Rush asks: “Isn't it an established fact that Barney Frank himself spends most of his time living around Uranus?”
By Greg Lewis
Back from his day off, Rush kicked off today's program with Barney Frank's heated exchange with a participant at his town hall event last night. After airing the audio of this, in which a woman asked Frank about his support of Obama's “Nazi” health care plan, Rush said:
LIMBAUGH: But the killer for me was, here's Barney Frank says, “What planet do you live on?” to this woman. Isn't it an established fact that Barney Frank himself spends most of his time living around Uranus? So when he starts talking about where people live -- heh heh heh heh -- folks, I just can't -- this is all so much fun to watch, and it's all so much fun to analyze.
After claiming that Social Security would “default in two years,” Rush moved on to the White House's “double flip-flopping” on the public option. Rush said that Robert Gibbs looks like an arrogant idiot talking about the public option. Rush also “had to laugh” about the Democrats saying they would go for health care reform without bipartisan support. Rush repeated his assertion that Republicans couldn't have stopped them anyway because they will use reconciliation in the Senate, which -- Republicans' repeated use of the process and the constitutional provision stating that each House of Congress “may determine the rules of its proceedings” notwithstanding -- Rush said is not constitutional.
Rush then spent a few moments explaining how reconciliation is used, and said that many people think the Democrats are just bluffing by threatening to use this tactic. However, Rush wasn't sure if Nancy Pelosi has enough “guile” to bluff. Harry Reid, on the other hand, has to worry about reelection, so he can't go to the far, radical left like Pelosi.
Then Rush moved on to a series of audio clips of Gibbs and Kathleen Sebelius explaining the administration's position on the public option. After Gibbs said that the administration's position was “unchanged” on the subject, Rush called it flat out unbelievable, because Gibbs is saying that was Sebelius said over the weekend “didn't happen.” Rush also commented that Obama has lost the one only thing he had going into this, the trust of the American people.
Next, Rush looked at a Rasmussen poll that found enthusiasm for health care reform collapses among Democrats without the public option. Rush called this a “double whammy” because Obama is now losing people who were previously “locked in” to this.
After comparing Linda Douglass and Robert Gibbs to “Baghdad Bob,” an early Iraq War-era media figure who, as Rush explained, didn't realize that U.S. troops had reached Baghdad, Rush maintained his skepticism over the public option, and said reform will lead to us spending less on the sick and the elderly. Rush also cited the report that 60,000 AARP members have canceled their membership. Who would have thought Obama could get 60,000 citizens to tell the AARP to go to hell? asked Rush.
Another Rush question of the day: “Why can we not use Hitler, who was the architect of national socialism in Germany?”
After the break, Rush discussed how Democrats are using Saul Alinsky tactics in the health care debate by describing reform using conservative principles. Rush said this was a tacit acknowledgement by the administration that the American people aren't liberal and don't want a socialist government, citing the Gallup poll which found a plurality of people identify themselves as conservatives. Rush said the poll's results are not due to a magical conservative figure popping up, since there are no identifiable Republican leaders in elected office right now -- except maybe Sarah Palin (we guess Rush didn't get the memo). Instead, the poll is because people are finally seeing what ultra-left radicalism is.
Then Rush aired a sound bite of Eleanor Clift on last night's Hardball, who said Democrats are waiting for the Barack Obama who the country voted for to show up in the health care battle. Rush rejected the notion that Obama was a “closer” on the campaign trail, since he needed the super delegates to throw him the election when he couldn't put it away against Hillary Clinton. Rush also cited the success of his own Operation Chaos, which Rush announced during the 2008 campaign with the purpose of making it more difficult for the Democrats to come together to win the presidency after a bruising primary battle. Then Rush read from a Newsweek column by Andrew Romano stating that “bipartisanship is bad.”
This was followed up with the first caller of today's program, who told Rush that he believed it was stupid to use Nazi comparisons and bring guns to town halls because the other side has started to effectively paint the opposition as whackjobs. Rush disagreed with this assessment, arguing that the tactics have been effective because support for Obama and health care have been plummeting.
