Hour 2: Rush Launches All-Out Attack On Public Health Option

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Rush's Holocaust hypocrisy
By Simon Maloy

Rush got Hour 2 going by reading from a Reuters story on the Venezuelan government banning the sale of Coke Zero due to, officials said, health concerns. Rush said he was reading this story because this is what happens when you have a statist in control of your country. Anyone that makes a profit is a target, and the same kind of stuff is starting to happen here.

Then Rush pronounced that we're all going to die. We were already painfully aware of that fact -- we're not even sure we're going to make it through this program. Anyway, Rush announced this because of a Space.com article reporting that computer simulations "reveal a slight chance that a disruption of planetary orbits could lead to a collision of Earth with Mercury, Mars or Venus in the next few billion years." Rush said that every day, there's a new calamity that's going to wipe out humanity, and all these stories promote the idea that someone has to save us, and that someone is the government.

Then Rush recounted something that he said during his interview with Sean Hannity:

LIMBAUGH: I made a comment to Hannity in that interview last week -- I've said this on this program a couple of times, too, but I don't think I can say it too much. You know, there's going to come a day -- there's going to come a day in this country, not too distant, people are going to say, "Why didn't somebody tell us? Why didn't somebody warn us what was happening to our economy and our country?" Well, I am the guy telling you. You are being warned. You are being told. I am the guy telling you.

You know, of all of the other times in history where people said, "Gee, they took this away and I didn't say anything. They took that away and I didn't say anything. They finally came for me and there was nobody left to defend me." I have been letting the world know exactly what's happening in this country and will happen. There will not be an excuse down the road in this country for somebody to say, "I didn't -- nobody told me. Why didn't somebody tell us this? I just didn't know," because you are being told.

Now, wait a sec... We were told in the last hour that Obama, in allegedly "comparing" the situation in Gaza to the Holocaust, was cheapening the horror of the Holocaust. But, now, here's Rush invoking Martin Niemöller's famous poem about the Holocaust in order to cast himself as the heroic voice standing up to what is happening to the country. That, dear reader, is a gigantic dose of hypocrisy.

Then it was on to Mirandizing terror suspects, as Rush credited Sarah Palin for warning America about this during her acceptance speech last year as the vice presidential nominee. Then Rush aired audio of Obama saying in March that terrorists don't deserve Miranda rights. Rush said it's not what Obama says, it's how he says it.

There was one other thing Rush wanted to get out of the way before the break -- he spent a good amount of time yesterday bashing Colin Powell and other moderate Republicans, and Rush informed us that he went back and found Powell's speech at the 1996 Republican Nominating Convention, in which Powell decried bigger government and higher taxes. So, Rush said, Colin Powell has changed.

After the break, Rush gleefully noted that the Politico reported: "FBI agents visited the offices of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine yesterday after a shooting at the Holocaust Memorial Museum and told employees they'd found the magazine's address." Rush called this quite interesting.

Then it was back to Mirandizing terrorists as Rush asked when we can expect congressional hearings. Rush asked: If we're going to Mirandize enemy combatants on the battlefield, does that mean they don't have to say anything until they get a lawyer? There are a couple of problems with this -- first, as Stephen Hayes wrote yesterday, this is the FBI administering the rights, not soldiers "on the battlefield." Second, also according to Stephen Hayes, who appeared on Fox News' Special Report yesterday, "There are reports that this was happening on specific bases as going back as early as July 2008." That means this was going on during the Bush presidency.

Then Rush took a call from a man who claimed that he'd never met a Republican who isn't racist and attacked Rush for constantly attacking Obama for not helping his half-brother living in a "hut" in Kenya. The caller said that he has a homeless brother, and he doesn't do anything for him. Rush said it's a sad thing that the caller has a homeless relative and he doesn't do anything to help him. The caller, Rush said, is what's wrong with America today.

After the break, Rush took a call from a woman whose heart was "affected" by Rush's CPAC speech. Rush congratulated her for listening to the speech. Then it was on to the next caller, who declared that a day without Rush "is a day without sunshine," and that she's upset at Obama playing games with the country's future. Rush said that this is no game; this is a serious attempt at deconstructing this country as it was founded and putting it back together in a way no one will recognize. There are people afraid to stand up to it, said Rush. In the old Soviet Union, he explained, people had to retreat to their bathrooms to speak their minds for fear of being overheard. But, Rush said, we're not there yet, even though there are a bunch of people scared out of their minds to speak out.

