Hour 1: Rush smears Dems over hate crimes bill

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Rush's very clear intention to torture us
By Simon Maloy

There are moments, few and fleeting, when a media conservative will write/say/tweet something so splendiferously false that they will actually take the time to revisit what they said and correct the record. We can't pretend to understand why these isolated prostrations to the altar of credibility occur, given that, most of the time, they simply ignore the fact that they've been debunked, or they dig the hole deeper (see: George Will and climate change). But such a moment happened this morning when The Washington Times ran an editorial retracting its false claim from last week that "Americans have a lower approval of Mr. Obama at this point than all but one president since Gallup began tracking this in 1969." As we noted at the time, Rush was one of the many conservatives in the media who eagerly picked up on the false editorial's allegation, saying that it demonstrates the huge gap between what is "news" and what is "fact." If it were anyone else, we might have some hope that they would follow the Times' example. But in our experience, when given the choice between correcting the record or digging the hole deeper, Rush goes straight for the shovels.

Rush got today's show started by announcing that it's "Open Line Friday!" on Wednesday, because El Rushbo will be off on Thursday and Friday, leaving Mark Steyn and Mark Davis to fill in. Then he got to the bank stress tests -- sorry, the "possess tests." Rush said that the administration is leaking the results, which show that the banks are still "in the crapper," which will allow Obama to control the banks a little longer. People are going to have to wake up to what's going on, said Rush, but they won't. An example of them not waking up, apparently, is the fact that the Associated Press reported that a "group that studies sports in society is urging the Obama administration to step up the federal government's role in athletics, possibly with a Cabinet-level post."

After attacking "the haughty" Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) for saying that the U.S. has shifted its Iran policy away from regime change, Rush attacked Obama: "He is funding Obama -- uh, Hamas. He is pushing for a two-state solution in Israel. He is putting the pressure on Israel. He is blaming Israel for the problems in the Middle East." Then Rush moved on to Obama allegedly "canceling" the National Day of Prayer at the White House, saying that "there will be no public recognition of the National Day of Prayer in the White House." Not true -- the White House will issue a "proclamation," in the words of press secretary Robert Gibbs, marking the day. Nonetheless, Rush said: "Now why do this? Why go out of his way to do this? Why make these kinds of waves unnecessarily? He's doing it on purpose. He's trying to irritate some people. He's asserting his authoritarian control."

You have to stand back and look at some of the things happening in this country, said Rush, first and foremost, "the bill carving out protection for perverts." No. Wrong. False. Untrue. He's talking about the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which in no way, shape, or form provides "protection for perverts." Rush was referring to a proposed amendment to the bill by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) that sought to exclude pedophiles from protection under the bill. The bill, however, already excludes pedophiles in its definition of "sexual orientation," which applies only to "consensual" heterosexuality and homosexuality.

Then Rush got on to the main event of the hour, reading from a New York Times story reporting that the Justice Department will not seek charges against the authors of the torture memos, but might seek "reprimands or even disbarment" of the attorneys involved. Rush linked this to John Demjanjuk, an accused Nazi war criminal living in the United States who is facing extradition to Germany. Rush claimed that Demjanjuk's lawyers petitioned the Justice Department to deny extradition because he risks being tortured by the Germans, and that Justice denied their request because the Germans are just going to use the same tactics that these lawyers authorized. We had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, and were highly suspicious that the Justice Department would approve of the German government torturing anyone. As it turns out, Rush was very, very wrong in what was going on. Germany doesn't want to torture anybody -- what happened is that Demjanjuk's attorneys argued that their client "is too sick and frail to be deported," and that the act of deporting him would be tantamount to torture. According to Reuters: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled that Demjanjuk's argument -- that moving the ailing 89-year-old former U.S. auto worker amounted to torture -- was unlikely to succeed so they vacated the stay preventing his deportation."

Remember how we said above that sometimes conservatives in the media say things that are splendiferously false? This is a fine example.

