This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the on-and-off GOP plan to forget Reagan
By Simon Maloy

Well, I'm back, and so is the first-person plural. (Much thanks to Greg and Karl for the fine job they did taking over the Wire in our absence.) And we were shocked, we must say, to learn that Justice Souter announced his retirement on the first day we were not here to write the Wire. Being that we're huge fans of inductive reasoning (and that Rush has passed on to us a bit of his own sense of self-importance), we have to assume now that every day we take off will result in a Supreme Court retirement. Just think of the possibilities -- one week-long vacation could bring about the "activist" court of our leftist dreams, full of poor, gay, disabled, single moms.

Rush got this Monday afternoon rolling by attacking President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner for proposing to close overseas tax "loopholes" for American businesses. Rush objected to the use of the term "loophole," saying that it's a "loaded" term that's designed to make people think businesses are cheating. In fact, said Rush, all tax deductions are "loopholes," but Obama is operating on the premise that all money belongs to Washington, and now he's bestowing "munificence" on us. Rush said that Obama is proposing that U.S. companies operating overseas should now be taxed twice -- once by foreign governments, and again by the U.S. This won't improve the economy, Rush said, but that's no surprise because it isn't designed to.

Then Rush claimed to be vindicated in his prediction from Friday that the banks are "going along" with Obama's policies because they're "scared to death" of the administration. His evidence was the comments by lawyer Thomas E. Lauria, a partner at the White & Case law firm, who claimed that the Obama administration had threatened to use the White House press corps to ruin the reputation of one of his clients, Perella Weinberg Partners, if they continued to oppose the Chrysler plan. Now, Rush noted that the White House denied this, but he failed to mention that the firm itself, the one that was allegedly "threatened," also denied Lauria's story. Nonetheless, Rush once again declared himself prescient, saying: "There is no question that there is fear all over this country of this administration. There's fear in American business. There's fear in average citizens. There's fear in every aspect that does business one way or the other with the United States government now."

Rush then asked us to consider what would happen if Nixon or Reagan had promised that the White House press corps would destroy the reputation of an American bank. The press would be outraged to high heaven, Rush said, but he hasn't heard a peep from the press now that Obama is allegedly doing that. Now, there are a couple of problems with this. First, we don't think Nixon would have needed the White House press corps to ruin someone's reputation, he had his own guys for that. Second, perhaps the reason that the press corps isn't "outraged" over Mr. Lauria's allegations is, as we noted above, no one says they're true, including the firm that was allegedly "threatened."

After the break, Rush played for us some media reactions to Obama's remarks last Thursday on the Chrysler bankruptcy, specifically from the roundtable discussion on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, during which Obama's remarks about the hedge funds' refusal to "sacrifice" were compared to Ronald Reagan's hard-line stance on the air traffic controllers. Rush said the difference between the hedge funds and the air traffic controllers was that the controllers were breaking the law when they went on strike, whereas the hedge funds have not done anything illegal. It's amazing, said Rush, that the Democrats and the left are constantly comparing themselves to Reagan while conservatives and Republicans want to forget him.

Then Rush attacked Obama for using the term "sacrifice," claiming that no one in the Chrysler deal "sacrificed" except for the hedge funds -- not the government and certainly not the unions. As we've pointed out before, the UAW was actually on the hook for some pretty serious concessions in the Chrysler deal. Then Rush asked to us to remember another thing about "sacrifice" -- it's a buzzword that is designed to warm your heart towards those allegedly doing the sacrificing, but when Obama talks about "sacrifice," he's saying that certain people refused to go along with the plan. Sacrifice must be voluntary, said Rush. If it's forced, it's "authoritarianism."

Rush spent the remainder of the hour commenting on a Washington Times story: "Jeb Bush, GOP: Time to leave Reagan behind." Rush thought the headline was a little unfair to Bush, who Rush claimed was simply talking about being forward thinking when he appeared with other GOP luminaries at the kickoff of the National Council for a New America. The people behind the NCNA, said Rush, were the same people (with the exception of Jeb) who ruined the 2008 election for the Republicans by "pandering" to the American people. What if what the American people want is destructive to the country or the party? Rush asked. Where is the leadership? Dwight Eisenhower didn't conduct a poll of the troops before launching the D-Day invasion, Rush declared. The Republicans do have something they can run on, Rush said -- conservatism, which is "timeless," and "freedom." Republicans don't want to bring Reagan back , said Rush; they want to bring back what Reagan was: a candidate who could articulate conservatism.

