This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by America's new headless working class
By Simon Maloy

We sometimes present ourselves as master prognosticators, able to predict exactly what Rush will talk about on any given day. But we'll let you in on a secret -- it's really not that hard. Anyone who experiences Rush's show everyday via the Dittocam, as we do, will notice the rather large computer screen to El Rushbo's right. And even with the sub-optimal resolution of the Dittocam, one can clearly see which website is more often than not displayed on that screen: The Drudge Report. That's the big secret, ladies and gents -- Rush Limbaugh turns over most of his programming decisions to Matt Drudge. So when one roams over to The Drudge Report and sees the type of bold red headline he has up right now -- "TERRIFYING 57% TAX LOOMS FOR BIGGEST EARNERS IN NYC" -- it's a pretty safe bet to say that Rush is going to talk about this. And when you factor in Rush's well-established ire over New York City's tax rates, you can pretty much consider it a lock. And whenever higher taxes for the wealt... -- sorry, the "achiever class" -- come up, you can almost guarantee that we'll be treated to yet another extended dissertation on the miracle of supply-side economics and the genius of Ronald Reagan (who actually raised taxes, but we're not supposed to talk about that).

Rush got things rolling this afternoon by saying that he'll be out tomorrow, but just tomorrow, so it's "Open Line Friday!" on Thursday. Rush then said he's been watching Sotomayor hearings, and the Republicans have blown a couple of things, but they're doing a generally good job exposing her for who she is -- someone who doesn't have the guts to admit that she's a full-blown liberal radical. And this woman butchers the English language, said Rush. But he's been watching these hearings and everything has been laid out, and transparency has not helped Sotomayor, the Democrats, or President Obama.

Rush then lamented that the days when you could watch legislation being crafted on C-SPAN are over, saying that there are never any hearings or debates on legislation anymore, and it's all taking place behind closed doors "because it's so ugly." Case in point for Rush was -- and remember we called it -- the New York Post article Drudge linked to documenting how Obama's health care bill is "going to kill New York City." If every newspaper around the country would publish a chart like this, said Rush, it would go a long way toward stopping this thing. After reciting every fact and figure from the chart, Rush said that there is a tipping point where people are just going to stop working because it isn't worth it. Rush added: "This is the greatest illustration of the whole purpose of the Obama administration: return the nation's wealth to its so-called rightful owners -- the people that haven't earned it, the people who haven't tried to earn it. They are the minorities, the victims, the poor. And this is to chop the head off of the people who make this country work."

Leading into the break, Rush repeated that there's a tipping point at which people say "what's the point," and "they" -- the Democrats, we guess -- are doing this by design. Rush said you can't possibly predict what's going to happen in the economy until you figure out what's going to be enacted, adding, "I can tell you if this gets enacted, there's no growth. There will not be any economic growth. And I'm telling you, that's the design."

After the break, Rush treated us to some "fascinating data" in the latest Gallup poll, which found that Mitt Romney leads the pack among Republicans for the 2012 presidential nomination. The "real news" in the poll, said Rush, is the favorable ratings of the current leading contenders. Sarah Palin's is at 72 percent. Do you know what this means? The media and the Democrats are trying to destroy Sarah Palin, said Rush, which means they're telling us who they're most afraid of. Rush put this 72 percent in perspective -- name any Republican or conservative who had a 72 percent approval rating after their life had been under assault for an entire year. This is not going to sit well with the elite, country-club bluebloods in the Republican Party, said Rush, who also had a message for all the "wimpy" Republicans who want a candidate that the media like -- you would be guaranteeing a Republican defeat.

Another break and Rush was back saying that we now know, thanks to the New York Post, that the utter destruction of the United States private sector will result from Obama's health care bill, and so this is it for the Republican Party. If they can't stand up unified to oppose this as an economic disaster, said Rush, then they should find another reason to exist. Sadly, said Rush, there are some in the GOP, like Colin Powell, who think we should be paying more taxes, but this is a golden opportunity for conservatives and Republicans.

