This hour of the Limbaugh Wire is brought to you by the Office of Imaginary Acronyms
By Simon Maloy
If you've been listening to Rush (or, better yet, reading the Limbaugh Wire) for the past week, you've probably noticed that Rush has been giving health care reform the broken-record treatment -- the same falsehoods and the same ridiculous commentary, over and over and over again. And we already know what's in store for today, without even looking at the Drudge Report -- speeded-up sound bites of President Obama's health care press conference last night, interspersed with more of the same falsehoods and ridiculous commentary. He'll probably read from Betsy McCaughey's latest dishonest attack on comparative effectiveness research. More than likely, he'll call Obama a racist for his comments on the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. So strap yourselves in, folks -- it's going to get silly.
Well, Rush got things started by saying: “I guess we learned last night that President Obama did listen to Reverend Wright those 20 years. The only time he acted interested in being there was the last question of the night when he got to talk about race and profiling, that's when Barack Obama came alive last night.” Can we call 'em or can we call 'em? Anyway, Rush said when he got that question at the end of the presser, he came alive. He got animated, and then said some really dumb things. He called the Cambridge police stupid. Cambridge is a bunch of liberals, Rush retorted. Liberal mayors, liberal colleges, liberal cops! He couldn't wait to talk about profiling after admitting he didn't know what was going on there. Presidents do not descend to talk about such things, said Rush. We're in the middle of a major offensive in Afghanistan, the economy is being purposefully destroyed, and he's talking about this.
Rush then said he hasn't found one positive review of the press conference. Well, here's one. And here's another. How about a third? Anyway, Rush said even The New York Times has a fact-check of Obama that was devastating, and the Politico and Howard Fineman excoriated the White House press corps for their performance last night. But this was not a waste of time, said Rush -- we learned more about Obama in that press conference than we ever have. That was a series of teachable moments. He was rambling and incoherent, professorial and chock-full of some of the most blatant lies a president has ever told, and he was not called on any of them. The media, Rush repeated, have given up their integrity for Obama.
Rush said that we found out last night just how fired up about race he remains. We also learned that doctors and pediatricians purposefully take out kids' tonsils to line their pockets. Pediatricians, for the most part, are not surgeons, said Rush, so is the pediatrician is going to get a kickback from the surgeon? Rush said he's sure that doctors do a lot of unnecessary stuff, but they're doing it to protect themselves from lawsuits, not to line their pockets. None of what Obama said last night was true, Rush declared, and it was breathtaking to watch. He offered nothing new, no details, and his buddies in the press and Capitol Hill are upset at this. But that's strategic, said Rush, because this isn't about health insurance.
Obama accused doctors of performing unnecessary organ removal for money, Rush charged. Doctors do a lot of unnecessary things so they don't get sued into bankruptcy by Democrat tort lawyers. He kept talking about how we spend $6,000 more per person than other developed countries, said Rush, and he's going to lower that by ending unnecessary tonsillectomies. We have the best health care in the world, and that costs money. Obama has spent more than $6,000 per person “by a factor of a gazillion” on his stimulus package, Rush rejoined. And he admitted that he's going after private insurance company profits. That was tantamount to an admission that you're not going to have private insurance under his plan, said Rush. Obama has such a resentment for success and achievers, he admits he's going after the profits of insurance companies, and he's going to kill them off so the public option is the only option.
There's a reason why there were no details offered last night, said Rush, and it's a strategic reason -- remember that Tom Daschle was the guy who was originally going to head this up, and his advice was to stick to broad themes. And Obama's sticking to broad themes because he thinks the details will kill it. And he's right -- the more people find out about it, the more they don't like it.
After the break, Rush said: “We saw white firefighters under assault by agents of Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor -- we're talking about Frank Ricci and the boys from new Haven. ... Now white policemen are under assault from the East Room of the White House, by the President of the United States.” Rush said he hasn't seen this much racism in a liberal enclave since the Duke rape case. Here you have the idyllic liberal enclave, and there's all this racism. Rush added: “You know what, if I'm Henry Louis Gates, I'd thank my neighbor for looking out for me.” And of course, said Rush, Obama went on and on about profiling. That was the only time he was jazzed.
Obama also kept saying last night that the push for health care reform was not personal and not about him. Rush responded by saying that it is personal to him and tens of millions of other people who are going to be forced into more expensive plans or fined if they don't have health insurance. The problem here, said Rush, is that Obama and the Democrats are failing to make it personal, they're making it ideological. They're relying on Obama's appeal, and that's not working any more because nothing Obama is doing has worked.
Another break and Rush came back saying that as he listened to Obama throw around completely made up numbers last night and tell us he's a deficit reducer, he kept thinking that the CBO completely skewered his health plan. The CBO reports to Congress, said Rush, but guess who Obama summoned to the White House this week - the head of the CBO. “That's not cool,” said Rush, adding: “So Obama calls the guy up there. You think it's to have hundred-dollar Kobe beef? Or do you think he and Rahm Emanuel got in the guy's face, said,'What are you doing to us?' These are authoritarians.” Rush suggested that Obama come up with an organization to counter the CBO -- the Office of Imaginary Information. Or “OIL,” as Rush dubbed it. We're not sure where that “L” came from -- there isn't a single “L” in “Office of Imaginary Information.”
Anyway, Rush said he warned all of us about this health care stuff back before the election when he pointed out how Daschle urged Obama to eschew details and go on offense immediately. The big key to a successful government takeover of health care is giving as few specifics as possible, said Rush, and we're seeing this in action - no details, ramming it through as quickly as possible, but Obama got caught in the weeds. How about a political party and a president wanting to take over 1/6 of the economy and offering no details? Daschle and Obama know this is not about health care or health insurance. It's about having a legal means to get around the Bill of Rights.
