This hour of the Limbaugh Wire was an exercise in reductio ad hitlerum
By Simon Maloy

You'll have to forgive us, but we're still a little shell-shocked after yesterday's exercise in - well, we're not sure how to describe yesterday's show except to say that it couldn't have been angrier, more mendacious, or more venomous. As such, we can't quite bring ourselves to come up with yet another insightful and incisive intro, so we'll just point this out -- Salon.com's handy-dandy five-point health care bamboozlement takedown is definitely worth a read, particularly for you Limbaugh Wire regulars, as the five lies they take down are the foundation of Rush's anti-health care reform mantra.

Rush got things rolling this afternoon by saying he is happy, honored, and proud to be considered the "Mobfather," the leader of the unruly mobs protesting the health care town halls. It might be helpful to keep a list of all the things these mobs are, said Rush -- right-wing extremists, unruly members of the mob, people who dress too nicely, idiot shills for big insurance, people who are trying to destroy Obama, people who do not like change and want the status quo.

Rush then told us that he isn't an economist, but something with this Associated Press article doesn't make sense. The AP reported: "The number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, the government said Thursday, a sign that the job market is making gradual improvement. Over half a million people lost their jobs, said Rush, and this is being portrayed as good news. Rush, however, zeroed in on this sentence -- "The number of people continuing to claim benefits rose, however, by 69,000 to 6.3 million, after having dropped for three straight weeks -- evidence that job openings remain scarce and the unemployed are having difficulty finding new work" -- to claim that jobless claims were actually higher than the previous week, because you have to add those existing claims to the new claims. Because in Rush's mind, apparently, new jobless claims and existing jobless claims are the same thing. Remember, folks, he told you he's not an economist, so you should trust him on that.

Rush then aired audio of Nancy Pelosi saying that the people protesting the health care town halls are Astroturf, and have been wearing swastikas. She is the Speaker of the House, said Rush, she's very powerful, and now she's running around claiming that we're Nazis! Rush said: "The Speaker of the House accusing people showing up at these town hall meetings of wearing swastikas -- that is not insignificant, folks. That is -- this woman is deranged. They're unraveling, but that is not insignificant. You have the Democrat Speaker of the House saying that people, citizens who are concerned about health care are now wearing swastikas. She's basically saying that we are Nazis." We're going to point out here that Pelosi is right. The teabagger protests at he town hall meetings have been steeped in Nazi imagery, including SS symbols and comparisons of Obama to Hitler and Mengele. But nonetheless, Rush proclaimed this outrageous, and promised to enumerate later on the various ways in which the Democratic Party bears much more resemblance to Nazis than anything the Republicans have ever done. That should be special, and we can't wait for that.

Rush then pointed to the right-wing blog Sweetness & Light, which claimed that it's Obama's health care logo that actually looks like a Nazi symbol. You know, it's amazing how simply slapping a swastika on something makes it look all Nazi-ish -- great catch, Sweetness & Light! In reality, Obama's logo incorporates the caduceus -- the ancient symbol for medicine. If Sweetness & Light want to say that looks Nazi-ish, fine, but that's more the fault of Hippocrates than Obama. Anyway, Rush said that the Obama health care logo is damn close to a Nazi swastika logo, and that Pelosi has some major apologizing to do. Then he ripped of Sweetness & Light's lame joke: "The only excuse - I know that numerous, repeated Botox injections can cause blurry vision. But I don't think Miss Pelosi can use that as an excuse."

Leading into the break, Rush said that Mary Katharine Ham has put together a brilliant piece of work on the Weekly Standard blog demonstrating that the left's "smoking gun" memo on the Astroturfed health care protests is a fraud. It has been literally made up.