Rush also continued to defend his Nazi comparisons in reaction to the caller, asking “Why can we not use Hitler, who was the architect of national socialism in Germany?” Rush went on to answer his own question:
LIMBAUGH: I have explained this -- I have explained this in great detail. I'm going to do it again. The reason that you say that we shouldn't be using Hitler and this Nazi stuff is because everybody associates genocide with Hitler. And you're afraid that people are gonna think that we're associating or trying to say that Obama is identical to Hitler in that way. And I have made it plain, Obama is not Hitler, and Pelosi's not Joseph Goebbels. But this health care plan, and the entire Obama agenda has -- I mean, it's frighteningly close to the national socialism policies of Nazi Germany. Far closer are the Democrats and Obama and their policies to national socialism in Germany than anything we on the right believe.
Rush concluded that if there is a close association with Hitler in American politics, the Democrat Party [sic] owns it. Rush also stated that Charles Krauthammer has since done a “180” on his positions that protest tactics would hand Obama victory. Rush concluded by telling the caller he was falling prey to the people who want him to shut up.
After another break, Rush continued to defend his Nazi comparisons:
LIMBAUGH: I mean, when you're dealing with a guy like Obama and the Democrat Party, who are going to impose Nazi-like socialism policies on this country, you've got to say it. And the same time you say it, you have to go out and point we're not talking about the genocide -- that's at the tail end of Hitler.
Rush rips “kook” blog Daily Kos for invoking Hitler at least 15 million times
Hour 2 began with Rush telling us that the caller in the previous hour apparently “fired up” a lot of his audience, based on the emails he read over the break. Then Rush read the latest NBC poll on health care, and interpreted it as meaning that nobody has any confidence that reform would accomplish what its backers say it would. It was also proof to Rush that protests were working “big time.”
Then Rush moved on to the “kook web pages” like Daily Kos. Rush noted that top Democrats “have pages” there and go to their conventions, but they never speak out about the site's writers mentioning Hitler -- by Rush's count -- at least 15 million times. Rush said you could do a Google site search to confirm this number.
Next up was an audio clip of Chuck Todd saying the NBC poll shows that the White House hasn't been able to tell Americans with private insurance what they would get from reform, because we live in a selfish society and health care is a personal thing. Rush said it's not selfishness, it's “self interest,” and it's not a bad thing. Then Rush read a CQ Politics article saying that “some Obama promises must wait.” To that, Rush said “Hallelujah.” The next story in the stack was from Politico, about Democratic investigators targeting health insurers. Rush said that Rep. Henry Waxman wanted to give the private insurers “anal exams,” but it was none of his business.
After the break, Rush played a clip of Andrea Mitchell reporting on the NBC poll's findings mean that the White House's message isn't getting out. Rush said it means the opposite, that their message is getting out, and that's why support is dropping.
Rush resurrects “infanticide” falsehood
Then Rush moved on to the topic of “reproductive health care,” which he said was a liberal code word for “abortion.” He played a series of audio clips of candidate Obama speaking at a Planned Parenthood conference in July 2007, in which he said reproductive care is essential to health care reform. Rush interpreted this to mean his reform plan would provide abortion as basic care, and force private insurers to play by the same rules. Rush went on to say that Obama is “a big pro-abort guy.” Rush resurfaced the campaign falsehood about Obama's position on abortion:
LIMBAUGH: Don't forget, this is the guy who voted three times in Illinois to go ahead and allow a botched abortion -- child that survives the abortion -- not to be saved. I mean, you can't get more pro-abort than this guy is. And I'm telling -- when he starts talking about reproductive services, reproductive health care, what else could it mean? We already have reproductive health care if you're talking about prenatal, postnatal. This is abortion.
Rush would return to the subject soon, but in the meantime, took another caller who agreed with Rush that is was appropriate to compare what Obama was doing to what took place in Nazi Germany. Rush agreed with the caller (obviously) that Obama was trying to remake the country because he has a chip on his shoulder. It's clear as a bell because the economy is not getting any better after Obama did his “magic.”
The next segment began with another sound bite of Andrea Mitchell, this time explaining the NBC poll's findings that many people believe health care myths, such as death panels, illegal immigrants getting care, and whether abortions would be funded. Rush said there was no misinformation, and criticized Mitchell for not attempting to disprove these points. Rush also claimed that abortion must be in the health care plan because Planned Parenthood is lobbying for it. Rush said that Planned Parenthood “thrives” and “financially survives” on abortion. (Actually, abortion services make up 3 percent of all services provided by Planned Parenthood.)
