This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by terrorist Limbaugh's “standing O” for Obama's speech
By Simon Maloy

Well, we're back from our overrated vacation and we're ready for El Rushbo to expeditiously negate all the rest and relaxation we accrued over the past week. Much thanks to Greg and Karl for the superlative job they did with the Wire. We're ready to get back to it if you are, but you'll have to forgive us if we're a little slow -- we're still on Ulan Bator time (and we have no idea what we're going to do with all these leftover tögrögs).

Rush got things started by saying it was a “fascinating morning,” what with "[d]ueling national security speeches by Fidel Cast -- uh, Barack Obama. We got Castro'd. We got Castro'd by Fidel -- uh, Barack Obama. He just kept going and going and going." Rush said that he'd never seen Obama so defensive, and he enjoyed seeing the “liberals” on the cable networks -- like Lawrence O'Donnell and Bob Beckel -- “foaming at the mouth” over Dick Cheney's speech. The reason they're angry, said Rush, is because Cheney is “effective.” Just look at the latest CNN poll on Cheney, Rush advised, which found that his approval numbers have gone up since he's started defending Bush and America. Not for nothing, CNN's polling director said of that very same poll: “Is Cheney's uptick due to his visibility as one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration? Almost certainly not.”

Rush then declared that Guantánamo is “100 percent” Obama's issue -- you can't argue that it's an issue that extends back to the previous administration, like the economy, said Rush. No, seriously. Rush said that Obama's actions regarding the terrorist detention camp the Bush administration opened and operated has nothing to do with Bush. Anyway, Rush then claimed that the Obama administration is “really not coordinated” on Guantánamo because: “The White House yesterday, Gibbs out there saying, 'Yeah, closing -- our announcement to close Guantánamo was a hasty decision. We're thinking about it.' ” That's not true -- Gibbs later clarified saying that he was referring to actions taken by the former administration, not the decision to close Gitmo.

Rush explained that Obama was so “defensive” today because he knows Obama's “personality type.” Putting on his Freud hat, Rush theorized: “Barack Obama has accomplished nothing. Barack Obama is where he is because of his perceived brain power. He's perceived to be smart and brilliant, a great speaker, but what's he ever done but organize a bunch of election fraud experts over at ACORN and pal around with some dubious characters? One of his best friends is a terrorist, in fact -- Bill Ayers.” Rush concluded that Obama has a “minor messianic complex.”

And now, Rush said, Obama is going after waterboarding, calling it “torture.” Rush rejoined: “Now, the waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and two others -- just so you remember, folks -- led to the successful obstruction of an attack of the city of Los Angeles. Every one of you in Los Angeles should know that had Barack Obama been president the last eight years, your city would have suffered a nuclear attack. Waterboarding saved an attack on Los Angeles.” First off, L.A. was never under threat of a nuclear attack by terrorists -- a statement Limbaugh later corrected, explaining that he “misspoke.” Secondly, it's highly unlikely that the waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed had nothing to do with foiling the plot on Los Angeles, since that plot, according to the Bush administration, was foiled before Mohammed was even captured.

After the first break, Rush proclaimed that these kinds of speeches from Obama are “getting old” and that he thinks that the economy is “crashing” because of “speeches like this.” Declining to explain that one, Rush took issue with Obama's inclusion of snippets of his personal story in today's national security speech: “Obama knows that he's got to fuel it and I am here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that only a charismatic demagogue highly skilled in the low art of political seduction would try to weave his personal story talking about his communist parents who both abandoned him by the way, into a discussion on national security.” Rush said that Obama's speeches are “dangerous” and “tiresome” and “the height of narcissism.” We'll take his word for it on that last one, because if there's anyone who can recognize narcissism ... Anyway, Rush led into the break by saying that if he were a terrorist, he “would have been tempting to give him a standing ovation because essentially Barack Obama apologized to terrorists all over the world for the last eight years of the previous administration.”

Back from the break, Rush said that Obama keeps talking about Gitmo as a recruiting tool for terrorists, and we know that waterboarding saved Los Angeles from a terrorist attack (no, it didn't), so he has to ask the people of Los Angeles how effective a recruitment tool an attack on their city would have been. The Rush pointed to a Christian Science Monitor blog post speculating that Obama, in running late today, was “trying to run out the clock” on Cheney and “make it difficult on networks to carry former Vice President Cheney's speech.” Rush said this was absolutely correct. We're not so sure this makes any sense, though, unless the cable networks' rumored “no Cheney speeches after eleven” rule is actually real. Anyway, Rush went on to lovingly air a bunch of sound bytes from the former vice president's speech, announcing his full and complete agreement with every statement Cheney made. Rush found the speech to be “compelling,” and dismissed the idea that he might be “biased,” alleging that his only bias is for love of truth, country, and freedom. After some more Cheney sound bytes, Rush declared that Obama was so defensive today because he's “angry” -- he has a chip on his shoulder and is angry that anyone would dare challenge any decision he makes. Obama has, said Rush, a partisan anger directed at Bush and Republicans.

