This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Osama bin Laden's successor: Barack Obama
By Simon Maloy

Well, it's Wednesday, and Rush's attacks on Sonia Sotomayor continue to crumble before our very eyes, largely due to the efforts of his fellow conservatives. Rush said she's a racist bigot and that no one has disputed this assertion. Well, people like Sen. Lindsey Graham and Kathleen Parker, and Tom Goldstein of SCOTUSblog have not only denied it, they've said it's flatly untrue and ridiculous. On top of that, Rush's partner in crime on the "Sotomayor is a racist" front, Newt Gingrich, this morning said perhaps he was a little too "strong" in his language. Rush has also said that Sotomayor should be disqualified because she said she brings her "personal life experiences to the job." By that rationale, Justices Alito and Thomas -- who have said pretty much the exact same thing -- should tender their resignations. Rush claimed that Sotomayor is Obama's instrument to unmake the Constitution because she said that "the court is where policy is made." Well, another conservative justice -- Antonin Scalia -- wrote the exact same thing in a majority opinion. And let's not forget that Rush ripped Sotomayor for ruling "that ownership of a gun is not a constitutional right." We learned this morning that yesterday a three-judge panel of Republican-appointed judges on the 7th Circuit Appeals Court unanimously reached the same conclusion.

Rush got things rolling by saying that a lot of "unbelievable" stuff happened overnight, the most pressing of which was Obama's statement to the French media that "if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world." Rush noted that ABC's Jake Tapper wrote a blog post on the emergence of Obama's Muslim roots, and this set him off, claiming that during the campaign we were told that Obama's father was an atheist, and now we're being told he's a Muslim. As far as the United States being a "Muslim country," Rush said "the current Islamist identity of Islam, the terrorist wing of Islam, which is what it's most known for today, is trying to take us back to the 7th century." Then Rush added: "I know this is going to offend some people, but we're going to have to look at the Nobel Prize winners and we're going to see how many Muslims are there and I could really anger some people and say, 'let's compare the number of Muslims who have been Nobel Prize winners to the number of Jews who have been Nobel Prize winners,' and I don't think it's a contest." He didn't explain this "point," and we can't really figure out what he was trying to get across.

So, Rush said, Obama is trumpeting his Muslim roots in anticipation of a visit to the Middle East, but during the campaign we weren't allowed to say "Hussein." Rush found it fascinating that Obama goes over to the Middle East -- "no doubt to apologize again" -- and he's heralding his Muslim roots. Once again, Rush said, we're getting a totally different Obama than we had in the campaign. Rush added: "I feel like, Allah Akbar. OK, Allak Akbar. Allahu Akbar. I mean, is this supposed to be our reaction now?" Rush concluded all this by saying that there were people who tried to "warn about this," they were told to shut up, and now look what's happening.

Then Rush got his Drudge fix for the day, noting that Reuters reported that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez "said on Tuesday that he and Cuban ally Fidel Castro risk being more conservative than U.S. President Barack Obama as Washington prepares to take control of General Motors Corp." Rush's reaction to this was "Holy smoly!" Then it was on to another Reuters story, "GM, Chrysler to face Senate scrutiny on dealers." They're asking the wrong people, said Rush. Obama owns GM and Chrysler, and if you want to find out why dealerships are being closed, ask the White House.

Leading into the break, Rush said no, his words on Sotomayor have not been too strong, and he's not going to "retract" them like Newt. Rush didn't know why Newt had "retracted," but he has his own theory, which he wasn't going to share because he himself wasn't going to retract. Rush again said that no one is saying he's wrong (they are). Then Rush repeated his assertion that if Sotomayor turned out to be pro-life, he would support her nomination.

After the break, Rush had a few quick shots at California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for saying that California is facing its day of reckoning. Rush said the way they get everyone in gear on these deficit problems is by saying they might have to delay payments to welfare recipients. Then Rush moved on to the new Quinnipiac poll, saying: "New polling out there from Quinnipiac. Is that -- no, Quinnipiac University. Fifty-five to 36 percent, people say affirmative action should be abolished. This is a poll on Sonia Sotomayor."

Rush cam back from the break explaining that he had read Gingrich's op-ed, and he thinks he knows what's going on here -- Newt doesn't want to get personal, he wants to judge her by her words, and she has said racist things. He stresses her words rather than what kind of person he is. So it may be a retraction of the word, but he's refocusing his critique. Rush then explained that he'd be willing to listen to Democrats on race after they apologize to Miguel Estrada and Clarence Thomas for the way they were treated. Rush said he isn't going to retract because what he said happens to be true. What Democrats said about Thomas and Estrada, on the other hand, were lies. They are the ones who should be retracting, said Rush, for what they did to these judges. Rush doesn't have to retract anything. The truth does not get retracted, except in the state-run media.