After the break, Rush read extensively from Ham's piece. We don't have time to get into the details, but we will make this one point -- Ham's entire piece is based on the erroneous assumption that the FreedomWorks memo is the only piece of evidence that the health care town hall protests are orchestrated. That's not at all true, once you consider that national-level groups the Conservatives for Patients Rights are taking credit for the outrage at these meetings, and that the insurance industry is distributing talking points for use at the meetings, and FreedomWorks is sending out August recess "action kits" on health care town halls.

Then Rush offered another thing he wanted to point out -- we keep talking about Obama's health care plan, but he doesn't even have a plan. The only bill out there is from the House, and Obama doesn't even know what's in it! That's why he doesn't talk about it specifically, that's why he won't debate anyone on it. There is no guiding principle other than make the government bigger, take away liberty, and throw sops to the union bosses and tort lawyers, who are all socialists. This is a circumstance that Rush is ecstatic to see. Community organizers can't bitch when communities organize.

Another break, and Rush came back saying that Obama's poll numbers are "crashing." There is no public furor or support for health care reform, said Rush. How did this happen? Obama's smile is as friendly as ever, he's as cool as ever, the media still love him -- why are his numbers fading? The more he goes on TV and sells it, the more it craters. Why is this happening? Well, he closed Club Gitmo, but it's still open. He got us out of Iraq, but we're still there. He stimulated the economy, but unemployment is going up. He's fading in the polls because people are catching on that he keeps saying things and it's just words. There is no hard evidence to back up anything Obama has said.

Then Rush gave us the promised "Democrats are the real Nazis" rant:

LIMBAUGH: They accuse of us being Nazis, and Obama's got a health care logo that's right out of Adolf Hitler's playbook. Now, what are the similarities between the Democrat Party of today and the Nazi Party in Germany? Well, the Nazis were against big business -- they hated big business. And of course we all know that they were opposed to Jewish capitalism. They were insanely, irrationally against pollution. They were for two years mandatory voluntary service to Germany. They had a whole bunch of make-work projects to keep people working, one of which was the Autobahn. They were against cruelty and vivisection of animals, but in the radical sense of devaluing human life, they banned smoking. They were totally against that. They were for abortion and euthanasia of the undesirables, as we all know, and they were for cradle-to-grave nationalized healthcare.

This is why I have always bristled when I hear people claim conservativism gets close to Nazism. It is liberalism that's the closest you can get to Nazism and socialism. It's all bundled up under the socialist banner. There are far more similarities between Nancy Pelosi and Adolf Hitler than between these people showing up at town halls to protest a Hitler-like policy that's being heralded like a Hitler-like logo.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Oh, another similarity. Obama is asking citizens to rat each other out like Hitler did. Obama's the one that's got the snitch website right out of the White House, flag@whitehouse.com, asking citizens to report people who are saying weird, odd things. You know the White House responded, "No, no, no, we're not taking names here. We're not taking names. We're just taking people who are putting up faulty arguments and refuting them." Well, that's not the intention. Ted Kennedy's dad, by the way, Joe Kennedy, sympathetic to Hitler, sympathetic to the Nazis.

That was very special, Rush. Thank you.

Then it was monologue time, as Rush said that Obama earned the trust of a majority of the American people in the election, but those who looked at him with "clear eyes" knew what he was. He's a hard-left radical, and he's racially bigoted, as evidenced by his -- sigh -- attendance at Jeremiah Wright's church. The American people trusted Barack Obama, but that was then. And then Rush launched into the rote litany of the various ways in which Obama is destroying the country. Seriously, you've heard this all before, there's no need for us to summarize it, but we have to wonder how listeners continue to find this same rant interesting day after day. Anyway, Rush said the town hall protests are a manifestation of America's lack of trust in its leaders, and the man who has lost our trust has started an "enemies list." Obama is not who he said who he was -- this is a betrayal of trust. The problem Obama faces which is destroying his presidency is that the American people no longer trust him.

