This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the GM boycott Rush would never -- never -- support
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the final hour going by clearing something up -- Detroit News reported that he and Hugh Hewitt said “there's only one choice for conservatives angry about government involvement in the auto industry: Boycott GM.” Rush said that he doesn't do boycotts, he doesn't encourage them, and he certainly never called for a boycott of GM because they sponsor his show (a fact we love pointing out, because it illustrates Rush's capacity for hypocrisy). Anyway, after vigorously denying that he had supported or encouraged the boycott, Rush helpfully told his listeners that he would be posting a link on his website to an American Thinker piece: “The Ethical Case for Boycotting Chrysler and GM.” But he would never promote a boycott of GM. No way. Never.

Then Rush aired an audio bite of Tim Geithner saying that the administration does not support caps on executive compensation. Rush said this is outrageous -- Obama can get away with saying he isn't going to do something and then doing it, but Geithner can't. Rush said they're going to let Congress put caps on executive bonuses, and the reason they're doing it is because they're panicking. They don't have universal support and they're panicking.

Then it was on to Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), as Rush aired a sound bite of Frank explaining that they're not setting caps on pay, but giving shareholders more of a say like they do in Britain. Rush's riposte to Frank's remarks was yet another rendition of his “Banking Queen” parody. Leading into the break, Rush teased an upcoming segment on a Republican congressman saying that terrorism suspects are being read their Miranda rights. Rush said that if we're conferring “citizenship” on terrorists by Mirandizing them, what's to stop us from doing the same for “illegal aliens.”

After the break, Rush read from Stephen Hayes' Weekly Standard blog post on Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI) saying: “You have foreign fighters who are targeting US troops today -- foreign fighters who go to another country to kill Americans. We capture them ... and they're reading them their rights -- Mirandizing these foreign fighters.”

Then Rush moved back to Barney Frank, airing an audio bite of Frank denying that the he was late to the party on the housing crisis, saying: “In 2005, several congressmen, from North Carolina and myself, proposed a bill to restrict subprime lending. And we were rejected by the Republican majority. In 2007, when I became the chairman and we became the majority, we regulated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and we passed a bill through the House to regulate subprime mortgages.” Rush said that this is “the opposite of what really happened.” Actually, no -- Frank was exactly right.

Anyway, Rush took a call from a man who said that one of the things the media have missed with Chrysler and GM deals and the UAW is that the union won't need money for their health programs if national health care passes, so that money will just become a windfall for them. Rush said this was an excellent point, and then moved on to his next caller, who saw Howard Dean on TV this morning talking about the public option for nationalized health care. Rush said the public option is a trick and it's not going to happen. The caller then wondered if national health care will destroy the private insurers. Rush said it depends -- if the company supported Obama in 2008, then they'll get a seat at the table. If they didn't support him, then they're out of luck.

After the break, Rush had yet more God vs. Obama for us -- the differences being that God only demands 10 percent of your income, God allows us to live in freedom, and God's plan to save us is actually written down somewhere. Then Rush took a call from a gentleman who was unsure of his Republican bona fides, and was wondering if, perhaps, Rush had a “litmus test” he could administer to settle the question -- a sort of laying-on-of-hands over the radio. Rush said he doesn't do litmus tests (except when possibly supporting a Supreme Court nominee he considers racist on the off chance she might be pro-life), so the caller would have to enumerate his beliefs for him. Long story short -- the caller had his Republican street cred affirmed amid some rote bashing of Colin Powell and other moderates.

After another break, Rush came back armed with a Politico article that he said he'd been saving. The article reported: “Don't be fooled by the presidential burger runs. Obama and Congress are moving across several fronts to give government a central role in making America healthier -- raising expectations among public health experts of a new era of activism unlike any before.” Rush was aghast that the Politico was “breathlessly excited” over public health activism and was irked that it compared Obama's love of physical fitness to George W. Bush's: “Bush did not try to nag and force people to his personal decisions because Bush was not a damn authoritarian liberal.” Rush theorized that in the near future, during Obama's State of the Union addresses, Republicans who sit on their hands during applause lines will be forced to drop and give Obama 20.

Rush closed out today's show with a call from a woman who said the UAW once had a cause, but that the group has been overcome by greed and has ruined GM. Rush, as you might suspect, agreed.

And that's it for today. Another Limbaugh Wire completed, another Rush Limbaugh Show chronicled, and another billion or so brain cells forever lost. Hope to see you again tomorrow. Until then, you can track the decline of our mental health by reading through Media Matters' extensive Limbaugh archives.

Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: “Former President George W. Bush was equally devoted to fitness but he never gave it a prominent role in policy-making as public health experts expect from Obama.” That's precisely because Bush did not try to nag and force people to his personal decisions because Bush was not a damn authoritarian liberal.

America's Truth Rejector

Falsely claimed Barney Frank lied about his support for reforms of Fannie and Freddie:

LIMBAUGH: Now this next sound bite, this is Barney Frank -- CNBC this afternoon -- and the guy questioning Barney Frank here is Roben Farzad. He is from Business Week magazine. And this -- this is pretty good.

[begin video clip]

FARZAD: Do you look back at your career and ask yourself: "Why are we always so late to the game as regulators, whether it's the S-and-L crisis -- you clearly could've seen all this stuff in '05 and '06.

FRANK: Oh, I did see it in '05 and '06.

FARZAD: Why didn't you say anything else?

FRANK: I did -- because the Republicans were in control of the country.

FARZAD: No, you can't blame the Republicans. I mean --

FRANK: I'm sorry, sir.

FARZAD: -- if there's fire in a crowded movie theater --

FRANK: No, but I'll tell you what -- I'm telling you what you can't do. You cannot ask me a question and interrupt me three words into the answer. The answer is: I can blame the Republicans. In 2005, several congressmen, from North Carolina and myself, proposed a bill to restrict subprime lending. And we were rejected by the Republican majority.

In 2007, when I became the chairman and we became the majority, we regulated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and we passed a bill through the House to regulate subprime mortgages. Yes, I will show you things that I said about subprime mortgages and a bill we tried to pass in 2005, and the Republicans were in control and wouldn't allow it to happen.

[end video clip]

LIMBAUGH: I think this is sort of just the opposite of what really happened. It was the Democrats who were making the regulators pound sand during committee hearings. The Bush administration tried numerous times to reign in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and it was Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who stood in the way and didn't want it to happen.