This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Rush -- Dark Knight fanboy
By Simon Maloy

It's amusing to us to hear Rush cheer on the Teabagger Disruption Squads for a number of reasons. First of all, when ACORN was involved in protests against AIG executives in Connecticut this past March, Rush pronounced it an outrage, calling it “mob rule” and “demonization,” and he (falsely) alleged that Obama coordinated all of this with the multi-billion dollar grant ACORN (didn't) receive as part of the stimulus. Now that conservatives are loudly crashing town halls, acting in a very mobbish fashion and intimidating members of Congress, Rush says it's little more than the educated citizenry standing up to its mendacious representatives. The second point is that Rush actually allows for the widely recognized fact that these “organic” town hall protests are organized exercises in political activism, but he says that would be a good thing. Why? Because the left has allegedly been doing the same thing with “rent-a-mobs” for years, and it's about time conservatives started fighting back. So forget about principles and decency and all the high-minded hosannas about conservatives winning in the marketplace of ideas -- this is about payback and the ends justifying the means. It reminds us of when Rush famously announced that he'd support having a “racist” like Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court if she turned out to be pro-life. It's reprehensible, but this sort of candor from a political figure is strangely refreshing.

Rush got things rolling today by saying that you are facing a challenge: Do you believe your own life and experience, or Obama? Well, said Rush, The Washington Post reports that the administration says its economic policy is working. There is no recovery! There has been no rescue, said Rush. Tax revenue is at a low now seen since the '30s, but Obama says we're rebuilding, and the state-run media dutifully report it. The real number to focus on, said Rush, is that U.S. incomes tumbled 1.3 percent in June. If we've got a 1.3 percent drop in income, how does consumer spending go up? It's up because gasoline prices are up. People have to buy gasoline. There is no recovery, Rush repeated, because income and tax receipts are down, Obama has added $1 trillion to the national debt, and unemployment is up. Rush read from a CBS News article, which reported that “the National Debt has increased over a trillion dollars since President Obama took office.” He conveniently omitted the part of the article that reported: “A great deal of current deficit spending was already in the pipeline from the Bush administration and Mr. Obama, anticipating this day, said that increases have to be kept in perspective.”

Rush then noted that AFP is reporting that “US companies are increasingly turning to offshoring their functions to achieve cost savings, and few plan to bring those jobs back to the United States.” The cconomic plan is working? This is right out of Saul Alinsky, said Rush -- sell things to people by using terms they're familiar with. More taxes are coming, health care mandates are coming, and that's going to help the situation? People are fleeing this situation! The Democrats are now dripping with contempt for the public, who are taking more action and attending these town hall meetings. The libs and the media have no clue what the people are thinking, said Rush. These town hall meetings are erupting all over the place, the White House is attacking Drudge, Dick Durbin is targeting insurance companies -- this is all out of Alinsky.

And Chris Matthews, said Rush, is wondering where all the Obama supporters are. Rush had a question for Matthews: Did you ever stop to think that this whole health care business is a trumped lie from the '90s? The reason people aren't showing up for health care is because they don't want it. Rush said what's surprising to him is that ACORN hasn't gotten involved in this. Rush added: “I find it fascinating that all these Democrats are -- exactly what we said last week -- they're starting to refer to these town hall meetings as unruly mobs; we can't promise security. No, no, no. These are orderly people. These are genuine, voting American citizens. ... [I]t's not ginned up; it's genuine. It's real.” Orderly? Genuine? Real? Not in the slightest, on any count. Anyway, Rush added: “The Democrat Party has now got a new slogan to the American people -- it's 'Screw you.' Actually, that has been their modus operandi for as long as I've been alive, but now they're out there actually saying it in so many words. 'Screw you!' 'The hell with you!' They're just dripping with contempt for the American people, for the public.”

Rush said that when hard-working people become involved and active for the first time, they're denounced. Democracy doesn't belong just to the leftists. There's something boiling over out there, the only question is whether it will last. Obama's own aggressiveness has sparked this, said Rush, and Obama doesn't recognize that there's opposition to health care; he just assumes that everyone is in full-fledged support.

Rush then said he saw on Drudge that the administration has a new health care logo. Rush said he hasn't seen anything like this since World War II. It has stars with “zombie-like” people surrounding this radiant sun -- this guy is obsessed with crowds. This is just odd, said Rush, explaining that he thinks Obama is in the process of Obama becoming a caricature of himself. You know this Obama-Joker poster? People are all bent out of shape about this, calling it racist and humiliating. The very people who spent seven years mocking Bush are outraged about this. There's nothing racist about this poster, said Rush. If you've seen The Dark Knight, Obama is just like the Joker! “He had a big damn chip on his shoulder about his childhood and about a bunch of other things. His goal was to undermine the whole system, the whole current system. I think whoever did this is pretty brilliant, actually. And to effect the change that the people of Gotham City didn't want. The Joker created chaos upon chaos. The whole city was focused on him and what he was gonna do next. He viewed crisis as an opportunity. So the Joker orchestrated crisis after crisis after crisis.”

As Rush went through all this, we were wondering who, exactly, is complaining about the poster. Well, Rush came through on that one, reading a Daily Mail article reporting that "[a] spokesman from the Los Angeles urban policy unit said that depicting the president as demonic and a socialist 'goes beyond political spoofery.' " That's it. That's the extent of the “complaining.”

