By Greg Lewis

Rush says he's not interested in GOP alternative health bill, only interested in stopping Democratic reform efforts

Rush got “Open Line Friday” rolling by announcing that the Republicans in Congress will offer an alternative health care reform bill next week. But Rush said that would be accepting the premise. Instead, Rush advised not to bother with the alternative bill, but to focus on stopping the Democrats' reform efforts.

Then Rush talked about the figures the administration has given for how many jobs have been saved or created by the stimulus. He referenced back to the AP report calling the administration's figures into question -- although AP had actually reported on several errors that had already been corrected by the White House. Rush said that the White House is now saying they have saved or created a million jobs, a figure which Rush called into question (to say the least). As he has done before, Rush protested that the administration could not calculate how many jobs have been saved or created.

Going back to the AP report for a moment, Rush aired a sound bite of CBS News' Chip Reid reporting on the saved jobs reporting errors. Rush called this stunning because the media knows it's a “huge lie.” He then said to imagine if the Bush administration “perpetuated a lie like this” (imagine, indeed).

Another sound bite from Chip Reid noted that stimulus money was going to fund a study on the sex lives of female college freshmen, a job Rush said he'd do for “a buck.” He cracked jokes about this with his producer for what seemed like a long time.

After airing sound bites of Biden economic adviser Jared Bernstein talking to CBS' Harry Smith about the latest stimulus jobs figures, Rush said that Smith probably knew that he was “being jobbed” by Bernstein, but when you “work for Pravda,” that's what you have to do.

Then Rush tried to mock the saved/created jobs figure via parody. He pretended to read a series of “reports” about the Obama administration announcing that they had saved and created X million Aghani lives; that Y million American lives had been saved by Kathleen Sebelius telling them how to cough and wash their hands, etc. At one point during this “clever” spiel, Rush cracked a joke about midnight basketball.

Next, Rush read a report about a drop in consumer spending, which he used to further advance his claim that the GDP growth announced yesterday was “phony.” Rush again claimed that there was no growth in consumer spending or business investment, but only from government spending. Rush went on to read an angry email he had gotten from a listener about his comments on the “phony” GDP yesterday which charged that Rush was ripping the American people by saying this. Rush said he understood the listener's complaint, but said that it comes down to dealing with an administration that we have never seen the likes of before.

Then Rush recounted a meeting he had with a Republican congressperson earlier in the year. The official was skeptical at the time of Rush calling Obama a radical, but Rush announced that he was recently contacted by this person who told Rush he had finally agreed with him on this. Rush explained what was really going on:

LIMBAUGH: This is not -- we're not dealing here with the usual collegiality of getting along and so forth and OK, the Democrats won now, they're in power, so they get to do what they want to do. This -- their agenda has to be stopped. Now, this GDP number was totally fraudulent. I don't like saying that there's no growth in the private sector, but there isn't.

[...]

I have empathy for the American people. I have sympathy for the American people and the little people, the middle class, and everybody else that has all of this raining down on them. Because it's going to take all of us opposing this to stop it and turn our country around.

Rush forwards Liz Cheney falsehood about Bush honoring fallen troops

After the commercial break, Rush said that we're living in an “age of insanity” because a Washington Post reporter was able to stop an ABC viral marketing campaign over concerns of pollution. Then Rush took a caller who asked about Obama's visit to Dover Air Base to honor the troops who had been killed in Afghanistan. Rush said the event gives us an insight into the “sick mind,” “Marxist mind, perhaps fascist mind?” of Obama. Rush continued:

LIMBAUGH: Lookit, Obama -- the White House is busy, they're playing defense. They're responding to things, and the criticism of his dithering in Afghanistan by Vice President Cheney and a number of others made him very sensitive. He doesn't care about it -- you're exactly right. He -- obviously, he now has a problem with his own strategy that he implemented in March. And he doesn't know what to do about it because really he doesn't care about winning over there, but he does have a -- he can't afford -- he's commander in chief.

If he's gonna pull off the rest of his agenda, he's got to make as many people believe that he is as traditional a president as anybody else. So, as a Democrat, he already has got the image of weak on defense. He already is on record as having sought defeat in Iraq, but now he's the president.

Then Rush went over the comments that Liz Cheney had on this subject the other day. After airing the sound bite, Rush said:

LIMBAUGH: Amen. That's Liz Cheney yesterday on the syndicated Fox News Radio John Gibson Show. President Bush used to do it, did you know that? We didn't know it -- she just told us something we didn't know. Bush used to do it, but there were no cameras. He did it privately with the family. Look, folks, you gotta understand leftists are propagandists, they live by photo op and so forth.

