This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by "finals week"
By Simon Maloy

Happy Earth Day, everyone. We've been eagerly anticipating all the anti-environmentalist shenanigans Rush is sure to have in store for today, but still we find ourselves skeptical that he'll be able to top this. Also, as a coda to Rush's rant yesterday about how "liberals" like Obama think the Bill of Rights is "horrible," we'd like to point to the recent remarks of one of America's more influential jurists as he discussed the Bill of Rights: "Today there is much focus on our rights. Indeed, I think there is a proliferation of rights. I am often surprised by the virtual nobility that seems to be accorded those with grievances." And who was the radical left-liberal fanatic who said those words? Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Rush kicked off the show by announcing that it's "Open Line Friday!" on Wednesday, because Rush will be away tomorrow and Friday. Then he dubbed the culmination of Obama's "mythical" first 100 days as "finals week," adding that you have to say Obama is "failing" because Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinjad and Fidel Castro are "ripping Obama" despite his "worldwide tours" to get them on our side.

Then Rush had to tell us something -- he's heard a lot of people say that Obama's "flip-flop" on investigations of Bush officials sanctioning torture tactics was a result of pressure from the left wing of the Democratic Party. Rush said Obama wasn't buckling to anything, he's orchestrating all of this. Then Rush let Matt Drudge take over the program for a moment, asking if we'd heard that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had claimed that the 9-11 terrorists had entered the U.S through Canada, or if we'd read a piece in Canada's National Post asking "how U. S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano got her job."

Rush then moved on to Obama's "flip-flop" regarding investigations into former Bush administration officials, claiming that if Attorney General Eric Holder does pursue investigations, then the goal won't be to secure convictions but, rather, to "destroy" the Bush officials and "criminalize" policy decisions that the administration disagrees with. Rush said this could be the overreach everyone is waiting for. Rush went into the break seamlessly weaving together Obama's meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs' "incompetence," the resignation of the White House communications director, the apparent suicide of Freddie Mac's CFO, and the Miss America pageant. Despite linking all those things together, he didn't really explain what they had in common. But he did promise that on the other side of the break he'd go through his "finals week" list of examples of Obama's "incompetent buffoonery."

After the break Rush finally acknowledged that it is Earth Day, and said he was celebrating by having all his cars driven, having his plane flown to Los Angeles and back, cranking up his air conditioning, eating "all kinds of beef," and will "personally" oversee the destruction of two acres of rainforest. Sorry, Rush. You'll have to do better than that to beat out Glenn Beck.

Then it was time for "finals week," which was simply a lengthy recitation of a "list" Rush put together "off the top of his head" of the many aspects of the nascent Obama administration that have stuck out to him. We're not going to bother repeating the whole list, because if you've listened to his show (or, better yet, read the Limbaugh Wire) for the past few weeks, you already know what was in there. We'll just give you a few phrases as a cross section of the whole rant: bowing to the Saudi king, apologizing for the U.S., tax cheats, bust of Churchill, ACORN, teleprompter, nationalization, tea parties, and census.

After reading the list, Rush said the administration has been "one part joke, one part unbelievable, and many parts scary." After attacking the "sycophantic" media's coverage of Obama, Rush the world is "making a joke of our country," and the media is praising Obama for it.

Back from the break, Rush noted that Fidel Castro had rebuffed Obama's insistence that Cuba free political prisoners and cut taxes on remittances from the United States. Rush claimed this was an example of the "teacher" trying to "educate the student." Then Rush moved on to Hillary Clinton saying in House testimony today that she didn't consider Dick Cheney to be a reliable source of information on interrogation tactics. Rush then explained how everyone "need[s] to look at this interrogation stuff." According to Rush: "Imagine that one of these people has a member of your family and they're threatening to behead them, but you don't know where they are. We have a prisoner who knows where they are. You wanna bet on how much you would be willing to support these very techniques which are said to have worked? It's even in The New York Times today: The interrogation techniques that Obama has now banned worked." Rush was referring to the Times' report on a memo from National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair that said "the harsh interrogation techniques banned by the White House did produce significant information that helped the nation in its struggle with terrorists." Rush was only giving half the story, though, as Blair also said: "The information gained from these techniques was valuable in some instances, but there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means. ... The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."