But Rush came back from the break still upset about it, asking why it is considered art when someone dips a crucifix in urine, but a poster of Obama as the Joker on telephone poles in Los Angeles is over the line. Rush said that maybe someone could write a book about Obama called, “Barack Obama is a Big-Eared Idiot.” The libs would love that, wouldn't they? The libs don't get to tell us what's acceptable, said Rush, and we choose not to take this lying down. If Rush knew the guy who created the poster, he'd have commissioned it.

Another break and Rush was back, still mad about all the “complaining” from liberals about the Obama-Joker poster, saying that everyone is so upset at a poster of the Joker, and, meanwhile, we're supposed to put up with all the debasements of our culture from the left.

Then Rush moved on to the Drudge-White House conflict, reading from an Associated Press report on Linda Douglass' video response to Drudge's distortion of Obama's health care remarks from a 2007 SEIU conference. Rush aired a sound bite of Linda Douglass saying that there are a lot of deceiving headlines out there about health care, and people are taking sentences and phrases out of context. Nothing is being taken out of context, said Rush. What's happening is that Obama is taking a member of the mainstream media to try and cover his lies; the White House is pressuring the network to cover his health care lies; Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius is out there lying about health care -- she has the most amazing op-ed in The Washington Post in which she's essentially saying “forget the details,” just pass the bill. So, Rush said, you have Sebelius, you have press secretary Robert Gibbs lying about Obama's plan to raise taxes on everyone -- “This is the Bernie Madoff method of taking money under false pretenses. There is an open fraud being conducted on the American people by this administration. It is nothing but a campaign of pure fraud and deceit, each and every day.”

Rush then aired more from Douglass' video, in which she said that people cherry-pick quotes and make Obama sound like he's saying something that he isn't. This is nothing but pure deceit, said Rush. Rush said there are a lot of personality characteristics that bug him, and deceit is one of them. This is a campaign of pure fraud and deceit intended to take away as much freedom and liberty blah blah blah. Rush then aired the audio of Obama speaking at the 2007 SEIU health care forum. It's not incidental who he's speaking to here, said Rush. The SEIU are the people who community organize and agitate to upset normalcy. These are his buds, the ones he speaks the truth to. When you take employer coverage out, there's no more private insurance; it's all government. Rush said he doesn't know why they did this video response to Drudge. We think of these people as brilliant, but all they're doing is exposing their own deceit. Linda Douglass looks like a sap. She looks like a propagandist.

Then Rush got to some good, old-fashioned bamboozlement: “On page 16 of the House bill -- it's right there. And you've heard people quote from it. You've heard people -- I'm going to summarize it. Page 16: Private insurance will become illegal.” As we've pointed out before, this is wildly untrue. What followed was Rush's near word-for-word recitation (unsourced, of course) of a health care smear email that purports to be a page-by-page analysis of the House health care bill. PolitiFact already scrutinized this email and concluded: “Most of what the e-mail says is wrong. In fact, it's a clearinghouse of bad information circulating around the Web about proposed health care changes.” So you can see why Rush so enthusiastically embraced it...

After the final break, Rush announced that economist Art Laffer will be joining him at the top of the second hour to discuss health care, despite the fact that Laffer is apparently unaware that Medicare and Medicaid are already government-run.

Then Rush took his first caller of the show, who said that Bill Press epitomizes what is wrong with liberals, because he was saying on Fox this morning that the town hall protests are orchestrated, and that insults our intelligence. Rush said Press is just reading off a script. Chris Matthews inadvertently came up with the real question: Where are the pro-health care people? The supporters aren't showing up because people don't care about health care. They're concerned about their jobs. What Chris was really asking is where is ACORN; where are our agitators?

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

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: And also, I find it fascinating that all these Democrats are -- exactly what we said last week -- they're starting to refer to these town hall meetings as unruly mobs; we can't promise security.

No, no, no. These are orderly people. These are genuine, voting American citizens. It is -- what these Democrats are accusing you of doing, who go to these town hall meetings, is exactly what Obama taught people to do. He's the community agitator. He's the community organizer. Obama is the guy who taught people how to show up at events like this over and over again and rip 'em apart, and tear 'em down, disrupt 'em and make sure they don't happen.

And now the tables have been turned. It's happening to him. Only, this time, it's not ginned up; it's genuine. It's real.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The Democrat Party has now got a new slogan to the American people -- it's “Screw you.” Actually, that has been their modus operandi for as long as I've been alive, but now they're out there actually saying it in so many words. “Screw you!” “The hell with you!” They're just dripping with contempt for the American people, for the public.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: But there's nothing racist about this Obama poster. In fact, if you've seen The Dark Knight -- have you seen The Dark Knight, Snerdley? All right. Well, then you know the character of the Joker in that movie.

The Joker in that movie took every opportunity to remake Gotham City, didn't he? He had a big damn chip on his shoulder about his childhood and about a bunch of other things. His goal was to undermine the whole system, the whole current system. I think whoever did this is pretty brilliant, actually. And to effect the change that the people of Gotham City didn't want.

The Joker created chaos upon chaos. The whole city was focused on him and what he was gonna do next. He viewed crisis as an opportunity. So the Joker orchestrated crisis after crisis after crisis. And the Joker wore a mask.

I mean, whoever put this poster together is pretty smart, because there are some similarities here between what the Joker did in that movie and what Obama's doing to this country.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: This is the Bernie Madoff method of taking money under false pretenses. There is an open fraud being conducted on the American people by this administration. It is nothing but a campaign of pure fraud and deceit, each and every day.

America's Truth Rejector

LIMBAUGH: On page 16 of the House bill -- it's right there. And you've heard people quote from it. You've heard people -- I'm going to summarize it. Page 16: Private insurance will become illegal.