Rush's adjectives for Obama's speech: Disgusting, reprehensible, predictable, grossly inappropriate, filled with lies and distortions, fraudulent, awful, petulant, childish, divisive, crude, disgusting

By Greg Lewis

Rush wasted no time today in commenting on Barack Obama's speech last night to a joint session of Congress. “It was disgusting, reprehensible, and predictable,” said Rush as he opened his show. Rush went on to say that Obama “demeaned” the office of the president last night, and called his speech “grossly inappropriate” and filled with lies, distortions, and falsehoods. Rush also said Obama called his critics “liars” (he didn't). Rush also said the speech was a “fraud,” just like the CNN flash poll that was conducted after the speech, which Rush accused of having a Democratic bias in its sampling.

Rush continued to let adjectives roll of his tongue to express how he felt about the speech: Awful, petulant, childish, divisive, crude, disgusting, etc. Rush asserted that Obama attacked him as well as Sarah Palin and conservatives in Congress who dare challenge government run health care. Then Rush came up with this laundry list of Obama's supposed “lies” during his speech:

LIMBAUGH: You want a summary of the lies? He lied about only 5 percent of Americans being forced into the public option -- not true. He lied about the money he would drain from Medicare -- not true what he said. He lied about end-of-life decisions, which comes down to rationing. He lied about coverage for illegal aliens. On and on and on.

Rush defends Rep. Wilson, “wish[es]” he hadn't apologized

Next, Rush addressed the other hot issue from last night's speech -- Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouting “You lie!” as Obama said that his health care reform would not cover illegal immigrants. Rush aired the audio, incorrectly identified Wilson as a freshman representative (he's been in office since 2001), and the rushed to Wilson's defense. First, Rush said what Obama said was indeed a “blatant lie” and said he “wish[ed] [Wilson] had not” apologized. Rush went on:

LIMBAUGH: He is lying, President Obama is, from the moment he opens his mouth until he ends the speech. I was shouting “You're lying!” throughout the speech at the television. “You're lying! It's a lie!” Joe Wilson simply articulated what millions of Americans were saying.

Rush also criticized the Republican Party for attacking one of their own in criticizing Wilson's outburst. He accused Democrats of booing during Bush's 2005 State of the Union and also brought up Code Pink protesters interrupting congressional hearings. Then Limbaugh explained how Wilson spoke for “millions of Americans”:

LIMBAUGH: Folks, we are in a serious struggle to save our country, and Joe Wilson voiced what millions of Americans have been saying about this man, Barack Obama, for months. And if we're going to start censuring our own people on our team who are willing to try, then maybe we need new people in the game. I was -- I was ecstatic when I heard that last night.

Rush then called out more of Obama's “lies” last night. Rush described how Obama said he would cut $500 billion by eliminating fraud and waste. Rush wondered why Obama had to wait for the bill -- why not do that today? Then Rush went back to Wilson, expressing his gratitude that somebody in “our party” finally spoke up. Rush then played an audio montage of media figures reacting negatively towards Wilson's outburst, and a sound bite of Vice President Joe Biden saying it demeaned the institution.

Meanwhile, Rush continued to incorrectly assert Wilson's correctness:

LIMBAUGH: Simply not true. It will cover undocumented aliens. Now, it may not specifically say so in the bill, but we have to know that what's coming is amnesty. They're going to be made legal. We're gonna have all of this. If Obama gets his way, we're going to legalize 12 to 20 million illegals, and then they're gonna become citizens, and they're gonna get coverage. And they're -- at the end of the day, going to still be illegal, regardless of the law, and amnesty, and everything else.

Of course, Rush's defense of Wilson is simply not true (regrettably?). It's also laughably illogical.

Rush further discussed the “boos” at Bush's 2005 address, and accused Democrats of having a double standard for when they are in power. Rush closed out the busy opening monologue by making his point clear:

LIMBAUGH: If you want to talk about demeaning the chamber, the president of the United States demeaned the chamber last night. He showed up and lied through his teeth. He was petulant, he was mean-spirited, he was angry, he was arrogant, conceited, condescending, but more than anything else, he lied through his teeth. And everybody knows it.

