This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the war on “spirit”

By Simon Maloy

We'll readily admit that our grand unified Sanford-Limbaugh-Lewis theory turned out to be a little ... off base. But that's fine -- we're new to conspiracy-mongering, and we fully expect to make more mistakes before we've mastered the art of masking utter lunacy with a thin veneer of near-sense. It's just as well; we've impugned Greg's character enough as it is. For today, anyway. But we're not ready to let the Sanford saga go just yet. You'll recall yesterday that Rush took a few potshots at CNN's Kyra Phillips, accusing her of hypocrisy in denouncing Sanford's mendacity because she “probably defended” Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky affair. The logical extension of this -- which we've already heard from certain members of the media and will likely hear from Rush today -- is that the media let Democrats “get away” with infidelity, but will reduce an adulterous Republican's political future to cinders. Well, to pre-empt that silly argument, we'll toss out three examples: Rudy Giuliani, who cheated on his second wife with his third wife, was a front-running presidential candidate last year and quite popular with certain segments of the media; and Newt Gingrich, who cheated on his first and second wives, is a media darling and presumptive 2012 presidential candidate. And the 2008 GOP candidate, John McCain, admitted to cheating on his first wife.

Rush got things rolling today with a full-on, 15-minute, spittle-flecked, screeching freakout, screaming at the top his lungs that he didn't have to watch Obama's health care town hall on ABC yesterday because he knew ahead of time what it was going to be. What's important, shouted Rush, is that we stop accepting these people's premises. Look at this cap-and-tax thing, Rush hollered, it's an absolute disaster, a massive tax increase, and it doesn't need to be done tomorrow, as the Democrats claim. It doesn't need to be done ever. Neither does health care. The answer to this is no, Rush screamed, adding that Obama wants to fix things that don't have real problems, and his fixes are destructive.

Rush then reiterated that he didn't need to watch the Obama health care special, because he knew exactly what it was going to be -- an Obama infomercial. It was an Obama filibuster, said Rush. NewsBusters did the math, and Obama got 60 percent of the camera time. We noticed this NewsBusters complaint earlier, and it is so stupid it makes our teeth hurt. Think about it -- they look at a presidential town hall, where people ask the president question and the president answers, and they find it odd that the president spent more time talking than the people asking the questions. That was the whole point. No one is turning into a presidential town hall on health care to see people other than the president talk about health care. Anyway, Rush continued by asking who is Obama to say we're allowed to keep our doctor? He doesn't have that authority, said Rush -- he works for us! And it's up to us to say that we aren't going to allow him to destroy the economy. Rush screamed that they want to get all this done quickly because they don't want anyone to know what these bills actually are.

Then Rush shouted that for the first time in his life, he's hearing someone say that we're going to cut costs in health care, but the only way to do that is to restrict access to health care. Rush yelled that Obama doesn't have the right to allow me anything. He doesn't have the permission. “Who the hell does he think he is?” Rush screamed, followed immediately by a hearty “Screw you!” The answer to all these things is no, said Rush. And while all this is going on, Rush hollered, the private sector continues to get beat up. All of this is predictable, said Rush: “We've got a man single-handedly trying to whack the U.S. private sector. Tony Soprano has taken over the U.S. government and the private sector is an opposing family. He's going to wipe it out. It'll be brought back to life on an HBO series soon.” According to Rush, we didn't have any crises, and we didn't have a country that was going down the tubes, but maybe we do now, given who's in charge. Meanwhile, said Rush, the Iranians and North Koreans are nuking up and Obama doesn't give a rat's rear end. We have real problems, said Rush, but Obama doesn't care, he's inventing problems to deal with.

After the break, Rush noted that The New York Times is reporting that Obama is expected “to begin laying the political groundwork for sweeping immigration legislation,” and that “White House officials do not rule out the possibility of an immigration overhaul before midterm congressional campaigns are in full swing next year. Some officials, however, say passage will more likely come in 2011, when Mr. Obama hopes to tap his broad support among Hispanic voters as he begins his run for re-election.” Rush said the strategy is to get the whole thing in motion now and then push it big time during the re-election campaign -- amazing how he was able to divine that from the article. Anyway, Rush said the GOP has an opportunity to learn from their 2008 boondoggle, in which they tried to take the Hispanic vote away from Obama by being for amnesty. It didn't work then, Rush said, so it won't work in 2012.

