This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Mike Krzyzewski
By Simon Maloy
At the top of the hour, Rush wondered how many of the AIG bonus recipients voted for or donated money to Obama and the Democrats. He figured that a decent percentage did, because it's a great myth that Wall Street is a bastion of conservatism.
Rush then aired poor-quality audio of House Speaker Pelosi at a church in San Francisco saying of immigration policy: “Who in our country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families? ... It must be stopped. ... What value system is that? I think it's un-American. I think it's un-American.” Rush wondered what sort of value system exists where abortion is “wonderfully American” and asked listeners what was worse -- abortion or “kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families” -- explaining that neither option is “attractive.”
From there, Rush jumped on the media's favorite chew toy at the moment -- Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who said of Obama: "[A]s much as I respect what he's doing, really, you know, the economy is something that he should focus on, you know, probably more than the brackets." Rush of course didn't point out that Krzyzewski also said of Obama, “I love the guy, and I think he's going to be great.” But he did manage to bring his favorite chew toy into the discussion, noting that Obama was able to discuss his NCAA tourney picks on ESPN... without a teleprompter.
El Rushbo then had a message for all the AIG employees receiving bonuses who voted for Obama and the Democrats: He hoped they had learned what the “Democrat” concept of privacy means. According to Rush, it means that we can't “invade the privacy” of terrorists overseas plotting attacks on the United States, but we can invade the privacy of U.S. citizens who received bonuses. This is a popular conservative canard, that Democrats don't want to spy on suspected terrorist overseas. They do -- they just want to do it legally.
Back from the break, Rush was aghast that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was seeking a list of AIG bonus recipients. Rush offered some lists of his own that he'd like to see, including “a list of all of the people who were known to use Barney Frank's townhouse to meet male prostitutes in the 1970s.” This is a favorite smear of Limbaugh's, implicating Frank in a male prostitution scandal. In reality, upon investigating the allegations against Frank, the House Ethics Committee didn't even determine that any prostitution activities took place, and the committee further concluded that if they did take place, Frank didn't know anything was going on.
Then it was time for another caller, who offered his theory that Obama and the Democrats are deliberately inflating the currency so that they can raise taxes later on. Rush, not surprisingly, agreed with this entirely, and urged the caller to apply for a fellowship with the EIB network.
Back from a break, Rush attacked Obama for signing a $500,000 advance to adapt Dreams from My Father for children, asking us all to notice that Obama is getting as much money as he can before his tax increases hit the books. Time for another caller, who had his own theory as to how Obama is trying to manufacture a health-care crisis. Rush responded: “I think as much of the capitalist system as they can destroy, they will.”
From there, Rush laid into CNN for airing recordings of threatening phone calls from Americans regarding AIG employees. According to Rush, CNN did it to create further chaos, and he found that “irresponsible.” Of course, just moments earlier, Rush had aired audio of CNN playing just such a phone call, beaming it out to the millions of people in his audience. We assume he'll share responsibility for any “chaos” that ensue.
Rush ended the hour with an extended plug for the Heritage Foundation, marveling at their “breadth,” “scope,” and “expertise.”
Highlights from Hour 2
Outrageous comments
CALLER: You made a comment earlier about them needing to have disruption and despair in this country, and so you're right about that. For example, there's a shortage in primary care physicians in this country, and has been for over 10 years, and it's not being addressed. There's currently a plan for a 20-percent cut in fees paid by Medicare to primary care physicians. If this happens, there's going to be a significant shortage of primary care physicians and then Obama's going to be able to say, “See, we've got a crisis. We need to step in.”
LIMBAUGH: I know. I -- look it, I firmly agree with you. I think as much of the capitalist system as they can destroy, they will. They will at least send it on a downward cycle, which creates the need for government. That's what this AIG business is about. This AIG business is about “Look it, these people are thieves.”
America's Truth Rejector
Repeated smear that Barney Frank's townhouse was used for prostitution:
LIMBAUGH: So as long as we're outing people, ladies and gentlemen, can we have a list? I'd like to officially ask this. I may have a statute of limitations problem on this, but I would like to have a list of all of the people who were known to use Barney Frank's townhouse to meet male prostitutes in the 1970s. Remember, he had a boyfriend back then named Stephen Gobie -- it might have been the '80s.
And Gobie was using downstairs at Barney's townhouse to run a prostitution ring -- Gobie has called this program before to discuss this -- and Barney was getting Gobie's parking tickets fixed for parking in front of Barney's townhouse.
I'd like a list of the names of the people who were known to use Frank's townhouse to meet prostitutes. I seem to recall he had a little problem with that.
Echo chamber
Plugs the Heritage Foundation... again. Cited two entries from their Foundry blog, here and here.