By Terry Krepel

Rush Limbaugh kicked off the show by describing the signing ceremony for the health care reform bill as “the largest Star Wars bar scene I have ever seen.” He then declared that the timing of the ceremony -- in the hour before Rush's show began -- was an attempted affront to him from President Obama: “Hope your day's ruined.” Rush insisted that it wasn't. After citing a news article stating that health insurance premiums will rise, Rush claimed that he has a “network of spies” across the country to keep track of such things.

Rush then said he read the comments on a website's story about health care reform. They ran one of two ways, he said -- conservatives expressed sadness over what this will do to the country, while supporters of the bill exhibited no love whatsoever, didn't talk about country; their attitude was, “How does it feel to lose?” This led to a diatribe in which Rush insisted that while conservatives love their country, “There is no love on the left. There's no love of country. If anything there's a dislike of it... [conservatives] might be afraid of what Obama's doing and we might be afraid of the inability to stop it.” Conservatives love, Rush said: love for country, love for children, love for the legacy of American exceptionalism, love for the concept of a limited government.

Rush declared that the cost of health insurance determines price of insurance, therefore premiums will not be going down, especially when you add 32 million people, people with pre-existing conditions to the insurance pool. But none of this matters to the people who are for it because they think they won't have to pay for it, said Rush, every American will see withholding get larger, if you have a job and can stay in your home.

Rush then asserted that Obama wasn't misspeaking when he said health care reform would reduce premiums by 3,000 percent -- that was designed to create the desired effect among the ignorant. Rush then offered a challenge to the left: We'll agree to dislike some of the country if you agree to love some of us.

Rush: “I am the reason there is an alternative media”

After a break, Rush asserted that the left doesn't have a morally superior vision of anything - nobody with hate in their heart can, and that conservatives are making them face their own immorality and lawlessness. Then Rush declared that he blamed himself for partisan divide because “I am the reason there is an alternative media.” Before him, conservative views appeared only in obscure magazines and policy papers from think tanks. According to Rush, today there's an answer to the liberal media, and they can no longer get away with it. Their media organs are losing readers and viewers, he said, and ours are not.

Rush also magnanimously gave Ronald Reagan some of the credit as well. According to Limbaugh's theory, under onetime House minority leader Bob Michel, Republicans knew their role. Then Reagan came along, and that was a beginning to the challenge of FDR-style politics. Rush continued: once the GOP started to gain power in Congress, Republicans had the mindset that they didn't really deserve it, and they weren't prepared for the return volley of fire from Democrats once they lost the House and Clinton won the White House.

Rush came back from another break to decry the idea of a value-added tax, much like they have in the UK. He then moved toward rehashing old cost projections for Medicare, claiming that the program doubled in size every four years from 1966 to 1980, and that Medicaid was part of the original bill but nobody knew it. Today, he said, the only larger categories in the federal government are Social Security and defense, and according to Rudh defense is going to get lopped.

Rush then complained that Obama refused to have his picture taken with Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, then attacked Hillary Clinton's speech at AIPAC, in which, according to Rush, she essentially said that Israel is the problem. We have now succeeded in alienating the only democracy in the Mideast, Rush said.

Highlighting a Los Angeles Times article on how Democrats fought “the equivalent of a 100-year war” to pass health care, Rush asked, if Democrats were waging a war on health care reform, who were they fighting? Since the public has rejected socialized medicine every time it's proposed, Limbaugh hypothesized, they're fighting the American people. Obama didn't win anything, Rush said -- he's come to divide and conquer. Rush went on to say that Obama didn't persuade anybody, and that Obama touted the benefits of health care reform but not what it will cost. Obama wants premiums to go up, Limbaugh added.

Rush then launched into a tirade of how American welfare have largely destroyed the black family. Government became the de facto fathers, he said, something Democratic legislation has actually brought about. There is a total lack of caring about their general welfare, Rush said, and that's why we fear for the country and fear for the people. Rush then reiterated that conservatives love people and want them to be the best they can be. We don't want a country where the only thing people have going for them is that maybe someone in government cares for them, he said.

Rush continued, adding that Obama was able to bully and buy true believers in Congress over health care, but outside of Washington, Obama's argument is a loser, and opposition to it is growing. Americans hate this bill, Rush said, and they instinctively understand this will cause great harm to their kids and grand kids. Massachusetts sent a Republican to the Senate because they're already living a miniature version of Obamacare in their state, according to Limbaugh.

Rush insisted that Social Security reform supposedly bit the dust in 2005 because Democrats convinced senior citizens they would lose all their money in the stock market. President Bush gave up on it; unlike Obama, he didn't tell people that this is good for you and we have to start reforming it for the good of the country.

Rush then highlighted a Hotline On Call article about how congressional leadership aides exempt from provisions in health care reform. He asked, how great can it be if people who wrote it won't abide by it?

