By Greg Lewis
Rush spouts conspiracy theories about Rose Garden doctor photo-op
Starting off his show today, the “alpha male in a world of chickification” Rush Limbaugh hailed the Saturday Night Live skit that made fun of Obama. He recalled how Johnny Carson was loved by the whole country, but if he “dumped on you, you were done.” Rush took the media's reaction to the SNL skit to transition to the topic of Afghanistan:
LIMBAUGH: MSNBC is -- they've got their underwear in a wad over the Saturday Night Live skit and they did a whole discussion about it, about Saturday Night Live being mean to the president, going after him, and still, these Obama hacks are complaining that talk radio cheered Obama's failure to win the Olympics for Chicago. Now, it's really too bad that these fools aren't more animated about winning the war in Afghanistan and lamenting the failure of this president to act like a commander in chief with young men and women dying on the battlefield.
Rush also complained about Obama's photo-op yesterday at the Rose Garden with a group of lab coat-clad doctors. Rush declared that Obama spent more time talking to “liberal Democrat doctors” than talking to his generals, and claimed that a vast majority of the doctors in attendance were Obama contributors. He even went as far as to speculate that some of the doctors weren't doctors, but “actors” out of central casting.
Rush: “Obama has no foreign policy”
Then Rush said that Obama “has no foreign policy” and claimed that Gen. Stanley McChrystal is “scared to death of what he's dealing with”:
LIMBAUGH: Obama has no foreign policy, this is what you've got to understand. Biden's it. That's comforting, is it not? Biden is our foreign policy. This general, McChrystal, do you realize -- I'm convinced now that this guy, McChrystal, leaked to Bob Woodward at The Washington Post -- I think that's how it got out, 'cause I think McChrystal -- I mean, this is deadly serious stuff what's happening over there. This is not just Afghanistan; we get rolled over there and it's over. And I think this guy, a trained general, takes it very seriously. I think he's scared to death of what he's dealing with, folks, I really do, and I think that's why he leaked his report. And I'm just guessing -- wild guess -- but I think this general's scared to death of what he's dealing with and a commander in chief who has no foreign policy. All he does is make international trips, give campaign speeches aimed at promoting himself. When he makes decisions about foreign policy they're counter-intuitive. By that I mean he embraces the killers and thugs and the dictators and he lectures and, worse, he admonishes our allies, the small-d democrats that are our allies around the world.
Rush added:
LIMBAUGH: I wonder if it will be said because Simon -- Roger Simon, Richard Cohen, Bob Herbert, I wonder if they will be called racist hatemongers today since they have criticized Obama. Because all these other Obama hacks have called us conservative talk show hosts racist hatemongers. That's gonna be fascinating.
Next, Rush played a new “comedy” skit by Paul Shanklin which featured Shanklin-as-Obama announcing his new Afghanistan strategy to help him pass health care reform.
Then Rush spent more time freaking out over Obama's Rose Garden photo-op yesterday. Given how Limbaugh -- as usual -- overreacted to what Obama did, you'd have to wonder if Rush thought Obama was the first president in history ever to do a photo-op. (Hint: He wasn't!)
Anyway, Rush described the photo-op as a “manipulation” and noted, for some reason, that many of the doctors there were “nonprofit,” meaning, as Rush put it, they're not “interested” in the capitalist aspects of health care. After reading a New York Post article about the event, Rush went on to compare it to the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. Rush described how the “centralized control” on display at the ceremonies scared the hell out of him, and said Obama is a collectivist who needs to seize liberty in order to succeed. The people given the doctor costumes yesterday, explained Rush, are the “equivalent” of the opening ceremonies.
After the break, Rush mused about Obama's appearance at the new National Counterterrorism Center:
LIMBAUGH: Now this is funny. We've got videotape on the networks now of Obama over at the new National Counterterrorism Center making remarks. My guess is he went over to try to find Jack Bauer to arrest him for crimes against America, and if he can find Mitch Rapp from Vince Flynn's books, he'd probably try to put him in jail too.