Rush then said that Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) was tying Sotomayor in knots this morning by zeroing in on Ricci. She said she was relying on precedent, and Kyl asked, "What precedent?" She supposedly muddled the answer, said Rush, and Kyl scored some points. Rush then wanted to play sound bites of Sotomayor "butchering" the English language. Rush said it's "fine and dandy" to "butcher" the language, but you wouldn't know about it if it weren't for Rush. But if it's "fine and dandy" to "butcher" the English language, then why exactly should we care that Rush is bringing this to our attention? Well, Rush got around to that, airing sound bites of Sotomayor committing some not-particularly-egregious mispronunciations, and saying that we were told this woman worked hard and is "brilliant," but you don't find too many brilliant people making these sorts of mistakes. In fact, in claiming that Sotomayor had misused the word "providence," Rush explained that providence is a city in Rhode Island, as well as the record wine collectors keep to verify the history of a bottle of wine.  Um... actually, Rush, that would be provenance. As if it weren't painfully clear, this was just a lame attempt to reinforce the right-wing smear that Sotomayor is too stupid to be a Supreme Court justice.

Then Rush managed to take things down a couple more notches, as he reiterated his theory that the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are feeding Sotomayor their questions ahead of time. Rush linked this to Sen. Al Franken's (D-MN) questioning of Sotomayor on Perry Mason: "She knew this was coming. How in the world -- if I'm a Supreme Court nominee, and some clown senator asks me about -- the last thing I'm gonna do to prep for my hearing and confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court is for me to answer a question about Perry Mason, a TV series back in the '50s." And, of course, any mention of Sen. Franken sends Rush flying right off the handle in ways most amusing: "She knows the questions coming from the Democrats, even from that clown, Senator Franken, who stole a Senate seat. It's amazing. It's a great country. They recount the votes in Iran in a conflict over there and Ahmadinejad gets more votes than he had in the original vote -- why, just like in this country. Franken's 250 votes short; by the time, they finished, he's 250 votes long."

Leading into the break, Rush said that the media think that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has become a "puppet" of his. Graham has spent a lot of time since he teamed up with Sen. John McCain trying to earn the respect of the media by disagreeing with Republicans and conservatives, said Rush, but, even after all that, the media still think he's a tool of Rush. And the liberals saying that Graham is a slave to Rush may have gotten to him, because, this morning, he praised Sotomayor. Rush then teased the next hour, saying "we've got the audio sound bites -- a couple of audio sound bites of unhappy leftist legal beagles with Sotomayor's unwillingness to come forth and be an honest Commie babe."

Rush closed out the hour with his first caller of "Open Line Friday!" on Thursday, a woman who always thought that Rush was a loud-mouthed idiot, but when she saw his CPAC speech, she was converted. Rush said he's not surprised that she was converted by the speech, but what did she believe prior to that? The caller said she works in law, so she's surrounded by Democrats and liberals, and she only saw Rush through the media filter. Rush said he got an email today from a guy who said that, yesterday, he finally convinced his girlfriend to listen to Rush, and she was turned off because Rush was talking about Obama throwing like a girl. Caller said Obama does throw like a girl, and they need to get him into some manly sports because, now, he looks like an idiot instead of just sounding like one. Rush, as you might suspect, loved the call.

Greg Lewis and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Folks, if you have never believed me, believe me now. This is the greatest illustration of the whole purpose of the Obama administration: return the nation's wealth to its so-called rightful owners -- the people that haven't earned it, the people who haven't tried to earn it. They are the minorities, the victims, the poor. And this is to chop the head off of the people who make this country work. That's the purpose of this.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: This is why I said, yesterday, that you cannot -- any economic forecast -- gross domestic product, unemployment, whatever -- you're going to forecast the future of the country, you can't possibly predict it with any certainty at all unless you know what this kind of stuff -- how much of this kind of stuff is gonna be enacted. And I can tell you if this gets enacted, there's no growth. There will not be any economic growth. And I'm telling you, that's the design.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: She knew this was coming. How in the world -- if I'm a Supreme Court nominee, and some clown senator asks me about -- the last thing I'm gonna do to prep for my hearing and confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court is for me to answer a question about Perry Mason, a TV series back in the '50s.

