Hour 2: Limbaugh Gets Defensive Over Reid's Suggestion That GOP Is "Run By A Talk Show Host"

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Obama's domestic spying program
By Simon Maloy

Rush got hour two rolling with a question -- well, first he had to bloviate a bit: "Barack Obama has a snitch website. Barack Obama has a website in which he's asking for his supporters to rat out people who are spreading disinformation about health care, when in fact the only disinformation's coming from him and members of his party. Now what this essentially is, ladies and gentlemen, is Barack Obama's very own personal domestic spying program." Then he got to the question: "I wanna know, where are all you leftist civil libertarians who were up in arms when George W. Bush was trying to catch terrorists in the act before they committed the act? The warrantless wiretap program that you said was a violation of civil liberties that, by the way, Barack Obama has expanded? Where are you today?" We have no answer to this, other than to say that our head is starting to hurt.

Anyway, Rush said the town hall meetings continue to erupt in fireworks, and then aired audio of an NPR report saying that the protesters are whipped up by conservative media, and the protests themselves have become a political strategy. The only organizing being done, said Rush, is by the real mob ruler, Obama. That memo he sent out yesterday afternoon also asks for donations. It's a fundraising email! Is NPR going to do a story on the unions trying to counterbalance the citizens at the town hall meetings? All of this is about tort lawyers and the union bosses.

Rush then offered this non sequitur: "I don't know how many czars Russia's had throughout its history, but we have about 44 of them in this administration. It's a very un-American characteristic as well, to have czars who are not accountable. They don't get appointed -- approved by the Senate." We're confident in saying that Rush probably wasn't as upset at all of George W. Bush's czars. Or Reagan's.

Anyway, Rush then moved on to Contessa Brewer saying on MSNBC this morning that the protests may not be as they seem, because the grassroots anger is being coordinated by Republican organizations. Of course there's organization at play, said Rush -- these people need to know where to go! (Remember that not two minutes earlier he said the only organizing going on was by Obama.) Also this morning on MSNBC, said Rush, was Robert Reich, who said that Republicans are very defensive today, they don't have the stature they once had and they don't stand for anything, so they're looking for ways to reassert themselves, and Democrats only need 51 votes to pass health care in the Senate. Rush said we all know it takes 60 votes to get anything done in the Senate, so why is Reich talking about 51 votes? He's talking about reconciliation, which is a process used to get budget bills through and budget bills only (or Republican tax cuts). Rush said the Democrats are thinking of using reconciliation to get health care through the Senate. Rush didn't know if the American people know what a "bastardization of Senate rules" that is, so it's up to the Republicans to make that known.

Reich said the GOP hasn't come up with their own health care plan -- how can the Republicans have a plan when the president doesn't even have one! The president is out promoting a plan that does not exist! The only plan that addresses insurance is the House plan, said Rush, which says we will lose our private insurance (no it doesn't). The president is pushing "feel-good fantasies." And the hell we don't have our own health care plan, Rush clucked, with actually, you know, explaining what that mystery plan is. It's important to point out that Obama doesn't have a plan, said Rush, because there's only the House bill which Obama hasn't read. There's a very simply explanation for why Obama doesn't have his own health care bill, and Matt Yglesias laid it out: "The President has a very powerful ability to set the agenda, and when his party controls congress to even outline the broad contours of public policy. But congress writes the laws. That's where laws come from."

After the break, Rush said all this talk about right-wing mobs is intended to cover up the real reason these mobs are happening -- they know what's in the bill. They're showing up out of genuine outrage because they've read the actual bill, and their Congressional representatives have not. That's being drowned out in all this mob talk. The outrage genuine because it originates out of substance, and these elitist, imperial members of Congress have no idea what they're talking about.

Rush then asked of we've seen the reports that Congress has approved funding for more Gulfstream jets. Rush said that Nancy Pelosi has enough money to get her own jet, but she wants to use your money to fly around. Actually, the real reason the Speaker of the House flies around in government jets at taxpayer expense is because President Bush, after 9-11, ordered that the Speaker of the House have such protection when traveling on official business. Anyway, Rush said these imperialist members of Congress -- it's almost like they think they're members of the Roman Senate! There's 10 percent unemployment, and members of Congress want three more Gulf Streams to fly around in? Rush concluded: "I'll tell ya, these people, this radical left wing of the Democrat Party is as far away from the concepts of the founding of this country as any party leadership in this country has ever been."

