This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the statist, fascist brownshirts of the left
By Simon Maloy

Afternoon, all. It's a fine day for Limbaugh Wiring, so let's get right to it.

Rush got things started talking about the story that just won't go away -- Miss California. Apparently there was a press conference with Donald Trump today, and Rush loved it, but he complained that the press has been more curious about Miss California's position on things than they ever have about Obama's.

Then Rush turned the program over to Matt Drudge for a while, reading from three stories that the Internet gossip had up on his website. The first was an Advertising Age article headlined "Obama Halves Chrysler's Planned Marketing Budget". This is not an abstract argument, Rush warned; this is the government takeover of the automobile industry. This isn't the country we grew up in, said Rush, "this is fascism." Then it was on to CBS News, which reported that "[a]t a time when the official unemployment rate is nearing double digits, and 6.35 million people are receiving unemployment benefits, the U.S. government is on a hiring binge." Rush said the government is going "nuts," even though it has no money. They can't take over anything, Rush said, without printing more money. According to Rush, people think the $10 trillion deficits are temporary, but they're not -- we've never been here before.

Then it was on to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that "Senate leaders are considering new federal taxes on soda and other sugary drinks to help pay for an overhaul of the nation's health-care system." Rush said the beverage industry will cave on this because everyone else is caving to the government, and there won't be a backlash from consumers -- there was no backlash to higher tobacco taxes, so why will there be one over higher Coke prices? Yes, Rush said, the rich will be "soaked," but there isn't enough money in that to pay for Obama's budget. Nonetheless, Rush said, Obama's going to hold a few meetings, after which the media will proclaim the economic and health care problems fixed.

Leading into the first break, Rush noted that Oprah Winfrey spoke at the Duke University commencement, and told the graduates: "It's great to have a nice home. It's great to have nice homes! It's great to have a private jet. Anyone that tells you that having your own private jet isn't great is lying to you." Rush interpreted this as Oprah calling Obama a "liar" because Obama wants to take people's private jets away.

After the break Rush returned to the Miss California stupidity, airing sound bytes of Trump and Miss California from the press conference today. Rush said that this press conference confirmed what he already knew -- that this controversy was about the entertainment media and their radical allies on the left trying to get rid of Miss California because of her views on gay marriage. Rush said that we're supposed to be tolerant of all the "perversion" and "godlessness" from the left, but when the right speaks out, the "Gestapo" and "brownshirts" come out.

Another break, and Rush was on to Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, airing a montage of media personalities commenting on Cheney's remarks from Sunday's Face the Nation, in which the former veep chose Rush over Powell in terms of who's the better Republican. Rush wondered why, if the Democrats keep saying that the GOP with Bush and Cheney and Rush at the helm committed suicide, Democrats and the media are so insistent that Cheney "shut up." Rush added that he doesn't hear any Republicans telling Cheney to shut up. That's funny, because we had no trouble finding one (Rep. John Duncan Jr.) saying that "it would probably be better for us politically if [Cheney] wouldn't be so public." The reason the media and the Democrats want Rush and Cheney and Miss California to go away and shut up, said Rush, is simple: "The left is out to destroy anybody who's -- they are fascists, statists, whatever you want to call them. They're not interested in debate; they are interested in ultimate power and silencing people who disagree with them. And the reason for that, folks, is fear. They're afraid of Dick Cheney. They are afraid of me."

After praising Liz Cheney for "wip[ing] the floor" with the Morning Joe crew this morning, Rush aired audio of David Gergen saying on CNN last night that is was surprising that Cheney went after Powell like he did and that it seemed gratuitous. Rush asked himself what he was missing -- did not Powell endorse and vote for Barack Obama? Didn't the GOP nominate the exact type of moderate candidate Powell wanted? According to the drive-bys and David Gergen, said Rush, Republicans are supposed to let someone who voted for Obama tell them how to run their party. Rush didn't understand how it is that Republicans are making a mistake by letting go someone who endorsed and voted for a Democrat.

