Hour 1: Limbaugh Declares Sotomayor's "Wise Latina" Remarks "Much Worse" Than Allen's "Macaca" Comment

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Rush -- back from vacation with nothing new to say
By Simon Maloy

There are few things that add more glaze to our already glassy eyes than the first days of Supreme Court confirmation hearings. They're scripted and formulaic, and the opening statements of the 19 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are unlikely to deviate from anything you've heard on cable news over the past few weeks. But it's summer in D.C., and those same deadline-conscious journalists who find themselves easily tempted by Drudge bait will be treating us to in-depth analysis of senatorial platitudes and Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nicely mending ankle. And then there's Rush. Ever since President Obama announced Sotomayor's nomination in late May, we've known Rush's stance: She's a "racist" who is unqualified to serve on the Supreme Court, but the Republicans don't have the votes to stop her from being confirmed. His commentary on Sotomayor since then hasn't deviated from this theme, except for his allowance that he might support her if she turned out to be a "pro-life racist." And, like the opening statements of the senators on the Judiciary Committee today, we're sure that whatever Rush says today will not veer off in any appreciable way from his previous remarks. And yet, we can't help but think that El Rushbo's latest rendition of "she's a racist" will once again be given the BREAKING NEWS treatment.

Well, Rush got things going today by noting that the market is up 130 points or so, which meant that not only is America happy to have Rush back from vacation, but so are investors. Rush said we're in for a fast and wild week with the Sotomayor hearings getting started this morning. She's probably a lock, said Rush, but the Republicans are really unified in their message, making it about her record, her statements, and judicial activism. And the Democrats are on the defensive, said Rush, who noted that Judiciary Committee chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) said that the "classics" were unavailable to Sotomayor as a child. Rush responded: "That is one of the most, oh, tear-jerking, let's play the Stradivarius and get the tears going for poor Sonia Sotomayor; she was denied access to the classics. My guess is she'd have found racism in all the classics. She'd have found bigotry in all the classics. If she read the classics, she'd wonder why the hell are these classic. This is Western civilization, white-dominated culture -- the hell with this."

Then Rush exulted that T. Boone Pickens, in Rush's words, was "out" of the wind energy market. That's not exactly true -- Pickens is actually just retooling his wind energy plan, and even said: "It doesn't mean that wind is dead. It just means we got a little bit too quick off the blocks." Rush then lamented that they're talking about "stimulus three," explaining that "stimulus" one was the Pelosi-Bush program to send checks to everyone. Any sane person with a brain has to admit that this is not being done to revitalize the economy, said Rush.

Moving on to other matters of importance, Rush asked if the Michael Jackson funeral had finally ended, adding: "In fact, one of the problems with the Jackson memorial, it took some really important Obama news off the news. A lot of really important -- I think that's why the state-run media gorged on Michael Jackson news. They gorged on Jackson news long after there wasn't any because it allowed them the opportunity not to report on some of the negative stuff happening with Obama and the administration." Rush seems to have overlooked Jon Stewart's observation that the Jackson memorial led the media to shift its focus away from "some of the negative stuff happening" with Mark Sanford. Rush also said that he received many emails from listeners saying that with so much news happening last week, it just wasn't the same listening to the show with Rush not there; it just wasn't as vibrant. Normally, people thank their guest hosts when they do their job for a week. So, tough luck, Belling, Steyn, and Davis -- you're just not that "vibrant."

Anyway, Rush finally got around to explaining we should be happy that Rush is back -- the sports section of the New York Times reported on the financial ills of the New York Mets. Rush explained: "Sportswriters, who are as leftist as any other journalists, they can sit here -- they diagnosed the financial problems of a struggling big market baseball team with no problem. ... But they can't seem to see the same thing when it comes to Obama's economy. They can look at a baseball team and they can see just outrageously poor financial performance, planning, and so forth, and how it's all gonna lead the team to sink further down the drain and come up with the solutions to it: cut costs, get younger players, develop them, and so. But when they look at the Obama economy, they don't see it the same way." So, there, in Rush's own words, is why he thinks he is so vitally important as a media figure: He's the only person willing to make an apples-to-apples comparison between the U.S. economy and the New York Mets.