Another break and Rush was back marveling at how no one can have an honest disagreement with the Democrats. If you disagree with them, said Rush, you're Nazis and you're racists. Then Rush read from a Washington Times article reporting: "A day after the White House dismissed protesters at town-hall events as people sent from opposition groups in Washington, the administration's political wing began mobilizing millions of its own supporters." Rush responded: "It is Obama who is astroturfing, it is Obama who is manufacturing right from the White House, sending out his brownshirts to head up opposition to genuine American citizens who want no part of what Barack Obama stands for and is trying to stuff down our throats." The President of the United States is mobilizing against over half the country! Rush said he's never seen anything like this. "So who is the mob leader? The mob leader is Barack Obama, the man trying to assemble mobs to counter genuine, heartfelt opposition to his policies." Then Rush read from a Huffington Post article reporting: "The nation's largest federation of labor organizations has promised to directly engage with boisterous conservative protesters at Democratic town halls during the August recess." So Obama organizes a mob from his office in the West Wing of the White House, and he's joined by a union leader. Do you believe this? A showdown between unions and genuine conservative grassroots organizations.

Closing out the hour, Rush had one more thought on Nazis for us: "Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate. His Cabinet only met once. One day. That was it. Hitler said he didn't need to meet with his Cabinet; he represented the will of the people. He was called the messiah. He said the people spoke through him."

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

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: The Speaker of the House accusing people showing up at these town hall meetings of wearing swastikas -- that is not insignificant, folks. That is -- this woman is deranged. They're unraveling, but that is not insignificant. You have the Democrat Speaker of the House saying that people, citizens who are concerned about health care are now wearing swastikas. She's basically saying that we are Nazis. She is saying that the people who oppose this are Nazis. And I'm gonna tell you what, I'm going to run down a list here later on the program, but this party -- the Democrat Party, and where it's taking this country, the radical left leadership of this party bears much more resemblance to Nazis' policies than anything we on the right believe in at all.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Ms. Pelosi has some major apologizing to do. The only excuse -- I know that numerous, repeated Botox injections can cause blurry vision. But I don't think Miss Pelosi can use that as an excuse.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: It is Obama who is astroturfing. It is Obama who is manufacturing right from the White House, sending out his brownshirts to head up opposition to genuine American citizens who want no part of what Barack Obama stands for and is trying to stuff down our throats. It would be one thing if this were just the leader of some website trying to -- this is the president of the United States who is mobilizing against over half the people in his own country. I have never seen this in this country.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So who is the mob leader? The mob leader is Barack Obama, the man trying to assemble mobs to counter genuine, heartfelt opposition to his policies.

"Fascism" watch

LIMBAUGH: They accuse of us being Nazis, and Obama's got a health care logo that's right out of Adolf Hitler's playbook. Now, what are the similarities between the Democrat Party of today and the Nazi Party in Germany? Well, the Nazis were against big business -- they hated big business. And of course we all know that they were opposed to Jewish capitalism. They were insanely, irrationally against pollution. They were for two years mandatory voluntary service to Germany. They had a whole bunch of make-work projects to keep people working, one of which was the Autobahn. They were against cruelty and vivisection of animals, but in the radical sense of devaluing human life, they banned smoking. They were totally against that. They were for abortion and euthanasia of the undesirables, as we all know, and they were for cradle-to-grave nationalized healthcare.

This is why I have always bristled when I hear people claim conservativism gets close to Nazism. It is liberalism that's the closest you can get to Nazism and socialism. It's all bundled up under the socialist banner. There are far more similarities between Nancy Pelosi and Adolf Hitler than between these people showing up at town halls to protest a Hitler-like policy that's being heralded like a Hitler-like logo.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Oh, another similarity. Obama is asking citizens to rat each other out like Hitler did. Obama's the one that's got the snitch website right out of the White House, flag@whitehouse.com, asking citizens to report people who are saying weird, odd things. You know the White House responded, "No, no, no, we're not taking names here. We're not taking names. We're just taking people who are putting up faulty arguments and refuting them." Well, that's not the intention. Ted Kennedy's dad, by the way, Joe Kennedy, sympathetic to Hitler, sympathetic to the Nazis.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate. His Cabinet only met once. One day. That was it. Hitler said he didn't need to meet with his Cabinet; he represented the will of the people. He was called the messiah. He said the people spoke through him.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Obama's domestic spying program
By Simon Maloy

