Hour 3: Limbaugh likens pirates to Americans due to their "entitlement mentality"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the entitlement mentality shared by pirates, American citizens, and illegal immigrants
By Simon Maloy

Top of the final hour, and Rush reassured his listeners who are concerned about the congratulatory tone that he's adopting towards Obama regarding the pirates. All will be revealed, said Rush, but first he had to bludgeon us all over the head with the premise again, proclaiming that he was going to be the first to credit Obama for ordering Captain Phillips to surrender himself to the pirates so that the rest of the crew will be released. Rush brought this up because people were emailing him asking what was wrong with Snerdley -- why were all these callers getting through who were attacking Rush? Rush explained that it is his responsibility to praise Obama when he does these wonderful things, and that the people calling in to yell at him are Obama supporters. Don't be confused by the calls, Rush said, because he and his staff are professionals and everything the audience hears is what they want them to hear.

After a quick break, Rush came back to criticize Newsweek, again, for reporting last week on the "End of Christian America." This was belied, said Rush, by a Rasmussen poll which found "that 88% of adults nationwide think the person known to history as Jesus Christ actually walked the earth 2,000 years ago." We're not theologians, but neither is Rush, so we're not entirely convinced that undercuts Newsweek's argument, which was that "the Christian God" is "less of a force in American politics and culture than at any other time in recent memory."

Anyway, Rush then took a call from a woman her professed her love for El Rushbo's "big, juicy brain." After we stopped convulsing, we tuned back in to hear her actual question, which dealt with NBC's Jim Miklaszewski asking at a press conference whether Obama gave the order to fire at the moment the shots were taken in the pirate rescue. Rush and the woman seemed to not quite understand what the other was saying, but they nonetheless agreed that the question was outrageous. Rush said Miklaszewski asked this question because he was seeking a "yes," which would have added the aura of brilliance around Obama.

This led Rush to open up his thoughts and reflections to us on what the pirates were saying, specifically their anger that the United States killed three pirates. They're disappointing Rush because they "actually sound like they're entitled. Rush continued: "These people have an entitlement mentality. I could have sworn that they are originally Americans who maybe fled. Maybe they were illegal immigrants or something who got here, come here with an entitlement mentality, didn't like it, fled the scene because Republicans drove them out of the country in the last election, so they went over to Somalia and started pirating things. Because they have the attitude of entitlement just like a lot of American citizens do." Chief among these entitled American privateers are the "Beltway pirates" who are "led by Pelosi and Reid." And Barney Frank. We can't forget Barney Frank. Nothing bad in the Limbaugh universe ever happens without the assistance -- real or invented -- of Barney Frank. Or ACORN. (As an aside, Rush was also disappointed that the pirates were less like Captain Hook and the characters in Pirates of the Caribbean.)

Another break and Rush came back noting that one pirate had been taken into American custody, which means that he'll have to be detained somewhere. Rush offered up "Club Gitmo" as a suggestion, but also thought that since this is a "man of the sea," we might want to "debrief" the pirate at a North Carolina Red Lobster, where he then might get a job. Moving on, Rush noted that Bloomberg is reporting that the military "is considering attacks on pirate bases on land and aid for the Somali people to help stem ship hijackings off Africa's east coast," and that the proposals entail helping "the fledgling Somalia government to train security forces and develop its own coast guard." According to Rush, that sounds like "nation-building," and "exactly" like what Bush wanted to do in Iraq... We feel as though we shouldn't have to explain the myriad differences between Iraq and this proposal for Somalia, so we won't. We'll just stick to one key difference: No one is proposing that we invade Somalia. Anyway, Rush attacked Bloomberg, saying that it's "BS" for them to report that the military came with this plan. It's Obama, said Rush. He's the one who came up with it, and the only thing missing from the article is an explanation of Obama's exit strategy. We refer you to our observation above.

Leading into the final break, Rush got into an extended discussion with a caller who essentially asked Rush to explain exactly what he was doing with today's show -- what does he mean when he says we hear what we want him to hear, why was he sarcastically praising Obama, why he was so determinedly trying to sow division, etc. Rush said it was up to her to decide whether or not he was being sarcastic in his praise of Obama. To help her in that decision, he reiterated that he's been totally supportive of Obama, saying he was praising him to the hilt and that's just not enough for Obama supporters, who still think he's being mean. If you thought the routine was old in the first five minutes, it was no fresher in the final ten. Anyway, he wanted to continue talking with the woman tomorrow because she is, in Rush's view, "a teachable moment."

After the final break, Rush came back with one more call, this from a man explaining that because Obama ordered the use of force against the pirates, who Hillary Clinton described as "criminals," then he might be open now to prosecution because he's responsible for the deaths of civilians from another sovereign nation. Rush explained that Obama was actually "flipping the bird" to the international community in acting without their assistance to resolve the pirate hostage situation. He did this, according to Rush, because they "embarrassed" him on his European tour.

Well, that's it for this Monday. And after sitting through today's show, it's our fervent hope that the week can only get better from here. Thanks for reading, and, as always, please take a look at Media Matters' highly informative and entertaining Limbaugh coverage.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: By the way, I did -- and I have been paying some attention to what these pirates, the merchant marine organizers have been saying. You know, these people are mad. They're mad that three of them have, you know, met with Davy Jones now. And when I listen to these pirates, these Somali merchant marine organizers, you know, these pirates, they used to know they were bad people. Have you ever watched Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp? I mean, these are mean, rotten people. I mean, these -- like Bluebeard, Redbeard, Blackbeard, Captain Hook. These were -- these were terrorists. These were bad, bad guys. They didn't care what they smelled like, looked like, thought -- they did nothing. They took their bounty and they ran around and they terrorized. When a pirate ship was pulling into port, the women and children fled.

Now, these pirates are kind of disappointing me. The Somali merchant marine organizers actually sound like they're entitled. Their feelings are hurt. They think they're entitled to these ransoms that are being paid, and I get the impression listening to them that they expect to be told, "Good job, pirate. Good job." They're acting -- they're acting offended as hell here that our captain was rescued by our president, ordered by the Navy SEALs to rescue, and they didn't get the ransom as though they're entitled to it. These people have an entitlement mentality. I could have sworn that they are originally Americans who maybe fled. Maybe they were illegal immigrants or something who got here, come here with an entitlement mentality, didn't like it, fled the scene because Republicans drove them out of the country in the last election, so they went over to Somalia and started pirating things. Because they have the attitude of entitlement just like a lot of American citizens do. We've got -- we've got -- call them what they want to call themselves -- we've got the Somali pirates and the Beltway pirates. The Beltway pirates are led by Pelosi and Reid. The Beltway pirates, I tell you -- you think $2 million? That's chump change. The Beltway pirates are demanding a $10 trillion ransom not just from us, but from our kids and our grandkids and their grandkids.

Clips from this hour:

Limbaugh: Somali pirates have "entitlement mentality. I could have sworn they were originally Americans"; speculates "maybe they were illegal immigrants"