After some technical difficulties, Rush came back and aired a portion of the SNL skit criticizing Obama that he discussed earlier. He criticized the media for making such a big deal about it but said that everything in the skit was “true.”
Next, Rush read from a Eugene Robinson column telling the generals to “shut up and salute,” except, as Rush explained with his usual sarcasm, when they're serving under Bush and oppose the Iraq war.
Following some more discussion of the SNL skit, Rush got back to a subject he broached yesterday, complaining about how the media doesn't get his jokes. As you may recall, Rush excoriated BBC “anchorette” Katty Kay on yesterday's show for not understanding why Rush had started singing “Barack Hussein Obama, mm, mm, mm.” He bemoaned the fact that the media doesn't actually listen to his show, but read reports on it from websites that summarize what he's doing (us, perhaps?).
Rush lamented that his glorious jokes were being underappreciated by the media:
LIMBAUGH: This woman did not know. And I'll bet you a whole bunch of the state-controlled media does not to this day know that schoolchildren all over the country are being made to recite poems and sing songs in dedication to dear leader Barack Hussein Obama mmm mmm mmm. This is quite stunning, actually, when you consider how puffed up they think they are, how important they think they are, how smart they think they are, how aware.
We take issue over Rush's claim that “schoolchildren all over the country” are singing songs and poems “in dedication” to Obama. You'd have to struggle to come up with more than a couple examples of this.
One more break for the hour, and Rush was back with a couple of articles about the economy. The first reported on Chris Whalen, managing director at Institutional Risk Analytics, predicting a fourth-quarter “bloodbath.” Rush ranted about how TARP wasn't re-infusing capital into the economy, despite Obama claiming the opposite. Then Rush read a Business Insider article reporting on New York Fed President Bill Dudley predicting a slow recovery. Rush claimed that the recovery was being “held back” by Obama's policies, and blamed Obama for depressing the economy. Rush went on to claim that if we didn't have a stimulus, we'd be better off. (The article he was reading from didn't actually make the claims that Rush did.)
Rush reverts to childish name-calling
The second hour got started with Rush talking about Nancy Pelosi having said that a value added tax (VAT) is "on the table." Rush used this opportunity to call Pelosi an “absolute disaster” and a “dangerous, blithering idiot” and later a “dork.” Rush said it was an unmitigated disaster that “leftist pea brain fascists” were running around making everything about their “precious government.”
Next up, Rush read from a New York Times article about the Obama administration and Congress looking to expand the nation's social safety net. Rush claimed that the job losses and slow recovery were all “by design” to get more people on welfare and therefore dependent on the government. Rush said all of this was “bordering” on criminal and “anti-constitutional.”
Rush calls for Michigan Gov. Granholm to resign
Then Rush continued to rant about the horribleness of Obama's economy by reading a Washington Post article about green jobs in Michigan. Helpfully, Rush summed up the article for us: green jobs are not the answer to Michigan's economic woes. As he read from the article, he referred to both Michigan's Gov. Granholm and Pelosi as a “ditz” and called Obama a “menace” and a “danger.”
Rush added that if his economic stimulus were passed, it would create 40,000 jobs a day. He also called the idea of green jobs a “stupid hopeless hoax.” Rush continued to talk about the article after the commercial break, describing the article's “chickification of job loss”:
LIMBAUGH: “As Granholm told the story in her orifice overlooking the state capitol, tears welled up in her eyes.” Well, that's going to really help. The chickification of job loss. What do we do? We cry about it.
He followed this up with a call on Gov. Granholm to resign:
LIMBAUGH: Granholm remembered coming home and telling her husband, “I just don't know what to do for people.” I don't know what to do for people. What more can you do? The plant closes and you go spend three hours with them having a boxed lunch. You should feel great about it. You showed compassion, which is about all Democrats are good at anymore these days, and even that's phony, fake, and trumped up. Went home to her husband, “What can I do to help people?” I'll give you some ideas: Quit! Resign!
