This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by frogs' legs (and global warming)
By Simon Maloy

Well, another "Open Line Friday!" is upon us, which means that maybe -- just maybe -- today's program will be a shift away from the past two days, which have been little more than three-hour harangues about the evils of national health care and the alleged perfidy of President Obama, who is now trying to kill the "spirit" of the American people and who, apparently, forced Gov. Mark Sanford to *ahem* "Hike the Appalachian Trail." Of course, that hope is predicated on the fact that "Open Line Friday!" remains true to its promise of unpredictable wackiness, and that promise has rarely, if ever, been realized. On the other hand, the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill is coming up for a vote in the House today, which could give Rush a whole new set of lies to shout at us, so hope springs eternal...

Well, turns out our hopes were well-founded, because Rush got the show rolling with a full-throated denunciation of cap and trade, saying: "This is so unnecessary. There isn't any global warming. This bill is not about climate change; it's not about improving the environment; it's not about anything but raising taxes and taking away people's freedom. It -- folks, we are made of carbon, and what this is, is a carbon tax. Anything -- we are -- theoretically, we could be taxed because of the carbon dioxide we exhale." This legislation, according to Rush, says that we, by virtue of our existence, are destructive polluters who need to be punished. Rush noted that there are Republicans who are "on the fence" over the bill, saying that nobody should be on the fence. This is a situation, said Rush, where the GOP should just say no -- no debate, no nothing. Sunspot activity is down, said Rush, there is no global warming, and this legislation is not going to lower temperatures.

Then Rush said that the Competitive Enterprise Institute released internal EPA emails that, according to the institute, "indicate that a significant internal critique of EPA's position on Endangerment was essentially put under wraps and concealed." This is all about raising taxes and destroying the economy, said Rush, explaining that "we can't imagine that we have elected somebody who really doesn't like the United States as it was founded. We just can't. But that's what's happened. This is exactly what we've done here." Rush then noted that he read an article in the American Thinker by a Nigerian woman calling Obama an "African Colonial." Rush said he read this piece, put it together with what Obama's trying to do with health care and the climate, and decided that it was quite valid.

Then Rush read extensively from Kimberley Strassel's Wall Street Journal op-ed this morning, in which she alleged that the "consensus" on climate change is "collapsing." Rush said this is not being reported widely in the United States, but it's happening in Australia, Japan, and Europe. It's not being reported here, said Rush, because our stars are Al Gore and the UN, and all critics have to be slapped down by the media. As alleged proof of how climate change science is bunk, Rush read from a BBC article on how "[s]cientists think they have resolved one of the most controversial environmental issues of the past decade: the curious case of the missing frogs' legs." Rush read: "Around the world, frogs are found with missing or misshaped limbs, a striking deformity that many researchers believe is caused by chemical pollution and global warming [sic]." If you're wondering why we sic-ed that italicized phrase, it's because it doesn't appear in the actual article. Rush inserted it in there to support his claim that climate change science has been debunked, even though the evidence he cited has nothing to do with climate change.

After the break, Rush noted that the test vote on the cap-and-trade bill the Democrats won this morning is designed to make you think the cap-and-trade debate is over. That's not true, said Rush, this thing is up for grabs. Rush had two lists of Republicans and Democrats who are on the fence, reiterating that there ought to be no Republicans on the fence. This has nothing to do with global warming or saving the planet, Rush said. The problems that this legislation claims to address do not exist, and we can debate the merits of the bill all day long, but the fact is that this is a no-brainer: It is unnecessary. It's a pure power and money grab, said Rush. He then read the names of the on-the-fence Republicans.

After the break, Rush read more from the CEI's analysis of the EPA internal emails, saying that the point of all this is that the consensus we've heard about all these years is falling apart. The science is irrelevant to the EPA, said Rush, and they don't want to analyze it. They're accepting a political conclusion, he said, and this has nothing to do with science. The political goal here, Rush claimed, is weakening the economy to create more power for Obama and his minions. Then Rush once again read the names of the on-the-fence crowd on Capitol Hill.

Before and after the break, Rush read extensively from the American Thinker piece alleging that Obama is an "African Colonial," interspersing throughout his own concurring thoughts on how Obama is engineering a Marxist power grab. Needless to say, the piece is a shoddy smear of Obama and his father, replete with broad, unsupported attacks on the president, such as: "Obama has been living on American soil for most of his adult life. Therefore, he has been able to masquerade as one who understands and believes in American democratic ideals. But he does not." Nonetheless, Rush said that the author had "really pegged Obama." This, ladies and gentlemen, is a fine example of how the echo chamber works -- a sloppily written smear of the president on a fringe conservative website that would normally have drawn little to no attention is instantly amplified by Rush Limbaugh's sizeable megaphone. After reading the piece, Rush concluded that "we've elected somebody who's more African in his roots than he is American."

