This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Al Franken, “the picture of death”
By Simon Maloy

Belling got the second hour rolling with some old-fashioned Al Franken bashing: “Al Franken is so determined to be taken seriously. Look at that, he won't smile. He's got that permanent skull of pain painted on his face, because he now wants to be taken seriously, because he's not just a comedian anymore. So he isn't going to say anything -- he's never said anything funny. Even when he was supposed to be funny, he wasn't funny. So, now, he's just going to be this serious -- I mean, look at him. He looks like the picture of death.” Belling then took it local, comparing his own state's alleged transgressions with those of Minnesota: “I know he stole the election. I know he didn't really win. I know it was freakish. I know the Minnesota Supreme Court was in the pocket of Franken and the Democrats. I know all of those things. But we never sent that clown to the United States -- the House, you know, you can tolerate it.”

Belling said you can't exaggerate how bad this is. He was also incredulous that people said Palin was in over her head -- Franken “couldn't make it on Air America,” and now, he's in the Senate. Actually, Franken did “make it” on Air America. The only reason his Air America show ended was because he (successfully) ran for Senate. Belling added: “And as I said, if you could count on him to be a Biden -- every week saying something stupid, or odd, or confusing, or just showing early signs of dementia -- that would be one thing. Al Franken's not going to say anything funny at all. He hasn't said anything funny in his entire adult life. He's the classic liberal humorist.”

Anyway, Belling then revisited his thoughts from the first hour on the “parallels” between '60s liberalism and the Obama administration. Belling noted that Obama said he trusts Medvedev and asked how many hours it will be before the Russians do something that makes him regret that. But that's how Obama conducts foreign policy, said Belling -- he's going to find all these troublesome nations and say he's going to work with them. There's going to be no attempt to get the people of those nations to give themselves a better government. That's what Bush believed in, said Belling, but that's not the Obama approach. He wants the tyrants to stay in power because he thinks he can deal with them. Look at Iran, the crackdowns continue, and that's how tyrants operate. And while the Iranians are doing this, the U.S. is making it clear that they want to deal with the Iranian leaders, said Belling, reading from a New York Times article, which reported that Obama and Biden “said that the accelerating crackdown on opposition leaders in Iran in recent days would not deter them from seeking to engage the country's top leadership in direct negotiations.” Obama talked about raising our image in the world, said Belling, but what does this do to our image? He would rather deal with the hardliners because he thinks he can make a deal with them. We tried that during the Cold War, Belling said, and it didn't work. There is a greater calling here, and that is to encourage freedom around the world. For all the criticism the left had for Bush, Belling said, which country is the bigger problem for us now: Iraq or Iran?

After the break, Belling turned his sights on Honduras, saying that the Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, was elected as a centrist, but the moment he got into power, he moved sharply to the left. According to Belling, Zelaya recently said he was going to change the constitution so that he could become the dictator, but the supreme court stood up to him, the congress stood up to him, and the military sided with the congress and the supreme court. Then Belling read the entirety of a Wall Street Journal column on the “insanity” of Obama and the United Nations condemning the coup. This, said Belling, is what he means when he says Obama wants to deal with tyrants. Back in the '60s, we had concerns that Castro was going to try to take the entire Central and Southern American regions down the road of Communism, said Belling, and we succeeded in containing him. But Hugo Chavez is a new threat, and he has made it clear that he's trying to expand his influence, trying to start a revolution in Colombia. This will be nothing but trouble for the U.S., said Belling, if Chavez becomes the “emperor” of Central America. Belling added: “What we need to do is stand on the side of democracy and freedom. Unfortunately, you have a president whose knee-jerk reaction is that when there is trouble in a country, to support the tyrants that the public is upset with. I wonder why he feels such a kinship with every global dictator.”

