This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the hypocrisy of shooting pirates
By Simon Maloy

The final hour of today's Rush Limbaugh Show started just as the first two did -- with an extended plug for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, complete with the joke that the “dittohead” clothing you'll receive as a gift for donating is black to “commemorate” the Obama economy. As a commenter to the first hour pointed out, perhaps Rush is unaware of what the phrase “in the black” means...

Anyway, coming back from the break, Rush took a call from a woman in Montana who wanted to tell him how much she loved her Prius, and that Rush's claims that they're too small and dangerous are bunk. Rush denied ever saying that Priuses are too small, and explained that he's all for people buying any car they want, he just hates it when people get swept up in a movement and buy a car because they think they're saving the world. Rush said she might call Rush back and change her mind when she finds out how much it costs to replace the battery. Then Rush admonished himself for saying that and slapped himself again, administering some more “torture.”

Another break and Rush offered a full-throated endorsement of George Will's latest Washington Post column, in which he decried the pervasiveness of denim in America. Rush proudly declared that he never wears jeans or white T-shirts (although colored T-shirts aren't as bad, Rush thought), and he didn't even wear them in the '60s because he didn't want to be identified with “those in his generation who were bombing buildings.” You could always tell a Weatherman by the jeans...

Then Rush professed to be offended by this Wall Street Journal headline: “Ditch the Jet: It's Cool to Fly Commercial.” This, Rush said, relates to the stories we've all been hearing about the White House intimidating people who fly private jets. Rush doesn't think private jets are “uncool,” though. In fact, he said that when he next has to fly to Washington, D.C., he would be proud to be photographed stepping off “his pride and joy.” We assume he meant his private jet.

Rush then took a call from a man professing to be confused as to why we're not allowed to “muss” the hair of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed even though he killed Americans, and yet we're allowed to shoot three Somali pirates on the high seas. Rush says this is a grand hypocrisy -- shooting the pirates was OK because Obama is in charge, but waterboarding Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was bad because it happened under George W. Bush. Of course, to reduce all this to a matter of partisanship requires one to completely disregard the massive situational distinctions between a hostage situation and an interrogation of someone in custody. And that's exactly what Rush did, sneering at the “serious liberals” who would say that the pirates had a gun to Captain Phillips' back while Mohammed was a captive and wasn't threatening anyone. He declined to explain why that difference doesn't matter.

After that, Rush aired audio of Michael Hayden saying to NBC's Andrea Mitchell that the release of the torture memos has harmed American national security because it effectively takes these interrogation techniques off the table. Rush's response? “Obama has his reasons and I do think they're couched in the notion that this country's guilty. This country is guilty as it exists and as it was founded, and our guilt was confirmed in the way we conducted the war on terror so we've got to spank ourselves. And he thinks this will show the rest of the world what a decent guy he is, what a decent country we are.”

Leading into the final break, Rush attacked the AP for reporting: “Republican politicians, backed by conservative American media personalities and bloggers, are using a new tool to attack President Barack Obama's administration -- a Homeland Security report warning that military veterans could fall victim to extremist recruiters or lone acts of violence.” Rush was mystified that after the administration released a report attacking conservatives as extremists (the report didn't do that), the AP would claim that it was conservatives and Republicans who were “attacking” Obama. This was more evidence, according to Rush, that the media is “an embarrassing joke.”

Rush rounded out the show by thanking his listeners for their generosity in donating to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

That wraps up the week for us here at the Wire. We hope you'll join us next week for another exciting 15 installments. Until then, do yourself and the rest of us a favor by taking a good, long look at Media Matters' highly informative and slightly entertaining coverage of Rush Limbaugh.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Obama has his reasons and I do think they're couched in the notion that this country's guilty. This country is guilty as it exists and as it was founded, and our guilt was confirmed in the way we conducted the war on terror so we've got to spank ourselves. And he thinks this will show the rest of the world what a decent guy he is, what a decent country we are.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh on Obama's reasons for releasing interrogation memos: “This country is guilty as it exists and as it was founded, and our guilt was confirmed in the way we conducted the war on terror so we've got to spank ourselves”

Discussing Will column, Limbaugh suggests he didn't wear denim in 60s, adds “I didn't want to be identified with those in my generation that were bombing buildings”