This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by "Barack Nifong"
By Greg Lewis

One point of criticism often made by Rush and other conservatives is that enacting health care reform would make our current economic situation worse. Here at the Limbaugh Wire, we've pushed back on this idea several times, most recently during yesterday's show, making the point that our health care woes are inextricably tied to the economy. Well, now, Business Week -- which "isn't exactly a bastion of diehard commies" as The Plum Line's Greg Sargent points out -- has reported on a new study by the nonprofit Rand Corporation, which links "the rapid growth in U.S. health care costs to job losses and lower output," thereby "giv[ing] weight to President Barack Obama's dire warnings about the impact of rising costs if Congress does not enact health care reform." It's worth a read, at least so you can get your dose of sanity before Rush kicks off "Open Line Friday!"

Rush got things started today by telling his audience not to worry or panic -- he promised he wouldn't be "distracted" from health care by the "Gates thing." And for the first few minutes, he delivered on that promise. Rush said that the health care vote in the House was not about the Republicans, because they can't stop this -- the problem is the Blue Dogs. Rush said the Blue Dogs are bothered by Obama's "desire" to take away their power to set Medicare reimbursement fees. Rush also noted Rahm Emanuel's role in the process: "So Rahm Emanuel's been up there, trying to twist some arms, and break some bones, and stab some steaks, and throw around some dead fish."

Rush got a little sidetracked at this point. After explaining why he thought it was more important for health care to get through the House than the Senate before recess -- because these "clowns" will get hell from their constituents -- he moved on to the latest Rasmussen tracking poll, which pegs Obama at 49 percent approval. Then he mentioned the "culture of corruption" in New Jersey in regards to yesterday's big corruption bust.

Having fulfilled his opening promise for a few minutes, Rush moved on to the Henry Louis Gates story. Rush said that Obama's reaction to the story was that of a "community agitator" and an ACORN leader -- ACORN doesn't apologize, said Rush. Then he explained that Obama's "instinctive reaction" to Gates gives us three lessons about who Obama is: 1) Obama's instincts are those of a community organizer, not a president; 2) Obama can sound like he knows what he's talking about, even when he admits he doesn't; and 3) when Obama is faced with a political setback, "he plays the race card." He continued:

LIMBAUGH: This is something I have figured out watching ever since the campaign began. Anybody who wonders what Obama accomplished with that statement had better realize it reduced the focus on his failed before the August recess demand. Now I don't know that he was purposely trying to do that; I think he's genuinely revved up about race. You know me, I think he is genuinely angry in his heart and has been his whole life.

Then Rush played an audio bite from his show from February 2008, in which he predicted that, if elected, Obama's first piece of legislation as president would be something race related, and that any criticism of him would be met with charges of racism by Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Of course, as Rush even admitted, that didn't happen. But he declared that he was correct in predicting that the "race business" wouldn't go away under Obama. Rush said that Obama was fanning the flames of race by calling the police "stupid" and he hoped the Gates incident would "wake up" moderate Obama voters to who Obama really is. Rush described the situation again before going into a break: This is a black president trying to destroy a white policeman when he admitted he didn't know the facts of the case.

After the break, Rush read from a blog post by University of Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse about the Gates incident. Althouse questioned a few details in the reporting of Gates' side of the story. Rush elaborated on the blog post, describing what he would do in a similar situation. He would do everything he could to prove right away that it was his house. Summing up his views on the Gates story, Rush unknowingly summed up our feelings on this monologue: "None of this makes a whole lot of sense."

After another break, Rush was back with some more commentary on the Gates story. Rush guaranteed us that moderates thought racial issues were "over" and stated that Obama could end this story, but "ACORN doesn't apologize."

Moving on for a moment, Rush read from a Human Events article by Connie Hair, in which she accused House Democrats of censoring Republican mail to constituents regarding health care. Rush says this is a perfect illustration of statists and authoritarians.

Back to the Gates story, Rush played the audio of Obama's follow-up comments on the matter during his recent Nightline interview. Rush then made a bold declaration: There is a character in recent news history that reminded him of Obama -- Mike Nifong, the prosecutor in the Duke rape case. Rush said that, just like Nifong, Obama was prejudging without the facts. Rush went on to refer to the president as "Barack Nifong."

After playing some audio of the police officer, James Crowley, defending his actions in the Gates incident, Rush took another look at the facts of the case. Rush noted Gates didn't get shot, didn't get hit, didn't have hate speech hurled at him. Who did the escalating? asked Rush -- Gates did. "Nothing happened to Gates. He got arrested." But he wasn't treated in an abusive fashion, "the cop was."

Rush had a few more things to say on the Gates incident after the next break:

LIMBAUGH: I left something out of the pattern that I have learned watching and studying Obama. And we will know when the heat gets too much to take, we will know when their internal polling on this is disastrous, because, at that point, he will throw Henry Louis Gates overboard, just as he threw his grandmother overboard, just as he threw Reverend Wright overboard, just as he did a Judas on Bill Ayers.

Then Rush kicked off "Open Line Friday!" with a caller who expressed his feeling that Obama was making our intelligence and law enforcement jobs harder with his statements. The caller thought Obama was doing this in order to overturn foundations in society. Rush generally agreed and launched into a rant about how Obama doesn't have admiration for his country, and you never hear him talk about the "greatness of the military" of American exceptionalism. "Chaos is his friend," declared Rush. The next caller had a few things to say about the "decline" at Harvard and blamed Gates, among others. Rush said the call was essentially making the same point as Ann Althouse.

Brian Frederick, Zachary Pleat, and Ariana Probinsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: So Rahm Emanuel's been up there, trying to twist some arms, and break some bones, and stab some steaks, and throw around some dead fish.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: When Obama is faced with a political setback, even one of his own makings, he plays the race card. This is something I have figured out watching ever since the campaign began. Anybody who wonders what Obama accomplished with that statement had better realize it reduced the focus on his failed before the August recess demand.

Now I don't know that he was purposely trying to do that; I think he's genuinely revved up about race. You know me, I think he is genuinely angry in his heart and has been his whole life.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I left something out of the pattern that I have learned watching and studying Obama. And we will know when the heat gets too much to take, we will know when their internal polling on this is disastrous, because, at that point, he will throw Henry Louis Gates overboard, just as he threw his grandmother overboard, just as he threw Reverend Wright overboard, just as he did a Judas on Bill Ayers -- "I don't know the guy. He lives in the neighborhood."

Whenever the heat gets so hot, he'll throw these clowns overboard. He'll call Gates, "Look, I gotta throw you overboard, buddy. You know, I'll make it up to you somehow, but I gotta throw you overboard." And Gates will go out, "I understand. The president has to be a politician." Just like Reverend Wright said. Reverend Wright said, "Well, here, look it, he's gotta do these kinds -- he had to throw me overboard, he's a politician. He's gotta do it. He can't be who he really is."

That's exactly right, except he is being who he is; you just need somebody to translate it for you. So, look for sometime next week, Gates -- Henry Louis Gates -- distinguished professor, African-American Studies at Harvard, to be thrown overboard by the White House, by Obama.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the killing of old people to save money on Social Security conspiracy theory
By Greg Lewis

The second hour began with Rush bringing up a prescient story -- Rolling Stone magazine reporting that Michael Jackson's prosthetic nose is missing.

Let's try this again. "Substantively" (it's all relative on The Rush Limbaugh Show) the hour began with Rush reading a Fox News article about Obama saying that "victory" is not necessarily a goal in Afghanistan. Rush wondered what kind of perspective Obama must have if he's worried about using the word "victory." Then Rush presented us with his "Limbaugh Doctrine": You don't get peace until there is victory.

After briefly mentioning the latest Rasmussen tracking poll again, Rush read from a Chicago Sun-Times article describing the president's congratulatory phone call to Mark Buerhle of the Chicago White Sox, who pitched a perfect game on Thursday, which led to more inane discussion about Obama's "girly toss" at the All-Star Game.

But it was back to more health care discussion after that, with Rush again claiming that Obama doesn't know the "specifics" of the bill. Rush then talked about Rahm Emanuel and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) trying to get a vote through the House before the August recess and members of Congress getting "hell" from their constituents during the recess. Rush added that the media have given up all their integrity to be stenographers for the Obama White House.

After the break, Rush mentioned that Texas Gov. Rick Perry might invoke the 10th Amendment to resist health care reform. Rush all but cheered this on.

