This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the TARP-Fairness Doctrine conspiracy
By Simon Maloy

So the big news of the day is General Motors declaring bankruptcy and the U.S. government assuming a 60 percent share of the once-venerable automobile giant, the UAW assuming a 17.5 percent share, and the bondholders taking 10 percent. This, as you might expect, is merely the culmination of President Obama's super-socialist plan to put everything under union control, punish the bondholders and the rest of the "productive class," and transform the nation into a "left-wing fascist" paradise. At least, that's how it will be portrayed on The Rush Limbaugh Show. But before we get into it, it's important to point out that a) a majority of GM bondholders approved the bankruptcy deal; and b) they did so likely because their other option -- liquidation -- would have resulted in worse returns on their investments. Additionally, as Dean Baker explained, many of GM's bondholders can rightly be called speculators, "not long-term lenders but speculators who hoped to make a quick buck."

Rush got the show started by professing to be in disbelief after listening to Obama's remarks on the GM bankruptcy. The news was depressing enough today, Rush said, before Obama got up there and said he doesn't want to lead GM as he laid out how he's going to lead GM. Rush said Obama just told the adult generation today that your life is not going to improve before you die, that what we're doing today is your sacrifice for your children and grandchildren. Obama said we're going to move forward on building these "little put-put cars," said Rush, and the government is going to boost purchases of these kinds of cars. What's funny, according to Rush, is that GM already makes these kinds of cars around the world, but the bankruptcy deal will prevent GM from importing any of those cars made overseas -- they have to be made here. This means, said Rush, that "[y]our choice in the kind of car you buy will soon be over."

Obama, said Rush, is implementing his campaign agenda without any thought to current economic circumstances. Then Rush trained his sights on ABC's The Note, explaining in an aside that the "drive-by media" has been elevated to the "state-controlled media." The Note's sin, in Rush's eyes, was writing that Obama "never signed up to be in the auto business. His election was about ending the culture wars. The old divisions were supposed to fade away. The economic mess? He inherited it." Obama's election was all about creating and expanding wars between Americans, Rush retorted. He's a partisan liberal hack, which means the old divisions are going to get worse. Rush then allowed that "maybe" Obama inherited "some" of the economic mess, but he's building on it and making it worse with his "pure socialist agenda." Rush elaborated: "You don't raise taxes in a recession. You don't do anything he's doing in a recession. He's doing it because that's what he planned to do from the first days he read Saul Alinsky, from the first days at ACORN, from his first days as an activist. This is what he and his wife have been dreaming of doing and are going to do it regardless."

Then it was on to the Heritage Foundation as Rush read extensively from a Heritage Foundation Foundry entry on Obama's announcement of GM's bankruptcy. Rush said that Heritage has it exactly right -- Obama says one thing and does another. Rush then wanted us to listen to a sound byte that would make us cry -- something Rush said in September of last year about Obama's enemies list featuring the private sector. What we have now is Government Motors, Rush said, and the media should reflect that in their reporting. Obama left all the "bad news" about GM for CEO Fritz Henderson to lay out, said Rush. Then Rush aired a sound byte of Obama from March 30 saying: "Let me be clear: The United States government has no interest in running GM. We have no intention of running GM." Rush said that statement "expired today."

After the break, Rush aired a sound byte of Obama from this morning saying that there will be more job losses and plant closings, but this is sacrifice that is being made for the next generation. Rush said that Obama just said we have no future, and that everyone in the automobile industry is having sacrifice mandated upon them. Barack Obama now owns GM and Chrysler, Rush said, and whatever happens to these companies, Obama owns it. He's dictating to them the kinds of cars they're going to make, and he's providing the impetus to buy them. He aired another byte of Obama describing the GM of the future. Rush was outraged at the "audacity" of Obama -- who has never run anything, has never been in charge of one single for-profit enterprise, has never had to care about profit, and who "sneers at the whole concept of profit" as "stealing" and "raping" - to say that the GM of the future will succeed if "well-managed."

Another break and Rush was back, shifting momentarily to the Sotomayor nomination. Rush said he's received a lot of email from people asking what he would do now that the GOP has "bailed" on him after he called Sotomayor a "racist." They're not bailing on him, said Rush, they're just allowing Rush and Newt to do all the heavy lifting. Rush said that no one is denying what he said -- that Sotomayor would bring a form of racism and bigotry to the Supreme Court. Rush then said that he'll allow Sotomayor this -- she's likely a product of her upbringing and her education, which likely included a multicultural curriculum on how evil white people are. Rush also said that he's sure that Sotomayor, in her ruling against the white firefighters in Ricci v. DeStefano, "thought that this was justice. It was justice -- the white people need to have reverse racism and discrimination thrown at them because of all the horrors they committed." However, said Rush, none of this is meant to distract from her "incompetence," as evidenced by her statement that appeals court judges make policy. Rush added: "Folks, do you realize she would be -- if she stands by everything she said as a judge when she takes the oath of the Supreme Court Justice, she will be lying. You ever stop to think of that?  She's the antithesis of the oath."