After the break, Rush aired audio of Wilson's apology, as well as his defense of amendments to the health care bill that would have allowed reform to cover illegal immigrants. Rush congratulated Wilson for sticking to his guns about Obama's “lies.” Rush then claimed that “not one piece of legislation” has anything remotely like what Obama said was in his plan last night. Rush said the House bill “contradicts” everything Obama said last night. Why, asked Rush, is it OK for Obama to “lie through his teeth,” but it's somehow “bad form” for Wilson to tell the truth?

Rush translates Obama's speech to show how Obama wants to “rip the Constitution to shreds”

Rush took another break and came back explaining how Obama supported extending public services to illegal immigrants when he was a state representative. Rush then took on another so-called Obama “lie,” and rebutted it with an actual lie:

LIMBAUGH: When he says, for example, “Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.” That's very clever, but we've read the bill. No, nothing will require it; it's simply going to happen because the private cannot compete with an entity that does not have to make a profit. It's in the House bill -- you change any aspect, including the price of the premium of your current plan, you are automatically disqualified from it and you are sent to the public plan, you're sent to the government-run option.

From here, Rush spent the next 10 minutes or so giving his own “translation” of Obama's speech -- he gave an address to his audience, pretending to be Obama (though thankfully sticking to his normal voice). Translation of the translation: It was 10 minutes of Rush's normal conspiratorial paranoia about Obama, but spoken through a different perspective.

The translation of Obama hit many of the same points Rush has hit for months on end -- stimulus is purposefully bringing the economy to the brink, Obama childishly blaming Bush, crushing private insurance for the public good, etc. During all of this, Rush also expressed how Obama hates the Constitution:

LIMBAUGH (as Obama): I'm in the process of destroying your country. I don't like it at all. I don't like this Constitution. It wasn't written for me. I never had a chance to vote for it. I've been saddled with it, and my people have been saddled with it, and my party has been saddled with it, and we hate this Constitution. This Constitution doesn't tell us what we can do to you.

[...]

I don't like this at all, and I haven't liked it, and my college professors haven't liked it, and my parents didn't like it, and none of my friends like it -- Bill Ayers didn't like the Constitution, Jeremiah Wright doesn't like the Constitution, my gang at ACORN doesn't like the Constitution, and I'm gonna fix it. And I'm doing it right in front of your eyes while I'm telling you the opposite of what I'm doing.

[...]

The first thing I would do if I had a chance is rip the Constitution to shreds. I know we're not to the point I can do that yet in front of you, so I'm going to do it while you can't see me doing it, all the while telling you I support what you support.

Finally, Rush finished with the inanity and took a break, only to return with more falsehoods. Rush said Obama wants to eliminate employer-based coverage, based on his remarks to the SEIU in 2007 (taken out of context). Rush said the one guy who told the truth last night was Joe Wilson. Rush rounded out the hour with a caller who also supported Wilson and was disgruntled about his apology.

Rush denies making “bogus claims,” asserts that he is “spreading the truth ... to save America”

And so we've finally reached the second hour of today's show. Rush started off with several sound bites from Obama's cabinet meeting today, and followed it up with more exclamations about how Obama “has no plan.” Then Rush claimed that Obama, in his speech last night, called him, Sarah Palin, and a majority of the American people “liars.” Rush aired the relevant audio, where Obama noted: “Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost.” (Sounds true to us!) Rush was aghast:

LIMBAUGH: There are no bogus claims. We are spreading the truth, Mr. President, to save America. We are spreading the truth to save the country from you and your czars and your administration. We are spreading the truth about you to save the institutions and traditions that have made this country great. You are the one lying. You are the one with bogus information. You, sir, are the one without a plan.