Rush got hour two rolling with a question -- well, first he had to bloviate a bit: "Barack Obama has a snitch website. Barack Obama has a website in which he's asking for his supporters to rat out people who are spreading disinformation about health care, when in fact the only disinformation's coming from him and members of his party. Now what this essentially is, ladies and gentlemen, is Barack Obama's very own personal domestic spying program." Then he got to the question: "I wanna know, where are all you leftist civil libertarians who were up in arms when George W. Bush was trying to catch terrorists in the act before they committed the act? The warrantless wiretap program that you said was a violation of civil liberties that, by the way, Barack Obama has expanded? Where are you today?" We have no answer to this, other than to say that our head is starting to hurt.

Anyway, Rush said the town hall meetings continue to erupt in fireworks, and then aired audio of an NPR report saying that the protesters are whipped up by conservative media, and the protests themselves have become a political strategy. The only organizing being done, said Rush, is by the real mob ruler, Obama. That memo he sent out yesterday afternoon also asks for donations. It's a fundraising email! Is NPR going to do a story on the unions trying to counterbalance the citizens at the town hall meetings? All of this is about tort lawyers and the union bosses.

Rush then offered this non sequitur: "I don't know how many czars Russia's had throughout its history, but we have about 44 of them in this administration. It's a very un-American characteristic as well, to have czars who are not accountable. They don't get appointed -- approved by the Senate." We're confident in saying that Rush probably wasn't as upset at all of George W. Bush's czars. Or Reagan's.

Anyway, Rush then moved on to Contessa Brewer saying on MSNBC this morning that the protests may not be as they seem, because the grassroots anger is being coordinated by Republican organizations. Of course there's organization at play, said Rush -- these people need to know where to go! (Remember that not two minutes earlier he said the only organizing going on was by Obama.) Also this morning on MSNBC, said Rush, was Robert Reich, who said that Republicans are very defensive today, they don't have the stature they once had and they don't stand for anything, so they're looking for ways to reassert themselves, and Democrats only need 51 votes to pass health care in the Senate. Rush said we all know it takes 60 votes to get anything done in the Senate, so why is Reich talking about 51 votes? He's talking about reconciliation, which is a process used to get budget bills through and budget bills only (or Republican tax cuts). Rush said the Democrats are thinking of using reconciliation to get health care through the Senate. Rush didn't know if the American people know what a "bastardization of Senate rules" that is, so it's up to the Republicans to make that known.

Reich said the GOP hasn't come up with their own health care plan -- how can the Republicans have a plan when the president doesn't even have one! The president is out promoting a plan that does not exist! The only plan that addresses insurance is the House plan, said Rush, which says we will lose our private insurance (no it doesn't). The president is pushing "feel-good fantasies." And the hell we don't have our own health care plan, Rush clucked, with actually, you know, explaining what that mystery plan is. It's important to point out that Obama doesn't have a plan, said Rush, because there's only the House bill which Obama hasn't read. There's a very simply explanation for why Obama doesn't have his own health care bill, and Matt Yglesias laid it out: "The President has a very powerful ability to set the agenda, and when his party controls congress to even outline the broad contours of public policy. But congress writes the laws. That's where laws come from."

After the break, Rush said all this talk about right-wing mobs is intended to cover up the real reason these mobs are happening -- they know what's in the bill. They're showing up out of genuine outrage because they've read the actual bill, and their Congressional representatives have not. That's being drowned out in all this mob talk. The outrage genuine because it originates out of substance, and these elitist, imperial members of Congress have no idea what they're talking about.

