the attorney general. Rush claimed that it is in Third World countries, not the United States, in which government officials "imprison" their predecessors. Rush said it was all "BS" anyway, since nothing illegal was done. Rush linked this to his previous distortions of Obama's views of the Constitution, saying: "Everything in the Constitution was designed to protect against a president like Obama."

Rush then took a call from a woman who wanted to comment on how the release of the torture memos has put our soldiers at greater risk if they are captured. Rush respectfully disagreed with her, saying that our soldiers are always in harm's way by virtue of putting on the uniform. The only thing that's changed, according to Rush, is that America has in Obama a president who "has just as much disregard for the men and women of the United States military as every other liberal."

Closing out the hour, Rush took a call from a man asking about the "fear factor" of the "labels" the Obama administration is putting on conservatives. Rush said this reminds him of the situation with the Miss USA runner-up being asked about gay marriage. It's evidence, said Rush, that conservatives have lost the pop culture war.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: There have to be lots of people who have sacrificed greatly in the field. We can never hear about them, and we can never hear about their success stories, but they have kept us safe, and I will guarantee you that the people in the field, CIA counterintelligence operatives, they feel betrayed. They have to feel betrayed. Now, there was a giant pep rally that made me sick yesterday at the CIA. It was a bunch of total BS. The drive-by media said that Obama got rock-star reception at the CIA just like he got a rock-star reception in Baghdad. Do you know how they set up that photo op and all the screaming soldiers? They went around and they only allowed soldiers that had voted for Obama in there. Now you -- and these -- and now at the CIA, do you think everybody other than the secretarial pool and people with hardly any clearance were able to get in there to see this thing? I guarantee you this whole thing was stacked as well. All of this is for show. It was designed to show that the CIA is totally 100 percent up to speed with what Obama's doing when that cannot be the case. People who have trained all of their lives, devoted to protecting this country in some of the most dangerous places in the world, have to feel betrayed especially with the release of Obama's memos.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Listen to just the first part of this.

OBAMA [audio clip]: I understand that it's hard when you are asked to protect the American people against people who have no scruples --

LIMBAUGH: Yeah, you try it.

OBAMA [audio clip]: -- and would willingly and gladly kill innocents.

LIMBAUGH: Now listen.

OBAMA [audio clip]: Al Qaeda is not constrained by a constitution.

LIMBAUGH: Stop the tape.

OBAMA [audio clip]: Many of our --

LIMBAUGH: Al Qaeda is not constrained by a constitution. Your president, our president, Barack Obama, looks at the Constitution as a constraint. And we know this because President Obama is also the kind of man who has legal people around him who look at the Bill of Rights who see it as a set of what is called "negative rights." I know a lot of people go, "Negative rights? How can the CIA be negative rights?" Because the C -- the Bill of Rights be negative rights? Because, folks, to liberals, the Bill of Rights is horrible. The Bill of Rights grants citizens freedom. It tells the citizens what the government cannot do to them. The Bill of Rights limits the federal government, and that's negative to a socialist like Obama. That's negative to an elitist like Obama. The Constitution is negative, so he's got constraints. The Constitution tells him he's got things he can't do that he wants to do. That's not his job. He is there to defend and protect it, not unilaterally change it.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: This business, folks, of the Constitution being looked at as a shackle, the brilliance -- the brilliance of the Founding Fathers was separation of powers. Everything in the Constitution was designed to protect against a president like Obama. The express purpose of the Constitution is to stop somebody like Obama, who wants to have the federal government now have equity stakes in the automobile companies and in the banks and control the credit markets, the financial systems, and anything else he can get his hands on. It's to stop the president of the United States from handcuffing U.S. security, in limiting freedom of the American people. The Constitution was written with people like Obama in mind to stop them. It's been turned upside down and on its head, the Constitution has, because now the Constitution is looked as something limiting the great messiah. Why, the Constitution limits the greatness of the one who has finally restored morality and justice to the American nation. Everything is ass-backwards.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh: Obama "has just as much disregard for the men and women of the United States military as every other liberal"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by super-revisionist Russian history
By Simon Maloy

Rush kicked off the hour noting that Andrea Mitchell interviewed Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for nine minutes on MSNBC today without asking her a single question about the Washington Times story from this morning reporting that Feinstein "introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms." Rush claimed Feinstein has undermined Obama's inauguration promise of holding to account those who spend public dollars.

Rush then read from New York Times columnist John Tierney's blog, in which Tierney wrote that "researchers have discovered that, over the long term, being richer often translates into being greener." From this, Rush launched into his standard anti-environmentalist attack -- that they want everyone to be poor socialists. But this goes beyond environmentalism, said Rush. It actually relates to the torture memos, and Rush said if we all want to understand why Obama released those memos we have to understand that it begins with an "established truism" that goes beyond the "extreme" liberalism of Obama. That "established truism," according to Rush, is that Obama believes he is better than every president before him. We're not sure how "established" or "true" that is, but Rush insisted it's both, so let's run with it. Releasing the memos, Rush said, was intended to "tear up" the Bush national security record because George W. Bush was better than any other president at defending the United States. His evidence? Not one terrorist attack on U.S. soil after 9/11. That's a novel argument -- Bush was the country's best defender because no one attacked us ... except for that one time.