But Bush never went to a homecoming for the fallen troops -- with or without the press. As TPM's David Kurtz quipped: “Liz Cheney says George W. Bush showed more class than Barack Obama when he honored fallen troops -- because Bush didn't bring cameras along with him when he never went to Dover AFB.”

The next caller on the show asked Rush what he thought about the first-time homebuyers tax credit. Rush said that it amounted to putting people in homes they can't afford, buying votes, and growing government. Rush added that programs like this seem nice in a recession, but the flawed aspect of it is that your neighbors are essentially paying for your $8,000 tax credit.

After another break, Rush read about Edmunds' "big news" this week about cash for clunkers. Rush said part of the phony GDP growth was attributed to cash for clunkers and the first-time homebuyer tax credits. He noted the White House was pushing back on Edmunds' report, and proceeded to rant:

LIMBAUGH: So now the White House is going to war with a website. And they're saying -- you know, some people here even on the left are, “What in the world are they doing?” Well, because when the propagandists are called on their lies, when politicians are called on their lies, whoever's doing the calling is going to pay for it when you have tyrannical-type control freaks running the show.

The second hour of the show began with Rush continued to ramble about the fake GDP, the fake jobs saved, etc. At one point, Rush claimed that the stock market was down today because Wall Street realized the GDP was “phony.” Rush continued his line of mocking “reports” from the first hour. He read a “report” that the Obama administration is saving marriages because divorces are down because of the economy.

Next, Rush moved on to the topic of the NY-23 special election, reading a Chris Cillizza post about it at the Washington Post. Rush rejected Cillizza's claim that the race was a rejection of the GOP, insisting the race was about embracing conservatism. Rush went on to air a few sound bites of the three candidates during a recent debate.

After the break, Rush read a Reuters article about a worldwide poll finding a quarter of the population view the global economic downturn positively. Then Rush took a caller who asked him about Larry Sinclair and Philip Berg. Rush got angry at the caller for apparently deceiving the call screener about what he wanted to discuss. Rush also asserted that he had “never heard of 'em.”

Rush denies ever discussing birther nut Philip Berg

First of all, Rush was correct to cut off the caller -- Sinclair and Berg are birther conspiracy nuts. Problem is, Rush's claim that he's “never heard of 'em,” at least in the case of Berg, is false. From the transcript on RushLimbaugh.com, you can see Rush talked about Berg on his October 23, 2008, show, when he dipped his toes into the birther nonsense:

LIMBAUGH: You know what's really percolating out there? I've been laying low on this because it hasn't met the threshold to pass the smell test on this program.

This birth certificate business, this lawsuit that a guy named Philip Berg filed in Philadelphia in August for Obama to produce his genuine birth certificate and he still hasn't replied. You've got a deathly ill grandmother, you are going to rush to her side a few days from now, when you first announced this, you're going to rush, you're going to hurry, you're going to make tracks, you're going to get over there because you don't want your grandmother to die before you got there like your mother did, but somehow you keep campaigning, you take three days to get over there, if he's left yet, and this birth certificate business, I'm just wondering if something's up.

I have no clue, and folks, I'm telling you, this has not reached the threshold until now, and it's popping up all over the place. There are a lot of people now that are starting to speculate and be curious about this.

Back from another break, Rush explained that few people outside the Beltway understand the NY-23 race, and went on about how Reagan Republicans running in NY-23, New Jersey, and Virginia, will show that Reagan Republicans win.

Then Rush visited an exchange between CBS report Bill Plante and Robert Gibbs. Plante had pressed Gibbs on the new jobs saved/created by the stimulus figure. Gibbs said the exact statistics would be released later in the afternoon. Gibbs also defended the stimulus as having helped to grow the economy. Rush called Gibbs an “absolute idiot.”

Rush: "[W]e are dealing with pure evil here in terms of the intentions to remake this country"

The next caller asked Rush when it would be time to panic. The caller also said that the first liberal “in all of creation” was Satan. Rush was amused by that, but told the caller that panicking doesn't get anything done. Rush responded, apparently inspired by the caller's demonic reference:

LIMBAUGH: And then some of them on our side are still running around talking about the need to have collegiality and so forth. They -- until everybody on our side, and we're not there yet -- BC, we're not there until everybody on our size realizes that we are dealing with pure evil here in terms of the intentions to remake this country. Until -- and it must be stopped, it must not be negotiated with, it must not be gotten along with. There must not be any kind of collegiality. This -- it's time to stop this. It's time to stop this movement.

