The hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the Obama-Sauron connection
By Greg Lewis

This week's final hour began with Rush reading Larry Flynt's letter to the president, published at The Daily Beast. Rush said that when you start losing Larry Flynt, you're in “deep doo-doo.” Then Rush read an excerpt from Obama's Audacity of Hope, in which then-Sen. Obama wrote about how fuel efficient cars represent the future of the auto industry. Rush said that Cash for Clunkers is all bout getting you out of cars you want into cars you don't. We're not exactly sure how a voluntary program would get you “out of” the cars you “want” into cars you “don't.”

Next up was some polling, as Rush mentioned a recent Survey USA poll of Virginia which found Obama's approval in the state dropped to 44 percent. Rush posited that they're smarter in Virginia (we live in Virginia, and we don't necessarily disagree with that point). Anyway, Rush again went on to complain about the “state-run” media reporting that four straight quarters of the economy contracting is good news. Rush said there was wanton, purposeful destruction of the U.S. economy going on, and couldn't believe people were happy about it.

Then Rush read an Associated Press report that police were called to Sen. Dianne Feinstein's Los Angeles office to deal with a group of retirees who refused to leave the office unless Feinstein talked to them about health care reform. Rush warned that it was there would be some hot August days and nights ahead for all members of Congress. Then he read a Politico article on “Town halls gone wild.” Rush claimed Politico spun this for members of Congress by making the rowdy town hallers look like unhinged, unruly mobs. But Rush asserted that these “wild mobs” were actually voters asking intelligent questions, and realizing that their representatives are trying to trick them.

Then Rush brought up a subject he hasn't addressed in a while: the birthers. Reading from a “brilliant” article by Andy McCarthy at the National Review about the controversy, Rush said that it was never about the birth certificate, but Obama's honesty. Rush said that it could easily be shut down if Obama would just release his birth certificate. Rush continued to pile on the nonsense: “Obama could shut it down. There has to be some reason he doesn't want people to see that birth certificate. Maybe it's dual citizenship, who knows.” This is what you call Rush covering his, er ... posterior. Two weeks ago, Rush was screaming that Obama hasn't proved he's a citizen because he hasn't produced a birth certificate. This, along with Lou Dobbs' daily logorrhea, had the effect of elevating the birther nonsense to point that the rest of the media exposed it as lunacy and its devotees as seriously deranged nutjobs who have real problems with Obama's race. It got so bad that even fringe conservatives were chastising Rush for his birther-boosting. And so Rush didn't talk about it for a while. But now that the birth certificate nonsense has been thoroughly debunked and ridiculed, Rush is trying to rewrite history and say he never cared about citizenship or the birth certificate, it was all about Obama's “dishonesty” in failing to release his birth certificate (even though it doesn't matter). Well, Rush, the tape doesn't lie -- July 20: “Barack Obama has yet to have to prove he's a citizen. All he'd have to do is show a birth certificate.”

After the break, Rush was apparently struck with the desire to say Larry Flynt's name again, suggesting that maybe Flynt is made he didn't get any stimulus money, because Fox News has reported that stimulus money has gone to pornography. It would probably be too much to ask of Rush to also note that Bush funded the same groups. Anyway, “Open Line Friday” rolled on with a caller who wondered what health care reform would mean for people who participate in extreme sports. Rush said the caller's question illustrated how the public at large will have restrictions on their lives, and that Obama is treating every citizen identically on health care.

After another break, Rush read from a Washington Post article about House Democrats taking a class on their health care bill. Rush said they've been going to school on the “wrong stuff” -- they need to take self defense lessons rather than learn about the bill, because if their constituents know more about the bill than they do, they are sunk.

Then Rush took a caller who claimed that the House health care bill would control family planning. When Rush asked why they would do this, the caller suggested that maybe it's because she's a Republican and they don't want her spawning more Republicans. Rush told the caller that he has “heard” this fear from many people that “if you're a Democrat, it's going to be a little easier for you to be massaged through the system.” You know, it's really funny how when you use your nationally syndicated radio show to spread unfounded rumors about the politicization of health care accessibility, you then start “hearing” from “many people” that they fear the politicization of health care accessibility. Strange coincidence, that one ... Anyway, Rush added: “You're going to be punished less, you wait list will be shorter if you're a Democrat. A lot of people have this fear that tell me they know who this guy is and what he's all about.”

