This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by liberals' admiration of tyrants
By Greg Lewis
Belling began the third hour of the program by continuing his rant from the previous hour -- that Republicans need to be more aggressive, like the Democrats. The reason Sarah Palin had to be destroyed, explained Belling, is that liberals want to fulfill their radical 1960s dreams. In the Democratic Party, people like Ted Kennedy are able to survive in the Senate for more than 40 years even after drowning a woman and not calling the cops for 10 hours. Belling claimed that liberals get to play the game differently -- they don't have referees.
Then Belling read from a Washington Examiner write-up of a recent Gallup poll that found “more Americans moving to the right.” Belling explained to us how Obama is a “socialist,” owns a bank, and essentially “runs” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Continuing, Belling said that liberals “blew up” the budget deficit, which has “ballooned” beyond anything from the Bush years. As we enjoy pointing out, most of the record deficit we're facing is directly attributable to Bush and his tax cuts, and other policies. Belling asked how a country that -- as Gallup found -- is moving to the right can elect a “gang of radicals.” The only reason is that the left has “figured out how to play the game better.” The only way liberals can win elections, explained Belling, is if they are able to get away “with murder.”
Belling then took a caller who said that going “tit for tat” with liberals would be too easy for the public to dismiss. Belling continued his rant, repeating his claim from the previous hour that conservatives did a very poor job in drawing attention to Democratic controversies like Rezko. Belling also lamented how McCain took Rev. Wright “off the table” and said that wouldn't happen if Sarah Palin were a member of a “wacko church.” We have to come back to this, because it's just too silly. Belling is advocating that the right do more with Obama's “radical associations,” as if the most-watched cable news network in America did not do an entire special devoted exclusively to that topic. The right spent months -- months -- in 2008 repeating the names Rezko, Ayers, and Wright at every possible opportunity, and it did nothing to affect the outcome of the election. Now, Belling is saying that the right actually never did that, and is advocating that they adopt the same failed tactic, as if by some magic it will actually work this time. We find this particularly amusing given that, just yesterday, he was attacking the “liberal” philosophy that says when a project fails, the solution is to do more of it.
Belling continued with his sports metaphors, explaining that if the referees aren't calling pass interference or holding, you probably ought to hold or commit pass interference, or you're going to lose the game. Think of how little traction attacks against Bill Clinton got, Belling said, and look at the “little” kinds of things that “stymied” Republicans -- they're playing a game that we're not. It was no coincidence, explained Belling, that as soon as Obama was sworn in, he told Republicans not to listen to Rush Limbaugh. He didn't say “don't listen to Mitch McConnell.” You have to be willing to give the left some of their own medicine because they can't take it, “because they've never had to deal with it.”
After returning from a commercial break, Belling had another thought on the Michael Jackson memorial service -- if Jackson were a conservative political figure implicated in pedophilia, do you think we'd have this big service with celebrities showing up? Probably not, said Belling.
Then Belling took a caller who was frustrated with conservative leadership. Belling said that leadership can't come from the bottom -- leadership on the left starts at the top. For example, major news organizations “swarmed” on Alaska after Palin was named McCain's running mate, but “nobody” swarmed on Chicago. Interesting that Belling tried to make this argument, considering Obama's campaign was headquartered in Chicago, and the city was crawling with media, who pored over Obama's mortgage filings and property documents, and investigated his time as a community organizer and attorney in the city.
The next caller to grace the program was getting really tired of conservative self-restraint and described how “Sarah Barracuda” was stuck in a tank of “stinging Jellyfish” in the Republican Party. Belling explained how the goal of the left has been to destroy Palin, not discredit her.
Belling returned from another break with more discussion on (you guessed it) that same thing he had been harping on for the previous hour -- the different “rules” liberals and conservatives play by. It's almost as if he managed to go an entire hour saying the same thing over and over. And, as you might expect, along with more complaining about the wimpiness of the Republican Party, Belling continued to go after Democrats:
BELLING: They had a revolution without firing a shot. This is not your father's Democratic Party. The old Democratic Party -- and I don't mean of the 1930s or the 1940s -- the old Democratic Party never would have tried any of this. Carter didn't even try any of this. This is a radicalization of public policy that is much more akin to what was in place in Western Europe and even in the Soviet Union.
