Hour 2: Rush compares Barney Frank to McCarthy for wanting AIG bonus names

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Thomas Jefferson's powers of foresight
By Simon Maloy

At the top of the second hour, Rush celebrated the rise in U.S. births in 2007, but was concerned that births among unwed mothers were up 40 percent, explaining that he was not sure if these children would become "taxpayers" or "tax receivers." From there, he continued to feed the teleprompter fixation, explaining that he was working on getting sound bites from "TOTUS -- the teleprompter of the United States."

Then it was time for a little more hyperbole, declaring that Rep. Barney Frank's (D-MA) push to obtain names of AIG bonus recipients is the "new McCarthyism."

A quick break, and then Rush was back with his sound bites from "the teleprompter," again declaring that Obama wants to "destroy capitalism" and that he wants Americans angry at capitalism and CEOs. Then he aired a clip of Obama, claiming that the president compared Tim Geithner to Alexander Hamilton. From this, Rush employed the transitive property of talk radio smears -- he quoted from a biography of Thomas Jefferson, who famously disliked Hamilton, claiming that Jefferson, in criticizing Hamilton, was, by extension, criticizing Geithner because Obama compared Geithner to Hamilton. Also, according to Rush, Jefferson accurately described -- 200 years ago -- Obama's present-day attempts to undermine the Constitution and debase the virtue of the American republic. This dovetailed nicely with Rush's monologue from last week, in which he lauded the Founding Fathers for pre-emptively justifying Limbaugh's desire to see Obama "fail."

Leading into the next break, Rush went off the rails... big time. Picking up on a "hilarious" AFP story on how three British researchers attempting to ski to the North Pole "are now down to half rations and fighting to survive in brutal sub-zero weather conditions," Rush declared: "[H]ere are three dingbats trying to prove [global warming] who are about to die in the process." Rush came back from the break still talking about this "hilarious" story, saying these "stupid" explorers are "idiots," and that "there's no other word for it." Rush also wondered if any of them die, could the families sue Al Gore. This went on for some time until Rush said he had better "cut back" on it.

There's not a whole lot we can say about that, so we'll let the transcripts and audio speak for themselves.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: By the way, we're working, ladies and gentlemen, on audio sound bites from the latest press conference held by TOTUS -- the teleprompter of the United States. I watched a little bit of it during the last segment of the previous hour, and during commercial break, I actually listened to some of it.

And the teleprompter apparently told Obama to just get mad. Obama was mad. The teleprompter was telling him to act outraged. The teleprompter was filling him full of energy.

And the teleprompter told him to compare Timothy Geithner to Alexander Hamilton. So the teleprompter told Obama to stand firmly behind Geithner, and he did so with a little rage. Full of outrage, the teleprompter was -- adopted an attitude that we haven't seen from it in quite a while.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: In the meantime, the new McCarthyism in Washington, D.C., this morning during a House Financial Services panel hearing. This is the Chairman Barney Frank.

FRANK [audio clip]: We will also be asking Mr. Liddy to give us the names of the recipients. They have sent us some information under the confidentiality rules. I've spoken to Chairman Kanjorski about this. If Mr. Liddy declines to give us the names, then I will convene the committee to vote a subpoena for the names. So we do intend to use our power to get the names of the people here.

LIMBAUGH: Contractually obligated bonuses -- Barney Frank and the new McCarthyism. He will go the route of a subpoena to get the names of the recipients if the government-installed CEO Ed Liddy does not provide the names. The next question that will be asked once these names have been produced -- and they will be -- then these people will be called up to testify before Chairman Frank's committee.

And they will face other questions like, "Have you attended pro-capitalist meetings during the course of your tenure at AIG? How many of your friends are free-market capitalists and what are their names and where can we find them? And if you fail to answer, you will be cited as being in contempt of Congress."

[...]

OBAMA [audio clip]: Wall Street and the marketplace don't think that we can return to business as usual.

LIMBAUGH: Stop the tape. Stop the tape. Did you hear that? I hope that Wall Street and the marketplace don't think we can return to business as usual. As you continue to listen to these sound bites, the meaning of that is going to become clear. He is trying to make everybody believe business as usual is excess, is criminal activity, is excessive compensation -- all of these things, bonuses and so fourth, that's what we're not doing.

We are going to destroy capitalism is how you translate this. If Wall Street thinks we're going back to capitalism, they've got another thing coming.

[...]

OBAMA: There has never been a secretary of the Treasury, except maybe Alexander Hamilton right after the Revolutionary War, who's had to deal with the multiplicity of issues that Secretary Geithner is having to deal with all at the same time, and you know, he is doing so with intelligence and diligence. Nobody's working harder than this guy.

LIMBAUGH: Well, he's not getting anything done. He's a tax cheat, and he's not getting anything done, except further ruination. Now, Alexander Hamilton -- very deft move by the teleprompter to tell President Obama to compare Geithner to Alexander Hamilton. I am prepared for this one. The intellectual hero of Abraham Lincoln was Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Jefferson lived at the same time as Alexander Hamilton, and they did not get along at all.

Would you like to hear what Thomas Jefferson thought of Alexander Hamilton and thus, by extension, Timothy Geithner, because the teleprompter just told Obama to say that Geithner is Hamilton, all right?

From the book, Thomas Jefferson, by R.B. Bernstein, page 90: "Jefferson feared that Alexander Hamilton had plans radically at odds with the Constitution. As Jefferson saw it, Alexander Hamilton wanted to warp the federal government out of constitutional shape, converting it into a copy of the British government, built on debt, built on corruption, and influence. Jefferson charged that Alexander Hamilton's goal was to ally the rich and the well-born with the government at the expense of ordinary people, creating a corrupt aristocracy leagued with the government against the people and destroying the virtue that was the basis of Republican government."

Now, we can argue -- we can argue, ladies and gentlemen, about Jefferson's assessment of Alexander Hamilton, however, I wish to read this to you again, and I wish to say to you that Thomas Jefferson has just described the objectives of Barack Obama and the people he has brought into his administration.

Listen to this again: "Jefferson feared that Alexander Hamilton had plans radically at odds with the Constitution." Check -- so does Obama. "As Jefferson saw it, Hamilton wanted to warp the federal government out of constitutional shape." Check -- so does Obama. That Hamilton wanted to convert the government "into a copy of the British government." Check. In modern times, we would call this a Western socialist democracy that is the UK -- "that is built on debt, built on corruption, built on influence." Check. Check. Check.

Debt piled upon debt created by Obama. Corruption -- we've got tax cheats as the secretary of the Treasury. We've got lobbyists running all over the White House after Obama said there wouldn't be any there. And influence -- we have Rahm Emanuel calling members of the media every morning to plan coverage of the Obama administration with the stenographers in the mainstream press. Thomas Jefferson said that Hamilton's goal was to ally the rich and the well-born with government at the people's expense. Check.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: They got one day of food left. The weather has been too bad for supply flights to drop more food. If any of them freeze to death, can the remaining family members sue Al Gore?

And by the way, 12 weather stations in Alberta, Canada, have already broken their all-time lowest temperature records for the month of March. Records extend back approximately 100 years -- 100 years. Twelve stations in Alberta, Canada, broken their all-time lowest temperature records while these idiots -- there's no other word for it, folks, these -- they may be well-intentioned, they may have great hearts, and they may really care about the ice, but they're idiots to ski up there to measure the sea ice.