Hour 3: Leader Limbaugh Declares Victory Over GOP Moderates

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by victory over GOP moderates -- El Rushbo's Mission Accomplished

Rush kicked off his final hour of the week arguing that if the CIA were lying, it only lied to Pelosi, which to Rush, didn't make any sense. Rush then claimed that other Democrats aren't supporting her. Rush's suspicions may have been justified had they been based in fact, but -- surprise! -- they weren't, as Greg Sargent explained:

Three senior Democrats -- Pelosi, Bob Graham, and Jay Rockefeller -- have all publicly claimed that the CIA didn't brief them about the use of torture in the manner the agency has claimed. Meanwhile, the CIA itself has conceded that its own accounting may not be accurate."

From there, Rush read from an AP article that reported stimulus checks are being sent to deceased individuals. Rush said that this is how Obama did things in Chicago, too. Dead people vote and make campaign contributions in Chicago, so they get stimulus checks, too.

Rush spent the remainder of the segment on a rant inspired by a recent Gallup poll that apparently shows there are more pro-life people in the country than pro-choice for the first time. Limbaugh first aired his grievances with the moderate wing of the Republican Party which he says has been bugging him for years to be pro-choice because it would be a winning issue for the GOP. Abortion, he said, was never a 50-50 issue, just like there were never 3 million homeless. It's worth noting that if you dive into the numbers of the new poll, you'll notice a 10-point increase in Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who call themselves pro-life. This could only be explained if there were more self-identified Republicans and Republican-leaning independents than there were a year ago, which is possible, though inconsistent with other polling trends that show a decrease in Republican and Democratic party affiliation.

When he was done declaring victory over GOP moderates, El Rushbo set his sights on Obama: “We've got the most anti-life president you can possibly imagine being elected. We got a guy who supports partial-birth abortion. We have a guy who supports killing of babies who successfully are born despite being intended to be aborted.” While Rush didn't specifically use the word "infanticide" in this instance, but he seemed to be suggesting it, and he's made abundant use of the word on prior occasions.

During this rant, Rush also took a brief pit stop to comment on Carrie Prejean. Rush said the reaction to her answer at the Miss USA pageant was like the Gestapo being released against her, the “liberal Taliban.” Rush said that if we get to the point where we have to “specify” “opposite sex marriage,” then the debauchery and loss of values will be unbearable.

He then picked up on another story about our supposed loss of values -- The Washington Post's report that unmarried women accounted for nearly 40 percent of all US births in 2007. Limbaugh says the Post treated the story as “progress” because women didn't have to hitch themselves to a man.

After the break, Rush read a New York Times article, headlined, “On abortion, Obama is drawn into a debate he hoped to avoid.” Rush asked if we can say the debate on abortion is over because of the Gallup poll, just like Al Gore is saying the debate about global warming is over? Rush boasted that he is willing to debate global warming, unlike Gore.

Rush then spoke to a dittohead who had some problems with some of the intricacies of the Massachusetts health-care system. The state's system, established during Mitt Romney's time as governor, requires everybody in the state to have health insurance- either private insurance or a public plan. The caller didn't actually have a problem with the goals of the plan in general, just some of the details in how it is being carried out and affecting her private individual insurance. Rush tells the caller she has lost her freedom.

After another commercial interruption, Rush read a report that CIA director Leon Panetta was standing by the CIA memos that Pelosi “received the truth,” insisting that Pelosi is lying about something. Rush says Panetta is out there saying it's up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence -- you know, like the evidence Rush has been leaving out all afternoon. He also insisted that Pelosi has made torture a “Democrat” issue.

The next caller asked El Rushbo what he thought about the possibility that Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm could be Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court. Rush laid out the possibilities if this were the case: “One circumstance is she takes the gig and goes and gets on the Supreme Court and destroys that, but she's gone from Michigan and so longer can destroy Michigan. Or she doesn't take the gig, doesn't get the gig, can't destroy the Supreme Court but stays in Michigan and continues to wreak havoc on it. A true, true challenge here for Michiganders here as the name of their governor is floated as a potential shortlist member of the Obama Supreme Court list.”

Another caller asked Limbaugh about Connie Schultz, who has written some harsh words towards Rush in recent months, and whom Rush called a "ditz" on a recent show. Rush noted how he didn't realize Schultz was married to Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, but felt that he shouldn't have been surprised by that fact since there are many “incestuous” relationships in Washington, D.C. Of course, Rush has been wildly incorrect in his screeds against Sen. Brown in the past. In 2006 as Brown was set to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in the Buckeye State following the departure of primary opponent Paul Hackett, Limbaugh famously said, “and don't forget, Sherrod Brown is black. There's a racial component here, too,” adding that “the newspaper that I'm reading all this from is The New York Times, and they, of course, don't mention that.” In fact, Brown is Caucasian -- a point on which Limbaugh was corrected later in the program.

Rush closed out the week with an ad for the Heritage Foundation and a dittohead wanting to discuss the age of Limbaugh producer Snerdly. Which alas brings us to a conclusion of the Wire for the day and for the week. We really hope Simon is enjoying his Limbaugh-free vacation, because we'll be happy to return the reins to him when he gets back.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous remarks:

LIMBAUGH: We've got the most anti-life president you can possibly imagine being elected. We got a guy who supports partial-birth abortion. We have a guy who supports killing of babies who successfully are born despite being intended to be aborted.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I don't buy this business that Granholm's on the shortlist, but she may be. And let's say -- let's just play a game. For those of you in Michigan, let's just say that Jennifer Granholm is actually selected by Obama. You have a big deci -- well, it's not really up to you, but it's still a decision. What is the best of two horrible circumstances? One circumstance is she takes the gig and goes and gets on the Supreme Court and destroys that, but she's gone from Michigan and so longer can destroy Michigan. Or she doesn't take the gig, doesn't get the gig, can't destroy the Supreme Court but stays in Michigan and continues to wreak havoc on it. A true, true challenge here for Michiganders here as the name of their governor is floated as a potential shortlist member of the Obama Supreme Court list.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: We had the call from the woman in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, describing the nightmare scenarios that she had to go through to be legal regarding health care coverage -- mandated insurance, mandated prescription coverage and so forth. And I made the point that whatever the intentions that they had in Massachusetts with the plan, the point is you lose your freedom with all this government-mandated stuff. See, everything we do in America is connected to freedom, right down to being able to choose our doctors and the kind of medical care that we want to receive.

Echo chamber:

Rush read some talking points provided to him from The Heritage Foundation.