Hour 2: Limbaugh's Paranoia: Discusses "Democrat Party's Enemies List"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the "Democrat Party's" enemies list
By Karl Frisch and Greg Lewis

Rush kicked off the hour still thinking about the caller from the previous hour who asked about how the car dealerships being closed would move their remaining inventory. Rush came up with a few ways to do this. He suggested that you could put the cars under the Community Reinvestment Act, which is what caused people to buy houses they couldn't afford (except that it didn't), so that the "subprime crowd" could get cars now, too. Give them a car, and don't make them pay for it, Rush explained, or just give the leftover cars to Africa.

Then Rush moved on to a segment on CNBC's Money Watch yesterday in which host Maria Bartiromo interviewed Jonathan Tasini from the Labor Research Association. They discussed, to put it kindly, the effect of unions in American industry. Rush played some audio bites from this, starting with Bartiromo asking why industries that have high union levels tend to fail. Tasini argued about the need for single-payer health care in the country to help these industries survive, and Bartiromo accused him of inciting class warfare. Rush, who referred to Tasini as a "union thug," explained that this is "Obamaism": they want people to get paid for life and get health-care benefits.

Rush expanded on this thought after the break. He asked why productivity has skyrocketed. The answer? Because only 8 percent of the American workforce in unionized, and unions negotiate their contracts in order to be paid to sit on the couch. Rush decided that if unions represented 15 percent of the workforce, then 15 percent would be unproductive. Rush had another point: The government is highly unionized, and you can't say they're productive.

Then Rush went back to a story he'd been referencing for the past half hour but that to this point seemed too insignificant to mention. However, his remarks became increasingly aggravating about it, until we felt compelled to address it. The article was about a model solar-powered house constructed in Troy, Michigan, that suffered extensive damage last winter when frozen water pipes burst (a not uncommon occurrence). Also, Rush's effort to paint all green buildings as unreliable is shameful. LEED-certified buildings and communities have had great success all over the country and the world. But it's not like Rush would recognize such success.

After Rush finished complaining about all things green (for the moment, at least), he moved on to a caller who was eager to rant about the evils of socialized medicine. The caller argued that we have the best health care in the world, and that socialized medicine will result in lost doctors and decreased quality of patient care. Rush agreed entirely, and followed up with an audio clip from last night's Charlie Rose Show, in which Rose interviewed SEIU's Andy Stern. Rush was bothered by this exchange in particular:

ROSE: I think this president wants to do this, A, because on the merits, he wants to do it and he believes it's essential and necessary, as is, as you say, the emerging consensus is, or I say. But he also wants to do this as a tribute to Senator Kennedy, and get it done.

STERN: I think Senator Kennedy's waited his whole life, fought his whole life to see this moment, and I think -- not just the president, I mean, I think Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, I think many people who know him like me, just think what a better tribute could there be to the greatest senator we've had in decades, you know, than to pass what he's always wanted, which is a universal health care plan.

Rush complained that he has "caught a lot of hell" every time he has suggested the bill should be named after Ted Kennedy. Compare Rush's comments to Rose's. We think this one speaks for itself.

After the break, and after a bizarre, extended rant against rooftop gardening, Rush had on a caller who reminded Rush of the time a few weeks ago when our favorite host claimed the Obama administration was trying to "define down" torture just as Rush claimed NOW was trying to "define down" domestic violence by including verbal abuse. Of course Rush remembered. Rush reminisced about the modern feminist movement in the 1960s, when fathers were labeled as predators simply by their existence. Rush said that this was a sign of what liberals were going to be like in the future.

Back from another commercial break, Rush read from an AP article titled, "Obama's barbed words worry corporate world." Rush was rather agitated after reading from this, so it was time for some played-out rants on liberalism. "It's not entirely proper to judge Obama as a liberal," said Rush, "Liberalism does not explain everything that he's doing. But what I discussed yesterday does: his quest for all-consuming power. He will get rid of anybody or anything that stands in his way of getting power, and he will embrace anybody or anything that helps him gain power. Now he's a liberal at heart, socialist, whatever -- statist, redistributionist."

Then Rush moved onto Democrats and their supposed enemies lists: "I mean, if you look at the last eight years alone, just the last eight years, look at the Democrat Party's enemies list -- big oil, big pharmaceutical, Wal-Mart, big food, big automobile -- virtually every major American industry is on the Democrat Party enemies list. Big radio -- you didn't even need Obama to come along to know where the Democratic Party is on this stuff."

-ist Watch:

LIMBAUGH: It's not entirely proper to judge Obama as a liberal. Liberalism does not explain everything that he's doing. But what I discussed yesterday does: his quest for all-consuming power. He will get rid of anybody or anything that stands in his way of getting power, and he will embrace anybody or anything that helps him gain power. Now he's a liberal at heart, socialist, whatever -- statist, redistributionist.

Outrageous remarks:

LIMBAUGH: I mean, if you look at the last eight years alone, just the last eight years, look at the Democrat Party's enemies list -- big oil, big pharmaceutical, Wal-Mart, big food, big automobile -- virtually every major American industry is on the Democrat Party enemies list. Big radio -- you didn't even need Obama to come along to know where the Democratic Party is on this stuff.