Limbaugh blamed the left for obesity crisis, lamented that in America, we "[d]idn't teach them how to ... slaughter a cow to get the butter; we gave them the butter"

Summary: Rush Limbaugh blamed "the left" and the United Nations' Children Fund (UNICEF) for "the latest crisis" of "obesity among those who are impoverished," adding that Americans "[d]idn't teach them how to ... slaughter a cow to get the butter; we gave them the butter." Limbaugh also called the "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" campaign "[o]ne of the biggest scams on the face of the earth" because its goal was to "get everybody thinking the United Nations is feeding poor people."

Reading from an Associated Press report on a recent study on obesity in America during the August 29 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh blamed "the left," "food stamps," and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for "the latest crisis" of "obesity among those who are impoverished." Limbaugh declared that because Americans "are compassionate people" who have "been guilted into pouring resources onto the problem ... we have responded by letting our government literally feed these people to the point of obesity." Limbaugh continued: "At least here in America, [we] didn't teach them how to fish, we gave them the fish. Didn't teach them how to butcher a -- slaughter a cow to get the butter, we gave them the butter."

According to the August 29 AP report, Trust for America's Health -- an organization that tracks obesity in America -- recently released a study that found, among other things, that, in 2005, obesity rates for adults increased in 31 states. Dr. Janet Collins of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted, "Low-income populations tend to experience all the health problems we worry about at greater rates."

Limbaugh also called UNICEF's "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" Halloween fundraising campaign "[o]ne of the biggest scams on the face of the earth. ... [T]he scam was to get everybody loving the United Nations. The scam was to get everybody thinking the United Nations is feeding poor people."

From the August 29 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: I love these kinds of stories, 'cause we're just getting them all over the place: Waistlines continue to grow in the United States. Another crisis story here, ladies and gentlemen, from our old buddies at the Associated Press. "The gravy train -- make that the sausage, biscuits, and gravy train -- just keep [sic] on rolling in most of America last year." Thirty-one states showing an increase in obesity. Mississippi continued to lead the way; an estimated 30 percent of adults there are considered obese, an increase of 1.1 percentage points when compared with last year's report. Indeed, "the five states with the highest obesity rates are Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana, and Kentucky -- exhibit much higher rates of poverty than the national norm. Meanwhile, the five states with the lowest obesity have less poverty. They are Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont."

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I think you might then say that the obesity crisis could be the fault of government, liberal government. Food stamps, all those -- you know, I'm gonna tell you people a story. I -- just, well, the government, you could say, is killing these people because we know obesity kills, and the government's killing the poor. The Bush administration is killing the poor with too much food.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: And so, now, we find out that there is obesity and all this amongst the poor more than amongst those who are not poor. It's sort of a textbook case of what happens when we let liberals have their way. I mean, for decades, all over the world, we've been beat about the head that there are hungry people out there, that they are starving. UNICEF -- how many of you trick-or-treated for UNICEF? Did you "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF," Brian? We all did -- did you? We all trick-or-treated. One of the biggest scams on the face of the earth. It was -- the scam was to get everybody loving the United Nations. The scam was to get everybody thinking the United Nations is feeding poor people. Remember all these stories: "A dime a day will feed 20 kids in some outward place around the world"?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: This is what happens when you let the left run things. We've been beat about the head. There are hungry people everywhere. UNICEF got it all started. We've seen the babies with the extended tummies, the walking skeletons, told that kids can't learn unless they're fed. We've been guilted into pouring resources on the problem. And now, now, the latest crisis is that there is obesity among those who are impoverished. Because we are sympathetic, we are compassionate people, we have responded by letting our government literally feed these people to the point of obesity. At least here in America, didn't teach them how to fish, we gave them the fish. Didn't teach them how to butcher a -- slaughter a cow to get the butter, we gave them the butter. The real bloat here, as we know, is in -- is in government.

—J.M.