After a quick break, Rush offered us two "related" stories -- one out of Missouri of the Boeing machinists union saying that the Pentagon budget will cut jobs in St. Louis by halting production of the C-17, and a Reuters report that the Defense Department "plans to create 20,000 new jobs to manage a revamp of the way the United States buys billions of dollars of weapons each year." Rush responded: "So, all of these budget cuts that we keep hearing about, most of them are in defense. So we're going to lay off 30,000 people -- or they're going to lose their jobs in St. Louis working for Boeing -- but 20,000 bureaucrats are going to be hired at the Pentagon to expand the Barack Obama police state."

One more break and Rush was back, this time with a surprise guest -- Andy McCarthy of the National Review. Rush endeavored to "clear up" some of the absurd things he said about Demjanjuk earlier, specifically that he didn't mean to "mislead" and suggest that the Germans are going to waterboard Demjanjuk. He could've fooled us. Anyway, what Rush apparently meant to say is that the Germans don't intend to torture Demjanjuk, so whatever pain and suffering they inflict won't be considered torture in the eyes of the Justice Department, which was the position articulated in the torture memos. Like we said above, what's really going on is that Demjanjuk is arguing that the very act of deporting him will be tantamount to torture, and the courts did not think that argument would hold up so they vacated the stay of deportation. So even after valiantly attemption to "clear up" what he said, with the help of another right-wing hack, he was still wrong.

Rush closed out the hour with a caller advising him to take a look at Ron Gettelfinger's op-ed today calling for universal health care, because it proves that everything he's said about the unions is right. Rush said this is Obama leveling out the unjust morality of this country, because the unions have been raped by capitalism and have a lot of stuff coming to them.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Kerry says that Tehran should respond accordingly by stopping its nuclear program. I kid you not. "Our efforts" he said, speaking of the U.S. changing its policy on regime change, "must be reciprocated by the other side. Just as we abandoned calls for regime change in Iran and recognize a legitimate Iranian role in the region, Iran's leaders must moderate their behavior and that of their proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas."

Did you talk to Obama about this, Senator Kerry? He is funding Obama -- uh, Hamas. He is pushing for a two-state solution in Israel. He is putting the pressure on Israel. He is blaming Israel for the problems in the Middle East.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So, all of these budget cuts that we keep hearing about, most of them are in defense. So we're going to lay off 30,000 people -- or they're going to lose their jobs in St. Louis working for Boeing -- but 20,000 bureaucrats are going to be hired at the Pentagon to expand the Barack Obama police state.

And if you didn't know what was going on in St. Louis, you would say, "Oh, Pentagon planning on 20,000 new jobs. Oh, Obama's investing in defense. Obama's investing in defense. This is absolutely fabulous."

No, he's not. He's investing in bureaucracy. He's investing in absolutely more money and more people to be in the Pentagon bureaucracy.

America's Truth Rejector

Falsely claimed there will be "no public recognition" of the National Day of Prayer at the White House:

LIMBAUGH: President Obama has announced that he is cancelling the public day of prayer -- the National Day of Prayer -- that is tomorrow at the White House; says he's not going to do this. There's no pomp and circumstance anymore. And there's not big deal about it -- he's just changing the policy that was in place for eight years of the Bush administration. But there will be no public recognition of the National Day of Prayer in the White House. Yeah, he prays privately.

Now why do this? Why go out of his way to do this? Why make these kinds of waves unnecessarily? He's doing it on purpose. He's trying to irritate some people. He's asserting his authoritarian control. They say he prays privately. I have no doubt. Does he pray to himself? Who does he pray to?

Falsely claimed that the hate crimes bill offers "protection for perverts":

LIMBAUGH: If you stand back and just take a look at some of the things that are happening in this country: the bill carving out protection for perverts, the bill that was argued by Alcee Hastings, the bill carving out protection for perverts and denying it to old ladies and veterans; the endless assault on Miss California Carrie Prejean because she voiced her opinion against validating gay marriage.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh echoes false claim that Hate Crimes bill "carv[es] out protection for perverts"

Limbaugh falsely claims "[t]here will be no public recognition of the National Day of Prayer in the White House"