This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by repetition, which brought you this hour of the Limbaugh Wire
By Simon Maloy

This is one of those days, folks. It's one of those days when we can listen to an entire broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show and hear nothing but the same thing, repeated ad nauseam, with increasing degrees of shrillness. For example, the overarching theme of today's program has and will continue to be President Obama's alleged plans to destroy the economy. For example, after spending an entire hour saying over and over that Obama is destroying the economy, Rush came back for hour two with: “A 'recovery act'? 'We've done more than ever, faster than ever'? Yes, to destroy the U.S. economy. If you want to add that, then it's a true statement. Barack Obama has done more than ever, faster than ever to singlehandedly put this economy into a tailspin -- and anybody with a brain knows this. You don't need a Ph.D in economics to understand this. All you need is a pair of eyes, and if you're blind, be able to hear and listen. You can see the tailspin this economy is in precisely because of his moving faster, better, whatever than ever before.”

Then Rush said -- and, again, stop us if you've heard this before -- that Obama wants to destroy the economy and free market economics because he wants more and more people on the government rolls, he wants statist government dominance and control. Rush said that we're down to the wire on stopping all this, and if the Democrats get health care reform, it will be tough to undo all of this, which he characterized as the biggest intervention in liberty that government can achieve.

Then Rush aired a variety of audio bites from Obama's remarks this afternoon on the economy, interspersing them with shouts about Obama destroying the economy, the recession being Obama's, etc. etc. etc. Seriously, if you didn't hear this portion of the show and want to experience what it was like, read a few past editions of the Limbaugh Wire while having someone blow a raspberry in your face. We figure that's a fairly good approximation of the spittle-flecked exercise in repetition.

After the break, Rush took his first caller of the afternoon, this one explaining that since private contractors are not eligible for unemployment, the unemployment rate could actually be artificially low. Rush said that the real unemployment rate is somewhere around 16 percent when you count the people who have stopped looking. Then Rush aired a sound bite of Obama from earlier in the year saying that he doesn't pay much attention to the daily fluctuations of the stock market and instead focuses on long-term economic strategy. The Rush aired a sound bite of Obama today saying that the market is up a bit. According to Rush, this means that Obama has nothing good to grasp on to, so he turned to the market.

After another break, Rush -- sigh... -- said that this “economic tailspin” we're in that was caused by Obama's economic policies is precisely why Rush said he wants Obama to fail. Obama's failure, said Rush for the nth time, means America's survival.

Then Rush noted that Judge Sonia Sotomayor “has broken her ankle. She fractured her ankle in an airport. She stumbled in the airport on her way to Senate meetings. Now the question is, would a white male judge have fractured his ankle in the same circumstances at the same airport on the way to Senate meetings?” Hilarious.

Rush then took another call, this one from a woman who said that it's great that Michelle Obama and the kids are in Paris and Obama's golfing while she's out futilely looking for work. The caller also wanted to know how much more Americans are going to be paying for national health care. Rush said everyone is going to be paying more in taxes, and Obama is planning on reducing, if not eliminating, tax deductions for top brackets. It's a disaster that he has planned, said Rush, and people are going to be laid off as everyone is required to have health insurance. And just in case you haven't been convinced already on this whole concept of repetition we've noted, Rush added: “We're on the cusp of an unmitigated national disaster and catastrophe. There is no possible way to overstate this. Folks, you know me. I am not an alarmist. I am an optimist. I try to find the good things about every day. I want to enjoy life and I want to help as many other people enjoy life. But I'll tell you, what I see coming down the pike, as it gets worse and worse and worse, the architects of this saying, 'Let's do more of what's making it worse' -- that it's time to put the foot down. This is an unmitigated disaster. It is an Obama-caused tailspin and it has to be stopped. It must be stopped for the sake of everybody's kids and grandkids and great-grandkids, and the country as well.”

After another break, Rush came back with another knee-slapper about Sotomayor's broken ankle that sounded suspiciously familiar: “Given Sotomayor's preference for Latinas in every walk of life, I hope she can find a wise Latina doctor to set that ankle as opposed to an average white doctor, because the wise Latina doctor has a much richer experience with broken ankles, probably do a much better job of setting that ankle than an average white doctor who has not lived the rich experiences of the Latina med student and resident.” It get's funnier with each... what's the word we're looking for?