After the break, Rush noted that during the campaign, Obama described the Reagan Republicans as a party of ideas, and said that any conservative who says that they have to leave Reagan behind is not a true conservative. They believe in something else, Rush said, and they don't know what it is. Then Rush aired audio of a man questioning Jeb Bush at the NCNA event by saying that Republicans can't ignore Reagan and the past and that they can learn more from listening to Rush Limbaugh than they could from a high school textbook. After airing Jeb's response, in which he credited Obama for looking forward in his campaign, Rush said that people like Jeb and the others on this NCNA tour are all going to run for president in 2012, and they're purposefully excluding Gov. Sarah Palin, who was the "clearest" voice for conservatism in the 2008 campaign. A lot of this is "aimed" at Palin, Rush said.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

There is no question that there is fear all over this country of this administration. There's fear in American business. There's fear in average citizens. There's fear in every aspect that does business one way or the other with the United States government now. I mean, the fear that the average American has always had for the IRS has now been transferred to everybody having fear of whatever branch of government they deal with -- in this case, Geithner and Treasury and President Obama.

America's Truth Rejector

Failed to note Perella Weinberg Partners denied Lauria's claim that the firm was threatened by the administration:

LIMBAUGH: Now, we know, ladies and gentlemen, I was right. Now, we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I was right -- option number three: They are scared to death. My buddy Frank Beckmann, at WJR in Detroit, interviewed one of the bankruptcy lawyers for one of the bondholders at Chrysler, one of the clients. His name is Tom Lauria.

Tom Lauria said: "Let me tell you, it's no fun standing on this side of the fence opposing the president of the United States. In fact, let me just say, people have asked me who I represent. That's a moving target. I can tell you for sure that I represent one less investor today than I represented yesterday. One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House, and in essence, compelled to withdraw its opposition to the Chrysler deal under the threat that the full force of the White House press corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight. That's how hard it is to stand on this side of the fence."

And Frank Beckmann said, "Was it Perella Weinberg?" Lauria says: "It was Perella Weinberg."

Now, this happened on Friday in Detroit. It's made the news throughout the weekend. I -- so, here's -- now the White House, by the way, is denying all of this, but there is a pattern here, ladies and gentlemen, that sort of gives the lie to the denial. I mean, this is -- you know, we've referred to the situation that's going on in Washington as loan sharking -- Obama loan sharking people.

Basically, what happened was, as we mentioned last week, the bondholders, the investors at Chrysler were leaned on by Obama and called out personally by the name of hedge funds, and they were selfish and they were holding out for a better deal. These people were forced to settle for 20 to 30 cents on the dollar, while the UAW was made whole in the whole thing. And the lawyer, Thomas Lauria, now says that his client was threatened with reputation ruination from the White House press corps.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh rants on Obama's "forced sacrifice" which is "authoritarianism, totalitarianism or what have you"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Rush the "relentless machine"
By Simon Maloy

Rush kicked off the second hour with some more commentary on Jeb Bush and the state of the GOP. According to Rush, Jeb is part of a movement in the Republican Party that wants us all to forget Reagan because they're threatened by Reagan's successes. This is an opportunity for conservatives, said Rush, because we have "the most liberal -- far-out radical, liberal president and Democrat Party ever, at least in any of our lifetimes, and as I said last week, the opportunity to contrast the Republican Party and conservatism with what Obama is doing is great. It's easy. It's profound." Rush told us to look at the last six years, when the Democrats moved further to the left to differentiate themselves from Bush and were the "party of no," which was portrayed as a great strategy for the minority. Now the Republicans are in the minority and being called obstructionist and buckling to pressure from the Democrats and the media to act more like Democrats. The Democrats and the media want more McCains, Rush said, because that means they'll move to the center, muddy conservatism, and lose.

