This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the “liberty” of tea parties that “black people” don't find attractive
By Simon Maloy

Happy Friday, everyone. We emerged relatively unscathed from Mark Steyn's latest guest-hosting adventure, and now it's Mark Davis' turn behind the golden microphone.

Davis got the show rolling by decrying how “ardently” the Obama White House is “beating the drum” for prosecutions of “people who kept us safe.” Davis said that political and ideological disagreements are the “music of democracy,” but when you intend to “criminalize” any “opposition to your narrative,” that's “pathological, and that's what we're seeing.” Davis said he obviously recognizes there will be presidents with whom he disagrees, noting that we “survived” eight years of the Clinton administration, but Obama is different. Obama's first 100 days, according to Davis, has been “a nightmare that he could not have envisioned,” proclaiming “This is the worst hundred days ever in my lifetime, and I think I'd say that if I were 150 years old.” Our personal opinion is that William Henry Harrison's first 100 days were the worst ever, mainly because he didn't get to 70 of them.

Then it was on to the tea parties. Davis noted that he emceed a tea party in Dallas last week, and he told the attendees not to gripe but to be proud that “hateful” people like Janeane Garofalo had attacked them. That's what the left did, said Davis, they attacked the tea partiers as “mentally retarded” so that they wouldn't have to address what was actually said at the rallies. Davis counseled the tea partiers to wear those attacks as a “badge of honor,” and then announced that Byron York of the Washington Examiner (formerly of National Review) will be joining him at the top of the second hour.

Coming back from the break, Davis took a call from a man who said that the tea parties were not grassroots, but were organized from the top down by the Republican National Committee and other large organizations. Davis said the vast majority of people showing up to the tea parties had no idea that Dick Armey was involved, and the idea that Armey “pushed a button” that made the tea parties spontaneously occur is ridiculous. The caller then said that he'd never met one of these America-hating, flag burning liberals Davis and his colleagues keep talking about, and that he's actually seeing a lot of "Obama Derangement Syndrome" out there, much like there was “Bush Derangement Syndrome” for the last eight years. Davis said the difference between ODS and BDS was not in the “vociferousness,” but the “content.”

Another break and Davis was back, explaining that “there were people of all sizes, shapes, stripes, economic levels, and yes, races” at the tea party he hosted in Dallas. Davis added: “I mean, did they tend to be pretty white? Yeah. Hang on, maybe talk shows of the future will deal not with the question of, you know, 'What is it we're doing that repels black people?' but 'Why aren't black people more attracted by liberty?' ”

“Why aren't black people more attracted by liberty?” Seriously?

We didn't have a whole lot of time to dissect the many layers of wrongness in that question, because Davis moved on to his next caller, a tea party organizer who was proud of the attendance she saw at her rally. Davis asked her where she thought the path from the tea parties would lead, because the “goals” of the tea parties won't be achiever, Davis said, until a bunch of Republicans are kicked out of Congress and replaced with Republicans.

After plugging a “massive” July 4 tea party event (more “grassroots” organizing from the biggest radio program in America), Davis took another call, this from a man who said conservatives need to be less defensive and more aggressive. Davis said this notion that conservatism is “recoiling” is “very February,” explaining that a whole bunch of conservatives are more excited now than they were a few months ago, and now they have hope for 2010. That hope, we should note, is not shared by many.

Rounding out the hour, Davis took a call from a woman who was saddened to see the country slipping away and the national debate getting nastier. Davis agreed that civility has been on the wane, but that you can't blame it on talk radio, least of all on the man for whom he is guest-hosting, because “actual, civilized discourse” is what Rush is all about. We at Media Matters have nearly five years worth of evidence to the contrary.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

DAVIS: From the perspective of a lifelong conservative, these Obama years, these -- this first hundred days is a nightmare that I could not have envisioned as I watched him take the oath of office. Watched it, right there, went to the inauguration. I tend to go to all of these and quite the emotional rollercoaster that is between seeing someone sworn in you voted for and admire and seeing someone sworn in whom you just brace yourself and hope that things don't go as badly as they might. Well, it's -- at that time, at that time, between the election, let's say, and the inauguration, people were calling me and saying that “the Earth is gonna spin wildly out of its orbit, this is going to be just horrible.” And I told every caller in that regard, “Look, I am similarly braced. Let's wait and see what the man actually does. Let's react not to our very well-founded fears, but let's react to what he actually does.”

Well, how's that working out for everybody? Because I've spent just about every day reacting to what the man has actually done, and except for beefing up troop forces in Afghanistan, and I don't know, I mean, I don't know -- and the Easter egg roll, I have found everything to be abhorrent. This is the worst hundred days ever in my lifetime, and I think I'd say that if I were 150 years old.

[...]

DAVIS: All right, having -- having put the character type, the species of human that is the tea party organizer/tea party attendee under the microscope to see, it's funny because you can't generalize. At the tea party in Dallas that I was proud to emcee, there were people of all sizes, shapes, stripes, economic levels, and, yes, races. I mean, did they tend to be pretty white? Yeah. Hang on, maybe talk shows of the future will deal not with the question of, you know, “What is it we're doing that repels black people?” but “Why aren't black people more attracted by liberty?” There's your question.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh fill-in: “Why aren't black people more attracted by liberty?”