We came so close... so close...
By Simon Maloy

It's the final hour, and Rush kicked it off explaining that he was being asked to explain why the Democrats are treating AIG employees more harshly than detainees at Guantánamo Bay. Rush said, once again, that AIG is all a distraction designed to stoke hatred among Americans for capitalism, but he heard a “rumor” that those “who got bonuses at AIG and Merrill Lynch will be transferred to Club Gitmo, Guantánamo Bay, after the terrorists there are released on American soil.”

Rush then lauded the work of Victor Davis Hanson, specifically this piece entitled “The 'Depression' for Us Idiots.” Before the break, Rush had a little more ranting to get through on investigations into AIG, saying that the rich will flee New York City and the city will get “creamed” by the loss of tax revenue. The New York Times, however, says there's absolutely no evidence to back up that theory. Then he laid into Lawrence Wilkerson for saying on MSNBC that Rush and Cheney are “fear-mongering,” saying: “That's what you are, Mr. Wilkerson, a failure. And the failures and losers who've worked in Republican administrations always find voice on MSNBC, don't they?”

After the break, Rush offered an extended plug for BG Products and mocked Obama for saying today that the Ford Model T got better gas mileage than a modern-day SUV. Rush attributed this to... wait for it... the teleprompter, which has apparently grown sentient and is having some fun at the president's expense. After another caller and another break, Rush noted that Obama said at his townhall yesterday that higher taxes on wealthy Americans “allows us to pay for health-care reform for a lot of people out there working every day but are one illness away from bankruptcy,” and “I don't think that's unreasonable. I don't think that's socialism. I think that's a realization that we're all in this together.” Not surprisingly, Rush disagreed. Raising taxes on the rich? "[O]f course it's socialism. It's socialism-lite, so whatever you want." Ahhh... great-tasting, less-filling Socialism Lite!

Things got a little strange after that. A caller described to Rush an encounter he'd had the previous evening with some Obama-supporting truckers who threatened him at a rest stop because he listened to Rush Limbaugh. Rush was intensely interested in the man's tale, particularly the fact that one of the truckers had to put down his boxed chicken dinner to accost the caller with his karate moves. Rush thought it sad that conservatives might be losing the truckers, until Snerdley pointed out that they might have been Teamsters. So, watch out, you chicken-eating, black-belt Teamsters out there with chips on your shoulders. You've been exposed...

Before the break, Rush came so close to bestowing upon the Limbaugh Wire the legitimacy we so desperately crave but probably don't deserve. He noted that Barney Frank was asked on MSNBC last night about Fox News and Rush Limbaugh accusing him of McCarthyism, and he said that MSNBC got the question from Media Matters: "Media Matters is running this daily -- never mind." This daily what, Rush? This daily WHAT?! To leave it hanging like that is just cruel...

Anyway, after that crushing letdown, we somehow managed to monitor the rest of the show, during which Limbaugh expressed confusion as to why Democrats dislike being called communists, because they “love every communist regime to come down the pike.” According to Rush: “What was so bad about being accused of being a communist? The problem with McCarthy was that he was right too many times about things.” He closed out the show taking a few shots at the “once-brave” Jim Cramer of CNBC, saying that Cramer's recent praise of Obama's economic maneuverings on Mad Money (after criticizing Obama two weeks ago) was like “a hostage video.”

That's a wrap for today's Limbaugh Wire. Tune in tomorrow to see if we'll have our hopes and dreams crushed once again, and be sure to catch up on The World According to Limbaugh, courtesy of Media Matters for America.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: I have been asked to explain, ladies and gentlemen, to you why Democrats are treating AIG employees worse than the detainees at Club Gitmo, and of course I could explain this, but it's to miss the point. The whole point here is to create a distraction, a diversion to get you hating capitalism and capitalists. It is designed to -- all this is manufactured. It's a totally manufactured sense of outrage and crisis.

