Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Hour 3: Professor Limbaugh: CO2 Not Bad For Environment Because "We Exhale CO2"

Media Matters for America


http://mediamatters.org/items/200905130024

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Professor Limbaugh's CO2 theory
By Karl Frisch and Greg Lewis

Rush started the final hour of his show by discussing an AP article headlined, "Charge your iPod, kill a polar bear? Energy watchdog says gadgets pose environmental threat." He wondered why everyone would be worried about this since Obama is going to create tons of green jobs and save the environment. Limbaugh then noted how many polar bears we'll be killing when we have to plug in our electric cars. The Wire would like to point out to Rush that switching to electric cars will have a net effect of decreasing carbon emissions because they'll be used instead of traditional gasoline-powered cars. The article notes a study tracking the effect of the increasing use of consumer electronics in our society, which isn't the same as tracking automobile emissions -- though Rush didn't bother to make this known to his listeners.

Rush then brought up a recently released White House document that argued against regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Rush said the memo came out of the Obama White House, and it has seriously undermined the cause. However, Rush wasn't entirely accurate in describing the memo. It's important to point out that Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag said the document did not reflect the administration's position; moreover, the memo reportedly came from the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, which is an independent entity currently headed by acting chief counsel for advocacy Shawne McGibbon, a Bush appointee. Rush finished off the segment noting the memo is "not a surprise to me, because we exhale CO2. If it were a poison, if it were something, we would -- it wouldn't be part of the way we stay alive." Thanks for the science lesson, Professor Limbaugh!

After the commercial, El Rushbo took another caller, this time from a dittohead who wanted to know when she would be able to call Obama a dictator. "Well," Rush explained, "there are a lot of words being tossed out out there -- Marxist, statist, fascist, incompetent, conniver. The problem, you know, when you use these words -- the idea here and the objective is to persuade people who don't yet see this. And if you start calling him a dictator, they're just going to tune you out. They don't think a dictator is possible in the United States. They don't see evidence of it." We wonder what Limbaugh thinks of the Republican National Committee's reported plans to rename the Democrats the "Democrat Socialist Party." After the caller asked if there were a way to snap her fingers and "make these people snap out of it," Rush responded: "Obama wishes he could push a button to socialize the country. And he's got a lot of buttons he can push."

Then Limbaugh read another New York Times article, this one about a potential overhaul of compensation practices in the financial services industry. As Rush referred back to his rant on Monday about Geithner saying he didn't want anymore economic booms. The Wire would like to take this opportunity to refer back to our response to his rant on Monday, in which we noted Rush was leaving out some important context from Geithner's remarks.

El Rushbo then took a call from a disgruntled Illinoisan, who was following the right-wing talker's lead of leaving New York City by moving her family to Arizona, where taxes would be lower. Rush seemed rather excited that somebody would actually follow his advice, and warned the caller that the Chicago and Illinois tax authorities might follow her.

Back from another break, Rush read a Reuters story which reported on Delaware Senator Thomas Carper's attempts to keep a Delaware-located General Motors plant open. This led Rush into another rant against unions: "General Motors had to be saved strictly for Ron Gettelfinger and the UAW. That's why GM had to be bailed out. Chrysler, ditto. That's why. Save unions -- 'cause they're Democrats, Democrat voters, Democrat contributions through dues, that help elect Democrats all over the country. So the purpose of General Motors and Chrysler is to keep Democrat union players employed. And then when that's threatened, oh, then that's when they get really -- that's when the problem sets in."

Rush then took the final caller of the program, who explained to Rush how she was "berated" by a customer at her store for being a Limbaugh listener. He and the caller then spent a few minutes discussing how this person was living in a "cocoon" where everything she believes is right and allows nothing to challenge her beliefs, and Rush wondered what is was like to wake up angry and live your entire life angry, as they presumed this person did. Limbaugh then informed the caller that he would be sending along some flowers to make up for her lost business. It is not clear, however, if Rush will also be sending the pot and keeping the kettle or vice versa.

And so another exhilarating edition of the Limbaugh Wire has come to a close. We'll surely spend the next 21 hours pondering how we live our lives being in constant anger all the while breathing out CO2. In the meantime, check out our increasingly vast Limbaugh Wire archives.

Highlights from Hour 3

Marxist, fascist, and statist watch:

CALLER: The reason I was calling is I saw on Fox News a small blip -- it wasn't much -- that the White House is now investigating how they can be the persons in charge of giving out bonuses to Wall Street CEOs, even those that haven't accepted TARP money. And my question is when are people going to start using the D-word in association with this president? You know, dictator. That's what he wants to be.

LIMBAUGH: Well, there are a lot of words being tossed out out there -- Marxist, statist, fascist, incompetent, conniver. The problem, you know, when you use these words -- the idea here and the objective is to persuade people who don't yet see this. And if you start calling him a dictator, they're just going to tune you out. They don't think a dictator is possible in the United States. They don't see evidence of it. You start calling him a communist, a Marxist, a fascist -- if you call him Marxist, depending on their education level, they might be happy about that. I mean, they've been taught by Marxists --

CALLER: Right.

LIMBAUGH: -- in universities, and they may think it's a good thing. So it's a very, very, very, very, very delicate thing to go about persuading the cult-like here, who are totally in the tank.

America's Truth Rejector:

LIMBAUGH: I don't know how this got out, I don't know how Senator Barrasso from Wyoming got it, but he put it to Lisa Jackson. This is -- again, not a surprise to me, because we exhale CO2. If it were a poison, if it were something, we would -- it wouldn't be part of the way we stay alive. At any rate, a brief time out, we'll come back, your phone calls are next, right after this.

Outrageous remarks:

LIMBAUGH: You are asking -- you are asking irrational people to look at something rationally.

CALLER: OK.

LIMBAUGH: You're asking the insane -- as an analogy here -- you're asking the insane to snap out of it and be sane. You know, snap your fingers.

CALLER: Well, I wish there was a way we could snap our fingers and make these people snap out of it and see what's happening.

LIMBAUGH: Well, Obama wishes -- Obama wishes he could push a button and socialize the country. And he's got a lot of buttons he can push.

CALLER: Yes, he does.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: General Motors had to be saved not in order that it -- or not so that it can make cars people want to buy. General Motors had to be saved strictly for Ron Gettelfinger and the UAW. That's why GM had to be bailed out. Chrysler, ditto. That's why. Save unions -- 'cause they're Democrats, Democrat voters, Democrat contributions through dues, that help elect Democrats all over the country. So the purpose of General Motors and Chrysler is to keep Democrat union players employed. And then when that's threatened, oh, then that's when they get really -- that's when the problem sets in.

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