Hour 2: Rush Reiterates His Sotomayor Litmus Test:  "I'm Saying If She's A Pro-Life Racist, I May Have To Change My View"

A "racist" on the Supreme Court? No way. But a "pro-life racist"? That's a different story
By Simon Maloy

Kicking off the second hour, Rush had just a couple more things to say about Lara Logan, Obama, and the Muslim world. Rush wanted to know what, exactly, are the hopes of the Muslim world that they've now invested in Obama. Does it have something to do with Israel? Do they just want their cut of the stimulus money? Do they want shovel-ready jobs? And so forth.

Rush then said: "Obama said that the United States could be considered a Muslim country. There are 1.6 million Muslims in this country, less than one percent of the population. Now what is going on? I mean, he lies about something that is easily demonstrated to be false. This is an out-and-out lie." Here's the thing -- Obama didn't say that, as we've noted here at Media Matters. We'll let Greg Sargent explain what's up: "Hard-core rhetoricians will note that Obama was employing an obscure tense known as the 'conditional,' and an arcane rhetorical device known as a 'hypothetical.' He said that if you were to take the number of Muslims in America, then one could see America as ranking up there with other Muslim countries -- in numerical, hypothetical terms." Anyway, Rush was nonetheless upset that the "state-run media" is not challenging Obama on this.

Rush then moved on to health care, reading extensively from a Wall Street Journal editorial this morning headlined "Why the Health Care Rush?" One reason for the rush, said ... um ... Rush, is that when people find out about what they're proposing, they won't support it. Rush said this harkens back to the day when the Democrats had huge majorities in Congress and they shut Republicans out of everything. Rush also said that the bill will tax health care benefits, pointing to a Washington Post story on Obama's "pivot" on that issue. Rush explained: "If they get -- if the Democrats get national health care, the concept of individual freedom and liberty will have been obliterated. The will be able -- Washington, government state and local -- will be able to regulate every facet of our behavior under the guise that it is -- has some kind of a cost impact on health care." It's impossible to exaggerate that point, Rush said, and eventually the quality of health care is going to hit the sewer.

Rush linked this to a story on "cell phone elbow," saying that maybe they will regulate your use of the phone and fine you if you are caught. Think of the most illogical, irrational example, Rush said, and it could come true.

After the break, Rush took a call from a gentleman explaining that in his office, if he or any of his employees made a mistake 60 percent of the time, they'd be fired. So why, continued the caller, would any senator or congressman vote for Sotomayor if that's her record? The caller was referring to Sotomayor's 60 percent "reversal rate" in the Supreme Court. Now, there are two paths Rush could have taken here. One, he could have gently corrected the caller and explained to him that members of the House of Representatives don't vote on presidential nominations. Two, he could have explained to the caller that a 60 percent reversal rate isn't actually that high, or that the statistic itself isn't that honest, or that by using the same metric, Samuel Alito's reversal rate was 100 percent. Instead, Rush said that judges' records aren't what the left looks at. She's a mirror image of Obama, that's why she was appointed. It's not about her record, it's about what they hope she will do, said Rush.

After another break, Rush aired an audio byte of Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC saying that Rush's comments on Sotomayor and abortion are an indication that he's backing down on the rhetorical front. We had to agree with Rush when he explained the Mitchell that she got it completely wrong. After reading from a New York Times article on how the "federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report ... that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation's civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons," Rush returned to Andrea Mitchell. Apparently Mitchell said that Rush was "eating his words." Rush responded: "Producers for Andrea Mitchell, you need to tell her I have not retracted my charge that she's a racist and a bigot. I have not eaten my words. You're missing the fundamental part of this. Gosh, this is -- she's a pro-life racist and I'm saying if she's a pro-life racist, I may have to change my view. What is so hard -- you know, the state-run media is unbelievable."

There you have it, folks -- Rush Limbaugh says he may be fine and dandy with having a "racist" on the Supreme Court, just so long as she votes to overturn Roe.

Rush then led into the break by airing long sound bytes of NBC's exclusive report on the Obama White House, bragging that he had "flummoxed" the White House all of last Friday with his Sotomayor comments.

After the break, Rush took a call from a woman who said that the thing that bothers her about Sotomayor is that she "brags" about being wise, and the caller had never known any wise person who brags about it. As you consider the irony of this caller saying this while calling into Rush "Half my brain tied behind my back" Limbaugh's show, we'll present Rush's wise response to this question: "She has a fixation on being Latina, Hispanic. It's been counted. Her speech on diversity at Berkeley that has this quote that everybody focused on that was printed by La Raza. Specifically, she mentions 'Latina' 39 times in that speech, 'Hispanic' six times, and 'Puerto Rican' six times. Her Wikipedia entry mentions 'Latino' 30 times, 'Hispanic' 17 times, and 'Puerto Rican' 24 times."

Closing out the hour, Rush took a call from a woman who said she's frustrated with Obama and the media treating them like they're stupid, this "jobs saved" stuff being a fine example. Rush said "saving jobs" is an invented concept. The stimulus package is a scam, Rush said, as is the concept of "jobs saved." The real story is jobs lost. Unemployment numbers hardly get a mention anymore.

Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: If they get -- if the Democrats get national health care, the concept of individual freedom and liberty will have been obliterated. The will be able -- Washington, government state and local -- will be able to regulate every facet of our behavior under the guise that it is -- has some kind of a cost impact on health care.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Producers for Andrea Mitchell, you need to tell her I have not retracted my charge that she's a racist and a bigot. I have not eaten my words. You're missing the fundamental part of this. Gosh, this is -- she's a pro-life racist and I'm saying if she's a pro-life racist, I may have to change my view. What is so hard -- you know, the state-run media is unbelievable.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: She has a fixation on being Latina, Hispanic. It's been counted. Her speech on diversity at Berkeley that has this quote that everybody focused on that was printed by La Raza. Specifically, she mentions "Latina" 39 times in that speech, "Hispanic" six times, and "Puerto Rican" six times. Her Wikipedia entry mentions "Latino" 30 times, "Hispanic" 17 times, and "Puerto Rican" 24 times. Now, I've been on the radio for 20 years, 20-plus years. Quick, Brian, you've been here for about 10 of them. How many times in 10 years have I referred to myself as white? You don't remember -- I don't remember one time referring to myself as white.

America's Truth Rejector

LIMBAUGH: Obama said the United States could be considered a Muslim country. There are 1.6 million Muslims in this country, less than one percent of the population. Now what is going on? I mean, he lies about something that is easily demonstrated to be false. This is an out-and-out lie.