Rush resurrects Hitler-Obama comparisons
By Greg Lewis
Before today's show started, some of us at the Limbaugh Wire HQ were chatting about how it has been a while since Rush has invoked Hitler or Nazism in discussions of President Obama on The Rush Limbaugh Show. He was almost overdue. It'd been quiet on the Nazi front for many recent months... until today.
Rush got things started with this enticing tease:
LIMBAUGH: I know we're not supposed to talk about Adolf Hitler but this administration making it really, really tough to ignore some facts out there.
He went on:
LIMBAUGH: Talking about the “Big Lie” -- from his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, the “Big Lie” was an expression coined by Hitler. And the “Big Lie” is exactly what all of liberalism is. The “Big Lie” is exactly what all of Marxism is, or socialism is, or communism is.
To clarify, Rush was comparing Hitler's “Big Lie” idea to Obama's “big lie” that the stimulus worked. Rush broke down Obama's speech today marking one year since the signing of the stimulus bill, arguing that Obama was doubling down on this “big lie.”
Rush took Obama to task for “blaming Bush” for the economy since, as Rush explained, job losses only started after Obama was elected... or when companies “knew” that Obama would be elected:
LIMBAUGH: Go back -- if you want to find out where the really big job numbers being lost started, take a look at November of 2008, right after Obama was elected. Then look at December and then look at January, and you will find that businesses started laying off people after Obama won the election -- and some of them started before he won the election -- 'cause they knew what was coming down the pike.
Responding to Obama's remarks noting that 95 percent of Americans got a tax cut from the stimulus, Rush shouted: “You lie.” (Actually, the stimulus did contain such tax cuts). Rush then rewrote history, claiming that the Bush decade “showed almost no unemployment.” Well, if you don't include that recession in Bush's first term and the one at the end of his second, Rush is right.
Then Rush got back to that Hitler thing:
LIMBAUGH: All right -- now, let's go back to Hitler and the “Big Lie.” In his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, the expression was coined by Hitler to describe a lie so colossal that no one would believe that somebody could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. The “Big Lie” had to be big -- it had to be so big that nobody would believe anybody would have the audacity to lie that way. If you're gonna go -- if you're gonna lie, go big.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Now the phrase the “Big Lie” was also used in a report prepared during the war by the OSS, the forerunner to the CIA -- the United States Office of Strategic Services -- in describing Hitler's psychological profile. This is how the OSS described Hitler's psychology: “His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or a wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong” -- hello, George W. Bush and the Republicans. “People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one and if repeated frequently enough, people will sooner or later believe it.”
If Rush was trying to imply that Obama is like Hitler, he wasn't very subtle about it.
Rush continued to rewrite Bush admin history
After the break, Rush said that Obama thinks he can dupe the masses, just like he did during the 2008 campaign. Rush took issue with Obama's reference to the “lost decade” during the Bush administration. Rush said the “lost decade” started in 2007, when Democrats took over Congress, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “and the girls” took over. Rush said Obama voted for “every spending bill” Bush put forward (well, Obama wasn't around for those first-term agenda pillars like those tax cuts, Medicare expansion, and that war in Iraq -- all of which added to the deficit).
Then Rush highlighted Vice President Biden's interview this morning on CBS. Rush said Biden -- who, according to Rush, is proving to be the soul of nitwits -- ripped apart Obama and the Democrats by saying Washington has become “dysfunctional.” Rush said it is part of the “big lie” that Republicans are stopping Obama's agenda, and it is a “big lie” that Evan Bayh is a conservative. Rush claimed Bayh is a full-fledged liberal.
Rush baselessly claimed Obama is laying groundwork “for massive new tax increases on everybody”
Following another break, Rush congratulated Bush for any growth that may occur during the Obama administration, because, as he argued, if Bush is responsible for the downside of the economy right now, he deserves credit for the upside as well -- not Obama.
Rush continued to claim that Biden and others were lying in saying that the stimulus worked and that it created or saved 2 million jobs. It's worth pointing out that David Leonhardt makes a strong case for the stimulus' success in today's New York Times.
