Rush says Obama “wants to be the black FDR”

By Greg Lewis

Rush kicked things off today with what he called the “most ridiculous headline of the day”: a Politico article stating that President Obama “plans to take further steps to reduce the deficit in next year's budget.” Rush went on to say that our country is releasing terrorists from Guantánamo Bay and prosecuting interrogators, all of which is “very serious stuff.” Then Rush briefly read from a report from a “listening session” held by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) where he reportedly declared that there would be no health care bill “before Christmas.” Rush then went back to the previously teased Politico story, calling it a “stenography story.”

From there, Rush declared that it was Obama's plan to “wreck the private sector,” and said that Obama “wants to be the black FDR,” adding that "[i]f you go back and look at some of FDR's fireside chats, you'll see FDR did the same thing: talked a big, big conservative game, but was out there ripping private businesses and enterprise all to shreds as the big demons, as the big villains."

Rush fearmongers: "[W]e are dangerously close to being at greater risk from a foreign attack than we have ever been

Then Rush reminisced about the state of the economy nearly a year ago, when Washington was “hysterical in meltdown” that the world was going to fall apart unless TARP was passed in 24 hours. Rush asked: between then and now, “what has changed for the good?” What has gotten better? Rush declared: “Not one thing.” He continued to fearmonger:

LIMBAUGH: In fact, we are dangerously close to being at greater risk from a foreign attack than we have ever been. [...] We are now turning our enemies into the good guys. We are turning us into the villains of the world. We are turning our own country into the villains of the world. We are going back and prosecuting people who saved American lives.

Rush went on to declare that waterboarding Khalid Shaikh Mohammed “worked” but now we're upset that we might have upset his psyche. Then Rush took his hyperbole to new, albeit played-out, levels, invoking campaign-boogeyman Bill Ayers:

LIMBAUGH: This is about Bill Ayers getting his completed work done by Barack Obama and Eric Holder. Bill Ayers, who blew up the Pentagon; Bill Ayers -- an Obama buddy, anti-America, anti-America supremacy, anti-America superpower -- trying to cut this country down to size from the SDS days in the '60s. And now, he's got his guy in the White House who's pulling this off.

Rush said that prosecuting the previous administration is what happens in banana republics. He described the “two-pronged purpose” of this: to distract everyone from failure of health care, and to get the lunatic fringe back on board with his administration. Rush also declared that Eric Holder was investigating people who saved American lives, and went on to say that Obama “does not like this country” because he has a “chip on his shoulder.”

Rush: “Obama has turned this into a [...] fascist nation -- think Mussolini”

Rush then boldly declared that Democrats are being “sacrificed on the altar of Obama's authoritarian fascism.” He continued:

LIMBAUGH: We've gotta stop calling it socialism, folks, 'cause socialism's lost its bite, and what he's doing is really not socialism anyway. Socialism is when the government owns the means of production. Fascism is where politicians run it, but it's privately owned. We are fascists. Obama has turned this into a fascist nation -- think Mussolini.

Rush closed out his monologue by saying that he likes seeing Obama and his party commit political suicide, but asked who expires first: our country or the Democrat [sic] Party?

After the break, Rush again referenced back to the Politico article on Obama's deficit-cutting intentions. Rush asked what Obama is doing about the deficit and unemployment -- nothing, declared Rush, because that's what Obama wants. Rush went on to state that he has not heard Obama or his “sycophants” explain how health care reform would improve the quality of medicine -- Rush said they haven't because their policy won't improve it “by design.”

Rush on CIA investigation: Obama administration now “doing the bidding of terrorists”

Then Rush declared that Obama's Department of Justice has “officially” declared war against the CIA, and noted that Holder's law firm provided lawyers to represent terrorists at Guantánamo. However, after another commercial break, Rush noted that these lawyers worked pro bono. Still, Rush said that the Obama administration was “doing the bidding of terrorists now” because “the enemy” is the one who benefits from this. It's not about due process, human rights, or American ideals, explained Rush, it's about undermining our intelligence services, which the left always hated, going back to Jimmy Carter.

Then it was back to health care, with Rush -- who has previously used dog kenneling and auto insurance as analogies for health care -- compared health care to food (a comparison that has previously been done better by Ezra Klein).

Rush sums up WSJ op-ed: “Culturally, [Obama's] not American”

Next, Rush referenced a Public Policy Polling poll in Arkansas, which found independents in the state think Limbaugh has a “better vision for America” than Barack Obama. Rush also read Dick Cheney's reaction to recently released CIA documents. Then Rush moved on to an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by Fouad Ajami. Rush gave his own “synthesizing” of the piece:

LIMBAUGH: I can summarize this piece. Fouad Ajami says Barack Obama is not American -- not that he wasn't born here, not that he's false, and not that he's, you know, violating the Constitution. Culturally, he's not American.

Rush went on to read the column at length. Before the hour closed out, Rush pondered that swine flu is a distraction and an attempt to “sow chaos” at every turn.

