By Zachary Pleat

Rush wonders about Rev. Jesse Jackson: "[C]an you throw so many parties for yourself as this guy does and still call yourself a black man?"

America's Truth Rejecter started off this Thursday wondering where his call screener Bo Snerdley was, suspecting him of taking a nap on El Rushbo's time. Rush, with his $400 million, eight-year contract, then professed his mocking concern over new unemployment numbers. Rush then used a Rasmussen poll on the unemployment figures for Democrats and Republicans to gleefully point out that the numbers showed 15 percent of Democrats were out of a job, compared to only 9 percent of Republicans. Rush then apologized for laughing about this.

Rush then repeated his moronic claim that the stimulus was nothing more than a “slush fund” for Democrats while complaining about a CNN.com article showing the slow pace of permanent help for homeowners facing foreclosure. Rush wonders when the “fact” that “no one, nowhere” has been helped by Obama would “penetrate the haze.” Rush continued to call just about every piece of legislation to help the economy a “slush fund.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Rush then reported that a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll showed Obama with 46 percent approval, saying there are now two polls that show him below 50 percent. Rush then followed Glenn Beck in hyping an apparent by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who reportedly said, “You can't vote against health care and call yourself a black man.” Rush then complained about the amount of parties thrown for Jackson, and made a quite unfunny quip about this before heading to a commercial break:

LIMBAUGH: The reception celebrating the 25th anniversary of Jackson's run for president, though, is not to be confused with Mr. Jackson's birthday celebration, which was Friday, November 13, 2009, which was held in Beverly Hills at the Beverly Hilton hotel. So less than a week ago, there was a birthday party for the Reverend Jackson, and then there was a reception six days later -- five days later for the 25th anniversary of his run for president. For some people, life, I guess, just one big party. I wonder, can you throw so many parties for yourself as this guy does and still call yourself a black man?

Back from the break, Rush quickly blamed the announcement by AOL to cut a third of its employees on “the policies of Jesse Jackson.”

Rush then used the infamous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' website to engage in some Al Gore bashing, gleefully pointing out the Photoshopped changes in a picture of the Earth taken by NASA for his newest book, to highlight the dangers of climate change. Rush loved this article so much that he linked to it at the top of his website. Later in his show, Rush read part of a Spiegel Online article that reported on problems with temperatures in climate models.

Back from another break, Rush complained Kathleen Sebelius was blaming Bush appointees for the new mammogram examination recommendations. Rush then embraced former Attorney General John Ashcroft's claim that “Holder lacks authority to make a decision on moving terror detainees to civilian courts for trial.” Rush says this shows that it was really President Obama's decision, and everyone in Washington is lying about it. Rush spent some time discussing the supposed lack of legal precedent for trying “enemy combatants” from “the battlefield” in federal court, declaring that “this is insidious” and that this was purely political, later correcting himself to say it was ideology driving this. Rush would continue complaining about this later on in his show.

Rush: "[T]he original goal of the ACLU was to totally break down the US justice system"

Rush then continued his tired attacks against Obama, this time roping in Eric Holder:

Obama's view of the United States is no different than that of a third-world Marxist dictator. That's how he views this country. Immoral, unjust, evil, unequal, discriminatory, all of those things. With every passing day, ladies and gentlemen, the core beliefs of Obama, Eric Holder, everybody in this administration are revealed -- damn the public, damn national security, full steam ahead. We're going to fix what we find wrong about this country.

Rush then took a call from an unemployed newspaper reporter who took him to task for his past attacks on any kind of government assistance:

CALLER: I heard you say something before that just really annoyed me. You said something about unemployment and about all these extensions for unemployment, that all these extensions are discouraging people from looking for work. You have got to be kidding. You've got to be kidding. What, do you think people are sitting back and, like, you know, like, enjoying all this time off, when nobody has any idea of they're going to be able to get a job?

After being thoroughly stung by the caller from the first hour, Rush used much of the top half of his second hour by defending himself from her accusations. Naturally, he used this to bash government assistance to the poor for a while. Rush then could not help himself from attacking the caller -- who was no longer on the line -- suggesting that the reason she is unemployed is because “she's obnoxious.” Rush continued to spew his usual tired rhetoric about individualism for a while, eventually getting around to his new conspiracy theory that Obama is turning Americans into “dependent, compliant servants” in order to “perpetuate power in perpetuity.” Say that fives times fast.

Rounding out the first half of the hour, Rush took a caller who congratulated him for his response to the previous caller and wanted to talk about the Senate health care bill. Rush used this as an opportunity to falsely claim that nothing in the bill except taxes kick in until 2013. Later on, several other callers came to Rush's rescue.

Back from another break, Rush claimed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was lying about everything he said about the Senate health care bill, especially that it would be deficit neutral, a concept Rush just can't bring himself to understand. Next, Rush treated us to a blog post by House Republican Leader John Boehner concerning abortion coverage in the Senate health care bill as nothing but the unvarnished truth, reading much of it verbatim. Rush then read a National Review Online blog post to complain about the bill being a “pretty expensive policy.” Later on, Rush put aside his disdain for the liberal elite from Ivy League universities to hype a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece by the dean of Harvard Medical School, who criticized the debate on health care reform.

Back for the final hour of the day, Rush decided to air some progressive criticism of the health care bills for a change, but unsurprisingly claimed Obama was just lying to everybody, and would really deliver the single-payer health care that Rep. John Conyers wants.

Rush again uses Ted Kennedy to wax non-poetically on “the will to live”

Weighing in on the mammogram recommendations issue again, Rush decided to compare mammograms to door locks and home security systems, and expanded on this. As is his wont, he framed it as a fight between the government and individual liberty:

LIMBAUGH: To limit our options regarding medical care is an assault. It is an attack. And people are going to defend themselves against this. Anybody who wants to interfere with the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness can screw off as far as I'm concerned. They have a fight on their hands. This is a matter of self-defense. We're all playing defense now, against our own government, against our own president.

