In which Rush complains his Nazi comparisons were taken out of context
By Greg Lewis

The second hour got rolling with Rush declaring that he is very “optimistic” and doesn't agree with those in his audience who think their message is being lost. Then Rush argued that Obama is destroying the Democrat [sic] Party, citing Rasmussen's latest generic ballot poll to point out that the leadership of the party is “hard left wing” but the party's grassroots is not. Not all voters, said Rush, are “Greenpeace wackos.” Rush went on to argue that Democrats are not reaching independents, and represent an ever-shrinking percentage of the population. If Obama told the truth about his agenda, he would never have been elected president.

After criticizing Congress for ordering more private jets, and the Obama family for getting burgers and fries, he accused the “union thugs” of ratcheting up the tension and claimed that the President and his party were conspiring against the people.

Then Rush moved on to more warning -- as he's been doing all week -- of Blue Dog Democrats based on how they will vote on health care. He warned that they will get to decide their own “political fate” when they get a chance to vote for this, and that they can't call themselves fiscally conservative if they vote for this. Either you represent people who sent you to Washington, warned Rush, or you throw in with Obama, Pelosi, union big shots and tort lawyers.

He again claimed that there was no “incidents of violence” until Obama's thugs showed up. Rush went on:

LIMBAUGH: I can't sit here and express to you how shocked and stunned that this is happening in the United States of America, that we have a president who has abandoned the office now. He may as well be back on the campaign trail. He speeches are cocky, nasty, arrogant. He's out there inciting violence. White House officials say, “We're going to push back twice as hard.” The Chicago way -- you bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. That's the president of the United States.

After the break, Rush took a caller who attended Rep. Castor's (D-FL) town hall-gone-bad, the same event Rush mentioned on his show yesterday hours before it turned violent. The caller described how the unfortunate turn of events impacted her and her husband. Rush asked what the caller thinks after all of this as a citizen. The caller's husband, a union member, said he was “distressed.” Rush asked if the events “intimidate[d]” them -- the caller responded that it hasn't, and has just made them angrier. Rush said that he was glad they were more “fired up” than ever.

Coming back from another break, Rush went back to how Pelosi said that there were swastikas at some town hall events, and how this meant, according to Rush, that the Speaker of the House was calling “you” Nazis. Rush also said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said “you” are sabotaging democracy. And yet what Rush said yesterday is what was “irritating” to elements of the state-controlled media.

For example, said Rush, did you know Rep. William Jefferson was convicted? Rush claimed that The New York Times didn't even note his party affiliation in their report. This is absolutely false -- the Times did report that Jefferson is a Democrat, right there in the second paragraph.

Then it was more about how the media reacted to Rush comparing Obama and Democrats to Nazis and Hitler on his show yesterday. Rush was in full-on complaining mode:

LIMBAUGH: And so when reporting what I said yesterday on the similarities between the radical leadership of the Democrat Party and the Nazi Party of Germany, they have had a cow. They have gone ballistic, and it's interesting that they have left out who started it.

So that's it, folks. Rush is justifying his hateful rhetoric that filled every nook and cranny of his program yesterday by saying that Pelosi started it. The media took him out of context, apparently, in their reporting of his remarks. What context? we ask. Rush repeatedly compared Democrats to Nazis on yesterday's show. If he wants to play the childish game of “she started it” he can. But it's patently absurd for Rush to make repeated comparisons between Obama and Hitler and then complain when the media reports on his words that context was missing.

Rush went on to air several clips of the media criticizing his Nazi comparisons, including criticism of Rush comparing Obama's health care logo to the Nazi swastika, which Rush again defended, even though it's idiotic and such comparisons have been denounced by the Simon Weisenthal Center.

Anyway, Rush continued on for several minutes defending his comparisons because, you see, when you take them in context of what Pelosi said, they're apparently justified. This was followed up by Rush again playing misleading audio from Obama's 2001 radio interview (see Hour 1) and Dick Durbin in 2005 comparing U.S. torture interrogation to dictators. His rant concluded with this:

LIMBAUGH: If anybody's sabotaging democracy, it's today's Democrat Party. If anybody is sabotaging democracy, it's President Barack Obama and his administration. If anybody's sabotaging democracy, it is the leaders of the House and Senate Democrats, who are ramming legislation through without any committee hearings, without any debate. If there is a sabotage of the democrat -- democratic system, it is being conducted by the Democrat Party.

Before the commercial break, Rush gave a quick plug for a “friend” of the organization Patients First, which happens to be a “project of” conservative group Americans for Prosperity.

After another break, Rush took a caller who said he feels like he's living in Iran the way the government and the media are conducting themselves, and argued that that people don't understand the groundswell going on right now. Rush went on to read a post at Pajamas Media by Victor Davis Hanson.

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

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: No incidents of violence until Obama's crowd showed up. I can't sit here and express to you how shocked and stunned that this is happening in the United States of America, that we have a president who has abandoned the office now. He may as well be back on the campaign trail. He speeches are cocky, nasty, arrogant. He's out there inciting violence. White House officials say, “We're going to push back twice as hard.” The Chicago way -- you bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. That's the president of the United States.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Folks, yesterday on this program, I had a pointed and very factual reaction to Nancy Pelosi accusing those of you showing up at tea parties of wearing swastikas. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, said you are Nazis. The leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Harry Reid, said you are sabotaging democracy. You are sabotaging the Democrat process. This was all very irritating to elements of state-controlled media. Not what Pelosi or Reid said -- in fact, they didn't even talk about that.

In fact, did you know the other day Congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana was convicted? In the New York Times they never even mentioned his party, which is why when I kept referring to him it was always Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat, Louisiana. They never put his party affiliation. And so, when reporting what I said yesterday on the similarities between the radical leadership of the Democrat Party and the Nazi Party of Germany, they have had a cow. They have gone ballistic, and it's interesting that they have left out who started it.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: You've been throwing this around left and right because you don't like to debate the issues. You can't date debate the issues in this health-care bill. You cannot dare. You don't have the issues on your side. If anybody's sabotaging democracy, it's today's Democrat Party. If anybody is sabotaging democracy, it's President Barack Obama and his administration. If anybody's sabotaging democracy, it is the leaders of the House and Senate Democrats, who are ramming legislation through without any committee hearings, without any debate. If there is a sabotage of the democrat -- democratic system, it is being conducted by the Democrat Party.