Then it was time for a good old-fashioned conspiracy theory as Rush explained how "Obama is using the banks to advance all of his causes." Specifically, his cause of state-owned media:

LIMBAUGH: The government owns the banks, or a lot of them. So what happens if the government then tells the bank, "OK, go ahead and make a loan to that company, Radio A." It's just like General Motors -- the government then owns that radio company. And when the government owns the radio company, just like when they tell General Motors what kind of cars they're going to build, they will be able to tell radio stations and TV stations what their programming must be. This is a possibility. What is -- what is possible is the federal government actually owning a state-run media. Newspapers too.

After one more break, Rush said he didn't know the source of the story he was about to read, but he knew it was true -- Republicans grumbling about Obama traveling to New York City for "date night." It's fine for Republicans to criticize this, said Rush, but in the end it doesn't matter. This is chump change, and the GOP shouldn't let it distract them from the serious issues. We all have to sacrifice except for the Obamas, said Rush, and his supporters love that, but the easy way out for the GOP is to grumble about this trip.

Rush closed out the hour with a few more sound bytes of Obama from this morning. In one of them, Obama said he doesn't want GM living as a ward of the state. The "bottom line" on this, according to Rush, is that Obama wants us all living as wards of the state.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: General Motors makes these kinds of cars around the world. General Motors builds these cars in Europe, General Motors builds these cars in China and other places. This deal, from what I have been given to understand, will prevent General Motors from importing any of those cars that are made already overseas. They're going to have to be made here. Your choice in the kind of car you buy will soon be over.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: This guy came into office with an agenda, a pure socialist agenda, and he's implementing it without regard for current economic circumstances. You don't raise taxes in a recession. You don't do anything he's doing in a recession. He's doing it because that's what he planned to do from the first days he read Saul Alinsky, from the first days at ACORN, from his first days as an activist. This is what he and his wife have been dreaming of doing, and they're are going to do it regardless.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: In fact, Barack Obama sneers at the whole concept of profit. Profit, to him, is stealing. A company profits only by raping consumers and suppliers.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I'm sure she thought that this was justice. It was justice -- the white people need to have reverse racism and discrimination thrown at them because of all the horrors they committed. She was raised that way, she grew up that way, and she was taught that.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Folks, do you realize she would be -- if she stands by everything she said as a judge when she takes the oath of the Supreme Court Justice, she will be lying. You ever stop to think of that? She's the antithesis of the oath.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The government owns the banks, or a lot of them. So what happens if the government then tells the bank, "OK, go ahead and make a loan to that company, Radio A." It's just like General Motors -- the government then owns that radio company. And when the government owns the radio company, just like when they tell General Motors what kind of cars they're going to build, they will be able to tell radio stations and TV stations what their programming must be. This is a possibility. What is -- what is possible is the federal government actually owning a state-run media. Newspapers too.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the conspiracy against Republican car dealerships
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour started by noting that 54 percent of bondholders approved of the bankruptcy. This means, according to Rush, that 46 percent are having it rammed down their throats -- it's very similar to the 2008 election, in that sense. Rush said that the "state-run media" isn't interested in the little old ladies who have had their pensions destroyed. Rush then said that Obama, in saying that the automobile industry is making a sacrifice for future generations, isn't talking about just the auto industry -- he's talking about everyone. The conclusion to all this: "Taxpayer money was used to occupy the private sector and pay off political contributors. The reason that Obama went through with the automobile bailout is because it put UAW in an ownership position and on the board."

Then Rush moved on to China, recalling his rantings from last week on House Speaker Pelosi's visit to that country. Rush said she was there to beg the Chinese to keep buying our debt, and now Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is over there doing the same thing. Rush read from a Reuters report which quoted Geithner as saying at a speech at Peking University that "Chinese assets are very safe," and that this line "drew loud laughter from his student audience, reflecting skepticism in China about the wisdom of a developing country accumulating a vast stockpile of foreign reserves instead of spending the money to raise living standards at home." As Rush explained it, "the students, who can spot a lying capitalist when they see one -- sorry, who can spot a lying socialist when they see one, 'cause they deal with them every day -- laughed in his face." Then Rush said he'd found the "line of the year" in a Bloomberg story, which quoted Yu Yongding of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences saying of Geithner: "It will be helpful if Geithner can show us some arithmetic."

