This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by cap and trade -- the eighth deadly sin
By Simon Maloy

It's all about small mercies here at the Limbaugh Wire. For example, yesterday's big “news” -- or, rather, Drudge-fueled exercise in anti-journalistic immaturity -- that President Obama was “caught” eyeing the posterior of a junior G8 delegate broke after Mark Steyn had already wrapped up guest-hosting duties for the week. Had the “news” broken earlier in the day, or had Steyn been slated to guest-host today, we're sure he'd have been all over it, given that the *ahem* subject was already primed in his mind. Of course, the story is completely bogus, and it is based on one suggestive still-photo that is revealed to be bunk by the video of the actual event. What we find interesting is that the same media conservatives who (rightly) condemned Reuters for doctoring their news photos are more than happy to run with an undoctored (but no less false) photo of President Obama “ogling” a young woman (or, in the case of Fox News, doctor some photos of their own).

But we need not concern ourselves with that at the moment, because it's Mark Davis time on The Rush Limbaugh Show, and -- lucky us -- he'll have two guests on today: Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Scott Rasmussen (R-Pollster), whose “presidential approval index” has become the most important number in the world for conservatives looking to claim that Obama's still-strong polling numbers are actually in the sewer. We're not confident that Obama's actual approval rating will be discussed, even though it's still over 50 in Rasmussen's own poll and just about every other poll out there.

Davis got things rolling today by celebrating the fact that the George W. Bush Presidential Library is in his hometown of Dallas at Southern Methodist University. Davis said there were some members of the Methodist hierarchy at SMU that didn't want the library there, saying that the Bush presidency was antithetical to the Methodist faith. That argument didn't work, said Davis, but now there's a question over whether Saddam Hussein's pistol should be in the library. Of course it should be, said Davis. That pistol is Bush's property. The guys who captured Saddam traveled to the White House and presented that pistol to Bush as a gift.

Then Davis let us know that Mike Pence will be on the program at the top of the next hour to discuss the efforts to chip away at one-party rule, and Scott Rasmussen will be on during the third. If a pollster's on The Rush Limbaugh Show, said Davis, then it must be good news. And it is good news, he said, asking if we have seen the vaunted “presidential approval index.” At the beginning of the Obama presidency, the numbers were great, said Davis, but that has changed because people are “coming to their senses” and are not willing to give Obama a chance any more. Davis said he was one of those people who was willing to wait and see what Obama would actually do, even though he shared everyone's concern that Obama was too radical. But Obama has been the gift that keeps on giving, said Davis, what with the stimulus and health care. The mere compilation of things to recoil from is enough to keep a team of researchers busy, Davis said.

Republicans are saying that they can't just be the party of no, said Davis, and that's true. You also have to offer your own ideas and explain why it's superior. It's all packaging, he said, and good politicians are masters of packaging. Reagan and Clinton were good at packaging, said Davis, and Obama is the master. He was able to take an enormous box that contained virtually nothing and turn it into something people really, really wanted -- all that hope and change. Well, we know what the hope and change are now, said Davis, and that's why the presidential approval index is in the tank.

Between breaks, Davis wanted to talk about the confluence of two big-time talk-show topics: the military and smoking. Davis said he isn't a smoker, and he always sits in the nonsmoking section of restaurants, but the issue of the government telling a restaurant what its smoking rules should be is “patently insane.” This is all about liberty, said Davis, so let's talk about the proposed ban on tobacco use in the military, as reported by USA Today. Davis read from the article: “Jack Smith, head of the Pentagon's office of clinical and program policy, says he will recommend that Gates adopt proposals by a federal study that cites rising tobacco use and higher costs for the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs as reasons for the ban.” Davis promised us he'd “sort out” these issues, but only after another quick commercial break.

After the time-out, Davis did return to the smoking ban in the military. Reading form the article, Davis noted that a study by the Institute of Medicine, requested by the VA, called for a phased-in ban of tobacco products. Davis was upset at this sentence in the USA Today article: “Also, the report said, troops worn out by repeated deployments often rely on cigarettes as a 'stress reliever.' ” Davis' complaint was that it takes so much courage just to be the military and dodge IEDs and fight Al Qaeda, but this report attributes the stress to “repeated deployments.” We're not sure what Davis' definition of “deployment” is, but we're pretty sure “deployments” encompass the Al Qaeda fighting and IED dodging he says the stress comes from. Anyway, Davis said he's already decided on the proposed ban -- he wants a strong suggestion that soldiers should not smoke, but telling someone who is fighting and putting his life at risk for me that they can't have a cigarette, that seems wrong.

Davis' first caller believed that the Institute of Medicine study falls into the category of junk science. Davis wondered about the concept of “lost productivity” that the study brought up as one of the costs the Pentagon incurs as a consequence of tobacco use in the military. There is almost criminal use of junk science in hyping the danger of second-hand smoke, said Davis, but the premise of the study is not flawed -- a smoke-free military would be a healthy military. We should be recommending that they not smoke, said Davis, but if they're going to smoke, they're going to smoke.

Another quick break and Davis was back with a caller who is in the military, but does not smoke, and he said that they want you to believe that this smoking ban is for a healthier military, but it's actually a budgetary measure. Actually, by our reading of that USA Today article, they seem to be pretty up-front about the fact that this is largely about saving money. Anyway, the caller wondered if, with national health care, we're going to have legislators writing laws banning smoking because it's too expensive. Davis said this logic follows, but there's one reason that might not be the case -- the moment the government bans smoking, they'll lose billions in cigarette taxes.

Davis' next caller said the way to fix the economy is to have a 10 percent flat tax rate, drop capital gains taxes, start drilling domestically, build more refineries, and boost nuclear power. Davis said he's all for the creation of jobs in any form of alternative energy that actually works, but not ones that have been forced down our throats by the government. Caller said he's driven all across the country in his truck, but with the cost of fuel going up, people have to realize that increased transportation costs are passed on to the consumer. Davis responded: “That's why cap and tax is the devil's work, because as -- the articles that have come out indicating that it'll make energy costs go up for everyone on this threadbare altar of manmade global warming -- we all want to be cleaner and that's lovely, let's go do that -- but cap and tax makes -- would make all of our energy choices more expensive, including the fuel that you use. And whatever you're bringing me is going to cost more if the fuel you use is made artificially more expensive.”

After one last break, Davis rounded out the hour by saying he's as friendly to alternative fuels as any free-market person should be -- if there are technologies developed that allow us to drive cleaner cars and produce cleaner energy, he's all for it. Look at T. Boone Pickens, Davis said. He bought a bunch of windmills for his wind farm down in Texas, but he figured out that transporting wind energy is tough, so he's scrapped it for the moment. And that's the key, said Davis -- you have to figure out if it works before you implement it.

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

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

DAVIS: That's why cap and tax is the devil's work, because as -- the articles that have come out indicating that it'll make energy costs go up for everyone on this threadbare altar of manmade global warming -- we all want to be cleaner and that's lovely, let's go do that -- but cap and tax makes -- would make all of our energy choices more expensive, including the fuel that you use. And whatever you're bringing me is going to cost more if the fuel you use is made artificially more expensive.