This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by name-calling, which is in no way “childish” or “immature”
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour going by saying that we should know that between Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance, the vast majority of senior citizens are already covered. That's what the Heritage Foundation says. Rush warned you earlier this week -- do not get giddy over the apparent health care troubles, because the Blue Dog Democrats are, at the end of the day, Democrats. And when push comes to shove with Pelosi and Emanuel, they will strong-arm them, threaten their committees, and threaten their very jobs. So, miraculously, said Rush, they've reached a deal. We have here a $1.5 trillion health care bill, and Blue Dogs are saying that $100 billion in savings is good enough for them. Rush said that the silver lining here is that there will not be a vote on this until September, so that still leaves the August recess for these representatives to hear it from their constituents.

Obama's out there doing another town hall, and Rush had some sound bites, and fretted over how he tells his audience that the president is “lying” to them. Rush aired an Obama bite that, he said, shows that Obama's in trouble and he knows it. In the clip, Obama talked about the financial mess he inherited from Bush, and Rush said it's “bash Bush time.” It always worked during the campaign, so he's doing it again. Obama is not telling the truth, said Rush, and he's going back to blaming Bush because his numbers are down. The next sound bite featured Obama talking up stimulus as free from earmarks and pork, and saying that one-third of the recovery act is tax relief. Rush retorted, saying that the whole stimulus package is pork! None of this is true, said Rush. It's bash Bush, lie about the economy, and lie about the stimulus. Rush then aired a bite of Obama musing on his critics who contributed to the deficit he inherited, the Bush tax cuts, and Medicare Part D. Rush's riposte: “I tell ya, this is childlike. This is just embarrassing, childlike behavior. Crying and moaning and whining about the cost of Bush's tax cuts.”

The deficit he inherited was $1.1 trillion, said Rush, and he's going to add another $1 trillion to that. No one is complaining that he hasn't paid back the deficit, they're complaining that he's destroying the economy while growing the government. If there's anyone who told him to pay back the deficit, said Rush, it's the ChiComs. Then Rush returned to the name-calling: “Barack Hussein Obama is out acting like a spoiled brat Chicago thug who's not getting his way, who has resorted now to campaign rhetoric as though he really hasn't done anything yet other than come in and act as savior, and his acts are working. I think -- and I said this a couple weeks ago -- I think in the White House that there's a lot of instability. If you listen to these bites, I think Obama's losing it.” We're dealing here with a “rank amateur,” said Rush, who is “dangerous” for what he believes and the effect he has on people. But he's losing it, and this is just childish, and all the magic is falling apart as his polls tank.

After the break, Rush said that just two weeks ago the liberals were talking about how we need another stimulus because the first one wasn't enough, and now today the recession is over. Biden was out there saying the economy was much worse than we thought, and now everything is a success.

Rush's next caller wanted to talk about quality vs. quantity of health care and discuss how Obama is a liar because there is no such thing as permanent exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Rush asks her to explain, and the caller, explaining that she works in insurance, offered a jargon-laden explanation which she said proves Obama is a liar. Rush wanted to talk to her more, but had to take a break. After the break, Rush returned to the caller, who wanted to talk about capitation, linking that to the bundled medical payments Obama advocated. Rush wanted to know how capitation ever survived -- what doctor would ever put up with that? Caller said capitation also involves referrals, and the fixed payments made to doctors are reduced when they have to refer a patient to another doctor. Rush asked if this incentivizes the doctor to not refer people who should be referred, and the caller said yes. Remember, Rush said Obama had a “polluted mind” for suggesting that a doctor would order a surgical procedure just to make money, but it's perfectly reasonable to think that a doctor will deny treatment to someone who really needs it in order to make money.

Anyway, Rush asked what the caller would do to fix the health care situation. Caller says scrap mandates and enact tort reform, but the mandates are key, because state mandates force companies to pay to cover procedures that they might not need to cover. Rush and the caller continued to discuss the state of the health insurance industry, and our eyes glazed over as they got lost in the minutiae. Rush offered to summarize what the caller said -- under bundling, doctors are paid at a fixed rate for patients they see, and aside from the long waits for the patients and the doctors, how do you force doctors to live under these conditions? That wasn't so much a “summary” as another “question,” which Rush promptly answered -- they'd have to become quasi-employees of the government. This can only lead to single-payer health care, said Rush, and the doctors will have no choice, other than to not become doctors.

One more break and Rush came back explaining that he doesn't want people to misunderstand him when he says that insurance companies shouldn't be involved in what medical decisions are made -- sometimes the insurance company is right, but that's the problem with third-party payer systems. The patients have their role, too. People have been led to believe that health care is a right and that under Obama a couple of rich millionaires are going to pay for everything. The answer is more direct ownership of policies by patients. The answer is patients paying for more of their health care on their own. The answer is health savings accounts, but those are dead and buried in the Congress. You can not have any system that is based solely on demand with no rational restraints on it, said Rush. It doesn't work, it can't work, and that's why it's such a mess.

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

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: I tell ya, this is childlike. This is just embarrassing, childlike behavior. Crying and moaning and whining about the cost of Bush's tax cuts.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Barack Hussein Obama is out acting like a spoiled brat Chicago thug who's not getting his way, who has resorted now to campaign rhetoric as though he really hasn't done anything yet other than come in and act as savior, and his acts are working. I think -- and I said this a couple weeks ago -- I think in the White House that there's a lot of instability. If you listen to these bites, I think Obama's losing it.