Rush thinks interrogation techniques used by CIA are “pretty clever”

The second hour began with Rush expressing a sense of regret about his opening hour -- Rush lamented having to say the president doesn't like America, but the evidence was “overpowering.” Rush then called Obama a “coward” for hiding behind the notion that it is Holder who is behind the investigation of CIA interrogators. Rush then admitted that his stomach was in knots during the first hour, and hoped that he was wrong, although he didn't think he was. Rush also didn't like “concluding the obvious” from Ajami's Journal piece, that Obama is not an American, culturally.

Rush continued to talk about the CIA interrogators. He mentioned reports that interrogators threatened detainees with a power drill and staged mock executions of other detainees. “If this is true,” said Rush, “I think they're pretty clever techniques. I think they're pretty clever techniques, and they're not harmful. They're not harmful to me.” Then Rush referenced a UK Telegraph story that CIA interrogators threatened the families of detainees. “This is a problem?” asked Rush.

Next, Rush aired audio clips of himself from previous broadcasts, where he predicted how Obama was going to speed through health care reform, and how Obama “loves” crisis. Rush said that Obama is not an optimist, and that he's joyless, humorless and does not believe in American exceptionalism.

After the break, Rush aired audio clips from Obama this morning announcing that he would re-appoint Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Rush continued to criticize the way Obama has handled the economy. What jobs saved? asked Rush in response to Obama. What tax cuts? Rush called this “purposeful detachment from reality.”

Rush swiftly changed topics back to the investigation of CIA interrogators. Rush argued that Obama previously vowed not to look backwards several months ago.

Open Line Tuesday?

After another break, Rush took a slew of callers. The first caller of today's program believed that the CIA investigation has to do with Obama's “major dislike” of the Bushes, and told Rush that it doesn't matter if we waterboarded detainees 183 times, because they were going to kill themselves anyway. Rush said the caller's waterboard tally was a lie, and said KSM was only waterboarded once. The next caller up claimed to be a Marine who served at Guantánamo for seven months in 2002, and called the interrogations a “joke.”

The next caller on the program suggested that if health care reform would be so great, the administration should test-market it first. Rush said we have already seen it tested -- Medicare, the VA, DMV, War on Poverty, Great Society -- we have seen it already and it has failed. The next caller wanted to know what to think of the comment that we'd be joining the rest of the industrialized world by passing universal health care. Rush's response that he doesn't see anybody leaving this country to get major life-saving surgery elsewhere. It's just the opposite. The caller after the next break wanted to know when the Democrats would throw Obama “over the side” since they're now starting to realize he's an “absolute disaster.” Rush doubted this would happen, but again described how Obama is destroying his own party.

Hour three began how hour one didn't -- with a whimper. Rush bemoaned the fact that John McCain was at a town hall today saying that if the Democrats dropped the public option, they could get Republicans involved in supporting reform. Rush exclaimed in response to McCain: No, stay away from it, let the Democrats own it. We don't need bipartisanship, declared Rush.

Then Rush went back to the poll by PPP -- a bunch of “libs” in North Carolina, he called them -- and highlighted the polling on himself, touting the finding that he was more popular than Congress. Next up was a story from CNN Money about the upcoming cash for clunkers “hangover.” Rush claimed that the program put a severe dent in the used car market. Then Rush talked about his diet for a while, and complained, as he usually does, about the media's coverage of his diet and about exercise in general. He read from a UK Telegraph article on why exercise “might not make you thin.”

After the break, Rush again aired audio of an Obama speech earlier this year in which he said he didn't want his administration to look backwards. Rush argued that he though Obama always wanted to look backwards, and played a Washington Times-touted clip of an Obama radio interview during the campaign. During the clip, Obama said that his first act as president would be to have his Attorney General review every Bush administration executive order to determine which ones should be overturned and to see if any laws had been broken.

Rush: “Fascism is exactly what we're getting under Barack Obama”

Rush said Obama will say anything, and that his real intentions were always to investigate the Bush administration and weaken our intelligence gathering abilities and foreign policy, which he has now done. Rush went on to argue again that Obama is in the process of “turn[ing] this into a fascist economy.” Rush declared: “fascism is exactly what we're getting under Barack Obama.”

Flipping back to health care, Rush read a Politico article about a recent town hall with Rep. Allen Boyd (D-FL), who said he was caught by surprise about the “depth of unease spurred by the health care debate.” Rush said Boyd was correct in identify that “people are scared.” Rush said Obama has brought fear of the future, but Politico doesn't get it -- it's not a minority of people that are scared, it's a “clear-cut majority.”

After another break, Rush aired audio from the aforementioned McCain town hall today, in which he expressed desire to remove the public option, but enact some of the reforms proposed by Democrats. Rush continued to lament McCain's efforts towards bipartisanship. Next, Rush recognized that he had been mentioned, along with Bill O'Reilly, in a new Jay-Z “rap song.” After airing a clip of thing song, in which Jay-Z says, “Tell Rush Limbaugh to get off my balls,” Limbaugh went on to say, “I did not know I was on anybody's balls.” He also said, “If we need to save our penises from anybody, it's Obama.” Alrighty then ...

