By Zachary Pleat

Rush contradicts Scott Brown by declaring MA election was about Obama

Saying that he was paraphrasing “Michelle 'My Belle' Obama,” Rush began his show by announcing that “for the first time,” he is “proud of Massachusetts.” Rush quickly followed this by again saying, "This one's for you, Mary Jo." A bit later, Rush joined much of the media in contradicting Scott Brown's take on his own election:

LIMBAUGH: This is not just one election; this is the third blowout involving two -- or actually three -- dark blue states. It is not about Coakley's campaign or Corzine's problems or Creigh Deeds being a lightweight. The common thread here is Obama.

Incidentally, later in the show, Rush actually played audio of Brown's press conference in which he said that his election is not a referendum on President Obama:

LIMBAUGH [reading question to Brown]: Someone said this is a referendum on the President. Do you agree with that?

BROWN [audio clip]: No -- it's bigger than that. It really -- for our -- for us and our area, we have three speakers that were indicted, three senators that are resigned in disgrace, we have out-of-control taxation and spending in Massachusetts. You couple that with what's being proposed nationally -- people are angry. They're tired of the backroom deals. They want transparency, they want good government. They want fairness, and they want people to start working and solving their problems.

Rush then cited an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times to claim that he discovered a theme “returning” to the media -- that of the “angry white voter.” Continuing with this, Rush later wondered “who knew” that “there were so many bitter clingers” in Massachusetts. Moving on, Rush used the Massachusetts special election results to forecast the return of conservatism. He also stated that Brown reportedly won unaffiliated voters 73 percent to 25 percent.

Before finishing off the segment by reading in full a Boston Globe article, which the blog Sweetness & Light posted and renamed “MA voters date raped by Brown,” Rush -- who has a long history of demeaning the late Ted Kennedy -- decided it was appropriate for him to invoke Kennedy and proclaim that America's health care system “has been saved” by Brown's election:

LIMBAUGH: The health care -- the health care system that extended Ted Kennedy's life may have been saved. The health care system that extended Senator Kennedy's life may well have been saved. This was a great victory for all Americans who desire the same quality health care that Mr. Kennedy received during his life, and especially during his courageous and well-fought battle against cancer. If Obama's health care succeeds, the great health care system that sustained and elongated the life of Senator Kennedy will be finis; it will be over.

El Rushbo spent the bottom half of his first hour variously bashing SEIU President Andy Stern's statement on Brown's election, citing a Public Policy Polling report that only 40 percent of Massachusetts voters supported the Democratic health care reform bill, and seemingly expressing delight that Sen. John Kerry needed crutches to get up on stage last night. Rush said that this was a perfect representation of the Democratic Party, which he declared to be “hobbled.” Rush also complained a couple of times about plans by Obama to create a bipartisan commission “to make recommendations to Congress on ways to reduce the federal budget deficit,” stating that it was a way to make raising taxes easier.

Rush continues to bait Colin Powell

Rush, deciding to spend even more airtime on playing his parodies, began the second hour with his third parody of the day, this one featuring parodies of calls that might be left on Martha Coakley's voicemail by Democratic politicians. This was immediately followed by some music, sparing Rush from having to do much commentary during the segment.

Limbaugh finally got around to highlighting Sen. Jim Webb's call to suspend further votes on health care reform until Brown is seated. Rush then read Rep. Barney Frank's statement that Congress shouldn't ignore the Massachusetts election results. Though he admitted that he was tempted to give Frank “the benefit of the doubt,” Rush declared that the statement is “a wheelbarrow full of crap.” He closed out the segment by saying that several Democratic senators would vote no if the health care reform vote were held again today: Webb, Mary Landrieu, Ben Nelson, and Blanche Lincoln, adding Claire McCaskill later.

El Rushbo came back from a break and regurgitated a tired trope surrounding the health care reform debate, declaring that “the whole thing is a public option.” After taking a call, Rush read a long Politico article about what Democrats are doing in response to Brown's victory.

After another break, Rush played three sound bites, including one of Colin Powell, prompting him to ask, “Where's Colin Powell today?” Rush, of course, has a bit of a history of attacking Powell, for reasons known only to him. He then spent much of the rest of the hour reading and discussing various articles concerning Brown's election, as well as quite a few of Brown's own comments from throughout the campaign, pronouncing some of them “a Limbaugh echo.”

Rush wonders if “Jewish liberals” are “experiencing buyer's remorse” about Obama

Without much ado, Limbaugh kicked off his final hour of the day by engaging in some questionable queries about Jews in Massachusetts:

LIMBAUGH: Scott Brown had a lot of success with independents, and that's -- that's what Jewish liberals like to call themselves when they're asked. They call themselves independents before they'll refer to themselves as -- as liberals. So if Jewish people who voted 78 percent for Obama -- which is far higher than any other group except African-Americans -- if Jewish people gave Obama 78 percent of their vote, what if they're experiencing buyer's remorse like all these people in Massachusetts did? Do you realize how important this could be? I don't think there's buyer's remorse yet in the black community -- that's still pretty strong.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: To some people, “banker” is code word for Jewish; and guess who Obama is assaulting? He's assaulting bankers. He's assaulting money people. And a lot of those people on Wall Street are Jewish. So I wonder if there's -- if there's starting to be some buyer's remorse there?

Moving on, Rush took issue with a blog post from Newsweek's Jonathan Alter discussing the Massachusetts election:

LIMBAUGH: Now we move onto Jonathan Alter. “The message Democrats should hear from Massachusetts: Govern effectively. Passing health care reform won't hurt them but losing their courage will. By Jonathan Alter. Is this a wake up call for President Obama? Oh, yes. Does he need to show that he is listening more? Sure. But should this election kill health care? Don't be ridiculous. Who elected Massachusetts to decide for the rest of the country whether we move forward on the bill?”

Mr. Alter. Mr. Alter, can I -- can I turn that question around? Who elected one congressional district to corrupt Fanny Mae, Freddie Mac, and authorize the subprime mortgage crisis. I speak of the Barney Frank district. Mr. Alter, let me ask another question: Who elected a speaker of the House that led the whole body into virtually ignoring the will of a majority of the American people?

Who elected Massachusetts to decide for the rest of the country whether we move forward on the bill? Ask that about any elected official in Congress -- state, senator, or congressman. I didn't vote for Nancy Pelosi; she's got so damn much influence over my taxes. I didn't vote for Charlie Rangel, ditto. Most people didn't.

Rush wrapped up his show today by airing what he said was audio from Obama's interview with Good Morning America, which he claimed is to air tomorrow, and declaring, “He thinks -- he thinks the anger that they drummed up against George W. Bush is the same anger that elected Scott Brown? If he believes this, folks -- if he believes this, his ego is more out of control than even I -- and I know egos -- had imagined.” Rush then congratulated Republicans for “holding firm” in the Senate, delaying health care reform until they could get their “41st vote.”

Michael Burns, Kitty Kaletsky, and Michael Timberlake contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.