After another quick break, Belling finally got around to discussing the resignation of Gov. Sarah Palin. There are a lot of pundits who are saying that she's doing this with an eye on 2012, said Belling, while others are saying she's destroyed her political future. But before he discussed that, Belling had to say that he has never seen a public figure savaged the way she was. Before we continue, remember that this is the same Mark Belling who said that “bitches” is the first word that comes to mind when you think of Hillary Clinton. Anyway, Belling said it all started from the moment she was on the national scene, and it continues today. Just look at what's going on in Alaska, he said. They have done nothing but obstruct her in her attempts to lead the state with all these ethics investigations -- and Palin's “been cleared in every one of them,” said Belling. Well, except for the one where she was found to have violated ethics rules.

Anyway, Belling continued, saying that Palin ran as vice president, lost, and normally that would have meant that she could have gone back to her state and lived in obscurity. That's what always happens, said Belling, asking us to name the last losing VP candidate who was ever heard from again. Joe Lieberman's continued escapades come to mind. Anyway, after reading the litany of allegedly egregious offenses against Palin's good name and character, Belling said that there's a reason the “liberals” singled her out -- perhaps the feminists don't like that she's proven that you can have a large family and still have a career; perhaps the Democrats are upset that she's threatening their claim on populism. The answer, Belling suggested, can be found in the thoughts and opinions of the callers.

And after the break, it was time for just such a caller, a woman who didn't blame Palin for stepping down because she didn't know what else Palin could do. Belling asked us to look at the situation she's in. She's racked up $500,000 in legal bills -- where's she supposed to get that money? Well, Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund comes to mind. Or the Alaska Fund Trust. Anyway, after another quick break, Belling closed out the hour with a caller, who said that Palin is endeavoring to bring the GOP back together, and the party needs somebody to go underneath the radar to get a solid agenda together. One of the problems with 2012, said Belling, is that Republicans are lacking any real stars to run for the presidency. It's really weird, said Belling, that there were two Republican governors considered contenders for the top office, and Sanford's still in office while Palin has resigned.

Hannah Dreier and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

BELLING: Al Franken is so determined to be taken seriously. Look at that, he won't smile. He's got that permanent skull of pain painted on his face, because he now wants to be taken seriously, because he's not just a comedian anymore. So he isn't going to say anything -- he's never said anything funny. Even when he was supposed to be funny, he wasn't funny. So, now, he's just going to be this serious -- I mean, look at him. He looks like the picture of death.

He's from Minnesota. Everybody confuses Wisconsin and Minnesota. Everybody confuses Milwaukee and Minneapolis. We've done some real damage to this country, we people from Wisconsin. We've sent some bad people to Congress. We've sent you David Obey; we've sent you Russ Feingold. We've made some mistakes, but never in my state's history have we ever done what the people of Minnesota have done, and I know he stole the election. I know he didn't really win. I know it was freakish. I know the Minnesota Supreme Court was in the pocket of Franken and the Democrats. I know all of those things. But we never sent that clown to the United States -- the House, you know, you can tolerate it.

[...]

BELLING: Now we've got Franken. And as I said, if you could count on him to be a Biden -- every week saying something stupid, or odd, or confusing, or just showing early signs of dementia -- that would be one thing. Al Franken's not going to say anything funny at all. He hasn't said anything funny in his entire adult life. He's the classic liberal humorist.

[...]

BELLING: And once again, the instincts of President Obama are to try to work with the strongman, work with the dictator. The people of Honduras don't want this. That's why the military acted. What we need to do is stand on the side of democracy and freedom. Unfortunately, you have a president whose knee-jerk reaction is that when there is trouble in a country, to support the tyrants that the public is upset with. I wonder why he feels such a kinship with every global dictator.

America's Guest Truth Rejector

Belling falsely claimed Palin has been cleared in every ethics investigation:

BELLING: Fifteen ethics investigations -- 15! And she's been cleared in every one of them -- $500,000 in legal costs. As for the state of Alaska, $2 million spent so far on all of these investigations. None of them has ever led to anything. And there was no reason to think it was going to stop.

Had Sarah not resigned, by September, we'd be on ethics investigation 22; by Christmas, it'd be ethics investigation 30; by the middle of 2010, it'd be 40. If she indeed ran for president in 2012, they'd have ethics investigation 237. It was just going to continue again, and again, and again, and again.