Enemies list

Sen. Franken's victory is clearly still gnawing at Rush:

LIMBAUGH: She knows. She knows the questions coming from the Democrats, even from that clown, Senator Franken, who stole a Senate seat. It's amazing. It's a great country. They recount the votes in Iran in a conflict over there and Ahmadinejad gets more votes than he had in the original vote -- why, just like in this country. Franken's 250 votes short; by the time, they finished, he's 250 votes long.

"Socialism" watch

LIMBAUGH: She said that phrase four or five times over a period of as many years in various speeches. It's not subject to misinterpretation; it's who she is. And I gotta take a break, but we've got the audio sound bites -- a couple of audio sound bites of unhappy leftist legal beagles with Sotomayor's unwillingness to come forth and be an honest Commie babe.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by all the "babes" in the media
By Greg Lewis

Rush welcomed us to the second hour of "Open Line Friday!" on Thursday with the news that Mark Davis will be filling in for him tomorrow. Rush then went back to Sotomayor's "butchering" of the English language, which he said was important because she's a judge about to sit on the Supreme Court. Rush again went though Sotomayor's -- as Simon would say -- "not-particularly-egregious mispronunciations." It was not insignificant, Rush said, because any Republican nominee making these sorts of mistakes would be disqualified.

Then Rush gloated about Sen. Jon Kyl's questioning of Sotomayor, in which he pushed her on her use of precedent in the Ricci case. Rush declared that there was "no precedence" in the case and that Kyl "nailed her" on that.

Rush moved on to liberals who are supposedly "unhappy" with Sotomayor hiding her identity during the confirmation hearings. His first example was "babe" Dahlia Lithwick on MSNBC yesterday, who argued that Democrats should not be embracing the logic of the Roberts court during the hearings. Rush said this was "fascinating stuff" because liberals are winning everything, and they're going to get Sotomayor confirmed, but this Lithwick "babe" was upset because in order for the hearings to go smoothly, Sotomayor had to lie about who she is. "It's fascinating to listen to these people, because, normally, they're all about doing whatever you have to do to win -- lie, cheat, ACORN, whatever you have to do to win. This Lithwick babe is not happy with the way they're winning."

The next "liberal" on Rush's radar was Washington Post Magazine contributing editor Cathy Areu, who, on CNN last night, said that Sotomayor wouldn't back off her "wise Latina" remark if she could say what she really thought, and would expand it to say that any Latina would reach a better decision than a white man. Rush said Areu would say that a "stupid Latina" would make a better decision than your average white guy.

After the break, Rush touched on the controversy over "science czar" John Holdren, reading from a David Freddoso column in the Washington Examiner. Holdren co-authored a book in 1977 that touched on issues such as abortion and sterilization for population control. Rush linked this to the falsehood that Ruth Bader Ginsburg "admitted" that the left "looks at" abortion as "a population control measure." Rush went on to declare that Obama's pick of Holdren shows the "shear radical nature" of this man, saying, "This is who Obama is." So Rush would have us believe that Obama, in choosing his science adviser, went back to something controversial Holdren co-wrote 30 years ago about population control, figured that it synced up nicely with his own worldview, and brought him on as science adviser. It's insane, folks. John Holdren is a respected figure within the scientific community with a list of achievements most academics would love to have. You can believe that, or you can believe that the president of the United States is hell-bent on culling the U.S. population.

Then Rush read from a Washington Post article about who would control Medicare reimbursement under health care reform. Rush said that Rahm Emanuel was surely "engaging in thug behavior" to ensure that the White House took total control of Medicare reimbursement away from Congress. Right before going to commercial, Rush teased an "explosive" story coming up in the next segment.

