This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the historically illiterate American people
By Simon Maloy

As we noted yesterday, one of the favorite parlor games of media conservatives is to yell and stamp their feet, complaining that President Obama hasn't yet done that magical “something” that will overthrow the Iranian mullahs and usher in a new age of liberty and democracy in the Middle East. Rush, for example, bemoaned that Obama hasn't yet done anything to “hold to account a bunch of tyrants rigging an election,” without explaining what the president can do in that regard. Charles Krauthammer got into the act this morning on the Washington Post op-ed page, much to the chagrin of Joe Klein. We can't speak to whether Obama is taking the right course of action, but what's interesting to us is the wide variety of responses to the Iranian situation from the right. Rush and Krauthammer want Obama to do “something”; Henry Kissinger and Nicholas Burns think Obama is handling things just right; Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) thinks the protesters in Iran are oppressed like the GOP House minority; and Bill Kristol wants to bomb North Korea (but to be fair, that's also his response to rush-hour traffic). It's a wide spectrum, and we can't wait to find out where Limbaugh guest-host Mark Davis falls on it.

And Davis got right to it, saying that the country is at war, and Obama won the election, and you don't have to like that but that's the way it is. That being said, Davis continued, Obama's “pernicious” Cairo speech, which was a “bizarre Sermon on the Mount,” emboldened the mullahs of Iran and let them know that the American president would do nothing to thwart them, but would rather offer this kind of malignant neglect. Davis said that he wants a president who stands up for American interests, and the reason he said that, he explained, was that “I don't know if we have one anymore.” According to Davis, if you fail to “speak truth to evil,” then you can't combat it. So, Davis, it seems, falls firmly in the Rush/Krauthammer “why hasn't Obama done the magical something” camp, saying that Obama should “speak truth to evil,” whatever that means. For years, Davis continued, we have told the people of Iran, the youth who are sick of the theocracy and want out of the revolution, reach out and grab that brass ring of democracy, fight those mullahs, and we'll be there for you. Well, that's exactly what the people of Iran are doing, and they get nothing but silence from the president.

That, coincidentally, is pretty much exactly the argument Krauthammer laid out this morning, and here's what Joe Klein offered in response: "[I]t seemed clear to me when I was in Iran -- and even more clear, given the events of the past few days -- that the protesters realize that they have to do this on their own. And that an American endorsement would taint their movement, perhaps fatally." Anyway, Davis soldiered on, attacking Obama for saying that we can't be seen as “meddling” in Iranian affairs. We're perfectly happy to “meddle” with Israel, said Davis, but we have to stay hands-off in Iran because the narrative for this president is that the sheer force and magnetism of his personality will melt Ahmadinejad into a soft, cuddly toy. That's the dangerous narcissism of this president, said Davis, who explained that we've had garden-variety liberals to deal with before, but Obama thinks he's infallible, more than human, and that's pathological. Davis then encouraged everyone to go read Ralph Peters' saber-rattling column in the New York Post.

Davis then noted that George W. Bush gave a speech in Erie a couple of days ago and “shared some of his values,” but these comments were headlined as Bush attacking Obama. We'll point out that he did attack Obama as advocating “therapy” for terrorists. Anyway, Davis noted that White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about Bush's comment, and Gibbs said that we had that debate in November and “we won.” Davis said there's “rank arrogance” at work here -- elections have consequences, Davis acknowledged, but the notion that winning in November makes them perpetually infallible and not to be criticized, that's kind of sick. Well, that's not at all what Gibbs said; he said that the American people had the opportunity to choose between the Bush way of handling the war on terror and the Obama way, and they chose Obama. Anyway, leading into the break, Davis said that the “half-comic, half-tragic irony” of this is that the criticism of the Bush administration was that it was unwilling to admit mistakes. The policy and the personality flaws of this president, said Davis, make things very interesting.

After the break, Davis noted that the U.S., according to The Wall Street Journal, “is moving ground-to-air missile defenses to Hawaii as tensions escalate between Washington and Pyongyang over North Korea's recent moves to restart its nuclear-weapon program and resume test-firing long-range missiles.” Davis wondered what the limits on the rules of engagement are in this situation, but he would love a little shooting practice on a Korean missile, just to make clear to North Korea that they can't mess with us. But that, said Davis, “yanked” him “back to reality of who the president is. You know, I mean, thank God for Secretary [Robert] Gates, who I'm batting about .500 with. I'm glad he's there as opposed to, you know, Defense Secretary Cindy Sheehan, which I suppose we could've had there briefly. I'm glad he's there rather than some other leftist hack from the Obama cabinet gene pool.” The reason he's “batting .500” with Gates, Davis explained, was his decision to allow the media to photograph the coffins of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Davis touched on this topic during one of his prior guest-hosting stints, and we encourage you to revisit his unique opinions on the subject here.