After one more break, Rush said he had to take it a step further, saying that in terms of who should lead the GOP, it's Powell who has to be asked if this is what he thought he was voting for when he voted for Obama. Who should lead the GOP, Rush wondered, given that Powell has never won anything politically, while Cheney was elected to the vice presidency and Congress. We assume, given that winning elected office is now apparently a prerequisite for determining the direction of the GOP, noted non-officeholder Rush Limbaugh will cease to offer advice to the party. Or maybe he'll run for elected office (shudder). Then Rush aired audio of Lawrence O'Donnell saying on MSNBC last night that Powell is a winner, and Rush is a loser, because every single position that Rush advocated was rejected by voters in the Republican primaries. Rush offered a bit of advice to MSNBC -- retask whatever movie channel they have to just run 24-hour video of Rush and Cheney and destroy the Republican Party.

One more sound byte before the hour ended, this one from Juan Williams, who said on Fox News that Powell is a much more "serious" Republican than Rush Limbaugh. Rush again asked what political argument has Powell ever won, and wondered why the guy who abandoned the Republican Party is the only one who can lead it. The truth, Rush said, is that "they" know that a Colin Powell-led GOP would lose every election it entered.

Highlights from Hour 1

LIMBAUGH: If the kooks in the counterculture left think that Miss California Carrie Prejean and her answer was so outrageous and it so offended all Americans, why, by all means prop her up and let her be an example for all the goofballs in the country. No, they have to shut her up. They have to destroy her. The left is out to destroy Dick Cheney. The left is out to destroy anybody who's -- they are fascists, statists, whatever you want to call them. They're not interested in debate; they are interested in ultimate power and silencing people who disagree with them. And the reason for that, folks, is fear. They're afraid of Dick Cheney. They are afraid of me.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the "utopian bull feathers" of health care
By Simon Maloy

Rush continued with Colin Powell into the second hour, saying that what really irritates him about Powell is that during the '90s, when Powell was considering running for office, he wouldn't explain what his positions were or even which party he would run with. Powell was all about image and character, said Rush, and he knew that once he took positions on issues his approval ratings would go down. Rush also said he threw a "bomb" when he said Powell's endorsement of Obama was all about race. It was a taboo, but Rush said it.

Then it was on to Obama and health care, airing audio of Obama speaking this afternoon about meeting with wellness and prevention practitioners. Rush said it's a myth that preventative care saves money. Then Rush aired audio of Obama praising companies that have offered health care incentives to their employees and saying that if we can change the culture of a company then we can change the culture of the country. Rush was flabbergasted by this -- it's "bull feathers," said Limbaugh. It's "gobbledygook" and "utopian bull feathers." You can be incentivized all you want, exercise and diet all you want, said Rush, you're still going to get sick.

Fixing health care is "simple," according to Rush -- make the patient the consumer and health care costs will come down. When someone else is paying for health care, Rush said, it doesn't matter how many incentives you offer, the prices will stay high. It's the same as renting a hotel room -- you get the room that fits your budget. Matt Ygelsias had a fine riposte to this minimalist free-market approach to health care -- the analogy between health care and commodities like hotel rooms breaks down when you consider the moral and social aspects of medicine that don't apply to Best Western suites. Rush then predicted that the next step, when health incentives fail, will be taxation of health benefits as "imputed income."

After a quick commercial time-out, Rush read extensively from a New York Times op-ed declaring it a "myth" that "like magic, preventive medicine will simultaneously reduce costs and improve health." Rush said he himself has experienced the myth of preventive care -- you go into the hospital with an upset GI tract, and three hours later you've had four tests to determine whether or not you have cancer. Prevention and incentives don't save money, Rush said, but "[m]eanwhile, you're doing everything Obama says. You're exercising -- and I'll bet half of you aren't going to do that. You're going to stop smoking, and you're going to eat balanced meals and all this, and you're going to do this to make the company boss happy. The boss is going to make you do it because to keep the government happy -- we're all going to end up wearing uniforms here, and we're going to get memos every morning on our computers from Washington telling us what we have to do every day in order to qualify to be in their good graces."

