This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by all those “experts” who need to “shut up”
By Simon Maloy

It seems almost quaint to talk about health care with so many other more important issues out there, like President Obama's nascent plan to enlist ACORN and lawless minorities in helping to establish himself as President for Life, but it turns out that there are more than a few significant cracks developing in the conservative opposition to health care reform. First off, there was that New York Times poll from last week showing that three-quarters of the public support a public option. Conservatives like Rush dismissed the poll as “rigged,” even though 50 percent of Republicans in the poll want a public option. That argument is looking even less credible now that Quinnipiac has released a survey showing that 69 percent of Americans support a public option. Also, supporters of employer health-care mandates got a boost from an unlikely source -- Wal-Mart. The giant retailer, which is often on the receiving end of free-market conservative hosannas, endorsed “an employer mandate which is fair and broad in its coverage.” So the next time Rush attacks health care reform as Obama's attempt to grow government for the benefit of the unions, remember that Wal-Mart, which does nothing for the benefit of the unions, is also on board.

Rush got things rolling this morning with a Drudge special, saying that they're “rounding up guns in Houston.” Rush said: “This is just the first-ever census for guns. You know, ACORN, AmeriCorps, going to be joining the feds soon. They'll sweep the country, they'll do an inventory, they'll get one or two more liberals on the bench of the Supreme Court, they'll find a way to get rid of the Second Amendment, and they can confiscate guns like FDR confiscated gold in 1933.” Actually, no -- this is ATF agents tracking down guns that were “used in murders, kidnappings and other crimes in Mexico.” But if Rush has a problem with the ATF investigating crime, we'll let him explain that.

Then Rush had an “observation” for us on Michael Jackson: “He reached a level of success that may never be equaled. He flourished under Reagan, he languished under Clinton/Bush, and died under Obama. Let's hope the parallel does not continue.”

Anyway, we had just recovered from the shocking inanity of that “observation” when we heard Rush's theory that more and more AP and Reuters articles critical of Obama are published without bylines because the reporters are “scared to death.” Then Rush read from a bylined AP article on Obama's request that Congress “create a new agency to police the fine print on consumer products like credit cards and mortgages and determine what fees, penalties and interest rates are fair.” Rush objected to the idea that the agency is being promoted as a protection for consumers: “The way you get all this stuff done if you're Obama is you simply insult the intelligence of the average American, call whatever you're going to do -- you could legalize rape and call it the consumer-something and it would pass. You're protecting consumers. Likewise, you could legalize rape and call it the Civil Rights Act of 2009. It would probably pass 'cause who'd have the votes -- the guts to vote against something with 'civil rights' in it?” Anyway, Rush said that there is no demand from Americans to regulated fine print -- the fine print is there to protect the credit card companies from law suits. Rush then defied anyone to tell him the difference between the fine print and the average bill in the House -- no one ever reads or understands it.

Anyway, Rush continued, saying that the government has ownership of the automobile companies and nationalized just about everything else, and now we have a “fine print czar.” That's not quite right either -- the AP article Rush read from said that the proposed new agency “would be in charge of regulating those products in the same way other government agencies regulate the safety of drugs, food and toys.” So, in other words, just like the FDA, the head of which has to be approved by the Senate. “Czars,” as typically understood, are appointed without Senate approval. Rush's first hint at this should have been the fact, reported by the AP, that Obama “asked Congress” to create the agency.

Leading into the first break, Rush said that Obama “celebrated” the anniversary of the Stonewall riots at the White House last week. Not sure “celebrated” is the right word, but anyway, Rush read from Obama's remarks to gay rights activists, concluding with Obama's statement that by the end of his term in office, “I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration.” Rush said that Obama told “the gays in the White House that they'll be happy in the end.”

After the break, Rush said he's talked about the cap-and-trade bill a lot, in particular this 300-page amendment that no one read. Well, Rush said, a member of the press has read it, Edward Felker of The Washington Times, who wrote that House Democrats “finally secured the vote of one Ohioan, veteran Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, the old-fashioned way. They gave her what she wanted - a new federal power authority, similar to Washington state's Bonneville Power Administration, stocked with up to $3.5 billion in taxpayer money available for lending to renewable energy and economic development projects in Ohio and other Midwestern states.” They bought off this Ohio legislator to turn her back on her state, said Rush.

Rush said he talked about this earlier this week -- if there were profits to be made in any of these green technologies, we would already have it. The only way to lose money in the energy business, he said, is to go green. Or if you're George W. Bush. Or Enron. Whatever. Rush said that they gave all this money to this Ohio legislator to hand out money for green innovations, but that's not how innovation takes place. The government does not sit there and decree who invents what. The eight Republicans who voted for this thing did so because they got all these donations from the environmentalist community, said Rush. Waxman included this project as a vote-getting provision, said Rush, and we're being told that this is piece of legislation that we can't do without, but it's really nothing but a collection of millions of earmarks. The pork is what secures the votes, said Rush.