Rush then asked of we've seen the reports that Congress has approved funding for more Gulfstream jets. Rush said that Nancy Pelosi has enough money to get her own jet, but she wants to use your money to fly around. Actually, the real reason the Speaker of the House flies around in government jets at taxpayer expense is because President Bush, after 9-11, ordered that the Speaker of the House have such protection when traveling on official business. Anyway, Rush said these imperialist members of Congress -- it's almost like they think they're members of the Roman Senate! There's 10 percent unemployment, and members of Congress want three more Gulf Streams to fly around in? Rush concluded: "I'll tell ya, these people, this radical left wing of the Democrat Party is as far away from the concepts of the founding of this country as any party leadership in this country has ever been."

Rush then took his first call of the program, this one from a gentleman who said Obama has taken us straight back to the McCarthy era, and encouraged everyone to e-mail the House health bill to the White House disinformation website. Rush said the caller is not alone in his fear.

After the break, Rush said The Washington Times is reporting that the War on Terror is over. Then what are we doing in Afghanistan, asked Rush. Then it was on to the next caller, a gentleman who disagreed with one part of Rush's Democrats-are-the-real-Nazis analysis -- the Nazis actually loved big business. Rush said they hated private sector business and Jewish business. The Volkswagen was created because they wanted a cheap car that wouldn't pollute. It was right out of the environmentalist wacko playbook. The caller said he agreed with Rush overall, though, and he's upset that Goldman Sachs is going to profit so much from cap-and-trade. Rush said he predicted this weeks ago, the same guys that Obama wants the American people to hate are receiving this huge windfall.

Another caller before the break, this one saying that these Democrats are going berserk over Astroturfing, but they're the ones who think people are stupid and ignorant, and they can't believe that actual grassroots organizing is happening. The caller also said he made a list of all the things he doesn't like about Obama, and he's come to the conclusion that Obama is The Great Divider -- he represents the "Communist infestation of our Constitution." Rush would like everyone to consider something - where is the great communication from Obama on the health care bill? There's nothing positive about the bill, said Rush, and that's why there's no positive message.

After the break, Rush read from a Politico article reporting that "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid launched his harshest attack on the Republican Party in months, claiming the GOP is 'being run by a talk show host.' " Rush found this funny, and implored the Democrats to "keep showing us who you are."

Then it was back to the Washington Times' report that the Obama administration has retired the phrase "War on Terror," and was particularly incensed at this bit of reporting from the Times: "President Obama's top homeland security and counterterrorism official took all three terms off the table of acceptable words inside the White House." "Unacceptable words in the White House," Rush intoned meaningfully. Calling protesters Nazis, that's acceptable. Having a snitch website is acceptable to. But not the words "war on terror." What's happened here is that the president and the Democrats have placed themselves into direct opposition to the American people, said Rush. It's this president and his party against the American people.

Rush closed out the hour with a caller who said the "scariest" aspect of the House bill is that the government "will be able to go into your bank account or anybody's bank account." Rush agreed, saying he's reported on this. This is straight out of that wildly false smear e-mail Rush read on the air two days ago, and PolitiFact labeled this one "barely true," explaining:

Section 163 sets out goals for electronic health records. One of the goals is to include features that "enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation" between payment and billing. The legislative summary says the intent in the section is "to adopt standards for typical transactions" between insurance companies and health care providers. The legislation generically describes typical electronic banking transactions and does not outline any special access privileges.

Look at it this way -- if you're paying back a student loan from the government (like we are) and you've set up automatic bill pay online, this is the same thing. Completely uncontroversial, and totally not scary -- unless if you're trying to fearmonger.

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

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Barack Obama has a snitch website. Barack Obama has a website in which he's asking for his supporters to rat out people who are spreading disinformation about health care, when in fact the only disinformation's coming from him and members of his party.