Remember, said Rush, that Obama believes that the Bill of Rights is a charter of “negative rights,” and statists like Obama view that as an obstacle. What Obama wants is things in the Constitution that say what the government can do to you, which totally bastardizes what this country was founded on. He knows he can't amend the Constitution, but he can get around that by taking over one-sixth of the economy with health care reform, which means the government can then dictate and regulate every aspect of your behavior. This is not about health care, said Rush, and Obama doesn't even really care about health care. All he did last night was lie. It's hard to convince people that something like this is being done purposefully, said Rush (probably because it's self-evidently stupid), but when you realize that liberals are the brethren of Nazis and socialists and such, it becomes clear. Everyone involved in this knows this is about stimulating the Democrat Party, enlarging government, and giving them the power to regulate your behavior.
Obama has failed, but not in the way Rush hoped he would fail. Rush came up with an analogy to explain what Obama is doing: “It's almost like saying you can jump out of that airplane without a parachute, and just hope you'll be safe when you land, and it'll all work out. And then a bunch of people follow the order and they jump out of the airplane -- no parachute -- and they die. Let's say 100,000 of them die. 'Doesn't matter. It'll work. Just give us time. Just give us time. We didn't intend for those 100,000 to live. We -- it's gonna -- when we push more out of the plane, they'll live next year.' He knows what the parachute is; he's not giving it to anybody. It's about that way. They know that they're sending people out of airplanes with no parachutes.”
After one more break, Rush came back noting that Obama said last night that health care reform is not about him, it's about the people whose letters he reads in the Oval Office. Not once, said Rush, did Obama talk about the greatness of this country or its medical system. There's something about this country that Obama does not like and he's eager to apologize for it. If this is about letters about health care, said Rush, then Obama loses, because talk radio is ginning up way more correspondence that anyone else is, and it's all against health reform.
Rush closed out the hour with his first caller of the afternoon, a woman who said she's been a nurse for 20 years, and for someone to say that doctors take tonsils out just like that -- doctors don't do that. Rush said what Obama was trying to do with that comment was impugn the integrity and character of doctors. “This man last night was trying to gin up hatred for doctors. He was essentially calling them criminals.” It was unpresidential, said Rush. He's after the insurance companies, too, and he really hates the private sector, and he admitted that he's going to wipe out private insurance. He telegraphed the fact that he wants everyone on the public option. How's he going to go after the insurance company profits anyway? If you squeeze their profits, said Rush, you're going to send them out of business. That's why Obama's claim that you'll be able to keep your insurance if you like it is a misrepresentation.
Greg Lewis and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.
Highlights from Hour 1
Outrageous comments
LIMBAUGH: I guess we learned last night that President Obama did listen to Reverend Wright those 20 years. The only time he acted interested in being there was the last question of the night, when he got to talk about race and profiling. That's when Barack Obama came alive last night.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: You know what, if I'm Henry Louis Gates, I thank my neighbor for looking out for me.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: We saw white firefighters under assault by agents of Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor -- we're talking about Frank Ricci and the boys from New Haven. They were under assault during the Sotomayor confirmation hearings; you remember that. Groups went out to try and destroy these guys. Now, white policemen are under assault from the East Room of the White House, by the President of the United States, after admitting he had no -- he didn't know all the facts, what went on in there.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Guess who Obama summoned to the White House this week? The head honcho of the CBO. That's not cool. Now there's - the CBO's got these numbers that show everything Obama's saying is not true. They're saying, “The first year, the deficit -- $240 billion added to it.” And that's probably low. So Obama calls the guy up there. You think it's to have hundred-dollar Kobe beef? Or do you think he and Rahm Emanuel got in the guy's face, said, “What are you doing to us?” These are authoritarians.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: He has failed, but not in the way I hoped he would fail. He failed -- his policies are failing miserably to accomplish his own stated objectives. But his stated objectives are not his real objective. Folks, I'm telling you, I gotta come up with an analogy to explain this. It's almost like saying you can jump out of that airplane without a parachute, and just hope you'll be safe when you land, and it'll all work out. And then a bunch of people follow the order and they jump out of the airplane -- no parachute -- and they die. Let's say 100,000 of them die. “Doesn't matter. It'll work. Just give us time. Just give us time. We didn't intend for those 100,000 to live. We -- it's gonna -- when we push more out of the plane, they'll live next year.” He knows what the parachute is; he's not giving it to anybody. It's about that way. They know that they're sending people out of airplanes with no parachutes.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: Do you realize the impugning of their integrity? The impugning of their character? This man last night was trying to gin up hatred for doctors. He was essentially calling them criminals.
America's Acronym Bungler
LIMBAUGH: Anyways, I'm watching this and I'm listening to all these lies -- and that's what they were -- get tossed around. I decided, since the CBO, he can't count on, he can't - well, we'll see, but it doesn't look like he can control 'em. He needs to create a new agency that will counter the CBO. He needs to come up with his own version of the CBO. A White House agency that will analyze Congressional budgets and legislation and produce the result that Obama wants and I have the name for this new agency. The Office of Imaginary Information; OIL. The Office of Imaginary Information. He can cite whatever that OIL group puts out to back up all of his statistics and claims. The Office of Imaginary Information. That's what the Oval Office has already become; he may as well just set up his own agency to counter the CBO, he'll call it OIL, and they'll report whatever he wants to discredit the CBO. Office of Imaginary Information; OIL.