Rush then endeavored to explain what the end result of all this "begging" to China will be, but first he had to explain that he's just about had it. The American people, Rush said, are applauding Obama for taking two jets and a helicopter to New York for a date, and he's doing this in the middle of a recession when everyone is supposed to "sacrifice." It's a "slap in the face," said Rush, but people love it because Obama is "cool." Obama's "cool," Rush said, is going to result in the Chinese not buying our debt or exporting to the U.S. anymore. Not sure how dinner and a play in New York is going to push the Chinese over the line, but Rush nonetheless explained that this will be quite the "double whammy."

After the break, Rush noted that General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson, at his press conference, was asked by a reporter if there will be pressure from the government to produce green cars more quickly, and then aired the sound byte of Henderson's answer. Rush said Henderson talked about market forces, but he didn't answer the question. The market doesn't matter anymore, said Rush, and that's the problem here. The market isn't directing GM; Obama is. Before going into the break, Rush offered a little more conspiratorial thinking: "And look out, folks -- as desperate as Obama is to get you in pieces of junk that you would never otherwise buy, if you don't make the decision on your own to do it, steps will be taken where you have no choice -- like higher gasoline prices."

Another break ,and Rush accused Obama of "lying through his teeth" today when he said that the government has no interest in running GM. Obama said the government will refrain from exercising its rights as a shareholder in all but the most fundamental decisions. According to Rush, what he really meant is that they'll be involved when it matters most, so what he's saying is the exact opposite of how it sounds. Rush explained Obama's thinking: "I don't want to get involved in daily progress reports, but the fundamental decisions, like what kind of cars we're gonna make, and where we're gonna open dealerships -- for example, I'm not going to let someone who didn't donate to me own a dealership. I'm not gonna get some Republican own a GM dealership who didn't contribute to my campaign. That's what this means."

Then Rush got around to taking his first call of the afternoon. This particular gentleman said that, in speaking to Rush, he felt like he was talking to the president. Rush responded: "A lot of people wish you were." Anyway, the caller said that his town's stamping plant is closing, that the announcement was made this morning, and that the town doesn't have enough police officers. Rush says he bets that there are a bunch of bureaucrats that still have jobs. Fire the bureaucrats, rehire the cops, was Rush's prescription. Then Rush noted that the caller said 40 percent of the town's tax revenue came from the stamping plant, and if that is the case, how is the town going to survive? According to Rush: "The cynical voice in me says this fits the Obama mold right out of the box. Because the more chaos you have in the more places, the more demand for action you will have." We weren't aware that Rush distinguished his "cynical voice" from his "speaking voice." Anyway, then Rush lamented: "I don't think people understand that this kind of pain and suffering fits somebody's master plan." It's "hard to convince people" that the president wants them to suffer, said Rush. But it's true, as evidenced by Obama's comment this morning that the GM bankruptcy is a "sacrifice" that auto workers are making for the benefit of future generations. We're not sure how that counts as evidence of Obama's desire to see Americans "suffer," but there you have it.

Anyway, Rush said that nobody's calling on us to make this sacrifice, it's being forced on us. Rush said he's been warning for the longest time that liberal talk about taxes on the rich means that the little guy gets hurt, and that's the real shame of all this. The rich are going to lose some of what they achieved, said Rush, but the real crying shame is what this is going to cost the middle class. It's going to put the brakes on their realization of the American dream. Our president, said Rush, said this morning you have to defer your American dream for the rest of your life. Without the middle class striving for the American dream, said Rush, "there goes the country." According to Rush: "It's always been the dream of the middle class to be able to raise their standard of living. The belief that it can happen, the belief that it's out there, that has kept them striving for it. And Obama just told them today, at least those in the auto business, stop striving. Your purpose is to eat excrement sandwiches for the rest of your life."

One more break and Rush was back, reading from a Wall Street Journal article on Ford Motor Co. "preparing an effort to gain market share while its two main rivals are bogged down in bankruptcy and restructuring." It's interesting, said Rush, that the one car company that didn't take bailout money is increasing production, while the two that did take bailout money have declared bankruptcy.