Rush followed this up with another bite from Obama's speech, in which Obama addressed the spread of the death panel falsehood. Obama said: “It is a lie, plain and simple.” Rush responded: “It is not a lie, plain and simple.” Rush continued:

LIMBAUGH: There are Medicare panels. It's in the bill. You want them run out of the White House. They are going to determine who gets treated and who doesn't. it just takes a little common sense to understand that this is going to be health care rationing when you and your buddies in Washington are in total control of it. So we're not lying. We're not spreading bogus claims. You call us out, we're gonna hit back twice as hard.

Rush says “vitriol” in health care discussion coming from others, not himself

Then Rush returned to Obama's remarks today, in which Obama criticized the media for not being able to discuss issues that matter without an element of vitriol and name-calling. Rush didn't take kindly to these words: “Oh, you mean like when Nancy Pelosi called us all Nazis? When your buddy Van Jones is out saying the kinds of things he's saying? When your buddy Bill Ayers saying what he's saying, when your buddy Jeremiah Wright says the things he says?" Rush continued on this rant:

LIMBAUGH: Mr. President, if you're gonna stop the name-calling, look inward, look inside the White House and the Old Executive Office Building and you tell your people to shut up. You tell your people to stop it. You get a hold of Paul Begala, you get a hold of James Carville, and you tell them to shut up. You get hold of your buddies over at MSNBC and you tell them to shut up. That's where the name-calling and the vitriol is coming from.

Yeah, let's just repeat that last bit. Rush Limbaugh just said of MSNBC, James Carville, and Paul Begala -- without any hint of irony -- “That's where the name calling and the vitriol is coming from.” Well, it's not like Limbaugh himself is injecting any vitriol into the debate.

Anyway, Rush kept going. His next hit was calling Obama's speech “Castro-like.” (Remember, no vitriol coming from him.) He also claimed the media ignores the loudest and shrillest voices -- you know, Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, and all of Obama's “buddies.” Rush also said the media isn't covering tea parties, and how Obama's union thugs show up to beat up people. Anyway, Rush rounded out this segment with more calling Obama a liar and defending Wilson.

After the break, Rush pulled up a Wall Street Journal article about the success of Joe Wilson's electoral opponent, Rob Miller, in raising money after Wilson's outburst. Rush predicted that donations to Wilson will end up dwarfing the donations to Miller.

Then, Rush spent some time with the latest ACORN-related brouhaha of the day, involving a secret camera and a pair of undercover “reporters.” Rush repeated the false claim that ACORN received $4 billion to $5 billion in the stimulus package. Rush also went on to smear ACORN, calling them a “totally corrupt organization” that was “all about” rotting communities.

Another baseless accusation from Rush: “It's Barack Obama's health care plan that will cause more people to die”

Rush came back from another break with a caller who said Wilson revealed how the emperor has no clothes. Rush added that Obama's speech was snake oil. The next caller said Obama used Hegelian dialectic last night to reach his predetermined outcome. Rush said Soviets used Hegelian dialectic, too.

Then Rush returned to the June 24 health care “infomercial” on ABC, and once more incorrectly ranted about Obama telling an audience member that her grandmother should take the “pain pill” instead of getting a pacemaker. Rush's retelling of the event remains as false as ever, as he doesn't include when Obama also said he wouldn't want bureaucrats making those types of decisions. Rush then accused Obama of having the “audacity” to lecture us about scare tactics (oh, so it's Obama, not Rush, using scare tactics now? Pardon my snark).

Speaking of scare tactics, Rush then came up with another baseless accusation:

LIMBAUGH: It's Barack Obama's health care plan that will cause more people to die. President Barack Obama's health care plan -- well, he doesn't have one. I -- he was just making it up last night, because what he was saying last night doesn't exist anywhere in Congress. But the plans now before Congress will end up killing more people than the private-sector health coverage -- or the private sector health business ever has, or has contemplated.