Rush's "explosive" story turned out to be an Investor's Business Daily editorial, which Rush read from at length. The editorial declared that the House health care bill would make individual private medical insurance "illegal." Rush said this is a "horror story" and that's why they're trying to push this through. This claim by Rush and IBD is flagrantly false -- unbelievably, ridiculously, and audaciously wrong, and it should be patently obvious that this is wrong, but we guess we have to explain it anyway. The tiny bit of text the IBD editorial excerpted from the bill refers to a specific subset of health insurance coverage that the bill refers to as "grandfathered health insurance coverage." The text of the bill the IBD excerpted states that a coverage plan can only be considered a "grandfathered" plan if the insurer doesn't enroll anyone in that plan after the bill takes effect. That's it. If you don't believe us, read the bill yourself -- it's all right there on page 16. Nowhere in the bill does it say that "individual private medical insurance" is "illegal." If that were the case, why would the bill, on page 15, establish quality standards for "health insurance coverage offered in the individual market or large or small group market"?

Anyway, Rush continued by harping on the idea that newspapers in other cities need to run charts like the one in today's New York Post so that people will understand how much health care reform will cost them. Somehow, Rush got sidetracked from here into talking about Twitter, telling his audience that he's not actually on Twitter, but there are a lot of fake Limbaughs out there: the Twittoheads. We at the Limbaugh Wire hope you're not being fooled by some of the "fake" fake Limbaughs on Twitter. There's only one true "Fake Limbaugh," and we hope you're keeping tabs on him.

Anyway, Rush moved onto the Drudge-flagged story about the $700,000 Social Security Administration function in Phoenix, saying that it is proper to be outraged about it, and that it is as easy to understand as the House bank scandal. And as expected, he made the whole thing about communism:

LIMBAUGH: The interesting thing here about all of this -- this is more and more like the Politburo each and every day. The Politburo had its hierarchy of leaders from the premier, president, on down, to these clowns in the Kremlin. They all had their dachas -- their houses out there -- their girls, their liquor, and so forth. People in the country couldn't find food in the stores. Now, we've got these people in Washington who are treating the U.S. Treasury as a personal piggy bank to go party.

Rush continued with "Open Line Friday!" on Thursday after the break, with a caller who mumbled something about the chart in the Post. Rush told the caller his objective was for people to find out what Rush has been saying for weeks, and to get that message out before Democrats get their health care reform and cap and trade through Congress. His objective, he said, is to stop this.

Simon Maloy, Zachary Pleat, and Ariana Probinsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: It's fascinating to listen to these people, because, normally, they're all about doing whatever you have to do to win -- lie, cheat, ACORN, whatever you have to do to win. This Lithwick babe is not happy with the way they're winning.

"Socialism" watch

LIMBAUGH: The interesting thing here about all of this -- this is more and more like the Politburo each and every day. The Politburo had its hierarchy of leaders from the premier, president, on down, to these clowns in the Kremlin. They all had their dachas -- their houses out there -- their girls, their liquor, and so forth. People in the country couldn't find food in the stores. Now, we've got these people in Washington who are treating the U.S. Treasury as a personal piggy bank to go party.

America's Truth Rejector

Rush echoed falsehood about Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg's views on abortion as population control:

LIMBAUGH: So, abortion is a population control measure, exactly as Ruth "Buzzy" Ginsburg admitted last week in The Washington Post -- well, wait, maybe it was The New York Times. But it is what the left looks at it as: a population control measure.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Contessa Brewer, MSNBC's "most qualified jock"
By Greg Lewis

The final hour of this week's last Limbaugh-hosted Rush Limbaugh Show began much like the second -- with more about Sonia Sotomayor's "butchering" of the English language. After reminding the audience by playing her not-particularly-egregious mispronunciations for a third time, Rush again said that if the nominee were Republican, the media would be all over it.

Shifting back to health care, Rush referred to an AP article about how the House bill would make health care a right, and highlighted a Hot Air blog post by Ed Morrissey contesting this assertion. Rush then went on to explain his interpretation of rights in the Declaration of Independence. "You can't take these away. Rights can't be taken away: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness," he said. But, apparently, in Rush's mind, Democrats don't believe in these rights:

LIMBAUGH: Democrats oppose all three of those, by the way, right now. Democrats are miserable. They don't want anybody pursuing happiness. They're trying to destroy that. Liberty? That's under assault; and life, of course, is, too. So, a right, as we all know, has one key characteristic: It can't be taken away ever. That's exactly what the Democrat-sponsored bill on health care would ensure.