"Open Line Friday!" rolled on with a caller who said Obama had the "audacity" to say Gates was acting stupidly for "responding" to the situation. The caller added that he was embarrassed for the rest of the world over this. Rush said the root problem is that Gates was upset because he is highly distinguished and yet the cop didn't know who he was; he then commented on Gates' out of control ego. After some discussion of mug shots, Rush said that "before Obama's through," "we're all gonna have a mug shot one way or the other."

The next caller was a 12-year-old who wanted to know why Obama doesn't lower taxes instead of raising them. Rush invoked the Declaration of Independence:

LIMBAUGH: The Declaration of Independence has this phrase in it: "We are all endowed by our Creator" -- God -- "with certain unalienable rights," among them life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. Now, those rights, granted by God and assumed to exist in all human beings by our Founders, present a problem and a threat to liberal Democrats like President Obama. The biggest problem President Obama has is the liberty and freedom of the people of this country.

As the call continued through a commercial break, it could best be described as the same rant about taxes and fairness we've heard so many times before, except he took a much slower pace, presumably so the youngster he was lecturing could better understand.

The next caller was concerned that government health care would result in people telling her what kind of care she could and could not receive, and that it would just result in them counseling her on how to die. After Rush brought up Betsy McCaughey's ace opinionating on the health care bill, the call took a rather strange turn toward conspiracy theories:

CALLER: Also, Rush, you know what I really believe? I believe they're trying to get rid of the old people so they can insure the illegal aliens for their voting base.

LIMBAUGH: Well, it -- you know, we can guess what they're doing. I mean, there are a number of theories. Let's just take your -- let's take your proposition and discuss it hypothetically. They want to get rid of the old people. I think it's fairly clear from looking at details in their plan that they are not going to provide life-saving health care for people with certain diseases at a certain age because of cost.

Rush further delved into his conspiracy theory:

LIMBAUGH: Now, from that can we project that they want old people to die? Now let's hypothetically say, "Yeah, they want old people to die." Then, OK -- why? Well, I can think of two reasons: a) it would free up a whole lot of money to spend buying votes elsewhere. Secondly, it would save a whole lot on Social Security.

People don't want to believe this, said Rush, but the caller and Rush both believed it -- it's in the bills, said Rush.

Then Rush blathered some more about his interview with Greta van Susteren, teasing Part 2 of the interview tonight. Then Rush got to a point that he regretted not bringing up during his interview: the history of the world is dictatorship and totalitarianism. Right in front of your eyes, you're losing your freedom -- that's what they're trying to do with health care reform.

After another break, Rush commented on the Cambridge police press conference, saying that they were demanding an apology from "Barack Nifong."

Brian Frederick, Zachary Pleat, and Ariana Probinsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Now he's running around complaining that he's got a mug shot, and that the mug shot's gonna be all over the -- well, join the club, pal. Join the -- I mean, you know, our local paper here -- do you ever go to the Palm Beach Post website? Well, you ought to one day. At the top of the website, before there's any news, before there is any pictures, just up there, you know, with the top headline band with the weather forecast and current conditions, two mug shots: the latest arrests at the Palm Beach County jail. And you can click on it -- see mug shots.

It's everybody, I mean -- before Obama's through, folks, we're all gonna have a mug shot one way or the other.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The Declaration of Independence has this phrase in it: "We are all endowed by our Creator" -- God -- "with certain unalienable rights," among them life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. Now, those rights, granted by God and assumed to exist in all human beings by our Founders, present a problem and a threat to liberal Democrats like President Obama. The biggest problem President Obama has is the liberty and freedom of the people of this country.

[...]

CALLER: Also, Rush, you know what I really believe? I believe they're trying to get rid of the old people so they can insure the illegal aliens for their voting base.

LIMBAUGH: Well, it -- you know, we can guess what they're doing. I mean, there are a number of theories. Let's just take your -- let's take your proposition and discuss it hypothetically. They want to get rid of the old people. I think it's fairly clear from looking at details in their plan that they are not going to provide life-saving health care for people with certain diseases at a certain age because of cost.

