By Greg Lewis

Today's Limbaugh programming began with our host again lamenting his misunderstood brilliance. But first he made this prediction about the election today, which echoed the baseless accusations of the Wall Street Journal's John Fund:

LIMBAUGH: All right, let's talk Election Day today, and let's talk about -- people have been asking me, “So, Rush, what are your predictions? What are your predictions?” And I say, well, it's tough to make predictions here, because you don't know what the ACORN factor is gonna be, and you don't know what the vote fraud factor's gonna be, particularly in New Jersey.

Then Rush said the CNN poll showing Obama with a 54 percent approval rating “buried” that the poll also found a majority of Americans disapprove of Obama's handling of health care. Rush said this is why Obama wanted to get health care done before the August recess. Rush predicted if all three major races today go for the Republicans, it will be a nail in the coffin for “Obamacare.”

Rush on Owens' defense of Scozzafava for “bestiality” comment: “I thought” “liberal woman” Scozzafava “could take care of herself”

Anyway, it was then back to Rush's misunderstood brilliance. At issue today was Rush's comment yesterday that former Republican candidate in the NY-23 special election, Dede Scozzafava, is “guilty of widespread bestiality; she has screwed every RINO in the country.” Rush said this line was “great” because it showed the world what RINOs really are, but the media and Democrats think Rush was actually accusing her of bestiality.

Rush said the media was in a tizzy over this and went over a response to this comment issued by Democratic candidate Bill Owens. Rush responded to Owens:

LIMBAUGH: Now, Dede Scozzafava is a liberal woman; I thought she could take care of herself. Why do these wimp liberal guys have to come out and start defending these women? What happened to feminism in this country? I mean, why did she quit in the first place? I mean, that's not what feminism taught women to do.

Rush continued to talk up his own genius over his latest “media tweak.” Rush complained that the media and Democrats have no sense of humor. Rush was completely modest in touting his “brilliant analysis”:

LIMBAUGH: Every day, every -- when I think I'm offering brilliant analysis and commentary, unheard anywhere else but this show, I find the next day that the liberals are in a brand new tizzy because they haven't the intelligence or the sense of humor to understand the slightest thing that I say.

Then Rush got to his predictions for today's election. Or, more specifically, his prediction of how the media will react. On Virginia, Rush said the media would focus on how the turnout was not as big as expected (who is predicting high turnout for this one?) and that everyone knew the Republican would win.

Rush: “Why would somebody be personally offended, personally offended by bestiality? Unless they have some personal experience”

Rush returned from the break with one more thing to say about his bestiality comments:

LIMBAUGH: You know, I was just thinking about something here, folks. Why, why would somebody be personally offended, personally offended by bestiality? I mean, unless they have some personal experience with it, how could you be personally offended by that? And, you know, ladies and gentlemen, any -- I think -- I understand why these people are all upset and out of whack, 'cause, you know, any jokes or cracks about bestiality, probably a hate crime now. I think, isn't bestiality protected under -- in the defense bill, the hate crime laws?

Looking for third-rate electoral analysis? You've come to the right place

Rush continued with his media predictions. Rush said that if Hoffman wins NY-23, it would be dismissed as an outlier, unimportant, and the media will claim Republicans will have difficulty extending the victory elsewhere. Rush said the “antidote” to this was the fact that Joe Biden was campaigning for Owens yesterday.

Then Rush went over to the race in New Jersey. After highlighting that Obama recorded robo-calls for Corzine, Rush said that if Corzine lost, the media would spin it as Obama making a “heroic” effort to save an unpopular candidate. If Corzine wins, the media will report that Obama's personal popularity and the popularity of his “socialist agenda” won the day.

But the fact is, said Rush, is that a Corzine win would likely come with less than 50 percent of the vote, and the fact that he could not must over 50 percent in a “heavily Democratic state” would be significant. Then Rush lost focus and rambled about Virginia and NY-23 some more, saying that a Republican victory in Virginia would go against the media narrative of a “realignment” in that state just 12 months ago when Obama won.

After another break, Rush read from a Los Angeles Times piece reporting that conservatives have been “emboldened” by the NY-23 race. Rush said this was precisely why the media is trying to portray the race as the Republican Party falling apart. Rush continued to ramble on about NY-23 and how the race is about conservative Republicans drawing a line against the moderate wing of the party.

Then Rush moved back to New Jersey. Rush said it would be historic if a fairly conservative Republican can win the governorship there. Rush claimed that Christie is up against the likes of SEIU, ACORN, AFL-CIO, Daily Kos, and a billionaire who spent $30 million trashing him. And yet, even after all that, the race is still too close to call. Of course, Rush forgot to mention that Christie had a huge lead in the polls for months against a largely unpopular incumbent, but whose own inept campaign let that lead collapse into the dead heat the race is in today. There was no mention, either, of spoiler third party candidate Chris Daggett.