After the break, Rush... well, we'll just let him talk:

LIMBAUGH: The Sunday New York Times published a recent interview with Supreme Court Justice Ruth "Buzzy" Ginsberg, and after expressing her annoyance over a 1980 decision that forbids using Medicaid tax dollars for abortions, Justice Ginsberg said this -- I want to quote it: "Frankly, I had thought at the time that Roe was decided that there was concern about population growth, particularly growth in populations we don't want to have too many of, so that Roe was going to then be set up for Medicaid funding for abortion," unquote.

Now growth in populations we don't want to have too many -- that's Planned Parenthood. That was the original goal of Planned Parenthood. The original goal of Planned Parenthood was to abort various minorities out of existence. That was the original purpose. I think in Ruth "Buzzy" Ginsberg's case, when she says that she thinks Roe was about population growth, particularly growth in populations you don't want to have too many of, she's probably thinking about aborting conservatives. But the problem with that is it's the liberals that are aborting each other, or themselves -- their future generations.

Now what's astounding about this is that a matriarch of modern liberalism was candid about the underlying objective of the abortion movement -- that is to rid society of entire populations deemed unworthy. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was an early proponent of this. You know, it's called eugenics. And her aim was to wipe out the African-American population.

Other infamous world figures acted upon similar instincts using other means to object -- achieve their objectives: concentration camps, mass gassings, so-called ethnic cleansings. Planned Parenthood's no different -- Margaret Sanger's Planned Parenthood no different than any of the people that used concentration camps, mass gassing, so-called ethnic cleansings.

And what's just ironic as it can be is that the primary supporters of Planned Parenthood are liberals. And it's -- but here comes Ruth "Buzzy" Ginsberg just out of the box admitting what this is all about.

This, said Rush, is why liberals reacted so strongly to his term "feminazi" -- it's "way too close to home."

Another break and Rush was back, noting that Obama has tapped a new surgeon general, Dr. Regina Benjamin. Reading from an Associated Press article on Obama's selection, Rush characterized Benjamin as a black, environmentalist, Katrina survivor who "doesn't think doctors should make a profit," adding: "What more could you want?" Rush's claim that Benjamin thinks doctors should not make a profit is, as far as we can tell, based on the AP's reporting that she is "a rural Alabama family physician who made headlines with fierce determination to rebuild her nonprofit medical clinic in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."

Rush then shifted back to Sotomayor, saying -- and stop us if you've heard this before -- that if these hearings are done right, they can help inform the country as to who Barack Obama is. This radical woman reflects Obama's own racial attitudes, said Rush, and this "empathy business" is just another word for "activism." Rush said that the Democrats want to make this about Sotomayor versus him, and this new radio commercial from Latino group Presente Action attacking Rush is proof of that. Rush aired the ad, saying that he sounded pretty good in the sound bite -- he's the only one speaking in English in the whole commercial.

Rush then aired audio of Sen. Russ Feingold's (D-WI) opening statement, in which he spoke about Sotomayor's opportunity to answer attacks that she'll be biased against litigants based on their race. She is a racist, said Rush, and "wise Latina" is proof of that. We may not want to face the harsh realities of the definitions of words, he said, but that's the reality. And what about the Ricci case? That was overturned. She didn't delve into the constitutional issues; she just ruled against the white firefighters.

Rush then aired portions of Sens. Dianne Feinstein's (D-CA) and Jeff Sessions' (R-AL) statements. Sessions was so good, said Rush, that the state-run media had to rebut him.

