By Kate Conway

Rush kicked off today's edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show with the news of the hour: Charlie Rangel's decision to step down as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Criticizing Rangel's rationale for stepping down -- that he didn't want to jeopardize his colleagues during their runs for re-election -- Rush declared that the Democrats are “cooked” anyway. Soon after, Rush speculated the although “genuinely insane Democrat” Rep. Fortney Stark is next in line, Rangel's replacement might be John Lewis because the Congressional Black Caucus won't want to replace Rangel with a white man.

Dredging up a falsehood, Rush declared that Obama will use the “nuclear option” now although he was dead-set against it five years ago. Rush was referring to the possibility that the Senate may use reconciliation to pass amendments to the health care bill that has already been passed. As Media Matters has pointed out, however, when Democratic senators -- including then-Sen. Obama -- objected to the use of the “nuclear option” five years ago, they were referring to a proposed change to Senate rules and not to reconciliation, which has since falsely been called the “nuclear option” by Republican senators and the media.

Limbaugh: We've got “a 45-year-old kid directing the country”

Rush then played audio from the air traffic control tower at JFK airport in which the voice of a child clearing aircraft for takeoff is audible. Rush declared that he didn't understand why people are upset, then delivered the following remarks:

LIMBAUGH: OK. So, a kid -- how old is this kid? We -- it's an unidentified kid, probably the son of one of the controllers, being told what to say. So, you've got a kid -- inexperienced, not qualified, not trained, no experience, no prior experience, telling airplanes when to cross runways, when to take off, when to land, even speaking to 'em in Spanish. And everybody's all out of whack here. Folks, don't you understand? This is where we end up when we elect another kid to direct the whole country. This kid in the air-traffic control sounds more confident and more competent in what he's doing than Obama.

So, we got this -- we got a, what -- a 45-year-old kid directing the country. “Oh, there's no problem with” -- put a little kid in the air-traffic control tower and people have a fit. Not I, ladies and gentlemen. I am all for opportunity for the youth of America. Kid did fine to me. Sounded fine to me.

Rush then talked about 2,000 federal workers who were furloughed without pay on Monday. NPR reported:

The furloughs and freeze on payments were the result of a decision last week by Republican Sen. Jim Bunning to block passage of legislation that would have extended federal highway and transit programs, the department said. Those programs expired at midnight Sunday.

Because Bunning has since backed down, the workers have returned to work. Rush made light of concerns about the furlough, since it was only one day -- not the first time he has mocked those not fortunate enough to earn millions of dollars every year.

Rush then suggested that we applaud Jim Bunning and suggested that the “Jim Bunning approach” be used across the board. It's “time to start kicking ass against the welfare state,” Rush said, and asked what is controversial about Bunning's objection.

Taking a moment to stoke the fears of his listeners, Rush read from an article about Greece's plan to raise taxes to rescue the country's economy. He asked, “You see how they do this?” He then said that “they” make the situation so dire that they have to raise taxes, which won't raise revenue anyway. Rush then brought up a New York Times blog post that cites researchers who say that in order to reach greenhouse gas emission goals gas may eventually cost $7 per gallon.

Rush read from a Reuters article attributing Rick Perry's victory in the Texas gubernatorial primary to anti-Washington sentiment. He then declared that Perry's victory is as much, if not more, about voters saying no to RINOs (Republicans in name only) than about an anti-Washington sentiment.

In the next segment, Rush read from an ABC News article on Obama's choice of lunch in Savannah, Georgia. Here's what the article says:

Just days after his doctors expressed concerns about his rising cholesterol levels, President Obama dropped by a family-style restaurant for an authentic -- but perhaps not so healthy -- Southern style lunch in Savannah, Georgia.

In between events, Obama paid a visit to Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room and made it clear he did not want to hear it from the press about his choice of lunch.

“I don't want any lectures about my cholesterol,” Obama said. “Don't tell Michelle.”

Rush added a little bit when he read the article over the airwaves, however:

LIMBAUGH: This from ABC News:

“Just days after his doctors expressed concerns about his rising cholesterol levels, his alcohol intake, and his smoking, President Obama dropped by a family-style restaurant for an authentic Southern style lunch in Savannah, Georgia.”

