This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by “stealth” Sotomayor and her “flowering” radicalism
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour rolling by admonishing the people who e-mailed him during the break asking what he means when he said “if we're allowed to buy a Hummer” in the previous hour. What are you not getting? Rush asked. Do you not understand what is happening here? Obama, said Rush, grabbed all of these state-controlled industries and announced their support of a speedier implementation of new CAFE standards. “They had no choice. They were bitch-slapped into agreeing. They were whipped into agreeing.” Anyway, Rush explained, SUVs are not going to meet these new standards, but it's a fleet standard, so the individual SUVs don't have to meet it. And yesterday, Rush said, Obama said that GM is going to make “lawnmowers with seats on them,” and today we have the news that the Chinese bought Hummer. Then Rush took us back to last August, when BusinessInsider.com reported that "[d]espite how badly GM wants to dump the Hummer, a looming global recession (and of course high oil prices) may be putting the kibosh on that plan." And now fast-forward back to today, The New York Times is reporting that the Chinese company that bought Hummer doesn't even make cars yet!

After all these breakneck jumps from story to story, we were still waiting for an explanation for how Obama will prevent us from buying SUVs, but Rush had another one in store as he went completely off topic to note that Kim Jong Il had named his youngest son as his successor, reportedly overlooking his middle son, whom he deemed to be too “effeminate.”

But then we were back to China, as Rush explained that he hasn't read all the stories, so he doesn't know if Hummers are going to be made in the U.S. (even though he cited just moments earlier a story that said the Hummer will continue to be made in the U.S.) The Chinese pollute the world more than anyone, Rush said, and here we are, the greatest country in the history of the world, and what are we doing? We're heading back to the Stone Age because CAFE standards are putting Americans in cars they do not want.

You'll notice that in all that, there was never an explanation as to how Obama will prevent us from buying SUVs ...

Anyway, Rush moved on to Sotomayor, playing audio of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy saying that vicious attacks on Sotomayor are going to motivate him to have the confirmation hearings sooner, because he wants Sotomayor to have a chance to answer these charges. Rush said he wants that too, and Leahy has basically announced that the hearings, at least in part, will be about Rush. Rush then repeated his silly claim that no one has denied his claim that Sotomayor is a racist and a bigot. Rush explained:

LIMBAUGH: If you look at the entire speech that Sonia Sotomayor gave in which this line was supposedly taken out of context, where the richness of her experience as a Latina would enable her to come to better decisions than a white male, that was not taken out of context. In fact, that is and was the context of her entire speech. Her entire speech, or a vast portion of it, was devoted to the proposition that the oath of office -- she didn't say this -- the oath of office is irrelevant, that of course you bring your personal life experiences to the job, and of course you render decisions based on that. She made a case for it. This one line has not been taken out of context. This whole speech is a disqualifying speech.

Of course, both Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas have acknowledged the significant impact that their personal background and experiences have had on their judicial thinking. So we guess, in Rush's view, they're racists and bigots too. And since no one has denied that charge we just made, we're going to assume that everyone agrees with it and it's true.

Then Rush said his legal friends have examined Sotomayor's hearings and found that her decisions do not match the racism of that speech. Now, in a normal world, one might take that bit of information as cause to rethink the accusation that the person who wrote them is a racist. But we're not in a normal world here. In Limbaugh Land, this can only mean one thing -- she's been secretly hiding her real radicalism for decades in order to be confirmed to the Supreme Court: “She's been wrong on the law, but her decisions do not give you a -- something firm you can put your arms around that would indicate that she is using racial or racism aspects to come to a decision. And the theory behind that is because she knew she had higher ambitions, and despite her speeches, she knew that people were going to be looking at her actual decisions.” We find this amusing, because Rush is one of those people who thinks that Sotomayor is not that bright, but somehow she's clever enough to pull off a decades-long scam to hide her true radicalism and get people to think she's a moderate.

Anyway, after reading from Richard Cohen's Washington Post column today on Sotomayor, Rush explained that the Republican line of attack on Sotomayor will be “that she's had ambitions and she's been very careful about these rulings but that she's stealth. She is an Obama and once she gets to the court, her radicalism can fully flower because there's nobody that can reverse her there.”

After the break, Rush explained that we have a president whose objective is to get us out of our SUVs. Remember when he said we can't drive our SUVs and eat what we want and keep our homes at 72 degrees? He has a chip on his shoulder about this country, intends to cut it down to size, said Rush, and so does his wife. He has a huge chip on his shoulder. Then Rush acknowledged the murders of Dr. Tiller and the Army recruiter in Arkansas, adding: “We can't associate with these kind of local terrorists. Has anybody heard the name William Ayers? Here is a terrorist that launched President Obama's political career in Chicago with a fundraiser in his home - a man who proudly admitted to blowing up the Pentagon, wished he'd gone further. So we've got a president that is associated with a domestic terrorist.” Good point, Rush. Ayers has a lot of relevance here. Well played.

