This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by El Rushbo's bromance with Glenn Beck
By Greg Lewis and Karl Frisch
After opening the hour with a few more quips on the Supreme Court, it was back to Rush's favorite subject from yesterday: the Chrysler bankruptcy. El Rushbo spent most of his time reading articles on the subject and harping on the idea that Obama was “doing [his] best” for the unions, and hurting shareholders and hedge funds because heaven knows hedge funds have been through enough. First, he read from a New York Times article headlined, “The Lenders Obama decided to blame,” which Rush used to echo his feelings on the subject. This launched Rush into a long discussion on Obama's attacks on banks and the private sector, ultimately leading him to comment that "[t]here is genuine fear of the government from average Americans buying up guns and ammunition like they never have before, to people on Wall Street, the big businesses -- there is abject fear." We here at the Wire already know who fuels this fear but then again we listen to Rush every day.
From there, Rush described what he thought of as the “Obama fairness doctrine,” which went beyond radio -- “it's about everything.” In Obama's “show” of bipartisanship, he listens to the other side, “plays Solomon,” and decides what is “fair.” And if you don't like his fairness, “you're dispatched to ”Messiah Park" -- not to be confused with the FEMA concentration camps.
Rush then read from a few more articles on Chrysler, one from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, another from The Washington Post. The latter described what the new ownership of Chrysler would be after bankruptcy, specifically that the UAW would take a 55-percent stake in the company, a fact that Rush highlighted yesterday with typical doom and gloom. For what it's worth, the Post also reported that the union, specifically its health trust fund, would only get one seat on the new Chrysler board, a point lost on Limbaugh.
On the flip side of the commercial break, Rush took his first two callers of the day -- after all, it is their day! The first caller asked about mortgage “cramdowns” (giving bankruptcy courts the ability to modify the mortgages of homeowners in financial distress over the objection of the creditors -- a power that bankruptcy courts have in several other areas) being voted down in Congress yesterday. Rush hailed the vote as upholding the idea that “a contract is still a contract.” Rush noted, however, that even though the measure failed, “cramdowns” are essentially what Obama is trying to do with Chrysler and the banks, and that “everybody is running in total fear of the guy.” Everybody Rush? The next caller suggested that Obama appoint Judge Judy to the Court -- seriously.
After the break, Rush started off by thanking Fox News newcomer and conspiracy-theorist-in-chief Glenn Beck for his "wonderful" profile of Rush, which he wrote for Time magazine's 100 “World's Most Influential People” annual feature.
Then Rush took a call from someone who wanted to run for the House of Representatives in his Texas district as a conservative, and asked Rush for some campaign advice. We wonder if the caller is asking the best person for advice on this subject, given that Rush has never run for elected office -- then again, better to seek his advice now than apologize later when he condemns El Rushbo. Rush then warned the caller not to hire a consultant who would talk him out of his conservatism. After rambling for a few minutes about conservatism, Rush told the caller to be genuine and he'll win in a landslide against the conservative Republican incumbent. Sound advice indeed.
Back from another break, Rush read from a letter by National Review's Andy McCarthy, in which he invites Attorney General Eric Holder to a roundtable on detention policy. Rush declared that the letter was “gutsy” and “brilliant,” and promised to read excerpts from it in the next hour.
Finally, Rush took to mocking the GOP's new “National Council for a New America” campaign. First, he played a clip from last night's No Bias, No Bull on CNN, during which Jessica Yellin briefly described the campaign. Rush thought it was chuckle-worthy that John McCain was one of the Republicans headlining it. To date, McCain hasn't taken Rush's advice to leave the party and take his daughter with him.
Highlights from Hour 2
Outrageous Comments:
LIMBAUGH: The third possibility to explain why the big banks rolled over is: They're just scared to death because the Obama administration Treasury Department has their future in its hands. So, of the three possibilities, from the goodness of their hearts, they got secret slush money under the table from TARP, or they're scared to death because the Treasury Department holds the future right in their hands.
I vote option three. I vote that the big banks rolled over 'cause they're scared to death, 'cause wherever I go, I don't care who I interact with. They're scared to death of this administration. There is genuine fear of the government from average Americans buying up guns and ammunition like they never have before, to people on Wall Street, the big businesses -- there is abject fear.
So I vote for number three. But we'll never really know.
Echo Chamber:
National Review's Andy McCarthy's letter to Eric Holder.