Then Rush took a caller who had served in the military in Afghanistan, and told Rush he was worried that he might start to lose the backing of those above him. With an ounce of sarcasm, Rush told the caller that he was in Afghanistan so that Obama and his buddies could get health care passed.
After another break, Rush was back to play several sound bites from Obama's speech today at the National Counterterrorism Center. Rush's Obama derangement syndrome was on full display as he said the first clip “speaks for itself,” and yet featured what sounded to us like an entirely noncontroversial quote from Obama praising the work of the employees at the Center. The next clip had Obama talking about leading by example and “mutual interest” and “mutual respect.” Rush was outraged that Obama would say those things to counterterrorism experts, whose job it is to track down terrorists and kill them.
Rush then read at length from an American Thinker piece by a self-described conservative professor describing his time spent in liberal academia. Rush said the piece describes Obama and how Obama has a chip on his shoulder about this country, and ranted about how Obama shares the “multicultural anti-American world view” that our enemies have.
Following another break, Rush took a caller who said the SNL skit was a warning by the left that they can break Obama. Rush said that was a salient point, and went on to repeat the Johnny Carson analogy he made at the show's opening.
Rush explains why liberals are “evil”: “If we have people who want to take over the government of this country via elections for the purpose of remaking it and eliminating all of the institutions and traditions that made us great, then that's evil to me”
The next caller told Rush how he used to be liberal, but in the setting of a small liberal arts college became a conservative. Rush said the caller was a great teachable moment, and promised to continue the conversation in the next hour.
At the top of the third hour, Rush briefly commented on the White House press briefing today, playing a clip of Robert Gibbs explaining why Obama didn't discuss Afghanistan during his speech today.
Then Rush got back to the caller from the previous hour. The caller explained how he thought liberals had good intentions, and weren't purposefully trying to wreck things like Rush argued. Rush obviously disagreed:
LIMBAUGH: The people that run our country now have a much closer proximity and are much closer to the world's tyrants and dictators than they are closer to the people who founded the country. This is not accidental; they have chosen it. This is the ideology that they have chosen. This is what's best for them.
But the caller continued to resist Rush's assertion that the people at the top of the system want to see the world burn. Rush would not be argued with:
LIMBAUGH: You're going to learn that they're not innocent idiots. They are dangerous, devious central planners who have designs on everybody's liberty and freedom. That's what matters most to them, because that's where they derive their power.
[...]
These people have purposely set groups of Americans against each other -- men versus women, black versus white, minority versus majority, it's gay versus straight. They've -- all by design, to create chaos, never contentment, never happy.
And this got Rush to explain why he thinks liberals are “evil”:
LIMBAUGH: They don't dislike America. They dislike America as it was founded. They want to remake it and they want to rechange it -- or change it.
Rush went on to define “evil” and how it describes liberals. Rush said the people running the country are from a group of people that do no believe in the justness of the country's founding:
LIMBAUGH: And that to me, by the way, is evil. If we have people who want to take over the government of this country via elections for the purpose of remaking it and eliminating all of the institutions and traditions that made us great, then that's evil to me.
In the middle of that rant, Rush posited that if Democrats were serious about the employment crisis, they could cut the minimum wage for teenagers “in half,” which will lead to more jobs. This led Rush to this conclusion:
LIMBAUGH: My point to you is they will not do what's best for this country and its people if it conflicts with their ideological desires. That to me is evil. That to me is not innocent, bumbling idiots. This is purposeful destruction.
After the break, Rush said an alternate theory for liberals repeating failed policies is “insanity.” Then he read at length from an American Thinker piece about Obama's foreign policy.