One more break and Rush came back chuckling that Obama referred to Defense Secretary Robert Gates as “William Gates” prior to his speech today, saying that the teleprompter really “shafted” Obama and “scored one” on the president today. Yes, heaven forbid he should misspeak, like saying Los Angeles faced nuclear annihilation ... Then Rush noted that The New York Times reported this morning that Obama “told human rights advocates at the White House on Wednesday that he was mulling the need for a 'preventive detention' system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to national security but cannot be tried.” This, according to Rush, is the studied low art of political seduction. He's telling people that he's going to be righteous, but what he's saying in public is not at all what he's saying it private. He's not what he says he is.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: It has been a fascinating morning, ladies and gentlemen. Dueling national security speeches by Fidel Cast -- uh, Barack Obama. We got Castro'd. We got Castro'd by Fidel -- uh, Barack Obama. He just kept going and going and going. I have never seen President Obama as defensive as he was today.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Folks, I felt like I was watching a Castro speech, it just -- on and on and on and on and on and on, and it was as defensive as it could have been. Never seen Obama this defensive.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The perspective that I saw him adopt was as a lawyer making the case for terrorists and having access to the U.S. court system, not making the case for terrorists and their actions.

Don't misunderstand me here. But he almost sounded as one who had to speak up in defense of the terrorists and their legal rights and how those legal rights had been bastardized and destroyed by the previous administration. I have never heard a president in a speech use the word “I” more than Obama did today, and I've never heard a president in a speech use the term “previous administration” more than Obama did today. Now, why was he defensive? I think I know. I know -- I know the personality type. Barack Obama has accomplished nothing. Barack Obama is where he is because of his perceived brain power. He's perceived to be smart and brilliant, a great speaker, but what's he ever done but organize a bunch of election fraud experts over at ACORN and pal around with some dubious characters? One of his best friends is a terrorist, in fact -- Bill Ayers.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Ultimately, every speech that Obama makes is about him, and this one was no exception. And that's because his followers all have a personal, emotional investment in Obama. Obama knows that he has got to fuel it. But I am here to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that only a charismatic demagogue highly skilled in the low art of political seduction would try to weave his personal story -- talking about his two communist parents who both abandoned him, by the way -- into a discussion on national security.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Had I been a terrorist, were I a terrorist, I would have been prompted to give Obama's speech a standing O today. It would have been tempting to give him a standing ovation because essentially Barack Obama apologized to terrorists all over the world for the last eight years of the previous administration.

America's Truth Rejector

Repeated “hasty decision” distortion regarding Gitmo:

LIMBAUGH: Guantánamo Bay is 100 percent Obama. Two days after he takes office, he announces he's going to close it. He didn't have any plan for closing it. His own party says, “No, we're not going to pay for that.” “No, we're not going to have terrorists released into the United States,” said Dingy Harry. Obama says -- the White House -- Obama White House yesterday said, “Well, it was a hasty decision.” They are really not coordinated on this. The White House yesterday, Gibbs out there saying, “Yeah, closing -- our announcement to close Guantánamo was a hasty decision. We're thinking about it.” Obama comes out there today defiant as hell -- “Hell's bells, I'm closing the place.” It was almost as though he was a lawyer.

Repeated debunked claim that the waterboarding of KSM thwarted an attack on Los Angeles:

LIMBAUGH: Now, the waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and two others -- just so you remember, folks -- led to the successful obstruction of an attack of the city of Los Angeles. Every one of you in Los Angeles should know that had Barack Obama been president the last eight years, your city would have suffered a nuclear attack. Waterboarding saved an attack on Los Angeles. Now, if you're in Los Angeles, you can feel guilty or you can feel grateful, but using Obama's professed techniques and not using waterboarding and other things that he hit hard today, rest assured that we would have not gotten the information that allowed us to thwart a terror attack on Los Angeles. Terrorist attack. Did I say nuclear? Terrorist attack, terrorist attack. I'm sorry. I did -- I misspoke. I'm allowed to misspeak now that I am the former titular head of the GOP.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh: “Were I a terrorist, I would have been prompted to give Obama's speech a standing o[vation] today”

Limbaugh on Obama's speech: “We got Castro'd”