Then Rush dismissed out of hand the idea that the "demographics" of the country are changing. This is bunk, Rush said, because on the issue of abortion, the public is moving more and more to the pro-life position with each poll. Rush said that certain conservatives (whom he declined to name) will say that the path to success for the GOP involves jettisoning social issues like abortion. Rush declared this idea to be flat wrong. He's been hearing all his life that Republicans can't win without the votes of African-Americans, women, etc., and they've done it before, Rush said, so the demographic argument doesn't apply. Moving to the center will not work, Rush said, and it's not what the Democrats did. They moved to the "radical left," and all the while Reagan's presidency is maligned by revisionist history.

After the break, Rush aired audio of House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), participating in the New Council for a New America tour, being asked about Rush's and Sarah Palin's inclusion on Time's 100 most influential people list, and if that was a good or a bad thing for Republicans. Rush said he recognized this game -- the premise of the question is designed to make Republicans and conservatives look bad. Then he noted that Mitt Romney was asked the same question, and responded, Rush said, by taking a "dig at Sarah Palin."

Then Rush took his first call of the show, this one from a man who attended the NCNA event this weekend and said that Rush was wrong in his assessments of the Republican rebranding effort. According to the caller, Romney and Jeb Bush were announcing their commitment to conservative ideas and principles. Rush was incredulous, saying that he didn't actually see any coverage of the event, so he was basing his analysis on sound bites and reports he had read in the media. We found this amusing, because Rush Limbaugh is constantly warning his listeners not to trust the media when they report on him, because they take isolated sound bites out of context and don't actually listen to Rush's show. Anyway, after listening to the caller's assurances that conservatism was well-represented at the NCNA event, Rush announced that Republicans totally would have won in 2008 if they had had a different and better candidate.

After the break, Rush announced that the NCNA "listening tour" is not what Republicans need: "We need a teaching tour." Then it was time for another caller, this one a Republican who said he was done with the Bush family because both Presidents Bush ended up turning the White House over to a Democrat after giving up on social policy and turning into liberals. Rush went on to explain that he attended a party last night during which a number of the attendees related to him their "conspiratorial paranoia," in which they said they would leave the country and hide their money from the banks. We thought that Rush, a fine conspiratorial thinker in his own right, would have been thrilled to discuss with some fellow travelers Google's smart meter collaboration with ACORN and the UAW. But he actually said he found it "a little depressing." They feel this way because they feel "powerless," Rush said, because they "see Obama with no opposition, not even any verbal opposition, nobody standing up to it nationalizing all these companies, taking over the car companies. This is astounding to people."

Leading into the break, Rush took a call from a woman who explained that she spoke with an African parking attendant recently who said that if America falls asleep, they'll wake up and see that a few people at the top have taken everything. Rush said: "Yes, I think -- you know, we hear from a lot of people who have experience with totalitarian regimes, who say basically the same kind of thing. They're the ones who are most scared. People who have fled totalitarian, authoritarian regimes and are living here, watching the development of one they think here, and they are the ones who are as frightened as anybody."

On the other side of the break, Rush said that he had some news for all the liberal Democrats out there: the "drive-bys" were reporting that Obama is looking to revive the military commission system for Guantánamo detainees. Rush explained what this meant for us: After Attorney General Eric Holder's worldwide tour asking other nations to take detainees, he was told to go to hell, so the Obama administration has quietly decided that they can't close Gitmo, so now they're going to revive the military tribunals with some changes. The reason you haven't heard anything about it, said Rush, was because they announced it on Friday night.

Rush closed out the hour with a caller who said that the Democrats won in 2008 on a protest vote against Bush and because McCain was not a very good candidate, but there's plenty of conservatism out there. Rush said we know it's out there, 58 million people voted against "the Bamster." The caller then said that the Republicans have to ramp up their machine to match that of the Democrats. Rush responded: "They think we have a relentless machine that's constantly pounding them. We do actually -- me. Talk radio. The party doesn't trash them."