Next, Rush brought on a special caller to the show, who happened to be the caller who a few weeks ago brought up the subject of Costa Rica on Rush's show. The caller was an insurance company employee who had told Rush a few weeks back that her insurance company was setting up clinics in Costa Rica. The caller now said that the clinics won't be built anytime soon because health care reform makes the company unsound. Since the hour was almost up, Rush invited the caller to stay on hold so he could devote more time to her in the next hour of the show.

Coming into Hour 2, however, Rush said that the caller wouldn't be available until the bottom of the hour. Rush then told the background of the Costa Rica story; he said he had assumed everyone who listens to the show would remember it. Rush highlighted a liberal website raising money to send him to Costa Rica. He said what he's thinking of doing is taking the money and sending Marcelas, the 11-year-old kid who lost his mother, down there to get some treatment whenever he needs it (though not, as you would think, an apology for the attacks Rush and his fellow right-wingers have unleashed on him). Rush was facetiously incensed that the website had raised only $1,400 so far, but warned his listeners not to donate because the money goes to Planned Parenthood. Besides, he said, he doesn't fly commercial, and "$1,400 won't even buy a bottle of wine on my plane." He added that he didn't know how many abortions that money would buy you at Planned Parenthood.

Next, Rush highlighted an interview of a citizen from a Raleigh, NC, TV station who said that the passage of the reform bill was “like Christmas.” Rush first noted that Ted Kennedy, “may he rest in peace,” created the HMO system, then said that citizen should hunt down people who said they were going to get money from “Obama's stash” and ask them how they're doing.

After reading from a poll claiming that more people then ever believe Obama is deliberately destroying the economy and that 100 million people believe Rush is right, Limbaugh took a caller who regurgitated pretty much every right-wing, anti-Obama talking point she had been fed over the past year or two. She referenced Harry Reid's “light-skinned negro with no dialect” remark, Bret Baier's interview of Obama, and Joe the Plumber; claimed that Obama is kowtowing “to the Ortegas and the Chavezes”; and in a tortured metaphor, claimed that Obama is telling her to tear down her house in order to add a room. The caller added that liberal and moderate white America was so afraid to be called racist that they allow an unqualified and incompetent person to be president, and decried Obama as the result of an “affirmative action presidency.” When the caller described the “sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that what I knew in America within hours was going to be gone” with the passage of health care reform, Rush completely sympathized, he said was “Polyanna-ish” until “the Stupak circus started to show itself for what it was.” Rush reiterated a point from yesterday's show, stating that the “enemy” is now clearly defined as “anybody with a D beside their name.”

After a commercial break, Rush said Obama “had to fight like hell to get this vote, he had to bribe, he had to pay off, he had to beat people with baseball bats, or have Pelosi and Reid to do it” to get health care reform passed. Rush then declared: “Obama is no Reagan, no Lincoln, he is unlike any president we have ever had.” Obama is not a leader, Rush said; his tactics are those of a thug, not a statesman. Rush then asserted that Democrats are damaged goods now, and if there's a silver lining here, that's it.

Finally, the insurance industry caller from earlier returned. She claimed that the reform bill requires insurers to pay out a greater percentage of its revenue in claims, and that you can't keep less or more on hand, even to be prepared for a calamity. As a result, the caller said, her company will be out of business in 2-3 years, and that she's considering leaving the industry and is updating her resume. We don't know how many mandates are in this monstrosity, she said. Rush called the mandates in the bill a ridiculous dictate made by people who have no idea how the insurance business works. Stacy went on to complain that under reform, preventative care like mammograms and colonoscopies are free to Americans, but insurers will have to pay for them.

Rush declared that the purpose of these new requirements are to put people like the caller out of business, and that since single-payer health insurance is Obama's goal, and Obama will eventually have to say we have no choice but to do it ourselves.

A commercial break later, and the caller was still on the line. Rush read from a Politico article on how “most of the bitter pills” in the reform bill won't kick in until after 2012 election. This demonstrates, Rush said, that you got screwed but you won't know it until it's too late to kick the Dems out of office. Meanwhile, the caller was still lamenting that she will have to leave her job. This inspired Rush to declare that he was going to start “collecting our own sob stories” about the supposed effects of health care reform, and invited Stacy to be the first -- people like her whose entire industry is being targeted.

Rush then read an email asking why insurance companies not taking out full-page ads to explain what will happen to them. He responded that this is because they are getting 32 million new customers and they are looking to cash out before the more onerous provisions kick in.

Rush rerun: Democrats “don't deserve to win another election ever”

Rush started the show's final hour by reinterpreting Obama's statement about the 100-year quest for health care reform to claim that Obama was really saying that we tried to force this on you for 100 years and we finally succeeded against your will. Rush then replayed his entire monologue from yesterday's show about how the left is taking over the church and every institution and Democrats “don't deserve to win another election ever.”

Rush also restated that Obama wants single-payer insurance, but that he plans to do it in a way that nobody would believe that is the end result. Obama is also, according to Rush, banking on the fact that the state-controlled media are not going to tell you about the onerous provisions of health care reform and that those who do can be dismissed as kook and scaremongers.