Then Rush said that he's been thinking “very carefully” about health care, and when he thinks, “he is dangerous.” Rush said he can see Obama cutting health care costs only if he takes millions of people off of health care, because he doesn't know how you cut costs by covering more people. Cutting costs by putting 40 million people on health care defies common sense, said Rush, and it defies the CBO. Rush said he can also see better health care as a consequence -- fewer patients means better care from doctors. This is about who you trust more, said Rush -- you and your doctor and common sense, or Obama and the Democrats. Rush noted that Obama said at his press conference that health spending will not add to the deficit, and endeavored to try this test of logic. Rush said that we're told that to improve education, we have to spend more money on teachers. But to improve health care we're going to spend less? Who do you trust more?

Rush also wanted to know what will encourage more people to become doctors -- less pay and more government intervention, or higher pay? Rush said that the media are clinging to that “rigged” New York Times poll to claim that Americans want health care reform. It was stuffed with Obama supporters, said Rush, so you can't trust it. Aside from the obvious problems with that claim, it ignores the fact that 50 percent of Republicans in the poll wanted a public option.

Another break and Rush was back, reading from Jake Tapper's write-up of the Obama health care town hall, saying that Obama was asked a good question -- is Obama going to go outside his own plan if it doesn't cover a procedure he needs -- and that Obama gave an “irrelevant, non-sequitur answer.” Then Rush noted that Obama was asked by a woman about her mother, who received a pacemaker at age 99 against the advice of her doctor, and she's still alive five years later. Rush aired Obama's answer, in which he said, in part: “I don't think that we can make judgments based on peoples' spirit. That would be a pretty subjective decision to be making. I think we have to have rules that say that we are going to provide good, quality care for all people.” Rush asked if we realized how “cold” and “heartless” this is. Who says we have to have Obama's rules, asked Rush. The president is not a king, not an autocrat, not a ruler, said Rush, and this woman found a way to get her mother a pacemaker, and with ObamaCare that wouldn't have happened. Rush said he understands how all this works -- don't families have the right to judge the spirit of their family members? Rush added: “Do we want a cold, cruel, unfeeling government saying spirit doesn't matter to us? That's exactly right. Obama wants you -- the best way to put it and it's working; he's trying to kill spirit. All this hope and change, he's trying to kill it.”

Then Rush linked this “spirit” business to Gov. Sanford, saying that his first thought on Sanford what that this defies logic. Sanford knew the newspaper in his state had the emails between him and his concubine, said Rush, but he still leaves the country for five days and doesn't leave anyone in charge of the state in case there's an emergency. You'll recall that Rush's reaction yesterday to Sanford's five-day incommunicado absence from the state was, effectively, “so what?” Anyway, Rush explained Sanford's illogical actions to his loss of “spirit.” Spirit is what makes America great, said Rush, and Obama is trying to kill it because he's a “cold-hearted, ruthless guy.”

One more break and Rush was back, armed with John Fund's column this morning in which Fund wrote that union members and members of Congress will be exempt from the government health plan. Rush said you need to call your senator or member of Congress and ask if they're going to opt out of their health plan to join the Obama plan, and the answer is going to be hell no. If members of Congress are not going to join the plan, said Rush, then you don't want it. They're not going to give up their plan, and they're not going to give up the piece of garbage they come up with for the rest of us. You should not give up the power that permits you to seek what you want in your own health care, said Rush, and if you think your life is going to improve by giving up control of your own health care to a bunch of incompetent bureaucrats, the answer is no.

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

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Who are these people? All of this is predictable. We've got a man single-handedly trying to whack the U.S. private sector. Tony Soprano has taken over the U.S. government and the private sector is an opposing family. He's going to wipe it out. It'll be brought back to life on an HBO series soon.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I don't think we can make judgments based on people's spirit. That'd be a pretty subjective decision to be making. Maybe not if the government's in charge. That's the whole point. What about if families - do not families have a right to judge the spirit of their mothers and fathers and family members? Of course.

Do we want a cold, cruel, unfeeling government saying spirit doesn't matter to us? That's exactly right. Obama wants you -- the best way to put it and it's working; he's trying to kill spirit. All this hope and change, he's trying to kill it. You know how many frustrated Americans there are out there, at what's happening?