Limbaugh joins other rightwing media in lashing out at “odd ball” EEOC nominee Feldblum
Following another break, Rush took a caller who said that Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) would be coming under scrutiny this week, and asked if it would be better for Rangel to be taken down now, or left in place as a poster boy for next year's election. Rush read a report that Rangel might resign so that New York Gov. Paterson could take his seat.
Moving on, Rush joined with the other right-wing media today in lashing out at one of Obama's nominees for commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Chai Feldblum:
LIMBAUGH: Look, we found another Obama oddball -- Obama's nominee to become commissioner for the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission is Chai Feldblum. She's an outspoken gay rights activist, Georgetown University law professor, and she has praised polygamy and contended that traditional marriage should not have privileged status.
[...]
Apparently, this is just an oddball duck, another -- this is another thing. People say, “Why does Obama's got all these oddballs? Does he not know who these people --” Does he not know who Van Jones is? Valerie Jarrett handpicked Van Jones. He knows exactly who these people are. This is who they all are.
This is purposeful, folks. I know it's difficult for a lot of you to understand that there are Americans who don't like this country as constituted. I know it's difficult. You think they're fringe protesters that show up to protest this or that. No, they're running the country now, and they've been around since the '60s when the academics first got -- actually, starting in the '40s. That's when the leftist radicals really began to take over the academy. Intensified their charges, you know started growing up in the '60s and their kids started going to school in the '60s. It's built and finally they're in charge. This is what Bill and Hillary wanted to do in a less radical way than Obama, but they're all the same people. This is who they are. And Obama got elected as a chance to put all these people in powerful positions to remake this country. This is serious stuff.
Then Rush read from a Wall Street Journal article about the “pay czar” Ken Feinberg targeting salary cuts. Rush declared this unconstitutional and claimed that “many of these companies” did not want government to get involved and had no choice. Rush said this was all part of the administration's “scheme” to redistribute wealth.
Finally, Rush closed out the program by looking at a few columns by Bob Herbert, Richard Cohen, and Roger Simon, and proceeded to mock all three. Rush also said that Obama's speech today at the National Counterterrorism Center was a “photo-op” to distract from the fact that he's “not actually on the case.”
Zachary Pleat, Kate Conway, and Zachary Aronow contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.
Highlights
Outrageous comments
LIMBAUGH: MSNBC is -- they've got their underwear in a wad over the Saturday Night Live skit and they did a whole discussion about it, about Saturday Night Live being mean to the president, going after him, and still, these Obama hacks are complaining that talk radio cheered Obama's failure to win the Olympics for Chicago. Now, it's really too bad that these fools aren't more animated about winning the war in Afghanistan and lamenting the failure of this president to act like a commander in chief with young men and women dying on the battlefield. What do we have to do here? We have to get Mayor Daley to call Obama and tell him to focus on what needs to be done to win it? Is that what it's gonna take? Maybe a phone call from Valerie Jarrett?
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Obama has no foreign policy, this is what you've got to understand. Biden's it. That's comforting, is it not? Biden is our foreign policy. This general, McChrystal, do you realize -- I'm convinced now that this guy, McChrystal, leaked to Bob Woodward at The Washington Post -- I think that's how it got out, 'cause I think McChrystal -- I mean, this is deadly serious stuff what's happening over there. This is not just Afghanistan; we get rolled over there and it's over. And I think this guy, a trained general, takes it very seriously. I think he's scared to death of what he's dealing with, folks, I really do, and I think that's why he leaked his report. And I'm just guessing -- wild guess -- but I think this general's scared to death of what he's dealing with and a commander in chief who has no foreign policy. All he does is make international trips, give campaign speeches aimed at promoting himself. When he makes decisions about foreign policy they're counter-intuitive. By that I mean he embraces the killers and thugs and the dictators and he lectures and, worse, he admonishes our allies, the small-d democrats that are our allies around the world. I wonder if it will be said because Simon -- Roger Simon, Richard Cohen, Bob Herbert, I wonder if they will be called racist hatemongers today since they have criticized Obama. Because all these other Obama hacks have called us conservative talk show hosts racist hatemongers. That's gonna be fascinating.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Now this is funny. We've got videotape on the networks now of Obama over at the new National Counterterrorism Center making remarks. My guess is he went over to try to find Jack Bauer to arrest him for crimes against America, and if he can find Mitch Rapp from Vince Flynn's books, he'd probably try to put him in jail too.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: This woman did not know. And I'll bet you a whole bunch of the state-controlled media does not to this day know that schoolchildren all over the country are being made to recite poems and sing songs in dedication to dear leader Barack Hussein Obama mmm mmm mmm. This is quite stunning, actually, when you consider how puffed up they think they are, how important they think they are, how smart they think they are, how aware.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Granholm remembered coming home and telling her husband, “I just don't know what to do for people.” I don't know what to do for people. What more can you do? The plant closes and you go spend three hours with them having a boxed lunch. You should feel great about it. You showed compassion, which is about all Democrats are good at anymore these days, and even that's phony, fake, and trumped up. Went home to her husband, “What can I do to help people?” I'll give you some ideas: Quit! Resign!