Anyway, Rush went on to monger some fear by claiming that Obama “can't wait” to impose new tax increases:
LIMBAUGH: This is all going according to plan, because next up the big push for tax increases -- ostensibly on the rich -- in order to get our financial house in order. But make no mistake, every damn one of you is going to be paying taxes out the wazoo that you cannot even imagine. And Obama even signaled it last week by voting present on the concept of a middle class tax increase: “Well, you know what? I'm an agnostic. I'm this.”
So he's laying the groundwork -- this debt that's been purposely run up -- and now, he's freezing spending after he's already run up the debt is to set the stage for massive new tax increases on everybody.
Rush then read about Obama's proposal to create a commission to deal with the budget deficit. Rush lamented the need for such a commission because fiscal responsibility is supposed to be Congress' job.
Rush closed out the hour by continuing to rant about Obama's “big lies” (he was really trying to hammer home that Hitler reference). Rush claimed that the deficit commission is a way to give Democrats cover. No mention from Rush that many Republicans supported it in Congress before voting against it. Rush then again played a clip from Back to School to make his point that Obama is an arrogant, impudent snob. Then he noted an apparent (but convoluted) contradiction by White House economic adviser Christina Romer.
Facts be damned: Rush continues to distort Jones' comments to call global warming a hoax
Rush began the second hour talking about the “big lie” of climate change science and going after NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco for the second consecutive day, this time for defending recent comments by climate scientist Phil Jones. Once again, Rush distorted Jones' remarks to claim Jones “admitted” there hasn't been any warming since 1995, that the hockey stick graph was “wrong,” and that there was medieval warming. Rush reminded us that climate change is all about expanding government and taking away our freedoms.
Then Rush spent several minutes reading straight from a list of GOP talking points about the stimulus. After more mentions of the stimulus, Rush took a caller who claimed his meager income saw a tax increase this year. Somehow, this led the caller and Rush to debate how influential Joseph Goebbels was in Hitler's regime. And to the surprise of no one, it was then back to Obama's “big lies.”
After commercial, a caller asked Rush if he thought the economy would take a turn for the worse. Rush said the U.S. economy is resilient and predicted upticks, but he warned that as long as Obama's policies are in play, you won't see a true revival. Rush said the debt Obama has run up cannot be sustained, so we're in trouble in the long term. Rush explained that if Obama is still in office after 2012, then we'll have tax increases out the wazoo. Rush added that in 2011, the Bush tax cuts “perspire” [sic], which he described as a "tax increase."
From here, Rush spent some time talking about various conservative manifestos being put together, such as the Mount Vernon Statement and Sen. John McCain's 10 questions for GOP senators. Rush sounded indifferent to the former and skeptical of the latter. Then he moved on to the tea parties, praising how they didn't have a single leader, don't have any central messaging, and don't have people telling them what kinds of signs to make. Rush ended the hour waxing poetic about American exceptionalism, as he has been known to do.
Rush again defends his use of the “R-word”
Rush began the final hour by criticizing the media for their coverage of University of Alabama shooter Amy Bishop. Rush said the media were ignoring that she was a “rabid fringe kook liberal,” arguing that the media would have jumped all over a political angle to the shootings if she listened to conservative radio. Rush also said Bishop was “in the tank for Obama.”
Then Rush commented on Sarah Palin's appearance on last night's O'Reilly, during which Rush came up for his use of the word “retard.” Rush responded today:
LIMBAUGH: I never used the “F-ing R-word syndrome” until Rahm Emanuel did it for the express purpose of pointing out this is how those people really talk. We're the ones that get tarred and feathered with talking that way when we don't. And I'm just trying to ram it down the media's throat because you people on the left are the ones with the trash mouths. You're the ones that have no respect for people that are not as good as you. So “F-ing retard” is what they think of all of us -- I was just trying to highlight that.
