This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you Sonia Sotomayor, the “stealth pro-lifer”
By Simon Maloy

We noted yesterday that in part one of Limbaugh's sit-down with Sean Hannity, El Rushbo offered the well-reasoned and thoughtful opinion: “If Al Qaeda wants to demolish the America we know and love, they better hurry, because Obama's beating them to it.” Just in case that statement wasn't self-evidently foolish enough, we also explained why it was so foolish. But it turns out that it wasn't even a Limbaugh original -- he acknowledged in part two of Hannity-Limbaugh that he'd lifted it from a British newspaper. Then he endeavored to explain what he meant by it, and please stop us if you've heard this one before: “I think he's got a big chip on his shoulder.” So not only is President Obama angry, he's angrier than Al Qaeda. And with that, let's get to “Open Line Friday!”

Rush got things rolling by saying that we've learned that Sonia Sotomayor is mad at him -- he made her mad in 1998, when he predicted that she would be nominated to the Supreme Court. Also, Rush said, he's moved closer to determining whether or not she's a stealth pro-lifer. Rush also said that even though he's “sick and tired” of Obama, he's going to get to Obama's “sham of a show” in Germany, which, according to Rush, has left German chancellor Angela Merkel “not happy.” The reason she was upset, said Rush, was because Obama was “up there and he's ripping Germany, what it did 60, 65 years ago, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah -- one day, one day after praising to the hilt Islam and talking about how Islam is a nation -- America is a Muslim nation and so forth. Trust me on this; she wasn't happy.” It's not the core of what's wrong with what Limbaugh is saying, but we have to point out that Obama did not say that America is a Muslim nation.

Then Rush turned back to Sotomayor, reading from a New York Times article which reported: “In speech after speech over the years, Judge Sonia Sotomayor has returned to the themes of diversity, struggle, heritage and alienation that have both powered and complicated her nomination to the Supreme Court.” Rush said this article confirmed that he was right -- Sotomayor is a “racist,” and she's “focused on race” and her “gender.” The article, said Rush, says that Sotomayor is a “broken record on race.” Rush also noted that the Times reported: “In 1998, after she was confirmed to the appeals court, she recounted how she was vigorously questioned by senators based on what she called 'mischaracterization and misunderstanding of three of my decisions' by Rush Limbaugh.” This was evidence to Rush that “they” are clearly trying to paint him as the leader of the opposition to Sotomayor. Rush said that perhaps he is the leader of the opposition by default, since everyone else is backing off.

As for Sotomayor being a “stealth pro-lifer,” Rush read the entirety of a post by Ed Whelan of National Review on the “puzzles” in Sotomayor's questionnaire responses. Rush said we have Obama assuring everyone that she's pro-Roe, but she's saying that she hasn't talked to anyone about this, which leaves it an open question.

After the break, Rush noted that The Hill reported that the “White House first contacted Judge Sonia Sotomayor three days before news of a Supreme Court vacancy became public, according to a questionnaire President Obama's first high court nominee submitted Thursday afternoon.” Rush said this “just isn't kosher.” He didn't explain how it wasn't “kosher” even if the White House had a advance notice of a vacancy. But we should note that The New York Times reported in December 27, 2002 -- two-and-a-half years before a vacancy occurred -- that the Bush White House was vetting potential Supreme Court nominees.

Then it was on to polling - specifically the momentous news, in Rush's opinion, that Rasmussen's presidential approval index -- the difference between the number who strongly approve of the president and those who strongly disapprove -- for Obama has dropped to zero. Well, maybe not momentous, Rush said, because it's just one poll and he doesn't quite know what to make of it. But, Rush noted, Rasmussen found that Obama's ratings slipped after declaring the GM bankruptcy, and that 26 percent of respondents are open to boycotting GM. This means that nobody wants to support an Obama company, said Rush. This is an untold story -- a lot of people are not going to patronize GM because they don't want Obama's policies to work.