Rush's then took a call from a woman saying that she started monitoring politics daily after Obama became the Democratic nominee and that she's having second thoughts about having children in this America that she sees emerging. Rush said he's never seen so many people so afraid of the government, living in "abject fear." Rush added: "We've always had these '60s radicals and leftists who have -- it's kind of ironic. They've always been afraid of what they called autocratic power, but now they voted for a guy who is an autocrat, who is an authoritarian, so it just matters who's wielding the power to them." Then the caller asked where she should look for the silver lining, what sign can she look for to see if the pendulum is swinging, and whether it can be found in the "states' rights legislation." Rush said we're in a mess that's going to take more than one swing of the pendulum to fix.

After the break, Rush returned to the pendulum and the silver lining. Rush said he's always relied on his infinite faith in the American people, who have always righted themselves from heading down the wrong path. Rush's faith, however, seems shaken: "Through all of these trials and tribulations, the country has survived. But it's -- I'll tell you one thing I have to accept; it's a new challenge now. Because I don't think even during the '30s, during the New Deal, this kind of massive, authoritarian power was sought." Rush then asked if the country has reached the point where the majority of voting Americans can be persuaded and fooled by a demagogue, an empty suit who speaks in platitudes. "It appears so," was his answer.

The country, Rush said, doesn't need to be saved from destruction, but it's being taken there. Someone will come along at some point to fix things, said Rush, but until that point the question must become something other than "what do I look for?" The question, said Rush, must become "what do I do?" Rush soliloquized that every generation thinks that the times are worse than the country has ever seen before. That's exactly wrong, said Rush, but it's a tough road because you'll run into people who don't think rationally. People on the left have beliefs, not thoughts. Rush consoled his audience that Obama can be overcome and defeated, but they'll have to realize that what Obama is doing is not going to work. The moment we get an economic uptick, Rush said, the parades in the drive-by media are going to start, but you have to take comfort in the fact (or Rush's word) that it ultimately won't work.

One more break before the hour ended, and Rush came back announcing with fanfare that "only 53 percent of Americans voted for Obama." Only 53 percent? This meant, according to Rush, that there are lots of Americans yearning for something else. Then Rush took a call from a woman who supported the tax on sugary drinks, saying that sugar causes millions of deaths in the United States every year by way of diabetes, obesity, etc. Rush said this is "mind-blowing," accused the woman of wanting to ban fruit because fruit has sugar, and that eventually she'll want to ban water because it makes people drown. We'd say that the whole conversation may as well have been dead air, but even that would have been more interesting.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Costs are going to add up. Meanwhile, you're doing everything Obama says. You're exercising -- and I'll bet half of you aren't going to do that. You're going to stop smoking, and you're going to eat balanced meals and all this, and you're going to do this to make the company boss happy. The boss is going to make you do it because to keep the government happy -- we're all going to end up wearing uniforms here, and we're going to get memos every morning on our computers from Washington telling us what we have to do every day in order to qualify to be in their good graces.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: We've always had these '60s radicals and leftists who have -- it's kind of ironic. They've always been afraid of what they called autocratic power, but now they voted for a guy who is an autocrat, who is an authoritarian, so it just matters who's wielding the power to them.

[...]

 LIMBAUGH: Through all of these trials and tribulations, the country has survived. But it's -- I'll tell you one thing I have to accept; it's a new challenge now. Because I don't think even during the '30s, during the New Deal, this kind of massive, authoritarian power was sought. Sure, Roosevelt did everything he could to empower the Democrat Party, and I know that he did make some things -- make some attempts here: packed the Supreme Court, tried to get 12 terms or 12 years for himself, an additional term, try to get fingers in some businesses and so forth. It was hideous, but even that, we came out of it.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by sensationalized health care
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the final hour rolling with another "outrage" -- Obama releasing more photos of interrogations to prove what rotten SOBs the military and CIA are. Rush said that no good can come from this -- which is exactly why Obama is doing it.

Then Rush announced that he did some research on sugar during the break. After a lengthy report on the results of his research -- which touched on popcorn, coconut oil, and coffee -- Rush explained that the reason he's talking about sugar is because "the United States Senate is going to start taxing drinks that have sugar in it, and this is nothing more than the left's attempt to establish guilty behavior." They're always going to try and tell you what's good and what's bad, Rush said, but it's not going to matter.