Rush to his audience: “You and you alone have totally turned this administration upside down and inside out”
Then Rush had a revelation about the Barney Frank town hall -- the woman who asked about Obama's Nazi health care was actually a “Lyndon LaRouche Democrat.” Rush also made another joke about Frank living on “Uranus.”
The next caller on the program said that the health bill was probably filled with loopholes that would be exploited by lawyers and activist judges down the road. Rush said that was a genuine concern. Another caller said that if Obama lowers tax deductions on health care, even if it's just for the rich, it would “divert earnings.” Rush led this into a discussion about Obama killing charities by supposedly getting rid of the charitable tax deduction. Rush said this would be worse for charities than Bernie Madoff. Rush said they're making a concerted effort to kill capitalism, and health care reform would be the final nail in the coffin.
Rush took another caller who ranted about government employees and casted suspicion on government hiring practices. In response, Rush read about cash for clunkers having trouble processing requests.
After the next break, Rush commented on today's White House press briefing. Rush said that Gibbs, commenting on recent violence in Iraq, said that it shows extremists can wreak havoc anywhere. Rush remembered during the Bush administration that incidents like this were taken to show the incompetence of the military. Rush noted the incompetence of the Obama administration in manifesting the situation over there and Afghanistan.
Rush ended the hour by thanking his audience: “You and you alone have totally turned this administration upside down and inside out. They don't know what to do. They don't know what to say from day to day, they're double flip-flopping in the same day.”
Rush suggests that ability to vote might no longer exist in 2010
The final hour of today's show had Rush returning to Gibbs' remarks on recent violence in Iraq, which he had mentioned in the previous segment. After airing the audio of the comment, Rush said he was stunned. He also said he “wouldn't reject” the idea that Gibbs was comparing extremists in Iraq to people showing up at town halls.
Rush proceeded to go through his Stack of Stuff. He read a blog post on the UK Telegraph's website declaring that Obama was in a “pantywaist retreat” over “Stalinist health care proposals.” Rush praised the British media's coverage, and said they are not invested in Obama's success. Riffing on a Clinton-era welfare reform slogan (“mend it, don't end it”), Rush came up with a slogan for Obama's health reform plans: “End it, not extend it.” He explained: “That is the Obama health care plan's way of dealing with spiraling, out of control costs.” Then Rush again invoked infanticide:
LIMBAUGH: Rationing health care means limiting life. Limiting medical treatment is cruel and unusual in a free country, it's unthinkable in America, as unthinkable as infanticide, which Obama once voted -- actually, once voted to withhold treatment from infants who survived abortions.
Next up was a Gateway Pundit post about a “fake doctor” at the Frank town hall. Rush spent the next several minutes talking about his voice recording session yesterday for an upcoming episode of Family Guy.
After the break, Rush declared that the American people have been misunderestimated, and read a story from Politico about plummeting Democratic Party approval ratings. Rush cast this as the Party's own doing, since people are who Democrats are when they have no check or balance on their power. Rush also stated that this was evidence for his prediction that Obama may be destroying his party. As he discussed the impending “political suicide” of the Democrat Party [sic], he also pondered the 2010 elections:
LIMBAUGH: If the Republicans can just hold together, they can win big in 2010, assuming that there are still polls open. Assuming -- I'm just assuming that we'll still be allowed to vote in 2010.
Rush concluded that the Democrat [sic] Party has chosen to go against the will of the American people, and the American people have become opponents of the Democrat Party. After another commercial break, Rush returned to read about New York auto dealers pulling out of the Cash for Clunkers program because of alleged slow reimbursements from the federal government. Rush criticized the feds for not being able to process the most basic of American transactions, the car trade-in.
The next story in the stack was Caroline Baum's column for Bloomberg, which declared that “Impromptu Obamanomics is getting scarier by the day.” Rush also cited the accompanying American Thinker analysis of Baum's piece.
Then Rush took a caller who was concerned about House Democrats investigating private insurers. Rush again wondered where Waxman and other Democrats have the constitutional authority to demand these documents from private companies. The next caller on the program explained that the public option would mean that you won't get to keep your doctor, because just like Medicaid, some doctors will not accept the public option because the reimbursement will be to low. Rush reminded the caller that Obama has demonized doctors in addition to private insurers.
