This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by screw-in health care
by Simon Maloy
For the final hour, Rush got things started by reading extensively from his favorite news articles and press releases of the day. First out of the gate was the Center for Consumer Freedom's claim that PETA “killed 95 percent of the adoptable pets in its care during 2008.” Rush suggested that former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, incarcerated for animal cruelty charges related to dog fighting, be made PETA's spokesman. Then it was on to Fox News, which was reporting that women who've lost their jobs in these tough economic times have turned to stripping. Rush was incredulous, particularly at news reports that gyms in his area offer pole-dancing classes.
Then it was time for a little ego-stroking, as Rush read, in its entirety, Andrew Klavan's Los Angeles Times op-ed “Take the Limbaugh Challenge.” In the op-ed, Klavan chastised nameless “liberals” who profess to dislike Limbaugh without ever having really listened to him. As Media Matters noted, Klavan himself wrote that he's “never heard” El Rushbo “utter a single racist, hateful or stupid word,” casting doubt as to whether he's ever really listened to Rush. But, of course, Rush loved Klavan's caricature of these “lowdown, yellow-bellied, lily-livered intellectual coward” liberals.
Then it was on to The New York Times, specifically this story about consumers running into some problems with fluorescent light bulbs, zeroing in on this sentence: “Some experts who study the issue blame the government for the quality problems, saying an intensive federal push to lower the price essentially backfired by encouraging manufacturers to use cheap components.” The word “government” sent Rush on a tear, prompting listeners to take this story and replace the words “light bulb” with “health care.” We tried it, and ran into a few problems: 'Experts say the quality problems are compounded by poor package instructions. Using the health care incorrectly, such as by screwing low-end health care into fixtures where heat is prone to build up, can greatly shorten their lives."
After a quick break, Rush returned to the Fox News pole-dancing story, saying that it conflicted with his view that women are as “pure as the driven snow.” It's “depressing,” according to Rush, to see stories like these, as they show that we are “losing” our “culture.”
One more time out and Rush was back, once again praising the British press and reading from this Telegraph article that reported: “President Barack Obama has engineered a quiet racial revolution in Washington, giving more power to black women than at any point in American political history.” Rush wondered why the “racial revolution” had to be “quiet,” adding: “He doesn't need a whole lot of black men, he's got that handled.” Then he aired clips of Obama on Face the Nation Sunday talking about the auto industry and sacrifice, and Rush revisited his views on “the left” and “sacrifice”: " I talked about how the left thinks that we just have to sacrifice. We all have to -- we must sacrifice. We have to suffer. The only way this country will be just and fair is if everybody is equally miserable in their suffering and sacrifice, and he said it essentially on Face The Nation yesterday."
From there the clip train kept right on a-rolling, as he aired audio from this week's episode of Our World with Black Enterprise, during which Vibe editor-in-chief Danielle Smith called for a new kind of patriotism that doesn't allow someone to wish for the failure of the president during such perilous economic straits. Rush, as you might expect, disagreed, and did so in a fashion that has become familiar to us all: “Based on what we've seen with General Motors and the banks, if he fails, America is saved. Barack Obama's policies and their failure is the only hope we've got to maintain the America of our founding.”
Before the break Rush squeezed in a quick call from a man who was curious which industry Obama will “nationalize” next. Rush joked that Obama will not go after any industry that produces ingredients “necessary to make a teleprompter.” We almost laughed at this latest in a long series of increasingly hilarious teleprompter gags, but then realized that it didn't make any sense. If Obama is so keen on teleprompters, he would want to make sure that he had a steady supply. And wouldn't he view government control of the industry as the best way to ensure that? We snapped ourselves out of this line of thought just in time to hear Rush's real answer to the caller's query -- the oil and gas industry will be nationalized next.
Another break and Rush came back to story that we hoped he'd return to -- the cataclysmic sun storm that factors into the grand chaos conspiracy. Rush once again cited it, as well as a new story about the deleterious health effects of watching your football team lose the Super Bowl, as part of a campaign intended to make us think that the things we enjoy will actually kill us.
One more caller to close out the show, who claimed that Obama's willingness to “cross the line” demonstrates a deficiency of character that was downplayed during the campaign. Rush agreed: “He's a radical guy. He's a very arrogant, radical guy who is angry. No one is going to be able to convince me otherwise.”
Well folks, that's it. Another Limbaugh Wire in the can. We ask that you please tune in for tomorrow's exciting installment, and, in the meantime, take a look at Media Matters' ever-expanding Limbaugh Archives.
Highlights from Hour 3
Outrageous comments
LIMBAUGH: Here's Barack Obama. I talked about how the left thinks that we just have to sacrifice. We all have to -- we must sacrifice. We have to suffer. The only way this country will be just and fair is if everybody is equally miserable in their suffering and sacrifice, and he said it essentially on Face The Nation yesterday.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Based on what we've seen with General Motors and the banks, if he fails, America is saved. Barack Obama's policies and their failure is the only hope we've got to maintain the America of our founding.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: I know what you mean -- when you talk about his character, you talk about who he is, who reared him, who raised him, who mentored him, who his associations were. I agree, they're all important. They were covered up. He's a radical guy. This is a very arrogant, radical guy who is angry. No one is going to be able to convince me otherwise. I mean, he doesn't show it, but sometimes I think I notice it. I think it flares sometimes. Not the anger, but the -- he reveals that he has a bunch of chips on his shoulder, and we know his wife does, and we know Reverend Wright does. And we're getting, you know, a lot of this stuff that's happening right out of Reverend Wright's sermons. Yeah, I mean, it really is -- and a lot of what's going to happen in education, right out of Bill Ayers' curriculum, his extremist terrorist buddy.
Echo chamber
Read, from top to bottom, Andrew Klavan's Los Angeles Times op-ed: “Take the Limbaugh Challenge”
Clips from this hour: