By Zachary Pleat

Rush: Putting terrorists on trial is “a disgusting travesty”

“Chickenhawk” Rush wasted no time savaging the decision to bring Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to America for trial, saying, “This is more insidious than you can possibly imagine. I'm talking about bringing these terrorists up from Gitmo and trying them in New York City.” Rush went on, calling the idea of putting terrorists on trial a “disgusting travesty” and then complaining that Obama is always out of the country when bad news hits and that he is pushing the responsibility for this off to Attorney General Eric Holder, a claim he repeated later in his show. Later on, Rush claimed that federal judges from “the American left” would be only too happy to let terrorists go free. Rush's obsession with a possible acquittal became a running theme throughout his show.

Next, Rush surprised us with quite a treat: He will have former Alaska governor and former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin live on his show next Tuesday, to coincide with her book release, which Rush proclaimed to be “one of the most substantive policy books” he has read. He also announced that his interview with Palin will be the cover story of his new Limbaugh Letter. During this segment, Rush repeated the party line that Sarah Palin was kept bottled up by the McCain campaign. Rush also took the opportunity to defend her disastrous interview with Katie Couric. Later in his show, Rush ranted about journalists in Washington being disconnected from real people for not recognizing the crowds that Sarah Palin and other conservatives draw on their book tours and rallies, and launched into his typical revisionism about the 2008 election, creating a straw man to stand in for Obama and lamenting that the GOP “had the wrong candidate.”

Once he finished teasing us with the promise of listening to both him and Palin at the same time next week, Rush read in full a NRO Corner blog post by Andrew McCarthy, praising him as the “best source” for this kind of legal and national security analysis.

Rush: Terrorist trials will “destroy the CIA”

Rush then took it upon himself to defend the Central Intelligence Agency, decrying any investigations into the CIA as “banana republic-type stuff” and “Marxist-type stuff.” Finishing up the NRO article, Rush declared that America will be put on trial, and that it will be a soapbox for Al Qaeda. Rush finished this off by declaring that this trial would destroy the CIA, a charge he repeated several times throughout his show.

Later on, Rush amazingly claimed that putting the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 led to the 9-11 attacks, a remark he repeated later on:

LIMBAUGH: Try this. There have been all kinds of people on television today being asked, “Bringing them into New York, doesn't that make New York a bigger terrorist target?” Hey. And they all say, “Well, no, no. New York's always a terrorist target. Look at '93. We tried those guys in 1993, and nothing happened.” What do you mean, “Nothing happened”? You ever heard of 9-11? We tried these guys and convicted the blind sheikh in 1993 and nothing happened except 9-11.

Never one to be afraid of attacking just about anyone, Rush blamed the FBI investigation of alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan for treating him as a potential criminal instead of a potential terrorist. Incidentally, the FBI plays a major role in terrorist investigations. Rush then attacked congressman and retired admiral Joe Sestak as “a dangerous, left-wing, radical ideologue” for his views on putting terrorists on trial.

Rush: "[T]his poor guy McChrystal ... has to sit there and listen to a community organizer"

Rush started off his second hour by continuing his incredulousness over putting Gitmo detainees on trial in federal court, claiming that the Zacarias Moussaoui trial was a circus because “supposed 9-11 families” asked for leniency for him.

Next, Rush played a clip of Obama answering a question about his decision on Afghanistan and summed it up as “a bunch of psychobabble.” Seemingly unaware that our system of constitutional government places the military under civilian control, Rush lamented:

LIMBAUGH: Can you imagine this poor guy [Gen. Stanley] McChrystal? Here's this four-star general, and he has to sit there and listen to this community organizer, who wouldn't know the butt end of an AK-47 if he saw it, tell him how to run a war. And then he's got to sit there and put up with a really strategically timed statement from our ambassador, appointed by Obama, in Kabul.

Next, Rush repeated an earlier complaint that Obama didn't declare that dropping atomic bombs on Japan was the right thing to do, accusing him of ducking the question. Rush then claimed Obama wouldn't answer because he couldn't say what he wanted to say: “my country was wrong.” Rush later expanded on this, declaring that Rev. Jeremiah Wright was obsessed with the atomic bombing of Japan, and as Rush said today and says nearly every week, “Jeremiah Wright is Obama.”

After saying that Obama's visit to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska was nothing but a campaign Q&A session and a chance to bash former President Bush, Rush took a caller who pleaded with him to continue his support for the troops. Rush used this opportunity to yet again accuse Obama of dithering on Afghanistan. Rush then talked about how he feels empathy for military families and again accused Obama of not caring about victory.

Next, Rush read a Politico story highlighting a decision Obama will announce in next year's State of the Union speech to tackle deficits, and asked “what moron will believe” that Obama would “turn into a deficit hawk.” Rush treated us to his wonderful political analysis after finishing the article, saying Obama is speaking like this because he's losing the independents. Later on, Rush warned people not to believe anyone saying that Obama will turn into a deficit hawk.

Rush: "[A] jury of peers of these terrorists" includes “Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann.”

Coming back from another break, Rush wondered if anyone “realize[s] Barack Obama is tougher on insurance companies than he is on the 9-11 mastermind?” This, of course, reminded Rush of his anger over the upcoming transfer of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. So he treated us to his delusional make-up of the alleged 9-11 mastermind's true jury of peers:

LIMBAUGH: As long as we're throwing the rules out, here, we're conferring constitutional rights on noncitizens, why the hell do the jurors have to come from New York? Let's put Bill Ayers on the jury. Let's put his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, on the jury. Let's put Jeremiah Wright on the jury. Let's go get Saul Alinksy's son -- I think he lives in Boston -- put him on the jury. Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann. Who else could be -- we're talking about a jury of peers of these terrorists, who hated this country so much they wanted to blow up the World Trade Center and did. And Cindy Sheehan is the judge.

Oh! Put Harry Reid on the jury. “This war is lost. This war” -- and get Senator Durbin! Senator Durbin sides with these guys! Get Sestak. Durbin says that our interrogators were nothing than, like Pol Pots, renegades and the Nazis and the Soviet gulags and so forth. So, yeah, we get Dick Durbin. John Kerry, who served in Vietnam. John Kerry. Oh, oh. Look at the jury we could impanel here.

Rush then rounded out his second hour by joining Glenn Beck in attacking Andy Stern by reading a Heritage Foundation blog post. Rush used this as a chance to plug the Heritage Foundation.

Rush to open a chain of “Fat-Moms-R-Us” maternity clinics

Coming back for the third hour, Rush treated us to a distinctly uninteresting story about how his buddy Vince Flynn's book is being turned into a movie.

Next, claiming that he had an advance copy of a New York Times story on immigration overhaul efforts as “a powerful, influential member of the media,” Rush read the story, available online during his show, and asserted that Obama will give 12 million illegal aliens amnesty next year.

Rush then joined far-right-wing blogger Pam Geller in talking about Hasan's business card and joked that he thought the abbreviation “SWT” stood for “super wacky terrorist.”

Rush finished off this segment by reading a U.K. Telegraph article on overweight pregnant women being turned away from a single hospital in the U.K. because they are “not equipped to handle complicated births.” Rush used this story to propose a wonderful new business opportunity in Great Britain, a chain of maternity clinics named “Fat-Moms-R-Us.” Later on, Rush wondered if these hospitals in the U.K. would turn away overweight women seeking abortions.

Rush: "[W]e are all Costa Ricans now"

Back from another break, Rush again treated us to his new parody of the video of World Wildlife Fund staffers' children asking President Obama to attend the Copenhagen summit for a new global treaty to combat climate change.

Next, Rush took a caller who compared the public option to any problems with public schools and public housing. Rush said all you need to think when you hear “public option” is lines, lines, and more lines.

Rush then took a caller who mentioned the absentee ballots yet to be counted in the 23rd Congressional District election in New York, and Rush read an AP story on how the race has tightened and went on to gloat over the GOP gubernatorial victories in New Jersey and Virginia, suggesting that independents were voting for Republicans in large numbers.

Rush then came back from another break by having his favorite insurance company representative on the phone to talk about hospitals being set up in Costa Rica, treating it like an ad on his show. After a short break, Rush read some of the “thousands” of emails coming in from this call and declared that “we are all Costa Ricans now.”

Rush's last caller of the day, and the week, complained about the bureaucratic hassle that imperiled his dream of inventing the perfect monthly toothbrush, eventually getting around to claiming that toothbrushes are being classified as medical devices and will be taxed under the House health care bill. Rush said tampons are also going to be taxed and imagined a rally of women waving tampons around in the air protesting the taxes, declaring it “a shame” that Ted Kennedy wouldn't be alive to see it.

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

Highlights

LIMBAUGH: This, my friends, is even more insidious than you know. This is more insidious than you can possibly imagine. I'm talking about bringing these terrorists up from Gitmo and trying them in New York City in a civil -- well, a civil -- criminal trial. It's just --

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Before I get into this disgusting travesty perpetrated here by Barack Obama, who -- you notice how this guy's always out of the country when bad news hits? Unemployment 9.4, flies off somewhere. Nine point seven, flies off somewhere. Ten point two, flies off somewhere. Sends Holder out there today to announce they're bringing the Gitmo detainees up here for trial. He's over there in Japan, and he pulled -- they asked him about it over there, and he pulled a Bill Clinton/Janet Reno.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Thus, the administration cooperates with the Obama left-wing base, giving it the reckoning it demands. But Obama gets to deny responsibility for any actual prosecutions. Now, we mentioned this to you last summer, that this was the objective of this. They don't want their fingerprints on it. But they want -- I mean, this is -- this -- again, this is banana republic-type stuff. This is Marxist-type stuff. You go after your predecessors and you put them in jail or you do what you can to embarrass them, discredit them, and ruin their lives.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So, we're now going to have a trial that never had to happen for defendants who have no defense. That is key to understand what's happening here, folks. They have no defense. They have asked to be executed. They have admitted doing this. They're -- they take great pride in having blown up the World Trade Center. And as I said, when defendants have no defense for their actions, there's only one thing for their lawyers to do, and that's put the government on trial in hopes of getting the jury and the media spun up over government errors, government abuses, government incompetence. That's what's going to happen at this trial. It'll be a soapbox. Folks, it's going to be soapbox for Al Qaeda's case against America, and if you don't think that they can't find some pro bono ACLU lawyers to go in there and make the case that the United States of America is guilty, you have another thing coming.

