By Kate Conway

Rush must be excited about having a new friend, because he spent some time during the first hour of his show highlighting the bravado of Jason Mattera, who sent Rush some fan mail along with a copy of his new book, Obama Zombies. Rush recounted some of Mattera's escapades in the halls of the Capitol, in particular highlighting Mattera asking Rep. Barney Frank for advice on how to start his own brothel. This is a revival of the smear that Frank ran a prostitution ring out of his home, which, as Media Matters has documented over and over, is false. Rush claimed that if Frank were a Republican, Mattera would have gotten a Pulitzer for accosting him and, falsely linking the collapse of the housing market to Frank's actions, suggested that if Frank were a Republican, the housing market would have survived because Frank would have been fired.

Rush moved on to mockery of the nuclear summit in Washington this week. He suggested that the only accomplishment of the summit was a plan for another summit, to be held in South Korea in two years. Rush took issue with comparisons drawn between President Reagan's and President Obama's positions on nonproliferation. He launched into an angry defense of Reagan, stating that Reagan's name is being taken in vain and declaring that Obama is the antithesis of Reagan. Rush stated that Obama is compared to people like Reagan, as well as to Abraham Lincoln and FDR, in an attempt to build him up because he has no accomplishments of his own. In reality, he claimed, Obama is “happily and purposefully” “presiding over the decline” of the U.S.

Rush took a moment to complain about health care reform, saying that “bribes, backroom deals,” and “pretending that the Constitution didn't exist” are what carried the bill to the finish line. He then turned to previously dangerous territory: the earthquake in Haiti. Rush claimed that the media no longer talk about Haiti and asked, “Would it be fair to say, ladies and gentlemen, Obama just doesn't care about black people? ... I'll guarantee you, if the president were white and Republican, we would be hearing that the failures in Haiti are because he doesn't like black people.” The final topic on which Rush spent a significant amount of time was student loan reform, which was passed as part of the health care reconciliation bill. Rush urged people to avoid using government loans to pay for school because the government screws everything up. He later claimed that if you get a loan to go to medical school, when you graduate, you'll owe Obama up to six years of service as a doctor and you'll be forced to go to underserved areas to practice.

Here are what could loosely be called highlights from the show:

Limbaugh revives false claim that Rep. Frank ran a “prostitution ring out of his apartment”

Limbaugh claims Obama is “happily and purposefully” “presiding over the decline” of the U.S.

Limbaugh says Mattera “would have gotten a Pulitzer” if Rep. Frank were a Republican

Limbaugh says that “Reagan's name's being taken in vain” over nuclear weapons summit

Limbaugh claims health law passed because of “bribes, backroom deals,” and “pretending the Constitution didn't exist”

Limbaugh: People are hurting in Haiti -- “Would it be fair to say ... Obama just doesn't care about black people?”

Kitty Kaletsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.