This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by just about every health care lie you can imagine
By Simon Maloy

As much as we like to jokingly tout our powers of prediction, there is one question that we can't seem to answer: Where do we go from here? Over a month ago, we found ourselves amused at the idea of pacing -- we're just six months into the Obama presidency (he has at least 42 more to go), and Rush has already achieved and maintained monumental heights of outrage and bile. We look at yesterday's show -- which was a tour-de-force of lies, bombast, and lunacy -- and we're left pondering the same question from June: Where does he go from here? Consider that yesterday, Rush told us all that the government spent millions of dollars of 2 lbs of pork (a lie), declined the Nobel Prize he'll never receive in order to establish himself as the Paul Revere of health care reform (bombast festooned with lies), and bellyflopped right into the fetid Birther ooze after months of merely dabbling his toes (lunacy... also stuffed with lies).

It's the same garbage over and over -- Obama is an untrustworthy, likely foreign Marxist/socialist/communist/fascist who is purposefully sabotaging the United States all for the sake of “power.” The only thing that changes is the volume and intensity. But, eventually, he'll have said everything as loudly and with as much spittle as he can, and then he'll have to take it in a new direction. It's unnerving. We don't know what that direction we'll be, but we're confident it will be even scarier than the current state of affairs.

Rush got things rolling this afternoon by counseling his listeners to temper their enthusiasm at the House Energy and Commerce Committee postponing its vote on the health care legislation, saying that this is a dangerous time. The bill is not dead, said Rush, and “we” need to be on our toes because they're going to pretend to address the public's concerns, but they're never going to go away. Rush then noted that the new USA Today/Gallup poll shows that Obama is tracking lower than Jimmy Carter -- he's the 10th least popular president at this point since they started taking polls. Rush managed to omit this bit of analysis from USA Today's write-up: “The six-month mark hasn't proved to be a particularly good indicator of how a president ultimately will fare.”

Rush then pronounced it amazing that the TARP inspector general said it can't be determined exactly how the financial institutions have spent their bailout money. There is no transparency in TARP, said Rush, and the whole thing is an absolute disaster. This is a stinging report, said Rush, and this IG will probably get canned just like the AmeriCorps IG. All told, said Rush, 83 percent of financial institutions said they used some funds for lending, but they really have no idea what's been done with it.

Rush then read from an AP article reporting that President Obama “says he sees a lack of humility among leaders of the financial community” when it comes to accepting responsibility for the financial crisis. Rush said it's the Democrats who have messed things up, not the financial leaders. Rush then aired audio of Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), claiming that Frank said this morning that he “can't find a villain” in the financial crisis. Rush, however, played this clip out of context. Frank said that he “can't find a villain” in Bank of America's takeover of Merrill Lynch, not the financial crisis. Nonetheless, Rush was incredulous that Frank couldn't find a villain, saying that the Massachusetts Democrat should “look in the mirror!” And then, of course, the segment concluded, as any discussion of Barney Frank must, with another rendition of the ever-hilarious “Banking Queen.”

After the break, Rush said that Obama is showing some instability; he's “becoming unhinged.” The power of his personality is not enough to get them over the hump, said Rush, so for the second day in a row, Obama is going on TV to make a big push. This is a dangerous time, Rush repeated, because Obama will make any deal he can to get this done. Once they get a foot in the door, all their promises will go out the window, “because it's not about health care. Right now, what this is about is saving the Obama presidency.” Remember what we said about pacing above? We're only six months into the Obama presidency and Rush is already under the impression that it needs to be “saved.”

Anyway, Rush said that the thing to feel optimistic about is that with no votes in the House or Senate, health care reform has been brought to a screeching halt. This is a testament to the new media, and especially talk radio, and most especially Rush informing the public as to what's really going on, said Rush. It's talk radio that is doing the heavy lifting. Rush noted that David Brooks writes today that the liberals have overreached and credits the Blue Dogs for stopping health care. Brooks is obsessed with attacking conservatives and talk radio, said Rush, and this column shows how wrong and clueless he is. It wasn't the moderates who stopped health care, Rush said; it was him and his colleagues in talk radio who have spent months “exposing the defects” of national health care. This is the nature of talk radio and democracy, said Rush, but we get this blather from Brooks and the intelligentsia about how the moderates deserve the credit. Brooks has not been a participant in just how horrendous this health care bill is.

But this is a dangerous time, Rush repeated. The Democrats are going to get health care any way they can -- in stealth or in secret. That's why we have to continue to tell people what's wrong with this bill and keep people inspired and motivated. Forget the moderates; they don't have opinions.

After another break, Rush noted that Obama was late for his TV appearance this afternoon. There's clearly one reason why, Rush said -- he had to wait for his staff to tell him what Rush Limbaugh said before making his comments. They're on defense at the White House, said Rush, and "[t]he instability of this White House and the unhinged behavior, regarding this health care bill, is breathtaking to watch. You're not gonna have that characterization of this White House portrayed by the state-run media of course."