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

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: This is so unnecessary. There isn't any global warming. This bill is not about climate change; it's not about improving the environment; it's not about anything but raising taxes and taking away people's freedom. It -- folks, we are made of carbon, and what this is, is a carbon tax.

Anything -- we are -- theoretically, we could be taxed because of the carbon dioxide we exhale. If they want to figure out how much that is contributing to global warming, we can be taxed on that basis. There's no limit here once you start taxing carbon. We are made of carbon. We are a carbon-based life form.

What this legislation seeks to establish is that we, by virtue of our existence, are destructive polluters who have to be punished. We are polluters whether we want to be or not. It's just -- because we're carbon. It's just -- it is absurd.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Folks, I know it's hard to understand that we've elected somebody who is willingly, purposely setting out to deplete the capital in the private sector, to destroy the U.S. economy. I know it's hard to understand. Most of you don't have -- most of us, I'll put myself in this -- most of us do not have this concept of that kind of power of wanting it, wanting to use it for our own personal fun, frolic, frivolity, whatever.

We don't -- we can't imagine that we have elected somebody who really doesn't like the United States as it was founded. We just can't. But that's what's happened. This is exactly what we've done here.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I share all this with you because it is -- she's nailed who the guy is. Americans look at Obama and they say, "Oh, the first black president," and they go, "Oh, we're shedding some of our guilt here. Look how enlightened we are, what a great country we are," when, in fact, we've elected somebody who's more African in his roots than he is American, loves his father, who was a Marxist, and is behaving like an African colonial despot.

And you can see it in his health care legislation, the stimulus bill, taking over automobile companies, the czars that he has that are not accountable to anybody but him, and now the climate bill. All of this is about nothing other than the acquisition of power and the ability to further regulate your privacy and behavior.

America's Truth Rejector

Inserted the words "global warming" into an article that had nothing to do with global warming:

LIMBAUGH: There's one other thing in here, though -- oh, the frogs. Remember all the horror stories that we have seen over the years about deformed frogs at birth, and we have been told this is due to global warming and their ecology all out of whack? We find out that that's not the case, and the BBC -- the left-wing BBC -- is none the less the source.

"Scientists think they have resolved one of the most controversial environmental issues of the past decade: the curious case of missing frogs' legs. Around the world, frogs are found with missing or misshaped limbs, a striking deformity that many researchers believe is caused by chemical pollution" and global warming. "However, tests on frogs and toads have revealed a more natural, benign cause. The deformed frogs are actually victims of the predatory habits of dragonfly nymphs, which eat the legs of tadpoles.

"In the late 1980s and early 1990s, researchers started getting reports of numerous wild frogs or toads being found with extra legs or arms, or with limbs that were partly formed or missing completely. The cause of the deformities became a hotly contested issue."

Had to be caused by global warming and this and that and that. People said that, "No, no, no. This is happening naturally," were debunked and called deniers, and so forth, but they have now proven that these deformed frogs are simply nature taking its course -- nothing to do with man; nothing to do with us, all right? And now the cap-and-trade bill will probably tax dragonflies once they learn about this.

Echo chamber

Read almost in its entirety a sloppy hit piece on Obama from the American Thinker, titled "Obama, the African Colonial."

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the Waxman-Markey-Madoff bill
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour rolling by returning to cap and trade, repeating his claim that Waxman-Markey is a disaster and that it's not about saving anything. It's all about raising taxes and redistributing wealth. Rush then read extensively from the Heritage Foundation's analysis of the bill, which described it as "nothing more than an energy tax in disguise." Rush zeroed in on the bill's energy refund program, which says that households making no more than 150 percent over the poverty line are "eligible low-income households" who "shall receive a monthly cash energy refund equal to the estimated loss in purchasing power resulting from this Act." They know that the bill is going to cream you, said Rush, and this measure means that the poor are going to get direct-deposit transfers from your money. They intend to raise prices on energy, said Rush; intend to make you use less energy; intend to make you less mobile and comfortable; and intend for you to have less disposable income, which is freedom and liberty.

Rush said that Barack Obama and the Democrats intend to just direct-deposit your money into the bank accounts of the poor because of this act. Your wealth will be redistributed to the poor, he repeated, calling this an attack on achievers and an attack on wealth, disguised as something to get to your heart. They're trying to convince you that this will save Woody Woodpecker and Peter Polar Bear, said Rush. This is a carbon tax: We are a carbon-based life form, we exhale carbon dioxide, so we are polluters. They should call this the Waxman-Markey-Madoff bill, said Rush, because this is a con game.

