Hour 2: Professor Limbaugh Declares CBO Price Tag For Health Care Bill “BS”

This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by Obama's communist-inspired slips of the tongue
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the second hour rolling by reading Sen. Dick Durbin's (D-IL) comment from yesterday: “When we asked questions of the white male nominees of a Republican president, we were basically trying to find out whether -- to make sure that they would go far enough in understanding the plight of minorities, because clearly that was not in their DNA.” Rush contrasted this to an Associated Press article on Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) imitation of Ricky Ricardo in questioning Sotomayor today, which reported that Coburn's words “suggest[] a tin ear -- particularly when speaking to a woman who would become the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice.” So the AP rips Coburn for saying the same thing Durbin said, Rush claimed, but they approved of Durbin.

Rush then had some praise for Sen. Lindsey Graham's questioning of Sotomayor, specifically when he asked if she understood that if Graham said anything like “wise Latina” that they'd have had his head. The thing is, said Rush, is that conservatives don't think that way. They would never think that white male judges would make better judges than minorities. It's the Democrats who are focused on race. We are in no way shocked that Rush was impressed with a line of questioning that many others considered condescending to Sotomayor and sexist.

Then it was on to health care, as Rush pronounced the CBO price tag on the House bill “BS.” There's no way they can score this, said Rush, drawing on his expertise in economics and statistics. The Democrats want to ram this thing through before people figure out just how bad this will make the economy. They're calling it a crisis, saying we can't wait. Tax increases already coming on cap-and-trade, he said, and with another one coming in health care, and the Bush tax cuts set to expire, you people making over $250,000 are going to be facing a tax rate of 50 percent, once you factor in state taxes. And once that rate hits 50 percent, said Rush, people stop earning and investing, and that's been proved by science (no junk science allowed on Rush's show, though). But the Democrats are going to ram this through, said Rush, and there's nothing to stop them except for a few Democrats in the House and Senate seeing the light, but that ain't going to happen in the House. Why isn't it going to happen? “The House may as well have satellite headquarters in Havana; that's how left they are.”

After the break, Rush aired a sound bite of Durbin's comments about the DNA of white male Republican nominees, saying Durbin is a “detestable man” who compared American interrogators to Nazis, and now he says that white male judicial nominees are genetically racist. It must be remembered, said Rush, that Miguel Estrada did not even get a vote on the Senate floor, and he's Hispanic. So it must not have been in Durbin's DNA to allow a vote for a Hispanic on the Senate floor. Rush then aired audio of Sotomayor responding to Sen. Coburn's question as to whether self-defense is a right by saying that she could go and get a gun and shoot him but that wouldn't necessarily be legal.

Rush's next caller said she's seeing things in this country that shake her to her core, the days of Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill are over, and Republicans need to stop being afraid of being called racists for standing up for what is right. Rush said this is profound -- we're at a point where you have to choose sides. You have to say you're going to change the country in ways the founders wouldn't recognize, or you have to stand up for liberty. There is genuine fear in this country over speaking out, said Rush, and the left has made that happen.

After another break, Rush took a call from a woman who wanted to know what difference it makes what videos Sonia Sotomayor watches. This referred to a comment Rush made from the first hour about the Bork and Thomas nominations and how the “liberals” went to the video stores in the area to see if they had rented any pornography. It's a standard Democrat tactic to impugn the character of Republican nominees, said Rush, and he was just making the point that the Republicans aren't treating Sotomayor with that level of disrespect. Rush also thought that the Democrats on the committee sent Sotomayor their questions ahead of time, saying that she's smooth as can be when the Democrats are questioning her, but she hems and haws when the Republicans get their turn. And yet another conspiracy is born. Of course, Sen. Chuck Schumer said to Chief Justice John Roberts that he had given him “a list of questions in advance” too, but never mind that ...

Then Rush remembered when he offered his monologue on how fruitless it is to predict the future of the economy until we know which Democrat programs are going to be signed into law. We don't, mainly because all these monologues are the same spittle-flecked rants slightly repackaged to address the outrage of theday. But anyway, Rush said that all these predictions that you're hearing from Obama don't mean diddly squat. Even if the next quarter shows growth, said Rush, if health care reform and cap-and-trade are passed, “Bye-bye growth forever, folks. That's how bad all of this is. Bye-bye, sayonara, growth for a generation or two.” Rush said Obama going to get these cuts in health care costs by squeezing doctors and insurance companies, and when that happens, no one is going to bother becoming a doctor because they're not going to make any money. With fewer doctors, said Rush, you won't have enough to meet the demand for health care. That's why rolling health care back isn't going to be easy.

This is such an opportunity for the Republicans to choose their side -- forget pandering to moderates, Americans are going to have to make one of two choices: “The two choices are, are we going to remake America and destroy the elements that made it great and have permanent poverty and lack of opportunity disguised and called fairness, or are we going to maintain this country as it was founded as a beacon of freedom and liberty around the world to people everywhere who wish to come here, that offers unbridled economic opportunity depending on how much you want to put into it? Those days will be over if the Obama agenda succeeds.”

One more break and Rush came back with Obama and baseball still on the brain. He played an audio bite of Obama speaking with Bob Costas last night, and Obama referred to Comiskey Park as “Cominsky Field.” Rush had a novel explanation for this slip of the tongue: “It's Comiskey Park -- there's no 'n' in there -- but this guy was brought up by communists, so all these 'inskies' have made an indelible impression in his mind like Saul Alinsky and so, he thinks it's Cominsky Park -- it's Comiskey Field. It's Comiskey Park.”

Rush then aired audio of Obama saying in the Rose Garden today that under his health care plan you can keep your health care provider and you will save money. Rush observed that Obama didn't say that his plan offer portability, and that's because he doesn't have portability in his plan. The point, said Rush, is that the public option is going to wipe out everything in the private sector. You won't be able to keep your insurance because the odds are it won't be there anymore. Rush closed out the hour by noting that Sen. Coburn introduced an amendment yesterday that would have forced legislators to give up their health care for the public option, but that's never going to happen.

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

Highlights from Hour 2

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: But the Democrats are going to ram this through. They're going to try everything they can, and remember, there's nothing to stop them other than Democrats -- certain Democrats in both the House and the Senate -- seeing the light. And it isn't going to happen in the House. The House may as well have satellite headquarters in Havana; that's how left they are. But the Senate, you never know.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So all these predictions that you're hearing from Obama -- “Yeah, well we're going to start the -- jobless recovery's gonna start turning around -- the end of the recession here.” Economic growth doesn't mean diddly squat. Even if the next quarter shows growth, you're an - if it does, then there are gonna be all kinds of celebrations --stimulus working and so forth. But then they pass these two things, if they do. Bye-bye, growth forever, folks. That's how bad all of this is. Bye-bye, sayonara, growth for a generation or two.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The two choices are, are we going to remake America and destroy the elements that made it great, and have permanent poverty and lack of opportunity disguised and called fairness? Or are we going to maintain this country, as it was founded, as a beacon of freedom and liberty around the world to people everywhere who wish to come here, that offers unbridled economic opportunity depending on how much you want to put into it? Those days will be over if the Obama agenda succeeds.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: “What used to be Cominsky Field.” It's Comiskey Park -- there's no 'n' in there -- but this guy was brought up by communists, so all these 'inskies' have made an indelible impression in his mind like Saul Alinsky and so, he thinks it's Cominsky Park -- it's Comiskey Field. It's Comiskey Park.