Rush then said that Obama is a "very cold" and "extremist political animal," and that he has a hard time listening to Obama speak of morality when "he supports infanticide." No ... no he didn't. Then Rush took a call from a woman who asked if Obama is playing Russian roulette with America's safety. Rush said it's tough to speculate on what Obama believes regarding the prosecution of the war on terror, but the primary reason Obama does everything he does is to make us more moral and improve the country's image.

After the break, Rush aired audio of Clinton's testimony in the House today, saying she and the president were intent upon getting to the bottom of the torture matter. Rush said this is a lie - if they did get to the bottom of it, that would show that the Obama people are screwing up the war on terror. Rush said Clinton and Napolitano and Geithner are "petty, partisan, mean-spirited little leftists" who have no idea what they're doing.

Closing out the hour, Rush noted that Wells Fargo president and chief executive John Stumpf said that "[t]he best way to generate capital is to earn it." Rush's response: "Now, in the Obama administration, this could be a hate crime."

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Now we've got Fidel Castro setting Obama straight about how Cuba handles political prisoners and its economy. Fidel Castro, one of Obama's idols, calling him superficial.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: He has declared those five things morally deficient. And only now will Wall Street and CEOs, Bush and Cheney, CIA and even America be straightened out with a new moral rudder headed by himself, the One, the Messiah, Barack Obama, the Most Merciful. Yet he supports infanticide. He attended a racist, bigoted church for 20 years. He had active support of the criminal political bullying enterprise known as ACORN. He has dealings with Tony Rezko. His working relationship with Bill Ayers. Embracing a smiling Hugo Chavez. Daniel Ortega and not defending his country after it was slandered. This guy tells us he's in charge of our new morality. Sorry, folks, it's just tough to stomach, tough to deal with on a daily basis.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The Wells Fargo president and chief executive, John Stumpf ,with the quote of the day: "The best way to generate capital is to earn it." Now, in the Obama administration, this could be a hate crime. Because in the Obama administration, the best way to generate capital is to print it and to borrow it and then to give it away or to tax it.

Enemies list

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano:

LIMBAUGH: I mean, the Canadians -- did you hear Janet Napolitano the other day? Janet Napolitano -- this is a rumor that has been debunked years ago. Janet Napolitano said the 9-11 hijackers actually got in our country through Canada. So now the Canadians are up in arms, and the National Post in Canada has a piece, "How in the hell did this woman get her job?" Earlier this week, she says it's not a crime to illegally enter the country, cross the border, when it is. She's a ditz. She's a total hick, hack, left-wing kook that is now head of -- in charge of Homeland Security.

America's Truth Rejector

Misleadingly cited New York Times report on Blair memo:

LIMBAUGH: Let me ask something -- the way you need to look at this interrogation stuff, folks. Imagine that one of these people has a member of your family and they're threatening to behead them, but you don't know where they are. We have a prisoner who knows where they are. You wanna bet on how much you would be willing to support these very techniques which are said to have worked? It's even in The New York Times today: The interrogation techniques that Obama has now banned worked.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh on Earth Day: "I personally am going to see to it that we lose 2 acres of rain forest"

Limbaugh calls Fidel Castro "one of Obama's idols"

Limbaugh: For Obama administration, statement that "the best way to generate capital is to earn it" "could be a hate crime"

Responding to comments by Sec. Clinton, Limbaugh claims of Obama admin "every damn person in this government's Peter Principled"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the asphalt that grows on trees
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour started by letting us know that National Review's Mark Steyn will be filling in for him tomorrow, thus ruining the rest of today and tomorrow for us.

Rush then claimed that Obama telling the press yesterday that Eric Holder will determine whether to investigate former Bush administration officials was like Bill Clinton punting questions on the Waco siege to Janet Reno. If Holder does launch an investigation, Rush said, Obama will just say he left it all up to the attorney general.