Rush took one more caller before the hour ended, this one wanting to know if Obama's plan for GM is going to work. Rush said that the decision on what kinds of cars they can produce has been taken out of the hands of the people who know what they're doing, and that people are being forced into these "tin-foil cars." But to answer the man's question, Rush said: "Now, if you define 'will GM succeed' from Obama's standpoint, Obama doesn't care a whit whether it makes profit. Obama doesn't care a whit who loses a job. What Obama cares about is tearing the country down to size."

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Taxpayer money was used to occupy the private sector and pay off a political contributor. The reason that Obama went through with the automobile bailout is because it put UAW in an ownership position and on the board.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Chinese assets are very safe, Geithner said, in response to a question after his speech at Peking University, where he studied Chinese as a student, by the way, in the 1980s. So in a sense, little Timmy here returning home to the ChiComs. His answer also drew loud laughter from his student audience when he said Chinese assets are very safe. The students, who can spot a lying capitalist when they see one -- sorry, who can spot a lying socialist when they see one, 'cause they deal with them every day -- laughed in his face.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: And look out, folks, because as desperate as Obama is to get you in pieces of junk that you would never otherwise buy, if you don't make the decision on your own to do it, steps will be taken where you have no choice -- like higher gasoline prices.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: He also said, "The government will refrain from exercising its rights as a shareholder in all but the most fundamental" -- the most fundamental is all. "In all but the most fundamental" -- he wants you to think we're barely gonna be involved. What he really means is when it matters most, the federal government's gonna be involved in running General Motors. In all but the most fundamental decisions? The most fundamental decisions are the most important -- fundamentals are the most important of anything. So what he's saying is the exact opposite of the way it sounds. What he's saying is we're not gonna get involved in minutia, I don't want to get involved in daily progress reports, but the fundamental decisions, like what kind of cars we're gonna make, and where we're gonna open dealerships -- for example, I'm not going to let someone who didn't donate to me own a dealership. I'm not gonna get some Republican own a GM dealership who didn't contribute to my campaign. That's what this means.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The cynical voice in me says this fits the Obama mold right out of the box. Because the more chaos you have in the more places, the more demand for action you will have.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: See, I don't think -- I don't think people understand that this kind of pain and suffering fits somebody's master plan, and it's hard to convince people of that -- I mean, what president would want citizens to suffer?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: It's always been the dream of the middle class to be able to raise their standard of living. The belief that it can happen, the belief that it's out there, that has kept them striving for it. And Obama just told them today, at least those in the auto business, stop striving. Your purpose is to eat excrement sandwiches for the rest of your life.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Now, if you define "will GM succeed" from Obama's standpoint, Obama doesn't care a whit whether it makes profit. Obama doesn't care a whit who loses a job. What Obama cares about is tearing the country down to size.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Barack "The Wrench" Obama
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the final hour going by affording us a much-appreciated break from the bile and vitriol, explaining the vague details of his diet program. When he was through playing Jenny Craig, Rush explained that he had not intended to talk about Obama and GM for two hours, but the whole thing is just so "outrageous." This is evidenced, said Rush, by a New York Times story on Brian Deese, the "31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism." Rush was incensed that Obama hired a 31-year-old to do this, wondering how he's qualified to dismantle and put back together General Motors. Then he credited the blog Sweetness & Light for highlighting a Washington Post article from last November reporting that Obama "urged President Bush to support immediate aid for struggling automakers and back a new stimulus package, even as congressional Democrats began drafting legislation to give the Detroit automakers quick access to $25 billion by adding them to the Treasury Department's $700 billion economic rescue program." This, according to Limbaugh and the bloggers, contradicts what Obama said today about automakers "having relied on loans from the previous administration."

Then Rush reiterated his interpretation of Obama's "sacrifice" comments from this morning -- according to Rush, Obama is saying that your future is over, your purpose is to make sacrifices for your children and grandchildren, and that the middle class should forestall their pursuit of the American dream. This is tantamount to killing the American economy, said Rush. Democrats always claim they're on the side of the little guy, said Rush, but the little guy keeps losing his job. And every time Obama announces a fix to something, he says it's going to get worse.

Rush then said that the next hurdle in the middle class' pursuit of the American dream was outlined in a Politico article this morning, headlined "Obama health plan takes shape." The middle class are facing a huge tax increase, said Rush, because, as the Politico wrote, "some people will take a tax hit. The hot target at the moment: levying a tax on health benefits provided through employers, which currently aren't subject to taxation." This is scary stuff, said Rush, when you compound it with the fact that the Chinese are going to say screw exporting and screw the United States. If Obama gets everything he wants, Rush said, we're going to be $11 trillion in debt.