After another break, Rush took a caller who observed that Obama said last night that the government would get you the health care “you need,” which to the caller and Rush meant that the government would dictate what kind of health care they gave you. The next caller echoed Rush, asking why is Obama waiting for reform to cut fraud from Medicare and Medicaid? Rush said that nobody with economic literacy or common sense believes it. Then he read from the latest column by Daniel Henninger at The Wall Street Journal.

Rush goes after “useful idiot” McCain for “partially” throwing Palin under the bus

And so we've finally reached the third and final hour of The Rush Limbaugh Show today. Rush got it started with a new “comedy” skit by Paul Shanklin, featuring Shanklin-as-Obama explaining how his health care plan would kill everyone off.

Then Rush himself returned to the airwaves and set his sights on “useful idiot” Sen. John McCain over McCain's appearance on the Today show this morning. Rush called out McCain for saying the health care plan didn't cover illegal immigrants, and for “partially” throwing Sarah Palin under the bus by saying the bill doesn't create death panels.

This brought Rush to Obama's “sleight of hand” last night in saying there are “more than 30 million Americans who cannot get coverage” when Obama has previously used the figure of 47 million uninsured. Rush asserted that this could mean Obama was not longer including illegal immigrants in that figure, meaning that the government thinkers there are 17 million illegal immigrants.

Next, Rush brought up AP's fact check of Obama's speech. This is somewhat ironic, since this same fact check disproves his claim that Obama's “sleight of hand” revealed there were 17 million illegal immigrants. AP said the new figure is based on an analysis by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, and doesn't include “individuals, particularly healthy young people, who choose not to obtain health insurance.”

Anyway, Rush read through several points in the fact check, and also claimed personal victory for predicting how Obama would invoke Ted Kennedy, as he did last night, to push health care reform.

After the break, Rush took a caller who commented on the ACORN “hidden camera” story. Rush said that type of reporting is of the kind 60 Minutes used to do, before they became slaves to the leftist agenda.

The next caller went on to compare mandates for car insurance to mandates for health insurance, and how they wouldn't be the same. Rush said the problem with health insurance is that government has mandated limited choice, causing prices to rise. The next caller on the program commented on the trend she observed as a nurse of Medicaid patients not taking care of their own health. Rush said that those types of people the caller described are the people who Obama thinks are the “rightful owners” of the country.

After another break, Rush read extensively from an article at the American Enterprise Institute explaining rising health care costs. Rush then went through a series of articles about the poor state of the economy and claimed that rising unemployment was “good for Obama” because more people would lose their health insurance and thereby support reform. Rush closed out the program with a caller who made a point about car insurance that was entirely irrelevant to health insurance. Nevertheless, Rush took the baton and compared health insurance to the automobile variety.

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

Highlights

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: That's Joe Wilson, the Congressman from South Carolina -- freshman. That was a blatant lie. I'm gonna tell you something. One of the things that's really irritated me all morning and last night was listening to Republicans -- even after Wilson had apologized, and I wish he had not -- but he's apologized, and even after he's apologized, members of his own party are all over television denigrating him: “Yeah, that was bad to the core.”

Folks, can I tell you what's happening here? This is not -- this speech last night and this administration -- is not your average presidential administration. This is not a garden party. This is not a lecture at Harvard or any other university. We are in the process, we are in the midst of an administration that is trying to totally tear down then institutions and traditions that have made this country great.

