This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the banana republic of the United States of America
By Simon Maloy

Yesterday we reproached ourselves for demonstrating blithe naïveté in wanting to talk about health care when other more pressing issues abound -- the gun census, Michael Jackson's debt to Ronald Reagan, and the “fine print czar,” to name just a few. But we're going to continue in our innocent ways, as the cracks in the conservative opposition to health care reform have now graduated into a full-blown fracture. As we noted yesterday, public opinion on the public option is firmly against Rush & co. Even Wal-Mart got in the act, joining with the SEIU and the Center for American Progress in supporting an employer mandate for health care, and sending certain conservatives into apoplectic fits. Well, the news today is that the CBO released an estimate of the revised Kennedy-Dodd health care bill, which, when Medicaid expansion is factored in, will cost roughly $1 trillion over 10 years and cover 97 percent of Americans. This is a significant decrease from the CBO's estimate of an earlier, incomplete version of the bill, which didn't factor in a public option and an employer mandate. As Ezra Klein explains, it's the inclusion of the employer mandate that's driving costs down and boosting coverage: "[T]he overarching lesson of these CBO reports is simple: You can't do health-care reform -- at least not this kind of health-care reform -- without an employer mandate." So now Rush and his ilk are faced with a health care bill that includes the public option Americans overwhelmingly want, has the employer mandate that America's largest private employer wants, and covers nearly every American citizen.

Rush got things going today by saying that he went to bed last night last night confident in the news that the North Koreans were not going to launch any missiles, but it turns out that they launched four of them. Rush wondered what Obama will do: “He'll probably call Hugo Chavez to find out what to do about it, except Hugo's in the hills marshaling forces to invade Honduras. And if we had any good luck, Honduras would send some people here and help us get our government back.” Not often that you hear a big-time radio personality suggest that we need a coup against the American president. Rush then explained that he'll be working tomorrow (gotta have Open Line Friday, we guess), but he'll be off all next week playing golf. We were thinking about sending El Rushbo a thank-you note for this generous gift, but then the words “Mark Steyn” intruded our thoughts.

Rush then read from an article on the megacolony of Argentine ants that has “spread onto every continent save Antarctica, thanks to human activity,” and from a separate article on the expected jellyfish “invasion” of Japan, saying that we're “surrounded.” Boy, do we feel dumb in wanting to talk about health care today ...

Then Rush remarked that he saw MSNBC's Carlos Watson spoke to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson this morning and asked her if it's time for a second stimulus package. Rush asked where they find these brain-dead people -- they must have a factory somewhere that makes them. The health care town hall yesterday was staged, said Rush, so everything on MSNBC might be staged too. Rush then remarked that Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski say it's not helpful for us to criticize Colin Powell and Obama, but they're fine with anonymous McCain aides ripping Sarah Palin.

Rush then went into monologue mode, expounding on “Dependence Day”:

LIMBAUGH: Since the beginning of this country, we have celebrated Independence Day. And now we have to ask ourselves, are we heading to Dependence Day? Not if I can help it. “When in the course of human events” -- seven words that started the Declaration of Independence and begat the United States of America. Independence: a single word, a glorious idea, a word that guided us, governed us for 232 or 3 or 4 -- whatever the number is -- years. Independence. Liberty. Freedom. Independence. That which made us different from everyone else.

But on this July 4th, we have to give pause. Are we celebrating Independence Day or a new Dependence Day? Dependence on government for our health, our wealth -- our income; there won't be any wealth -- our well-being. Independence or dependence? The answer, my friends, is written in the polls. Thirty-five to 45 percent of Americans want dependence. It is our job, your job, my job, ours, to do everything we can to resist the false promises of dependence and cherish the virtues of independence.

Then Rush asked us all to stand. We couldn't because part of this job is that we have to be chained to the desk -- for our own safety and the safety of others - but we listened nonetheless as Rush played for us the new national anthem of “the banana republic of the United States of America” -- Harry Belafonte's “Day-O.”

After the break, Rush noted that the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent and 467,000 jobs were lost in June, saying that we've lost over two million jobs have been lost in six months. It is hilarious to read state-run media go through the contortions to make this seem not as bad as it is, said Rush, reading from this Reuters article that didn't really seem to us to have any good news. Nonetheless, Rush said that no one can simply report how bad things are because that doesn't fit the “template.” Rush then attacked the AP for reporting that the recession began in 2007. Even though the recession did begin in 2007, Rush insisted that it actually began in 2008, but the AP said 2007 so they could blame it on George W. Bush. By our quick calculation, Bush was president for -- let's see here -- yep, all of 2008, so we're not sure how saying the recession began in 2008 exculpates Bush.

