Hour 2: Limbaugh revives bogus claim that Obama supports "infanticide"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Obama's continued (non)support of "infanticide"
By Simon Maloy

El Rushbo began the second hour with some more attacks on Obama for wanting to cut the defense budget, and claimed that "Obama's teleprompter" had endorsed Scott Murphy in the NY-20 House race.

Then it was time for a blast from the campaign past -- specifically the bogus, ridiculous, and hyperbolic conservative talking point that Obama supports "infanticide," and the extravagantly false claim that Obama "voted three times that if a baby survives an abortion, it may still be killed because of the mother's original intent to abort it." This came up in reference to the mini-controversy surrounding the University of Notre Dame inviting Obama to speak at commencement, in accordance with the school's tradition to invite new presidents to speak.

Back from the break, Rush attacked Obama for wanting to rescind the "conscience clause," and warned that we are in a "cultural boiling pot" right now, and that it is threatening to "boil over." Rush's evidence for this was a 40-person march in Oakland in support of a man accused of killing four police officers. Rush noted that the police officers were white and that the suspect is black, and asked when Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were going to get involved, adding that there is "rage" out there that "threatens to erupt."

Another break and it was time for a caller, who criticized Obama's intention, in the words of The New York Times, to "recast the Afghan war as a regional issue involving not only Pakistan but also India, Russia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and the Central Asian states." According to the caller, who threw Iran into the list of nations for good measure, inviting all these countries to the table was like inviting a bunch of different animals to dinner and expecting to get something done. Rush agreed completely, saying that "[s]ome might says Obama wants us to fail" because "he's cutting the defense budget." Rush has clearly taken to heart Dick Morris' notion that Obama wants his own policies to fail, but in doing so, he has violated a key rule of informed debate -- don't listen to Dick Morris.

After some more ranting about how the "ChiComs" are the only "check and balance" against Obama's grand scheme to destroy America and capitalism, Rush took another call, this one from a man very upset at George Soros for allegedly telling the Daily Mail that he's "having a very good crisis." Rush shared in that outrage, saying that Soros wants America to "fail," and that he and Obama are out there "spewing negative stuff" about the economy.

Then Rush described how he was channel-surfing last night and just happened upon Fox News' Hannity for its "Great American Panel" segment. Rush said he had to give a "shout-out" to the "country music singer" who was on the panel last night for admitting, when Hannity asked him a question about the economy, that he didn't know enough to answer. Rush found that kind of honesty "refreshing." Though he didn't come right out and say it, we'd like to think that Rush was implicitly criticizing his good friend Sean Hannity for hosting an admittedly uninformed country music singer to discuss the economy.

After the break, Rush taught us a lesson in media monitoring. You see, it's Open Line Friday!, which means that callers can talk about whatever they want. So when a caller asked Rush about a cold remedy that he is constantly hawking, we figured we might be able to tune out for a moment and get a little writing done. But we were mistaken, for Rush, as he was promoting this product, surprised us with this little gem: "[F]lu, you have an out, but it's still miserable. And if anything you can do to stop it or to arrest it or to retard -- sorry -- to 'Special Olympic' its duration, then it -- you should do it."

Lesson learned, Rush. Consider our vigilance redoubled.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: A cold is almost worse than a flu, 'cause a flu, you have the excuse to stay in bed, a cold you don't. Tell somebody you're in bed sick with a cold, they laugh at you. You've got to be able to go to work with a cold. I mean, you've got to get up. You've got to be productive. You've got to take care of the kids and baby.

You've go to -- flu, you have an out, but it's still miserable. And if anything you can do to stop it or to arrest it or to retard -- sorry -- to "Special Olympic" its duration, then it -- you should do it. And Zicam -- if you catch it early enough, the moment you think you're coming down with it, just snap open a tube. It's easy.

America's Truth Rejector

Repeated false claim that Obama supports "infanticide":

LIMBAUGH: The truth is that President Obama, by virtue of his votes as a member of the Illinois Senate and as a member of the United States Senate, is perhaps the most anti-life -- well, there's no question -- he is the most anti-life president we have had in American history.

This is a man who three times voted for infanticide in Illinois. He tried to excuse it any number of ways, but this is a man who voted three times that if a baby survives an abortion, it may still be killed because of the mother's original intent to abort it. If the abortion is botched, the doctor can go ahead and complete the job outside the womb. He voted for it three times.

That's -- I mean, that, to me -- I don't know what -- care what your position on abortion is, but now we're not talking about abortion, not when the child has been born outside the womb and is alive. And Obama voted three times to support the notion of infanticide.

Clips from this hour:

Limbaugh: "Some might say Obama wants us to fail; he's cutting the defense budget"

Limbaugh uses Red River flooding to make "dike" jokes