Back to the Quinnipiac poll, Rush was ecstatic that the poll found that Americans reject affirmative action programs. He also falsely claimed that the poll found that they disagree with Sotomayor's ruling in the Ricci case. Rush was also rather happy about a new Rasmussen poll showing that Sotomayor's support has "softened" over the past week. The reason he brought up these polls, he explained, is because the left "lives by polls."

Leading into the break, Rush aired a sound byte of CBS' Lara Logan reporting that Muslims around the world have had their hopes raised by Obama, and now they expect much from him. Rush said there's one Muslims whose hopes haven't been raised -- Osama bin Laden. Noting that Bin Laden just released an audio tape in which he said Obama is just like George W. Bush, Rush turned to another sound byte, this one from Christopher Dickey of Newsweek saying on MSNBC that the Muslim world largely considers bin Laden to be a "has-been." Rush concluded from this: "I guess what's happened here if we put these two sound bytes together -- Lara Logan, state-run CBS, and this clown Dickey for state-run Newsweek -- we have to conclude that the Muslim world has a new leader. Bin Laden, a myth. Obama to power."

After the break, Rush expounded on this theory, replaying the CBS and MSNBC clips. Rush didn't buy the idea that Muslims consider bin Laden to be a "has-been," because there's a $50 million bounty on him, and Rush has to think that if the Muslims -- "who live in poverty, as we know" -- didn't care about bin Laden anymore, then they'd pick up the phone and turn him in. Anyway, Rush said he's just drawing a logical conclusion from these news reports -- Logan said that Muslim have their hopes raised by Obama, and Dickey says that bin Laden is a has-been. There's been a transfer of power, said Rush. There is a new figure atop the Muslim world -- Barack Obama.

Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Folks, the current Islamist identity of Islam, the terrorist wing of Islam, which is what it's most known for today, is trying to take us back to the 7th century. I know this is going to offend some people, but we're going to have to look at the Nobel Prize winners and we're going to find -- see how many Muslims are there. And I could really anger some people and say "Let's compare the number of Muslims who have been Nobel Prize winners to the number of Jews who have been Nobel Prize winners," and I don't think it's a contest.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: During the campaign, we couldn't use the word "Hussein" because it was too negative. It conjured up all of these associations with Islamists. And we talked about he was -- Christian faith and so forth, and I'm not disputing that. I just find it fascinating now that as he goes over again to the Middle East and, no doubt, to apologize for the United States again, to start heralding for that part of the world his Muslim roots. Once again, we're getting a totally different Obama than we got during the campaign, and I'm certain -- you know, I feel like, Allah Akbar. OK, Allak Akbar. Allahu Akbar. I mean, is this supposed to be our reaction now?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Have my words been too strong on Sotomayor? Are you asking me because Newt has retracted his -- no, my words have not been too strong. I just heard right before the program started. I didn't have a chance to do a lot of show prep late because of the Hannity interview, so I -- after the interview, I checked my email, and three members of the state-run media has sent me emails wanting my reaction to Newt's retraction of calling Sotomayor a racist, and I didn't know that he had, and I didn't know why he had retracted it, and I still don't. But -- what did he say? Why did he retract it? Did he say that he thought the word was too harsh or -- well, I have my own theory about what Newt's doing, but since I'm not doing it, I'm not going to comment.

I'm not retracting it. Nobody's refuted it. You know, they're out there saying, "It's too harsh. It's distracting, Rush. I mean, it's calling -- you know, you just don't want to use the word." Why? If the word means something -- words mean things -- and if it fits, I use it. Now, they may say, "Don't say it, Rush. Dial it back a little bit." But nobody's saying I'm wrong. Nobody's saying I'm making it up. I mean, when she says she'd do a better job than a white guy, what is it? It's racism, reverse racism, whatever, but it's still racism. She would bring a form of racism, bigotry to the court.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: New polling out there from Quinnipiac. Is that -- no, Quinnipiac University. Fifty-five to 36 percent, people say affirmative action should be abolished. This is a poll on Sonia Sotomayor. We'll be back. Stay with us.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: We kept hearing over and over about the incompetence of George W. Bush because he hadn't captured bin Laden, and now bin Laden's a myth? Bin Laden doesn't matter? Old hat, doesn't inspire the Muslim world. No, I guess what's happened here, if we put these two sound bytes together -- Lara Logan, state-run CBS, and this clown Dickey from state-run Newsweek -- we have to conclude that the Muslim world has a new leader. Bin Laden, a myth. Obama to power.

