Hour 3: Limbaugh Says Boehner, Sessions, Steele "Don't Run The Republican Party"

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By Simon Maloy

One more hour to go, and Rush got it started by saying that someone had emailed him with then observation that even though Obama's speech preceded Cheney's this morning, Obama's sounded like the Democratic response to a Republican president. Rush loved this, said Cheney was the one with the "gravitas," while Obama was "apologizing."

Then Rush patted himself on the back once again, saying that he was the first to predict yesterday that California, in the wake of voters rejecting deficit-reduction measures, would ask for a federal bailout. Rush felt he was proved right in this prediction, largely because of George Will's Washington Post column this morning, titled "The Coming California Bailout," which he read from extensively.

Then it was on to a UK Times columnist's scathing review of the new Honda Insight hybrid. Rush read almost the entire thing on the air, enjoying every minute of it and even translating for his stateside audience a few of the Britishisms it contained. He found it "just hilarious," but said that this is the "crap" that "Obama Motors" is going to be designing for Americans. We can't speak to the automobile expertise or critical chops of the UK Times columnist, but we are confident in the car-reviewing acumen of Edmunds.com, which wrote of the very same car: "Given its impressive talents and attractive price, it's hard to fault the 2010 Honda Insight. Until the next Prius arrives, at least, the Insight is the new ruler of the hybrid-hatchback roost."

After the break, Rush noted that the Treasury Department "will lend GMAC more than $7 billion, a step towards making the company a quasi-federal entity with the power to offer low-interest loans to would-be buyers of GM and Chrysler cars." This makes sense, Rush said, because they're just buying up things left and right, but meanwhile unemployment in Detroit and the rest of Michigan is going up. Go to any blue city or blue state where things are in trouble, Rush said, and you'll find liberal Democrats in charge.

Then it was time for the first of three listener emails, this one from a listener who was mad at Rush for attacking the GOP leadership's inability to capitalize on political "nuclear blasts" like the vote in California on the budget measures. The listener was made because, in her estimation, people like Rep. John Boehner and Michael Steele and Sen. Jeff Sessions are out there fighting for conservative principles. Rush answered by saying that he's not attacking these people. He's not attacking them because "they don't run the Republican Party." At this point, you might be asking yourself: If the House Minority Leader and the RNC chairman aren't leading the party, then who is? Well, Rush had an answer for you ... sort of:

LIMBAUGH: [W]hat you have to understand is that the Republican Party is now being run not by anybody in Congress or the Senate, it's being run by people who don't like the result in California. They don't like a return to Reaganism. They don't like tax cuts as an issue. They don't like social conservatives in the party. They're the Rockefeller blue-bloods. That's why I appointed Colin Powell the leader, the titular leader of the party, because that is the kind of people they are. I don't need to name names, but there isn't a definitive single conservative that has rocketed to the top of electoral Republican politics that is leading the party.

So the GOP is being led by ... people. Shadowy, wealthy people whose names we don't need to know, and who want to control the party's political future through behind-the-scenes puppetmastery. Wait a minute -- could he be talking about ... George Soros? Man, that guy gets around.

After another break Rush read his second listener e-mail, this one a copy of a letter a listener sent to his local Arby's complaining about their preferred parking spaces for hybrid drivers. Rush said this is just a business gimmick, they think everyone is caught up in the environment and they want to capitalize on that. But then a thought crossed Rush's mind - the UK Times columnist who savaged the Honda hybrid wrote that the dashboard of the car "shows leaves growing on a tree when you ease off the throttle." Rush asked us what the fuel for growth for leaves on trees is. Why, it's carbon dioxide, and Rush said that when you slow down your hybrid, you're actually harming the growth of leaves on trees because you're emitting less carbon dioxide. You can stop trying to figure out how that makes any sense. Trust us. It doesn't.

One more listener e-mail to go, this one from a Dittohead who disagreed with Rush's opposition to legislation recently passed by Congress that will "curb fees and limit penalties" on credit cards because the listener was a self-identified "credit-card loser" who needed help with the fees. Rush said this man's real problem is that has no desire to fix the problem he has with credit cards, so he's relying on other people to bail him out.

Then he was on to his final caller for the day, this man calling from his cellphone while he was on the road. Rush asked if he was using a hands-free device, to which the man responded that his wife was actually the one driving. This gave Rush an opportunity to flash that trademark wit: "Your wife's driving? Well, that's not much safer." Anyway, the caller asked when the "misery index" like they had under Jimmy Carter would be revived. Rush said that for a "misery index" to work you have to have people in misery, but people are not going to realize that the economy is bad because the media won't report it.

After one more break, Rush closed out today's program by noting that Eleanor Clift reported earlier this week that the location of the vice presidential "undisclosed location" made famous by Dick Cheney was revealed by Vice President Biden, who said that "the bunker-like room is at the Naval Observatory in Washington." Rush said that if Eleanor Clift got this right, then Biden may have violated the law. And Rush knows this because he's spoken to legal experts, apparently. (Biden's office, by the way, denies this happened.)

That's a wrap for today's Wire. We're glad to be back, though Rush put us through the wringer today, no doubt. We'll be back tomorrow to close out the week. We do hope you'll join us, and we have absolutely no problem disclosing to you the location of Media Matters' less-than-secret Limbaugh Archives, which you're free to thumb through at your leisure.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: But Linda, I'm not attacking any of the names that you've mentioned. I've defended them constantly -- Boehner, Sessions -- but they don't run the Republican Party, Linda, and neither does Michael Steele. Linda, what you have to understand is that the Republican Party is now being run not by anybody in Congress or the Senate, it's being run by people who don't like the result in California. They don't like a return to Reaganism. They don't like tax cuts as an issue. They don't like social conservatives in the party. They're the Rockefeller blue-bloods. That's why I appointed Colin Powell the leader, the titular leader of the party, because that is the kind of people they are. I don't need to name names, but there isn't a definitive single conservative that has rocketed to the top of electoral Republican politics that is leading the party.

Ladies' man

LIMBAUGH: Are you driving hands-free on that cell phone?

CALLER: Oh, no, my wife is driving.

LIMBAUGH: Your wife's driving? Well, that's not much safer.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh: Boehner, Sessions, Steele "don't run the Republican Party" nor does "anybody in Congress or the Senate"