This hour of the Limbaugh Wire left over from yesterday's show
By Simon Maloy

It's Tuesday, and we're back for more in spite of yesterday's prolonged exercise in shrill, soul-killing madness. And today, we expect more -- much, much more -- of the same, which will undoubtedly leave us crumpled in the corner with the lights off, muttering to ourselves the various reasons why President Obama is to blame for the economic downturn, North Korea's nuclear program, Restless Leg Syndrome, mealy peaches, and the fifth-century sack of Rome. With that in mind, dear reader(s), don't say we've never sacrificed for you...

Rush got things rolling today by saying that yesterday's show -- which we guess Rush is now viewing as something of a watershed moment -- was not born of "courage," but of love. There was a lot of reaction to yesterday's show, said Rush, particularly the first hour, but to call his work "courageous" is wrong. Rush said he looks at what he does every day as a function of love -- love for the country and the people who make it work, and love for the ability to speak freely. Rush also said he's hearing that a lot of people are afraid to speak out about Obama. Rush understands that -- they're surrounded by "braindead liberals" and Democrats with their "cult-like" thinking. The way to counteract assaults on free speech, said Rush, is to shout louder.

Then Rush made good on our prediction, saying that he was going to revisit a January 10 YouTube address by then-President-elect Obama on the stimulus package. Rush said it is hard to listen to the January 10 address because, even then, there was time to help the economy and protect jobs, and the opposition to Obama should have mounted in all sectors at that point. That was five months ago, Rush said, and we can now revisit it and assess the results. Anyway, Rush asked us to remember the response to this obvious trainwreck of a plan -- we knew this would happen. Anyone with a brain knew what Obama was proposing was a disaster.

After the break, Rush got to the January YouTube address, airing a sound bite of Obama saying that his first job is to put people back to work, and that he's working with his economic team on the recovery and reinvestment act. Rush said it was indeed an extraordinary plan -- extraordinary in that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wrote it, the Republicans were shut out of debate, and no one read it. Millions of jobs have been lost since it passed, said Rush, and people thought we'd be going back to work by now, and that's not happening. Rush then moved on to the next audio bite, which featured Obama saying that we can't continue on our current path, the recession could linger for years if nothing is done, and unemployment could reach double digits. Rush said we did what he wanted to do and now we might be looking at a depression, not a recession. We're still looking at double-digit unemployment, said Rush, because Obama inflicted a plan that is wreaking havoc on the economy (sound familiar?).

Then there was this gem from Rush: "He has made the situation worse. He did not inherit a mess. He has created one. We were not in a mess. It was all trumped up. We didn't need TARP. It was not that pressing. We didn't need all these financial bailouts." Remember yesterday when Rush accused Obama of being "childish" and "immature" regarding the economy? Well, abjectly denying that Obama inherited an economic mess is the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting, "LA LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LA LA LA LA LA."

Anyway, Rush moved on to another January sound bite from Obama, in which the president said that Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein conducted analysis of the recovery plan and came up with projections that confirm the plan would save or create 3 million jobs, 90 percent of them in the private sector. Rush's response? "He's so smug." Rush said that the "saved jobs" figure is "BS" and a "lie" because there's no way to calculate it. No jobs are being saved, said Rush. They're being lost. After playing a quick audio bite of Obama saying that the jobs created will be long-term, Rush again attacked Obama as "smug," adding: "The problem is we're heading down the path where we're not going to lead the world in anything. We're not going to lead the world in technology. We're not going to lead the world in science. We're not going to lead the world in medicine if this man gets his way."

After the break, we were still on Obama's address as Rush played one more sound bite in which Obama said that he's confident if we summon that great American spirit, we'll meet our challenges and overcome them. Rush responded: "He's not confident. People are confusing Barack Obama's outsized ego for confidence. His ego is such -- his own messianic complex is such he thinks that he can convince us to happily sacrifice and not oppose anything for his abject failure." Rush also counseled: "This smug, inexperienced, egocentric fool must be stopped." Piling on, Rush said: "He did not inherit the stimulus bill, he created it. He wanted it." That's a fine riposte to the multitudes of people out there who are saying that Obama inherited the stimulus bill that he signed into law.

After more ranting and raving about how Obama's agenda is aimed at destroying the economy, Rush turned his sights on Jared Bernstein's press briefing yesterday, zeroing in on this comment from Bernstein regarding his unemployment estimates from January: "[T]hat was before we had fourth-quarter results on GDP, which we later found out was contracting on an annual rate of 6 percent, far worse than we expected at that time." This was "flat-out pap," said Rush. "Plain and simple BS." He didn't offer any explanation as to why he thought it was "BS," other than claiming that Bernstein is not "optimistic," but is instead implementing economic plans that are based on pessimism and are -- you guessed it -- destroying the American economy.

