Hour 2: Limbaugh Continues To Push Conspiracy Theory That Obama Is Intentionally Wrecking The Economy

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by troop movements on the Venezuelan-Honduran border
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour rolling by recounting his theory from yesterday about the rise and decline of Michael Jackson corresponding to the party ID of the person sitting in the White House. What Rush said, he explained, was that Michael Jackson is an original - he was so original, and his songs were so original, that you never see any musicians cover Michael Jackson songs (except for this one, and this one, and all these). Anyway, Rush then aired audio of MSNBC's David Shuster, Tamron Hall, and Chuck Todd reacting to Rush's comments and, in his view, misinterpreting them. Rush then aired audio of The Washington Post's Dan Balz saying on NPR that GOP officeholders are not prepared to take Rush on and don't want to get into arguments with him, but they realize you can't be elected president by acting like Rush.

Rush then said he's noticed lately that more and more advertisements contain the phrase "you deserve." This is occurring more and more in the age of Obama, said Rush, because successful advertisers recognize consumer trends. If liberals are out there saying that people deserve all these things like health care, said Rush, then why wouldn't advertisers get in on the game? Americans now believe they deserve anything they want. Barney Frank, said Rush, is one of these people: "This guy, he's another guy who says you deserve affordable housing. 'America deserves affordable housing!' So he devises a system where you can get a house without paying for it, and creates a scandal and the problem that we are in the midst of. There was an editorial yesterday in Investor's Business Daily, and it laid it all out again. I don't know how many times I've read this. How many times have I read Barney Frank and Chris Dodd created the problem with Bill Clinton and still, it isn't mainstream? And it's been out there all over the place for years and years and years." We think we can explain to Rush why this story hasn't become "mainstream" -- it's not true.

After the break, Rush said that he, as an influential member of the media, is often asked how it was the Obama got elected, and Rush offered this story as an explanation: "The family's pet 12-foot Burmese python strangled a 2-year-old girl in Sumter County, Florida, on Wednesday, according to the Sumter County Sheriff's Office. An adult at the home woke up and found the snake wrapped around the girl in bed."

Then Rush issued a quick correction on his claim that Michael Jackson songs have never been covered -- we're glad he cleared that up. But then we got right back to the stupidity as Rush read from a story that Obama "might be interested" in -- an Al Jazeera report on how the president of Gambia says he can cure AIDS on Thursdays. Rush added: "So here is a leader, Yahya Jammeh, in Gambia, that Obama might be following in the footsteps of. Another great African leader here."

Rush then took a call from a man who asked Rush to think how bad things would be if Obama hadn't passed the stimulus. Rush asked if the caller was for real, the caller said no, and a hearty laugh was shared by all. Rush said he's been told that people in the Clinton circle are furious at how Obama has marginalized Hillary. It's bad enough that a guy has marginalized Hillary, said Rush, but it's even worse that it's this guy. And where's Bill? He's the envoy to Haiti, said Rush, and no one wants to go to Haiti. The Obama-ites have marginalized the Clintons, said Rush, and that's evidence as to how much of a piker Clinton is to Obama. Rush said he has been on the radio for 20 years, and the drive-bys still don't understand him, so why do we think that the media are going to "get" Obama?

Rush's next caller wanted to know when people are going to wake up and see through Obama, whose policies are designed to dismantle the economy. Rush, elated to hear his own opinions dittoed back at him, said the best sales technique you can have for these policies is misery -- there's no question that this is purposeful. Rush said he doesn't know when Americans are going to wake up, and that's why they have to keep fighting.

