This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Obama's apparatchiks
by Simon Maloy

Top of the hour, and Rush returned to attacking David Paterson and the proposed New York tax increases, claiming that after Limbaugh announced his intention to vacate the Big Apple, his affiliates have already begun offering their studios. Rush also claimed that Paterson has to come up with a new slogan for “liberal capital of the world” New York, something like: “It's never enough.” In what might be his closest-to-accurate statement of the afternoon, Rush predicted that New York would rejoice in Rush's absence.

After some quick attacks on Vice President Biden and Spanish President Zapatero, who “cut and ran” from Iraq after the Madrid train bombings, we once again returned to the grand unified conspiracy theory of Obama chaos, specifically that Rush still maintains that Obama “wants” all the chaos he can get. This all goes back to November, according to Rush, when the auto companies were asked to submit bailout plans that were never going to be accepted by the government because Obama's intention was always to take over the industry and turn it over to the unions. According to Rush, it's never the unions' fault, it's always the leadership. Well, leaders tend to take responsibility because they're in positions of responsibility. Funny how that happens. And, as we noted in the last hour, Obama said quite specifically that the unions would have to make more concessions to get things going, so they're not looking like the beneficiaries of yet another conspiracy.

Rush returned from the time out very upset that Obama had named a “labor economist,” Edward Montgomery, as the director of recovery for auto communities and workers. According to Rush, Montgomery is an “apparatchik,” and his new job sounds like something created by “totalitarian,” “authoritarian” regimes. From there Rush read extensively from an American Thinker article by Thomas Lifson, who wrote that government “assumes people must have whatever it produces.” According to Rush, that is the essence of Obama and his “arrogance.” Before heading into another break, Rush took a call from a man wondering how Ford had managed to avoid all the problems Chrysler and GM are facing. Rush said it was because Ford turned down bailout money, and that if he ran Ford, he would look at what car models the government will force GM and Chrysler to build, and do the opposite. That's because Rush is not convinced that green cars are the future of the industry, because Americans want big cars, and because “there is no shortage of oil!” And harmful carbon emissions are a “hoax!”

Back from the break and Rush took another caller, a woman outraged that GM CEO Rick Wagoner was asked to step down. Rush commiserated, claiming that there are ways to fix what ails the auto industry without government involvement -- like bankruptcy. People who know more about economics and such disagree on this particular point, arguing that auto industries going bankrupt would be “devastating.” Anyway, Rush repeated his not-at-all true claim that the auto industry unions are “never” asked to make “concessions,” and attacked Obama and the other “radicals” and “leftists” for attempting to seize American industry by using ACORN to stoke “hatred” and “envy” at corporations. According to Rush, America was the most prosperous nation on Earth “until Obama was elected.”

El Rushbo capped off the hour by attacking Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm for saying on Today this morning that Wagoner was a “sacrificial lamb,” and for saying that Obama's intention is for everyone to make “sacrifices” to get through these tough times. Rush “translated” this -- “sacrifice” means tax increases and losing personal freedom.

*Note: We're a little light on transcripts this hour due to a problem with our radio feed, which we have fixed.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Liberals, whether it's Granholm or Obama, they want every one of us to make sacrifices. We have to suffer, and that's their version of life: suffering. We must all suffer. We must pay for the consequences of our prosperity, and the only way to fix things is with mass sacrifice, mass suffering. Well, let me translate and define that for you. Mass sacrifice is tax increase upon tax increase upon tax increase upon loss of freedom upon loss of freedom. That's what they mean by sacrifice. You give up a little bit of you for the sake of the government growing large over you.

Echo Chamber

Cited Thomas Lifson from the American Thinker.