Then Rush attacked Bernstein for saying of job creation: "For example, tax cuts generate a smaller multiplier than direct government spending." Rush responded: "[T]hat is absurd. And even Christina Romer, before she joined the Obama administration, said so -- that tax cuts generate something like a buck and a half to two bucks of revenue and economic output where government spending is a negative. And yet, she has thrown away everything she knows as an economist to serve Barack Obama." That's actually a warmed-over distortion of Romer's economic writing that got started with House Minority Leader John Boehner.

Rush had one more Bernstein sound bite for us, in which Bernstein explained to reporters the calculations he uses. Rush was aghast that the media were asking for clarification on these points -- it was evidence, in Rush's mind, that the media are asking for guidance from the administration.

After one more break, Rush offered an extended rant on the government-run media allegedly ignoring stories of suffering in America as a consequence of the economy -- stories they reported ad nauseam during Republican administrations, Rush alleged. Rush was particularly insistent that the media cover how children in America are going hungry. Now, mind you, he wants the media to report this not to enlighten the American people, but rather to inflict political damage on Obama. But, unbeknownst to Rush, the media are reporting those stories -- just last week the CBS Evening News filed the report, "For Some Kids, Hunger All Too Real."

Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Now what he was describing was we've got to -- again, he's dumping on Bush and dumping on his predecessors. He has made the situation worse. He did not inherit a mess. He has created one. We were not in a mess. It was all trumped up. We didn't need TARP. It was not that pressing. We didn't need all these financial bailouts.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The problem is we're heading down the path where we're not going to lead the world in anything. We're not going to lead the world in technology. We're not going to lead the world in science. We're not going to lead the world in medicine if this man gets his way. The Chinese are scared to death about our debt. There's another story about it today. It's a mess. Everybody involved knows this is a mess.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Last sound bite here from President-elect Obama, January 10th. This was his YouTube address to the nation.

OBAMA [audio clip]: And I am confident that if we come together and summon that great American spirit once again, we will meet the challenges of our time and write the next great chapter in our American story.

LIMBAUGH: He's not confident. People are confusing Barack Obama's outsized ego for confidence. His ego is such -- his own messianic complex is such he thinks that he can convince us to happily sacrifice and not oppose anything for his abject failure.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: These people in the White House -- Jared Bernstein, Christina Romer -- dirty little secret: They know that they have been tasked with destroying the private sector of the United States economy. They know it. They are employees of Obama. They have to be loyal. They are out there spewing absolute drivel that makes no common sense. They admit they're guessing. These are estimates based on the spending.

America's Truth Rejector

Repeated distortion of Christina Romer's economic writing:

LIMBAUGH: When he said that tax cuts generate a smaller multiplier than direct government spending, that is absurd. And even Christina Romer, before she joined the Obama administration, said so -- that tax cuts generate something like a buck and a half to two bucks of revenue and economic output where government spending is a negative. And yet, she has thrown away everything she knows as an economist to serve Barack Obama.

Rent-a-Treasury Secretary -- Your source for top-notch Cabinetry
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour rolling by announcing that his own economic team -- using the Jared Bernstein formula for calculating job creation -- had reviewed the eight years of the Bush administration and found that Bush's tax cuts had created or saved 32 million jobs.

Then he turned his attention to Kevin Hassett's commentary in Bloomberg, "Obama Tells American Businesses to Drop Dead." Hassett wrote: "I've finally figured out the Obama economic strategy. President Barack Obama and his team have been having so much fun wielding dictatorial power while rescuing 'failed' firms, that they have developed a scheme to gain the same power over every business. The plan is to enact policies that are so anticompetitive that every firm needs a bailout." Rush, as you might imagine, was all about this, because he's been saying this 438 times, every day, for the past few months. They're creating crises, said Rush, and that's exactly what they want because it presents them with opportunities.

Rush read the rest of the column on the air, relishing every moment. Then he derided Tim Geithner as a "rent-a-Treasury Secretary," and Romer and Bernstein as "rent-a-economists," explaining that they've sold their souls to do Obama's bidding. They must know, said Rush, that what Obama is doing is hurting the economy, so the question becomes: Why are they going along with it? Because they want to be near power, said Rush, which is why Obama is able to find so many people willing to implement policies intended to destroy the private sector economy. It's the chaos and panic that these policies create that present the opportunity for Obama to assert more "statist control."

Then it was on to some more non-original content as Rush turned to a Washington Times editorial from this morning that made him "sick." Rush read extensively from the editorial, titled, "Kneecapping FedEx," which amounted to little more than an anti-union screed. Rush said it documents just one more example of a great U.S. company -- FedEx -- about to be ruined by the Democratic Party and unions. All of this is happening and nobody's stopping it, said Rush, and Obama is leading the destruction of the private economy.