And I've heard a rumor out there the Obama administration, they're getting really -- I mean, they're -- in order to see this thing all the way through, there is a rumor that employees who got bonuses at AIG and Merrill Lynch will be transferred to Club Gitmo, Guantánamo Bay, after the terrorists there are released on American soil. So, Guantánamo Bay will house AIG and Merrill Lynch employees, while the various Abdullahs and Mahmouds and so forth that are down there now will be released, some of them -- Eric Holder said -- right here on American soil.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Barney Frank was asked last night on MSNBC the following question: “Fox News and Rush Limbaugh are accusing you of McCarthyism.” It was Martha MacCallum who did this. And by the way, Media Matters has - that's where they got the question by the way, because I -- the -- Media Matters is running this daily -- never mind. That's where this -- these people at MSNBC would be lost without Media Matters to tell them what happened and what questions to ask. So here's Barney's answer.

Enemies list

Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell:

LIMBAUGH: Mr. Wilkerson, it's not me, telling the American people to hate their fellow citizens based on how much they earn or what line of work they're in -- that would be your friends, Mr. Wilkerson. It's not me dividing America based on race and age and wealth -- that would be your friends, Mr. Wilkerson. It's not me dividing America based on race and age and wealth -- that would be your friends, Mr. Wilkerson.

It's not me reaching out to mass murdering regimes throughout the world -- that would be your friends, Mr. Wilkerson. Mr. Wilkerson, you worked for a failed secretary of State, and thus he is a failed aide to a failed secretary of State. That's what you are, Mr. Wilkerson, a failure. And the failures and losers who've worked in Republican administrations always find voice on MSNBC, don't they? And they end up spewing hate and division 24/7. That's you, Mr. Wilkerson.

CNBC's Jim Cramer:

LIMBAUGH: This is a hostage video. They had to have Jim Cramer hostage last night on his own show because -- let's listen to this: March 3rd, 16 days ago.

[begin audio clip]

CRAMER: We have an agenda in this country now that I would regard as being a radical agenda. I think that we had a budget that came out that basically put a level of fear into this country that I've not seen ever in my life, and I think that that changed everything.

MATT LAUER (NBC Today co-host): So, the policies are not shareholder-friendly?

CRAMER: Shareholder-friendly? This is the most -- greatest wealth destruction I've seen by a president.

[end audio clip]

LIMBAUGH: That's just 16 days ago. Jim Cramer, but a hostage situation, or either Stockholm syndrome has taken over. Jim Cramer now with his mind right.

“Socialism” watch

LIMBAUGH: Going after a line of attack Republicans have used against him, Obama insisted, “I don't think it's unreasonable to raise taxes on the rich. I don't think that's socialism.” I don't know what -- of course it's socialism. It's socialism-lite, so whatever you want. You know the labels here: statism, collectivism, whatever you want to call it. It's certainly from each according to his means, to each according to his needs.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Oh, this is a popular myth -- that McCarthy falsely accused people of things. Mr. Frank, what he was falsely accusing people of being communists. What's so bad about being a communist? You liberal Democrats love every communist regime to come down the pike from the Sandanistas, to Hugo Chavez, to Fidel Castro, to, of course, the Soviet Union. What was so bad about being accused of being a communist?

The problem with McCarthy was that he was right too many times about things. That's - if he was wrong about it, they would have made a joke and laughed about it and so forth, but he was getting too close in a lot of ways. McCarthyism is one of these things that's so greatly misunderstood and now misreported and exaggerated.

Barney doesn't even get the irony here. He doesn't even understand Joe McCarthy sat there on a committee and was basically using the power of government to impugn, legally or not, falsely or not, private citizens.

Barney Frank is doing the same thing, demanding their names be made public, that their bonuses be turned back, even after being told that they are being threatened and they fear for their own safety. Barney Frank -- “I don't care. I don't care. The names will be released. I want them here in the committee. It's not McCarthy. I don't care what it is. The names will be released. I don't care what you say.”

So, people, this is the unbridled power of government that doesn't seem to be stoppable.