Hour 3: Limbaugh berates caller for bringing up Fox's tea party promotion

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the layoff-loving Obama supporters
By Simon Maloy

We've reached the final hour, and Rush got it started by declaring that everything Obama is doing is "reckless." Rush can't imagine, if he were president, sitting around with a bunch of America-hating dictators without getting as angry as he could be. But, Rush explained, "most presidents try to maintain a continuity, based on a shared belief in the greatness of America. Now some presidents had different views of what was great, but we've never had a president, I don't think, who didn't think we were great, until now. Now we've got a president who doesn't believe in the greatness of America." All Obama did, said Rush, was sit idly by as they attacked America and thanked them for not blaming him for things that happened when he was three months old. As we explained in the last hour, that was part of Obama pushing back against Ortega.

Moving on, Rush noted that GM "just announced they're laying off 16,000 salaried employees." Rush said that "the sad thing is that when I see that report, I imagine that, in parts of this country, there are people cheering and applauding. And there are people who voted for Obama who are cheering and applauding this." You know, for someone who so frequently accuses the president of employing "straw man" arguments, it's amusing to us to see him shadowbox with these admittedly imaginary Obama supporters who cheer and applaud at reports that people have lost their jobs.

Anyway, after airing audio of Bush-era NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden attacking Obama for endangering national security by releasing the torture memos, Rush claimed that the "Obama doctrine" is to apologize to everyone to make himself look good and give himself moral authority at the expense of the interests of the country. Now if this sounds familiar, it should, because it's what pretty much every conservative blogger has been saying. In fact, Rush specifically cited Commentary blogger Peter Wehner, who wrote: "The overriding goal of the Obama Doctrine is to make the person it is named after look good, rather than, and if necessary at the expense of, the nation he was elected to represent."

Before the break, Rush noted that Obama met with his Cabinet today and asked them to cut $100 million from their budgets in the next 90 days. Now, why, you might be asking yourself, would Obama ask for such budget cuts? Well, Rush has the answer: "I'm sure they've got internal polling data that shows these tea parties are successful, and these tea parties are a problem. So they're responding to the tea parties here. That's all this is. And they're responding to the tea parties with chump change, with irrelevant numbers." And here we thought they could only influence the stock market.

After the break, Rush took a call from a gentlemen who claimed to be a disaffected Obama voter who was specifically upset that Obama had not moved on health care. Rush responded by saying that the government can't provide health care, just as it couldn't end poverty or racism. Health coverage doesn't guarantee health care, Rush said, and government-sponsored health care will never work and nor should it because it's not guaranteed by the Constitution.

After another break, Rush took a call from a man who challenged Limbaugh's assertion that he doesn't say things to provoke an emotional response, pointing to Limbaugh's use of the terms "palling around" regarding Obama's interaction with Chavez, and Rush's frequent descriptions of Obama as the "Messiah." Rush said he's only trying to communicate what he thinks of Obama, that he's trying to share his "critical thinking" with everyone, and that Obama is a "demagogue" who, unlike Rush, preys upon people's emotions and encourages them not to "think." The caller then touched on the tea parties, saying that he truly believed that they had a lot to do with Rush and Fox News. Rush berated the caller for lacking "originality," saying that he was just regurgitating things written on left-wing blogs. You'll recall earlier that Rush himself dropped the pretense of originality by "regurgitating" a right-wing blogger's concept of the "Obama Doctrine." Additionally, Fox did relentlessly promote the tea parties, and we lost track of how many times Rush urged his listeners to go to tea parties, but here are a few instances we documented.

Anyway, Rush declared that he can't help it if people react to what he says in an emotional way, but he hates it when they do because that means they're not thinking, and are thus susceptible to Obama's nefarious liberty-curtailing schemes. "Individual liberty is going to triumph only if Obama fails," declared Rush. To drive home this point (or some other point, we couldn't really tell at this... um, point), Rush said that the "greatest emotional connection I can think of -- and it may not be the right -- but it's the attachment that black voters have to the Democrat Party," which has "destroyed the black family for 50 years." Somehow this had something to do with Obama's remarks to Ortega, which Rush found a brand new way to distort: "Obama thanks Ortega for not blaming him for the rotten aspects of America. I would like to say: Obama -- well, then, stop blaming me for slavery. I wasn't alive. But, see, they still do. They blame white America today for continued ongoing slavery."