The hour rounded out with an ad for the Heritage Foundation, a Robert Reich column asking “how tough” is Obama, and Rush lamenting that the media must be disappointed that the path of Hurricane Bill will miss everything. The final caller of the program was a sales manager at a Honda dealership who said they had yet to receive any reimbursement for their Cash for Clunkers transactions.
Zachary Aronow and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.
Highlights
Outrageous comments
LIMBAUGH: But the killer for me was, here's Barney Frank says, “What planet do you live on?” to this woman. Isn't it an established fact that Barney Frank himself spends most of his time living around Uranus? So when he starts talking about where people live -- heh heh heh heh -- folks, I just can't -- this is all so much fun to watch, and it's all so much fun to analyze.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: So this is -- I've not seen -- I hoped for it, folks, I'm gonna be honest. When I said I hoped Obama fails, this is exactly the kind of stuff I hoped would happen from day one.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: OK, let's examine that.
CALLER: OK.
LIMBAUGH: Why is that -- why can we not use Hitler, who was the architect of national socialism in Germany --
CALLER: Because Rush, it's not -- it's a mistake because people --
LIMBAUGH: No, no, see, this is where --
CALLER: Rush, people don't --
LIMBAUGH: I have explained this -- I have explained this in great detail. I'm going to do it again. The reason that you say that we shouldn't be using Hitler and this Nazi stuff is because everybody associates genocide with Hitler. And you're afraid that people are gonna think that we're associating or trying to say that Obama is identical to Hitler in that way. And I have made it plain, Obama is not Hitler, and Pelosi's not Joseph Goebbels. But this health care plan, and the entire Obama agenda has -- I mean, it's frighteningly close to the national socialism policies of Nazi Germany. Far closer are the Democrats and Obama and their policies to national socialism in Germany than anything we on the right believe.
And we've been sitting here -- we've tarred and feathered for 21 years, about the length of time I've been doing this show, about how we are Hitler, we're -- the conservatives are like Nazis, and it's just -- Hitler was a man of the left. And the Democrats are getting a taste of their own medicine here. If there is a close association to Hitler in this company -- country, policy-wise, the Democrat Party owns it, particularly this version and this strain of it.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: I mean, when you're dealing with a guy like Obama and the Democrat Party, who are going to impose Nazi-like socialism policies on this country, you've got to say it. And the same time you say it, you have to go out and point we're not talking about the genocide -- that's at the tail end of Hitler. But the stuff that preceded it -- look, who is acting Nazi-like anyway? Who is it that's sending out thugs to beat people up at these meetings? Who is it that is organizing passionless people, at least on the issue? It's the Democrats. It's the Obama White House. Who is it that had the snitch website that they finally admitted and that they've taken down? We are dealing with a known quantity.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: If the Republicans just hold together, they can win big in 2010, assuming that there are still polls open. Assuming -- I'm just assuming that we'll still be allowed to vote in 2010.
Ego on loan from Narcissus
LIMBAUGH: You and you alone have totally turned this administration upside down and inside out. They don't know what to do. They don't know what to say from day to day, they're double flip-flopping in the same day.
America's Truth Rejector
LIMBAUGH: Look, this guy is a big pro-abort guy. Don't forget, this is the guy who voted three times in Illinois to go ahead and allow a botched abortion -- child that survives the abortion -- not to be saved. I mean, you can't get more pro-abort than this guy is. And I'm telling -- when he starts talking about reproductive services, reproductive health care, what else could it mean? We already have reproductive health care if you're talking about prenatal, postnatal. This is abortion.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: You remember when Clinton was talking about welfare reform? The slogan was “mend it, don't end it.” I think with Obamacare rationing, the slogan regarding American life spans will be “end it, not extend it.” That is the Obama health care plan's way of dealing with spiraling, out of control costs. When it comes to life in America, “end it, don't extend it.” Rationing health care means limiting life. Limiting medical treatment is cruel and unusual in a free country, it's unthinkable in America, as unthinkable as infanticide, which Obama once voted -- actually, once voted to withhold treatment from infants who survived abortions.