It was all downhill from there, as Rush explained his theory on why they're going to “control” family planning: "[T]hey want to limit the number of potential Republicans born and so forth, to counter all the liberals being aborted. But, it's about controlling everything." Then Rush launched into another one of his rants about how the history of the world has been tyranny, with the United States being the lone exception -- hence “American exceptionalism”:

LIMBAUGH: The people that want to control others so that they have more power, the people who want to limit liberty around the world -- they're all over the place, they've always been all over the place. They surround us. [...] And now we have a president who's sympathetic to those people and is engaging in policies that will replicate the same kind of loss of freedom and liberty that has been the traditional lot in life for the average human being since the beginning of time.

He continued:

LIMBAUGH: So you tell the American people, “OK, they've finally done it. These statists, these tyrannical types, they've finally gotten their foot in the door of the Untied States of America.” They have. And this had been something that a lot of Americans have been fighting for a hundred years, these people have been around, fought it 50 years, certainly. But they never stop. The quest for this kind of power is insatiable.

And then -- because why not? -- Rush threw in a reference to The Lord of the Rings:

LIMBAUGH: These people are no different than -- whoever the bad guy was in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sauron, whoever it was. No matter what they got, they're never happy. They have an addiction that can never be satisfied or quelled -- by definition, addictions can't. And most Americans, with a historical perspective that begins with the day that they were born, just can't fathom the idea that people of the likes of people in world history who have been tyrannical dictators and torturers and murders -- can't have that, that doesn't happen, this is America. Well, people have been trying to create this in America for a long, long, long, long time.

Anyway, it was time for a well-deserved (on our part) commercial break. Rush returned with an AP article reporting that Americans spend $34 billion a year on alternative medicine. Rush wondered why, if people pay for these treatments out-of-pocket, they can't also pay for basic medical care out-of-pocket.

So concludes another fantastic week of the Limbaugh Wire's coverage of another maddening week of The Rush Limbaugh Show. We're going to spend the weekend boning up on The Lord of the Rings, in case Rush makes further references to the books/movies next week. We always strive to be on top of our game here at the Wire. In the meantime, feel free to spend the weekend with the always-fantastic Limbaugh Wire archives.

Simon Maloy, Zachary Pleat, and Ariana Probinsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Obama could shut it down. There has to be some reason he doesn't want people to see that birth certificate. Maybe it's dual citizenship, who knows.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I've heard that -- this fear from so many people who've called this program, that whatever the rules in this bill are, that if you're a Democrat, it's going to be a little easier for you to be massaged through the system. You're going to be punished less, you wait list will be shorter if you're a Democrat. A lot of people have this fear that tells me people know who this guy is and what he's all about.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: They're going to control family planning. Now, the real reason they want to control family planning, they can throw in -- they want to limit the number of potential Republicans born and so forth to counter all the liberals being aborted. But it's about controlling everything. People just can't understand Americans, the average American. Just -- you tell 'em, for example, this guy's purposely destroying the U.S. economy. “Uhh...” -- it doesn't compute. People do not understand -- they can't think that there are Americans who would do that. They can't think that they actually elected a president and have members of Congress who genuinely want to deny the basic liberty and freedom our U.S. Constitution and other founding documents have proclaimed.

And when I have people tell me this, I point out world history to 'em. The history of the world is tyranny. Human beings are viciously mean to each other. The history of humanity is tyranny, torture, dungeons, dictatorship, fear. The exception has been the United States of America. That's the whole thing behind American exceptionalism. The exception to human nature and world human history is the United States of America. The people that want to control others so that they have more power, the people who want to limit liberty around the world -- they're all over the place, they've always been all over the place. They surround us. That's why we're despised and feared. We represent the only opposition to them. And they're everywhere. They're in the Middle East, they're in Europe, they're in Asia, they're in South America, Central America -- they're all over. We are surrounded. And now we have a president who's sympathetic to those people and is engaging in policies that will replicate the same kind of loss of freedom and liberty that has been the traditional lot in life for the average human being since the beginning of time.

So you tell the American people, “OK, they've finally done it. These statists, these tyrannical types, they've finally gotten their foot in the door of the Untied States of America.” They have. And this had been something that a lot of Americans have been fighting for a hundred years, these people have been around, fought it 50 years, certainly. But they never stop. The quest for this kind of power is insatiable. These people are no different than -- whoever the bad guy was in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sauron, whoever it was. No matter what they got, they're never happy. They have an addiction that can never be satisfied or quelled -- by definition, addictions can't. And most Americans, with a historical perspective that begins with the day that they were born, just can't fathom the idea that people of the likes of people in world history who have been tyrannical dictators and torturers and murders -- can't have that, that doesn't happen, this is America. Well, people have been trying to create this in America for a long, long, long, long time.