A "racist" on the Supreme Court? No way. But a "pro-life racist"? That's a different story
By Simon Maloy

Kicking off the second hour, Rush had just a couple more things to say about Lara Logan, Obama, and the Muslim world. Rush wanted to know what, exactly, are the hopes of the Muslim world that they've now invested in Obama. Does it have something to do with Israel? Do they just want their cut of the stimulus money? Do they want shovel-ready jobs? And so forth.

Rush then said: "Obama said that the United States could be considered a Muslim country. There are 1.6 million Muslims in this country, less than one percent of the population. Now what is going on? I mean, he lies about something that is easily demonstrated to be false. This is an out-and-out lie." Here's the thing -- Obama didn't say that, as we've noted here at Media Matters. We'll let Greg Sargent explain what's up: "Hard-core rhetoricians will note that Obama was employing an obscure tense known as the 'conditional,' and an arcane rhetorical device known as a 'hypothetical.' He said that if you were to take the number of Muslims in America, then one could see America as ranking up there with other Muslim countries -- in numerical, hypothetical terms." Anyway, Rush was nonetheless upset that the "state-run media" is not challenging Obama on this.

Rush then moved on to health care, reading extensively from a Wall Street Journal editorial this morning headlined "Why the Health Care Rush?" One reason for the rush, said ... um ... Rush, is that when people find out about what they're proposing, they won't support it. Rush said this harkens back to the day when the Democrats had huge majorities in Congress and they shut Republicans out of everything. Rush also said that the bill will tax health care benefits, pointing to a Washington Post story on Obama's "pivot" on that issue. Rush explained: "If they get -- if the Democrats get national health care, the concept of individual freedom and liberty will have been obliterated. The will be able -- Washington, government state and local -- will be able to regulate every facet of our behavior under the guise that it is -- has some kind of a cost impact on health care." It's impossible to exaggerate that point, Rush said, and eventually the quality of health care is going to hit the sewer.

Rush linked this to a story on "cell phone elbow," saying that maybe they will regulate your use of the phone and fine you if you are caught. Think of the most illogical, irrational example, Rush said, and it could come true.

After the break, Rush took a call from a gentleman explaining that in his office, if he or any of his employees made a mistake 60 percent of the time, they'd be fired. So why, continued the caller, would any senator or congressman vote for Sotomayor if that's her record? The caller was referring to Sotomayor's 60 percent "reversal rate" in the Supreme Court. Now, there are two paths Rush could have taken here. One, he could have gently corrected the caller and explained to him that members of the House of Representatives don't vote on presidential nominations. Two, he could have explained to the caller that a 60 percent reversal rate isn't actually that high, or that the statistic itself isn't that honest, or that by using the same metric, Samuel Alito's reversal rate was 100 percent. Instead, Rush said that judges' records aren't what the left looks at. She's a mirror image of Obama, that's why she was appointed. It's not about her record, it's about what they hope she will do, said Rush.

After another break, Rush aired an audio byte of Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC saying that Rush's comments on Sotomayor and abortion are an indication that he's backing down on the rhetorical front. We had to agree with Rush when he explained the Mitchell that she got it completely wrong. After reading from a New York Times article on how the "federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report ... that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation's civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons," Rush returned to Andrea Mitchell. Apparently Mitchell said that Rush was "eating his words." Rush responded: "Producers for Andrea Mitchell, you need to tell her I have not retracted my charge that she's a racist and a bigot. I have not eaten my words. You're missing the fundamental part of this. Gosh, this is -- she's a pro-life racist and I'm saying if she's a pro-life racist, I may have to change my view. What is so hard -- you know, the state-run media is unbelievable."

There you have it, folks -- Rush Limbaugh says he may be fine and dandy with having a "racist" on the Supreme Court, just so long as she votes to overturn Roe.

Rush then led into the break by airing long sound bytes of NBC's exclusive report on the Obama White House, bragging that he had "flummoxed" the White House all of last Friday with his Sotomayor comments.

