Limbaugh Promises To "Leav[e] The Country" If His Health Care Distortions Come True

By Zachary Pleat

Rush compares health care reform to the Ides of March: "How fitting an analogy"

Kicking off his show, Rush said that President Obama's health care speech in Pennsylvania today had "even more lies" in it and that the entire crowd must have been union supporters because the applause was nearly continuous. In Rush's words, the audience was "pure liberal leftist union."

After briefly complaining that the Academy Awards were boring because there were no "anti-Bush" or "anti-me" comments, Rush said a poll showed that only 25 percent of the population thought that the country was on the right track. He then briefly mentioned several articles relating to Obama and the economy, taking issue with a federal program -- described in a New York Times article -- to help homeowners avoid foreclosure by offering financial incentives for them sell their houses at a loss. Rush lamented that such a program would encourage people to walk away from their obligations.

Rush then waded into the fight between Democratic Rep. Eric Massa and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, playing several clips from Massa's radio show. Rush seemed to suggest that Massa stay in office instead of resigning, saying that he would have a lot of support from people for opposing the proposed fix to the health care reform bill. Later on, Rush remarked that this story sounds like what used to come out of Venezuela and the Kremlin during the Soviet era.

Back from the first break, Rush made his first Barney Frank reference of the week. Referring to Massa's complaints that shower curtains were removed from the showers in the House gym, Rush explained why the curtains were removed: "Can you say 'Barney Frank'?"

Rush then moved on to read a Wall Street Journal editorial, interrupting it to remark that freshman Democratic congressmen were scared to death of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who he said was threatening them. He then stated that comparing the deadline Obama set for health care reform to the Ides of March was a "fitting" analogy. Rush went on to offer his explanation of how the Senate was going to double-cross the House on health-care reform:

LIMBAUGH: So, you Democrats in the House, you better count on the fact that you're being double-crossed. And you better count on the fact that you are not gonna get any reconciliation whatsoever of the Senate bill once you sign it or vote for it and it goes back. 'Cause it's not gonna back to the Senate. It isn't -- let me tell you what's gonna happen.

As I said all last week, when you Democrats in the House sign the bill -- if you do -- it will be on Obama's desk within 30 minutes. He will schedule a signing ceremony in the Rose Garden in the next 30 minutes. And then he will leave. And you will be told, "Don't worry. Don't worry. This is just the foundation. We're gonna go back and we're gonna be adding all kinds of stuff to this bill."

Let me warn you Democrats of the real politics in this. After Obama signs health care, they are going to drop it. They're not gonna start adding anything to it. That's their strategery for limiting their loses in November. Health care will not even be discussed anymore. There will not be reconciliation. There will not be proposals to add to it. And you guys are gonna lose control of the House and probably the Senate in November, so your chances to fix this bill to your liking or have anything added to it -- not gonna happen. You are being double-crossed big time.

After another break, Rush played audio from Obama's speech today on health care reform, immediately interrupting the first clip to accuse Obama of being the ultimate Washington insider. After another clip of the speech, Rush falsely claimed that the country would see "massive increases" in health insurance premiums if health care reform is signed into law. He then launched into a rant to demean Obama as unqualified to do just about anything:

LIMBAUGH: I still want to ask everybody, "Who is this guy?" Who is he to be doing this? He wouldn't know what to do in a doctor's office or in a hospital or how to run one. He wouldn't know the first thing about anything in the drug industry. He wouldn't know a thing about the insurance industry. All he knows is the hatred he's been taught for the insurance industry and doctors and nurses and so forth. He's demonized all of these people. But he is no more qualified to run this health care system as he is qualified to run any business.

He is not qualified to do -- why? Who is he? He is nobody. Just because he's president doesn't make him qualified or capable of fixing anything. And as we've seen, he hasn't fixed anything. Everything that he's touched has gotten worse. Everything he's focused on -- jobs? Unemployment goes way up. Everything that this man claims he's going to fix is broken and in worse shape than before he was elected.

Coming back from another break, Rush stated that Obama's desire for lower health care costs would result in reduced services, less equipment, and poorer-quality health care. He then went on a straw-man-filled rant, claiming that Obama views everything other than the government as evil or the devil.

Rush: Obama an "out-of-control, power-hungry demagogue"

Back for the second hour, Rush declared that Obama is waging war on private insurance companies. Rush stated that since Democrats want single-payer health care and the bill no longer contains the public option, destroying private insurance is the only way to get it. He recycled a tired criticism of the individual mandate, asserting that people would rather pay a fine for not having health insurance and then get it the moment something happens to them. Rush said that insurance companies wouldn't be able to turn such people away, and that this would lead to the collapse of private health insurance. Imagine, Rush asked, if people waited until having an accident to buy auto insurance.

He then spent some time asking and answering his own rhetorical question about how Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Affairs medical system provide and deny care for their beneficiaries. Next, he asked why Obama -- as the head of the federal government and therefore these federal programs -- denies people care, declaring that Obama is the "evil insurance" guy Rush claims the president has been demonizing.

Coming back from a break, Rush read a Politico article. After discussing The Hurt Locker with a caller, Rush moved on to another caller who wondered if all doctors were going to be forced into a vague-sounding "federal program." Rush, of course, said that they would, and when asked by the caller what he would do when that happened, Rush announced that he would "leave the country" after health care reform passes.

Rush: Obama is a "constitutional fraud"

At the top of the third hour, Rush played several clips from Massa's radio show this past weekend, along with Dan Rather's comments on Chris Matthews' Sunday show. He then moved on to a clip of Robert Reich talking about the need for minimum federal standards if health insurance is to be opened across state lines. He finished the segment by reading from an American Thinker post about home visitations under the health care reform bills.

Later, Rush read a Washington Examiner op-ed by Glenn Reynolds and adopted Reynolds' comparison of the federal government to the damaged brand of Schlitz beer, declaring that the "Democrat Party" especially reflected this. He then briefly mentioned Frank Rich's recent New York Times column and a piece by George Packer in The New Yorker, and he finished off by reading from a report about a study of how African-Americans and Hispanics in are losing more sleep over their worries than other racial groups. Rush briefly mentioned an AP report on minority firms receiving less stimulus money and suggested that Democrats were responsible for barriers faced by minorities. He then moved on to an article on how Tennessee lawmakers are seeking to tax free hotel breakfasts.

After the last break of the show, Rush mentioned the ACLU's full-page ad in The New York Times that urges Obama to continue with his promise to try terrorism suspects in criminal court. He adopted some mock outrage that the ad shows four photographs that gradually morph Obama's image into that of George W. Bush, declaring it the worst insult possible to Obama, because Rush said that the left hates nobody more than Bush.

Tom Allison, Michael Burns, and Michael Timberlake contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.