Then Rush read the latest Peggy Noonan effort, waving it around as evidence that the elitist class was finally starting to discover how bad Obama is. Rush then segued to Rep. Alan Grayson calling a K Street lobbyist a “whore.” Rush complained that George Allen lost his Senate race because he used a word, “macacca,” that wasn't even in the dictionary, but that the “lunatic flake” Grayson would likely be reelected.

Rush closed out the hour by proclaiming that the NY-23 race was the “future” of America, and then read a post from the “leftist gay gossip site” Gawker.

Angry Rush rant: “Barack Obama destroys ... Obama has stolen money from the private sector and paid people to work for him so that he can steal more”

Rush began the third hour by going back to the Gibbs-Plante exchange he went over in the previous hour, which set him off on a pretty charged rant about Obama. Rush exclaimed that he was close to losing his temper because Obama “has destroyed millions of jobs.” He continued:

LIMBAUGH: Your boss, Barack Obama, has destroyed millions of small businesses. Your boss, Mr. Gibbs -- and you are party to this because you promote this disaster -- your boss has destroyed the lives of countless American families. What is this excrement about jobs saved or jobs created? Barack Obama is destroying this economy. He is destroying management. He is destroying assembly lines, he's destroying opportunity, he's destroying hope. He's destroying liberty for future generations. He hasn't created or saved a damn thing.

From there, Rush took things up a notch, accusing Obama of stealing money:

LIMBAUGH: Barack Obama destroys. He destroys and destroys. The only jobs he's created are government jobs. He stole money, just like Pelosi is figuring and planning and stealing money with no accountability. Obama has stolen money from the private sector and paid people to work for him so that he can steal more. This administration is engaging in unconstitutional acts.

[...]

He is destroying home ownership, Barack Obama is. He is destroying entrepreneurship. He is destroying the industrial heart of this nation. He is trying to destroy the military. Barack Obama creates nothing but havoc and unsettledness and angst and Peggy Noonan disheartenment. Barack Obama is a destroyer, not a creator.

Rush continued, accusing Obama of being “an obstacle in the way of the people who make this country work”:

LIMBAUGH: The economic heart of this engine is its people; it is not Barack Obama. The intellectual heart of this nation is our people; it is not Barack Obama. The last, best hope of this nation is our people; it is not Barack Obama. Barack Obama is an obstacle in the way of the people who make this country work, and it is an insult to my intelligence, it is audacious for this man and his administration to be putting out fraudulent, phony numbers about the numbers of jobs he has created or saved.

Government is to blame, cried Limbaugh, for whatever problems we have. (So much for his ideal of personal responsibility). Rush ranted some more about the administration destroying things “on purpose” because they don't like how America was founded.

Rush forwards falsehoods and GOP talking points on latest House health care bill

From here, Rush went through a laundry list of supposed tax increases and provisions in the latest House health care bill, with many of his points coming straight from the GOP's own set of talking points.

Rush also falsely claimed that in 2013, under the bill, “there is no private insurance allowed.” He referred to Page 94 of the “Pelosi plan,” but what Limbaugh was referring to was actually a provision that said that policies that weren't “grandfathered” in could only be sold on the insurance exchange created by the bill.

In the midst of this rant, Rush also claimed that "death panels" were “back” in the bill. And by “death panels,” Rush was referring to end-of-life counseling panels, which never were -- and still aren't -- “death panels.”

After a caller had mentioned some recently negative media reports about Obama, Rush warned the caller not to fall into the trap of letting his happiness being determined by the mainstream media agreeing with him. This got Rush going about the incoming freshman GOP after the 1994 midterm elections. Even when Republicans had power, Rush explained, the media and Democrats still acted like they had power and lied about things like the school lunch program. Rush said that liberals consider it their birthright to be in power.

Following the break, another caller explained -- ominously -- the system of “derivatives” that would be set up on Wall Street if cap and trade were to pass. Rush said the caller's description was correct, adding that the government will “arbitrarily” establish emissions limits for each industries. Meanwhile, Wall Street would profit “on both sides” of the carbon trading.

The next caller complained about seeing Obama everything he turned on the TV, and that Obama was on his screen more than deceased pitchman Billy Mays. Rush said that the only difference is that Mays “told the truth,” and ever after his death, Mays is still right more often than Obama. Rush praised the Mays-promoted product OxyClean.