Rush must have felt like he wanted to give us a break, because he then went on to talk at length about the golfing trip he took last week. Luckily for us, and all of you, we don't feel compelled to recap.

After the break, "Open Line Friday!" on Thursday marched on, with a caller asking Rush where the "white males" who are offended by Sotomayor's comments are. Rush said he's more amused than offended by Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comment, and what anger he feels stems from what that statement says about Sotomayor and how she views this country. Rush doesn't take it personally -- "she's the idiot."

After a quick plug for Heritage, Rush took another caller, who compared Sotomayor to Trent Lott. Rush said that, according to Jesse Jackson, minorities can't be racist because they don't have power to act upon their racism. This will never stop, said Rush, because minorities will never proclaim that the field has been leveled.

Then it was on to Vice President Biden's latest "gaffe." Apparently in his speech today, Biden told the audience to "look around you" for evidence that Obama's economic plans have worked. Rush didn't really explain how this was a gaffe, but Drudge is flagging the story, so we guess Rush was just taking cues from his program director.

Rush returned from another commercial time-out to flag a heated exchange between Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and the chair of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Rush "translated" what was going on: Boxer was stunned because she's not used to people calling her a racist. Then Rush noted recent layoffs at Cisco and Harley Davidson as a riposte to Biden's claim that the stimulus is working.

Rush went on to talk baseball, going on for several minutes about Hall of Famer Stan Musial being ignored during the All-Star pregame ceremonies, peppering the tale with some Dizzy Dean anecdotes. The baseball discussion of course led Rush back to Obama's "girly throw" at the All-Star Game and the media's coverage of it. Rush said that it was only after he had the "temerity" to ask why Obama "got booed" that the media -- like CNN's Campbell Brown -- have started questioning it. He then played a clip from MSNBC, in which its "most qualified jock," Contessa Brewer, defended the president and the ability of girls to throw in general. Rush had one more thing to say about the throwing abilities of women after the final break:

LIMBAUGH: This business about, "have I ever seen a girl throw?" Can I tell you how many vases have been thrown at me? I've seen it I don't know how many times.

El Rushbo went on to air audio of "liberal" Mort Zuckerman and Arthur Laffer from The Kudlow Report earlier this week. Rush said it is beginning to dawn on Zuckerman that Obama is not creating jobs. Meanwhile, Laffer explained that we have spent or printed the equivalent of a year and a half of federal tax revenue, so we should just return it to the people as a tax break instead of spending it. Rush added that anybody with "any sanity or a modicum of education" knows that every aspect of Obama's economic plan is a "designed disaster," comparing it to the "controlled crash" that an incapacitated airplane might go through.

That concludes Rush's involvement in this week's programming. And as it concerns Mark Davis filling in tomorrow, all we can say is: at least it's not Mark Steyn. Why do we hold that opinion? Well, the Limbaugh Wire archives hold the answer to that question, as well as the answers to many of life's Limbaugh mysteries. Go check 'em out when you get a chance.

Simon Maloy, Zachary Pleat, and Ariana Probinsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: A right, as we all know, has one key characteristic. This is what is so brilliant and unique about our founding documents. The Declaration of Independence: "We're all endowed by our Creator" -- not our government; not our family -- "We're endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights." You can't take these away. Rights can't be taken away: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.

Democrats oppose all three of those, by the way, right now. Democrats are miserable. They don't want anybody pursuing happiness. They're trying to destroy that. Liberty? That's under assault; and life, of course, is, too. So, a right, as we all know, has one key characteristic: It can't be taken away ever. That's exactly what the Democrat-sponsored bill on health care would ensure.

Ladies' man

LIMBAUGH: This business about, "have I ever seen a girl throw?" Can I tell you how many vases have been thrown at me? I've seen it I don't know how many times.