[...]
LIMBAUGH: The people that run our country now have a much closer proximity and are much closer to the world's tyrants and dictators than they are closer to the people who founded the country. This is not accidental; they have chosen it. This is the ideology that they have chosen. This is what's best for them.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: You're going to learn that they're not innocent idiots, they are dangerous, devious central planners who have designs on everybody's liberty and freedom. That's what matters most to them, because that's where they derive their power.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Intelligence has nothing to do with this. This is a raw pursuit of power that they succeeded in acquiring with their allies in the media for eight years, tarnishing and trashing the U.S. military, George W. Bush, and the institutions and traditions that made this country great. These people have purposely set groups of Americans against each other -- men versus women, black versus white, minority versus majority, it's gay versus straight. They've -- all by design, to create chaos, never contentment, never happy.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: They don't dislike America. They dislike America as it was founded. They want to remake it and they want to rechange it -- or change it.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: And that to me, by the way, is evil. If we have people who want to take over the government of this country via elections for the purpose of remaking it and eliminating all of the institutions and traditions that made us great, then that's evil to me.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: My point to you is they will not do what's best for this country and its people if it conflicts with their ideological desires. That to me is evil. That to me is not innocent, bumbling idiots. This is purposeful destruction.
Enemies list
LIMBAUGH: Look, we found another Obama oddball -- Obama's nominee to become commissioner for the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission is Chai Feldblum. She's an outspoken gay rights activist, Georgetown University law professor, and she has praised polygamy and contended that traditional marriage should not have privileged status. There's a sound bite we're working on even now, I just sent it up to Cookie. Apparently, this is just an oddball duck, another -- this is another thing, people say, “Why does Obama's got all these oddballs? Does he not know who these people --” Does he not know who Van Jones is? Valerie Jarrett handpicked Van Jones. He knows exactly who these people are. This is who they all are.
This is purposeful, folks. I know it's difficult for a lot of you to understand that there are Americans who don't like this country as constituted. I know it's difficult. You think they're fringe protesters that show up to protest this or that. No, they're running the country now, and they've been around since the '60s when the academics first got -- actually, starting in the '40s. That's when the leftist radicals really began to take over the academy. Intensified their charges, you know started growing up in the '60s and their kids started going to school in the '60s. It's built and finally they're in charge. This is what Bill and Hillary wanted to do in a less radical way than Obama, but they're all the same people. This is who they are. And Obama got elected as a chance to put all these people in powerful positions to remake this country. This is serious stuff.
Ladies' man
LIMBAUGH: Greenville, 160 miles north of Detroit, they moved to Mexico, taking 3,000 jobs from Greenville, which is a town of 8,000 people. “As Granholm told the story in her orifice overlooking the state capitol, tears welled up in her eyes.” Well, that's going to really help. The chickification of job loss. What do we do? We cry about it.