Another break and Rush was back telling us one thing we should never forget -- Obama chose Sotomayor for a reason, he wants a mirror image of himself on the Supreme Court. Any judge he nominates for the Supreme Court would not be nominated if he weren't a leftist, radical activist, said Rush. She wants “empathy” - what more do you need to know? Then Rush asked if Patrick Leahy will allow, at the Sotomayor hearings, Miguel Estrada to testify about the bigoted way in which Leahy treated Estrada during his confirmation hearings. Rush said he doubts that will happen, and we have to say that we do to - mainly because Estrada has nothing to with Sonia Sotomayor.

Then Rush repeated his theory that Sotomayor has been hiding her radicalism all these years in her rulings and led into the break saying: “Obama is willing to dynamite the mountains to get the get the coal to get the union vote, the miner vote and so fourth because he's not doing well in West Virginia. And you know, totalitarians like this, they need the image that the whole country is behind them.”

After one more break, Rush took a call from a man who said something about the ignorance of America, the Hummer, his mother, and her paycheck. We didn't know what he was talking about, and Rush didn't either, and Rush's repeated requests to clarify didn't really help. Rush finally seemed to give up, saying he understood the man's point about his “ignorant” mother, and then moved on to sound bytes of CNBC's Rick Santelli saying that Treasury Secretary Geithner is lying when he says we're not monetizing our debt. Rush said Santelli is right - we're monetizing debt, we're issuing debt and the Fed is printing money to buy it. Not for nothing, a real economist, Paul Krugman, wrote regarding this very topic: “Now, it's true that the Fed has taken unprecedented actions lately. More specifically, it has been buying lots of debt both from the government and from the private sector, and paying for these purchases by crediting banks with extra reserves. ... But these aren't ordinary times. Banks aren't lending out their extra reserves. They're just sitting on them - in effect, they're sending the money right back to the Fed. So the Fed isn't really printing money after all.” We're more inclined to trust the Nobel Laureate than, well, Rush.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Obama grabbed all of these state-controlled industries behind him in a ceremony in the Rose Garden to announce speeding up new CAFE standards. Now, the people standing behind him, he said, had all come together and they had all agreed it was a wonderful thing. They had no choice. They were bitch-slapped into agreeing. They were whipped into agreeing.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: If you look at the entire speech that Sonia Sotomayor gave in which this line was supposedly taken out of context, where the richness of her experience as a Latina would enable her to come to better decisions than a white male, that was not taken out of context. In fact, that is and was the context of her entire speech. Her entire speech, or a vast portion of it, was devoted to the proposition that the oath of office -- she didn't say this -- the oath of office is irrelevant, that of course you bring your personal life experiences to the job, and of course you render decisions based on that. She made a case for it. This one line has not been taken out of context. This whole speech is a disqualifying speech.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: She hasn't ruled in most of her cases -- there have been exceptions -- but she hasn't ruled as a radical. Her decisions haven't come down as a radical, although that's the wrong way to put it because she has been reversed 60 percent of the time by the Supreme Court. She's been wrong on the law, but her decisions do not give you a -- something firm you can put your arms around that would indicate that she is using racial or racism aspects to come to a decision. And the theory behind that is because she knew she had higher ambitions, and despite her speeches, she knew that people were going to be looking at her actual decisions.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The Republican line of attack on Sonia Sotomayor -- they're not going to be able to go to her rulings and say “See, the ruling's parallel with that statement.” They can show how she's been reversed 60 percent of the time, so what they're going to say -- my guess -- what they're going to say is that she's had ambitions and she's been very carful about these rulings but that she's stealth. She is an Obama, and once she gets to the court, her radicalism can fully flower because there's nobody that can reverse her there.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: We all know about the murder of the abortion doctor. That's reprehensible, but yesterday in Arkansas, we had a militant Muslim take out some Army recruiters, military recruiters because he doesn't like the U.S. military. I don't think any marshals, U.S. marshals have been posted to protect any Army recruiters or military recruiters. And we've been warned, of course, this guy, this wacko, this Scott Roeder guy that murdered the abortion doctor, well, we've got to be careful. We can't associate with these kind of local terrorists. Has anybody -- anybody heard the name William Ayers? Here is a terrorist that launched President Obama's political career in Chicago with a fundraiser in his home -- a man who proudly admitted to blowing up the Pentagon, wished he'd gone further. So we've got a president that is associated with a domestic terrorist, is friends with him. The guy know runs education in Chicago, Bill Ayers. Boy, the double standard, left and right. Incredible.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Her rulings do not reflect the racism and bigotry in that speech in Berkeley, nor do her rulings reflect her statement about how judges make policy. Her rulings are -- they're just bad, they're wrong. They're not bad law; they're not very smart. Her rulings are not very intelligent, but they don't contain all of the bigotry and racism that was in that speech, and the theory is that she's simply holding back. She's ambitious. She wants to be promoted, so her rulings are not controversial, except that they're wrong.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So Obama is willing to dynamite the mountains to get the get the coal to get the union vote, the miner vote and so forth, because he's not doing well in West Virginia. And, you know, totalitarians like this. They need the image that the whole country is behind them.