This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Rush's very clear intention to torture us
By Simon Maloy

There are moments, few and fleeting, when a media conservative will write/say/tweet something so splendiferously false that they will actually take the time to revisit what they said and correct the record. We can't pretend to understand why these isolated prostrations to the altar of credibility occur, given that, most of the time, they simply ignore the fact that they've been debunked, or they dig the hole deeper (see: George Will and climate change). But such a moment happened this morning when The Washington Times ran an editorial retracting its false claim from last week that "Americans have a lower approval of Mr. Obama at this point than all but one president since Gallup began tracking this in 1969." As we noted at the time, Rush was one of the many conservatives in the media who eagerly picked up on the false editorial's allegation, saying that it demonstrates the huge gap between what is "news" and what is "fact." If it were anyone else, we might have some hope that they would follow the Times' example. But in our experience, when given the choice between correcting the record or digging the hole deeper, Rush goes straight for the shovels.

Rush got today's show started by announcing that it's "Open Line Friday!" on Wednesday, because El Rushbo will be off on Thursday and Friday, leaving Mark Steyn and Mark Davis to fill in. Then he got to the bank stress tests -- sorry, the "possess tests." Rush said that the administration is leaking the results, which show that the banks are still "in the crapper," which will allow Obama to control the banks a little longer. People are going to have to wake up to what's going on, said Rush, but they won't. An example of them not waking up, apparently, is the fact that the Associated Press reported that a "group that studies sports in society is urging the Obama administration to step up the federal government's role in athletics, possibly with a Cabinet-level post."

After attacking "the haughty" Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) for saying that the U.S. has shifted its Iran policy away from regime change, Rush attacked Obama: "He is funding Obama -- uh, Hamas. He is pushing for a two-state solution in Israel. He is putting the pressure on Israel. He is blaming Israel for the problems in the Middle East." Then Rush moved on to Obama allegedly "canceling" the National Day of Prayer at the White House, saying that "there will be no public recognition of the National Day of Prayer in the White House." Not true -- the White House will issue a "proclamation," in the words of press secretary Robert Gibbs, marking the day. Nonetheless, Rush said: "Now why do this? Why go out of his way to do this? Why make these kinds of waves unnecessarily? He's doing it on purpose. He's trying to irritate some people. He's asserting his authoritarian control."

You have to stand back and look at some of the things happening in this country, said Rush, first and foremost, "the bill carving out protection for perverts." No. Wrong. False. Untrue. He's talking about the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which in no way, shape, or form provides "protection for perverts." Rush was referring to a proposed amendment to the bill by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) that sought to exclude pedophiles from protection under the bill. The bill, however, already excludes pedophiles in its definition of "sexual orientation," which applies only to "consensual" heterosexuality and homosexuality.

Then Rush got on to the main event of the hour, reading from a New York Times story reporting that the Justice Department will not seek charges against the authors of the torture memos, but might seek "reprimands or even disbarment" of the attorneys involved. Rush linked this to John Demjanjuk, an accused Nazi war criminal living in the United States who is facing extradition to Germany. Rush claimed that Demjanjuk's lawyers petitioned the Justice Department to deny extradition because he risks being tortured by the Germans, and that Justice denied their request because the Germans are just going to use the same tactics that these lawyers authorized. We had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, and were highly suspicious that the Justice Department would approve of the German government torturing anyone. As it turns out, Rush was very, very wrong in what was going on. Germany doesn't want to torture anybody -- what happened is that Demjanjuk's attorneys argued that their client "is too sick and frail to be deported," and that the act of deporting him would be tantamount to torture. According to Reuters: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled that Demjanjuk's argument -- that moving the ailing 89-year-old former U.S. auto worker amounted to torture -- was unlikely to succeed so they vacated the stay preventing his deportation."

Remember how we said above that sometimes conservatives in the media say things that are splendiferously false? This is a fine example.

After a quick break, Rush offered us two "related" stories -- one out of Missouri of the Boeing machinists union saying that the Pentagon budget will cut jobs in St. Louis by halting production of the C-17, and a Reuters report that the Defense Department "plans to create 20,000 new jobs to manage a revamp of the way the United States buys billions of dollars of weapons each year." Rush responded: "So, all of these budget cuts that we keep hearing about, most of them are in defense. So we're going to lay off 30,000 people -- or they're going to lose their jobs in St. Louis working for Boeing -- but 20,000 bureaucrats are going to be hired at the Pentagon to expand the Barack Obama police state."

