Limbaugh Suggests Obama Is Packing the Supreme Court to Repeal the Constitution
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
By Kate Conway
Today's Supreme Court news offered multifaceted excitement for Rush Limbaugh, who started out his show by pouncing on the court's 5-4 decision in McDonald v. Chicago, handed down today. Rush appeared happy about the ruling, which determined that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments. He was particularly gleeful that the decision referred to cases shortly after the Civil War that, he explained, upheld the rights of recently freed slaves to own guns. Rush stated that owning guns allowed newly freed slaves to protect their rights against Democrats, who, supported by the Ku Klux Klan, wanted to lynch them for voting Republican. Things haven't changed much, he concluded: If you don't vote Democratic, you still face consequences. Rush wasn't thrilled by everything about the ruling, however: He declared that if the Supreme Court were really following the Constitution, the vote would have been 9-0. The four dissenting justices, he claimed, were voting against the Second Amendment itself.
Rush also spent time lobbing ridiculous attacks at Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, whose confirmation hearings began today. Rush repeated the falsehood that Kagan compared the National Rifle Association to the KKK, and he referred to a conservative talking point about Kagan's lack of judicial experience, stating that Kagan is a “blank slate” because she “is” Obama. A vote for Kagan is a vote to repeal the Constitution, he claimed, because Obama's appointments are designed to achieve that end. Rush asked how Kagan could have become dean of Harvard Law School without publishing anything, then attacked her abilities and appearance by speculating that she achieved the position because she's in a “clique” and reminds people of Lou Costello. Rush also claimed that Kagan got “slam-dunked” today by the Supreme Court's rejection of an appeal by the Obama administration -- and signed by Kagan as solicitor general -- to take a case involving the tobacco industry. Once the hearings began, Rush rounded out his absurd attacks by mocking Kagan's serious expression and stating that she was wearing Democrat “infidelity blue,” which, he explained, is the color wives of unfaithful Democrats wear at press conferences.
Other notable inanity from today's show included Rush's unabashed distortion of Obama's remarks at the G-20 summit: Rush said that Obama told the G-20 he believes no nation should have an advantage over another, and that this means Obama -- whom Rush called the “architect of chaos” -- wants to cut the United States down to size. Rush also claimed Obama wants a single world currency -- an utterly false interpretation of Obama's actual statement that “the United States welcomes China's decision to allow its currency to appreciate in response to market forces.” Rush found time to throw in a falsehood about the BP oil spill, claiming that the U.S. has refused aid from other countries. He also found a number of excuses to refer to Vice President Joe Biden as “Bite Me” by recounting a conservative smear du jour involving Biden's visit to a custard shop.
Here are some highlights from today's show:
Limbaugh repeats myth that Kagan compared NRA to KKK
Limbaugh: “If [the left] take[s] the court, where do we go to protect our liberties?”
Limbaugh: Obama is “all for a single [world] currency”
Limbaugh: President Obama packing Supreme Court to repeal the Constitution
Limbaugh compares “consequences” of not voting Democratic to “being lynched”