Rush then noted that Obama will be giving a speech today on the economy. Rush said that Obama's going to say that things are bad but they would be worse had they not acted with the stimulus package. The stimulus, Rush maintained, is working exactly as intended -- rising unemployment is exactly what they want. The unemployment news today, said Rush, is just more evidence of the president's successful assault on the private sector. Obama is winning, said Rush. He's remaking America just as he promised. Rush added: “If you wanted more people to demand free healthcare, if you wanted more people to demand the government healthcare problem, wouldn't you want to drive their bills through the roof? Wouldn't you want to make them more unemployed 'cause they don't have portability with health insurance? So the worse you can create economic circumstances, the more pain that you can create for people, the greater the odds are they will sign up for your agenda. This is by design, folks. This is chaos. This is remaking America. Cap and trade, healthcare, unemployment numbers. This is what they intend to do.”

After another break, Rush noted that Vice President Joe Biden was in Erie, Pennsylvania, yesterday and fewer than 100 people showed up to see him. Rush said there is something going on -- these people have lost the magic. Then Rush said he's rethought the “staged” health care town hall since yesterday, when he remarked that all the people sitting behind the president looked bored and miserable. What could be better when the subject is health care, Rush asked, than to have all these people look miserable? Then Rush remarked that the woman who the president hugged said after the town hall that she wasn't satisfied with Obama's reassurances on health care. She expected to be cured by Dr. Barack, said Rush.

Then Rush attacked CNN for a bit, airing audio from yesterday of a CNN reporter looking for a “silver lining” in the economic news. It is so bad for CNN, said Rush, that MSNBC is beating them, and no one watches MSNBC. They want a silver lining, said Rush, and so they invent one. Rush then asked if we could imagine any of this happening with any Republican president. During the booming Bush economy, he said, we were told that we were in a recession.

Rush then reminded us that he's been attacking government incentives for innovation all week - specifically, the green technology incentives in the cap-and-trade bill. Rush said this isn't the way innovation works (even though it is sometimes), and this Inc.com article is proof of that. Rush read from the article, which recounted an 11-year-old boy's development of a popular math app for the iPhone, and had a couple of questions for us: Did a single member of the government give a speech and demand the creation of the iPhone? Did government mandate any of this? No, he said, they arose out of freedom, entrepreneur-ism, and creativity. Barack Obama doesn't know a kilogram from a pound, said Rush, and he's never accomplished anything that is anywhere near the private sector. And yet, said Rush, Obama claims to be “the magic man” while he purposefully sets about destroying the environment in which this kid triumphed.

One more break and Rush came back with a caller who, after hearing Rush play “Day-O” earlier in the hour, sadly realized that her kids aren't going to be growing up in the same country that she did. Rush said it's not quite time to say that, there are people still standing up, and as long as Rush is still on the case, that's all the leadership conservatives will need. Rush said he thinks there's hope that conservatives can take the country back, there's hope for change.

Rush closed out the hour with another rendition of “Day-O.”

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

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: So I went to bed last night, safe and confident in the news that the Pentagon said that the Norks were not gonna launch any missiles, that they had gotten cold feet. I wake up this morning, I find out the Norks have lit off four of 'em. So then I said, “I wonder what Obama's going to do?” He'll probably call Hugo Chavez to find out what to do about it, except Hugo's in the hills marshaling forces to invade Honduras. And if we had any good luck, Honduras would send some people here and help us get our government back.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Since the beginning of this country, we have celebrated Independence Day. And now we have to ask ourselves, are we heading to Dependence Day? Not if I can help it. “When in the course of human events” -- seven words that started the Declaration of Independence and begat the United States of America. Independence: a single word, a glorious idea, a word that guided us, governed us for 232 or 3 or 4 -- whatever the number is -- years. Independence. Liberty. Freedom. Independence. That which made us different from everyone else.

But on this July 4th, we have to give pause. Are we celebrating Independence Day or a new Dependence Day? Dependence on government for our health, our wealth -- our income; there won't be any wealth -- our well-being. Independence or dependence? The answer, my friends, is written in the polls. Thirty-five to 45 percent of Americans want dependence. It is our job, your job, my job, ours, to do everything we can to resist the false promises of dependence and cherish the virtues of independence.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: If you wanted more people to demand free health care, if you wanted more people to demand a government health care problem [sic], wouldn't you want to drive their bills through the roof? Wouldn't you want to make them more unemployed 'cause they don't have portability with health insurance? So the worse you can create economic circumstances, the more pain that you can create for people, the greater the odds are they will sign up for your agenda. This is by design, folks. This is chaos. This is remaking America. Cap and trade, health care, unemployment numbers. This is what they intend to do.