After one more break, Rush took his final caller, this one wondering when America is going to "wake up" to whatever it is Obama is doing. Rush, seizing on the fact that the caller identified himself as a veteran, said that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is "keep[ing] watch on all former military people." The logical extension to this, according to Rush, is that DHS also monitor... you know it's coming... Bill Ayers, who "actually blew up the Pentagon." And, for good measure, Rush said "we need to keep a sharp eye on every professor in this country who is advocating some of the most extreme radicalism to these students." But to answer the man's question, Rush said that people will "wake up" when enough things happen at once, but, right now, it's like "water torture," or "death by a thousand cuts." Well, maybe the American people are just used to "water torture" at this point and can endure it, which means Rush really can't call it "torture."

That's it for today's Wire. On a side note, the Limbaugh Wire was profiled in the Boston Globe this weekend by reporter Don Aucoin, who asked if what we do every day can be considered the "worst job in America." At the time, we weren't sure that distinction fell on our shoulders. But after a show like today's -- with the UAW taking over the banks, Obama breaking the presidential tradition of loving America, and endless talk of William Ayers -- we think we might have been a little too modest... Anyway, we hope to see you all tomorrow. Until then, Media Matters has all the goods on Rush, and you can, too, if you'll just take a look at our comprehensive Limbaugh Repository.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: You know, most chief executives, most presidents try to maintain a continuity, based on a shared belief in the greatness of America. Now some presidents had different views of what was great, but we've never had a president, I don't think, who didn't think we were great, until now.

Now we've got a president who doesn't believe in the greatness of America. He feels the need to apologize for it and to sit idly by, and even chuckle, when this nation's entire existence is ripped to shreds.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: General Motors just announced they're laying off 16,000 salaried employees. General Motors just announced they're laying off 16,000 salaried employees. And the sad thing is that when I see that report, I imagine that, in parts of this country, there are people cheering and applauding. And there are people who voted for Obama who are cheering and applauding this: "He's getting it right. He's punishing those who destroyed it. He's punishing those people who ruined me and who ruined us. And it's about time those white-collared people found out what it's like to walk out of the door without a job."

[...]

LIMBAUGH: People want to hear he's going to cut spending; he's going to cut the budget. So when -- and I'm sure they've got internal polling data that shows these tea parties are successful, and these tea parties are a problem. So they're responding to the tea parties here. That's all this is.

And they're responding to the tea parties with chump change, with irrelevant numbers. Thousands of people turned out at tea parties to protest big government -- Obama can say, "I heard you; I cut the budget." Fifty-two million dollars over five years by purchasing office supplies in bulk -- that's just -- it's a damn insult.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Individual liberty is going to triumph only if Obama fails. How anybody can say, after this summit, after giving up the interrogation memos and the secrets of the CIA, after $4,000 billion in debt -- that sounds bigger than $4 trillion, right? -- $4,000 billion in debt. Four thousand billion dollars in debt.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The greatest emotional connection I can think of -- and it may not be the right -- but it's the attachment that black voters have to the Democrat Party. The Democrat Party has destroyed the black family for 50 years. The Democrat Party has done not one thing they have promised the Democrat Party except to try to go out and punish a bunch of people who they think have held black people back.

Well, just like Obama. Here's what I would say to Obama: Obama thanks Daniel Ortega for not blaming him for what happened when he was only three months old. Obama thanks Ortega for not blaming him for the rotten aspects of America.

I would like to say: Obama -- well, then, stop blaming me for slavery. I wasn't alive. But, see, they still do. They blame white America today for continued ongoing slavery. The Democrat Party has done more to keep this country divided and roiled and failing to make progress than anything I could have attempted myself.

Enemies list

LIMBAUGH: If one bad ex-military guy can force Janet Reno -- Napolitano to keep watch on all former military people, then I would think we also need to keep a sharp eye on all of Obama's friends and associates, since two of them -- Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn -- actually blew up the Pentagon. They were domestic terrorists.

I think we need to keep a sharp eye on every professor in this country who is advocating some of the most extreme radicalism to these students. If Janet Napolitano wants to really protect the homeland and she's really worried about domestic terrorists, then keep a constant tail on Bill Ayers, when he goes to Venezuela and champions Hugo Chavez's reformist education forums and so forth. That's what I think about it.

Clips from this hour

After caller notes Fox News' tea party ads, Limbaugh berates him for "regurgitating the drivel I have read on left-wing blogs"

Limbaugh on Obama ordering Cabinet to cut budgets: "[T]hey're responding to the tea parties here. That's all this is"

Limbaugh: "The Democrat Party has destroyed the black family"