Back from yet another break, Rush read a story about a shortage of Eggo waffles due to flooding, which Peabody-winning fake conservative news show host Stephen Colbert covered on his show last night. Rush, who constantly stigmatizes people requiring government assistance, then ranted about poor students who were missing out on free breakfast at their schools, mocking the possibility that the children feel stigmatized for needing help.

Rush then had his new favorite dittohead, the woman who arranged for Rush's parody of children singing about President Obama, on the phone for a while. Over the course of the call, the caller claimed that birth control led to cancer, and Rush chimed in that abortions may increase breast cancer risks, a claim refuted by the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society.

After that egregious falsehood, Rush told a story that, for a change, made him more like everybody else; he forgot to pay his American Express bill, and seemed a bit turned off by the way he was treated. So it turns out that despite his fortune and “talent on loan from God”, Rush, too, is occasionally helplessly disgruntled with the voice at the other end of the phone.

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

Highlights

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: The reception celebrating the 25th anniversary of Jackson's run for president, though, is not to be confused with Mr. Jackson's birthday celebration, which was Friday, November 13, 2009, which was held in Beverly Hills at the Beverly Hilton hotel. So less than a week ago, there was a birthday party for the Reverend Jackson, and then there was a reception six days later -- five days later for the 25th anniversary of his run for president. For some people, life, I guess, just one big party. I wonder, can you throw so many parties for yourself as this guy does and still call yourself a black man?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Believe me when I tell you Barack Obama and Eric Holder have the mentality of the ACLU. Remember, the original goal of the ACLU was to totally break down the U.S. justice system. That was the original objective. That's why they were -- that why they formed. Obama and Eric Holder are the highest officials in a society they do not like and they do not trust. They wish to change it whether the public likes it or not. Obama -- I think it's Victor Davis Hanson who said it -- Obama's view of the United States is no different than that of a third-world Marxist dictator. That's how he views this country. Immoral, unjust, evil, unequal, discriminatory, all of those things. With every passing day, ladies and gentlemen, the core beliefs of Obama, Eric Holder, everybody in this administration are revealed -- damn the public, damn national security, full steam ahead. We're going to fix what we find wrong about this country.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I also understand what Obama and the left are doing. They are not only trying to transform our society, my friends, they are trying to transform the people from earnest, positive, innovative people to dependent, compliant servants. They want you believing that you're only hope is the government. They want you turning to the government for more and more. It is their desire to perpetuate their power in perpetuity, forever. Because the more people that depend on Obama personally or the government for the basics of life, the more people that will continue to vote for those people out of fear those basics will not be provided by different people, a different party.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: To limit our options regarding medical care is an assault. It is an attack. And people are going to defend themselves against this. Anybody who wants to interfere with the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness can screw off as far as I'm concerned. They have a fight on their hands. This is a matter of self-defense. We're all playing defense now, against our own government, against our own president.

“Socialism” watch

LIMBAUGH: This is the Obama administration, which runs around the world apologizing for this country. He sees this country the same way a Third World socialist dictator does. That's the lens through which he sees the United States of America. And he wants this country to be on trial, so he sends his attorney general out there, claiming the attorney general made the decision after a long, agonizing moment, after eight years of delay, and the Bush adminstration, yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda. And can't even cite one example where it has been done before.

America's Truth Rejecter

CALLER: You did a story awhile back on women that take the birth control pill. I don't because of the high risk of breast cancer in my family. Now they want to take away my mammogram, but I want you to know what kind of woman I am. I like a manly man. I've never taken the pill in my life. Do you remember that story?

LIMBAUGH: From the last time you called?

CALLER: No no no. The -- the birth control --

LIMBAUGH: Oh, you mean the news story. Oh yeah yeah yeah, the birth -- not only birth control, but there are studies that say abortions increase the chances of breast cancer as well.

War on the poor

CALLER: I heard you say something before that just really annoyed me. You said something about unemployment and about all these extensions for unemployment, that all these extensions are discouraging people from looking for work. You have got to be kidding. You've got to be kidding. What, do you think people are sitting back and, like, you know, like, enjoying all this time off, when nobody has any idea of they're going to be able to get a job? I mean, granted --

LIMBAUGH: Uh --

CALLER: -- wait, wait, let me finish, OK? Granted, my particular industry is dead -- OK, it committed suicide. I understand that. But my brother just got laid off two weeks ago, OK, and he -- and his -- in the building he was in, Comcast laid off their entire work force in that -- in that floor.

LIMBAUGH: Yeah, and they're buying NBC.

CALLER: I don't give a damn. I mean, all I care about is, like, where -- how am I going to get a job? How is he going to get a job? How are we going to work, and I still have a mortgage to pay?

LIMBAUGH: Uh --

CALLER: I mean, come on, Rush, it hasn't been that long since you got fi --

LIMBAUGH: Wait, can -- can I --

CALLER: Wait, wait, wait, wait, it hasn't been that long since you got fired. Would you stop snickering? It's really -- it's really pathetic.

LIMBAUGH: I'm -- no -- I'm -- 'cause I feel like your husband; I'm trying to get a word in edgewise, and you won't --

CALLER: My husband --

LIMBAUGH: You won't --

CALLER: My husband died.

LIMBAUGH: You won't let me speak.

CALLER: Look, I didn't-- you know, you have --

LIMBAUGH: I'm sorry about that, I'm sorry --

CALLER: Look, you've got -- you've got more money than God, OK? Are you starting a newspaper? No, of course not, ok, it's like everybody --

LIMBAUGH: Why would I invest in a dying industry?