This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Rush's self-defeating efforts to win over “the babes”
By Simon Maloy

One more hour to go, and Rush got it started by once again claiming that everything that has happened at the G-20 was worked out weeks in advance, and attacking the media for reporting that the conference might devolve into anarchy because that was never going to happen.

Rush then aired some audio of Obama's remarks at his press conference at the G-20 today, during which the president said: “We made enormous strides in committing ourselves to comprehensive reform of a failed regulatory system. We agreed to increase transparency and capital protections for financial institutions. We're extending supervision to all systemically important institutions, markets, and products, including hedge funds. We'll identify jurisdictions that failed to cooperate, including tax havens, and take action to defend our financial institutions.” Rush's response? “They're going to go out and create new tax cheats in order to get money from them, they're going to spend and spend and spend and spend. This is a global socialist big-time maneuver.” Rush also suggested that all this talk of “we've done this, we've done that” is contrary to the White House telling The New York Times they're not going to cede sovereignty to a regulatory body for the world economy.

Then Rush returned to his dire warnings of the loss of individuality in this country. The culprits this time, according to El Rushbo, are the “vege-nazis” (and their “vego-fascism”) and their assault on a minor league baseball stadium's 4,800-calorie hamburger. Noting that the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine asked that the burger “be labeled a 'dietary disaster' that increases the risk of cancer and heart disease,” Rush said: “A 4,800-calorie hamburger is not going to kill anybody!”

A quick break and Rush was back, saying that Obama was “stumbling” during his press conference today at the G-20 because he didn't have a teleprompter. Gets funnier each time. Then Limbaugh noted that Obama said part of his responsibilities as president was to make people around the world less susceptible to anti-American sentiment, “which -- that means he's going to have to sort of change things he says now and then.” Rush then quoted Obama saying “As president of the United States, president of the American people, I have to convince the American people that their self interest is tied to yours.” Rush dismissed this as “dead wrong” and “socialist gobbledygook.”

Then it was time for a caller, this one asking what she could do to stop the Obama administration between now and the election. Rush told her there are these “great things” she can go to called Tea Parties, where she can vent her frustrations. According to Rush: “It's always helpful to run around with people who have the same point of view as you do.” Remember, Rush doesn't want you to lose your individuality, he just wants you to link up with a bunch of people who think exactly like you do and have a “tea party” (following the suggestion of a TV personality) so you can all vent the same frustrations to each other.

Another break and Rush came back to Michelle Obama's interaction with Queen Elizabeth, disagreeing with a “touching expert” on Larry King who said it wasn't a big deal that the first lady put her arm around the queen during their meeting. It is not OK, according to Rush, and the only reason it wasn't a bigger deal, in Rush's estimation, was because Her Majesty was being gracious and covered for Michelle Obama's faux pas. (We were previously unaware of Rush's expertise in royal family social history and etiquette, but that's why we listen to the show.)

Finished with Michelle Obama and the queen, Rush turned his sights on a larger group of women -- the female journalists at the G-20. Pre-emptively warning that his comments would not make him popular amongst women (even though he'd been trying to “ingratiate myself to the babes”), Rush proclaimed that the “female reporters I've seen so far that are getting a chance to ask Obama a question are embarrassing.”

Airing a few more clips of Obama speaking at the G-20 today, Rush attacked the president for “trashing” executive compensation, and for saying that Americans “don't resent the rich.” Rush was shocked at this statement: “Don't resent the rich? You just sent your goon squad ACORN after the people who got bonuses in the legislation in Connecticut that work for AIG. Don't resent the rich? Your whole career has been built on making people resent the rich.”

After the break, Rush closed out the show by reading a passage from Dreams from My Father in which Obama discussed his time working at a New York financial firm. According to Rush, it showed that Obama was just like any other “street liberal” and “no friend of the free market.”