One more break and Rush was back, this time with a surprise guest -- Andy McCarthy of the National Review. Rush endeavored to "clear up" some of the absurd things he said about Demjanjuk earlier, specifically that he didn't mean to "mislead" and suggest that the Germans are going to waterboard Demjanjuk. He could've fooled us. Anyway, what Rush apparently meant to say is that the Germans don't intend to torture Demjanjuk, so whatever pain and suffering they inflict won't be considered torture in the eyes of the Justice Department, which was the position articulated in the torture memos. Like we said above, what's really going on is that Demjanjuk is arguing that the very act of deporting him will be tantamount to torture, and the courts did not think that argument would hold up so they vacated the stay of deportation. So even after valiantly attemption to "clear up" what he said, with the help of another right-wing hack, he was still wrong.

Rush closed out the hour with a caller advising him to take a look at Ron Gettelfinger's op-ed today calling for universal health care, because it proves that everything he's said about the unions is right. Rush said this is Obama leveling out the unjust morality of this country, because the unions have been raped by capitalism and have a lot of stuff coming to them.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Kerry says that Tehran should respond accordingly by stopping its nuclear program. I kid you not. "Our efforts" he said, speaking of the U.S. changing its policy on regime change, "must be reciprocated by the other side. Just as we abandoned calls for regime change in Iran and recognize a legitimate Iranian role in the region, Iran's leaders must moderate their behavior and that of their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas."

Did you talk to Obama about this, Senator Kerry? He is funding Obama -- uh, Hamas. He is pushing for a two-state solution in Israel. He is putting the pressure on Israel. He is blaming Israel for the problems in the Middle East.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So, all of these budget cuts that we keep hearing about, most of them are in defense. So we're going to lay off 30,000 people -- or they're going to lose their jobs in St. Louis working for Boeing -- but 20,000 bureaucrats are going to be hired at the Pentagon to expand the Barack Obama police state.

And if you didn't know what was going on in St. Louis, you would say, "Oh, Pentagon planning on 20,000 new jobs. Oh, Obama's investing in defense. Obama's investing in defense. This is absolutely fabulous."

No, he's not. He's investing in bureaucracy. He's investing in absolutely more money and more people to be in the Pentagon bureaucracy.

America's Truth Rejector

Falsely claimed there will be "no public recognition" of the National Day of Prayer at the White House:

LIMBAUGH: President Obama has announced that he is cancelling the public day of prayer -- the National Day of Prayer -- that is tomorrow at the White House; says he's not going to do this. There's no pomp and circumstance anymore. And there's not big deal about it -- he's just changing the policy that was in place for eight years of the Bush administration. But there will be no public recognition of the National Day of Prayer in the White House. Yeah, he prays privately.

Now why do this? Why go out of his way to do this? Why make these kinds of waves unnecessarily? He's doing it on purpose. He's trying to irritate some people. He's asserting his authoritarian control. They say he prays privately. I have no doubt. Does he pray to himself? Who does he pray to?

Falsely claimed that the hate crimes bill offers "protection for perverts":

LIMBAUGH: If you stand back and just take a look at some of the things that are happening in this country: the bill carving out protection for perverts, the bill that was argued by Alcee Hastings, the bill carving out protection for perverts and denying it to old ladies and veterans; the endless assault on Miss California Carrie Prejean because she voiced her opinion against validating gay marriage.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh echoes false claim that Hate Crimes bill "carv[es] out protection for perverts"

Limbaugh falsely claims "[t]here will be no public recognition of the National Day of Prayer in the White House"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the Limbaugh GOP blacklist
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour started with a nifty trick -- ranting at length about Colin Powell while simultaneously professing not to care what Powell has to say. According to CongressDaily, Powell said of Limbaugh: "I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without." Rush responded: "I just think he's just mad at me because I'm the one person in the country that had the guts to explain his endorsement of Obama. It was purely and solely based on race. There can be no other explanation for it." Rush also suggested that Powell "close the loop" and become a Democrat. So if you're keeping score at home, the Limbaugh GOP blacklist now includes John McCain, Meghan McCain, Sam Brownback, and Colin Powell.

