By Kate Conway
Rush spent much of his show reacting to reports on a poll showing that increasing numbers of Americans think Obama is a Muslim. Rush claimed that he does not, in fact, believe Obama to be a Muslim and repeatedly insisted that he has never said Obama was a Muslim. However, Rush also asserted that nothing about Obama's Christianity is “obvious,” then talked about Obama's Muslim relatives, Obama's supposedly formerly-Muslim former pastor, Reverend Wright, Obama's admiration for Malcolm X, and Obama's mother's atheism. Rush also threw in a comment about Obama's Kenyan relatives residing in huts, and connected Obama to Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam who is spearheading the initiative to build the Islamic community center in Manhattan.
Rush proceeded to attack what he deemed flimsy evidence that the White House has offered to counter rumors that Obama is a Muslim. He stated that reminding people of Obama's spiritual advisors only serves to make the president's personal religiosity sound like a policy decision, and he criticized the president for receiving devotionals via Blackberry -- particularly for receiving one from a Muslim advisor. Rush also contrasted Obama to former presidents Clinton and Bush, both of whom, he said, were so obvious about their faith that no one thought to question it. We're essentially being asked to take Obama's Christianity on faith, Rush claimed. Because no one has any idea what Obama believes, according to Rush, electing Obama was like drunkenly marrying someone you don't know in Las Vegas, only it's not so easy to divorce your president.
The rest of this week's edition of Open Line Friday featured things like an attack on the National Organization for Woman. Rush applied to NOW his favorite sexist acronym, referring to them as “NAGs” -- The National Association of Gals -- and stated that the fact that NOW's annual conference wasn't big news was a testament to the state of feminism. Rush also spent a lot of time talking about conspiracies surrounding the Bilderberg Group, a favorite target of Alex Jones-type conspiracy theorists. Rush was mocking those who believe the conspiracies, not buying into them himself, but perhaps Rush should tread lightly when it comes to criticizing those who trade in conspiracy theories.
Here are some highlights from today's show:
Limbaugh: “Depending on how you define the term 'smart,' [Obama] could be stupid”