Limbaugh Ratchets Up Nazi Rhetoric

http://mediamatters.org/items/200908100041 By Greg Lewis A quick note from Simon Maloy: For the past five months, Greg and I have been giving you our take on Rush's daily ramblings, and I can't speak for Greg, but I've had a lot of fun. I lost my hair, interviewed the president (sort of), took up smoking, drank myself numb, almost hit the big time, aged 40 years, defined the Grand Unified Theory of Obama Chaos, slammed my head in a car door, exposed Greg's role in the Mark Sanford affair, and logically proved that Rush Limbaugh is a Nobel Prize-winning Princeton economist. On top of that, we've exposed countless lies and some staggering hypocrisy from El Rushbo. Not a bad tally for five month's work. But starting today, Greg will be taking the lead on the Limbaugh Wire, guiding it through its new format -- one daily summary, with a weekly wrap-up on Friday that I will lend a hand putting together. There are few people out there with a better understanding of Rush than Greg, and I'm absolutely sure he'll do a bang-up job. I'm going to step aside and work on other projects, but it's likely that I'll pop my head back in every now and again. And with that, I'll turn things over to Mr. Lewis ... Rush continues to defend his Nazi comparisons Beginning today's program, Rush stated: "My friends, it is very simple. It's not hard to understand at all. When the speaker of the House of Representatives, third in line to the presidency, accused Americans at town hall meetings of being Nazi sympathizers when she started it, I pushed back twice as hard. Anybody have a problem with that?" Rush also had some words for columnist David Brooks, who called Rush's Nazi comparisons "insane" on Sunday's Meet the Press. Rush said Brooks has "no clue" and sounded like Obama did when he tried to comment on Gates and Crowley. Rush went on to accuse Democrats would rather talk about him and references to Nazi Germany that talk about the "obvious flaws" in health care. He noted the House Democrats now have a health care "war room" and Obama has a new health care website. Rush said that if Democrats have to do this, then it "seems to me that it is a sign people really don't want you are selling." But Rush continued to ramp up the rhetoric, asserting: "Hitler had a youth movement folks, who snitched on their parents. Obama's got a APB out for people to snitch on their neighbors, what would you call this? You got a snitch website." After airing the audio of Brook calling Rush's comments "insane," Rush said that everyone is forgetting that Pelosi started this by saying Americans were wearing swastikas at town halls. Rush says he has had to sit through years of liberals comparing conservatives to Nazis, especially the eight years of Bush. Rush said he was hitting back, and he's not surprised they don't like it. Rush explains how "Nazi" comes from the German word for "National Socialism" From this point, Rush explained that "Nazi" comes from the German word for "National Socialism," and that if the guys in the White House don't like being compared to socialists, then Rush said he was happy to compare them to 1920s and '30s fascists instead. Rush claimed that "[o]ne of Hitler's major domestic priorities was to complete and politicize the process no nationalizing all aspects of German healthcare." Rush went on to read from an article, sent to him by National Review's Andy McCarthy, explaining the history of nationalized health care in Germany, starting in the late 19th century under Bismarck, who packaged his proposals in typical "lefty" fashion, and and continued under Hitler. Rush described what happened in Nazi Germany as a "socialist legacy." Rush falsely claims "euthanasia" in the House bill Rush looked at Obama's defense of health care reform, and continued to misinform, falsely claiming that the House bill contained a section on euthanasia: LIMBAUGH: And Obama's got his people out there, and Obama's even said, "Well, there's no euthanasia in the plan ,and there's no cutbacks to Medicare." What plan, Mr. President? You haven't presented a plan. How can you tell us what is or isn't in the plan when you don't have one? All we've got to go on is the House plan, and it's all there. Rush went on to remark that the White House said they would punch back "twice as hard" against attacks on health care, and Rush explained that his Nazi remarks were his way of punching back twice as hard against Pelosi talking about swastikas. Rush then said that what happened in Germany under the Nazis was based on a "leftist premise," and declared that Obama and Pelosi are more like Nazis compared to the people showing up at the protests. He concluded the segment by declaring that Hitler was a "man of the left." Returning from the break, Rush continued to read the article about nationalized health care in Germany, and again complained that he had to put up with Nazi comparisons to conservatives for years, and he's not surprised they don't like what he's doing now. After another break, Rush suggested that if Democrats were so upset about town hall protests supposedly being organized by health insurance companies, they would return from their recess to hold hearings, or "show trials," as Rush referred to them. After reading more about Democrats' health care "war room" and the new White House health care website, Rush declared that this was "astroturfing." Rush then read a Rasmussen poll, finding that 51 percent of voters "fear government more than insurance companies." Rush pleaded for the American people to "get there faster." Rush misleads again on House bill After focusing a lot of his attention on various pro-health reform websites, Rush came back from another break and stated that The Daily Show had recently started making fun of Obama, which is something Rush claimed you wouldn't have seen a few months ago. Then