Hour 3: Rush's New Favorite Falsehood: Obama Wants To Bulldoze 50 U.S. Cities

http://mediamatters.org/items/200906160029 This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the red state of New Mexico By Simon Maloy One more hour to go, and Rush got it rolling by saying that Mark Levin had just sent him an "insulting" note, in which Levin said Rush's new puppy looked like the First Dog, Bo. Then Rush aired a sound bite of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, who was asked this afternoon if he was concerned that the measured response to the Iranian election could harm the American image in Iran and around the world. Gibbs said the administration's commitment to democracy has been demonstrated, but it's important that he restate that the Iranian election dispute is a debate inside of Iran for Iranians. Rush said Gibbs is saying that we're not going to meddle with Iran; if they want nukes, they can have nukes. Then Rush returned to a story from yesterday -- the relocation of the Chinese Uighurs from Guantanamo Bay to Bermuda. After calling them the "Chinese version of Al Qaeda," Rush aired audio of MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell speaking with a Bermudan reporter, who said that to his understanding, the Uighurs are in Bermuda in the U.S. dime. Rush added: "So the United States is paying for four Chinese Muslim terrorists to vacation, basically, having been released from Guantanamo Bay. And in an open-ended interview they say, 'Oh, the worst moment we ever had there was when the ChiComs showed up to ask us questions.' I -- some days, some days, you know, I'm tempted to say just how stupid is 53 percent of this country." See, here's the thing about the Uighurs -- they were taken off the "enemy combatants" list last year. By the Bush Justice Department. And they've never been charged with or convicted of terrorism. Rush moved back to health care, saying that Obama's desired public option for health care is simply an expansion of Medicare access. Rush then read extensively from a Washington Post article reporting that "[e]xpanding access to Medicare will not solve the nation's health-care cost problem," according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Rush said there's no reason to do any of this. The only reason, said Rush, is if you're an authoritarian and you want to grab as much control of the private sector as you can, because there's not one financial or fiscal reason for why this makes sense. After the break, Rush had a "good question" for us -- Obama is running around talking about open and honest elections, but what the hell does he know about that? All he's done is run around teaching ACORN how to commit voter fraud. Then Rush explained that he "knows" that a lot of people out there are behind national health care because they can't afford coverage and they think they're going to get it for free. But, said Rush, you have to remember that costs don't go away. Even if you receive something for free, said Rush, the cost will come around to bite you eventually. Rush then took a call from a man who wondered if the bulldozing of Flint is what Obama meant by "shovel-ready jobs." Rush laughed at this observation, and said that when you allow liberals to decide what's going to be bulldozed, then anything's up for grabs. Rush went to say once again -- wrongly -- that Obama asked the Democrats of Flint to apply this bulldozing theory to the rest of the country. Then Rush moved on to the FDA warning about Zicam nasal products, which apparently can "permanently damage the sense of smell." Rush explained that Zicam is a sponsor of the EIB Network, and they had told Rush that they had been sued many times but they beat each lawsuit. Rush said this warning is born of our litigious society, and that in his experience, these types of legal actions are "professionally concocted" lawsuits. Rush also said that the FDA is no different than any other agency, and when they say something he does not snap-to. The science, Rush explained, must be bogus, because it's "just zinc." Not for nothing do the FDA scientists say that the zinc is what may be damaging the olfactory nerves. After another break, Rush noted that Leon Panetta walked back his statement that Dick Cheney is "almost wishing" for another terrorist attack on the country. Rush said Panetta said what he said for a reason -- when there is another terrorist attack, he and Obama are going to blame it all on Cheney. Rush then read extensively from a Reuters article that reported "U.S. credit card defaults rose to record highs in May, with a steep deterioration of Bank of America Corp's lending portfolio, in another sign that consumers remain under severe stress." Rush asked us all how the hope, change, and stimulus are working out for us. Rush also wanted us to imagine what would have happened if across-the-board tax cuts been implemented at the beginning of the year, just as Rush prescribed in his bipartisan stimulus op-ed. Well, if real economists are to be trusted -- and, when standing next to fake economists like Rush, we believe they certainly are -- the effects of such measures would have been paltry to nonexistent. Rush's next caller wanted to clarify something -- when Rush was talking about Sen. Coburn attacking the pet projects in the stimulus, were park facilities included in that? Rush said that they were included in the stuff that people think is good. The caller was relieved to hear that, because she and her husband work in a factory that makes park facilities -- playgrounds and basketball hoops and such -- and they are having their best year ever. Confronted with the reality of good economic news, Rush had to fall back on "philosophy," saying that her state's parks are the responsibility of the state, and not the rest of the nation's taxpayers. This is not the role of government, said Rush, and it doesn't matter if it's working. Rush also counseled that she has to be very careful, in these tough economic times, about calling into this show and talking about how well she's getting on. After one more break, Rush was still on jobs, pointing to an online feature from the Sacramento Bee which maps out when certain areas of the country are going to return to pre-recession employment levels. Rush said it just had to be a coincidence that all the areas where recovery will take the longest are blue states like California and Michigan, whereas all the areas where recovery will be swift are red states like Texas and New Mexico. We -- wait, New Mexico is a red state? Let's look at the checklist here: Went for Obama? Check. Democratic governor? Check. Entirely Democratic House delegation? Check. Picked up a Democratic senator in 2008? Check. Democratic-majority state legislature? Check. Yep, looks like a red state to us ... Rush rounded out the show with a couple of callers, the first saying that Obama wants to bulldoze 50 cities across the country (he doesn't) so he can get Caterpillar in on the act. Rush said this was an excellent point (it wasn't). The second caller said that Rush is the leader of the GOP. Rush said "nuh-uh." And then the caller said "Yeah-huh." This went on for a while before Rush conceded that he is the leader of the conservatives, but not he Republican Party. The caller then suggested that the motto for Rush's show should be "The Truth Stops Here." We couldn't agree more. And that's it for today. Tomorrow, unfortunately, is another day, so that means we'll be back, and we hope you will be too. Until then, you know the drill -- Media Matters has a vast Limbaugh archive, and you should strongly consider checking it out. Greg Lewis and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire. Highlights from Hour 3 Outrageous comments LIMBAUGH: So the United States is paying for four Chinese Muslim terrorists to vacation, basically, having been released from Guantanamo Bay. And in an open-ended interview they say, "Oh, the worst moment we ever had there was when the ChiComs showed up to ask us questions." I -- some days, some days, you know, I'm tempted to say just how stupid is 53 percent of this country.

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