Now what this essentially is, ladies and gentlemen, is Barack Obama's very own personal domestic spying program. I wanna know, where are all you leftist civil libertarians who were up in arms when George W. Bush was trying to catch terrorists in the act before they committed the act? The warrantless wiretap program that you said was a violation of civil liberties that, by the way, Barack Obama has expanded? Where are you today? Where are you leftist civil libertarians who were so concerned that Bush was monitoring your phone calls? We have a president of the Untied States who's asking Americans to snitch on people who are telling the truth about the House health-care plan.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I don't know how many czars Russia's had throughout its history, but we have about 44 of them in this administration. It's a very un-American characteristic as well, to have czars who are not accountable. They don't get appointed -- approved by the Senate.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I'll tell ya, these people, this radical left wing of the Democrat Party is as far away from the concepts of the founding of this country as any party leadership in this country has ever been.

America's Truth Rejector

CALLER: Listen, of all the scary things in this health-care bill, Rush, the scariest thing is this; the government, if this passes, will be able to go into your bank account or anybody's bank account -- I just read this last night -- anybody's bank account, take the money out to fund this monstrosity. Did you know that?

LIMBAUGH: Yes, I've reported on it. Direct deposit access to every individual's bank account.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by bogus death threats
By Greg Lewis

After two hours of Nazi comparisons, falsehoods, and heated rhetoric, Rush began hour three by ... defending his diet. He was set off by a New York Daily News article which suggested his diet wouldn't work in the long-term, and then read a Time piece arguing that exercise "won't make you thin." After declining to offer specifics as to what he's eating, Rush let slip that his lunch today was herbed salmon on a bed of lettuce, and dinner will be "pizza chicken." Scintillating stuff. Rush said he was living testament that Time was correct, and lamented the "hacks" and "idiots" criticizing his diet.

But then it was back to more of the same content Rush has been pushing all day on his program. Rush said that the message from the Democrat Party [sic] today is that lobbyists, Nazis, a conservative group from Connecticut, and Rush himself were behind all the populist uprisings against health care reform. Rush said that if you are looking for Astroturf, look at the top of Joe Biden's head.

Then Rush continued his discussion of the White House's "snitch website." Remember when the Pentagon, under Bush, compiled a list of terrorists and the civil libertarians went nuts? asked Rush. Well where are they now to complain about what the White House is doing? Rush went on to note that Robert Gibbs addressed this topic during the White House press briefing today. Gibbs explained that "nobody is collecting names." But that wasn't good enough for our dear host. Rush claimed that Gibbs' response revealed that he didn't even "know" about the "snitch website" (you know, the "snitch website" that exists only in the twisted minds of the conspiratorial right).

Next, Rush read extensively from a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Daniel Henninger, headlined "Why Obama May Fail." Rush said that the people who need to read this are moderates in the conservative movement like Colin Powell and David Brooks.

After the break, Rush complained some more about the coverage of his diet, declaring that it is evidence that journalism in this country is a "disgrace." Rush said that he could come up with a cure for cancer, and the media would report on it as being bad for drug companies and doctors.

Then Rush went back to the town hall discussion, playing an audio clip from a meeting with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) in which a protester yelled that Hoyer is a "liar." Rush described the protester in the clip as having "slice[d] and dice[d]" Hoyer. So now calling someone a "liar" counts as "slicing and dicing"? Well that's good to know. Rush - you're a liar. Consider yourself sliced and diced like the lettuce under your salmon. Then Rush took a caller who had just been to a town hall for Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ), and noted that Kirkpatrick was holding one-on-one meetings. Rush noted that the one-on-one meetings are a new strategy for Democrats to deal with the unruly mobs.

Rush proceeded to read a post from RedState, which reported Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) scheduled a "last minute" town hall event. "This is what's happening," explained Rush, "Obama has mobilized union thugs to go out and also attend these town meetings to intimidate the genuine citizens out there who are upset about this." The implication here, we guess, is that "union thugs" aren't "genuine citizens." He added:

LIMBAUGH: Those are paid act -- paid activists are going to be showing up. And that's why -- so the Democrats are going to get brave now. They're going to have protection there. The mob's showing up. The real, genuine mob is showing up to defend these Democrats from the unruly Nazis that are showing up to protest the health care bill.