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Now here you have the most liberal -- far-out radical, liberal president and Democrat Party ever, at least in any of our lifetimes, and as I said last week, the opportunity to contrast the Republican Party and conservatism with what Obama is doing is great. It's easy. It's profound.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: There are some people just out there who feel powerless and lost. They see Obama with no opposition, not even any verbal opposition, nobody standing up to it nationalizing all these companies, taking over the car companies. This is astounding to people. It literally -- it is to me too, by the way. Don't misunderstand.

I never thought -- for example, I would ever see the headline -- I saw it in New Hampshire: New Hampshire house votes for to legitimize -- or to legalize gay marriage. That's one thing I never thought I'd see out of New Hampshire in my lifetime. I never thought -- if I ever did think about the prospect of the government taking over car companies, I also had an accompanying thought and that is the American people would rise up in angry protest and say, "No way, Jose."

I don't see that. You see Obama eagerly taking over as much of the private sector as he can get his hands on, redistributing as much wealth, targeting achievers with punishment, putting obstacles in their way. And the people to whom this is happening are scared to death.

[...]

CALLER: I parked my car in a garage. The garage attendant was a man from Africa. He saw the sign that I had made. It said: "Term limits for Congress," which I think is our only hope, by the way. But he smiled at me and we got into a brief conversation. And I'll never forget what he said. He said: "If America falls asleep, you wake up and find out that only a few people at the top will have taken everything."

"I know how this works," he said.

LIMBAUGH: Yes, I think -- you know, we hear from a lot of people who have experience with totalitarian regimes, who say basically the same kind of thing. They're the ones who are most scared. People who have fled totalitarian, authoritarian regimes and are living here, watching the development of one they think here, and they are the ones who are as frightened as anybody.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: They think we have a relentless machine that's constantly pounding them. We do actually -- me. Talk radio. The party doesn't trash them. The Democrats' side -- the Democrat Party does it's best to wipe out the Republican Party.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh on NCNA: "We do not need a 'listening tour.' We need a 'teaching tour' ... 'Listening tour' ain't it."

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the new "cap-and-tax-your-ass-off" environmental policy
By Simon Maloy

One more hour to go, and Rush got it started by reading from an AP story reporting that "Wall Street is not going to play as dominant a role in the economy as regulations reduce 'some of the massive leveraging and the massive risk-taking that had become so common,' President Barack Obama says." Rush asked us to remember when Michelle Obama, on the campaign trail, told people in Zanesville, Ohio: "Don't go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse." According to Rush: "Well, that tells me she's been angry. I think Michelle "My Belle" is an angry woman. I -- Barack himself is angry. And they spent their whole lives in anger, and they've been -- and that anger has been fueled by people like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers." Anyway, Rush said Obama really means that the entire private sector, not just Wall Street, will play a less dominant role in the economy, and that this is a "command-and-control" economy.

What's important to Obama, said Rush, is that people don't make money in the stock market, because he doesn't like that. Rush quoted Obama saying: "I think it's important to understand some of that wealth was illusory in the first place." Rush was particularly interested in the word "illusory," saying: "Some of the wealth was illusory. Really? So, according to Obama, you didn't really lose anything when your 401k was cut in half. You haven't lost it, because the value of your 401k was illusory. It was artificial. It wasn't real, so you really haven't lost anything. If you have a stock portfolio that's down 40 percent, you really haven't lost anything because you really never were up 40 percent, because what you've lost, you never had. It was illusory." Now, of course, that isn't what Obama said, but Rush moved right along, saying that the real examples of "illusory" wealth are Social Security, Medicare, and the War on Poverty. The wealth on Wall Street wasn't "illusory," and this goes back to what he said at CPAC, Rush said -- this is Obama remaking America in his image.

After the break, Rush warned us that his next topic of conversation was "stupid," and we have to say that we agree. Rush aired audio of columnist Connie Schultz of the Cleveland Plain Dealer saying that there is so much hate in Rush Limbaugh and that an example of such "hate" was Rush's "unconscionable" wish that Obama fails. Rush said it is manifestly obvious that Schultz never listened to the program and that she was "blitheringly ignorant" and a "ditz." Rush once again explained what was behind his desire to see Obama fail: "Obama succeeding, to me, precisely means America failing as we know it."

