Tired Limbaugh: Obama is intentionally wrecking the economy

By Greg Lewis

Rush began Thursday's show by laughing about how MSNBC was “grading” his prediction of how Democrats would use Ted Kennedy's death. Then Rush declared that there are two things in the House health care bill that won't be rationed: abortions and assisted suicide. From there, Rush moved on to bemoaning the way the “state-controlled” Associated Press reported on the decline of the GDP in the second quarter as “better than expected.”

Sticking to the economy for a few more moments, Rush mentioned CBO's job projection for next year, that there would be 2.3 million more unemployed than expected. Rush said that this ought to be an indictment of the Obama administration. Then he read from a Victor Davis Hanson column at the National Review -- Rush paraphrased Hanson, saying that Obama is intentionally wrecking the economy and creating job losses so that he can massively rewrite the tax code to redistribute wealth.

Rush declared: “Senator Kennedy screwed up everything he touched”

Then it was on to day two of Limbaugh's Ted Kennedy remembrance. Rush smoothly segued from the previous topic of Obama wrecking the economy:

LIMBAUGH: It just breaks my heart, folks. I tell you, you know -- to sit here and watch this, to watch the purposeful destruction of the free enterprise system, to watch the purposeful destruction of American capitalism -- that's what we're watching right before our very eyes.

And we're lionizing a guy who had a fundamental role in it all of his legislative career, and that's Senator Kennedy. Senator Kennedy screwed up everything he touched.

Then he read from a 1979 Newsweek cover story about Kennedy's attempts to reform health care, saying this is the same tired script. Rush added it's Groundhog Day with the American Left: Every day is the same garbage.

Next, Rush aired audio clips of MSNBC's David Shuster and The New York Times' David Brooks discussing Ted Kennedy's legacy. Shuster commented that Kennedy didn't dabble in small, petty personal attacks, while Brooks said Kennedy should be a model for conservatives in the wilderness. But Rush, who called Shuster a “dunce,” objected to their descriptions of Kennedy as civil, arguing that Kennedy brought in the “dawn of the age of the current hate” when he went after Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Following the break, Rush returned to the story of “fake” vandalism by Democrats in Colorado. Rush said that it turns out the vandal is a transgender anarchist and proceeded to joke about the transgendered: “Now, I don't know if this was an add-a-dick-to-me transgender or a chop-a-dick-off-of-me transgender.” Then he read from a CBS News blog post claiming that the House health care bill would divulge IRS tax data.

After another break, Rush read from an article about the CDC urging “calm” about H1N1 flu death projections. Rush accused the Obama administration of lying about “pig flu” and said that the CDC was backing away from doomsday.

Rush: Kennedy memorial service will be “the Wellstone memorial on steroids”

Then it was back to Kennedy. Rush obsessed over the media's coverage of his prediction about the “Ted Kennedy memorial” health care bill. He speculated that Kennedy's memorial service will be like “the Wellstone memorial on steroids":

LIMBAUGH: [Y]ou remember the Wellstone memorial? That was a frat party compared to what's gonna happen here.

This is gonna be -- it was accurately described by somebody, I forget who -- I like to credit people who come up with things -- and I don't remember who said this. I read it somewhere on the Internet: “the Wellstone memorial on steroids.” This is gonna be something to see.

It's gonna be -- they're not going to be able to control themselves. They're going to turn this into the biggest political rally you've ever seen. They can't help themselves; they're leftists!

Rush again stated that naming the health care bill after Kennedy would be a “disservice” to him. After obsessing further over how the media covered his comments on yesterday's broadcast, Rush let us know that he “did practice restraint” yesterday when talking about Kennedy. He lamented that the media were not commenting on his “great eulogy” and the way he was about to “take the death” of Kennedy and turn it into a negative reason for health reform. Then Rush went on to comment further on what Shuster said about Kennedy's civility. Rush said that Kennedy didn't get personal with people who could answer back, like other senators, but he got personal with those who couldn't -- Bork and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Also while obsessing over the media's coverage of him, Rush offered this brief aside about the health of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV):

LIMBAUGH: Speaking of Robert Byrd, I wonder, does President Obama think that Senator Byrd should stop using up health care services now and just start taking a pain pill? I mean, he doesn't know where he is half the time.

He's been in the hospital; he's been terribly ill; just got out of the hospital. I wonder if Obama thinks that Byrd ought to just take the pain pill and, you know, loop out here for the remaining days.

Returning from another break, Rush decided that the best way to defeat health care would actually be to put Kennedy's name on it. He then “officially” suggested that Democrats do this, perhaps during the memorial service while the nation's attention is riveted.

Rush: "[S]o many in the Obama administration" are “filled with hate and rage”

Rush rounded out the hour with a caller who commented on FCC diversity chief Mark Lloyd, whom Rush talked about with Glenn Beck last night on Beck's Fox News show. Rush said Lloyd was part of the Obama administration's efforts to get rid of conservative talk radio. Then Rush talked about the “civil rights component” of everything Obama is doing. Rush said Lloyd “is Jeremiah Wright,” and he called him an angry black liberation theology guy filled with hate and rage, like so many in the Obama administration.

Hour two began with two articles on Drudge, which Rush said if emailed to every person in the country, would put an end to ObamaCare. The first article was the CBS blog post he referenced in the previous hour, about how IRS tax data would be divulged under the House bill to determine if people qualify for “affordability credits.” While CBS noted that there needs to be some compromise between preventing fraud and protecting privacy rights, Rush took the hyperbolic road in describing the provisions in the bill:

LIMBAUGH: Our tax information and medical treatment details will become Obama's bedtime reading. How does telling Obama the results of my latest physical and what tax deductions I took on my tax return -- how's that going to advance health care? But we're gonna have to do that.

First, both the stimulus bill and the non-Kennedy care would make medical histories and tax records damn near public information. Under ObamaCare, the details of your life would be shared like a joint and a hooker at a Democrat caucus!

The other Drudge-touted article Rush wanted everyone to know about was from the UK Telegraph about “cruel and neglectful” care in British hospitals. Overall, Rush declared reform has nothing to do with health care, but it's about “seizing liberties and controlling our lives.” Again overstating CBS' reporting, Rush asked: “How many people want to live in this kind of a country and how many don't? How many people want their tax returns available and their medical records available to anybody in government for any reason at all, primarily to determine whether or not you qualify for care?”

Going back to Kennedy, Rush played an audio clip of the late-senator on the floor of the Senate, circa 2007, advocating for raising the minimum wage. Rush said they accomplished getting the minimum wage raised then, but said, now, “we're heading toward 10 percent unemployment.” Rush added: “You know, the minimum wage ends up hurting the very people Senator Kennedy seeks to help, as do most of Senator Kennedy's plans end up damaging the people he seeks to help.”

Rush wants caller to know: “It's not socialism. ... [I]t's actually fascism”

At the end of this segment and the beginning of the next, Rush discussed a lengthy 1990 GQ article on Kennedy, which detailed “every reprobate act,” as Rush put it, that Kennedy was known for, including the so-called “waitress sandwich.” Then Rush took a caller who accused poor people of buying cigarettes and alcohol and cable TV instead of health insurance. Rush discussed the entitlement mentality that many people have and said that people need to stop buying beer and cable TV and pay for health care themselves. When the caller said that we were becoming socialist, Rush had to correct him:

LIMBAUGH: It's not socialism. You know, it's -- socialism -- it's actually fascism. And I think we need to be precise about this. Socialism, technically, is when the government owns the means of production -- and they don't yet. I mean, they own a couple car companies and they're mucking that up.

But fascism is where the private sector still owns businesses, but the government runs it. The government, by one -- in one way or another, is either in bed with the CEO or the management team, or they rule by dictate and fiat. And fascism is a more apt illustration of what Obama's establishing and setting up here. But they both are horrible.

After the break, Rush took another caller who went on to praise Rush's “brilliant” monologue, adding that Obama is “too narcissistic” to let Kennedy's name go on the health care bill. Rush agreed with the caller and said that Obama is trying to build a monument to himself; he wants to be the “black FDR.” Rush said another benefit for Democrats in naming the bill after Kennedy would be that if it's a disaster, you can just blame it on him.

After a state-run media montage of journalists talking about passing health care for Kennedy, Rush again endorsed naming the bill after Kennedy, saying it would be a fitting tribute to the hypocrisy of the Democrats, adding that there is nothing in the bill that is emblematic of Kennedy's life. Rush also mentioned that the “biggest pitfall” in health reform efforts is the possibility of Sen. John McCain putting together a bipartisan coalition like he did with immigration reform.

On the other side of the next commercial break, Rush took a caller who wasn't pleased with the way Obama was taking credit for the progress in Iraq and he asked about taxes that would pay for health reform. Rush declared that reform will not make health care better because it will be rationed. The only explanation Rush could come up was that Obama is wrecking the economy in order to rack up so outrageous a deficit that the only solution would be a massive tax increase. The final caller of the hour complained about state laws that mandated insurance benefits, saying that it caused the cost of her premiums to climb higher.

Kicking off hour three, Rush repeated what National Review's Andy McCarthy had told him about the Eric Holder investigation of the CIA interrogators. McCarthy's theory, as Rush told it, was that Democrats wouldn't have the nerve to file charges after the investigation, but the evidence generated by it would be used by international tribunals to charge Bush officials with war crimes. On a related note, Rush read from a CNS News article about the recently released IG memos, which showed that one of the “unauthorized” interrogation techniques used included blowing cigar smoke in the face of a detainee. Rush was stunned that interrogators would think this would work, commenting that if it was a “good cigar,” having the smoke blown in your face would actually be “pleasant.”

Rush again provides an echo chamber for Betsy McCaughey health care misinformation

Moving on, Rush made his latest effort to give serial health reform misinformer Betsy McCaughey a platform on his show, reading her most recent smear piece published today in The Wall Street Journal. Rush described McCaughey as “one of the people doing yeoman work deciphering the contents, the details of every Democrat health care plan that's proposed, starting with HillaryCare.” Rush read the op-ed in its entirety, in which McCaughey described Ezekiel Emanuel as the “Rationer-in-Chief”; Rush declared that Emanuel was the “death panel head honcho.” Rush further commented: "[T]hey can sit out there and deny death panels all they want, but his number one adviser is saying we treat too many people; we gotta change the focus." He concluded:

LIMBAUGH: This is what he's advocating: this miniature version of fascism. This is the man who's the number one adviser to Obama on health care, the brother of the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Make no mistake where this is headed.

After the break, Rush took a caller who said that if Democrats force health reform through against the will of the people, they will be voted out of office and conservatives will have an overwhelming mandate to get rid of it. The caller wanted to know what would happen to people who chose to not partake in government health care. Rush said that was an interesting question, and proceeded to make a bunch of things up:

LIMBAUGH: [T]hey're going to have access to your bank account. They're going to have --

CALLER: How?

LIMBAUGH: -- digital, online access to your bank account. I mean, there are hideous things in this piece of legislation.

CALLER: How do they get it?

LIMBAUGH: How do they get it?

CALLER: How do they get access to my bank account?

LIMBAUGH: They order the bank -- they order every bank to turn over every account number to the IRS and they're going to be able to go in. And if you don't pay, they're going to debit your account for you.

Needless to say, this is pretty much entirely false. PolitiFact wrote that the “legislation generically describes typical electronic banking transactions and does not outline any special access privileges,” which is a far cry from Rush saying they will “order every bank to turn over every account number to the IRS.”

After another break, Rush declared that Ezekiel Emanuel's plan “is already being carried out.” Rush said that the United Auto Workers union is supporting health reform “in exchange” for having its retirement pension fund “bailed out.” Rush then switched back to Kennedy, stating that he was irked the media said we have to forget about Ronald Reagan, but they're now saying we have to remember what Kennedy did during the Reagan years. The final caller of the program was a group insurance broker who said town meetings had made people appreciate and understand their health insurance coverage better.

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

Highlights

Limbaugh eulogizes Ted Kennedy

LIMBAUGH: It just breaks my heart, folks. I tell you, you know -- to sit here and watch this, to watch the purposeful destruction of the free enterprise system, to watch the purposeful destruction of American capitalism -- that's what we're watching right before our very eyes.