That's it for today's Limbaugh Wire. We skipped lunch and couldn't get away from our desk until now, so we're gonna scare ourselves up a 4,800-calorie hamburger and test Rush's theory that it won't kill anybody. Hopefully we'll see you tomorrow. If not, please honor our memory by taking a look at Media Matters' continuing and engrossing coverage of America's Anchorman, Rush Limbaugh.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: He was talking about what his job is as president of the United States and what he's got -- he's got to get involved in globalism, and he's got to make people less vulnerable to anti-American propaganda, which -- that means he's going to have to sort of change things he says now and then. And then he said -- then he said that his -- one of his biggest challenges will be to convince us, citizens of the United States, that our self-interest is tied to the rest of the world's.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Don't resent the rich? You just sent your goon squad ACORN after the people who got bonuses in the legislation in Connecticut that work for AIG. Don't resent the rich? Your whole career has been built on making people resent the rich.

“Socialism” watch

OBAMA [audio clip]: We made enormous strides in committing ourselves to comprehensive reform of a failed regulatory system. We agreed to increase transparency and capital protections for financial institutions. We're extending supervision to all systemically important institutions, markets, and products, including hedge funds. We'll identify jurisdictions that failed to cooperate, including tax havens, and take action to defend our financial institutions.

LIMBAUGH: Stop the tape. This was all reported before this started. This is what Sarkozy wanted. This is what Sarkozy threatened to walk out over. This is -- this was already -- tax havens, hedge funds. They're going to raise taxes. They're going to go out and create new tax cheats in order to get money from them. They're going to spend and spend and spend and spend. This is a global socialist big-time maneuver.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: “As president of the United States, president of the American people, I have to convince the American people that their self-interest is tied to yours” is what he said. Now, I don't want to split syllables here, but our self-interest as a nation derives from our self interest as individuals. Our self-interest -- we lead the world or we have led the world -- the world, you know, follows our lead. This is all just getting so -- it's frustrating and it's so dead wrong. Our self-interest is tied to who? Who? I get up every day, and I've got to wait to figure out what somebody else in the world is doing before I decide whether or not what I'm doing is going to work? Whether it's good for me or my country, our self -- what? Our self-interest? That must -- alternative fuels -- so we've got to get rid of oil so somebody else can come up with a new green technology. What is -- all this is socialist gobbledygook. It sounds just brilliant. It sounds just unified and compassionate.

"[Vego-]Fascism" watch

LIMBAUGH: There's a minor league baseball team in Wes Michigan called the West Michigan Whitecaps. They're in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They are a farm team of the Detroit Tigers, I believe, and they have created a new food item for their concession stands for their games this year. It is a giant 4,800-calorie hamburger. I have a picture of the thing here. It's bigger than a pizza, and it looks like it's about six to seven inches tall. There's a guy holding it at the ball park. So they're going to sell this 4,800-calorie hamburger, and if you can eat it all, they're going to offer you some prize like a -- I don't know what the prize will be. Twenty dollars is what it will cost. It's four pounds. The $20 burger features five beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and salsa and corn chips, and it's all on an eight-inch bun. Spokesman for the West Michigan Whitecaps, Nicky Graham, says the burger is a gimmick that's being promoted as a very unhealthy menu item, but they're putting it on there. All this despite a vegan advocacy group's request to put a warning label on the thing. Susan Levin, a staff dietician for the Washington-based Physicians for Responsible Medicine, sent a letter to the West Michigan Whitecaps on Tuesday, and she's asking that this 4,800-calorie burger be labeled a dietary disaster that increases the risk of cancer and heart disease. Now, why is it that when people discover a lifestyle they feel is important for them to embrace, they also feel that they have to impose it on everybody else? This is vego-fascism. These are the vege-Nazis. No, no, no -- I'm serious about this.

Ladies' man

LIMBAUGH: And I should point out that this is not going to ingratiate me to women, and I'm making a supreme effort to ingratiate myself to the babes, but I'm sorry, ladies. The female reporters I've seen so far that are getting a chance to ask Obama a question are embarrassing. “Thank you, Mr. President, for calling on me. Thank you, Mr. President. You're wonderful. Thank you so much for calling on me.”