Rush Limbaugh deceptively edited the reporting of ABC Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper to suggest he was personally biased against Republican efforts on the debt limit. Limbaugh purported to show that Tapper was chastising Republicans for their position on raising the limits on the debt ceiling. In reality, Tapper was reporting on admonitions from economists who see danger in not raising the limit. Tapper described Limbaugh's actions as “dishonest” and “misleading” editing.

On his May 17 radio program, Limbaugh discussed negotiations to raise the debt ceiling and aired a clip of Tapper's report:

LIMBAUGH: Look, what [Rep. Paul] Ryan is saying, and it's really simple, if we don't fix the mess we're in nobody is gonna be worth anything at some point. That is where we're headed. And they're trying to create this panic on the death -- debt limit. Deniers, default deniers. Here's our buddy Jacob Tapper, last night on ABC's World News Tonight, this is a portion of his report.

JAKE TAPPER: Republicans in Congress are refusing to raise the debt ceiling without slashing spending. If the US even came close to defaulting on its debt, interest rates would skyrocket, the stock market would plummet as would the gross domestic product, and there would be immediate layoffs.

LIMBAUGH: Okay, now get ready for this times a thousand as we get closer to August. The pressure on the Republicans is going to be immense. Default deniers, do you want to be responsible for the United States ending its run as the economic engine of the world and the leader of the world? It's the same tactic that they used to get TARP; same tactic they used to get the Porkulus and spending bills. It's a catastrophe; it's Armageddon; it's the end of the country; it's the end of the world as we know it unless we act soon. And as it was then, and as it is now, that's not the case.

Limbaugh's editing made it seem as if the predictions about the debt ceiling came from Tapper. This is untrue. Here's what Tapper actually reported on the May 16 edition of ABC World News, which was introduced by anchor Diane Sawyer referencing the size of the national debt while saying, “debt, like time, waits for no man”:

TAPPER: But that would only buy us about three months before we'd be right back in the same situation. And Republicans in congress are refusing to raise the debt ceiling without slashing spending.

SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER: To raise the debt ceiling, without dealing with the underlying problems is totally irresponsible.

TAPPER: And Diane, economists warn that if the U.S. even came close to defaulting on its debt, interest rates would skyrocket, the stock market would plummet as would the gross domestic product, and there would be immediate layoffs. Diane.

Limbaugh removed Boehner's statement, which reinforced Tapper's factual assertion that Republicans are refusing to raise the debt ceiling without cutting spending. He also removed the vitally important “economists warn” segment of Tapper's report.

A Limbaugh listener on Twitter brought the story to Tapper's attention, and Tapper responded, “wow, that was some misleading editing.”

The Limbaugh listener agreed:

Tapper responded, and said that it was “dishonest editing”:

The listener ended her online discussion with Tapper noting that she was “emailing Rush now” and that the misleading editing “disappoints me.”