After a quick break, Rush returned to take a call from a man who said that the Washington Times story on Dianne Feinstein reminded him of Martha Stewart's insider trading. Rush said there's a key difference -- Feinstein actually engaged in insider trading whereas Stewart was convicted of lying to investigators. But, Rush said, this will all be excused by people who say that Feinstein is a Democrat who cares about people and who stepped in after the assassination of Harvey Milk. If you're wondering, like we are, what exactly Harvey Milk has to do with any of this, well, tough. Rush offered no explanation.

The next caller wanted to know Rush's thoughts about actress Janeane Garofalo's recent comments about the "racism" of the tea party protesters. Instead of responding to the caller's point, Rush diverted the conversation to his favorite topic -- himself. Rush talked about how Garofalo allegedly told some entertainment magazine how she declined an invitation to meet Rush while he visited the set of Fox's 24. Rush said this can't be true because he hasn't visited the set of 24 since she joined the cast.

After another break, Rush read from a Financial Times article reporting that "men bear the brunt of the economy's contraction." Rush was excited that we finally have a story out there in which we can say that men, not women or minorities, are hardest hit, but said that no one is talking about it because (in his lisping liberal voice) the men "deserve it."

Then Rush aired clips of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) on MSNBC's Morning Joe today praising Obama's foreign policy efforts as taking leadership to "another height." Rush said Cummings is the "Messianic complex come to life." Rush aired another clip of Cummings saying that Obama's leadership is before its time, which prompted Rush to say that Cummings "represents the mindset, the ignorance of the average Obama voter. This kind of idolatry of political people has happened before, but it's not healthy. It's pure demagoguery."

From Cummings, Rush moved on to Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), who appeared on "dunce" Tavis Smiley's PBS program last night to discuss housing. We can't really say what Rush's commentary was on Frank's remarks was, as he delivered it whilst imitating Frank, which entailed Limbaugh spitting, sputtering, and lisping unintelligibly into the microphone. We suspect, however, that Rush was none too pleased with Frank -- a suspicion that was confirmed after Rush closed out the segment by re-airing his ever-popular Barney Frank parody, the "Banking Queen," sung to the tune of Abba's "Dancing Queen."

Back from the break, Rush took another trip down Hypocrisy Lane, offering yet another plug from the Cadillac-GM "Total Confidence Plan," whereby the company will make your car payments for you if you lose your job. As we've pointed out before -- and as we'll continue to point out as long as the GM advertising dollars keep flowing to the EIB Network -- Rush lambasted GM for this very same program not long after it was announced, saying: "Yeah, OK, well -- ask you a question here: With whose money are they going to pay for your car payment? Mine, dingleberry, and every other taxpayer's."

Rush then took a caller who asked if he'd read an April 19 American Thinker article claiming that Obama's election represents "a peaceful November Revolution unlike Russia's of almost a century ago." Rush said he had not read the article, which shocked us, as it's pretty much just a distillation of every false and conspiratorial thing Rush has alleged about Obama and we figured it'd be right up his alley. But just because he hadn't read it didn't mean he couldn't comment: "Folks, do you realize that Obama's even created czars? If you want to start comparing Obama to the Russian Revolution, he's got czars. Only the Russians had czars." Now, we're not historians, but we're pretty sure the Russian Revolution was all about getting rid of czars, not creating them.

Rush took one more call to end the program, this one from a man who wanted to know how, exactly, we got to this point where we're reversing the Constitution. Rush said it's been building for years, what with the public schools teaching kids that the Constitution is "a limit," and not what it really is, "a limit on government." Then you nominate a "demagogue" like Obama, Rush said, and the rest falls into place. But, he said, never fear, because at some point there's going to be a younger generation that rejects all of this.

That's it for today's Wire. We hope to see you all again tomorrow for our Earth Day coverage of The Rush Limbaugh Show, which promises to be entertaining and informative on a variety of different levels. Until then, let Rush's weak grasp of Russian history encourage you to beef up your own understanding of Limbaugh history, and visit Media Matters' extensive Limbaugh archives.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Folks, do you realize that Obama's even created czars? I mean, if you want to start comparing Obama to the Russian Revolution, he's got czars. Only the Russians had czars. For every cabinet level, he's got three czars that run herd over the cabinet-level people.

Enemies list

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD):

LIMBAUGH: So, not only is he unlike anybody we've ever had, he's so far ahead of us that we can't possibly -- we are blinded by the light as we look at his trail. He's so far ahead of us, folks, that all we see is the dust in which he is leaving us. He's so far ahead of his time, and people ask me, "How the hell could he have gotten elected?" I give you Elijah Cummings, who represents the mindset, the ignorance of the average Obama voter. This kind of idolatry of political people has happened before, but it's not healthy. Pure demagoguery.

Echo chamber

Read from John Tierney's NYTimes.com blog entry on "The Richer-Is-Greener Curve."

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh calls Tavis Smiley a "dunce," savages Barney Frank again