After the break, Rush noted that Obama, in a press conference today, said, "Congress should force itself to pay for new spending as it goes rather than sink the nation deeper into a debt" -- in other words, paygo. Rush pronounced this "rich" -- Obama bankrupted the country and destroyed the American dream for generations, and suddenly he's "found religion." This is just a "ruse," said Rush. It's a set-up for more tax increases on the wealthy, and people are starting to figure out that Obama's implementing these policies regardless of economic circumstances. So, Limbaugh -- who rails against Democratic government spending -- now is opposed to measures to rein in spending and the deficit, it appears.

Then it was time for the first caller of the day, this one a gentleman who attended the Republican fundraiser last night with Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and Jon Voight. The caller said that Voight's speech was the highlight of the evening, but Palin got the most applause. Rush guaranteed that half the people in that room cringed when Palin drew that applause. Rush wanted to hear more from the caller after the break, and he did return to him following the commercials, but not before declaring that the White House is in "full panic mode." Rush's evidence for this was that the Sotomayor hearings were scheduled for July 13 -- this means that they want to "ram her through" because they know that there's "trouble" with her nomination. They're panicking, said Rush, not because of what's happening on the ground economically -- that's what they intended -- but because people are seeing what's happening and they don't like it.

Anyway, back to the caller, who noted that Newt omitted Rush from his speech, even as he was expressing his pride to be in the same party as Colin Powell and Dick Cheney. Rush said the bottom line was that half the people at that fundraiser -- the Republican "bluebloods" -- wish Rush was not on the radio, and Newt Gingrich is one of them.

Then it was time for another caller, who said he has the greatest respect and regard for Rush, and that he has a little Paul Revere and a little Thomas Paine in him. The caller said that he printed out a transcript of yesterday's first hour and sent it to everyone he knew. Then he went and compared Obama quite directly to Hitler, which drew an objection from Rush. Rush said he doesn't "associate Obama with Hitler" -- he just calls him a fascist every 15 minutes or so -- and that this is not Nazi Germany. There are better ways to say what we're up against, said Rush.

After one more break, Rush closed out the hour with a couple of calls. The first was from a woman who felt that it's not the federal government's job to create or save anyone's job. Rush agreed, and said he could make the case that the job of the president is to make sure no one loses their jobs by helping the private sector. This "saved jobs" construction, said Rush, is a "fallacy," and it's brilliant in that it can't be calculated. But Rush said he agreed with the caller's constitutional point -- we're at a point where too many people believe government's role is to take care of them, so there's a lot of work to be done.

Rush's final caller said it's time for America to start producing again and to lower taxes, which means the Republicans have to take the House of Representatives. Rush agreed with the caller, but said that the GOP doesn't think that tax cuts are the way to go. They think tax cuts are "old hat." The party, said Rush, doesn't buy the conservative argument. Instead, they talk up Colin Powell as the leader of the party.

Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by America's love of "sloth"
By Simon Maloy

One more hour to go, and Rush got it rolling by noting the analysis of the recent EU elections, pointing specifically to an American Thinker piece exalting the "Collapsing Global Left." Rush said that people are wondering whether the European elections results are signs that conservatism is making a comeback in the United States. Rush said this misses the point -- conservatism never went anywhere in the U.S., it's the Republicans that wandered off the reservation.

After noting that The Corner is also celebrating the "triumph" of "capitalism" in Europe, Rush said that the correct explanation of what's going on in Europe is that they're scared to death of what's happening in the United States. As long as America is there to drive the world economy, said Rush, then the "smug" Europeans can afford to live in a "cesspool" of socialism. But now they see the U.S. under a socialist leader (it's sad that we don't even feel the need to put quotes around "socialist" at this point) and they're panicked -- if Obama succeeds in destroying the American free market economy, they know they're screwed. They know the "gravy train" is over, so they're moving to the right.

Rush then said he saw a photo of a naval destroyer searching for the black boxes of the Air France flight that went down off the Brazilian coast, and it reminded him again that any time these types of disasters happen in the world, the world calls the United States for help. If they see that that phone call is not going to result in anything, they're going to panic. So, the question, Rush said, is not whether the European shift will translate to the U.S.; the question is: How the hell can the socialist left in the rest of the world be moving right while we're moving toward their failed position? Rush elaborated: "What has changed in our population that has turned enough of our citizens -- apparently, apparently I say -- enough of our citizens into people who enjoy sloth? Just sitting around; let somebody else handle all the hard work. ... It's government's job to make sure that you've got a job, and if you don't have a job, you got benefits. It's government's job to make sure you got a mortgage. It's government's job to make sure you got a house. It's government's job to make sure you -- we're moving in the other direction."