Rush took a call from a man who said that Democrats since Truman have been a party of envy, jealousy and greed and are interested only in payback against people like him and Rush. The caller complained about Rush seeking “sob stories” because it goes against the self-reliancy of conservatives. Rush replied that the purpose here is to illustrate details of the program, not to create a bunch of whiners, and that he just wants to turn a tactic around on liberals for entertainment's sake. This was followed by another caller who said she was afraid there's a majority of people who have been taught to sit around waiting for a handout.

Rush then read a Time magazine article detailing “5 Reasons Republicans Should Let Go of Health Care.” Maybe these five things are actually what they're most afraid of and that Dems are vulnerable on this things, Rush concluded. He took a caller who said conservatives should make sure the Dems own the health care bill. Rush doesn't disagree, saying that the GOP has to do a good job of educating the public.

Rush returned to the Politico piece on how the “bitter pills” in health reform don't kick in until after 2012 election. He pointed out that none of the bad stuff kicked in before the bill passed, yet nowhere near a majority of people support the bill. Rush then decided that Americans should start demanding all the benefits today, not in 2014 or 2019. After all, he said, the people who supported it thinks it all kicks in now. In case his intent wasn't clear, Rush interjected: "[Y]es, Republicans I'm giving you some talking points here." Rush said the new mantra should be: Are you better off today than you were 48 hours ago?

A caller asked that since Obama complained about what he inherited upon assuming the presidency, what will the next president, “assuming he's a constitutionally based president,” inherit? Rush said he will inherit the utopia Obama has created.

Back from commercial, Rush said we should also demand that the unemployment rate be 8 percent right now. He took a call from a woman who said she was taking the day off work to fight off an infection. Rush asked what infection it was. Shingles, she replied. Rush was disappointed because Zicam doesn't work on shingles. Nevertheless, Rush concluded the call with a quick promo for Zicam anyway. This was followed by another caller who claimed Obama went to work out instead of going of visiting wounded troops at Walter Reed. Rush responded by calling Obama a narcissist. Rush closed out the show by once again playing the clip of the guy from Raleigh saying passage of health reform was “like Christmas.”

Kitty Kaletsky and Greg Lewis contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights

Outrageous statements

LIMBAUGH:There is no love on the left. There's no love of country. If anything there's a dislike of it to whatever degrees, and this adds to the pain we all feel when we realize that a certain segment, percentage of the population has no love for the country. And as such it's not possible for them to see what kind of damage this is going to do.

And then we realize, take it even a step further, that some of these people look at this as Christmas. That is, no more health care expenses for them, they totally misunderstand what's happened here because they believe their lying leaders and they are fully prepared here to just accept, go to hospital and not to pay for it. Or get an insurance policy and only have to pay a co-pay. It -- it -- there's a striking ignorance on the left of economic, basic economics, they have no understanding of it and there's also no love.

There's no -- all of us, I think you all will agree with me that the reason that we oppose this is not cause we hate Obama. We might be afraid. We might be afraid of what Obama's doing and we might be afraid of the inability to stop it, but it's all based on love. It's all based on love for the country. And love for our fellow citizens and love for children and grand children. We wanna pass a legacy on that we inherited when we were were kids -- and grew up. And that legacy is American exceptionalism, the opportunity to be the best you can be, with as few shackles and obstacles in the way as possible.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Here's another twist. I think that in the meantime, we ought to start demanding all of the benefits. We want the premium reductions now, we want access to free services now, like the free preventative care, like colonoscopies, whatever, mammograms. We want the deficit reduction starting now, we want all the promises today. We don't want the promises in 2014. We don't want the promises in 2019. We want it now. We want all of the goodies in this bill to happen immediately because after all most of the people that supported it think this stuff happens immediately.

If Obama is to be true to his word. If Obama is to be true to his supporters who voted and supported this thing, we want it all now. Deficit reduction, free services, and the reduction in premiums, we want all these kids that are going get to stay on their parents' policies till 27. We want that now.

We want the pre-existing condition insurance changed so that it happens right now. We want 32 million people without health care to have it this week. We don't wanna wait until 2015 for these poor unfortunate people. We've already been told that 127 people are dying a day. Because they don't have health insurance. Well, now we've got health care reform and until 2014, 127 people will continue to die a day because they don't have health insurance. In the meantime, we thought this was fixed.

So right now, today, we demand -- and, yes, Republicans I'm giving you some talking points here -- we demand that all 32 million uninsured be covered by the start of next week. Get the process going. Tell the 32 million where to go, what they have to do to get their insurance that they're unfairly being denied today.

We wanna lower -- it's gonna lower the deficit, why wait till 2014 to lower the deficit? Why wait till 2019 to lower the deficit? Let's lower the deficit starting next week. If this bill has all of this magic, if this bill is Christmas, why wait until December? Let's have Christmas in March, Christmas in April.