Rush then took a caller who confused El Rushbo -- and us, quite frankly -- by asking if the SEC was going to investigate the CEOs of Citibank and Chase, just as they're investigating Bank of America, for lowering the price of their Chrysler bonds to the level that the Obama administration wanted. After repeated attempts to have the caller more completely explain what she was getting at, Rush gave up and fell back on the disputed Thomas Lauria allegation from the first hour: "There is one hedge fund -- and I'm having a mental block of the name of it -- that held out. And the Obama administration, according to the lawyer for this hedge fund, said we're going to unleash the power of the White House press corps to ruin your reputation on that one hedge fund. And so, the hedge fund buckled." Like we said two hours ago, both the Obama administration and the hedge fund in question denied that this happened.

After another quick break, Rush noted that UPI is reporting that "the 'worried well' are overburdening many U.S. hospitals with imagined symptoms of the H1N1 virus commonly known as swine flu." Now, before we get to the rest of Rush's comments on this one, we'll ask you to remember what Rush said in the previous hour about the "paranoid" and "conspiratorial" thinking among conservatives that is "depressing" him. Now that we've pre-emptively framed things, let's go back to what Rush had to say: "Who's worrying the well? My friends, it's the Obama administration with their buddies in the drive-by media, so here you have, on one hand, the Obama administration is a juggler. On one hand, here's the swine flu and crisis and paranoia. What are they doing with the other hand that you're not watching? Whenever this bunch gins up a crisis, I guarantee you, the last thing you should do is pay attention to that. Pay attention to other things."

Speaking of framing, Rush then moved on to The New York Times, which reported on Friday on the efforts of ecoAmerica to "find new ways to frame environmental issues and so build public support for climate change legislation and other initiatives." According to Rush, the Times is helping a bunch of left-wingers "sell" the "hoax" that is climate change by inventing new terms for global warming and cap and trade. So said Rush: "There is no cash back with cap and trade. The correct way to describe cap and trade is cap-and-tax-your-ass-off to the tune of an additional average $3,000 a year for the average American family."

Rush's next caller asked why stem cells harvested from cord blood have not been put forth as a middle-ground solution to the stem cell debate, explaining that she just gave birth in December and no one at the hospital even mentioned that her cord blood could be used for medical research. Rush was "offended" at her suggestion that no one talks about cord blood stem cells because he's been talking about it constantly. According to Rush, there is absolutely no record of success with embryonic stem cells, and the only reason the "left" insists on their use is because it's a political issue. Rush then said to the caller: "Now, as to why hospitals didn't tell you about cord blood, guess who's running the health care system for the most part? The U.S. government. And Barack Obama and the U.S. government are big believers in embryonic stem cells primarily because they get mucho bucks -- bucko bucks in contributions from people who believe in it." We'll just remind you really quickly that the woman said she gave birth in December -- as in, before Obama's inauguration.

Anyway, Rush's conclusion was that "the embryonic stem cell argument has as its unspoken purpose to further the issue of abortion. You have to abort kids to get embryos." Actually, no. Existing stem cells lines were created from embryos that were to be discarded by fertility clinics.

After one more commercial time out, Rush closed out the show with a caller who said she watches Obama "micromanage" companies like Chrysler, and she's worried that he'll do the same with American lives through health care reform. Rush said she was right, and aired audio of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) saying that the purpose of health care reform is not to save the private health insurance industry.

And that's all for today's Limbaugh Wire. We're glad to be back, and we hope you'll join us again tomorrow. As always, Media Matters' complete and unabridged Limbaugh archives are available for your perusal. Even if you've had enough Rush for the afternoon, we encourage you to go anyway just to see Media Matters' handsome new website redesign in its entirety.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Do you remember, during the campaign -- setting up this next Obama quote -- when Michelle "My Belle" Obama went to Zanesville, Ohio, and she told the women in the audience, "Don't go to Wall Street. Don't become lawyers. Don't become" whatever, the hedge fund managers, or whatever Wall Street term. "Stay here. Stay in the community. Become a nurse. Help people."

Now, this is a quote that got some attention. To me, it was worth a lot because I think these people inadvertently slip up and tell us what they really think, and, therefore, what their policies are really going to be.