Then Rush moved on to the Politico, which is reporting that Frank Luntz warned congressional Republicans that health care reform is very popular "and that lawmakers need to try to avoid directly opposing President Barack Obama." Rush was not impressed, claiming that Luntz was advocating that the Republicans give up arguing about the capitalism and free markets. The way to look at this, Rush said, is that people on the conservative side are agonizing over how Democratic policies can be made acceptable, and all the while ignoring talk of great policies from the past that have worked.

This is the way to think of all this, said Rush: Liberal voters don't care about policy because they have their "beliefs," such as Republicans are racists, sexists, bigots, want to screw the little guy, while Democrats are compassionate and tolerant. There's no policy that demonstrates these beliefs to be well-founded, said Rush, but that doesn't matter because you don't need evidence in order to believe in something.

After the break, Rush aired audio of Akbar Ahmed, chairman of Islamic studies at American University, who appeared on CNN this morning, saying that Obama's biggest headache right now is not Rush Limbaugh; it's Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rush said Pakistan did a stupid thing, they gave an entire province to the Taliban at the urging of the Obama administration. If by "urging" he meant "opposition," then he's right: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is criticizing Pakistan over a peace deal with the Taliban."

The Rush aired audio of Eric Cantor responding to Limbaugh on MSNBC this morning by saying that the National Council for a New America has not embarked on a "listening tour." "Good!" Rush said. He allowed that it may have been "misreported," but that's understandable, Rush said, because Jeb Bush was out there saying there were going to "listen." According to Rush, it doesn't matter where in the media these Republicans choose to go, the press is going to try and drive a wedge between Rush and the GOP.

After another break, Rush read a note from a friend who asked why Republicans were on a listening tour and said they wouldn't need a listening tour if they were actually listening and recognizing the popularity of Rush and Sarah Palin. Then Rush aired a montage of CNN's Jack Cafferty talking about Rush's comments on the NCNA and Sarah Palin. Rush asked why Cafferty cared so much about Rush and Palin if they're just irrelevant jokes. It's because he's jealous of Rush and afraid of Palin, Rush said.

Then it was time for a caller who said that the authors of the torture memos should not be punished or reprimanded in any way because they were just seeing how far the bounds could be pushed, and it all boils down to intent. Rush agreed, saying the caller has to understand that the Justice Department also agrees that intent is key to all this, but only when John Demjanjuk faces extradition to Germany, where his lawyers say he'll be tortured. As we explained in the last hour, no one wants to "torture" Demjanjuk, it's Demjanjuk's lawyers who are arguing that his deportation would be tantamount to torture, and the courts said that argument wouldn't fly.

One more caller before the break, this one lamenting that Obama and the left had succeeded in destroying another private citizen -- Miss California. The caller said the "idiot" blogger Perez Hilton "had no right" to ask her about gay marriage, and it was a shame that Miss California couldn't speak her mind. Rush said this is standard operating procedure for the left: Don't debate; destroy. The left is on the march, plain and simple.

On the other side of the break, Rush offered yet another example of our favorite bit of hypocrisy, advertising for GM's Total Confidence Plan. As we love pointing out, Rush previously used the term "dingleberry" to describe whoever it was that came up with the Total Confidence Plan, but that was before the ad dollars came rolling in.

One more break and Rush closed out with a couple of callers, the first one saying that the tea parties were what Cantor and Jeb Bush should have been listening to. Rush corrected him, saying that Cantor explained that they're not really listening. The second caller wanted Rush to expand on Obama's plan to close tax loopholes for U.S. businesses. Rather than explaining Obama's plan, Rush offered what was behind Obama's plan -- specifically, Obama's belief that businesses and people exist to fund the government, and Obama's desire to control as much of the private sector as possible and return the nation's wealth to its rightful owners.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Colin Powell is out there saying the American people want more taxes. They want bigger government. He's out there saying, "I am killing the Republican Party," while he endorsed and voted for Obama. The Republican Party nominated the exact kind of candidate Colin Powell thinks the Republican Party should have and he still endorsed Obama.

I just think he's just mad at me because I'm the one person in the country that had the guts to explain his endorsement of Obama. It was purely and solely based on race. There can be no other explanation for it. Now what Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat, instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican Party. He's not. He's a full-fledged Democrat.

