By Terry Krepel
Guest host Mark Steyn mockingly introduced the show today as “your racist, homophobic headquarters.” Steyn then highlighted a story that claimed the Democratic Party is losing support among white men and mocked Frank Rich's New York Times column, claiming that Rich said there are no principled reasons for opposing health care unless you secretly hate black people and women. Steyn reiterated that the show is the home for such folks, adding, “We dig your angry, incoherent rage.” Next, in the midst of bashing George Soros for funding Human Rights Watch because it allegedly employs an enthusiast for Nazi memorabilia, Steyn name-checked Media Matters, calling it a group that pays a bunch of guys named Zachary to transcribe Limbaugh's show, thus saving Rush money on a transcription service.
Steyn went on to complain that the media wants to de-normalize objections to Obamacare, and suggest that if you criticize the Obama administration, you are by definition a hater. In a discussion with a caller, Steyn then claimed that health care reform will result in trans-generational poverty and serfdom. Steyn's next caller claimed that Rep. Bart Stupak told him that because the caller's wife is El Salvadorian, he should know better than to hang out with tea partiers. Steyn responded by claiming that “white liberal guilt” is “so embedded” that they'll still be talking about it “400 years” from now.
Here are some highlights from the show:
Steyn on health care reform: “We've just re-introduced serfdom here”
Steyn: “In the Democratic Party it's always 1964, and it's always Selma, Alabama”
Steyn compares health care law to The Stamp Act
Steyn: Health insurance mandates could lead to mandated “federally manufactured condoms”
Steyn's bizarre comments: Michael Steele and the “chains of the bondage night club”
Steyn kicked off the second hour by highlighting an alleged death threat against Eric Cantor, then complained that Dan Rather's watermelon joke floated off into the ether, like it never happened. Steyn went on to say that the health care reform provision that allows children to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26 means the U.S. is becoming like Europe, where 40-year-old men still live at home. He then claimed that Rep. Henry Waxman is trying to intimidate companies like John Deere for criticizing health care reform by hauling their executives before Congress. Talking with another caller, Steyn asserted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were forced to issue mortgages to people regardless of whether they could pay for them, adding that HCR does the same thing to the health insurance industry. Later, Steyn claimed that, unlike with the Stamp Act of colonial times, nobody knows what is in the health care bill. Steyn went on to assert that the insurance mandate could lead to the feds mandating you buy condoms if you're dating, but they'll be government-made so they won't work.
Steyn began the third hour by likening Obama to King Canute, who failed to command the ocean to recede; Obama, however, believes he can. He then claimed that some Americans are paying 55 percent of their income in taxes, and said that voters should reject political candidates who do not support a smaller government. Steyn took a caller who called health care reform “the plague of the 21st century” and complained that members of Congress are exempt from it (they're not). Steyn then warned that a value-added tax is on its way. Steyn claimed that the CBO scores what they're given and doesn't address the “basic insanity” underlying the reform bill. Steyn took a call from an insurance agent who complained that even some conservatives think covering preventative care is a good thing, when it's actually costly. Steyn noted the Republican National Committee's $2,000 expenditure of party funds at a bondage-themed nightclub and declared it to be emblematic of America.
Oliver Willis and Mike Burns contributed to this edition of The Limbaugh Wire.