Belling spent the next 10 minutes or so repeating how Democrats are able to get away with murder, and how successful they have been in destroying conservatives like Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, and Newt Gingrich. After some more repetition of the basic argument that conservatives are unwilling to play dirty like Democrats, Belling -- wait, are we getting the point across? Or do you want us to delve further? Anyway, after repeating his point a few more times, Belling took a break and finally shifted the discussion for the final 10 minutes of the program. He broached the subject of Vice President Biden's interview on This Week, in which Biden said that Israel can determine for themselves what is in their interests relative to Iran. Belling explained how every time Biden talks, “it's a train wreck.” Belling went on to argue that this contradicts the administration's position, and that Obama had to “clarify” Biden's remarks. When this happens, explained Belling, it is a “foreign policy train wreck.”
Then Belling gave us this gem of an observation: “But when you've got Obama trying to nationalize health care, and cozy up to the Russians, and apparently spend the whole week in Moscow -- when is he leaving Moscow by the way? I think he wants to stay forever. He's happy as can be there.” Hilarious. Anyway, Belling's point was that you can't be afraid to criticize Democrats when they're trying to “nuke out” Sarah Palin.
After the final commercial break, Belling followed through on a promise to take a caller who disagreed with his opinion about the BCS. So Belling took the call, let the caller to say that Belling was “full of fluff” about the BCS, then Belling cut the caller off, explaining that he had fulfilled his commitment to take the call. It wasn't the most mature moment we've ever heard on talk radio.
Finally, Belling elaborated on his remarks about Obama not wanting to leave Moscow, in case any of you were unsure of what he meant:
BELLING: I made the comment on yesterday's program that Obama is at home in Russia because he prefers to deal with tyrants. He is uncomfortable with a democracy movement in Iran, because he wants to work with Ahmadinejad. That's his desire. He feels comfortable with totalitarians.
Liberals have a long history of this. I've come up with just a short list of contemporary totalitarians, contemporary tyrants that liberals are not only OK with, but admire and support: Castro; Che Guevera, whose t-shirts they still wear; Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua; Robert Mugabe in Africa -- African self-determination; Idi Amin in Africa -- African self-determination; Ho Chi Minh; Mao -- remember how they were running around in the '60s with The Little Red Book? -- Hugo Chavez, hanging around with Bobby Kennedy Jr. You can go on, and on, and on. And remember that they've never felt any guilt over what Pol Pot did after we bailed out of Vietnam.
Liberals and tyrants go hand in hand because liberals and tyrants share something in common. They want to control the lives of everyone else.
That's it for today's Limbaugh Wire and our time with Mark Belling. We enjoyed the past two days with him, but we're even more psyched about Mark Steyn guest-hosting tomorrow. If you have forgotten how funny Steyn can be, go poke around in the Limbaugh Wire archives.
Simon Maloy, Zachary Pleat, and Ariana Probinsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.
Highlights from Hour 3
Outrageous comments
BELLING: They had a revolution without firing a shot. This is not your father's Democratic Party. The old Democratic Party -- and I don't mean of the 1930s or the 1940s -- the old Democratic Party never would have tried any of this. Carter didn't even try any of this. This is a radicalization of public policy that is much more akin to what was in place in Western Europe and even in the Soviet Union.
[...]
BELLING: That's something that the most basically competent administration would be able to pull off. But when you've got Obama trying to nationalize health care, and cozy up to the Russians, and apparently spend the whole week in Moscow -- when is he leaving Moscow by the way? I think he wants to stay forever. He's happy as can be there.
[...]
BELLING: I made the comment on yesterday's program that Obama is at home in Russia because he prefers to deal with tyrants. He is uncomfortable with a democracy movement in Iran, because he wants to work with Ahmadinejad. That's his desire. He feels comfortable with totalitarians.
Liberals have a long history of this. I've come up with just a short list of contemporary totalitarians, contemporary tyrants that liberals are not only OK with, but admire and support: Castro; Che Guevera, whose t-shirts they still wear; Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua; Robert Mugabe in Africa -- African self-determination; Idi Amin in Africa -- African self-determination; Ho Chi Minh; Mao -- remember how they were running around in the '60s with The Little Red Book? -- Hugo Chavez, hanging around with Bobby Kennedy Jr. You can go on, and on, and on. And remember that they've never felt any guilt over what Pol Pot did after we bailed out of Vietnam.
Liberals and tyrants go hand in hand because liberals and tyrants share something in common. They want to control the lives of everyone else.