Rush then read extensively from George Will's Washington Post column yesterday, in which Will promoted the work of Spanish professor Gabriel Calzada, who conducted a study that found that Spain lost two jobs for every "green" job it created. We dealt with this study yesterday -- Calzada is committed to combating global warming "alarmism" with the ExxonMobil money he apparently receives, and actual experts say it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to compare the Spanish and American green jobs bills. Also, we're more likely to trust, well, just about anyone on climate issues more than we are George Will, who has a spotty record on this topic.

After the break, Rush took his first call of "Open Line Friday!" as a "personally outraged" gentleman from Virginia explained that he called the office of his congressman -- Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) -- and a staffer told him that Goodlatte does not have a position on cap and trade. The caller said he was flabbergasted, and that if Goodlatte votes for cap and trade, then he will work as hard as he can to make sure he doesn't get re-elected. Rush said there's some Democrat from Virginia who was wavering on cap and trade, but just announced he's voting for it. There are a lot of people who want to vote on the right side of this, said Rush, but they view the right side as the side that's going to win.

After another break, Rush noted that RedState.com is reporting that "Congressman [Tom] Perriello's (D-VA) office told a caller that Congressman Perriello wants there to be enough votes to pass Cap & Trade so he can vote no on it." Rush then noted that Andrea Mitchell, on MSNBC, just spoke to Mike Viqueira about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) comments that the cap-and-trade bill was unlikely to pass the Senate, and aired audio of Viqueira saying that Democratic congressmen are looking at this bill and asking why they should vote for it if it isn't going to pass the Senate. Rush said this is a test for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) -- if it isn't going to pass the Senate, how do you get people to vote for it? Rush said Pelosi's telling them, "because I said so," and is threatening to withhold campaign funds. And they're "buying off" rural Democrats. Rush said this is a classic illustration of "to whom do they answer?" -- you or Nancy Pelosi? And a lot of people who vote for this thing have seen their last days in Congress, said Rush. They're going to lose in 2010.

Rush then said that James Carville sent a fundraising letter out warning Democrats that they're facing an identical set of circumstances to what they faced in 1994, right before the GOP took over Congress. They're using it as a fundraising tool, said Rush, but he also believes that the Democrats are truly worried. Deep in the bowels of this party, they're worried -- they don't publicly oppose the president, but they don't want this future for their kids either. Rush said he doesn't think it's just like 1994 -- back then there was a whole lot of corruption in the House that was being brought to light. There's still corruption, he said, look at Charlie Rangel. What's happening with this bill is the same thing that happened to "amnesty," said Rush, they're being flooded with emails and calls. But they don't care what you think.

Rush's next caller said he was watching Fox & Friends this morning, and they interviewed House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), who said that cap and trade is not a tax and only costs Americans $174 a year. Rush said "that number, 174, is so low and so untrue that's he's making it up." Actually, it's not untrue, and he's not making it up -- that's the estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

One more break and Rush came back, saying that the "New Manhattan Project for Energy Independence" amendment to Waxman-Markey is a "teachable moment." The fact that they have to offer a prize is evidence that we are nowhere near accomplishing any of this, said Rush. Edison and the Wright brothers didn't need prizes, he said, they invented on their own. This is market economics, Rush explained, so if there were a profit in solar power, we would have it. If there were a profit in "putt-putt cars" that got 70 mpg, we would have it. Rush told us not to believe these conspiracy theories that the oil companies work with the car companies to keep costs down (I guess we're only supposed to believe the conspiracy theories that President Obama is keeping gas prices high to force car companies to make fuel-efficient vehicles). Rush said that the very fact that this "rotten legislation" has to dangle carrots in front of peoples' eyes is proof positive that we're nowhere near what it hopes to achieve.

Greg Lewis and Laura Deck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 2

America's Truth Rejector

Falsely claimed Rep. Steny Hoyer was "making up" $174/year figure for Waxman-Markey:

CALLER: I was listening to Fox & Friends this morning, between like 8:15 and 8:45, and they had an interview with Mr. Steny Hoyer --

LIMBAUGH: Yeah.

CALLER: -- who said that he was voting for the cap and trade -- he says it's a good thing -- but that it's not a tax, and that it would only cost the people $174 per year. Now if that's not a tax, why would it cost $174? Obviously it's a tax of some type, right?

LIMBAUGH: Well, depends on how you define tax. I would say that legislation that raises the cost of living, it's a tax or whatever, but it's still bad. And he's -- that number, 174, is so low and so untrue --

CALLER: Right.

LIMBAUGH: -- that's he's making it up.

CALLER: I think so, too.

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by flapping your arms really fast to fly like Superman
By Greg Lewis

Rush got the ball rolling on the final hour of the week by announcing that he put the transcript of his Madoff-Waxman-Markey comments from the previous hour on his Web page. He said he had gotten a good reaction to what he had said from his audience, but he explained that he didn't remember exactly what he said.

