This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the Limbaugh GOP blacklist
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour started with a nifty trick -- ranting at length about Colin Powell while simultaneously professing not to care what Powell has to say. According to CongressDaily, Powell said of Limbaugh: “I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without.” Rush responded: “I just think he's just mad at me because I'm the one person in the country that had the guts to explain his endorsement of Obama. It was purely and solely based on race. There can be no other explanation for it.” Rush also suggested that Powell “close the loop” and become a Democrat. So if you're keeping score at home, the Limbaugh GOP blacklist now includes John McCain, Meghan McCain, Sam Brownback, and Colin Powell.

Then Rush moved on to the Politico, which is reporting that Frank Luntz warned congressional Republicans that health care reform is very popular “and that lawmakers need to try to avoid directly opposing President Barack Obama.” Rush was not impressed, claiming that Luntz was advocating that the Republicans give up arguing about the capitalism and free markets. The way to look at this, Rush said, is that people on the conservative side are agonizing over how Democratic policies can be made acceptable, and all the while ignoring talk of great policies from the past that have worked.

This is the way to think of all this, said Rush: Liberal voters don't care about policy because they have their “beliefs,” such as Republicans are racists, sexists, bigots, want to screw the little guy, while Democrats are compassionate and tolerant. There's no policy that demonstrates these beliefs to be well-founded, said Rush, but that doesn't matter because you don't need evidence in order to believe in something.

After the break, Rush aired audio of Akbar Ahmed, chairman of Islamic studies at American University, who appeared on CNN this morning, saying that Obama's biggest headache right now is not Rush Limbaugh; it's Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rush said Pakistan did a stupid thing, they gave an entire province to the Taliban at the urging of the Obama administration. If by “urging” he meant "opposition," then he's right: “Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is criticizing Pakistan over a peace deal with the Taliban.”

The Rush aired audio of Eric Cantor responding to Limbaugh on MSNBC this morning by saying that the National Council for a New America has not embarked on a “listening tour.” “Good!” Rush said. He allowed that it may have been “misreported,” but that's understandable, Rush said, because Jeb Bush was out there saying there were going to “listen.” According to Rush, it doesn't matter where in the media these Republicans choose to go, the press is going to try and drive a wedge between Rush and the GOP.

After another break, Rush read a note from a friend who asked why Republicans were on a listening tour and said they wouldn't need a listening tour if they were actually listening and recognizing the popularity of Rush and Sarah Palin. Then Rush aired a montage of CNN's Jack Cafferty talking about Rush's comments on the NCNA and Sarah Palin. Rush asked why Cafferty cared so much about Rush and Palin if they're just irrelevant jokes. It's because he's jealous of Rush and afraid of Palin, Rush said.

Then it was time for a caller who said that the authors of the torture memos should not be punished or reprimanded in any way because they were just seeing how far the bounds could be pushed, and it all boils down to intent. Rush agreed, saying the caller has to understand that the Justice Department also agrees that intent is key to all this, but only when John Demjanjuk faces extradition to Germany, where his lawyers say he'll be tortured. As we explained in the last hour, no one wants to “torture” Demjanjuk, it's Demjanjuk's lawyers who are arguing that his deportation would be tantamount to torture, and the courts said that argument wouldn't fly.

One more caller before the break, this one lamenting that Obama and the left had succeeded in destroying another private citizen -- Miss California. The caller said the “idiot” blogger Perez Hilton “had no right” to ask her about gay marriage, and it was a shame that Miss California couldn't speak her mind. Rush said this is standard operating procedure for the left: Don't debate; destroy. The left is on the march, plain and simple.

On the other side of the break, Rush offered yet another example of our favorite bit of hypocrisy, advertising for GM's Total Confidence Plan. As we love pointing out, Rush previously used the term "dingleberry" to describe whoever it was that came up with the Total Confidence Plan, but that was before the ad dollars came rolling in.

One more break and Rush closed out with a couple of callers, the first one saying that the tea parties were what Cantor and Jeb Bush should have been listening to. Rush corrected him, saying that Cantor explained that they're not really listening. The second caller wanted Rush to expand on Obama's plan to close tax loopholes for U.S. businesses. Rather than explaining Obama's plan, Rush offered what was behind Obama's plan -- specifically, Obama's belief that businesses and people exist to fund the government, and Obama's desire to control as much of the private sector as possible and return the nation's wealth to its rightful owners.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Colin Powell is out there saying the American people want more taxes. They want bigger government. He's out there saying, “I am killing the Republican Party,” while he endorsed and voted for Obama. The Republican Party nominated the exact kind of candidate Colin Powell thinks the Republican Party should have and he still endorsed Obama.

I just think he's just mad at me because I'm the one person in the country that had the guts to explain his endorsement of Obama. It was purely and solely based on race. There can be no other explanation for it. Now what Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat, instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican Party. He's not. He's a full-fledged Democrat.

The only reason to endorse Obama is race. I don't think Powell thinks that he could get away with not endorsing Obama because the Republicans nominated the exact candidate that had the exact campaign, other than Sarah Palin, that Colin Powell advocated.

Clips from this hour

Limbaugh repeats his claim that Powell's endorsement of Obama was “purely and solely based on race”

Limbaugh responds to Cantor's downplaying of “listening” tour: “Good!”

Limbaugh: Obama thinks “union people” “have effectively been raped by American capitalism, and they have a lot of stuff coming due”