This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the “addled ravings” of Helen Thomas
By Greg Lewis

As promised, Mark Davis spent the first part of the second hour chatting with The Washington Examiner's Michael Barone. They covered an assortment of topics, beginning with Iran. Davis thought Obama's press conference, taking place at the time, was “hastily called.” Barone thought that Obama realized that maybe he doesn't want Iran to have nuclear weapons after all and noted that we're still extending invitations to Iranian diplomats for Fourth of July celebrations. Barone joked that he didn't know if the food served would be Halal or not. Davis wondered if this might lead to a whole new international incident.

Then Barone moved on to his latest column, about The New York Times' apparent inconsistency in keeping silent to protect the safety of its kidnapped reporter in Afghanistan, but also disregarding the safety of the American people in breaking the NSA surveillance story in 2005. This has apparently become a favorite argument of the right, and a colleague of ours quite rightly described it as “lunacy.” Michael Barone would have us believe that these two wildly disparate situations demand the same rules of consistency, so that the Times can be viewed as being consistently on the “side” of America only if it didn't report either story. Of course, this argument only holds up if you believe that keeping under wraps the likely violation of domestic and international law by the White House is acting in the interests of the nation. After making it through the points in his column with Davis, that was it for Barone, and considering that Barone's Examiner colleague Byron York was Davis' guest on Friday's show, dare we note that this all seems like some sort of push to promote the paper's fleet of conservative writers?

After the break, Davis contemplated the intra-party feud angle on the Mark Sanford story, noting the statement made by South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer -- a Republican -- to Politico. Davis again pleaded for Sanford to come up with a reasonable explanation for all this so that he could continue to support him for 2012. Davis then thought about how Bill Clinton was elected twice with all of his scandals, and Obama was elected with his shady associations.

After another break, Davis went back to Obama's press conference. He started off by praising questions that had been asked at previous pressers by the Associated Press' Jennifer Loven and ABC's Jake Tapper, adding that he liked Loven's lead-off question today. Before moving on to the content of today's event, Davis had some words to say about Helen Thomas: “I sort of miss the addled ravings of Helen Thomas. Just -- you knew no matter how the news conference was going to go, especially during the Bush years, that she would blurt out some non sequitur and just sort of see how that would work its way through the room. And anyway, those days -- those days are gone.”

Then Davis took to offering a harsh critique of Obama's comments on Iran at the press conference. Loven had asked Obama if there was anything Iran could do in regards to human rights that would make Obama refuse to talk to them. Davis quipped his own answer to that question: If they turn Jerusalem into “glowing green glass” with a nuclear device, Obama would still talk to Ahmadinejad. Davis added that Obama “has a fetish” for talking to derelict leaders. Davis then went through Obama's response to Loven's question, constantly pausing the audio in order to include his colorful commentary. Here's one:

OBAMA [audio clip]: We have provided a path whereby Iran can reach out to the international community, and --

DAVIS: And what, Twitter? Great. Al Gore invented the Internet; Barack Obama invented Twitter and a backyard Weber grill barbeque.

In another instance, Davis criticized Obama for not “even risk[ing] a point in the Rasmussen tracking poll” to help the Iranians:

OBAMA [audio clip]: It is up to them to make a decision as to whether they choose that path.

DAVIS: You know, those protestors made a decision. Those protestors made a decision to get their brains beaten in by Ahmadinejad-Khamenei's police forces. They made a decision to risk their lives. Presuming this story is as it's told, 27-year-old Neda, she made a decision to attend a protest that day, took a bullet and bled from every orifice on YouTube all over the world. She made a choice. She made a decision.

I think the decision made by the Iranian people has been pretty clear, Mr. President. What decision have you made? What limb have you climbed out on for these people? They're risking their lives every day. You won't even risk a point in the Rasmussen tracking poll.

Once again, we see the situation where Davis is attacking Obama for not doing more to support the Iranian people and not being willing to risk anything to support them. But for all this yelling and mockery and puffed-up outrage, Davis can't explain what Obama should be doing, beyond bland platitudes like “speaking truth to evil” and making a “decision” on Iran. Joe Klein summed things up nicely: “I have yet to hear what possible good it would do for the President of the United States to encourage the protesters, except to give the Iranian regime a better excuse for killing more of them.”

Finally -- and this one we found interesting, because Davis himself has painted himself as such a huge supporter of the protestors -- Davis mocked the president for saying that “there is a path available to Iran in which ... their faith is respected,” responding, “Oh, gotta make sure their faith is respected.”

After one more break, Davis rounded out the hour with a caller who -- citing the Founding Fathers -- wanted the United States to practice isolationism and thought that the Soviet Union would have eventually collapsed under its own weight. Davis agreed that probably would have happened some day, even though -- as Davis also claimed on Friday -- the Soviet Union collapsed when it did because Reagan did not back down on SDI at Reykjavik. The caller continued to ramble on about Ron Paul, isolationism, and going after Saudi Arabia for the 9-11 attacks. Davis concluded by opining that Iraq waited 500 years for freedom, so we can wait 10 years to win the war.

Simon Maloy, Lauryn Bruck, and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

DAVIS: I don't know, for what it's worth, I kind of -- I get a little nostalgic sometimes. I sort of miss the addled ravings of Helen Thomas. Just you knew no matter how the news conference was going to go, especially during the Bush years, that she would blurt out some non sequitur and just sort of see how that would work its way through the room. And anyway, those days -- those days are gone.

[...]

OBAMA [audio clip]: We have provided a path whereby Iran can reach out to the international community, and --

DAVIS: And what, Twitter? Great. Al Gore invented the Internet; Barack Obama invented Twitter and a backyard Weber grill barbeque.

[...]

OBAMA [audio clip]: It is up to them to make a decision as to whether they choose that path.

DAVIS: You know, those protestors made a decision. Those protestors made a decision to get their brains beaten in by Ahmadinejad-Khamenei's police forces. They made a decision to risk their lives. Presuming this story is as it's told, 27-year-old Neda, she made a decision to attend a protest that day, took a bullet and bled from every orifice on YouTube all over the world. She made a choice. She made a decision.

I think the decision made by the Iranian people has been pretty clear, Mr. President. What decision have you made? What limb have you climbed out on for these people? They're risking their lives every day. You won't even risk a point in the Rasmussen tracking poll.

[...]

OBAMA [audio clip]: But, just to reiterate, there is a path available to Iran in which their sovereignty is respected, their traditions, their culture, their faith is respected, but --

DAVIS: Oh, gotta make sure their faith is respected.

“Socialism” watch

DAVIS: There is a narrative that we use to comfort ourselves at night here in conservative America that the sheer audacity, if I may borrow that word, of the actual Obama agenda will shake people awake in a shocking realization of what voting for him has actually meant and actually done: government owning GM; our children's and grandchildren's futures mortgaged to a socialist agenda.