This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the totally spontaneous, nationwide tea party protests
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour going by saying that he “Bill Clinton get off the plane over in North Korea where he was going to go meet with Kim Jong-Il to get two female journalists released, one of whom works for Al Gore.” Rush had one question to ask: “Now, where is Hillary? The real secretary of State is in Kenya. Why go to Kenya, unless you've been ordered to go over there and kiss Obama's grandfather's grave? Is North korea too important to send the girl?”

This provided an excellent segue for Rush to begin his promised interview with Art Laffer, whom Rush asked to react to his own findings on the proposed health care reform legislation. Laffer said when you separate people from their expenditures, they stop being responsible, and the separation between the doctor and the patient removes all controls of health care costs. Rush said one of his “bugaboos” is that when someone like Obama proposes something massive like this, the premise that we need it is automatically accepted, contra the facts. Laffer said he's more concerned about the costs and the quality of the program than he is the motivations behind it, and, with this program, they're both a real problem. Limbaugh said Laffer's point about separating the costs is a great one, and he asked Laffer if he thought his forthcoming research paper has the capacity to stop this health care reform. Laffer said he'd love to see health care reform stopped -- this type of reform is the wrong direction for the country to go. Rush asked Laffer about the solution he proposes, and Laffer said they're really simple and common sense, like tort reform and health savings accounts.

Rush then moved on to the economy in general, asking if Laffer, as the author of the Laffer Curve, is frustrated that the principle he articulated, which has been proven true so many times, is continuously attacked. Laffer said yes, and that Obama is proposing some really dumb ideas, like increased taxes on millionaires. Rush said anyone with any economic literacy knows that the whole stimulus theory was bound to fail, and Laffer agreed. Rush said he had to ask if Laffer believes, like Rush does, that this is purposeful. Laffer said he's not sure, but if you've ever been in a university with other professors, you know how stupid they can be. This is a professorial approach that is ignorant of the real world. This administration doesn't have a clue, particularly Larry Summers, and it's sad that Christina Romer has to defend the party line on this. It's crazy and dangerous, said Rush, who went on to repeat his grand conspiracy of wealth distribution. Laffer said it's all hubris -- they don't have to bear the weight of their own mistakes.

Well, that was scintillating. We're glad we could share it with you. Anyway, Rush came back from the break asking if we remembered when Bill Clinton said that Obama has the instincts of a Chicago thug. We don't, but Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) said the same thing, apparently, and Rush was very excited about it.

Rush then celebrated the idea that these town halls are really just boiling over. Something is happening out there and the Democrats and the media don't realize it, he said. Rush then aired audio of a town hall with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), during which Ellison was asked if he's willing to put his family on the government health system. Rush said it's an excellent question, and all you need to do is ask the question because you can't trust their answers. Oddly enough, that's exactly what the organizers of these tea party protests say -- just ask the questions, and don't let them answer. Rush then aired another clip of a woman saying to Ellison that she'd rather go bankrupt than let her father die of leukemia. Rush cheered her on, then aired audio of Ellison saying that end-of-life health care costs are prohibitive, and result from a guilt-trap. Rush said that Obama is going to cut costs by removing the “guilt trap” -- you won't have to treat your dying parents; they'll just take the pain pill.

Rush came back from the break armed with a couple of forgettable health care parodies, and then read from an Associated Press article reporting: “The Obama administration is refusing to release government records on its 'cash-for-clunkers' rebate program that would substantiate -- or undercut -- White House claims of the program's success, even as the president presses the Senate for a quick vote for $2 billion to boost car sales.” Noting that the article said that “limited information released so far shows most buyers are not picking Ford, Chrysler or General Motors vehicles,” Rush said that “Obama Motors” is trying to subsidize themselves, and they're subsidizing their competitors.

Then it was back to North Korea, as Rush expressed his hope that Bill Clinton comes back and announces a deal with Kim Jong-Il in which no more missiles will be fired, and then two days later, they launch a missile. That would be great.

Rush then took a call from a gentleman who was “livid” with Obama's health care proposal, explaining that he's an independent contractor in the entertainment industry, the union provides his insurance, and there's no way he'd give up his benefits for this government-run plan. Rush said the odds are that businesses are going to offload their health care to get rid of the costs, but you're part of a union, so you might be allowed to keep your plan, but if the plan changes in the smallest way, you won't be able to have it any more and you'll be pushed to the public plan. The caller said he doesn't expect the unions to be impacted because they support Obama with so much money. Rush said remember that Obama said he wants a single-payer system, he wants everyone covered by the government. Sixty percent of the population don't want to change their health care, Rush said, but that doesn't matter to the Democrats.

Rush's next caller wanted to talk about the unruly town hall with Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX). She was there, and she believed that the majority of the people there were there as individuals. Well, despite what this caller believes, the fact is, as The New York Times reported, the “protest was coordinated by a looseknit group of conservative voters who have worked in the past with the Texas Republican Party and Americans for Prosperity, a national conservative organization.” Rush bragged that this sort of protest is being replicated all over the country (which kind of belies the idea that there's no coordination happening, don't you think?). Rush then attacked Politico for reporting: “Angry protesters shouted down Democrats at public events from Texas to Pennsylvania over the weekend, leaving the party only one real hope for getting its message out over recess: a backlash.” They are “hoping” for a backlash, said Rush. They're desperate. They're losing. They don't have a game-changer. They're hoping for someone to go whacko so they can point at all of them and call them an unruly mob.

One more break and Rush limped out of the hour by repeating his claim that the Democrats are dripping with contempt for the public, and the people attending these town hall meetings; they do so at their own political peril, Rush said, because these town hall people have the power to throw them out of office. Rush aired audio of Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) saying that insurance companies are trying to stack the town hall meetings, just like flooding the switchboards at Capitol Hill. There's another compassionate, responsive Democrat, said Rush, saying that you people are nothing but a bunch of phony-baloney sucker punchers. You Democrats don't get to tell us what we can or cannot do or say, Rush repeated. You're the ones who have disgusting backgrounds, who fund these debasements of our culture. Rush aired another Durbin bite, in which the Illinois Democrat said that health insurers don't want to see reform, so they're organizing these rallies and getting people out there and shouting. So the health insurance companies are behind this?

Rush was incredulous that the insurance companies -- or anyone, for that matter -- were behind the town hall protests, and as evidence he had on the phone a gentleman who asked Sebelius and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) a question at the Philadelphia town hall. The caller said he was at the town hall because he heard about it through local groups. Rush said he's glad this guy called because MSNBC is smearing them as this coordinated agitation effort. Actually, the tea partiers themselves are bragging about their organizational efforts: “On the boo side were dozens of people who pasted 'Tell Washington No' bumper stickers on their chests. [Diana] Reimer said her organization, the Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots, brought 40 people.”

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

Highlights from Hour 2

Ladies' man

LIMBAUGH: I was just watching television. I saw Bill Clinton get off the plane over in North Korea where he was going to go meet with Kim Jong-Il to get two female journalists released, one of whom works for Al Gore, and I got to thinking two things. I remember when Jimmy Carter went over to North Korea on his own during the Clinton administration and came out of there saying, “I just finished talking to their little potbellied dictator, and he promised me no nukes.” And he sorta cut Clinton's knees out from under him. I wonder what kind of side deals are being made here.

Now, where is Hillary? The real secretary of State is in Kenya. Why go to Kenya, unless you've been ordered to go over there and kiss Obama's grandfather's grave? Is North korea too important to send the girl?