Rush Limbaugh lashed out at President Obama today for recognizing “the compassion and contributions of Native Americans” and their “skill in agriculture” during his Thanksgiving proclamation. According to Rush, Obama was perpetuating a “myth” about Thanksgiving and implying that “we were incompetent idiots, we didn't know how to feed ourselves, so they came along and showed us how.”

Lost in Rush's rambling diatribe was that President Reagan made similar statements in his Thanksgiving proclamations.

For example, from Reagan's 1981 Thanksgiving proclamation:

On this day of thanksgiving, it is appropriate that we recall the first Thanksgiving, celebrated in the autumn of 1621. After surviving a bitter winter, the Pilgrims planted and harvested a bountiful crop. After the harvest they gathered their families together and joined in celebration and prayer with the Native Americans who had taught them so much. Clearly our forefathers were thankful not only for the material well-being of their harvest but for this abundance of goodwill as well.

Bill Clinton, in his 2000 Thanksgiving proclamation, also recognized the contributions of Native Americans.

Rush also took the opportunity of the Thanksgiving holiday to smear Native Americans, blaming them for deaths from tobacco and demanding “reparations,” and claiming that they “scammed” the Europeans in the sale of Manhattan island.