“In between events, Obama paid a visit to Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room, made it clear he didn't want to hear it from the press about his choice of lunch.”

" 'I don't want any lectures about my cholesterol, and don't tell Michelle.' "

You know it -- I'm beginning to wonder about this marriage. This guy is daily painting her as a nag. Everyday. “Don't tell her. Yeah, I'll go home, I'm getting grief about this. I shouldn't be eating desserts.” Now he tells the press, “Don't lecture me about my” -- hey, Obama. Why don't you shut the hell up and stop lecturing us about our lives?

Same thing with Mayor Bloomberg. We're not supposed to eat trans fats; we're not supposed to eat salt; we're not supposed to have Mickey D's in poor neighborhoods. Stop nagging us. Stop nag -- you don't want to be nagged about what you eat? We don't either. We don't want to be nagged about obesity statistics. We don't want to be nagged about anything.

You don't like it? Well, you're nagging the whole country. One way to look at it.

While the doctor evaluating Obama did recommend that the president continue his smoking cessation efforts, Rush's assertion that the doctor was concerned about Obama's alcohol intake is a smear manufactured by the right-wing media.

Rush then took the first of many calls he received from a listener worried about rising gas prices.

Rush must have been taking some flak for his comments on the child in the JFK air-traffic control tower, because he attempted to explain his point more clearly: He wasn't really saying that it wasn't an issue; he was just saying that it's no more a problem than having an inexperienced person in the White House. He then changed tacks, declaring that if the air traffic controller had brought his daughter in, no one would have been upset -- the feminazis would've been celebrating -- and referred to “Take Your Daughter to Work Day.”

Rush then took a call from someone saying that there are bumper stickers calling for the Republic of Texas, and he wanted to know what Rush thought of this. Rush stopped short of calling for secession, instead saying that he likes a lot of restaurants in Texas. The caller then said that expensive gas will hurt them, and Rush replied that $7-a-gallon gas is designed to destroy your lifestyle and to restrict your freedom and mobility.

Another caller, responding to a question posed by Rush, informed him that childhood obesity statistics are fairly accurate, explaining that school nurses collect and submit the information. Rush, apparently not getting the damning information he wanted on obesity statistics, snidely asked how many of the nurses over-report obesity in children because they are obese themselves.

Limbaugh: “This is always what the liberals want to do with any guy ... castrate 'em”

Rush launched into a story about an animal rights group calling for a polar bear in the Berlin Zoo to be castrated so that it does not mate with its companion, which is also its cousin. Seeming to misunderstand concerns about genetic diversity among a threatened species, Rush declared that if incest was good enough for President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Eleanor was his fifth cousin, although Rush said he “think[s]” they were second cousins), it should be good enough for the polar bear. Masterfully tying this topic to liberalism, Rush said this is what the liberals want to do with any guy: castrate him.

Riffing on a caller who was concerned that the American public didn't know that John Maynard Keynes was a devout Marxist, Rush declared that we are living Keynesian economics: just like Obama, Keynesians wanted to destroy capitalism, but fortunately World War II messed them up.

Rush finished up the hour with one more snarky comment: We all know there's inbreeding in Massachusetts, so why not for the polar bear?

Limbaugh: “Nobody would ever hire this [Obama] to run any aspect of their business”

Rush started off hour two with a little race baiting -- or is it just a media tweak? He told us that Tavis Smiley is upset because Obama doesn't have an overtly black agenda and isn't doing enough to help out “the brothers,” then said Al Sharpton is telling Smiley to shut up because the “brothers” are already getting what they want without attention being drawn to it.

Continuing in his quest to manufacture evidence of Obama's hypocrisy, Rush played several clips of Obama talking about the need for 60-percent majority in the House and the Senate to get a bill on his desk and criticizing a “50-plus-1” majority. While Rush was content to write these comments off as blatant, pure hypocrisy, Media Matters has already pointed out that Obama was not promising not to pass health care reform without a supermajority.

Referring to a Politico article, Rush reported that Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)has said that they will use reconciliation. Rush said that this means the Senate bill will have to be passed in the House without any changes, including the Cornhusker kickback. He then took the opportunity to declare that Obama can't help lying because he's a liberal.