After the break, Rush treated us to a rendition of Michael Jackson's "Beat It," with accompanying sound bites of Pee Wee Herman ... moments like these, ladies and gents, should help explain why we get chained to the desk for the three hours we listen to Rush. Anyway, Rush then aired a sound bite of business analyst Richard Yamarone saying on CNBC this morning that he's been traveling the country talking to businessmen, and they say that there's no reason to believe the stimulus is working or the economy is coming back. This is purposeful, said Rush: "It's time to face the facts. Nobody in their right mind who wanted to really help the U.S. economy would do 10 percent of what this president has done. It is purposeful to create more crisis to create more demand for government solution, and thus more dependence." Obama doesn't care about the impact of his policies on the country, said Rush -- the more chaos the better. He has a huge chip on his shoulder too, said Rush. For example, he said, look at this interview Obama gave the AP, in which he said "affirmative action can be made an 'afterthought' when problems such as malnutrition, poverty and substandard schools are dealt with, and 'everybody has a level playing field.' " That means never, said Rush, because there will never be a level playing field because "people are different."

Rush's next caller had a question for all the people helping Obama to succeed -- do they stop and think what is going to happen if he does succeed? No, said Rush, they think of themselves as elites to whom nothing bad will happen. Look at the health care bill, said Rush -- no one in the government is going to give up their health plan for the public option. The caller wanted to know specifically about people in the media helping Obama. The best way to answer your question, Rush said, is to recall what his father said to him years ago -- the media are so stupid that if they communists ever take over, the media would be the first ones put in jail, but they would think they'd been admitted to the inner circle. But Rush understands these election results in 2008 -- what alternative was there to Obama? For people who didn't like Obama, there was no one else to turn to.

Then Rush expounded on Obama's attempts to cast himself as a "moderate." We have a "surge" in Afghanistan, said Rush, that rivals anything Bush did, but do you see any criticism of it? And Obama has come out for unending detentions, said Rush. He said it gives him huge pause. What pause? Rush said Obama is continuing Bush's plan. Meanwhile, said Rush, "[Hugo] Chavez's military's in the hills down there, surrounding Honduras, waiting for the go signal from Obama. To go in there and finally have a real coup to take a democratic country back." There are a couple of things wrong with this. The first is the sheer stupidity of it, and the second is geographical -- for Chavez's troops to be in the "hills" surrounding Honduras, they'd have to make their way through Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica, and then set up camp in Nicaragua.

After the break, Rush had one more example for us of how, in covering the Mark Sanford story, the "chicks in the media" are enacting the "chickification" of the media. Rush read from a Los Angeles Times column which speculated that "maybe, just maybe, there's a tiny bit of Mark Sanford in, if not all men, quite a few of them."

Greg Lewis and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: By the way, President Obama might be interested in this story. Here's the headline from Al Jazeera: "Gambia President Cures AIDS on Thursday." I got this from sweetnessandlight.com. "Welcome to Gambia. Land of sun, sea, sand, and a president who cures AIDS. Yahya Jammeh is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, secretary of state for defense, and chief custodian of the sacred Constitution of Gambia." Sounds just like Obama. "Now he is also a self-styled miracle worker. He claims he has a mandate handed down from his father to cure AIDS -- as long as it is a Thursday. Asthma sufferers can also be cured, but only on a Saturday." So here is a leader, Yahya Jammeh, in Gambia, that Obama might be following in the footsteps of. Another great African leader here.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: This is purposeful, folks. It's time to face the facts. Nobody in their right mind who wanted to really help the U.S. economy would do 10 percent of what this president has done. It is purposeful to create more crisis, to create more demand for government solution, and thus more dependence.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I'll bet you Chavez's military is in the hills down there surrounding Honduras, waiting for the go signal from Obama. To go in there and finally have a real coup to take a democratic country back.

America's Truth Rejector

Rush was flabbergasted that the bogus claim that Barney Frank caused the housing crisis isn't "mainstream":

LIMBAUGH: Barney Frank -- not gonna do it now, but I have "Banking Queen" standing by. This guy, he's another guy who says you deserve affordable housing. "America deserves affordable housing!" So he devises a system where you can get a house without paying for it, and creates the scandal and the problem that we are in the midst of. There was an editorial yesterday in Investor's Business Daily, and it laid it all out again. I don't know how many times I've read this. How many times have I read Barney Frank and Chris Dodd created the problem with Bill Clinton, and still it isn't mainstream? And it's been out there all over the place for years and years and years.