After another break, Rush wanted to "re-tie the knot" on the Holocaust museum shooter -- this Jew-hating nut attacks the museum and has, in his possession, the address of The Weekly Standard, which is run by neocons, which is a term invented by the left to describe Jews. Another guy who hates neocons, said Rush, is Chris Matthews on MSNBC, who blamed the shooting on Rush. This is all a cheap political play that fits a stereotype that bears no resemblance to reality, Rush explained.

Then Rush got to Obama's health-care townhall in Wisconsin today, saying that the reason he's doing it is because the polling numbers aren't good. His approval ratings are still good, said Rush, but the issues are all falling apart on him, and Rush thinks there's panic going on in the White House. Then Rush aired a sound bite of Obama's townhall, asking us to listen to the "tepid" applause Obama got:

LIMBAUGH: So, he's out there in Green Bay today and he's trying to revive the polling on health care, and he gets a very tepid response -- very weak applause to his presentation here of a public insurance option.

OBAMA [audio clip]: One of the options in the exchange should be a public insurance option [RAUCOUS APPLAUSE] -- and the reason is not because we want a government takeover of health care. I've already said if you've got a private plan that works for you, that's great, but we want some competition. If the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it'll keep them honest and it'll keep -- help keep their prices down. [RAUCOUS APPLAUSE]

Rush had to go on to explain: "Now, the response to me did not sound tepid, but it was. It may not sound tepid to you but if you looked at it on television and saw it, you would agree that the applause here is not roaring. I mean, it's not like he's used to getting." Anyway, Rush said it's a lie when Obama says if "private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it'll keep them honest and ... help keep their prices down," because there will be no private insurance once there is a public option. Once a public option is in place, said Rush, the insurance companies are going to get on board the government plan. The idea of a public option is to end up with a single payer, and that is the government, said Rush. Then Rush aired another Obama sound bite from today, in which the president said that no one is talking about implementing socialized medicine like they have in Britain. Rush said socialized medicine is no different from a single-payer plan, and he doesn't like being in the position of having to call the president of the United States a liar, but he has no choice.

Greg Lewis and Lauryn Bruck contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: I made a comment to Hannity in that interview last week -- I've said this on this program a couple of times, too, but I don't think I can say it too much. You know, there's going to come a day -- there's going to come a day in this country, not too distant, people are going to say, "Why didn't somebody tell us? Why didn't somebody warn us what was happening to our economy and our country?" Well, I am the guy telling you. You are being warned. You are being told. I am the guy telling you.

You know, of all of the other times in history where people said, "Gee, they took this away and I didn't say anything. They took that away and I didn't say anything. They finally came for me and there was nobody left to defend me." I have been letting the world know exactly what's happening in this country and will happen. There will not be an excuse down the road in this country for somebody to say, "I didn't -- nobody told me. Why didn't somebody tell us this? I just didn't know," because you are being told.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So, he's out there in Green Bay today and he's trying to revive the polling on health care, and he gets a very tepid response -- very weak applause to his presentation here of a public insurance option.

OBAMA [audio clip]: One of the options in the exchange should be a public insurance option -- and the reason is not because we want a government takeover of health care. I've already said if you've got a private plan that works for you, that's great, but we want some competition. If the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it'll keep them honest and it'll keep -- help keep their prices down.

LIMBAUGH: My friends, look, I really resent the position this man puts me in -- but that's a lie. There will be no private insurance once they get a public option. That's the dirty little secret. There will be no competition. That's the dirty little secret. What public -- once a public option is in place, the insurance companies are not going to be able to compete. It's -- they're not even going to try. The insurance companies are going to try to offload. Once there is a public option, you're going to see the insurance companies get out of it and get on board the government plan for a whole host of reasons.

The dirty little secret here is that the idea of a public option is to end up with a single payer and that's the federal government. Now, the response to me did not sound tepid, but it was. It may not sound tepid to you but if you looked at it on television and saw it, you would agree that the applause here is not roaring. I mean, it's not like he's used to getting.