When another caller brought up the subject of tax cuts in the stimulus, Rush responded:
LIMBAUGH: You didn't get a tax cut; there's no question you didn't get a tax cut. Nobody got a tax cut. The tax cuts they're talking about were onetime tax credits -- you go out and buy a new muffler was what the original idea was.
Which is false. The tax cuts in the stimulus cannot be equated with rebates to buy a muffler. The payroll tax credits were doled out weekly to 95 percent of working families.
Next, Rush noted that Obama named an envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Rush didn't understand why Obama needed to fill the position, saying that after Obama's Cairo speech, Obama “was unique in his connections” to the Muslim world.
Then Rush went back to the climate change “hoax,” predicting that there would eventually be lawsuits because of the destruction done to the auto industry and businesses due to this “hoax.” Rush said that, at some point, the “hoaxsters” ought to be subject to being sued big time. Rush warned that standing between people and their money is dangerous, since it will make the hoaxsters, who won't get their money, very mad.
Mike Burns and Kitty Kaletsky contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.
Highlights
Outrageous comments
LIMBAUGH: I know, I know, I know, I know we're not supposed to talk about Adolf Hitler but this administration making it really, really tough to ignore some facts out there. Greetings -- how's that for a tease, Mr. Snerdley?
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Talking about the “Big Lie” -- from his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, the “Big Lie” was an expression coined by Hitler. And the “Big Lie” is exactly what all of liberalism is. The “Big Lie” is exactly what all of Marxism is, or socialism is, or communism is.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: All right -- now, let's go back to Hitler and the “Big Lie.” In his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, the expression was coined by Hitler to describe a lie so colossal that no one would believe that somebody could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. The “Big Lie” had to be big -- it had to be so big that nobody would believe anybody would have the audacity to lie that way. If you're gonna go -- if you're gonna lie, go big. Put your lie on an Atlas rocket and launch and fire that sucker.
Now let me read to you from Adolf Hitler -- and by the way, Adolf Hitler is a big figure out there now. All these videos here with Hitler reacting to this and reacting to that; you know, Hitler's enjoying something of a humorous revival here.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Now the phrase the “Big Lie” was also used in a report prepared during the war by the OSS, the forerunner to the CIA -- the United States Office of Strategic Services -- in describing Hitler's psychological profile. This is how the OSS described Hitler's psychology: “His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or a wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong” -- hello, George W. Bush and the Republicans. “People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one and if repeated frequently enough, people will sooner or later believe it.”
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Go back -- if you want to find out where the really big job numbers being lost started, take a look at November of 2008, right after Obama was elected. Then look at December and then look at January, and you will find that businesses started laying off people after Obama won the election -- and some of them started before he won the election -- 'cause they knew what was coming down the pike.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: This is all going according to plan, because next up the big push for tax increases -- ostensibly on the rich -- in order to get our financial house in order. But make no mistake, every damn one of you is going to be paying taxes out the wazoo that you cannot even imagine. And Obama even signaled it last week by voting present on the concept of a middle class tax increase: “Well, you know what? I'm an agnostic. I'm this.”
So he's laying the groundwork -- this debt that's been purposely run up -- and now, he's freezing spending after he's already run up the debt is to set the stage for massive new tax increases on everybody.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: I never used the “F-ing R-word syndrome” until Rahm Emanuel did it for the express purpose of pointing out this is how those people really talk. We're the ones that get tarred and feathered with talking that way when we don't. And I'm just trying to ram it down the media's throat because you people on the left are the ones with the trash mouths. You're the ones that have no respect for people that are not as good as you. So “F-ing retard” is what they think of all of us -- I was just trying to highlight that.
America's Truth Rejector
LIMBAUGH: And the tax increases -- but I can tell you right now -- are slated for January of 2011. That's when the Bush tax cuts perspire. And when that starts happening, everybody's tax rates go up, folks -- even if you make less than 250,000.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: You didn't get a tax cut; there's no question you didn't get a tax cut. Nobody got a tax cut. The tax cuts they're talking about were onetime tax credits -- you go out and buy a new muffler was what the original idea was.