After the break, Rush disputed the idea that "wise Latina" was taken out of context, as Feingold had intimated: "A couple of words that Sonia Sotomayor said taken out of context. You mean, like, macaca? George Allen saying macaca -- we heard about that for weeks and months  as The Washington Post and the Democrats sought to destroy Allen; he'd been a congressman, a governor, and a senator. Sotomayor's comments are much worse than macaca; and they're frequent, and they are long-held." Closing out the hour, Rush said that Obama is taking heat for saying that the stimulus is working as intended. But the thing is that the stimulus is working as intended -- it's driving up unemployment and that's been the point all along.

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

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: That is one of the most, oh, tear-jerking, let's play the Stradivarius and get the tears going for poor Sonia Sotomayor; she was denied access to the classics. My guess is she'd have found racism in all the classics. She'd have found bigotry in all the classics. If she read the classics, she'd wonder why the hell are these classic. This is Western civilization, white-dominated culture -- the hell with this.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: In fact, one of the problems with the Jackson memorial, it took some really important Obama news off the news. A lot of really important -- I think that's why the state-run media gorged on Michael Jackson news. They gorged on Jackson news long after there wasn't any because it allowed them the opportunity not to report on some of the negative stuff happening with Obama and the administration.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Sportswriters, who are as leftist as any other journalists, they can sit here -- they diagnosed the financial problems of a struggling big market baseball team with no problem, the New York Mets. They come down; they go through this. Here's the Mets' payroll problem; here's their financial problem. They're in big trouble in the future; they have [been] paying all these old guys that aren't producing a whole bunch of money. It's just, they're -- and they're in deficit. What are they going to do? And they offered the exact proper prescription for Mets to be fixed.

But they can't seem to see the same thing when it comes to Obama's economy. They can look at a baseball team and they can see just outrageously poor financial performance, planning, and so forth, and how it's all gonna lead the team to sink further down the drain and come up with the solutions to it: cut costs, get younger players, develop them, and so. But when they look at the Obama economy, they don't see it the same way.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The Sunday New York Times published a recent interview with Supreme Court Justice Ruth "Buzzy" Ginsberg, and after expressing her annoyance over a 1980 decision that forbids using Medicaid tax dollars for abortions, Justice Ginsberg said this -- I want to quote it: "Frankly, I had thought at the time that Roe was decided that there was concern about population growth, particularly growth in populations we don't want to have too many of, so that Roe was going to then be set up for Medicaid funding for abortion," unquote.

Now growth in populations we don't want to have too many -- that's Planned Parenthood. That was the original goal of Planned Parenthood. The original goal of Planned Parenthood was to abort various minorities out of existence. That was the original purpose. I think in Ruth "Buzzy" Ginsberg's case, when she says that she thinks Roe was about population growth, particularly growth in populations you don't want to have too many of, she's probably thinking about aborting conservatives. But the problem with that is it's the liberals that are aborting each other, or themselves -- their future generations.

Now what's astounding about this is that a matriarch of modern liberalism was candid about the underlying objective of the abortion movement -- that is to rid society of entire populations deemed unworthy. Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was an early proponent of this. You know, it's called eugenics. And her aim was to wipe out the African-American population.

Other infamous world figures acted upon similar instincts using other means to object -- achieve their objectives: concentration camps, mass gassings, so-called ethnic cleansings. Planned Parenthood's no different -- Margaret Sanger's Planned Parenthood no different than any of the people that used concentration camps, mass gassing, so-called ethnic cleansings.

And what's just ironic as it can be is that the primary supporters of Planned Parenthood are liberals. And it's -- but here comes Ruth "Buzzy" Ginsberg just out of the box admitting what this is all about.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So Russ Feingold: A couple of words that Sonia Sotomayor said taken out of context. You mean, like, macaca? George Allen saying macaca -- we heard about that for weeks and months  as The Washington Post and the Democrats sought to destroy Allen; he'd been a congressman, a governor, and a senator.

Sotomayor's comments are much worse than macaca; and they're frequent, and they are long-held. You see how this race thing works, folks. If you're a liberal, nothing you say can be held against you.