Closing out the hour, Rush from his friend and former NFL player Ken Hutcherson, who talked about trying to get an article he recently wrote published. “Hutch” said that his article was about why white males like Rush are being attacked and “minority thought patterns” running America. After some football talk with Hutch, Rush took a final caller who suggested that Americans go on a general strike (he didn't use those words exactly, but that's essentially what he described) in order to make the government shut down. Rush liked the idea, comparing it to Browns fans protesting their team. Rush expressed that he would love to “opt out” of government programs like social security and Medicare.

Rush still going after Revkin, whom he previously suggested to “go kill” himself

Then Rush closed out his program for the third day in a row with another comment on his ongoing feud with New York Times reporter Andrew Revkin:

LIMBAUGH: Oh yeah, Andrew Revkin of the New York Times. I keep mentioning to bring this up, let me see if I can squeeze this in here real quick. Andrew Revkin, New York Times, said the law should be used to pressure couples into having only one child. He was talking about carbon footprints, and if people are big polluters, then have fewer people. And I said, “Well, OK, if this is what you're really --” he said it was engaging in a thought experiment, he wasn't really advocating it, but what's the difference? And I said, “Well, look, if that's what you want to do, then show us -- you guys always what everybody else ought to do. We should not have kids, we should do that, we shouldn't drive this, we shouldn't drive -- why don't you show us how it's done?” I said, “Go die.”

Well, he got profoundly offended. He said he's gotten hate mail. He said that I should apologize to him and his family. His older son is a regular listener, currently serving in the Israeli military. I -- there's -- Mr. Revkin, for crying out loud, if -- I'm making a point. I'm not advocating death. I do not advocate death on this program. I do not advocate control over anybody else's life. And all these people out there who are trying to exert control over ours is starting to bubble over in me.

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

Highlights

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: This is not -- we're not dealing here with the usual collegiality of getting along and so forth and OK, the Democrats won now, they're in power, so they get to do what they want to do. This -- their agenda has to be stopped. Now, this GDP number was totally fraudulent. I don't like saying that there's no growth in the private sector, but there isn't. I understand full well that there are people, and they are the people who make this country work, who are just scraping by, who are still going up and going to work and they're doing everything they can not to lay off their employees. And the employees still working and doing everything they can to hold on to their jobs.

And it ticks me off that we have been brought to this situation by virtue of policies of the Democrat Party and Barack Obama. And when they wanna try and convince everybody that things are hunky-dory when they aren't by putting out a lie, a fraudulent GDP number, I'm gonna call 'em on it. It is not to insult the American people. I have empathy for the American people. I have sympathy for the American people and the little people, the middle class, and everybody else that has all of this raining down on them. Because it's going to take all of us opposing this to stop it and turn our country around.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: You ask what kind of sick mind --

CALLER: Yeah.

LIMBAUGH: -- Marxist mind, perhaps fascist mind? But you're right. Lookit, Obama -- the White House is busy, they're playing defense. They're responding to things, and the criticism of his dithering in Afghanistan by Vice President Cheney and a number of others made him very sensitive. He doesn't care about it -- you're exactly right. He -- obviously, he now has a problem with his own strategy that he implemented in March. And he doesn't know what to do about it because really he doesn't care about winning over there, but he does have a -- he can't afford -- he's commander in chief. If he's gonna pull off the rest of his agenda, he's got to make as many people believe that he is as traditional a president as anybody else. So, as a Democrat, he already has got the image of weak on defense. He already is on record as having sought defeat in Iraq, but now he's the president.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So now the White House is going to war with a website. And they're saying -- you know, some people here even on the left are, “What in the world are they doing?” Well, because when the propagandists are called on their lies, when politicians are called on their lies, whoever's doing the calling is going to pay for it when you have tyrannical-type control freaks running the show.

[...]

CALLER: Yes, Rush, I absolutely love when you talk about your relentless pursuit of the truth, but you really do your audience a grave disservice when you yourself, of all people, censor the news and refuse to talk about Philip Berg and Larry Sinclair. Can I just give you two examples?

LIMBAUGH: Who?

CALLER: Philip Berg, the birthering issues, and Larry Sinclair, the fellow who said that Oba -- Donald Young from Obama's -- gay choir teacher at Reverend Wright's church who was killed back in December.

