This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Jon Stewart's apparent hatred for the military
By Greg Lewis
Rush got the second hour started with ... cake. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, today (well, tomorrow) is the 21st anniversary of The Rush Limbaugh Show. Though we have to say we're somewhat underwhelmed at this year's festivities. For his 20th anniversary show, W., H.W., and Jeb Bush all called into the program to congratulate Rush. This year he got cake. And he didn't even blow out the candles.
Anyway, on “substance,” the second hour began with Rush declaring that the whole administration and Democrat Party [sic] is "Charlie Foxtrot." Then Rush noted that Sen. Chris Dodd has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Rush wondered where Dodd would go for surgery -- the U.K. or Canada? Rush was shocked to find out he would have surgery in the United States:
LIMBAUGH: Since he can't trust his insurance villains and doctors in this country to do it right, where is he going to get his prostate cancer surgery, Canada or the U.K.?
He's staying here to get it done? Christopher Dodd's gonna have his surgery in America? Senator Dodd's gonna have prostate cancer surgery in the Untied States, with this sucky health care system we have here?
Next, Rush put cash for clunkers “into perspective.” Trading an old car in for a new one is a transaction that everybody over the age of 16 understands. But the government doesn't want to return too much of your money. Rush advocated a tax cut that would allow people to spend their money how they want -- not just on cars. Rush said they won't expand on this because they want to be in command and control and don't want you having too much freedom. After going over a couple of stories from people who have encountered difficulties in the cash for clunkers program, Rush wondered why it is any of the government's business what kind of car you drive. This is how health care will work -- what business is it of Obama's what kind of treatment you seek, or what kind of car you drive? Obama is making his business as many aspects of your life as possible.
After the break, Rush declared that he would much rather deal with a used-car salesman that a congressman. Then he went back to Dodd's prostate cancer, stating that Dodd should get a second opinion to make sure his surgeon wasn't just diagnosing him to line his own pockets, as Obama suggested doctors do in his press conference last week.
Then, Rush played a new “comedy” sketch of the Justice Brothers, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, providing color commentary on yesterday's “beer summit.” Then it was on to the American Thinker blog, critiquing a photograph of Obama walking down the White House steps with Gates and Crowley. The Thinker writer and Rush were bothered that Obama wasn't helping Gates down the steps, but Crowley was. Rush explained that his father told him the best way to judge someone's character it to watch how they treat people who can't do anything for them. You'd think by now that we would have learned the dangers of assessing a situation based solely on a still photograph. Did Obama “flip off” Hillary Clinton? No. Did Obama ogle an underage girl at the G-8? No. But now we're supposed to believe, based on the “body language” analysis from fringe conservative blogger of a single still photograph, that Obama charged ahead of Gates, paying no heed to his infirmity and displaying a stunning lack of compassion. There's a reason inane drivel like this is considered “fringe” -- because it's self-evidently stupid and thus unworthy of serious attention. But Rush just disseminated it all across America. It's the noise machine, folks.
Then “Open Line Friday” finally got going, with a caller who worked at a car dealership and explained what his experience with the Cash for Clunkers backlog. Rush asked about some of the details of how the program operated on the dealership end.
Rush returned from another break noting that MSNBC is reporting that Obama is working on a bipartisan solution to cash for clunkers, and that the House says they'll be providing an additional $2 billion for the program. Then Rush read a Drudge-special Politico article, which reported the administration made a group of CEOs pay for their lunch with Obama at the White House recently, and that they did so to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. Rush noted that on the occasions he was invited to lunch and dinner at the White House during the Bush administration, he wasn't billed. Probably because he isn't a CEO, and Bush didn't need to worry about his support on anything. This was not to avoid a conflict of interest, Rush claimed, it was Obama telling these CEOs who's boss.
“Open Line Friday” continued as Rush's next caller warned that first-time homebuyers should be “terrified” because the government might take away their tax refund, just as they did with cash for clunkers. Rush went on to comment on Obama's “bipartisan” solution to cash for clunkers -- have you ever needed something bipartisan to get a trade-in on your car? The next caller commented on Bill Kristol's recent appearance on The Daily Show, in which host Jon Stewart got Kristrol to admit that government-run health care works for the military. At first, Rush asked what The Daily Show was. Then he realized it's the wildly popular Comedy Central show that has, over the past decade or so, established itself as a cultural landmark that virtually everyone in the country knows about. The caller, a veteran, explained that military care works, but that it's not a good comparison to health care reform because it's a small niche that's specially controlled. Rush had this to say, as he approached the commercial break:
LIMBAUGH: Well, you know, the thing that gets me about this -- I mean, I know Jon Stewart's a state-run, you know, lib Democrat. And if he's having to resort to pointing to the military as something that works in order to sell a program, that's a huge sellout. Because these people hate the military.
Approaching the conclusion of the second hour, Rush turned over programming to the crack squad of bias sleuths at NewsBusters. The first story he read was about a woman who was fed up with seeing Obama on her television so often that she was selling both of the TV sets she owned. Next up was a post on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, who reported that a recent poll on health care showed that Americans “may not know what's good for them” when it comes to reform. Rush said Mitchell's attitude was an example of the foundation of liberalism -- you're too stupid, too ungrateful.
Then Rush played an audio bite of Rep. Barney Frank explaining that a good public option would lead to a single payer system. Rush said Frank is admitting what the public option is all about. The next audio bite was of Nancy Pelosi discussing “immoral profits” of the health insurance companies.
Rush closed out the second hour of “Open Line Friday” with one more caller, this one claiming that many small businesses will offload health care costs by putting their employees onto the public insurance option, and that private insurance won't be available if they go through with this. Rush said that the Heritage Foundation hired the (insurance company-owned) Lewin Group to look at the numbers, and found that 83 million people will lose their insurance under the House bill.
Simon Maloy, Zachary Pleat, and Ariana Probinsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.
Highlights from Hour 2
Outrageous comments
LIMBAUGH: Well, you know, the thing that gets me about this -- I mean, I know Jon Stewart's a state-run, you know, lib Democrat. And if he's having to resort to pointing to the military as something that works in order to sell a program, that's a huge sellout. Because these people hate the military.
In poor taste
LIMBAUGH: I just saw -- I didn't notice until the top-of-the-hour break. Ladies and gentlemen, Senator Christopher Dodd has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is going to have prostate cancer surgery in August. What I don't know is whether he's going to Canada or the U.K. for the surgery. Since he can't trust his insurance villains and doctors in this country to do it right, where is he going to get his prostate cancer surgery, Canada or the U.K.?
He's staying here to get it done? Christopher Dodd's gonna have his surgery in America? Senator Dodd's gonna have prostate cancer surgery in the Untied States, with this sucky health care system we have here?