After the break, Rush took a call from a woman who said that the thing that bothers her about Sotomayor is that she "brags" about being wise, and the caller had never known any wise person who brags about it. As you consider the irony of this caller saying this while calling into Rush "Half my brain tied behind my back" Limbaugh's show, we'll present Rush's wise response to this question: "She has a fixation on being Latina, Hispanic. It's been counted. Her speech on diversity at Berkeley that has this quote that everybody focused on that was printed by La Raza. Specifically, she mentions 'Latina' 39 times in that speech, 'Hispanic' six times, and 'Puerto Rican' six times. Her Wikipedia entry mentions 'Latino' 30 times, 'Hispanic' 17 times, and 'Puerto Rican' 24 times."

Closing out the hour, Rush took a call from a woman who said she's frustrated with Obama and the media treating them like they're stupid, this "jobs saved" stuff being a fine example. Rush said "saving jobs" is an invented concept. The stimulus package is a scam, Rush said, as is the concept of "jobs saved." The real story is jobs lost. Unemployment numbers hardly get a mention anymore.

Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: If they get -- if the Democrats get national health care, the concept of individual freedom and liberty will have been obliterated. The will be able -- Washington, government state and local -- will be able to regulate every facet of our behavior under the guise that it is -- has some kind of a cost impact on health care.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Producers for Andrea Mitchell, you need to tell her I have not retracted my charge that she's a racist and a bigot. I have not eaten my words. You're missing the fundamental part of this. Gosh, this is -- she's a pro-life racist and I'm saying if she's a pro-life racist, I may have to change my view. What is so hard -- you know, the state-run media is unbelievable.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: She has a fixation on being Latina, Hispanic. It's been counted. Her speech on diversity at Berkeley that has this quote that everybody focused on that was printed by La Raza. Specifically, she mentions "Latina" 39 times in that speech, "Hispanic" six times, and "Puerto Rican" six times. Her Wikipedia entry mentions "Latino" 30 times, "Hispanic" 17 times, and "Puerto Rican" 24 times. Now, I've been on the radio for 20 years, 20-plus years. Quick, Brian, you've been here for about 10 of them. How many times in 10 years have I referred to myself as white? You don't remember -- I don't remember one time referring to myself as white.

America's Truth Rejector

LIMBAUGH: Obama said the United States could be considered a Muslim country. There are 1.6 million Muslims in this country, less than one percent of the population. Now what is going on? I mean, he lies about something that is easily demonstrated to be false. This is an out-and-out lie.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the "red-light express" ghost train
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the final hour a-rollin' with another plug for his interview with Sean Hannity, part one of which will air on Fox News tonight. If you're interested in seeing Rush say what you've already heard him say for the past five months, and seeing Hannity's child-like wonder at it all, we suggest you tune in.

Then Rush noted that CNN conducted another poll on the popularity of the country's Republican head honchos, and that Rush came in at 30 percent. Rush was pleased with this number: "[T]his is not bad for a Muslim nation, folks. For a guy like me to have 30 percent approval in a Muslim country, I'll take that any day. Well, that's what Obama said. He went over there and he said that the United States is a Muslim country." Once again, that's not what Obama said. Not even close.

Anyway, after attacking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as "ignorant" for saying that he hasn't read any of Judge Sotomayor's opinions, Rush read extensively from a Bloomberg commentary piece, "As GM Goes So Goes California in Pensions." Rush said this is excellent stuff, and that California, like GM, has pension problems "out the wazoo." Rush said he doesn't know what the solution to all this is -- no, wait, he does know. Rush said the solution, for GM, anyway, was a standardized Chapter 11 bankruptcy, not one run by and for the government. The point is that there is some common sense here, said Rush -- when you promise to pay people who are no longer working and they live longer, the system that does that is going to collapse. Rush then asked us to suppose that someone pays you to not work -- at what point would you say this is not right? It can't last, said Rush, so the lesson here is that this was destined to happen after a certain number of years and a predictable market decline. We guess Rush believes that pensions and employer contributions to 401(k)s are all recipes for disaster, or maybe it's just the concept of retirement altogether that annoys Rush.

Then Rush noted that Ben Bernanke "said large U.S. budget deficits threaten financial stability." Rush was upset that Bernanke is warning us "after it's done." This is going to be laid on Bush, Rush said, because Bush gets blamed for everything. What this means, said Rush, is major tax increases for everybody, including your health care benefits, and a lowering of the mortgage interest deduction. They're going to need money, Rush explained, because they are monetizing our debt and have already taken the income of people not yet born.

After the break, Rush was up in arms about a Wired.com story on how the "Earth could be habitable for another 2.3 billion years, extending previous estimates of life's horizon by more than 1 billion years." Rush said that if the planet's life expectancy has been extended, can we please start talking about drilling for oil? Rush also wondered what this will do to the global warming types who say we're going to destroy the planet by the middle of the century.