After another break, Davis took his first caller, who wanted to know whatever happened to the days when Reagan was in there with Gorbachev talking about missiles and nuclear nonproliferation. Davis said that the key moment for him was the meeting in Reykjavik, when Reagan refused to disarm the SDI. That was one of the great successes of American foreign policy, said Davis. As for nuclear nonproliferation, Davis said, Obama has the wrong idea that all nukes are bad. Then the caller said that in World War I, the RMS Lusitania was attacked by the Germans. Then the caller got confused for a bit before finally settling on his point -- who gives us the right to be the world's dictator of who gets to have nuclear weapons? Davis says the right to have a nuclear arsenal is tied directly to the way in which you intend to use it. The world has nothing to fear from the U.S. nuclear arsenal, but there was plenty to fear from the Soviet arsenal and there's plenty to fear from an Iranian nuclear arsenal. Then the caller went off the rails while trying to discuss regime change, confusing Davis and us. Davis responded by saying that the American public “did get war weary” with the “noble quest of trying to put a pebble of democracy into the pool of the Middle East and have the concentric circles work their way out.” Davis added: “It is working today despite the middling will of a war-weary, historically illiterate American people.”

After the break, Davis announced that the Washington Examiner's Byron York will be on the program in the next hour to give only one side of the story regarding the firing of AmeriCorps inspector general Gerald Walpin. Then it was on to the next caller, who said that Congress, the White House, and union people need to give up their health coverage and enroll in the government plan, since they like the idea of a public option so much. Davis said that members of Congress are always talking about how Americans should have the same health care that they have, but that will never happen.

One more break and Davis was back, saying that you should not believe it when Obama says that you'll be able to keep your health plan if you like it. When a public option becomes available, said Davis, companies all over the country are going to dump their health plans onto the government, and that's the purpose of ObamaCare -- to make the life you live and enjoy a product of government benevolence.

Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

DAVIS: This is a quote that Rush has talked about a lot in the -- it was Evan Thomas of Newsweek who issued these horrific words: He's kind of like God. He's more than being American. He's above being American. He's sort of looking at all sides of the world and refereeing all of this. Well, God help us and save us from that.

I want an American president who looks out for American interests. And I know that's self-evident. It's kind of generic talk-show guy, “I want an American president stands, who up for American interests.” But I do. And the reason that those are words that deserve to be said is I don't know if we have one anymore.

I - the president is just umbilically tied to certain elements of globalization, the moral equivalencies from that Cairo speech, in which he seemed to say to the murderous lunacy of that portion of the Islamic faith, “Hey, you've done some stuff to us; we've done some stuff to you; call it a push.”

Well, guess what? No, the failure to speak truth to evil -- when you fail to speak truth to evil, you cannot in fact combat it.

[...]

DAVIS: There's a guidebook sitting around somewhere that says if a missile gets within X miles of us, we take it out. What is that number? I don't want to know what that number is, because that's one of those national security things that, quite frankly, we don't have a right to know. But I do wonder what it is, and I hope it's a really big number. And by that, I mean, if this Korean missile -- I mean, I don't know what it would be.

I mean, that's plenty of thousands of miles between, you know, the launch site of the missile in North Korea and the coastline -- and any westernmost coastline of Hawaii, whatever westernmost island would be at issue there. But I wouldn't let it get halfway. I wouldn't let it get a quarter of the way. I would hope that our guidelines are very, very broadly drawn.

I would love a little practice -- a little shootin' practice on an actual Korean missile, not for the sake of it, not just to go, “Ha, I'll show you Kim Jong-Il,” but to make clear that we will not be trifled with. And as I say these things, as these words come out of my mouth, I'm then yanked back to reality of who the president is. You know, I mean, thank God for Secretary Gates, who I'm batting about .500 with.

I'm glad he's there as opposed to, you know, Defense Secretary Cindy Sheehan, which I suppose we could've had there briefly. I'm glad he's there rather than some other leftist hack from the Obama cabinet gene pool.

Vox populi

DAVIS: In fact, as history has borne out, America did get war weary. We did indeed grow tired of the noble quest of trying to put a pebble of democracy into the pool of the Middle East and have the concentric circles work their way out. It is working today despite the middling will of a war-weary, historically illiterate American people. We -- as best I could tell, we got tired of the war after about a year.