http://mediamatters.org/items/200906100023 This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the zombie "birther" conspiracy
By Simon Maloy Let's take a quick moment to recall a very special moment from yesterday's show when Rush -- in the midst of calling President Obama "childish" and "immature" -- declared that Obama did not inherit a financial mess and that former President Bush, in his eight immaculate years in office as America's most perfect president ever, "didn't do diddly squat to damage this country's economy." At the time, we thought, "Man, wouldn't it be nice if there were a clearly defined chart that could demonstrate the degrees to which Bush and Obama are responsible for the economic situation we find ourselves in?" Well, David Leonhardt of the New York Times quite helpfully did all that work for us, analyzing Congressional Budget Office reports from the past decade and finding that the policies of George W. Bush were the major contributing factor to the record deficits we're now looking at. That, of course, stands to reason, since Bush had eight whole years to wreak havoc on the economy, whereas Obama's been in office for less than five months. But, as we've all come to learn, "reason" is a rare commodity on The Rush Limbaugh Show. Rush got things rolling today with an update on Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- apparently the president's former pastor said some very silly things, including: "Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me. I told my baby daughter that he'll talk to me in five years when he's a lame duck, or in eight years when he's out of office." The phrase "them Jews" provided Rush with a segue to his next topic -- the Drudge-flagged story that the White House, in releasing a photo of Obama with his feet on his desk speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sending a "subtle insult" to Netanyahu and Israel in general. This story -- along with the Rev. Wright resurgence -- reminded us of the silly days of the 2008 campaign, when the media freaked out when Obama scratched his face, thinking that he had flipped Hillary Clinton the bird. Rush, however, took it in a different direction: "I'm not going to sit here and say, 'Come on, you Jews are being too insensitive about this.' I think this guy has got a huge problem with Israel. I think he's got a huge problem with Judaism and Reverend Wright. I mean, this is the guy who Obama listened to for 20 years." Then Rush set his sights on USA Today for reporting this morning that the GOP, according to poll results, has no clear spokesman, "which is among the reasons for the party's sagging state and uncertain direction." Rush said they keep recycling this garbage even as Obama is in full panic as his policies fall apart. Why do they even care, Rush asked, given that they want the GOP to be a permanent minority. Rush then made an abrupt shift to another silly Drudge special -- Michelle Obama's outfit in London. "She's wearing some outfit that -- if Sarah Palin had this outfit on, they would be ripping her to shreds. It would be a headline in every newspaper. Michelle Obama looks ridiculous. And they're talking about how fashion conscious she is and how fashion trend-setting she is, and it is embarrassing." Mrs. Obama's sin to fashion, apparently, was wearing a shirt with an orange band. Oh, the horror. After the break, Rush aired audio bites of John Ziegler's latest appearance on MSNBC this morning, saying that the "infobabe" Contessa Brewer was clearly "outmatched" by Ziegler. Once again, all we have to say is that John Ziegler is a very serious person with some very well-thought out ideas who deserves respect and admiration from the people. Rush didn't know why they invited Ziegler on. We don't either. Anyway, then it was back to USA Today and its report on the GOP's lack of a spokesman. Rush said that John McCain, Colin Powell, and the moderates are the reason why the GOP is out of power, and a party out of power wouldn't have a spokesman yet -- it's absurd to even suggest that. Rush said there was no Democratic leader during the Bush years --- Obama was a largely unknown junior senator of no acclaim until he became president. They were wandering aimlessly in the woods for years, said Rush, but here we are six months into Obama's presidency (less than five months, actually), and the media thinks they have a big story. This is all about demoralizing conservatives and Republicans, said Rush. After another break, Rush demanded to know why the media aren't running stories on people who have lost their car dealerships because Obama, with his "empirical will," shut them down. How will this affect unemployment, Rush asked. There's a wealth of angles out there for the state-run media to pursue, said Rush, but they're not going to. Speaking of dealerships, Rush wanted to air some audio from his March 30 show, in which he said Obama knows nothing about cars, and the car companies need to be run by car people, but they are being run by financial people because they're essentially retirement funds at this point. Then Rush aired audio of the new GE CEO, Edward Whiteacre, saying he doesn't know anything about cars, but he knows about big business. Then, for some reason, we got into "birther" nonsense: "Hey, Mr. Snerdley, you know, a lot of people talk about Obama and his messianic complex. He does have one thing in common with God. Barack Obama has one thing in common with God. Do you know what it is? God does not have a birth certificate either." As we said when Rush fill-in Mark Steyn did the same thing in March, just when you think this birth certificate garbage -- which has been debunked more ways than anyone previously thought possible -- has died down, some prominent conservative always seems to recidivate in front of a powerful microphone. Moving on, Rush said the next story sounds like parody, but it isn't: "Researchers Debate 'Obama Effect' on Black Students' Test Scores." Rush was incredulous that there was an "Obama effect" on scholastic achievement, saying that the idea that anyone would go out and do such a study is an indication of how far gone everyone is on this notion that Obama is a god, like Evan Thomas said. After the break, Rush had another "God and Obama" zinger for us -- they're similar in that neither one has a birth certificate, but they differ in that God does not think he's Obama. Then he took his first caller, a woman who wondered if any of the people whose car dealerships have been closed are regretting having voted for Obama. Rush said there's no poll on this and the media won't poll this question anyway. What Rush does know, however, is that there is a "palpable fear" across the country of speaking out against Obama. And what polls do show, said Rush, is that while Obama's approval ratings are high, people do not agree with his policies. So, Rush said, there's going to be a meeting on the graph of these sentiments. His approval ratings have to give way at some point if people don't like what he's doing. Rush then said the Obama administration is falling apart, they're panicking and responding to the criticism that they're getting, which is primarily coming from this program. Just look at this pay-go announcement yesterday, said Rush. He's announcing pay-go after he's wrecked the economy and ruined the futures of children not yet born, but it's just a ruse to raise taxes. After one more quick break, Rush had one more hilarious installment of the Obama vs. God series: There's one more difference between Obama and God -- liberals love Obama. Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire. Highlights from Hour 1 Outrageous comments LIMBAUGH: I'm not going to sit here and say, "Come on, you Jews are being too insensitive about this." I think this guy has got a huge problem with Israel. I think he's got a huge problem with Judaism and Reverend Wright. I mean, this is the guy who Obama listened to for 20 years: "Them Jews -- them Jews won't let Obama speak to him." [...] LIMBAUGH: Hey, Mr. Snerdley, you know, a lot of people talk about Obama and his messianic complex. He does have one thing in common with God. Barack Obama has one thing in common with God. Do you know what it is? God does not have a birth certificate either. Ladies' man LIMBAUGH: I have been inundated with emails today from women who are outraged at what Michelle Obama is wearing. Drudge refers to it as "Michelle and the orange snake." She's wearing some outfit that -- if Sarah Palin had this outfit on, they would be ripping her to shreds. It would be a headline in every newspaper. Michelle Obama looks ridiculous. And they're talking about how fashion conscious she is and how fashion trend-setting she is, and it is embarrassing. That's what -- you know, I couldn't care less this stuff with -- but the women. What do you think of it, Dawn? You're looking at it. All right, so here's -- maybe her daughters made it and she wants to make them happy. It looks like an apron. I mean, it's just -- I don't know. But women are just -- they're just sending me the funniest emails about the way she is attired. I just know that if Sarah Palin put that kind of stuff on, you would never hear the end of it. |
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