Limbaugh on Oil Spill: “When Do We Ask the Sierra Club to Pick up the Tab?”

by Kate Conway

Refusing to drop a topic that has earned him a fair amount of criticism, Rush began the show with a long discussion of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Rush stated that affixing blame is a standard American tradition started by the left, then suggested that we should assign blame for the spill to radical environmentalists, who have been forcing drilling to move farther and farther offshore even though, according to Rush, we have oil under the land that is practically begging to be extracted. Rush wondered when we're going to ask the Sierra Club to pick up the tab for the spill, and later stated that environmentalists are anti-capitalist, anti-progress, and against the country itself. Absurdly, Rush opined that we need to “depoliticize the environment” and then attacked the left, saying that “everything is a political opportunity or a problem for the left.” Echoing and yet simultaneously attempting to deny his earlier assertion that the ocean will take care of the oil itself, Rush suggested that the existence of natural oil seepage means we need not panic over the spill. If there are already large plumes of oil leaking under the water, Rush reasoned, a spill like the Deepwater Horizon must not be a big deal, right? Wrong. Rush concluded that the oil spill is nothing more than an opportunity for the left to attack America and the people who make it work.

Rush later echoed the right-wing blogosphere in accusing Michael Posner, the assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, of apologizing to the Chinese in statements he made at a human rights meeting with the Chinese. Rush took issue with Posner bringing up the Arizona immigration bill in response to Chinese accusations that the United States also has an imperfect record on human rights. Rush ridiculed the idea that the U.S. could pressure the Chinese to improve their record on human rights, stating: “We in America would like to be treated better by our regime.” Rush contended that “social justice,” “human rights” and “fairness” really just mean liberalism, and declared that the “regime” doesn't care about American human rights. He said he expects communist countries to criticize the U.S. but that it is “unprecedented” for us to agree with their criticism. Later in the show, when he acquired audio of Posner's statements, Rush mocked Posner's voice, declaring him a “new castrati” and reading a transcript of Posner's comments in a lisping voice.

For the rest of the show, Rush skipped from topic to topic. On the subject of the Arizona immigration law, he offered odd praise to Gov. Jan Brewer -- who recently criticized President Obama at a press conference -- saying: “Would it be nice if we had some male Republicans that had half of this courage.” Sticking to the immigration theme, he asked why all immigrants don't try to come through Mexico, since “there's no effort to stop them there.” He was mystified by a Supreme Court decision that upheld a law allowing the federal government to hold criminals considered sexually dangerous beyond the end of their prison sentences. He contrasted this to efforts to close Guantanamo, stating that we are treating terrorists more leniently than sex offenders. Rush later offered his opinion on upcoming primary elections, insisting that the sentiment in the country is not anti-incumbent but rather anti-Democrat. Close elections, he stated, are due to a “conservative revolt against socialism” and against Obama. Rush concluded today's show with classic Limbaugh sexism, saying that feminism has inculcated into the minds of liberals the idea that men are predators who probably cannot be fixed.

Here are some highlights from today's show:

Limbaugh: “When do we ask the Sierra Club to pick up the tab for this leak?”

Limbaugh: “This [oil] spill is nothing more than an opportunity for the Left to continue to attack this country”

Limbaugh's sexist praise: “Would it be nice if we had some male Republicans with half of this courage” as Gov. Brewer

Limbaugh asks why all immigrants don't come through Mexico because “there's no effort to stop them there”

Limbaugh complains “we need to depoliticize the environment” then uses the oil spill to attack “leftist groups”

Limbaugh says close elections are due to a “conservative revolt against socialism...against Obama”

Limbaugh: “Do you think the [Obama] regime cares about American human rights right now? Not in the slightest”

Lester Leavitt contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.