This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the “state-run media's” coverage of Michael Jackson
By Greg Lewis

As promised, fill-in Davis welcomed us to this week's final hour with an interview of pollster Scott Rasmussen. Davis began the interview by telling Rasmussen that he hopes the country is starting to wake up and smell the coffee, but noted that Rasmussen can't be biased because he is a pollster. Anyway, Davis asked about Obama's polling numbers, and Rasmussen obliged, explaining that Obama's approval rating is above 50 percent, but with the economy deteriorating, so are Obama's numbers. Rasmussen explained that presidential polls rise and fall along with consumer confidence, and that the state of the economy next year will have a significant effect on the midterm elections. Davis shifted to polling results during the Bush administration, asking if it was true the Iraq war killed Bush's popularity. Rasmussen concurred, citing Bush's high approval numbers following 9-11.

Turning it back on Obama, Davis asked about the changes in Rasmussen's "Presidential Approval Index" since inauguration, which has gone from a +30 to a -7. Rasmussen explained that, initially, people wanted to give Obama the benefit of the doubt, but the economy, specifically the most recent jobs report, has changed the equation. Rasmussen said that during the campaign, John McCain made the mistake of not keeping “his mouth shut” on the economy, causing people to realize he didn't know what he was talking about. Obama “wisely” kept silent.

The interview concluded with some more discussion of the approval index, followed by some inside baseball talk about Rasmussen's polling methodology. The takeaway from the interview was Davis' insistence that recent polling indicated that people were becoming wary of Obama's policies, despite Rasmussen's explanation that it had more to do with the performance of the economy.

After the break, Davis took a call from an Ohioan who said recent polling show that the “sheeple” in Ohio are “starting to wake up.” Davis agreed, saying that states where the economy is “in the crapper” are turning on Obama. Then the caller took a step back, saying that it might take a while for people in Northeast Ohio -- where the caller resides -- to “wake up,” since now that GM is owned by the government, they will protect all the union jobs. Then the caller shifted his attention to the “state-run media” being taken over by Michael Jackson coverage in recent weeks.

Time out. This caller has inspired us here at the Limbaugh Wire to propose a new rule: Thou shall not use the phrase “state-run media” to complain about media's over-coverage of celebrity news.

Anyway, Davis went on about how he has been fascinated by the way people have been devoted to the Jackson story, but now that the story has gone away, he looks forward to examining the issues in our lives again. Davis warned this might not be good news for the White House or for the Sotomayor hearings, though.

Before the break, Davis took a few quick jabs at Prince Charles for saying that we have 100 months to save the world from climate change. Davis said Prince Charles should go play polo, say “hi” to Camilla, and “shut up.”

Davis welcomed us back from the break with “Billie Jean” as the bumper music. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for us, this meant that he was about to kick off a monologue on Michael Jackson -- but, remember, Davis is not part of the state-run media, so he is allowed to talk about MJ. The noteworthy bits of his discussion involve Davis comparing Jackson to Sarah Palin. Just like Jackson, said Davis, it's impossible to discuss Palin with objectivity -- to some people, she is the next Margaret Thatcher; to others, she is a dismissible idiot.

Davis then commented on his own feelings about Palin, describing her as a promising figure, but who needs “to get sharper than she is now.” She should keep her spunk and charm, but “get sharper” -- Davis said this would add to her positives.

After some more talk about Jackson, Davis took a break before taking another call. The caller opined that, judging by her statements about Russia, Palin didn't know what she was talking about on foreign policy. Then the caller moved on to the Rasmussen interview, saying that Davis was looking for a narrative during the interview that wasn't there -- that the country was “smelling the coffee” and becoming disaffected with Obama -- but Rasmussen's point was that there was a direct correlation between Obama's ratings and the economy. Davis agreed with the caller, but clarified that he was hoping that the strongly approve/disapprove numbers were indicative of where public opinion was heading.

Another quick Michael Jackson call, another break, then Davis returned with the final caller of the program, who said that for the past week, people have been saying that Palin resigned because of the way she was treated by the media, but Hillary Clinton was treated horribly by the media -- and by people like Rush Limbaugh in particular -- for years. The caller said Rush's network “for years has been portrayed as an anti-American, socialist, no family values, doesn't support the troops, maybe a lesbian who probably had Vince Foster -- who probably had Vince Foster's murder contracted.” Here's how the remainder of the call played out:

DAVIS: You've made your point. We've got a minute, let's cover it, 'cause it's a fair -- it's a totally fair question; here's my fair answer, and I'll even give you the last word. No doubt more anti-Hillary words have been spoken on talk radio than maybe anti-Sarah Palin words ever will, but that's just from the amount of material.

In terms of fairness, unfairness, I don't know. I mean, you're apparently a Hillary fan. Do you think that of the things that have been said about her that are negative, that so many of them are horribly, horribly undeserved?

CALLER: Well, I think that -- I don't think that anybody ever called Mrs. Palin a lesbian murderer. I guess that's my point. I don't think that -- Hillary Clinton --

DAVIS: That's OK.

CALLER: Hillary Clinton didn't feel compelled to resign.

DAVIS: There's a short reason for that. As time expires -- as time expires, there's a short reason for that. If Sarah Palin ever gets as close to the presidency as Hillary did, then let's examine that, and then we'll have apples and apples. But it's a fair question. I appreciate it.

And so concludes our Limbaugh-less week of The Limbaugh Wire. We know you're as eager as we are for Rush's return on Monday, and we hope you'll tune in with us. As you enjoy your weekend, be sure to spend some time with the Limbaugh archives to reminisce about our time spent with our three favorite Marks -- Belling, Steyn, and Davis.

Simon Maloy, Hannah Dreier, and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

DAVIS: John is with, in Illinois. How are you doing, sir?

CALLER: Hey, I'm good. Thanks for taking my call. All week I've been hearing the assertion made that part of the reason Sarah Palin resigned is because she feels badly treated by the media. And I just wanted to real quickly ask about a comparison between Mrs. Palin and probably America's most other prominent female political figure, Hillary Clinton.

On the program that you're currently hosting, and throughout conservative broadcasting, Mrs. Clinton for years has been portrayed as an anti-American, socialist, no family values, doesn't support the troops, maybe a lesbian who probably had Vince Foster -- who probably had --

DAVIS: All right, let's -- let's cover -- you've made --

CALLER: -- Vince Foster's murder contracted.

DAVIS: You've made your point. We've got a minute, let's cover it, 'cause it's a fair -- it's a totally fair question; here's my fair answer, and I'll even give you the last word. No doubt more anti-Hillary words have been spoken on talk radio than maybe anti-Sarah Palin words ever will, but that's just from the amount of material.

In terms of fairness, unfairness, I don't know. I mean, you're apparently a Hillary fan. Do you think that of the things that have been said about her that are negative, that so many of them are horribly, horribly undeserved?

CALLER: Well, I think that -- I don't think that anybody ever called Mrs. Palin a lesbian murderer. I guess that's my point. I don't think that -- Hillary Clinton --

DAVIS: That's OK.

CALLER: Hillary Clinton didn't feel compelled to resign.

DAVIS: There's a short reason for that. As time expires -- as time expires, there's a short reason for that. If Sarah Palin ever gets as close to the presidency as Hillary did, then let's examine that, and then we'll have apples and apples. But it's a fair question. I appreciate it.