I think another time she was honest when she said she was the first time -- the first time proud of her country. And I -- because it finally - her husband was nominated to be president. Well, that tells me she's been angry. I think Michelle "My Belle" is an angry woman. I -- Barack himself is angry. And they spent their whole lives in anger, and they've been -- and that anger has been fueled by people like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers. All that stuff mattered to me.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Obama said that he's confident that people will regain trust and confidence in the financial system, but believes it's going to take time. He then said, "I think it's important to understand some of that wealth was illusory in the first place." Some of the wealth was illusory. Really?

So, according to Obama, you didn't really lose anything when your 401k was cut in half. You haven't lost it, because the value of your 401k was illusory. It was artificial. It wasn't real, so you really haven't lost anything. If you have a stock portfolio that's down 40 percent, you really haven't lost anything because you really never were up 40 percent, because what you've lost, you never had. It was illusory.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Now, how did the well get worried? You're running around out there, you're minding your own business, and you turn on the television, and you hear about swine flu, swine flu, swine flu. And you hear about, "close the border here" and "close the border there," and airplanes being cancelled and countries shutting down. And then, you read, "300 cases, ten deaths." This was as of the weekend. Who's worrying the well?

My friends, it's the Obama administration with their buddies in the drive-by media, so here you have, on one hand, the Obama administration is a juggler. On one hand, here's the swine flu and crisis and paranoia.

What are they doing with the other hand that you're not watching? Whenever this bunch gins up a crisis, I guarantee you, the last thing you should do is pay attention to that. Pay attention to other things. I will guide you.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So, once again, we get a story right out of The New York Times that tells us how the left attempts to bamboozle everybody, and then, when they fail, we get advice from other left-wing groups, "OK, you're failing to bamboozle and mislead this way, so here is some new terms. Don't use cap and trade, use cap and cash back."

That's a bigger lie. There is no cash back with cap and trade. The correct way to describe cap and trade is cap-and-tax-your-ass-off to the tune of an additional average $3,000 a year for the average American family.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I'm sorry. I don't mean to be offended, but I am, 'cause we talk about cord blood, adult stem cells, alternatives to embryonic stem cells on this program all the time. The reason why you weren't presented is because there are people who do believe in absolutes, who only want embryonic stem cells used even though there is no record of any success. They want embryonic used, because it's a political issue.

So, we have to fight absolutes. And you don't fight absolutes with lukewarm water. You don't fight efforts to destroy the American culture and the American political system and the Constitution with lukewarm water. Now, granted, absolutes may offend people and may make them feel uncomfortable and so forth. Well, damn it! It's about time left-wing absolutes made them feel uncomfortable. It's about time destroying the U.S. economy and nationalizing it made them feel uncomfortable instead of comfortable.

Now, as to why hospitals didn't tell you about cord blood, guess who's running the health care system for the most part? The U.S. government. And Barack Obama and the U.S. government are big believers in embryonic stem cells primarily because they get mucho bucks -- bucko bucks in contributions from people who believe in it and that is -- the embryonic stem cell argument has as its unspoken purpose to further the issue of abortion. You have to abort kids to get embryos. There are successful stem cell applications from, like you say, cord blood, adult stem cells.

America's Truth Rejector

Once again repeated disputed claim that the Obama administration threatened a hedge fund involved in Chrysler deal:

LIMBAUGH: There is one hedge fund -- and I'm having a mental block of the name of it -- that held out.

CALLER: Right.

LIMBAUGH: And the Obama administration, according to the lawyer for this hedge fund, said we're going to unleash the power of the White House press corps to ruin your reputation on that one hedge fund. And so, the hedge fund buckled.

CALLER: Right.

LIMBAUGH: And the -- that hedge fund held about $6.9 billion in debt that was debt for Chrysler that resulted in individuals investing in that hedge fund, who were taking a risk on buying Chrysler debt.

Clips form this hour

Limbaugh: "Michelle 'My Belle' is an angry woman. I think Barack himself is angry and they spent their whole lives in anger."

Limbaugh attacks columnist Connie Schultz as "stupid," "blitheringly ignorant" and a "ditz" but says, "There's no hate on this program"