Rush read a Politico article about Obama pushing back on health care misinformation, and proceeded to disseminate more of his own misinformation about health care: LIMBAUGH: Barack Obama cannot produce a plan that spells out anything. Now, if he wants to rely on the House legislation, he should say so. If he's making comments -- but he better be very careful, because there is -- there are provisions galore for factoring your death when you reach a certain seasoned citizen age. There are facts and proposals and pages galore of how health care is going to be rationed. [...] Well, maybe there's no actual euthanasia by giving them hemlock, but there's euthanasia by denying them medical treatment based on certain things. And what else -- it's in there, and if he says it's not in there, then it can't be the House plan he's talking about. If he says there's no way you're going to lose your private insurance or your doctor, if you like it you can keep it, he can't be talking about the House plan, because you will lose your private insurance and your doctor. It's on page 16 in the House plan. The second hour began with Rush continuing to advance the same falsehood about "mandatory" end of life counseling in the House bill, citing a Washington Post op-ed that, while opposed to the end-of-life provision in the House bill actually acknowledged that the counseling sections were "not mandatory." Then Rush dug into his stack of stuff. Rush discussed that during the 2007 August recess, there were protests at town hall meetings to end the Iraq war, and he read a Reuters report from the time. Then Rush explained how the same group is now working to pass health care reform. He called them a "rent-a-mob." Rush introduced a seemingly irrelevant article about Craigslist, and made it relevant to his conversation today: LIMBAUGH: I saw this story today and I thought, my gosh, this is part of Obamacare in the future. Get this. Melbourne, Florida. Florida woman was duped -- have you seen this? A Florida woman was duped into changing diapers and providing care for a man she met through Craigslist who faked the disabilities. This sounds like Obamacare. After complaining about the latest Drudge Special, jets for Congress, Rush moved on to Cuba apparently running out of toilet paper. He claimed that the left always make Cuba out to be an idyllic place, even though they've been in a perpetual depression. Rush says Hitler, Lenin, and Stalin were all "men of the left" After the break, Rush took a trio of callers. The first caller said that she would be attending her first protest today, at Towson, Maryland, at a Sen. Ben Cardin-hosted town hall. Rush told the caller she had the blessing of the "mob father." The next caller explained the "paradox" of Democrats when it comes to health care -- Obama says health care is broken, but if you like it, you can keep it. Rush liked the idea, and said that they're lying about it because they don't represent the core of American people. The final caller of the segment expressed her fear about the White House's website. Rush said the caller needs to be afraid for her freedom, instead. Then Rush read an article about the "peaceful" protest at the St. Louis SEIU office he hyped on Friday's show. He noted that the conservative protestor who was injured at the town hall last week was "mocked" on liberal blogs. After another break, Rush made a few more remarks about Cuba's toilet paper shortage, and then moved on to Obama's trip to Mexico. Rush noted that a reporter today asked the President about the Canadian health care system, and how it has been used as a "political football" in the health care debate. Obama responded that he doesn't find their system scary, but opponents of reform think it makes a "good boogeyman." Rush declared that Obama just apologized to Canada on behalf of the opponents of reform for slandering their health care. The next caller on today's program expressed his extreme displeasure with Democratic leaders, and Rush said the caller had a right to be angry. From there, he launched into another round of comparing health care reform to the "National Socialists" in 1930s Germany. He concluded by stating that Hitler, Lenin, and Stalin were all "men of the left." Rush continues to ratchet up Nazi comparisons, while also trying to walk them back Rush came back from another break with this question about the conservative who was injured in one of last week's town hall protests: LIMBAUGH: I got a question here, folks. Kenny Gladney, the young black conservative, 38 years old, beaten up in St. Louis last -- why isn't he -- why is Kenny Gladney not the new Rodney King? Why -- why is Kenneth Gladney not the new Harry, or Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr.? Because it's OK for black conservatives to be beat up by liberal Democrat union people, in sup -- you know, to make sure that Obama's health care plan passes? Then Rush responded to Robert Gibbs' remarks about Rush at Friday's press briefing: LIMBAUGH: Nobody was comparing Obama to Hitler. We were comparing Obama's health care to Germany's health care in socialized Nazi Germany. But if I am on thin ice, is Nancy Pelosi on thin ice? Nancy Pelosi -- Jake Tapper, do you know this yet? Do you know that Nancy Pelosi started it? ... Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House said, "They were running around carrying signs with swastikas," as she said. So I simply responded in kind. But old Gibbs here wants to say I was comparing the genocidal Hitler to Obama, and that's just typical of this bunch, to take that position on it. I was comparing one socialist to another, pure and simple. Rush closed out the hour by reading a New York Times blog post on "guaranteed" Wall Street bonuses, which he used as an "example" of Obama's "czars" ruling by dictate. Kicking off the third hour, Rush continued to discuss the Times blog post, and questioned where "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg had authority to review bonus structures at firms who had received TARP funds. Rush went on to read about Hitler's "labor czar," Robert Ley, and compared him to Feinberg. Rush again claimed that Pelosi "started this" when she made her comment about protesters with signs with swastikas. Rush said they have only found one picture showing, but the swastika was crossed out on the protestor's sign. Then Rush played an audio clip of Pelosi from last year's "Nutroots" convention in Austin, Texas, in which Pelosi urged the liberal audience to continue to pull liberal politicians to where they think government should be. Rush referred to the audience as "insane lunatics" on far left websites. After reading about the deficit's growth in July, Rush read a Politico article reporting that Obama plans to "sharpen" his goals in Afghanistan. Rush said Obama has no benchmarks, and recalled that Democrats wanted benchmarks for the surge in Iraq. Then he referenced an American Thinker post about Obama's "backwards" strategy in Afghanistan. Rush went through what he mockingly suggested should be Obama's goals in Afghanistan. Rush warns of ACORN-led voter fraud in 2010 After the break, Rush took a caller who thought the "idiots" would pass health care reform regardless of what the people say, and when it fails, they will blame Republicans like they always do. Rush lamented the caller's fatalist attitude, and went on to address many of the pessimistic members of his audience. Rush decided to validate their pessimism for once, suggesting that Democratic leaders will help Blue Dogs cheat if they vote for health care reform: LIMBAUGH: Rahm Emanuel and Pelosi and Obama can say to any Blue Dog, "WelI, I can find a way to get you re-elected -- just call ACORN. We'll simply cheat. We'll register all kinds of people in your district, we'll get you the votes on election night. Nobody can stop us." So what I'm saying is, they can do what they want and get away with voter fraud in the next election and not pay for it. After another break, Rush was back to talking about himself, and the media's coverage of his recent Nazi-related remarks. He aired a clip from CNN's Situation Room, of host Wolf Blitzer noting that Rush said he made his comments in response to Pelosi. Then Rush moved on to CNN's Reliable Sources, which featured White House "propagandist" Linda Douglass. Rush said host Howard Kurtz "destroyed" Douglass on the notion that Obama is not for single payer, and that there is no "snitch" website. Then Rush proceeded to discuss more health care falsehoods: LIMBAUGH: Page 16 states if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change your insurance, you'll be required to take a similar plan. If that is not available, you'll be required to take the government option. Page 22 mandates audits of all employers that self-insure. Page 29 -- it admits on page 29 your health care will be rationed. Page 30, a government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get. And unlike an insurer there's -- well, there's an appeals process, but you don't want even to mess with that. Page 58, every person will be issued a national ID health card. Page 59, the federal government will have direct real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer. Page 239, the bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Meaning, there will be Medicaid cuts. The president's out there saying that there won't be. Closing out the segment, Rush commented that he didn't know how he would react if his job was to have to "lie for somebody." After airing some audio from a town hall event with Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Rush mentioned an op-ed in USA Today by Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. Rush claimed the op-ed made reference to "un-American attacks" derailing the health care debates. He added that first Pelosi calls you Nazis, and now they say you are un-American. Zachary Aronow and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire. Highlights Outrageous comments LIMBAUGH: My friends, it is very simple. It's not hard to understand at all. When the speaker of the House of Representatives, third in line to the presidency, accused Americans at town hall meetings of being Nazi sympathizers when she started it, I pushed back twice as hard. Anybody have a problem with that? [...] LIMBAUGH: Now, Byron York sent me an email yesterday afternoon. He was wanting a response from me about what Brooks said at the Washington Examiner. And I wrote him back and said everyone seems to forget that Nancy Pelosi started this. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, started this by telling TV cameras and microphones that Americans showing up to protest health care were wearing swastikas -- that's saying they're Nazis. And then they were called mobs and ugly mobs and unruly mobs and so forth. And I told Byron for my whole career, I had sat here and I have listened to conservatism be compared to Nazism, I have had eight years of Bush-is-Hitler, I have had all these compare -- I have had Dick Durbin talking about our interrogators at Gitmo being like Nazi thugs. We've heard Obama make the comparison to our court system being like Nazi Germany, and I'm finally -- I'm hitting back in kind. And I'm not surprised they don't like it. Now, I want to say a little bit more here about Brooks and this insane comment here. Let's leave aside the fact that the term Nazi comes from the German word for national socialism. That's where the word Nazi comes from. Now, if you guys in the White House, if you don't like being compared to the socialism of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, fine, I'll just as easily compare you to the fascists of the '20s and '30s if you prefer that. But socialism