And we're lionizing a guy who had a fundamental role in it all of his legislative career, and that's Senator Kennedy. Senator Kennedy screwed up everything he touched.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: State-controlled media worried that the Democrats are going to be seen as being in bad taste. Let me tell you something, before this week is out -- you remember the Wellstone memorial? That was a frat party compared to what's gonna happen here.

This is gonna be -- it was accurately described by somebody, I forget who -- I like to credit people who come up with things -- and I don't remember who said this. I read it somewhere on the Internet: “the Wellstone memorial on steroids.” This is gonna be something to see.

It's gonna be -- they're not going to be able to control themselves. They're going to turn this into the biggest political rally you've ever seen. They can't help themselves; they're leftists!

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Turns out that the vandal at the Democrat headquarters in Colorado is transgendered -- a transgendered anarchist. Now, I don't know if this was an add-a-dick-to-me transgender or a chop-a-dick-off-of-me transgender.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Speaking of Robert Byrd, I wonder, does President Obama think that Senator Byrd should stop using up health care services now and just start taking a pain pill? I mean, he doesn't know where he is half the time.

He's been in the hospital; he's been terribly ill; just got out of the hospital. I wonder if Obama thinks that Byrd ought to just take the pain pill and, you know, loop out here for the remaining days.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Our tax information and medical treatment details will become Obama's bedtime reading. How does telling Obama the results of my latest physical and what tax deductions I took on my tax return -- how's that going to advance health care? But we're gonna have to do that.

First, both the stimulus bill and the non-Kennedy care would make medical histories and tax records damn near public information. Under ObamaCare, the details of your life would be shared like a joint and a hooker at a Democrat caucus!

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Now all of this has nothing to do with health care, it has to do with seizing liberties and controlling our lives. Seriously, does anybody have any questions at this point? We all know what the endgame here is. The question is: How many people want to live in this kind of a country and how many don't? How many people want their tax returns available and their medical records available to anybody in government for any reason at all, primarily to determine whether or not you qualify for care?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: They're making a play here for the minimum wage to be raised -- and it has been -- and we're gonna -- we're heading toward 10 percent unemployment. You know, the minimum wage ends up hurting the very people Senator Kennedy seeks to help, as do most of Senator Kennedy's plans end up damaging the people he seeks to help.

“Fascism” watch

LIMBAUGH: It's not socialism. You know, it's -- socialism -- it's actually fascism. And I think we need to be precise about this. Socialism, technically, is when the government owns the means of production -- and they don't yet. I mean, they own a couple car companies and they're mucking that up.

But fascism is where the private sector still owns businesses, but the government runs it. The government, by one -- in one way or another, is either in bed with the CEO or the management team, or they rule by dictate and fiat. And fascism is a more apt illustration of what Obama's establishing and setting up here. But they both are horrible.

America's Truth Rejector

LIMBAUGH: Wait a second. Wait a second. If this bill passes, your -- I'm glad you asked the question -- they're going to have access to your bank account. They're going to have --

CALLER: How?

LIMBAUGH: -- digital, online access to your bank account. I mean, there are hideous things in this piece of legislation.

CALLER: How do they get it?

LIMBAUGH: How do they get it?

CALLER: How do they get access to my bank account?

LIMBAUGH: They order the bank -- they order every bank to turn over every account number to the IRS and they're going to be able to go in. And if you don't pay, they're going to debit your account for you.

Echo chamber

Rush provides a platform for Betsy McCaughey's latest health reform smears:

LIMBAUGH: Betsy McCaughey, who is one of the people doing yeoman work deciphering the contents, the details of every Democrat health care plan that's proposed, starting with HillaryCare, has another piece today in The Wall Street Journal, entitled “Obama's Health Rationer-in-Chief.”

[...]

LIMBAUGH: And they can sit out there and deny death panels all they want, but his number one adviser is saying we treat too many people; we gotta change the focus.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: This is what he's advocating: this miniature version of fascism. This is the man who's the number one adviser to Obama on health care, the brother of the chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Make no mistake where this is headed.