Now, from that can we project that they want old people to die? Now let's hypothetically say, "Yeah, they want old people to die." Then, OK -- why? Well, I can think of two reasons: a) it would free up a whole lot of money to spend buying votes elsewhere. Secondly, it would save a whole lot on Social Security.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by another hour of childish name-calling
By Greg Lewis

Rush got the final hour of the week going by accusing the White House of turning the Gates incident into something "totally political." He singled out press secretary Robert Gibbs for saying that the Cambridge police wanted Obama to apologize because the Fraternal Order of Police voted for Sen. John McCain. "That's the same thing as saying, 'Of course, those cops are white.' " Rush continued, saying that the White House knows it's in trouble, which is why Obama is "doubling down" on the race card. "He started this," declared Rush.

Rush also noted that Obama said it would be ridiculous to arrest a middle-aged man and wondered if you could apply the same logic to the Holocaust Museum shooting -- would it have been ridiculous to arrest the old man who was the shooter? (Your guess is as good as ours.)

In Obama's way of thinking, pondered Rush, "these cops are just typical white people, right?" Remember when he threw his grandmother "under the bus?" asked Rush. He added: "We're looking at a replay of the Duke lacrosse case here, folks, with Barack Nifong in charge."

After reading about Michael Eric Dyson calling Gates "the Rosa Parks of racial profiling" on MSNBC, and CNN's Tony Harris saying that the police union press conference was "incendiary," it was time for show producer Bo Snerdley -- "officially black enough to criticize" -- to weigh in on the situation. Snerdley basically pointed out a few details in Gates' story that he found problematic and wondered why Colin Powell had yet to chime in on the controversy. Snerdley also explained the differences between the "upper crust" African-Americans and those in cities like Philadelphia and Detroit.

Returning from the commercial break, Rush offered a slight correction for something Snerdley said in the previous segment. Snerdley said there was no racial profiling in Cambridge. Rush said that wasn't true; the racial profiling in Cambridge takes place in the admissions policy at Harvard.

Anyway, "Open Line Friday!" rolled on with Rush taking a caller who seemed genuinely upset that Obama said he didn't want to use the world "victory" for describing the endgame in Afghanistan. Rush told the caller that, everyday, "Barack Fonda" is telling us who he is; today he has been Barack Fonda and Barack Nifong. Everyday he's "Barack Marx," said Rush.

The next caller defended the health insurance business in regards to what Obama had said about it in his presser the other night. Rush explained how Obama said that he was going to squeeze the profits of health insurance companies. To Rush, this was a "denial of liberty" because Obama was putting himself between people and their freedom, using horrible and mean-spirited tactics to do it.

Rush came back from the break wanting to talk about Attorney General Eric Holder's comments from earlier this year, when he said that America is a nation of cowards when it comes to race. However, this plan was quickly derailed when Rush interrupted his program with a live feed of Obama at the daily White House press briefing, in which Obama further commented on Gates. Rush was absolutely exuberant that his prediction turned out to be right -- Obama had thrown Gates "under the bus." As Obama continued to speak, Rush continued to speak over him, interjecting every few moments with jabs aimed at the president mostly pulled from what Rush had been saying during today's show. Rush concluded that Barack Nifong was trying to turn down the volume on the story by throwing Gates under the bus.

As it turns out, maybe Obama's comments had some effect in moving the storyline away from Gates -- after a few more comments about Gates, Rush pivoted back to discussing health care. He read from a couple of Associated Press reports on some of the hurdles health care reform faces in the House, adding that this has not been a "smooth week" for President Nifong.

One more break, and Rush came back with a plug for the Heritage Foundation, reading from the group's blog post this morning about the recent increase in the minimum wage. He then appropriately rounded out this "Open Line Friday!" with one more caller, who said he was strongly against health care reform, even though he didn't have health insurance. The caller described his experience living in England for two and a half years, saying that the country's National Health Service didn't allow construction workers to use ladders, and so it prevented him from getting a "decent portion" at fast food joints. We're not sure what the caller was talking about -- some of us here at the Wire have been to England, too, and we have fond memories of stuffing our faces with fish and chips and late-night kebabs.

On that note, we're going to spend the weekend scouring for large portions of fast food before the Brits invade our country and replace all of our McDonald's with liverwurst vendors. We expect Simon to be back on Monday -- his whereabouts are currently unknown. You might find clues to that mystery in our vast Limbaugh Wire archives -- but we make no promises.

Brian Frederick, Zachary Pleat, and Ariana Probinsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: We're looking at a replay of the Duke lacrosse case here, folks, with Barack Nifong in charge.