Hour 2: Limbaugh says Iowa ruling on gay marriage is evidence of "the values of a dictatorship"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the PUMA and its Sidewinder missiles
By Simon Maloy

Top of the second hour, Rush got it started by reading from a Bloomberg article reporting that "[c]onfidence among U.S. chief executive officers retreated in the first quarter to the lowest level in at least seven years." According to Rush, confidence is down because CEOs have to wear Kevlar vests after being targeted as "evil" by the government. But, in a rare fit of optimism, Rush claimed that the U.S. economy will recover in spite of the stimulus spending, even though it will be credited for the turnaround.

From there it was back to Obama in Turkey, saying that the United States does not consider itself "a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values." What ideals and values, asked Rush. The ideals and values Obama espoused on this trip, according to Rush, are not the ideals and values in the Constitution. Expanding on that point: "When the people of Iowa uniformly reject gay marriage but the Supreme Court of Iowa unanimously says, 'Screw you. We're going to make it legal,' whose set of values triumph here? The values of a dictatorship, i.e. a court, or the values of the citizens? What are these values that bind us?" Anyway, this all goes back to Rush's theory that Obama's upbringing and mentors have led him to believe that America "needs to be cut down to size."

Back from the break, Rush took a call from a woman who encouraged everyone not be fooled by Obama, because she just got back from Turkey and they are very Muslim. Rush noted that Turkey, as a NATO member, is "ostensibly" an ally, but they're not important. What's important is that Obama is going around apologizing for America -- Rush doesn't care what words he uses, he's apologizing. "It's about Obama. And Obama is a liberal and liberals do think the United States is guilty by definition and they want to be respected by Europeans and others around the world who are considered more worldly because they have accents and they've been around longer than we have." Rush proclaimed that the interests of the United States have not been represented by Obama. Just the opposite, in fact: "For his own benefit, he has sought to tell the people, wherever he's speaking, that he agrees with them, that their country -- his country, the United States -- I don't think he's talking Kenya here -- the United States is responsible for most of the problems in the world."

Another break, and Rush came back with another caller, this one disagreeing with Rush's bashing of the Segway/GM PUMA. The caller explained that he has a visual disability, and an autonomous vehicle could be very useful to people like him. Rush was unconvinced. He called the whole thing a case of "false hope," like John Edwards purportedly saying in 2004 that Christopher Reeve would walk again if America elected John Kerry. After a brief detour into stem cells and Oprah, Rush put on his scientist hat to explain to us all why a vehicle that can never crash is a bad idea. He asked us to imagine that every car in New York possessed technology that prevented it from hitting other cars or being hit. If one car swerved to avoid an accident, according to Rush, that would cause a catastrophic chain reaction in which 13,000 other cars would swerve and you'd have a six-block-long crash. We were tempted to bust out our protractor and slide rule to test that theory, but Rush shifted gears, dismissing the Segway/GM PUMA as yet another in a long line of assaults on your personal liberty.

Another break and Rush was still going on about the PUMA, suggesting that the best idea might be to equip the thing with missiles. Then a caller temporarily distracted Rush by asking why he thought Donald Trump was such a big Obama supporter. Rush offered some thoughts as to why this might have been. We're not going to bother reporting them because the underlying premise is flat wrong. Donald Trump endorsed John McCain in the 2008 election.

But, as we said, the distraction was only temporary. Rush closed out the hour by claiming that the PUMA is not designed to help the disabled -- it's designed to handicap the rest of us.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: When the people of Iowa uniformly reject gay marriage but the Supreme Court of Iowa unanimously says, "Screw you. We're going to make it legal," whose set of values triumph here? The values of a dictatorship, i.e. a court, or the values of the citizens? What are these values that bind us?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: He's going around apologizing. I don't care what the words he uses are. He is going around -- he says, "I'm sorry for what the United States has done. I'm sorry for what it's been. I'm sorry for what the United States has said."

He is clearly going around the world with the assumption the United States is guilty, and he's trying to buy goodwill for himself with all of these people by saying he understands that and agrees with them. This is all about Obama. This is not about Turkey. It's not about France. It's not about the European Union. It's not about any -- or it's not about NATO. It's not about the G20.

It's about Obama. And Obama is a liberal and liberals do think the United States is guilty by definition and they want to be respected by Europeans and others around the world who are considered more worldly because they have accents and they've been around longer than we have.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I would maintain to you that U.S. interests have not been represented here, that the president has not made the case for U.S. interests, but just the opposite. For his own benefit, he has sought to tell the people, wherever he's speaking, that he agrees with them, that their country -- his country, the United States -- I don't think he's talking Kenya here -- the United States is responsible for most of the problems in the world.