This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Barack Obama's mustache
By Greg Lewis

The final hour of today's show began with Rush still harping on the White House's removal of Inspector General Gerald Walpin. He started reading Byron York's most recent column on the story, then explained for his audience what has happened with the story so far. It was similar to his previous orations of the story, and he continued his trend of leaving out key details. Rush also mentioned Sen. Claire McCaskill's (D-MO) June 16 criticism of the White House's handling of the issue, but not her subsequent statement on June 17 that she supported Walpin's removal once the administration more fully explained why he had to go.

Rush also made the point that Walpin has been speaking out, which is putting the White House in a state of disarray. There were two lessons to take from this, Rush explained. The first was: look what happens when you “fight back.” They attempted to impugn the character of a “fine man,” but he “does not take it.” The other lesson was that thugs from Chicago are running the country. Rush went on to bloviate about how fear can paralyze people, and the way to get rid of fear is to confront it.

Then Rush referred to a Politico article on President Obama's diet, noting that nobody ever asked about the Bush diet, and Bush never rammed what we should eat down our throats like the Obamas have been doing.

Rush took a quick break and returned with a recent update by Byron York about the Walpin story. Rush then took a caller who wanted to know why conservatives aren't standing up for what they believe in. Rush explained to the caller how the Republican Party is divided into two groups: blue-blood moderate Republicans, and conservatives. According to Rush, the rift between the two groups can be explained “psychologically” in that Democrats run Washington and throw all the best parties, and Republicans want to be invited. It can be explained “politically,” said Rush, in that moderate Republicans want to rid the party of “social issues” such as abortion. Rush said of the moderate Republicans: "[T]heir wives are constantly nagging them about this, and they wish their wives would shut up about abortions."

After another break, Rush declared that most people read 1984 and are scared, but when Obama read it, “he started taking notes.” Then he moved on to an American Spectator blog post about Walpin, which attempted to link ACORN and AmeriCorps in some grand liberal conspiracy. Naturally, Rush read from this at length and declared that this is “incestuous” and a malignant “cancer.” Remember, asked Rush, when Bush fired eight U.S. attorneys and the Democrats tried to make it political? And now Obama is breaking the law that he wrote and the media is all “ho-hum.”

Next, Rush took a caller who explained how he originally started listening to the show back in the 1980s. Let's make a long story short: the caller was investigating Jim Jones and “confronting liberals” in the Bay Area before he was run out of town, and then a young black Democrat turned him on to Rush's show. Rush and the caller then exchanged some hearty attaboys.

One more commercial break, one more caller. This one explained his theory to Rush that Obama was being silent on Iran because he can't condemn the voter intimidation and fraud tactics that were used over there when it's consistent with his own hypocrisy. Rush told the caller that this was not the reason. Instead, Rush explained, it was because Obama doesn't want to offend the Muslim world, and -- as Rush argued yesterday -- Obama isn't following the precedent of other presidents to defend liberty. Rush added: '[Obama] made a big deal of his Muslim background, his background in Islam. He even had a mustache for one day. He had a mustache. He didn't have his wife there, either. You know, women in the Muslim world are -- they're not on stage with their husbands when the husbands are leaders. And that -- look at -- folks, I know this may sound a bit harsh. This guy is doing more than he can to destroy Israel and the settlements than he is trying to hold to account a bunch of tyrants rigging an election. He's not standing up for freedom and liberty. It's a shocking thing."

We've noticed that Rush, for all his exhortations that Obama do something regarding Iran, like “trying to hold to account a bunch of tyrants rigging an election,” never explains what exactly Obama should do. This, apparently, is a favorite game of conservatives in the media -- shout, “Do something!” and then stamp their feet when “something” isn't done, while we're left wondering how the American head of state can hold the Iranians “to account” for “rigging an election.” We guess he could go the McCain route and issue a “dangerously bellicose” statement on the election, and we're sure nothing would make Rush happier. But Nicholas Burns, who was the top negotiator for Iran under George W. Bush, said that “President Ahmadinejad would like nothing better than to see a very aggressive series of statements by the United States that would try to put the U.S. in the center of this.”

That's it for the Limbaugh Wire today. We'll be back tomorrow, even if Rush isn't. While you join us in eager anticipation for three days of Marks (Davis-Steyn-Davis), check out our comprehensive Limbaugh archives.

Simon Maloy, Lauryn Bruck, and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: So Obama went over there -- this big speech to the Muslim community. He made a big deal of his Muslim background, his background in Islam. He even had a mustache for one day. He had a mustache. He didn't have his wife there, either. You know, women in the Muslim world are -- they're not on stage with their husbands when the husbands are leaders. And that -- look at -- folks, I know this may sound a bit harsh.

This guy is doing more than he can to destroy Israel and the settlements than he is trying to hold to account a bunch of tyrants rigging an election. He's not standing up for freedom and liberty. It's a shocking thing.

Ladies' man

LIMBAUGH: The blue bloods will say, “We've got to get rid -- we've got to get rid of these people who care about the social issues. The social issues are killing our party,” they think. Translation of that is they think that the pro-life voter, the evangelical Christian, is the death knell of the party, and they are embarrassed by them.

They don't like going to the Republican Convention and having so many of them there. But they -- and their wives are constantly nagging them about this, and they wish their wives would shut up about abortions. Just get rid of the Christians, just get rid of the social issues, is the code word there for getting abortion out of the Republican Party platform.