Nevertheless, Rush said: "And here come a bunch of people that could no more run a movie theatre or run a car business or run a healthcare business telling us they have fixed it in two days. A guy who's done nothing but organize a bunch of radical, malcontent protesters in his whole life in Chicago, a guy whose records in school have not been released, a guy who has managed not one thing, a guy who can't even keep his own White House military office from taking Air Force One out a joyride, we're being told, is going to fix healthcare in two days, fix the car business, fix the banks, fix the credit cards, fix -- it's all going to be fixed." Meanwhile, according to Rush, all of the people who really have expertise are being scared to death and shutting up. Look at the Chamber of Commerce, Rush said, which is not known for going along with a bunch of "pantywaist liberals," but is nonetheless going along on health care because no one has the guts to stand up to Obama.

Going into and coming out of the break, Rush read extensively from a blog entry by Megan McArdle of The Atlantic, titled: "Obama's Magical Mystery Tour of Health Care Savings." Rush said that he doesn't know how many times people from the government have said they're going to reduce the costs of something -- nothing ever gets fixed, it only gets worse. After the break, Rush switched from Megan McArdle to Byron York, who wrote a piece today for the Washington Examiner on how "Obama's dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words." Rush said that if the GOP is at a loss for words, then it's time to start talking "principles" again.

Another break, and Rush was back with a caller who was outraged over the proposed sugar tax. Rush said it's just an excuse to tax people -- these are just tax increases, and they're going to raise them wherever they can. They want to take away as much of your liberty and freedom as they possibly can. Next it'll be the salt tax. Then Rush encouraged us to look at the example of California, which has considered legalizing marijuana in order to reap billions from taxing it. This is defining deviancy down, said Rush, who asked us to consider the relative dangers posed by people who eat sugar and people who use marijuana recreationally.

After a quick plug for the Heritage Foundation, which you can visit to see what Obama has planned for "socialized medicine," Rush took a call from a man extolling the system Blue Cross had in place for years regarding health costs. Rush said it's complicated, but all he knows is that everyone involved in the current system hates it, except for the people trying to fix it and make it worse, and by that he means Obama, who Rush claimed wants to make it single-payer, government health care with no private option. Of course, that's not what Obama wants, but we can't really expect Rush to know that. Regardless, Rush said it's all about control, it's a triumph of emotion over common sense because wherever this thing has been tried before it has failed. Rush then explained that a Band-Aid costs $500 at the hospital because not everyone is paying for the health care that they receive -- like illegal immigrants.

One more break and Rush was back with one last caller, this one saying that he disagrees with people who insist on comparing Obama's health plan to European plans, because we can just compare it to the health plans we have for veterans, which are awful. Rush said this is exactly right -- the VA is constantly complaining about government-promised and government-run health care.

Well, that does it for today's Wire, and that does it for me for the next six days as I'm going on vacation. Now, you're probably thinking: "Vacation? How can I possibly go a whole week without your unique blend of stupid puns, warmed-over analysis, and snide commentary?" Well, fear not. My colleagues Greg and Karl will be once again stepping to the plate to take over Limbaugh duties as I rest and recuperate. They'll do a great job, I'm sure of it. See you next week.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: I just know that sugar is getting a bad rap, but the reason we're talking about this is because the United States Senate is going to start taxing drinks that have sugar in it, and this is nothing more than the left's attempt to establish guilty behavior. The reason they're going to tax sugar, they tell you, is because they want to improve your lifestyle. They want you to stop eating it so you get healthier. That's not why. It's because sugar is in everything.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: And here come a bunch of people that could no more run a movie theatre or run a car business or run a healthcare business telling us they have fixed it in two days. A guy who's done nothing but organize a bunch of radical, malcontent protesters in his whole life in Chicago, a guy whose records in school have not been released, a guy who has managed not one thing, a guy who can't even keep his own White House military office from taking Air Force One out a joyride, we're being told, is going to fix healthcare in two days, fix the car business, fix the banks, fix the credit cards, fix -- it's all going to be fixed. Oh, and after that, we're gonna save the freakin' planet, and we're gonna make sure the sea levels stop rising.

Echo chamber

Read extensively from Megan McArdle's "Obama's Magical Mystery Tour of Health Care Savings."

Read from Byron York's "Obama's dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words."

Offered a plug for the Heritage Foundation's AskHeritage.org.