Then Rush finally got back to Earth Day, which he claimed was created to spread the hoax that is global warming and climate change. Rush noted that the History Channel aired a program on what the earth would look like without humans, Rush suggested mass euthanasia is exactly what the left wants. But everything -- everything! -- on the earth, Rush said, is from the earth. Rush said it's like when a old woman with a bunch of cats passes away and the people who clean their house need to wear hazmat suits because of all the "cat poop." Rush then listed a bunch of things that come from the earth -- asphalt, toilet paper, plastic -- saying we're not "polluting," we're just using what's been provided to us.

Then Rush pointed to polling that shows children are worried about the environment, and blamed this on Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth. And, once again, Gore was also to blame for the "stupid" woman who jumped into the polar bear enclosure at the Berlin Zoo a couple of weeks back. Again, that sort of this is exactly what the left wants, according to Rush. They want you afraid, and they want to indoctrinate kids with the belief that the earth won't exist some day.

After the break, Rush read a list of people whom the EIB Network wanted to salute this Earth Day -- coal miners; Henry Ford; oil drillers; Alfred Nobel, for inventing the dynamite we use to kill our enemies; the inventor of the high-density plastic bag, "which can handle up to 40 pounds of stuff, more than your average homeless person can carry;" Thomas Edison; the Wright Brothers; and, lastly, God, who had to wait until after the break to get his due recognition. After the break, Rush aired audio of Charlton Heston, who called into Rush's program some time back so he could read on-air the foreword to Jurassic Park, which concludes by saying that the earth will survive whatever humans do and will not miss us when we are gone. Rush added to that: "Nor would the earth miss President Obama."

Then Rush read the entirety of a Philadelphia Bulletin article on Ira Einhorn, "a co-founder of the environmentalist jubilee" who was also known as "the Unicorn Killer." The point being, you see, that because this one person involved in the environmentalist movement was a murderer -- just like other "environmentalists," such as the Unabomber and the domestic terrorist just added to the FBI's Most Wanted list -- that somehow discredits the entire environmentalist movement. Well, if we're going to play silly little games like this, we should point out that Henry Ford, who Rush honored in the previous segment, was linked to Nazi Germany, and that "Hitler was an admirer of American mass production techniques and an avid reader of the antisemitic tracts penned by Henry Ford." Does this aspect of Ford's life, which as nothing to do with cars, discredit the entire automobile industry? In the real world, no. But it would if we're going by Rush's logic, then yes, it does.

After the break Rush continued to read from the Bulletin article on Einhorn, noting that the author explored the "irony" of the fact that more people were killed by Einhorn than by the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, which occurred on the day Einhorn was arrested. That's not "irony"; that's tragedy.

After reading extensively from an Investor's Business Daily editorial attacking environmentalism, Rush took a call from a man who wanted to explore Rush's theory about the left and their emotional responses to everything. Rush said the problem with people with a "strict" emotional response is that you can't get through to them, they live in a cocoon, and anything that challenges their worldview they lash out at. Rush then lamented that we have "irresponsible" politicians who play to that emotional response. They're demagogues, said Rush, and chief among them is, of course, President Obama.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Next we honor on this Earth Day an inventor whose legacy has spread all over the Earth: Gordon Dancy. Ever heard of him? Gordon Dancy invented the first high-density plastic grocery bag, which can handle up to 40 pounds of stuff, more than your average homeless person can carry. That singular invention had benefitted our daily life on Earth in multitudinous ways, and yet various cities want to outlaw this amazing intervention because somehow it pollutes. Yet, it is from the Earth, actually a derivative of oil.

Echo chamber

Read extensively from a Philadelphia Bulletin article on Ira Einhorn, and an Investor's Business Daily editorial on environmentalism.

Clips from this hour

Discussing History Channel program, Limbaugh suggests the left wants "mass euthanasia"

Limbaugh "guarantee[s]" that woman who jumped in zoo polar bear exhibit saw "Al Gore's movie" or picture of polar bears on small amount of ice

Limbaugh claims Obama can't be "in charge of our new morality" because he "supports infanticide"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire was not paid for by ACORN's billions
By Simon Maloy

Well, we've reached our final hour of Rush for the week since he's off Thursday and Friday, and Rush got it started by reading from a Wall Street Journal editorial on the "Royal Debacle" of GM. Rush also noted reports that GM might swap some of the debt it owes to the government with equity shares, just like the government proposed with financial institutions that have received TARP funds. Rush declared that Obama and Steven Rattner wants control of the auto industry, and that this is all "incredible," adding that Obama "doesn't have the slightest idea what he's doing."