After another break, Rush took his first caller of “Open Line Friday!” who -- in predictable fashion -- agreed with everything Rush had just said. Specifically, he agreed with Rush's assessment that people will boycott GM because they don't want Obama to succeed. Rush had a message for people working for GM and in labor unions -- most Americans understand that Obama's America is not the America they know and love and grew up in. The reason people are going to boycott GM, Rush reiterated, is because they don't want this policy to work. Whatever else Obama ends up controlling, according to Rush, the American people are not going to want this to succeed. It's not opposition to GM or union workers, it's opposition to Obama.

Then he moved on to the unemployment rate, noting that it reached a 26-year high of 9.4 percent. Rush noted that Vice President Biden said that he and Obama will announce plans to “ramp up” the stimulus spending, to which Rush responded: “These people are autocrats. They're running everything out of the White House on their own initiative without consulting Congress. Of course, the Democrats in Congress don't care, and the Republicans in Congress may not know -- being charitable.” Anyway, Rush returned to attacking the “government-run” Associated Press and Reuters for trying to spin the unemployment numbers as good news. The numbers, Rush said, do not take into account people who have given up looking for work. Those numbers were always reported under Bush, said Rush, but under “Lord Obama” those numbers aren't even mention. The real unemployment number when you factor that in is something like 16 percent.

After airing a montage of the “state-run” media “spinning” the unemployment numbers, Rush said there's some more good news -- Goldman Sachs forecast that oil will be up to $85 a barrel by the end of the year. This meant, said Rush, that if there is any recovery, in spite of Obama's policies, oil prices are going to wipe it out.

Rush came back from the break by refocusing on Sotomayor and abortion, reading from a speech she gave in 2001 in which she said, in Rush's words, that lawyers filing suits on abortion shouldn't get federal money to do it. The only evidence we have that she is pro-Roe, said Rush, is that Obama has assured us, but Obama has said he didn't talk to her. So Rush didn't know what to think. A lot of people think this is nuts, he explained, because Obama wouldn't nominated anyone who isn't pro-Roe, but what if he doesn't really know? If he knows, said Rush, then someone is lying about having talked about it. Rush allowed that it could the case that she told some colleague somewhere that she supported Roe, and that person the White House, but she didn't indicate that on the questionnaire. She also praised Antonin Scalia, said Rush, who is a great writer -- like a “golf announcer.”

Yep. Like a golf announcer.

One more break and Rush came back pronouncing his “love” for the Israelis, who responded to Obama's call for Israel to stop building illegal settlements in the West Bank by building a wooden structure they called the “Obama hut.” Rush had this to add: "[T]hese huts that they are building in the West Bank are going to be much larger than the 6-by-9-square-foot hut his brother still lives in in Kenya." Just to be clear, the word “hut” cannot be mentioned on The Rush Limbaugh Show without this reference being made.

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

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Did you see Angela Merkel standing next to the guy? Put this in perpective. She was standing there, and she's not happy because, you know, he's -- they're not getting along and they haven't gotten along ever. So there he is. He's at Buchenwald today, the concentration camp, and he is beating Germany up. He's ripping them to shreds over something they did 60 years ago one day after praising all of Islam. Now, can you imagine? Now, of course Elie Wiesel gets up there and he does his thing, but it's 65 years here or close to it, and so she's up there, and did you see the look on her face? It's more than just solemnity on her face. Trust me, my friends, I know these things. And he's up there and he's ripping Germany, what it did 60, 65 years ago, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah -- one day, one day after praising to the hilt Islam and talking about how Islam is a nation -- America is a Muslim nation and so forth. Trust me on this; she wasn't happy.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Biden went on television today while Obama's over there wining and dining his wife in Paris and says, “You know what? We're going to speed up the stimulus spending.” You're going to speed it up? What, you just gonna do it by fiat, or are you gonna go back to Congress and have legislation for this? These people are autocrats. They're running everything out of the White House on their own initiative without consulting Congress. Of course, the Democrats in Congress don't care, and the Republicans in Congress may not know -- being charitable.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Obama yesterday, in his outreach of love and “please respect me” and “please raise my approval numbers” in his speech at Cairo University, he admonished the Israelis to stop building settlements on the West Bank. So the Israelis responded today by increasing their construction of what they're now calling “Obama huts,” although these huts that they are building in the West Bank are going to be much larger than the 6-by-9-square-foot hut his brother still lives in in Kenya.