Anyway, Rush then announced that Snerdley is concerned that he'll be accused of talking down the economy. Rush response -- while spitting, we might add -- was: “I hope so. I really hope so. Let them accuse me of talking down the economy, because what I'm doing is simply chronicling reality. This economy is tanking, brought about precisely and directly because of the policies of Obama and his administration.”

Moving on to other topics that he's addressed ad infinitum, Rush aired audio of Newt Gingrich's comments on CBS' Face the Nation in which he rejected “purists” like Rush and welcomed moderates like Colin Powell in the Republican Party. Rush explained something for us, “for the record” -- he is not a purist, he's a conservative, plain and simple. Conservatives don't always agree with each other, said Rush. Look at Reagan -- he got independents and Democrats to vote for him, but not by pretending to be one of them. He didn't change who he was. Powell voted for Obama, said Rush, and found McCain unacceptable, and someone has to explain to him why he's supposed to be proud of that.

Rush rounded out the hour with a caller who wanted to talk about the fine D-Day speech by the “foreigner” Sarkozy [note: Sarkozy's speech was delivered in France], and the “embarrassing” speech by Obama, who was rambling and hypocritical. After the caller noted that Obama included this line in his speech -- “Citizens of all faiths and no faith came to believe that we could not remain as bystanders to the savage perpetration of death and destruction” -- Rush said that this was a nod to securing the “atheist vote,” adding: “I don't blame some Americans, in fact, throwing away faith in God looking at what's happened to their country.”

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

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: What he has done has put us into the tailspin. This is the point that must reverberate coast to coast, town to town, city to city, border to border. What Barack Obama has done, what his administration has done, has put us in the tailspin.

OBAMA [audio clip]: We decided to move swiftly and boldly. And I signed the Recovery Act into law just over 100 days ago, and we've done more than ever, faster than ever, more responsibly than ever to get the gears of the economy moving again.

LIMBAUGH: That's just a -- that's a flat-out out and out lie and there is no other way to characterize it. A “recovery act”? “We've done more than ever, faster than ever”? Yes, to destroy the U.S. economy. If you want to add that, then it's a true statement. Barack Obama has done more than ever, faster than ever to singlehandedly put this economy into a tailspin -- and anybody with a brain knows this.

You don't need a Ph.D in economics to understand this. All you need is a pair of eyes, and if you're blind, be able to hear and listen. You can see the tailspin this economy is in precisely because of his moving faster, better, whatever than ever before.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has broken her ankle. She fractured her ankle in an airport. She stumbled in the airport on her way to Senate meetings. Now the question is, would a white male judge have fractured his ankle in the same circumstances at the same airport on the way to Senate meetings?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: We're on the cusp of an unmitigated national disaster and catastrophe. There is no possible way to overstate this. Folks, you know me. I am not an alarmist. I am an optimist. I try to find the good things about every day. I want to enjoy life and I want to help as many other people enjoy life. But I'll tell you, what I see coming down the pike, as it gets worse and worse and worse, the architects of this saying, “Let's do more of what's making it worse” -- that it's time to put the foot down. This is an unmitigated disaster. It is an Obama-caused tailspin and it has to be stopped. It must be stopped for the sake of everybody's kids and grandkids and great-grandkids, and the country as well.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor fracturing her ankle in an airport on the way to Senate meetings. Given Sotomayor's preference for Latinas in every walk of life, I hope she can find a wise Latina doctor to set that ankle as opposed to an average white doctor, because the wise Latina doctor has a much richer experience with broken ankles, probably do a much better job of setting that ankle than an average white doctor who has not lived the rich experiences of the Latina med student and resident.

[...]

Now Snerdley thinks I'm going to be accused of talking down the economy. I hope so. I really hope so. Let them accuse me of talking down the economy, because what I'm doing is simply chronicling reality. This economy is tanking, brought about precisely and directly because of the policies of Obama and his administration.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: He's just trying not to offend anybody. You know, that's -- you know, he's trying to get the atheist vote. What the hell? I mean, everything with him is a political event. That's -- campaign event, and the atheist vote is a growing vote. I mean, you know, if -- I don't blame some Americans, in fact, throwing away faith in God looking at what's happened to their country. You know, some people are going to say, “What -- where is god? Save my country.” I'm being halfway facetious here, folks, but I mean, he's -- the atheist vote, the agnostic vote, he's aiming for it. That's what that comment was all about.