Hour 3: Fill-in Davis calls Energy Secretary's climate change remarks "shameful" and "science fiction"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the "pantywaists" of "the left"
By Simon Maloy

Davis kicked off the final hour still talking about Twitter and Facebook, saying that this sort of technology could change politicking in the near future. Speaking of politicking and technology, Davis wondered why the glut of presidential candidates these days still needed to travel all over the country. Davis said there's a charm to retail politics, and it's unfortunate that technology has supplanted certain aspects of our interpersonal communications, but when it comes to running for president, you don't really need to meet a candidate. It doesn't make any difference. And yet, Davis said, you're nevertheless going to see all the Republican candidates flock to Iowa and New Hampshire so they can go to the pancake breakfasts.

Davis then took a call from a man who was very upset at Obama's inconsistency in being open to investigating the authors of the torture memos, but not the CIA personnel who performed the interrogations. Davis said that to the "left," protecting the country by using those tactics is "evil." But Davis said that Obama and the White House were trying to look "moderate" in refusing to prosecute the CIA, but instead going after the lawyers who devised the "Constitutional" means by which the interrogations could be conducted. The effect of this, Davis said, is that advisers will refuse to offer advice to the president out of fear of going to prison later on down the road, adding: "And that's what's funny about the left is they -- I think they really do believe that 10, 15, 20 years from now, that America and the world will look back and say that they were right, that for them to be pantywaists and softies on terror will be viewed as admirable."

After the break, Davis proclaimed "the shameful moment of the week" was Energy Secretary Steven Chu's remark during the Summit of the Americas that, as a consequence of rising sea levels due to climate change, "some island states will simply disappear." Davis called it "shameful" and "science fiction." Actually, no, it's not. The IPCC noted that studies have been done on the impact of climate change on island states, and one such study found that "states such as the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, and Kiribati would suffer 'profound' impacts, including disappearance in the worst-case scenario; 'severe impacts,' resulting in major population displacement, would be experienced by the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, and Tonga; 'moderate to severe impacts' would be felt by Fiji and the Solomon Islands; and 'local severe to catastrophic' effects would be experienced by Vanuatu and Western Samoa."

Davis took another caller before the break, this one from Staten Island, who objected to compulsory union membership. Davis agreed with the caller, and lamented Rush's "travails and trials and tribulations" with New York City, which he said was a shame because New York City and the state as a whole are great. Davis then asked if Rudy Giuliani really wants to be governor of New York, and if there was any job he wanted short of president. Well, judging by the way Rudy ran his last presidential campaign, we're not so sure he really wanted that job either.

After the break, Davis offered an impassioned plea for allowing cameras in the Supreme Court, saying he would watch the court on TV just to see the "brilliance" of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. He also conjectured that lots of people who opposed cameras on the court 20 years ago now support the idea so that they can see the liberal justices "go wacky" and turn "the United States into a social project Petri dish." We'd like to point out at this juncture that Justice Scalia apparently dislikes quite strongly the idea of televised Supreme Court proceedings.

Then it was time for another caller, this one saying he's been reading a lot of Alexander Solzhenitsyn lately and that the U.S. is starting to look Stalinist to him. Davis said that "it's easy to be generic overreactor guy and say, 'Obama! He is Castro! He's Hitler!' I mean, you know, please, you can find all of that. But the way to go at this is not to overstate it but also not to understate it." Davis then explained that at his Dallas tea party there was a speaker who had escaped from Cuba as Castro was seizing power, and " the list of things he said happened had way too much overlap with the United States in 2009 to make anybody comfortable." Davis added: "Is it apples and apples? Of course not. But even to lean, to walk, to have a flavor in that direction, toward that kind of communism and Marxism, should shock every American."

Davis took one more caller between breaks who wanted Davis to explain how Obama's policies are making us less safe. Davis said that the idea that the war on terror has created more terrorists is, of course, obviously true. It was just like with Germany and Japan -- if you go to war with someone, of course you're going to make them mad.

He closed out the show by going after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, specifically for an exchange she had with Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA) during House testimony on whether she would support Dick Cheney's request to have declassified memos that demonstrate the effectiveness of the harsh interrogation techniques. Davis said Clinton refused to answer because she would have to acknowledge that the techniques worked.

That does it for the Wire this week, and we have to say that we're glad the week is over. There's only so much shrill, anti-Obama hyperventilating a body can take, and we reached our saturation point some time Tuesday afternoon. So while we take the weekend to detox and reset for Monday's return of El Rushbo, we highly recommend that you check out Media Matters' Limbaugh archives. They grow by leaps and bounds every day, even when Rush isn't around. Have a good weekend.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

DAVIS: And that's what's funny about the left is they -- I think they really do believe that 10, 15, 20 years from now, that America and the world will look back and say that they were right, that for them to be pantywaists and softies on terror will be viewed as admirable.

"Socialism" watch

DAVIS: At the Dallas tea party, we had a bunch of speakers, a ton of speakers. And one of them was a gentleman who had escaped Cuba within a year after Castro took over. And I know it's easy to be generic overreactor guy and say, "Obama! He is Castro! He's Hitler!" I mean, you know, please, you can find all of that. But the way to go at this is not to overstate it but also not to understate it. And what this gentleman did is he gave a list of events of things he saw through his own eyes in 1959 and '60 as Cuba came under the clutches of the communist murderer Fidel Castro. And the list of things he said happened had way too much overlap with the United States in 2009 to make anybody comfortable. Is it apples and apples? Of course not. But even to lean, to walk, to have a flavor in that direction, toward that kind of communism and Marxism, should shock every American.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh sub on SCOTUS cameras: People could see when "Kennedy goes wacky or Ruth Bader Ginsburg, you know, invokes foreign law or they start making up stuff"