Rush then allowed his program to devolve into a nonsensical rant about how unqualified the president is to run the health care industry:

LIMBAUGH: Somebody tell me what it is that qualifies the most inexperienced, unqualified guy in whatever room he walks into, Barack Obama, to run a two-and-a-half-trillion-dollar segment of our economy. Would somebody show me the resume? Would somebody show me that he understands how drugs are developed and brought to market? Would he -- somebody show me that he understands the patent process. Would somebody show me that he understands how the MRI came to be -- what its purpose is? Can somebody show me that he knows how to run a hospital? Can somebody show me at any point in his life where he has had any experience with our health care system other than as a blood-money-sucking patient?

No. Nobody can, because he doesn't have any. And yet, we're sitting here debating a premise -- ObamaCare. Obama -- he hasn't the slightest idea how to do this. There is no business in this country that would hire Barack Obama to run it. They might hire him as rainmaker. They might hire him as a PR guy. But nobody -- but nobody would ever hire this guy to run any aspect of their business.

Finishing up his rant, Rush repeated his accusation that Obama's reason for “nagging” the public about cholesterol is that he gets nagged about it by his wife.

When a caller reminded Rush that reconciliation does not involve passing the entire health care bill through the Senate since the it was already passed with 60 votes on Christmas Eve, Rush said that it doesn't matter, that was then and this is now. He ranted against the caller, telling her that she's watching her freedom disappear, then bizarrely offered her “five free stitches for the wound of her choice.”

Limbaugh: There is no genuine grassroots support for Obama

Getting geared up for the speech on health care that Obama was scheduled to make during Rush's broadcast, Rush launched into a diatribe about how much people hate HMOs, then declared that the people who created HMOs were the same ones as those in the room waiting for Obama to speak.

Another listener scared about gas prices then called to tell Rush that RV parks will be out of business if gas is raised to $7 per gallon. When the caller said such high gas prices would put millions of people out of work, Rush interrupted to say that they would put millions more people out of work.

Obama's speech then began, and Rush was unable to let it play without commenting over it. He called the doctors standing behind Obama props then said that the doctors in the room looked like they deal with the insane. When Obama thanked Kathleen Sebelius, Rush called her incompetent, and asked “What about swine flu” before, confusingly, saying that dragging doctors into the room is like being in the Nuremberg trials. A short while later, he interjected that Obama is going to have death panels. Finally, when Obama asked, “What are we going to do about [the problems with the health care industry]?” Limbaugh snarled “Get rid of you!” then cut off Obama to go to commercial.

Returning briefly from a break, Rush told us that he listened to more of Obama's speech during his own commercials and the only thing we need to know about it is that it's a bald lie.

In the third hour of his show, with Obama's speech not yet complete, Rush was nevertheless content to hit the ground running with a rant on the speech. He said that he would love to break down Obama's speech if he weren't working at the moment. Wait until tomorrow, he told us, then said, “It's Hiroshima time, folks. It's Nagasaki,” suggesting that he will “go nuclear” on Obama's speech.

Rush then brought up the creation of the “Coffee Party” that has been started in opposition to the Tea Party. He said that the Coffee Party sounded moderate until you read its manifesto, which refers to the “communal,” then he declared that there is no genuine percolating grassroots support for Obama; it all has to be directed and paid for.

After declaring that health care is about destruction, Rush said that Obama is the most unknown person to be elected president in this country's history and the least vetted candidate that we've ever had. He also claimed that Obama has never unified anybody, and said that because of how Obama was brought up, he thinks this country is “almost criminal.”

To finish out his show, Rush tried to explain to a caller how reconciliation works. He told the caller that the House will pass the same bill the Senate passed, scrapping H.R. 3200, then rely on the Senate to pass the amendments that the House wanted. Rush said that the American people have rejected this every way possible, but our “young, unqualified president” is going to do it anyway. Because the Senate couldn't garner 60 votes for the “destructive element” the House wanted to include, they're going to bypass the “normal rules.”

Finally, Rush turned from health care reform to dwell briefly on a Politico story suggesting that Eric Massa is declining to run for re-election he allegedly sexually harassed a male staffer.

Kitty Kaletsky and Mike Burns contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.