And since that'll be their defense, quote-unquote, that the government of the United States is corrupt, unfair, unjust, and guilty, the defendants and their lawyers will demand every bit of information they can get about the interrogations, the renditions, secret prisons, undercover operations targeting Muslims in mosques, and depending on what judge catches the case, they're likely to be given a lot of it.

Because fairness is the -- has become the new foundation of the new America. Fairness as defined by a bunch of radical leftists. The administration will be able to claim that the judge, not the administration, is responsible for the exposure of our defense secrets. There won't be any fingerprints on Holder. There won't be any fingerprints of Obama's attached to this this. It's all going to fall on the judge. The judge is going to take the heat, and depending on who the judge is, he might enjoy it. I mean, there's a bunch of radical leftists on our federal bench as we sit here today.

And this circus is going to be played out for all to see. Holder's -- “Oh yeah, we're going to have TV cameras in there, we're” -- all of this. In the middle of a war, we are going to televise to the world exactly how a bunch of leftist lawyers and terrorists think this country sucks. And before it's all over, their lawyers are going to end up making the case that these guys had cause for hijacking airplanes and bringing down the twin towers.

At some point, that's where this goes. We're going to have so much sympathy for the discrimination against people from the religion of peace, that they were driven to this by our association with Israel. And before it's all said and done you're going to find some whacked nut jobs in the Upper West Side of Manhattan that are going to be on this jury who are going to end up thinking, “You know what? We did deserve it. Now we know why they don't like 'em, but maybe we can set the record straight here and go forward in peace if we just admit this was our fault.” Endless fodder for the transnational left to press its case that actions taken in America's defense are violations of international law. And this is going to destroy the CIA. It will destroy the CIA, exposing virtually everything they've done, people who did it. It's not good, folks.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: And by the way, this decision was made by Obama. Not Holder. Holder is carrying out Obama's policies. Holder is Obama. Jeremiah Wright is Obama. Bill Ayers is Obama. Valerie Jarrett is Obama. Van Jones is Obama. And again, whether he's being naive and just doesn't understand it, hasn't properly educated, or whether it's diabolical and on purpose doesn't matter. The end result is the same.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Can you imagine this poor guy McChrystal? Here's this four-star general, and he has to sit there and listen to this community organizer, who wouldn't know the butt end of an AK-47 if he saw it, tell him how to run a war. And then he's got to sit there and put up with a really strategically timed statement from our ambassador, appointed by Obama, in Kabul.

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Try this. There have been all kinds of people on television today being asked, “Bringing them into New York, doesn't that make New York a bigger terrorist target?” Hey. And they all say, “Well, no, no. New York's always a terrorist target. Look at '93. We tried those guys in 1993, and nothing happened.” What do you mean, “Nothing happened”? You ever heard of 9-11? We tried these guys and convicted the blind sheikh in 1993 and nothing happened except 9-11.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: It's really hard to say this to you, but you don't have a president who looks at life or war or the United States in any way, shape, manner, or form the way you do. You have a traditional view of this country based on your service to it and your commitment to it. We don't have a president who shares your commitment to the country, who shares your commitment to victory. We have a president and an administration who believes this country's guilty of things. And he's going to have trouble pulling the trigger on more troops over there, and even if he does pull the trigger on more troops, I think the constraints on their procedures over there, the rules of engagement, are going to be such that I -- it's going to be useless.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Folks, I'm sorry, I can't get off this decision to bring these terrorists to New York and conduct a trial. I just -- I -- this is such an insidious plot, it is such a disas-- do you realize Barack Obama is tougher on insurance companies than he is on the 9-11 mastermind?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: As long as we're throwing the rules out, here, we're conferring constitutional rights on noncitizens, why the hell do the jurors have to come from New York? Let's put Bill Ayers on the jury. Let's put his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, on the jury. Let's put Jeremiah Wright on the jury. Let's go get Saul Alinksy's son -- I think he lives in Boston -- put him on the jury. Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann. Who else could be -- we're talking about a jury of peers of these terrorists, who hated this country so much they wanted to blow up the World Trade Center and did. And Cindy Sheehan is the judge.

Oh! Put Harry Reid on the jury. “This war is lost. This war” -- and get Senator Durbin! Senator Durbin sides with these guys! Get Sestak. Durbin says that our interrogators were nothing than, like Pol Pots, renegades and the Nazis and the Soviet gulags and so forth. So, yeah, we get Dick Durbin. John Kerry, who served in Vietnam. John Kerry. Oh, oh. Look at the jury we could impanel here.