Further elaborating on his comments from the previous hour, Rush explained how we'll never run out of coal or oil because the market will take care of everything, and we don't need Waxman or Markey or Obama to save us.

Remember the caller from the previous hour who told Rush that he called Rep. Goodlatte's office and had been told that the congressman had yet to decide how he would vote on the bill? Well, the angry Dittohead calls to Goodlatte's office must have reached critical mass, because Rush informed us that Goodlatte's office had called to clarify that the congressman was, in fact, voting against the bill, and has consistently been against cap and trade.

After the brief aside, Rush went back to the Waxman-Markey amendment that would create a "New Manhattan Project for Energy Independence." Rush said we could be energy independent in 10 years if we use the oil we've got. Rush then decided to create his own set of prizes for achievements that couldn't be met. He said he would give an award to the first liberal to call in and convince the audience that George W. Bush was responsible for the death of Michael Jackson, or if you can figure out how to get our spaceships to go warp speed, or make people invisible, or fly like Superman, which Rush predicted would allow for a huge reduction in energy usage. For all his childish mockery of government prizes for invention, Rush ignored the salient fact that such incentives can be wildly successful. Here's a good example: In the 19th century, the U.S. government offered a $30,000 prize to anyone who could come up with a workable proposal for a long-range communications system that would span the Atlantic coast. The result? Samuel Morse and the invention of the telegraph.

Are you still following us? Yes? Great. After the Superman/Michael Jackson/warp speed lapse, Rush quickly recovered, returning to his usual levels of incoherence. He read from an Associated Press article reporting that the cap-and-trade bill could result in landowners being paid to not cut down trees. "You know, I'm getting to the bursting point on this," he said in response. "There isn't any global warming! Since 2001, temperatures have flat-lined. There isn't any global warming."

After the break, Rush talked about his friend who owns "one of those huge Mercedes" on the Rolls Royce line. His friend is apparently really tall, so he likes having a big car. Rush said his friend is worried he'll be forced out of his Mercedes to buy a "bubble car," of which he'll need two of because he won't fit in one. Rush then mentioned the government bailout for Tesla Motors, admitting that he doesn't know what that is. We guess he's not a fan of super-fast electric cars. Anyway, Rush followed this up by reading a CNS News article, which reported that electric cars would not decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

Then Rush moved on to health care, saying that during the ABC health care "infomercial" this week, Obama said that the CBO analysis doesn't incorporate savings from preventative care. Rush thought all of the bans on smoking were meant to cure all health programs, referring to a 2005 article that reported on a study, which found that secondhand smoking cost $10 billion annually. From here, Rush tied the entire health care debate to the debate over secondhand smoke. Rush explained that our liberties were taken away -- in the form of smoking bans -- under the auspices of saving money on preventative care. But where, Rush asked, are all the savings? He concluded that Obama is recycling the same lies used by the "anti-smoking Nazis" to take away your freedoms and liberties.

After another break, Rush enlightened us with some "Rush philosophy." It was a lengthy screed, that included quotes from Thomas Jefferson's first inaugural and other Founding Fathers, in which Rush argued that the government was meant to uphold liberty, not seize it. Government was meant to secure the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but socialized health care would actually seize those rights. Rush said the Founding Fathers were so ahead of their time. We're all familiar with Rush's ham-fisted and self-congratulatory attempts to solder the high-minded philosophizing of the Founders to his own puerile and nasty attacks on Obama, and this one was little different.

Rush rounded out the program with a couple of calls -- please note that "Open Line Friday!" featured just four callers, all of whom were treated as end-of-the-hour afterthoughts. One caller suggested that we just "send everyone to Disney World" so that they can set up shop in the Pink Castle and Nancy Pelosi could wear her pink dress and wave a wand around. Perhaps we were too quick to criticize Rush for ignoring the callers... Rush went on to comment that at the election night celebration in Grant Park in Chicago, everyone looked like pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The next caller was a doctor who had worked in the Canadian health care system and explained some of its history and why he chose to move to the United States. Rush said that government health care will ruin private insurers because they can't compete with an entity that doesn't work for a profit -- a logical inconsistency Rush has yet to address.

That's all for the Limbaugh Wire this week. So we turned out to be right -- today's show was a change of pace. Instead of a three-hour rant on health care reform, we were awarded a three-hour rant on cap-and-trade legislation and global warming. We invite you to recap previous "Open Line Fridays!" in our Limbaugh Wire archives. And on a quick note, Lauryn Bruck, who has been an integral part of the Wire since its inception, is leaving us today to move on to greener pastures. Her assistance has been invaluable to the daily production of this column... or blog... or whatever this is, and we wish her the very best.

Simon Maloy, Lauryn Bruck, and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: You know, I'm getting to the bursting point on this. There isn't any global warming! Since 2001, temperatures have flat-lined. There isn't any global warming.