Then Rush aired a few sound bites of David Plouffe on Today spinning, as Rush put it, what might happen today. This lead to Rush warning his audience about Democrats showing concern about a fractured Republican Party -- if they really thought the Republican Party was falling apart, they would sit by and let it happen. Rush explained Democrats are really worried that conservatism is in the ascendency.

Following another break, Rush aired a clip of John Roberts on CNN saying that the NY-23 race was about whether conservatives will be ascendant in 2010. Rush said Roberts “got it right.” Rush went on to mock the “tortured logic” used by Gloria Borger in another series of CNN clips he played. He then rambled on for a bit about how the Republican Party isn't a big tent party like Borger tried to play it off as, but rather, a big tent that is not “exclusionary” that shouldn't, but can, include people who are not grounded by the principles of America's founders. Don't try to make sense of it, you'll just hurt yourself.

Rush continued hitting on these points as the second hour began. Rush asserted that if any Republicans win today, it has to show that the Republican Party is attracting independents, by the measurements set of Gloria Borger and Democrats.

Then Rush talked about an email he got from a journalist who offered Rush a column to make the case for a third party based on what is happening in NY-23. Rush responded that he couldn't make a case for a third party because NY-23 has nothing to do with a third party because there wasn't a primary there.

The Rush (mis)read from an American Thinker post listing the “Top ten moments in moderate GOP history.” We say "(mis)read" because Rush added to the list an entry about Nixon resigning being among the top ten moments, and also read the No. 2 moment, Colin Powell supporting Obama, as the No. 1 moment, ignoring the actual No. 1 moment as written in the post, which had to do with Rove/Bush “new tone” tactic following the 2000 Florida debacle.

Rush again accuses Obama and Democrats of “stealing money from people”

After the break, Rush stated:

LIMBAUGH: At the end of this day, the pocketbook party is what will be triumphant if Republicans win here, because you, Mr. Plouffe, and you, Mr. Axelrod, and you, Mr. Emanuel, and you, Mr. Obama, are stealing money from people. It is not yours. They have earned it, and you're taking it, in many cases, before they have earned it.

Then Rush became the latest conservative media figure to tout the rally being led by Rep. Michelle Bachmann against health care reform. Rush even took a caller who said she was going to the rally.

Rush also had continued the message he has been making to Blue Dog Democrats. Rush said Blue Dogs have a real decision to make because Pelosi would love for them to vote for health care and then lose reelection. Rush claimed that Pelosi doesn't like Democrats in her caucus who are not as leftist and radical as she is. (Rush probably just forgot his previous warning about being wary of Democrats giving advice to Republicans ...)

After another break, Rush took a caller who wondered if the ascendant conservative trend would result in RINOs jumping on the Hoffman bandwagon by pretending to be conservative when they really weren't. Rush said that it was quite possible and noted that there are already a bunch of Republicans who ran as conservatives but either forgot who they were or never were who they said they were. Then Rush aired the latest advertisement the RNC cut for Hoffman, which Rush was pleasantly surprised by the way which it hammered the left.

Rush spent the next several minutes at the close of the hour by going back to his argument about the supposed big tent of the Republican Party. Rush argued that nobody is in the big tent that current leaders have built.

Rush's Castro defense: “I don't know why ... the media are jumping all over me for calling Obama -- saying he's in over his head and narcissistic, Castro did the same thing”

Rush finished out the hour with this remark:

LIMBAUGH: I don't know why Axelrod and all the rest of the media are jumping all over me for calling Obama -- saying he's in over his head and narcissistic. Castro did the same thing. He wrote a little column, “Obama and the Blockade,” and he called Obama conceited and superficial. And they didn't get mad at Castro for saying that. Well, now, they get mad at me. Why? It's not fair.

Rush got the third hour going by rehashing his rambling “big tent” argument -- again! -- at his producer's behest. Rush accused various Republicans -- Chuck Hagel, George W. Bush, Lindsay Graham, John McCain, and Newt Gingrich, among others -- of leaving the “big tent.”

Rush falsely claims he never partook in “groundless” claims that H1N1 vaccine ingredient could cause autism

After the break, Rush mocked Robert Gibbs for trying to downplay today's elections. Rush said that this might be a fakeout -- or a "double fakeout" (!) -- by Gibbs. Then Rush took a caller who complained that we've been promised the swine flu vaccine for a “year” now and he hasn't been able to get one. Rush read from a Robert Goldberg op-ed in the New York Post about why people can't get the vaccine.

Rush read in the article that one of the problems for the vaccine was that there were manufacturing difficulties in working around the “groundless” and debunked claims that the ingredient thimerosal could cause autism. Rush stated with pride: “the government yielded to pressure from anti-vaccine fringe groups -- which, it must be noted, do not include me.”