Rush then wanted to give us a taste of how it's going out there in the public as various Democrats go out there to have town halls on health care. He aired audio of Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) being questioned by Robert Broadus of Clinton, Maryland. The point of airing this, said Rush, is that people are informed about health care and they are taking it to members of Congress. After airing audio of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius allegedly being booed in Louisiana, Rush aired audio of Obama on a conference call with “left-wing bloggers,” during which the president was questioned about the Investor's Business Daily editorial claiming that the House health insurance bill makes private insurance illegal. Obama told the blogger he wasn't familiar with that provision of the bill, and this set Rush off, claiming that Obama “doesn't know what's in the bill! He admits he doesn't know.” There's a good reason Obama doesn't know about that provision of the bill -- because it doesn't exist. IBD lied. It lied brazenly about this, as we documented. But Rush took this wildly obvious falsehood and presented it as truth to further lie about the president's ignorance of the health reform legislation.

Rush then attacked Obama for saying that the fire is now out on the economic crisis: “Obama loves attention and adulation, so he goes into your house and starts the fire. He took office. He's an arsonist. He started the fire. After he starts the fire, he runs out of the house, he waits for the smoke, and then he starts yelling, 'Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire.' He even gets the hose and he starts spraying your house, all to get the credit as the hero who noticed and put out the fire that he started, leaving you with a big soggy mess of a home, when he started it in the first place.”

One more break and Rush was back on the Ben Cardin town hall, saying that Cardin never denied the premise of Broadus' questions about fines. If people weren't already paying so much in taxes, said Rush, they might have the money to buy a policy of their own choosing. Rush said we've lost sight of the premise here in this whole health care fight -- there is nothing wrong with our health care system. It needs some fine-tuning, but otherwise it's great. All over the world, people come here for their medical treatment. It's the cost that's the problem, said Rush, and Obama and the Democrats strictly oppose reorganizing the cost structure. We've been sold a bill of goods since 1993 that our health care system is falling apart, but there's nothing wrong with it. We don't need major reform.

Rush closed out the hour by saying that Obama “lied” today when he said that you'll be able to keep your health care plan if you like it: “Well, I had the chance to listen a little bit to the president here, and he's lying again, folks. He says if you like you're health insurance plan, you keep it. It's right there on page 16 of the House bill that you don't get to keep it.” No, it isn't. Page 16 of the bill doesn't come anywhere close to saying that. Read it for yourself, because you'd be far better served by doing that than you would by taking Rush at his word.

Greg Lewis and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: They will do and say anything to get this bill, because it's not about health care. Right now, what this is about is saving the Obama presidency. Jim DeMint was right. If he gets -- if he doesn't get this, he's done.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The instability of this White House and the unhinged behavior, regarding this health care bill, is breathtaking to watch. You're not gonna have that characterization of this White House portrayed by the state-run media of course.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: If the fire is out now, we've got to ask who started the fire. Obama loves attention and adulation, so he goes into your house and starts the fire. He took office. He's an arsonist. He started the fire. After he starts the fire, he runs out of the house, he waits for the smoke, and then he starts yelling, “Fire. Fire. Fire. Fire.”

He even gets the hose and he starts spraying your house, all to get the credit as the hero who noticed and put out the fire that he started, leaving you with a big soggy mess of a home, when he started it in the first place.

America's Truth Rejector

Falsely claimed that the House health care bill makes private insurance illegal to accuse Obama of not knowing what's in the bill:

LIMBAUGH: Let's now go to the president himself. He was on the -- well, this is where they -- I guess a conference call with left-wing bloggers. Yesterday, in Washington, a blogger from Maine had this exchange with President Obama.

[begin audio clip]

CALLER: Investor's Business Daily, they're saying that HR 3200 will make individual private medical insurance illegal. Is this true? Will people be able to keep their insurance, and will insurers be able to write new policies even though HR 3200 has passed?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, I have to say that I am not familiar with the provision you're talking about.

[end audio clip]

LIMBAUGH: He doesn't know what's in the bill! He admits he doesn't know. We're speeding up Obama, Barney Frank, Pelosi 'cause they're in such a hurry to get this garbage done before we find out what's in it. Of course, it's too late. We know what's in it, so we're speeding them up to illustrate the haste that they are engaged in. Will make individual private medical insurance illegal. It will. It will.

Falsely claimed page 16 of the House health care bill says you won't get to keep your health care plan:

LIMBAUGH: Well, I had the chance to listen a little bit to the president here, and he's lying again, folks. He says if you like you're health insurance plan, you keep it. It's right there on page 16 of the House bill that you don't get to keep it.