This story proved to be the breaking point for Rush -- and frankly, we thought we'd lose it before he did:

LIMBAUGH: I'll tell you, you know, the news today, this whole news day, I won't be surprised if I wake up in a moment and this whole thing's a dream, that it's a nightmare -- that I did not do the interview with Sean Hannity; that Barack Obama did not say America is a Muslim nation; that Lara Logan did not say that the Muslim world's hopes reside on the shoulders of one man; that Newsweek did not say that Osama bin Laden is a myth, that he's not important anymore. And when you take those two things together, what you have here -- state-controlled CBS, state-controlled Newsweek have made Obama the titular head of the Muslim world. It used to Obama that inspired -- Osama, but now it's Obama. And then, if their hopes, the Muslim world's hopes rest on his shoulders, what are their hopes? They want their share of the stimulus. Do they want new little cars? Or do they want no Israel to exist? What are their hopes? This has to be a dream. I know I'm going to wake up and I'm not going to believe any of this really happened and I'm going to be relieved that it didn't.

After the break, Rush said that whatever he's doing is "working like a charm," because MSNBC was doing a segment on Rush "eating his words" over Sotomayor, and talking to Sen. Barbara Boxer about it. Rush then read extensively from Thomas Sowell's column this morning -- lamentably side-stepping Sowell's falsehood about Sotomayor -- saying that Sowell made an "excellent point." He didn't tell us what that "excellent point" was, so we were left guessing.

Then he moved on to a spittle-flecked harangue about how Dick Morris and Diana West had uncovered something about the State Department agreeing to the Saudi government's request to have journalists confined to their hotels during the president's visit to the country. Rush noted that Michael Scherer of Time also wrote about it, and Scherer seems to indicate that the whole thing was a misunderstanding, but Rush was nonetheless outraged that Obama and the press would agree to such restrictions.

One more break and Rush took a call from a man explaining that Nevada's first stimulus project was under way -- a tourist railroad to "the brothels." The caller said it was the "red-light express" that Fox News talked about. Rush, as you might expect, centered much of his response around the word "stimulus." Now, we hadn't heard anything about Fox News and the "red-light express" for a few months now, largely because the last time they started talking about it, the whole idea was revealed to be 100 percent untrue. What's more, the Republican congressman from whom this allegation emerged reportedly acknowledged that it isn't true. So unless something's changed in the past three months and the stimulus bill was retroactively amended to include money for trains to "the brothels," we're going to go ahead and say this one is still 100 percent false.

Rush closed out the show with a call from an man who said that if he walked around talking up his ethnic background like Sotomayor does, it wouldn't get him anywhere. Rush once again said Sotomayor is "obsessed" with and "fixated" on her ethnicity, as evidenced by her ... Wikipedia page.

And that's all, folks. We're tempted to send an e-mail over to MSNBC telling them that they're missing the boat on this Limbaugh/Sotomayor stuff -- he isn't eating his words, he's saying that a racist Supreme Court justice would be acceptable so long as he or she is pro-life. We're sure even Rush would thank us for clearing up that confusion. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then, you have eyes and we have Limbaugh Archives, and we think they were made for each other.

Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: I'll tell you, you know, the news today, this whole news day, I won't be surprised if I wake up in a moment and this whole thing's a dream, that it's a nightmare -- that I did not do the interview with Sean Hannity; that Barack Obama did not say America is a Muslim nation; that Lara Logan did not say that the Muslim world's hopes reside on the shoulders of one man; that Newsweek did not say that Osama bin Laden is a myth, that he's not important anymore. And when you take those two things together, what you have here -- state-controlled CBS, state-controlled Newsweek have made Obama the titular head of the Muslim world. It used to Obama that inspired -- Osama, but now it's Obama. And then, if their hopes, the Muslim world's hopes rest on his shoulders, what are their hopes? They want their share of the stimulus. Do they want new little cars? Or do they want no Israel to exist? What are their hopes? This has to be a dream. I know I'm going to wake up and I'm not going to believe any of this really happened and I'm going to be relieved that it didn't.

America's Truth Rejector

LIMBAUGH: If 30 percent of the country likes me or approves of me -- or at least in their poll -- that makes me more popular than most Americans. You got that -- this is not bad for a Muslim nation, folks. For a guy like me to have 30 percent approval in a Muslim country, I'll take that any day. Well, that's what Obama said. He went over there and he said that the United States is a Muslim country. Now here I've got 30 percent approval in a Muslim country -- I'll take it.