By Ned Resnikoff
Rush dedicated most of his opening monologue to promoting his own upcoming television appearances on The Haney Project and Family Guy. Long stretches of the remainder of the show consisted of Rush and his callers grousing over how much flak he would receive for appearing on the latter program, and comparing the negative reaction to the controversy surrounding his 1993 interview with Playboy. Rush later read aloud from the opening of the Playboy interview, and joked that either Fox News' Megyn Kelly or Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand was the centerfold in that issue.
Besides himself, the one theme Rush hammered the most in this edition was the 2010 elections. Early on in the program he said, “You can either Obama and the Democrats or America. You can't have both.” He subsequently repeated the expression several times. He expressed his strong wishes for Democratic electoral failure in other ways, such as hoping that Democrats won't be able to “walk away from” a “head-on collision” with the voters, and later calling for a “tsunami.” Rush also touted the ostensible outsider status of Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell -- “real people,” “who have lived lives.” Their populist cred was contrasted with Michelle Obama and Secretary Clinton, who he claimed had reached success because of their husbands.
But the greatest target for Rush's ire was a caller by the name of Sylvia who disputed his assertion that Obama stands for “higher taxes.” The caller insisted that the vast majority of Americans had paid lower taxes under the Obama administration, which left Rush outraged. He later backtracked, acknowledging the tax credits in the Recovery Act, but arguing that they don't count as income tax cuts.
Here are some highlights from today's show:
Limbaugh claims Obama “respects” New Black Panthers
Limbaugh says he hopes Dems “lose 100 seats” and are “wiped out” in “a tsunami”
Rush is “not going to sit here and put up with” caller informing him that Obama cut taxes