He is lying, President Obama is, from the moment he opens his mouth until he ends the speech. I was shouting “You're lying!” throughout the speech at the television. “You're lying! It's a lie!” Joe Wilson simply articulated what millions of Americans were saying.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Folks, we are in a serious struggle to save our country, and Joe Wilson voiced what millions of Americans have been saying about this man, Barack Obama, for months. And if we're going to start censuring our own people on our team who are willing to try, then maybe we need new people in the game. I was -- I was ecstatic when I heard that last night.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: So don't you understand? I'm in the process of destroying your country. I don't like it at all. I don't like this Constitution. It wasn't written for me. I never had a chance to vote for it. I've been saddled with it, and my people have been saddled with it, and my party has been saddled with it, and we hate this Constitution. This Constitution doesn't tell us what we can do to you. All this Constitution says is what we can't do -- well, it does tell us what we can't do to you, and we want the Constitution to tell us what we can do, not only to you, but for you. I don't like this at all, and I haven't liked it, and my college professors haven't liked it, and my parents didn't like it, and none of my friends like it -- Bill Ayers didn't like the Constitution, Jeremiah Wright doesn't like the Constitution, my gang at ACORN doesn't like the Constitution, and I'm gonna fix it. And I'm doing it right in front of your eyes while I'm telling you the opposite of what I'm doing.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The first thing I can do if I had a chance is rip the Constitution to shreds. I know we're not to the point I can do that yet in front of you, so I'm going to do it while you can't see me doing it, all the while telling you I support what you support.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: He says, “We have to have a conversation about big, important issues that matter to the American people without vitriol, without name-calling.” Oh you mean like when Nancy Pelosi called us all Nazis? When your buddy Van Jones is out saying the kinds of things he's saying? When your buddy Bill Ayers saying what he's saying, when your buddy Jeremiah Wright says the things he says? We gotta stop the name calling -- is the things that you say. Spreading bogus claims. Assuming the worst in other people's motives. Nancy Pelosi calling us all Nazis, showing up with swastikas at the town hall meetings. Your very own White House referring to the American people at town hall meetings as an unruly mob.

Mr. President, if you're gonna stop the name-calling, look inward, look inside the White House and the Old Executive Office Building and you tell your people to shut up. You tell your people to stop it. You get a hold of Paul Begala, you get a hold of James Carville, and you tell them to shut up. You get hold of your buddies over at MSNBC and you tell them to shut up. That's where the name-calling and the vitriol is coming from. The people you're talking about are simply trying to save their country from you, for their children and for their grandchildren.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: It's Barack Obama's health care plan that will cause more people to die. President Barack Obama's health care plan -- well, he doesn't have one. I -- he was just making it up last night, because what he was saying last night doesn't exist anywhere in Congress. But the plans now before Congress will end up killing more people than the private-sector health coverage -- or the private sector health business ever has, or has contemplated.

America's Truth Rejector

LIMBAUGH: You want a summary of the lies? He lied about only 5 percent of Americans being forced into the public option -- not true. He lied about the money he would drain from Medicare -- not true what he said. He lied about end-of-life decisions, which comes down to rationing. He lied about coverage for illegal aliens. On and on and on.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Simply not true. It will cover undocumented aliens. Now, it may not specifically say so in the bill, but we have to know that what's coming is amnesty. They're going to be made legal. We're gonna have all of this. If Obama gets his way, we're going to legalize 12 to 20 million illegals, and then they're gonna become citizens, and they're gonna get coverage. And they're -- at the end of the day, going to still be illegal, regardless of the law, and amnesty, and everything else.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: When he says, for example, “Nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.” That's very clever, but we've read the bill. No, nothing will require it; it's simply going to happen because the private cannot compete with an entity that does not have to make a profit. It's in the House bill -- you change any aspect, including the price of the premium of your current plan, you are automatically disqualified from it and you are sent to the public plan, you're sent to the government-run option.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: It is not a lie, plain and simple. You're gonna cut $500 billion from Medicare. You claim you're gonna do it by finding fraud and waste. Well, if you can do that, do it now. If you're gonna cut $500 billion from Medicare and claim there's going to be no reduction in service, you're lying. It's mathematically impossible. There are Medicare panels. It's in the bill. You want them run out of the White House. They are going to determine who gets treated and who doesn't. it just takes a little common sense to understand that this is going to be health care rationing when you and your buddies in Washington are in total control of it.

So we're not lying. We're not spreading bogus claims. You call us out, we're gonna hit back twice as hard. Isn't that how it goes, Mr. President? You call us out, we're gonna hit back twice as hard. Sarah Palin's hit back today on her Facebook page. She's not backing down at all from anything she said and, she's continuing to point out that the president's misrepresenting and lying to people.