Rush bemoans coverage of “cankles” and the “chickification” of the news

The next topic up for discussion was the continuing “chickification” of the news. Rush brought up a report by Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News about “cankles.” Rush claimed that “we only know” about cankles “because of the chickification of the news.” He elaborated: “Chicks are writing about this. Chicks have made it a big story. There were never such a thing as cankles when guys ran news divisions.”

Then Rush discussed Barney Frank's “flip flop” on the “right to yell.” Rush played an audio clip of Frank on July 28. Frank was discussing Henry Louis Gates' arrest, and said there was a right to yell at people in authority that ought to be protected. Rush contrasted that with a recent interview with Frank about his now-famous berating of the "Lyndon LaRouche Democrat" at a town hall event. Frank said in the interview that the tactic of yelling to curb a rational debate isn't legitimate. Rush said that Frank was for yelling, but now he's against yelling when it's directed at him. Rush cracked another Uranus joke about the representative, then segued into yet another rendition of his “Banking Queen” parody.

After a final break, Rush noted that those who participated in the Cash for Clunkers program will have to pay sales tax on their $4,500 rebate. Rush said he loves it when people realize they're not getting something for free. After an ad for the Heritage Foundation, Rush took one more caller who recounted her experience at a recent town hall event. Rush sounded disappointed when the caller told him that nobody was beaten up by a union thug, but said it was great that the caller went to the town hall and it was fabulous that she called in to talk about it.

Zachary Aronow and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: His plan is to wreck the private sector. His plan is to totally deplete it, transfer as much wealth from the private sector to the government sector as he can. This is why this is serious stuff, and it's why this is dangerous. He wants to be the black FDR. If you go back and look at some of FDR's fireside chats, you'll see FDR did the same thing: talked a big, big conservative game, but was out there ripping private businesses and enterprise all to shreds as the big demons, as the big villains.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: In fact, we are dangerously close to being at greater risk from a foreign attack than we have ever been. What is it about the left and the Democrat Party that just has to take down the CIA? Be it Jimmy Carter, be it Frank Church, whatever Democrat administration is we gotta take down the CIA. We have got to destroy our ability to covertly spy on our enemies. We are now turning our enemies into the good guys. We are turning us into the villains of the world. We are turning our own country into the villains of the world. We are going back and prosecuting people who saved American lives.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I'm gonna tell you what this is about: This is about Bill Ayers getting his completed work done by Barack Obama and Eric Holder. Bill Ayers, who blew up the Pentagon; Bill Ayers -- an Obama buddy, anti-America, anti-America supremacy, anti-America superpower -- trying to cut this country down to size from the SDS days in the '60s. And now, he's got his guy in the White House who's pulling this off.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Fouad Ajami with a brilliant piece posted in the Wall Street Journal website last night for publication in their newspaper today, and basically cuts to the chase. And I have the piece here and I could read elements of it to you. It's just right on the money. The headline of this: “Obama's Summer of Discontent”; the subhead: “The politics of charisma is so Third World. Americans were never going to buy into it for long.”

I can summarize this piece. Fouad Ajami says Barack Obama is not American -- not that he wasn't born here, not that he's false, and not that he's, you know, violating the Constitution. Culturally, he's not American.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Fouad Ajami does not write that now, don't misunderstand. This is my synthesizing of the piece.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: We had another terrorist threatened with a power drill, and a gun, and we have heard about waterboarding, and we're told this is dangerously damaging to a prisoner's psyche. Then, in the meantime, we're talking to people who killed 3,000 people in cold blood and vowed to do more and were treated as heroes. And we think we're going to be upsetting their psychology by threatening them with a frigging power drill?

If this is true, I think they're pretty clever techniques. I think they're pretty clever techniques, and they're not harmful. They're not harmful to me.

“Fascism” watch

LIMBAUGH: And now, we have a president -- we've elected a president who is engaged in a political “Scorched Earth” policy. It's pure and simple. But it's not just America he is destroying; Democrats. Democrats are being sacrificed on the altar of Obama's authoritarian fascism. The man is eating his own.

We've gotta stop calling it socialism, folks, 'cause socialism's lost its bite, and what he's doing is really not socialism anyway. Socialism is when the government owns the means of production. Fascism is where politicians run it, but it's privately owned.

We are fascists. Obama has turned this into a fascist nation -- think Mussolini.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: There's nothing in the Constitution that says the president can turn this into a fascist economy, which he is in the process of doing. It is not socialist. Socialist is where the government owns the means of production and distribution. Fascism is where the private sector still owns what it owns, but politicians run it. The state runs these businesses, but they don't own them.

Now I know he owns some -- he owns a couple struggling car companies; he owns some banks and some other things. But fascism is exactly what we're getting under Barack Obama.

Ladies' man

LIMBAUGH: It's been sympathetically noted that this is a disease that afflicts Mrs. Clinton. But we only know this because of the chickification of the news. Chicks are writing about this. Chicks have made it a big story. There were never such things as cankles when guys ran news divisions.