This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by another hour of childish name-calling
By Greg Lewis

Rush got the final hour of the week going by accusing the White House of turning the Gates incident into something “totally political.” He singled out press secretary Robert Gibbs for saying that the Cambridge police wanted Obama to apologize because the Fraternal Order of Police voted for Sen. John McCain. “That's the same thing as saying, 'Of course, those cops are white.' ” Rush continued, saying that the White House knows it's in trouble, which is why Obama is “doubling down” on the race card. “He started this,” declared Rush.

Rush also noted that Obama said it would be ridiculous to arrest a middle-aged man and wondered if you could apply the same logic to the Holocaust Museum shooting -- would it have been ridiculous to arrest the old man who was the shooter? (Your guess is as good as ours.)

In Obama's way of thinking, pondered Rush, “these cops are just typical white people, right?” Remember when he threw his grandmother “under the bus?” asked Rush. He added: “We're looking at a replay of the Duke lacrosse case here, folks, with Barack Nifong in charge.”

After reading about Michael Eric Dyson calling Gates “the Rosa Parks of racial profiling” on MSNBC, and CNN's Tony Harris saying that the police union press conference was “incendiary,” it was time for show producer Bo Snerdley -- “officially black enough to criticize” -- to weigh in on the situation. Snerdley basically pointed out a few details in Gates' story that he found problematic and wondered why Colin Powell had yet to chime in on the controversy. Snerdley also explained the differences between the “upper crust” African-Americans and those in cities like Philadelphia and Detroit.

Returning from the commercial break, Rush offered a slight correction for something Snerdley said in the previous segment. Snerdley said there was no racial profiling in Cambridge. Rush said that wasn't true; the racial profiling in Cambridge takes place in the admissions policy at Harvard.

Anyway, “Open Line Friday!” rolled on with Rush taking a caller who seemed genuinely upset that Obama said he didn't want to use the world “victory” for describing the endgame in Afghanistan. Rush told the caller that, everyday, “Barack Fonda” is telling us who he is; today he has been Barack Fonda and Barack Nifong. Everyday he's “Barack Marx,” said Rush.

The next caller defended the health insurance business in regards to what Obama had said about it in his presser the other night. Rush explained how Obama said that he was going to squeeze the profits of health insurance companies. To Rush, this was a “denial of liberty” because Obama was putting himself between people and their freedom, using horrible and mean-spirited tactics to do it.

Rush came back from the break wanting to talk about Attorney General Eric Holder's comments from earlier this year, when he said that America is a nation of cowards when it comes to race. However, this plan was quickly derailed when Rush interrupted his program with a live feed of Obama at the daily White House press briefing, in which Obama further commented on Gates. Rush was absolutely exuberant that his prediction turned out to be right -- Obama had thrown Gates “under the bus.” As Obama continued to speak, Rush continued to speak over him, interjecting every few moments with jabs aimed at the president mostly pulled from what Rush had been saying during today's show. Rush concluded that Barack Nifong was trying to turn down the volume on the story by throwing Gates under the bus.

As it turns out, maybe Obama's comments had some effect in moving the storyline away from Gates -- after a few more comments about Gates, Rush pivoted back to discussing health care. He read from a couple of Associated Press reports on some of the hurdles health care reform faces in the House, adding that this has not been a “smooth week” for President Nifong.

One more break, and Rush came back with a plug for the Heritage Foundation, reading from the group's blog post this morning about the recent increase in the minimum wage. He then appropriately rounded out this “Open Line Friday!” with one more caller, who said he was strongly against health care reform, even though he didn't have health insurance. The caller described his experience living in England for two and a half years, saying that the country's National Health Service didn't allow construction workers to use ladders, and so it prevented him from getting a “decent portion” at fast food joints. We're not sure what the caller was talking about -- some of us here at the Wire have been to England, too, and we have fond memories of stuffing our faces with fish and chips and late-night kebabs.

On that note, we're going to spend the weekend scouring for large portions of fast food before the Brits invade our country and replace all of our McDonald's with liverwurst vendors. We expect Simon to be back on Monday -- his whereabouts are currently unknown. You might find clues to that mystery in our vast Limbaugh Wire archives -- but we make no promises.

Brian Frederick, Zachary Pleat, and Ariana Probinsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: We're looking at a replay of the Duke lacrosse case here, folks, with Barack Nifong in charge.