After the break, Rush read from a Reuters article, "Federal Reserve puzzled by yield curve steepening," which reported that the Fed "is not really sure what is driving the sharp rise in long-dated bond yields, and especially a widening gap between short and long term yields." According to Reuters, the rising yields could mean that "an economic recovery is more certain," or that "investors are worried about the deterioration in the U.S. fiscal outlook." Rush said that normally, if you invest in something and get a good return, it's good news - but in this case it might not be.

After another break Rush came back asking how many of us had read this piece in Pravda, "American capitalism gone with a whimper." Remember when people like Rush held up Pravda as the epitome of state-run media irresponsibility, instead of something to be credulously cited on their own radio programs?

Anyway, Rush took another caller, this one asking if anyone remembered last week when Obama said that the economy was back from the brink and that we ain't seen nothing yet. Rush said the caller was right, but he's not supposed to be that smart because he lives in Arkansas and thus was not supposed to be able to figure out Obama's hypocrisy. According to Rush, Obama's saying it's going to get worse, you have no hope, only your children and grandchildren have hope. But that's not even true, said Rush, because they will be born broke.

Rush's next caller professed to feeling like she is in the "Twilight Zone" because when she was growing up, Pravda told the lies, but now Rush is saying that Pravda is telling the truth (see our observation above). Anyway, the caller then thanked Rush for explaining to her that Obama is making the economy worse so that when it recovers he can take all the credit. Rush said that we have to define the economic recovery -- for most people, it will mean unemployment numbers recovering, but economists say that isn't going to happen. Rush said that the real estate market has to stabilize, and maybe it can stabilize in the next year (in time for the 2010 midterms) because the U.S. economy is a very powerful thing. But it's taking a lot of hits, said Rush. It's being "stomped on" and "depressed" by the Democrats. If the Democrats "get their way," said Rush, "if they get cap-and-trade and if they get taxing the health-care benefits as income, and they get their health-care plan, there's not going to be any economic recovery here. You're gonna have -- the only segment that's gonna be growing is gonna be government, and the only people who will be doing well will be working for government."

One more break and Rush explained for us one more time what's going on with the Sotomayor nomination -- Obama has a problem because she did say something very racist, and she'd bring that racism to the court. Nobody is denying the charge, said Rush. Actually, people are denying it - people like Sen. Lindsey Graham and Kathleen Parker, and SCOTUSblog guru Tom Goldstein.

Rush took one more caller to close out the show, this one from a man claiming he wants to "throw a wrench into Obama's plans for nationalizing the auto industry," and explaining that he and his friends would never buy a product from a company controlled by the federal government. Rush said that Obama has a plan to deal with people like him, and the caller said he has his own plan - to vote Obama out of office. Rush's conclusion to all this was: "[Y]ou're talking about putting a wrench in his plans -- Obama is a wrench into everybody's future."

And that's all folks - another Limbaugh Wire etched into digital stone. We'll be back tomorrow for more apocalyptic fun. Until then, please consider taking a look at Media Matters' continually growing and frequently interesting Limbaugh archives.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: All of this is academic. But you know if they get their way, if they get cap-and-trade and if they get taxing the health-care benefits as income, and they get their health-care plan, there's not going to be any economic recovery here. You're gonna have -- the only segment that's gonna be growing is gonna be government, and the only people who will be doing well will be working for government.

[...]

CALLER: Yeah, Rush, I was calling to kind of throw a wrench into Obama's plans for nationalizing the auto industry. A group of friends of mine recently had a conversation, and what came out of that conversation I think was important because I think a lot of Americans feel the same way. And that is we would never buy a product from any company that was being controlled by the federal government. And a lot of that had to do with our hatred for socialism.

LIMBAUGH: Now, wait a second. Obama says he's not going to run the company, except for the most fundamental decisions.

CALLER: Well, Rush, we both know that Obama is lying through his teeth [laughing].

LIMBAUGH: All right, all right. So you're not gonna but a car -- you and your buddies are not gonna buy a car owned by the government -- a company owned by the government.

CALLER: Exactly. And I really think that --

LIMBAUGH: Obama's got a plan for that, I hate to tell you.

CALLER: Well, we have a plan too. And it's called we're gonna try to vote him out of office.

LIMBAUGH: You're gonna try to do what?

CALLER: Vote him out of office.

LIMBAUGH: Well, yeah. Yeah, good luck. He's in the process of stacking the deck against that option. You tell -- is there an alternative party out there?

CALLER: No, not yet.

LIMBAUGH: Well, there isn't yet; there probably will be. Here's where Odam -- you're talking about putting a wrench in his plans -- Obama is a wrench into everybody's future.