LIMBAUGH: Well, I can't talk about 'em because I never heard of 'em, John.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: And then some of them on our side are still running around talking about the need to have collegiality and so forth. They -- until everybody on our side, and we're not there yet -- BC, we're not there until everybody on our size realizes that we are dealing with pure evil here in terms of the intentions to remake this country. Until -- and it must be stopped, it must not be negotiated with, it must not be gotten along with. There must not be any kind of collegiality. This -- it's time to stop this. It's time to stop this movement.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Now, I'm close to losing my temper here. Mr. Gibbs, your boss has destroyed millions of jobs. Your boss, Barack Obama, has destroyed millions of small businesses. Your boss, Mr. Gibbs -- and you are party to this because you promote this disaster -- your boss has destroyed the lives of countless American families. What is this excrement about jobs saved or jobs created? Barack Obama is destroying this economy. He is destroying management. He is destroying assembly lines, he's destroying opportunity, he's destroying hope. He's destroying liberty for future generations. He hasn't created or saved a damn thing.

Barack Obama destroys. He destroys and destroys. The only jobs he's created are government jobs. He stole money, just like Pelosi is figuring and planning and stealing money with no accountability. Obama has stolen money from the private sector and paid people to work for him so that he can steal more. This administration is engaging in unconstitutional acts. This country does not provide constitutionally for a pay czar to tell anybody what they can and cannot earn. This Constitution does not provide for the government to mandate its citizens buy anything. He is destroying home ownership, Barack Obama is. He is destroying entrepreneurship. He is destroying the industrial heart of this nation. He is trying to destroy the military. Barack Obama creates nothing but havoc and unsettledness and angst and Peggy Noonan disheartenment. Barack Obama is a destroyer, not a creator.

The only people creating and saving is us, the American people. The American people are doing everything they can to save their jobs. Small businesses are doing everything they can to hold onto their employees and maybe hire some more. The economic heart of this engine is its people; it is not Barack Obama. The intellectual heart of this nation is our people; it is not Barack Obama. The last, best hope of this nation is our people; it is not Barack Obama. Barack Obama is an obstacle in the way of the people who make this country work, and it is an insult to my intelligence, it is audacious for this man and his administration to be putting out fraudulent, phony numbers about the numbers of jobs he has created or saved.

Enemies list

LIMBAUGH: Oh yeah, Andrew Revkin of the New York Times. I keep mentioning to bring this up, let me see if I can squeeze this in here real quick. Andrew Revkin, New York Times, said the law should be used to pressure couples into having only one child. He was talking about carbon footprints, and if people are big polluters, then have fewer people. And I said, “Well, OK, if this is what you're really --” he said it was engaging in a thought experiment, he wasn't really advocating it, but what's the difference? And I said, “Well, look, if that's what you want to do, then show us -- you guys always what everybody else ought to do. We should not have kids, we should do that, we shouldn't drive this, we shouldn't drive -- why don't you show us how it's done?” I said, “Go die.”

Well, he got profoundly offended. He said he's gotten hate mail. He said that I should apologize to him and his family. His older son is a regular listener, currently serving in the Israeli military. I -- there's -- Mr. Revkin, for crying out loud, if -- I'm making a point. I'm not advocating death. I do not advocate death on this program. I do not advocate control over anybody else's life. And all these people out there who are trying to exert control over ours is starting to bubble over in me.

America's Truth Rejector

LIMBAUGH: So he goes to Dover at 12:45 a.m., he's there until 4:45 a.m.. One family granted him permission to take -- to be there and for photos to be taken of the remains of their family member being brought off the airplane. One family; the others did not. It was a pure photo op to try -- the picture, Obama cares about troops. Period. That's all it was.

Now I want you to listen. Liz Cheney was asked about this yesterday on the radio by John Gibson at Fox News Radio. And he said 17 of the 18 families of the fallen denied Obama his photo op at Dover, sound bite 15, Ed. Seventeen of the 18 families of the fallen denied Obama his photo op at Dover, and here's what Liz Cheney said.

CHENEY [audio file]: I don't know why he went to Dover. I mean, I think that, clearly, it is very important for our commander in chief, whenever he can in whatever way possible to pay tribute to our fallen soldiers, our fallen military folks. But I think, you know, what President Bush used to do was do it without cameras. And I don't understand sort of showing up with the White House press pool with photographers and asking family members if he can take pictures, they just -- that's really hard for me to get my head around. But I think that's an honorable and important thing for us to pay tribute. There's no greater sacrifice that people make to the nation. It was a surprising way for the president to choose to do it. I would also point out that the best way to pay tribute to those who sacrificed is to win the war.

LIMBAUGH: Amen. That's Liz Cheney yesterday on the syndicated Fox News Radio John Gibson Show. President Bush used to do it, did you know that? We didn't know it -- she just told us something we didn't know. Bush used to do it, but there were no cameras. He did it privately with the family. Look, folks, you gotta understand leftists are propagandists, they live by photo op and so forth, so Vinnie in Brooklyn had it exactly right.