This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by sensationalized health care
By Simon Maloy

Rush got the final hour rolling with another “outrage” -- Obama releasing more photos of interrogations to prove what rotten SOBs the military and CIA are. Rush said that no good can come from this -- which is exactly why Obama is doing it.

Then Rush announced that he did some research on sugar during the break. After a lengthy report on the results of his research -- which touched on popcorn, coconut oil, and coffee -- Rush explained that the reason he's talking about sugar is because “the United States Senate is going to start taxing drinks that have sugar in it, and this is nothing more than the left's attempt to establish guilty behavior.” They're always going to try and tell you what's good and what's bad, Rush said, but it's not going to matter.

Nevertheless, Rush said: “And here come a bunch of people that could no more run a movie theatre or run a car business or run a healthcare business telling us they have fixed it in two days. A guy who's done nothing but organize a bunch of radical, malcontent protesters in his whole life in Chicago, a guy whose records in school have not been released, a guy who has managed not one thing, a guy who can't even keep his own White House military office from taking Air Force One out a joyride, we're being told, is going to fix healthcare in two days, fix the car business, fix the banks, fix the credit cards, fix -- it's all going to be fixed.” Meanwhile, according to Rush, all of the people who really have expertise are being scared to death and shutting up. Look at the Chamber of Commerce, Rush said, which is not known for going along with a bunch of “pantywaist liberals,” but is nonetheless going along on health care because no one has the guts to stand up to Obama.

Going into and coming out of the break, Rush read extensively from a blog entry by Megan McArdle of The Atlantic, titled: “Obama's Magical Mystery Tour of Health Care Savings.” Rush said that he doesn't know how many times people from the government have said they're going to reduce the costs of something -- nothing ever gets fixed, it only gets worse. After the break, Rush switched from Megan McArdle to Byron York, who wrote a piece today for the Washington Examiner on how “Obama's dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words.” Rush said that if the GOP is at a loss for words, then it's time to start talking “principles” again.

Another break, and Rush was back with a caller who was outraged over the proposed sugar tax. Rush said it's just an excuse to tax people -- these are just tax increases, and they're going to raise them wherever they can. They want to take away as much of your liberty and freedom as they possibly can. Next it'll be the salt tax. Then Rush encouraged us to look at the example of California, which has considered legalizing marijuana in order to reap billions from taxing it. This is defining deviancy down, said Rush, who asked us to consider the relative dangers posed by people who eat sugar and people who use marijuana recreationally.

After a quick plug for the Heritage Foundation, which you can visit to see what Obama has planned for "socialized medicine," Rush took a call from a man extolling the system Blue Cross had in place for years regarding health costs. Rush said it's complicated, but all he knows is that everyone involved in the current system hates it, except for the people trying to fix it and make it worse, and by that he means Obama, who Rush claimed wants to make it single-payer, government health care with no private option. Of course, that's not what Obama wants, but we can't really expect Rush to know that. Regardless, Rush said it's all about control, it's a triumph of emotion over common sense because wherever this thing has been tried before it has failed. Rush then explained that a Band-Aid costs $500 at the hospital because not everyone is paying for the health care that they receive -- like illegal immigrants.

One more break and Rush was back with one last caller, this one saying that he disagrees with people who insist on comparing Obama's health plan to European plans, because we can just compare it to the health plans we have for veterans, which are awful. Rush said this is exactly right -- the VA is constantly complaining about government-promised and government-run health care.

Well, that does it for today's Wire, and that does it for me for the next six days as I'm going on vacation. Now, you're probably thinking: “Vacation? How can I possibly go a whole week without your unique blend of stupid puns, warmed-over analysis, and snide commentary?” Well, fear not. My colleagues Greg and Karl will be once again stepping to the plate to take over Limbaugh duties as I rest and recuperate. They'll do a great job, I'm sure of it. See you next week.

Highlights from Hour 3

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: I just know that sugar is getting a bad rap, but the reason we're talking about this is because the United States Senate is going to start taxing drinks that have sugar in it, and this is nothing more than the left's attempt to establish guilty behavior. The reason they're going to tax sugar, they tell you, is because they want to improve your lifestyle. They want you to stop eating it so you get healthier. That's not why. It's because sugar is in everything.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: And here come a bunch of people that could no more run a movie theatre or run a car business or run a healthcare business telling us they have fixed it in two days. A guy who's done nothing but organize a bunch of radical, malcontent protesters in his whole life in Chicago, a guy whose records in school have not been released, a guy who has managed not one thing, a guy who can't even keep his own White House military office from taking Air Force One out a joyride, we're being told, is going to fix healthcare in two days, fix the car business, fix the banks, fix the credit cards, fix -- it's all going to be fixed. Oh, and after that, we're gonna save the freakin' planet, and we're gonna make sure the sea levels stop rising.

Echo chamber

Read extensively from Megan McArdle's "Obama's Magical Mystery Tour of Health Care Savings."

Read from Byron York's "Obama's dangerous budget leaves GOP at loss for words."

Offered a plug for the Heritage Foundation's AskHeritage.org.