Rush then took his first call of the program, this one from a gentleman who said Obama has taken us straight back to the McCarthy era, and encouraged everyone to e-mail the House health bill to the White House disinformation website. Rush said the caller is not alone in his fear.

After the break, Rush said The Washington Times is reporting that the War on Terror is over. Then what are we doing in Afghanistan, asked Rush. Then it was on to the next caller, a gentleman who disagreed with one part of Rush's Democrats-are-the-real-Nazis analysis -- the Nazis actually loved big business. Rush said they hated private sector business and Jewish business. The Volkswagen was created because they wanted a cheap car that wouldn't pollute. It was right out of the environmentalist wacko playbook. The caller said he agreed with Rush overall, though, and he's upset that Goldman Sachs is going to profit so much from cap-and-trade. Rush said he predicted this weeks ago, the same guys that Obama wants the American people to hate are receiving this huge windfall.

Another caller before the break, this one saying that these Democrats are going berserk over Astroturfing, but they're the ones who think people are stupid and ignorant, and they can't believe that actual grassroots organizing is happening. The caller also said he made a list of all the things he doesn't like about Obama, and he's come to the conclusion that Obama is The Great Divider -- he represents the "Communist infestation of our Constitution." Rush would like everyone to consider something - where is the great communication from Obama on the health care bill? There's nothing positive about the bill, said Rush, and that's why there's no positive message.

After the break, Rush read from a Politico article reporting that "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid launched his harshest attack on the Republican Party in months, claiming the GOP is 'being run by a talk show host.' " Rush found this funny, and implored the Democrats to "keep showing us who you are."

Then it was back to the Washington Times' report that the Obama administration has retired the phrase "War on Terror," and was particularly incensed at this bit of reporting from the Times: "President Obama's top homeland security and counterterrorism official took all three terms off the table of acceptable words inside the White House." "Unacceptable words in the White House," Rush intoned meaningfully. Calling protesters Nazis, that's acceptable. Having a snitch website is acceptable to. But not the words "war on terror." What's happened here is that the president and the Democrats have placed themselves into direct opposition to the American people, said Rush. It's this president and his party against the American people.

Rush closed out the hour with a caller who said the "scariest" aspect of the House bill is that the government "will be able to go into your bank account or anybody's bank account." Rush agreed, saying he's reported on this. This is straight out of that wildly false smear e-mail Rush read on the air two days ago, and PolitiFact labeled this one "barely true," explaining:

Section 163 sets out goals for electronic health records. One of the goals is to include features that "enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation" between payment and billing. The legislative summary says the intent in the section is "to adopt standards for typical transactions" between insurance companies and health care providers. The legislation generically describes typical electronic banking transactions and does not outline any special access privileges.

Look at it this way -- if you're paying back a student loan from the government (like we are) and you've set up automatic bill pay online, this is the same thing. Completely uncontroversial, and totally not scary -- unless if you're trying to fearmonger.

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

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Barack Obama has a snitch website. Barack Obama has a website in which he's asking for his supporters to rat out people who are spreading disinformation about health care, when in fact the only disinformation's coming from him and members of his party.

Now what this essentially is, ladies and gentlemen, is Barack Obama's very own personal domestic spying program. I wanna know, where are all you leftist civil libertarians who were up in arms when George W. Bush was trying to catch terrorists in the act before they committed the act? The warrantless wiretap program that you said was a violation of civil liberties that, by the way, Barack Obama has expanded? Where are you today? Where are you leftist civil libertarians who were so concerned that Bush was monitoring your phone calls? We have a president of the Untied States who's asking Americans to snitch on people who are telling the truth about the House health-care plan.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I don't know how many czars Russia's had throughout its history, but we have about 44 of them in this administration. It's a very un-American characteristic as well, to have czars who are not accountable. They don't get appointed -- approved by the Senate.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I'll tell ya, these people, this radical left wing of the Democrat Party is as far away from the concepts of the founding of this country as any party leadership in this country has ever been.

America's Truth Rejector

CALLER: Listen, of all the scary things in this health-care bill, Rush, the scariest thing is this; the government, if this passes, will be able to go into your bank account or anybody's bank account -- I just read this last night -- anybody's bank account, take the money out to fund this monstrosity. Did you know that?

LIMBAUGH: Yes, I've reported on it. Direct deposit access to every individual's bank account.