Another break and Rush returned asking if we'd seen the Gallup poll which found “a statistically significant increase since last year in the percentage of Americans who describe the Democratic Party's views as being 'too liberal,' from 39% to 46%.” We had seen it. We'd also seen the same poll showing that 43 percent of Americans think the Republican Party is “too conservative.” Anyway, Rush said that describing the “Democrat Party” as too liberal doesn't come close to adequately describing how far left the party has actually gone. It's flirting with socialist Marxism.

Anyway, Rush then had a question for us -- actually, he didn't have a question at that very moment, he had to preface the question with his boilerplate rant about how the economy is in the crapper because everything Obama has done is designed to ruin the economy. “This is a war on prosperity waged by Colonel Obama,” exclaimed Rush. Anyway, Rush finally got around to his question, which was how can any sane economist predict an economic recovery while cap and trade and health care reform are looming. There will be no recovery if either of these bills become law, said Rush, and anyone with a semblance of education has to see cap and trade as a job-killing job. Leading into the break, Rush aired some sound bites of Obama talking about cap and trade in early 2008, saying that Obama was telling us who he is -- a man who views profits as “evil,” and gleefully looked forward to jacked-up utility rates.

After the break, Rush had some advice for us: “I'm telling you, pay no attention to anybody who is promising an economic recovery anytime soon, because they are not factoring in the passage of one or both of cap and trade and socialized medicine -- nationalized health care. If one or both of those things happen, forget economic growth. Forget it. These experts need to shut up and be concerned about their credibility here.” That's actually a pretty good summation of what happens on The Rush Limbaugh Show every day -- “experts” should “shut up” because they're not nearly as “credible” as Rush.

Anyway, Rush then noted that Tom Daschle and John Podesta reproached Republicans for “overreaching” in opposing health care reform. Rush said they can't overreach because they can't stop anything: “The Republicans can't stop anything, and now that the Democrats have a 60th vote in the name of a genuine lunatic in the Senate, there's nothing that can be done to stop 'em if they stay unified. The Republicans can't do one -- why do you think 'Tommy Taxes' and Podesta are so desperate to have Republicans sign on to this garbage.”

Rush closed out the hour by noting that yesterday he aired a sound bite of Obama praising the troops as they left Iraqi cities, which offended him because Obama and the Democrats were a huge obstacle the military had to overcome to secure victory in Iraq. The Democrats are going to claim credit for the win in Iraq, he said, and they're certainly not going to saddle themselves with defeat.

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

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: This is just the first-ever census for guns. You know, ACORN, AmeriCorps, going to be joining the feds soon. They'll sweep the country, they'll do an inventory, they'll get one or two more liberals on the bench of the Supreme Court, they'll find a way to get rid of the Second Amendment, and they can confiscate guns like FDR confiscated gold in 1933.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Michael Jackson -- I have an observation. I have an observation about this Michael Jackson thing, not about the details of his death or something, Jackson's success, if you stop and think of it -- and this is going to really irritate some people, which I will enjoy doing -- Jackson's success paralleled the rebound of the United States under Renaldus Magnus.

I mean, Michael Jackson's biggest successes -- and as it turns out his final successes, real successes -- took place in the '80s. That was “Billy Jean,” “Thriller,” and all this. I mean, he was as weird as he could be, but he was profoundly, because of his weirdness, an individual. He wasn't a group member.

He reached a level of success that may never be equaled. He flourished under Reagan, he languished under Clinton/Bush, and died under Obama. Let's hope the parallel does not continue.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The way you get all this stuff done if you're Obama is you simply insult the intelligence of the average American, call whatever you're going to do -- you could legalize rape and call it the consumer-something and it would pass. You're protecting consumers. Likewise, you could legalize rape and call it the Civil Rights Act of 2009. It would probably pass 'cause who'd have the votes -- the guts to vote against something with “civil rights” in it?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: My point is very simple. It's not complicated. I'm telling you, pay no attention to anybody who is promising an economic recovery anytime soon, because they are not factoring in the passage of one or both of cap and trade and socialized medicine -- nationalized health care. If one or both of those things happen, forget economic growth. Forget it. These experts need to shut up and be concerned about their credibility here.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The Republicans can't stop anything, and now that the Democrats have a 60th vote in the name of a genuine lunatic in the Senate, there's nothing that can be done to stop 'em if they stay unified. The Republicans can't do one -- why do you think “Tommy Taxes” and Podesta are so desperate to have Republicans sign on to this garbage?