The next caller on The Rush Limbaugh Show said that these "sleazebags" were going to pass health care reform regardless of how their constituents feel about it, and asked what they would do to fix it. Rush said they would throw them out for office, but went on to explain that we wasn't as resigned to defeat as the caller was. Rush also explained that Obama will settle for any sort of reform that will allow him to say he reformed health care -- he's just building a monument to himself. Rush accused Democrats of "changing the argument" by talking about Nazis, swastikas, and talk show hosts -- changing the argument means that you're losing.

After another break, Rush gave another pep talk on the purity, goodness, and overall wonderfulness of conservatism, which can never, ever, ever do anything wrong. It was his usual rant about how conservatism isn't dead, and that the conservative movement needs real conservative leaders to expose the left for what they are.

Then Rush mentioned that Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) has claimed that he has received death threats over the health care bill, but Rush was skeptical: "I, frankly, don't believe this. I don't believe these guys' lives are being threatened." Then he went back to attacking Think Progress -- "a website that we know lies and makes things up" -- citing a post there about Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) being "physically assaulted at a local event." Rush said that there was a pattern developing here, and that it was all BS. What we think is BS. is that Rush was flat-out denying what Think Progress said, even though it were citing Roll Call.

After some more audio bites from various town meetings, Rush took a caller who said that her representative's staffers "lied" to her when they said the representative wasn't in town yet, even though he had just had a meeting with the local newspaper. Rush wondered if the representative's office was covering for him being with a girl, like Mark Sanford.

One more break and Rush returned with an article reporting on a study finding that women eat less when dining with men. Rush called it BS and made a comment about women being picky eaters.

Then Rush returned to a recent favorite pastime of his: proving the "babes" at CNN's Your Money are wrong about the economy. He cited a report that Deutsche Bank is predicting a drop in New York home prices, which Rush claimed contradicted CNN's "economic babes" Heidi Collins and Christina Romans suggesting last week that the recession was over.

The last caller of today's program said he was one of many disenfranchised Democrats who are frustrated that they trusted the party's leaders for years, and now they are really disappointed. Rush said the country is being led by the most radical regime in its history, and we'll find out if all Democrats really want this in the 2010 election.

And so another Limbaugh Wire has come to an end. Feel free to ready yourself for another edition of "Open Line Friday" tomorrow by taking a gander at the Limbaugh Wire archives.

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

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: This is what's happening. Obama has mobilized union thugs to go out and also attend these town meetings to intimidate the genuine citizens out there who are upset about this.

CALLER: Well, this was no town hall meeting. She didn't want that.

LIMBAUGH: Those are paid act -- paid activists are going to be showing up. And that's why -- so the Democrats are going to get brave now. They're going to have protection there. The mob's showing up. The real, genuine mob is showing up to defend these Democrats from the unruly Nazis that are showing up to protest the health care bill.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: There's another series of lies -- I think they're lies -- that the Democrats are using out there to change the argument, hype up this business on the town halls. Representative Brad Miller (D-NC) will not be hosting any town hall events this month. He's making himself available for one-on-one constituent meetings. One of the reasons is his offices have received threatening phone calls, at least one direct threat against his life. I, frankly, don't believe this. I don't believe these guys' lives are being threatened.

Freshman Democrat lawmaker physically assaulted at local event by activists. This is from thinkprogress.org, a website that we know lies and makes things up. Mary Katharine Ham exposed them last night and today in a piece, in a blog piece at the Weekly Standard. I don't believe -- there's a pattern developing here. A pattern -- "These precious, these wonderful, these imperialist members of Congress, working so hard to make our lives better, why, they're being threatened, their lives are being threatened, they're being assaulted by these unruly mobs." It's all BS.