After the break, Rush repeated his proclamation that the White House is in full panic, as evidenced by Obama's pay-go speech today. Rush aired a sound bite of Obama saying that several financial institutions are set to return TARP funds, and reiterating that his administration inherited a financial crisis. This set Rush off -- saying that he inherited a financial mess is "childish," "immature," and "narcissistic." Then Rush offered a reprise of his lecture from yesterday's show on what Obama really inherited -- and just like yesterday, Rush denied the existence of a financial mess and filled that vacancy with gauzy platitudes about American exceptionalism. And we're supposed to believe that Obama is the "immature" and "childish" one.

But it didn't stop there: "Barack Obama did not inherit a mess. He inherited the United State of America, where anything is possible." Rush added: "There is nothing to apologize for what he inherited. He may as well be a 5-year-old crybaby spoiled brat: 'I inherited this mess from my predecessor.' He has nothing to apologize for regarding what he inherited." Going further, Rush said: "Obama is destroying what others before him created. He did not inherit a mess. He has created one. And as the mess he creates deepens, so does his blaming it on his predecessors. That is gutless. It is childish. It is immature. It is unbecoming someone who serves as president of the United States."

It's become something of a joke that right-wingers will respond to any criticism from Democrats and liberals with the non sequitur: "Why do you hate America?" Rush is fast becoming the living embodiment of that hackneyed aphorism.

Anyway, after playing a couple more sound bites of Obama saying that he will rein in discretionary spending and pay-go is a big part of that, Rush said that the Democratic leaders have been promising pay-go since 2007 and have yet to deliver. Rush added: "Your predecessor didn't do diddly squat to damage this country's economy; your party did. You want to blame people, blame Harry Reid, blame Nancy Pelosi, blame Chris Dodd, blame Barney Frank." So after declaring that there was no financial mess to inherit, just amber waves of grain and purple mountains majesty, Rush declared that two years of Democratic rule in Congress hurt the economy, and no blame can be placed on Bush or the Republicans, who were in power for six years before that.

And, once again, we're supposed to believe that Obama is the "immature" and "childish" one.

Coming back from the break, Rush aired snippets of Rupert Murdoch's appearance on Fox Business yesterday, during which he attacked Obama as "dangerous." Rush Limbaugh citing Rupert Murdoch on Fox Business -- not sure the echo chamber can handle that much vibration. Then Rush took a caller who said that models for government-run health care already exist -- Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA, and they're all disasters. Rush agreed, saying that they're "cost boondoggles," and we're now going to base a national system on them.

One more break and Rush had a few more minutes to kill, so he expounded at length on how "unusual" it was for the "government-run Associated Press" to run a story that was critical of Obama. Of course, devout readers of Media Matters know that it's not unusual at all for the AP to be critical of Obama -- the wire service often does so in ways that stretch the truth -- and if you recall, Limbaugh was touting a different AP article yesterday, claiming that it provided evidence that Obama is destroying the economy. But this little exercise just served to highlight one of the great paradoxes of modern conservative commentary: Conservatives are adamant in their claims that the mainstream media are hopelessly biased toward liberals and Democrats, and yet just about every piece of news these same conservatives cite to attack liberals and Democrats is reported by... the mainstream media.

And that's it for today's Wire. We're just about spent after two days of this relentless assault on logic, truth, and common sense, so will simply exhort you check out Media Matters' Limbaugh archives while we whack ourselves over the head with the keyboard until things start to make sense again. Or until we pass out. Whichever comes first. See you tomorrow.

Greg Lewis and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: There is nothing to apologize for what he inherited. He may as well be a 5-year-old crybaby spoiled brat: "I inherited this mess from my predecessor." He has nothing to apologize for regarding what he inherited.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Obama is destroying what others before him created. He did not inherit a mess. He has created one. And as the mess he creates deepens, so does his blaming it on his predecessors. That is gutless. It is childish. It is immature. It is unbecoming someone who serves as president of the United States.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Your predecessor didn't do diddly squat to damage this country's economy; your party did. You want to blame people, blame Harry Reid, blame Nancy Pelosi, blame Chris Dodd, blame Barney Frank.

Vox populi

LIMBAUGH: What has changed in our population that has turned enough of our citizens -- apparently, apparently I say -- enough of our citizens into people who enjoy sloth? Just sitting around; let somebody else handle all the hard work. It's government's job to make sure McDonald's has McNuggets.

It's government's job to make sure that when you go in and order whatever it is that McDonald's has it. It's government's job to make sure that you've got a job, and if you don't have a job, you got benefits. It's government's job to make sure you got a mortgage. It's government's job to make sure you got a house. It's government's job to make sure you -- we're moving in the other direction.