This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the public's informed view of the deficit
By Simon Maloy

We've spent a good deal of time over the past week mocking Rush for comparing health care in America to things like dog kenneling and car maintenance, but there are serious reasons why the idea behind Rush's health care rhetoric -- essentially, let the free market decide -- is highly flawed. Most prominent among those reasons is that health care differs quite drastically from other commodities because of the moral and social aspects of medicine. Not being able to afford to have your oil changed or to put your dog up for the weekend will usually result in inconvenience, but that's it. And, as we've already noted, the options of changing your own oil or having your neighbor look after the dog are available at little to no cost. That is not at all the case with health care -- you can't test your own blood for HIV, and your neighbor can't treat cancer. And failure to obtain proper treatment from a professional doesn't just result in temporary inconvenience -- you risk losing wages, losing employment, permanent impairment, or death. As Matt Yglesias wrote last month, these social and moral costs of health care are exactly why “medicine has never really been understood as a commercial enterprise. A doctor is, in our social understanding, not a 'medical treatments salesman' any more than a soldier is a mercenary.”

Rush got the show rolling today by announcing that “Open Line Friday!” has arrived a day early, as Rush will be out of the studio tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday. Whoopee.

Then it was on to a Drudge special -- a story about Brooksville, Florida, requiring city employees to wear deodorant and underwear when on the job. Rush said he understands the deodorant statue, but how are they going to check to see if employees are wearing underwear. Then Rush switched gears to a Los Angeles Times story, which reported that Los Angeles officials voted to approve “a novel proposal: Put unemployed parents to work caring for their own children.” Rush described this as an example of how far our society has declined and said that if there are any parents in the audience who would have to be paid to care for their own kids, they should change stations immediately. Rush then thought better of that, asking those members of the audience to call and explain why you should be paid to care for your own kids.

Rush then announced that he'd figured out a way for Obama to speak out against the regime in Iran: Rename Iran “the Fox News Channel.” Obama would then be denouncing them several times a day. From there, Rush moved on to the ABC health care special from the White House, saying that ABC and NBC are going to “sink” because they're sacrificing some of the greatest legacies the news business has ever built. Rush noted that Tom Brokaw has been chosen to sit on the White House Fellowship Commission and described this as “a crossing of the line.” How, asked Rush, can Brokaw appear anywhere on NBC now and analyze this administration with any credibility? Rush said that when you find yourself wondering what NBC is doing, think General Electric, think green technology and energy, and think government grants for companies supporting Obama's “stupid” cap-and-trade policies.

Moving on, Rush said that he'd received a note from the official climatologist of the EIB Network, Dr. Roy Spencer, asking if he could pull off an entire show without mentioning Obama or his policies. Rush said that would be difficult to do, but he could do it, even though Obama's “tentacles” are everywhere.

After the break, Rush announced that he's going to do it -- he's going to do an entire show next week where he's not going to mention Obama or his policies. Rush said it will be a “show-prep challenge.” We hope that he -- and Matt Drudge -- are up to that challenge.

Rush then read extensively from the Washington Times' write-up of former President Bush's speech in Erie. Rush said he had to point something out -- there is not one thing the government runs that earns a penny of profit. It can't deliver the mail, run the trains, or run states for a profit. The whole government should be profitable, said Rush, earning money on our money. Obama's announcing all these regulations, he said, but who's regulating Obama? Rush then noted that the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found that 46 percent of Americans blamed Bush for the deficits, while only 6 percent blamed Obama. Rush rejoined: “But let me tell you where 100 percent of the deficit belongs, the blame: Obama and Congress. And if you wanted to get really constitutionally technical, it would be Congress. Not one penny in this country can be spent without the House of Representatives first authorizing it and the Senate agreeing and then the President signing. So, the blame for the deficit is literally Congress and, of course, right now, it's Democrat, and Obama's running that. So, it's the Democrats in Congress and Obama because the Republicans can't stop anything. They don't have the votes in either house to do it. They are responsible for it.” As we've pointed out before and we'll point out again, the public is right -- George W. Bush takes the lion's share of blame for transforming the surpluses of the Clinton years into the massive deficits we're seeing today.

After another break, Rush read some more from the Washington Times article on Bush's speech in Erie, saying that he likes the fact that Bush is “fighting back,” but he wished the Bush administration had done more of this while Bush was actually in office.

Then Rush reminded everyone of the caller from yesterday, the young man who was pressured into voting for Obama and was upset with the president because he saw Obama helping the private sector instead of the little guy. Rush explained how he had to correct the caller and explain how Obama is actually destroying the private sector, and then said that this has become something of a phenomenon. Rush said that every time Obama takes over another company, his supporters view him as some kind of super capitalist instead of a socialist. The Wall Street Journal had a story along those lines in which the paper quoted a woman saying of the president: “He's bailing out the private sector. He's putting all kinds of money into the private sector. ... The money should be going to social programs, not to bailing out banks and GM. It should go to people who are unemployed.” Rush said he has to recalibrate the way he comments on this -- people that voted for Obama are starting to get unhappy, but not for the reasons they should be.

Rush's first caller of “Open Line Friday -- on Thursday!” wanted to know what Obama is going to do to us if we don't wear underwear. Rush corrected her, saying that this isn't an Obama thing, it's Brooksville, Florida only.

One more break and Rush came back armed with a sound bite of something he said back in February 2008 about how Obama's election would only exacerbate racial divisions in the country, and any criticism of Obama is going to be met with charges of racism from the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. Rush said he was proved right in this prediction by Ben Jealous of the NAACP, who said on CNN last night: “And the reality is that there does seem to be sort of a war for the base of the party. You have Rush Limbaugh out there very aggressively with this kind of retrograde tone, trying to resurrect a day that will no longer -- it just isn't possible for sort of a white- male-dominated society.” Rush said Jealous was accusing him of opposing Obama because he's black. This is a pure racist allegation, said Rush. It's bilge and drivel. Six months in, said Rush, and Obama isn't making a bit of difference on racial issues, just as Rush predicted. The election of a black president hasn't done anything for the NAACP, said Rush, which is irrelevant anyway except for inside the Beltway. Rush said all they're doing is whining, and this is what Rush was talking about yesterday -- they whine and whine and whine, and Democrats say they'll fix it, and nothing gets fixed and it's all blamed on Republicans.

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

Highlights from Hour 1

America's Truth Rejector

Falsely claimed Obama and the Democrats are 100 percent responsible for the deficit:

LIMBAUGH: But let me tell you where 100 percent of the deficit belongs, the blame: Obama and Congress. And if you wanted to get really constitutionally technical, it would be Congress. Not one penny in this country can be spent without the House of Representatives first authorizing it and the Senate agreeing and then the president signing. So, the blame for the deficit is literally Congress and of course, right now, it's Democrat, and Obama's running that. So, it's the Democrats in Congress and Obama because the Republicans can't stop anything. They don't have the votes in either house to do it. They are responsible for it.