This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Obama's extremist mustard
By Simon Maloy

At the top of the second hour, Steyn was still responding to his last caller, objecting to the idea that the opposite of moderation is extremism. It's a notion that is fostered by the media -- just look at the New York Times' 2007 profile of Colin Powell. They said that Powell is a “moderate” because he “has supported abortion rights and affirmative action.” This illustrates the nonsense of speaking in terms of “moderate” and “extreme,” said Steyn.

It's better to speak in terms of what's right and wrong. Look, he said, at the nuclear bombing of Japan -- that was extreme, but it was the right thing to do to end the war. Obama uses the same rationale on economic issues, Steyn said -- spending billions in stimulus and firing the CEOs of car companies are extreme measures, but he says they're the right thing to do. The idea, Steyn said, that the left is moderate and non-ideological -- and therefore anything the right does is off-the-charts extreme -- is what is ruining political debate. Rush made this point yesterday, Steyn said, when he was talking about the “beliefs” of the left. They don't want to get hung up on facts and details, they just have an emotional response. It's like recycling, Steyn said -- you can tell people that it's a “racket” and that half the stuff you put in the recycling bins doesn't get recycled anyway, but it doesn't matter. They treat it as an act of faith and are impervious to reason.

Steyn then pronounced it “weird” that conservatives should be expected to meet liberals half way on policy issues. Steyn said America is just catching up to Scandinavia in terms of government policy, and the evidence is pretty clear as to where such policy leads. The problem facing the Western world, Steyn said, is that it is collectively spending more money than it can afford, and when you get into that hole, it takes a long time to get out. Basically, Steyn said, Obama is saying that the U.S. will be the last advanced nation to try everything that has failed everywhere else.

After the break, Steyn took a caller asking for his opinion on Obama not celebrating the National Day of Prayer. Steyn said this is a complicated matter for Democrats because they hated George W. Bush's professions of faith, and a “lot of people in the Obama base are not comfortable with public expression of religion.” Then Steyn went the Fox Nation route, tying this to Jeremiah Wright, saying that Obama's attendance in Wright's church “was just a sort of necessary political feint if you want to advance your career in that particular section of Chicago.” Steyn added: “I think actually he's essentially someone who genuflects the faith when it's convenient, as he did with Jeremiah Wright -- but, you know, that isn't really a bad thing -- but I think it's, you know, I think it tells us a lot. It's something different about the character of this president and the previous one.”

Steyn then took another caller, this one saying that he would like to see conservatives speak more economic truth to Americans and explain that raising corporate taxes will inevitably lead companies to cut costs, and the first cost they'll cut will inevitably be labor. Steyn said the basic reality is that a lot of people seem to think that non-human entities can pay taxes, but all tax burden is inevitably paid by human beings.

Back from the break, Steyn repeated a tired conservative distortion -- that the United States has the second-highest corporate tax rate in the world. In fact, when you factor in deductions, deferrals, etc., the effective corporate tax rate is lower than most of Europe. Nonetheless, Steyn tied this to his “humans pay taxes” argument from before the break. Then it was time for another caller, this one also wishing to disagree with the caller from the first hour, saying that Rush's arguments are based on logic, reason, and the Constitution, and the day we start calling the Constitution extremist, we're in big trouble. We're unsure how Rush's argument that Obama is creating a "police state" is logical, reasonable, or based on the Constitution. Nevertheless, Steyn said this was a “good point,” explaining that he thinks “a lot of liberal progressives don't think that the Constitution is a founding document that in a sense is there for all time. But they have a kind of semi-European way of looking at it that it should be -- that it's basically a work in progress that you should be able to make mean whatever you want.” Steyn added that “liberal Democrats” are “very good at subverting” the Constitution, because they find “judges who will claim to be able to detect rights to partial birth abortion or gay marriage or whatever.” Steyn also theorized that liberals will eventually “detect” in the Constitution a right to “consensual adult incest.”

Before leading into the break, Steyn said the reason America has held together is because it was established as a federation with a weaker central government. Steyn added: “Now we're hearing that the solution to everything is big, national, federal solutions. You're at a grade school in South Carolina and you've got peeling paint on the walls, call 1-800-OBAMA and he'll send you some money from Washington. That is a recipe eventually for the crack up of this country.”

One more break and Steyn came back noting that the New York Post reported that a cow had escaped in Queens and was running through the streets of New York. Steyn theorized that the cow was trying to make it down to the burger joint in Arlington that Obama patronized the other day so that the president would eat it. Once he was through laughing at his own, um, “joke,” Steyn noted that Obama had Dijon mustard on his burger, adding: “John Kerry couldn't get away with that stuff, but he makes it seem like just like a regular thing to do.”

Having Dijon mustard is not a regular thing to do? Wait... we think we get it. Steyn is saying that eating Dijon mustard is “extreme,” but the president thinks it's the “right” thing to do.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

STEYN: A lot of people in the Obama base are not comfortable with public expression of religion. I don't think, myself -- you know, none of us know this, but I don't think -- I, personally, wouldn't sit 20 minutes in Jeremiah Wright's church.

And so, when a guy sits there for 20 years but then claims, “Oh, God damn, America, Sunday? Oh, sorry, I must have missed that one.” And the one where he said AIDS was a plot by the U.S. government to decimate the African-American population? “I think I must have been out of town for that one, too.” Oh, and what was the one where he said we shouldn't have -- what we got it coming on September 11th? “Oh, no, I wasn't there for that either.”

So, essentially, this guy he claimed is his spiritual mentor and who was responsible for the -- married him, responsible for the spiritual education of his children, he had to disown him. I think that was -- I don't seriously think Barack Obama paid that much attention to what Jeremiah Wright was saying, and I -- no doubt, when he did the “God damn America” riff and the little dance, maybe Barack Obama was the only guy in the church sitting on his hands.

But, clearly, his reason for being there, if it wasn't that he agreed with Jeremiah Wright on all these matters of faith, it was that it was just a sort of necessary political feint if you want to advance your career in that particular section of Chicago. I don't think he wants to get into all that again, so the idea of having to get up there, have a big formal breakfast with different leaders, I just don't think that's Obama's bag. I don't think he's -- I think actually he's essentially someone who genuflects the faith when it's convenient, as he did with Jeremiah Wright -- but, you know, that isn't really a bad thing -- but I think it's, you know, I think it tells us a lot. It's something different about the character of this president and the previous one.

[...]

STEYN: I think that a lot of liberal progressives don't think that the Constitution is a founding document that in a sense is there for all time. But they have a kind of semi-European way of looking at it that it should be -- that it's basically a work in progress that you should be able to make mean whatever you want. And one of the problems I think that conservatives have is that the minute you say “Constitution” to liberal Democrats, they roll their eyes. They're very good at subverting it. They're very good at finding judges who will claim to be able to detect rights to partial birth abortion or gay marriage or whatever in the Constitution.

[...]

STEYN: Now we're hearing that the solution to everything is big, national, federal solutions. You're at a grade school in South Carolina and you've got peeling paint on the walls, call 1-800-OBAMA and he'll send you some money from Washington. That is a recipe eventually for the crack up of this country.

[...]

STEYN: It was wonderful watching the coverage of the hamburger visit. He's amazing, Obama. This coverage -- he's a regular guy. He eats a hamburger with Dijon mustard -- Dijon mustard. John Kerry couldn't get away with that stuff, but he makes it seem like just like a regular thing to do. Now there's -- I see that some of the left-wing commentators are saying, “Why are people making a fuss about the Dijon mustard?” but that's just an example of the way Obama is able to enlighten us.