The only reason to endorse Obama is race. I don't think Powell thinks that he could get away with not endorsing Obama because the Republicans nominated the exact candidate that had the exact campaign, other than Sarah Palin, that Colin Powell advocated.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh repeats his claim that Powell's endorsement of Obama was "purely and solely based on race"

Limbaugh responds to Cantor's downplaying of "listening" tour: "Good!"

Limbaugh: Obama thinks "union people" "have effectively been raped by American capitalism, and they have a lot of stuff coming due"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Obama's self-defeating left-handed puppetry
By Simon Maloy

Kicking off the final hour, Rush lamented that all the sound bites he had for the afternoon were about him, but it was inevitable because he's just so popular with the media right now. He aired a montage of CNN reports on Rush, the NCNA, and Obama and Biden getting burgers in Arlington, Virginia, yesterday. Rush claimed that the drive-bys are invested in convincing Republicans to become more liberal. They want the GOP to destroy itself, he said, and they're actively encouraging it.

Speaking of the drive-bys, it was time to attack Chris Matthews for his interview with Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) on MSNBC last night, which Rush claimed was part of the media's nefarious scheme to portray the Republicans as anti-science. Rush aired audio of Matthews asking Pence if he believed in global warming and Pence's response that the science is mixed. Rush said Matthews' "belief" in global warming is the problem, and the premise of the question is that there is no debate over global warming, which Rush said was false. Then he had a question for Matthews: "Why is it, Chris, that you and all of the other environmentalists in the West who subscribe to the theories you subscribe to, why do you always end up hurting poor people?" Since Matthews wasn't there, Rush helpfully supplied the answer as well: "You want them to remain third world countries under this silly belief that their primitive lifestyles will save the planet. All they're doing is staying poor. They're not advancing; they're starving to death."

Rush wasn't done yet, though. He had more questions and answers: "Why is it, Chris, that you say the science is totally settled here and the science is that the CO2 emissions are destroying the planet. And yet, when I look around, everybody that is benefitting, so-called, from your belief is the poor, and they're getting creamed. Why do you Western environmentalists always end up hurting poor people, wherever it is. And I could then produce a list of scientists who don't buy into this at all. Chris, you exhale CO2. By your standard, you are helping to destroy the planet." We don't deny that Chris Matthews contributes a greater share of CO2 than most anyone else, but this is silly. CO2 in the atmosphere is a good, necessary, and natural thing. Drastically increasing the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere is what's bad, and Chris Matthews can't do that on his own, no matter how many times he's on TV every day.

After the break, Rush took a call from a nurse who objected to all the breathless media coverage of the H1N1 "pandemic." Rush said that this is all Obama's doing: "He loves crises because when people are focused on a crisis he's got juggling in his right hand, they forget what he's doing with the left hand. And what he's doing with the left hand today is leaking information on the banks that do and do not need more federal money, these so-called 'stress tests.' " So... Obama's trying to keep us distracted so we won't take notice of the front-page New York Times story that he tried to sneak past us? Come on, Rush, if you're going to accuse the president of being a diabolical puppetmaster, at least afford him a modicum of competence.

Another break and Rush came back with a caller who wanted to know what's going to happen to the school children in Washington, D.C., now that the school voucher program has been discontinued. Rush noted that The Washington Post is reporting today that "President Obama will seek to extend the controversial D.C. school voucher program until all 1,716 participants have graduated from high school, although no new students will be accepted." Rush said the reason that Obama wants to shut down the "successful" voucher program is because liberals "hate" it and because results don't matter. Actually, it seems as though results did matter -- from the same Washington Post article Rush cited: "The Department of Education recently issued a three-year analysis of student achievement under the program that showed limited gains in reading and no significant progress in math. But the White House concluded that moving the children back to public schools amounted to an unnecessary disruption."

Nonetheless, Rush offered the real reason for why Democrats oppose school vouchers: "[P]eople say, 'Why do they want to keep these inner city schools open? Why do they want to keep inner cities in the blight circumstances that they're in?' Well, guess what happens to communities like that: People who can move out do. And what are you left with? A solid Democrat voter base. It's all about votes. It's not about educating kids. It's all about turning as many cities into Detroit as they can." OK, we've covered Democrats in general -- but what about Obama, Rush? Why is Obama keeping the program going temporarily, even though he opposes vouchers? "What Barack Obama is worried about is that the black population will discover he really doesn't care about them, and that was starting to happen. You have parents of black kids who love this school, who love the whole concept in Washington, and their kids are excelling." According to Rush, what Obama has to do is make sure that the black population doesn't figure out that "they're just pawns." Rush concluded: "[S]o, you might say the worst thing the Obamas can have is an educated underclass 'cause they don't want them escaping the underclass, regardless their race."