But they do, in fact, include Rush. During his October 8 show, Limbaugh forwarded the “groundless” claims that thimerasol was linked to autism by airing a sound bite of noted autism-vaccine linker Dr. Kent Holtorf playing up such a link. Limbaugh, who was mocking MSNBC anchor Nancy Snyderman at the time, bragged that people should “Listen to me and Dr. Holtorf” instead of Snyderman:

LIMBAUGH: If I heard this right, I'd talk to my doctor too. I'd say, I'd ask my doctor, “I heard an infectious disease expert say that there is a antiseptic preservative that has been linked to autism in this vaccine. Is that true? If my kid has mitochondrial dysfunction, and I give the kid vaccine, could get autism?”

But yeah, other than that, anti-vaccine fringe groups didn't “include” him.

Rush went on to say that H1N1 ought to be the administration's Katrina, and that the vaccine shortage is “no different” than FEMA “supposedly” screwing up and not getting to New Orleans. The Obama administration, said Rush, is trying to make it seem like the drug companies screwed up.

Then Rush took a caller who referenced a Politico article about a “racial disparity” of ethics probes focusing on black lawmakers. Rush said it was interesting that the only people being investigated were black since you can easily throw people like Barney Frank and Jack Murtha in there. Rush cracked some “jokes” about how minorities were “entitled” to ethics violations that were “rightfully” theirs, and said that he wanted to see a circular firing squad.

Following another break, Rush got into the latest round of Rev. Jeremiah Wright audio clips. Rush stated that Rev. Wright is President Obama and President Obama is Rev. Wright. “They're indistinguishable.” Rush also said that black liberation theology teaches the hatred of America and is all about not letting go of the past. He added that he doesn't believe Wright or Obama want a colorblind or post-racial society. Rush said that he understands why there is still so much anger out there -- it is being fueled from the pulpits. Rush concluded the segment with a montage of Wright's “greatest hits.”

Rush concluded the program with a caller who said that if moderates were leaving the GOP, the Democrats would be happy. Rush said that this was his point earlier about David Plouffe and Axelrod. Rush claimed the last thing Obama and his pals don't like is opposition -- they sweep the field to get rid of it. Rush said he looks forward to the day the Republican Party rejects any premise set by liberals.

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

Highlights

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: All right, let's talk Election Day today, and let's talk about -- people have been asking me, “So, Rush, what are your predictions? What are your predictions?” And I say, well, it's tough to make predictions here, because you don't know what the ACORN factor is gonna be, and you don't know what the vote fraud factor's gonna be, particularly in New Jersey.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: You know, I was just thinking about something here, folks. Why, why would somebody be personally offended, personally offended by bestiality? I mean, unless they have some personal experience with it, how could you be personally offended by that? And, you know, ladies and gentlemen, any -- I think -- I understand why these people are all upset and out of whack, 'cause, you know, any jokes or cracks about bestiality, probably a hate crime now. I think, isn't bestiality protected under -- in the defense bill, the hate crime laws?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: At the end of this day, the pocketbook party is what will be triumphant if Republicans win here, because you, Mr. Plouffe, and you, Mr. Axelrod, and you, Mr. Emanuel, and you, Mr. Obama, are stealing money from people. It is not yours. They have earned it, and you're taking it, in many cases, before they have earned it.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I don't know why Axelrod and all the rest of the media are jumping all over me for calling Obama -- saying he's in over his head and narcissistic. Castro did the same thing. He wrote a little column, “Obama and the Blockade” and he called Obama conceited and superficial. And they didn't get mad at Castro for saying that. Well, now, they get mad at me. Why? It's not fair.

Ego on loan from Narcissus

LIMBAUGH: Every day, every -- when I think I'm offering brilliant analysis and commentary, unheard anywhere else but this show, I find the next day that the liberals are in a brand new tizzy because they haven't the intelligence or the sense of humor to understand the slightest thing that I say.

America's Truth Rejector

LIMBAUGH: The only reason to seek single-dose production was to please people needlessly worried about the preservative thimerosal, which is used to provide multiple doses of the vaccine. The fear, utterly groundless and repeatedly debunked, is that thimerosal can cause autism and other neurological disorders in infants and other young children. If not for that decision, we'd have more than enough vaccine.

Instead, because the government yielded to pressure from anti-vaccine fringe groups, which it must be noted do not include me, we're behind the curve on protecting millions of children from swine flu.

Ladies' man

LIMBAUGH: Now, Dede Scozzafava is a liberal woman; I thought she could take care of herself. Why do these wimp liberal guys have to come out and start defending these women? What happened to feminism in this country? I mean, why did she quit in the first place? I mean, that's not what feminism taught women to do.