After the break Rush cited Rasmussen's latest daily presidential tracking poll showing that Obama's "presidential approval index" -- subtracting "strong" disapproval from "strong" approval -- is only at +2. The poll also found, however, that "72% think individuals can improve the environment by their actions." Rush called this "a bunch of pap," saying that every "good poll" is always marred by some pap.

After attacking Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) for holding hearings in the Senate on the state of the newspaper industry in America, Rush took a call from a woman who was very -- very -- concerned about the $4 billion ACORN received from the federal government in the stimulus bill and how they will use it to rig future elections. Before we get to Rush's answer, let's point out what we've pointed out and mocked more times than should be necessary: ACORN did not receive $4 billion from the stimulus package. It's just not true. Nevertheless, Rush was glad she asked this, because election fraud is just one of the "spokes" in ACORN's "wheel," the others being socialism, intimidation, and infiltrating tea parties. They have to do these things, said Rush, because they know they can't win a "fair fight" in the "arena of ideas."

Rush's next caller announced that he had named his first child after Rush. We'll reserve comment, though we will note that Rush joked that the kid will "grow up to be a hippie."

Coming back from the break, Rush let us know what was happening with the government-in-exile, airing a bunch of sound bytes of Dick Cheney from his interview with Sean Hannity. Rush offered some mild disagreement to Cheney's suggestion that the Obama administration thinks the threat from Al Qaeda has "gone away." According to Rush, the Obama people don't think that; their only interest is making sure that they can blame any future terrorist attack on Bush and Cheney.

Then it was time for a "skit" demonstrating what an interrogation of a suspected terrorist will sound like under the Obama administration. Basically, it was the president trying to extract information by being nice to a terrorist -- smiling at him, offering to shake his hand, and gifting him an iPod that contains all of Obama's speeches. The terrorist broke down at the prospect of having to listen to Obama's speeches and offered to tell Obama whatever he wanted to know, but all Obama asked the terrorist was if he had a universal health plan. Trust us when we say it was almost as funny as "Banking Queen."

Leading into the final break, Rush took a call from a man who was amazed that Rush can stay so positive, because he's around liberals all day and he feels alone and scared. Rush sympathized with the man, saying that he too would find it difficult to stay upbeat if he had to spend his days among liberals who think that Obama is good for the country. Liberals think this, Rush said, because of Obama's "demagogic campaign" and the "cult-like" emotional grip the president has on them. Rush added: "We've never had a president who thinks so little of his country. And we've never had a president that's so eager to apologize for it around the world. We've never had a president who's so eager to not defend, stand up and praise his own country. And the dangerous thing there is that he's bringing all these cult-like followers along with him in that belief."

Rush closed out the show with a call from a woman who wanted to know what motivation the Democrats and liberals have in "wreaking havoc" on the middle class. It's about "revenge," said Rush. Liberals are "angrier now than they were before the election," and "still filled with hatred" toward conservatives. It's all about "emotion," Rush said, and there's no "intellectual" basis to it.

And there you have it. Rush is done for the week, and now we have the unenviable task of girding ourselves for Mark Steyn's return to the EIB Network tomorrow. Once again, happy Earth Day to everyone. We encourage you to go plant a tree, save a whale, and take a look at Media Matters' Limbaugh coverage.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: The history of the country is such that we've overcome a lot. This is -- this is a new chapter in things we have to overcome. We've never had a president who thinks so little of his country. And we've never had a president that's so eager to apologize for it around the world. We've never had a president who's so eager to not defend, stand up, and praise his own country. And the dangerous thing there is that he's bringing all these cult-like followers along with him in that belief.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh reminisces about his previous commentary like "the all-American first cavalry Amazon battalion, which is nothing more than a bunch of women soldiers on PMS"