One more break and one more call, this one from a woman lamenting that her intelligent friends were not having children. Rush recommended to her the movie Idiocracy -- the tale of a dystopian future in which the least intelligent have outbred the smartest, resulting in a planet full of dullards who live in an overcommercialized wasteland where crops won't grow because they're watered with sports drinks.

And we found it fitting that Rush closed out the show talking about Idiocracy, because we certainly feel as though we've lost brain cells by the billions in the last three hours. Perhaps recognizing that he wouldn't be around tomorrow or Friday, he felt the need to cram a week's worth of absurdly false and wildly offensive commentary into just three days. But now he gets a four-day weekend, and we're stuck with Mark Steyn. Anyway, please join us again tomorrow. Until then, please take a glimpse at Media Matters' own dystopian vision of the present -- our complete Limbaugh archives.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: If I had been on with Matthews last night, I would have asked him the following question: Why is it, Chris, that you and all of the other environmentalists in the West who subscribe to the theories you subscribe to, why do you always end up hurting poor people? And he would start sputtering and spewing and spitting.

I said, is it just a coincidence that your environmentalist policies hurt poor people? "What do you mean? What do you mean?" Well, go to Africa. Go to Africa, where the environmental movement is denying technological improvement in terms of agriculture, air-conditioning, refrigeration. You want them to remain third world countries under this silly belief that their primitive lifestyles will save the planet. All they're doing is staying poor. They're not advancing; they're starving to death.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Why is it, Chris, that you say the science is totally settled here and the science is that the CO2 emissions are destroying the planet. And yet, when I look around, everybody that is benefitting, so-called, from your belief is the poor, and they're getting creamed. Why do you Western environmentalists always end up hurting poor people, wherever it is. And I could then produce a list of scientists who don't buy into this at all. Chris, you exhale CO2. By your standard, you are helping to destroy the planet.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Now Obama likes what? Crises.

CALLER: Yeah. And that --

LIMBAUGH: He loves crises because when people are focused on a crisis he's got juggling in his right hand, they forget what he's doing with the left hand. And what he's doing with the left hand today is leaking information on the banks that do and do not need more federal money, these so-called "stress tests."

He's also taken over Chrysler. He's raising taxes on businesses. He's doing all kinds of destructive stuff while apparently everybody's focused on how he's trying to save their life.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: One of the things -- can I give you a theory? Why -- people say, "Why do they want to keep these inner city schools open? Why do they want to keep inner cities in the blight circumstances that they're in?" Well, guess what happens to communities like that: People who can move out do. And what are you left with? A solid Democrat voter base.

It's all about votes. It's not about educating kids. It's all about turning as many cities into Detroit as they can. That's what it's about. There is no common sense reason in the world to close down a school where inner city minority kids are excelling. No reason, unless it posed as a threat to you. "Well, Rush, how would that pose a threat?" Well, educated people pose a threat to liberalism anyway.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: He's not concerned with the disruption to the kids here. I'll tell you what this is about. What? What are you saying? Tell me, what do you think it's about? Partially, public relations, propaganda, but let's be specific, because everything with Obama is a PR propaganda.

What Barack Obama is worried about is that the black population will discover he really doesn't care about them, and that was starting to happen. You have parents of black kids who love this school, who love the whole concept in Washington, and their kids are excelling.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: These kids going to these voucher schools have a great chance, at least, a greater chance to succeed -- doctors, lawyers, hedge funds. And Michelle Obama is telling them, "Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't go to doctors. Don't become lawyers. Don't become hedge funds. Stay in your community and be a nurse, a community organizer, or what have you."

And so, you might say the worst thing the Obamas can have is an educated underclass 'cause they don't want them escaping the underclass, regardless their race. Somebody else is going to have to explain it to me if that's not right, 'cause I don't know how we've gotten to the point where -- I thought the whole point here was inferior urban schools, and that was unfair; it was racist; it was bigoted. So here's a plan to elevate them.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh on Obama's plan to phase out DC vouchers: "It's all about votes. It's not about educating kids. ... [T]hey don't want them escaping the underclass regardless their race"