is socialism. I don't care who ran it, I don't care where it happened, it is what it is, and there are parallels to this stupid plan and what was done and why in Germany. One of Hitler's major domestic priorities was to complete and politicize the process of nationalizing all aspects of German health care. [...] LIMBAUGH: This is the second website. The first website's a snitch website. And now they've got this reality-check website. And there's a third thing that's going on. And this is about congressional visits. It's astroturfing. [...] LIMBAUGH: I saw this story today and I thought, my gosh, this is part of Obamacare in the future. Get this. Melbourne, Florida. Florida woman was duped -- have you seen this? A Florida woman was duped into changing diapers and providing care for a man she met through Craigslist who faked the disabilities. This sounds like Obamacare. [...] LIMBAUGH: I got a question here, folks. Kenny Gladney, the young black conservative, 38 years old, beaten up in St. Louis last -- why isn't he -- why is Kenny Gladney not the new Rodney King? Why -- why is Kenneth Gladney not the new Harry, or Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr.? Because it's OK for black conservatives to be beat up by liberal Democrat union people, in sup -- you know, to make sure that Obama's health care plan passes? [...] LIMBAUGH: Nobody was comparing Obama to Hitler. We were comparing Obama's health care to Germany's health care in socialized Nazi Germany. But if I am on thin ice, is Nancy Pelosi on thin ice? Nancy Pelosi -- Jake Tapper, do you know this yet? Do you know that Nancy Pelosi started it? She called friends of mine, audience members, this show, decent Americans protesting the takeover of one-sixth of their economy by the government. By a man who has a five-minute career. They were called Nazis. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House said, "They were running around carrying signs with swastikas," as she said. So I simply responded in kind. But old Gibbs here wants to say I was comparing the genocidal Hitler to Obama, and that's just typical of this bunch, to take that position on it. I was comparing one socialist to another, pure and simple. [...] LIMBAUGH: Here's the counterbalance to my saying Democrats will pay for this debacle. Let's -- Blue Dogs, because in the past week I focused on the Blue Dogs. And I warned 'em, if you guys vote for this while you're out there trying to make yourselves out to be fiscal conservatives, and you vote for this, you're nothing but a radical leftist like the rest of your party, and you are going to pay for it come 2010. But maybe they won't. If Obama can marshal all of these people to run these town hall meetings and so forth, what about voter fraud in 2010? What if you are a Blue Dog Democrat and you're dilemma is, do I vote for this thing and risk the wrath of my constituents, or do I vote against it and risk the wrath of Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel and the president? When Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel call you in and say, "What's your problem?" "Well, I got a dilemma. My constituents hate this plan, and I wanna be re-elected." Rahm Emanuel and Pelosi and Obama can say to any Blue Dog, "WelI, I can find a way to get you re-elected -- just call ACORN. We'll simply cheat. We'll register all kinds of people in your district, we'll get you the votes on election night. Nobody can stop us." So what I'm saying is, they can do what they want and get away with voter fraud in the next election and not pay for it. Enemies list LIMBAUGH: David Brooks -- you talk about David Brooks and what he said on -- saying what I said was insane. You know, David Brooks is no more informed about this subject than Obama was informed about what happened with Crowley and Gates. They both popped off about things they didn't know abou,t and they both admitted they didn't know about it. Brooks said he had no clue what the Rush Limbaugh thing was but leveled it insane, pronounced it insane. We'll get to that in just a second. But there's a tally, a final weekend tally. Pelosi, none. Gibbs, none. Durbin, none. Rush, too many to count. That's the score, my friends. Rather than talk about the obvious flaws in health care, the subject was changed. They talked about references to Nazi Germany. The House -- all weekend long, a thousand references to me over the weekend. And they are rattled at the White House. F. Chuck Todd admits that they're rattled and they'r eunsettled over this. House Democrats have set up a health care war room. Obama has a brand new health care website. They have marching orders and instructions for people to go visit congressmen one-on-one in their offices to lobby for health care reform. If you need to do all of this, if you need a new website to go along with your snitch website, to go along with your organizing for American website, and if you need a war room in the House of Representatives for the Democrats there to use, and if you need a new organizational plan to send people out to members of Congress, it seems to me that it is a sign people really don't want you are selling. Rather than talk about the people who raised the specter of swastikas, rather than talk about the people who raised the specter of mobs, unruly mobs, rather than talk about the people who brought up this whole Nazi Germany business in the first place, Pelosi, Durbin, and Gibbs -- all weekend long they talked only of me, your loveable host. Ugly, vile, hate speech. No problem. Hitler had a youth movement, folks, who snitched on their parents. Obama's got a APB out for people to snitch on their neighbors. What would you call this? You got a snitch website. America's Truth Rejector LIMBAUGH: And Obama's got his people out there, and Obama's even said, "Well, there's no euthanasia in the plan ,and there's no cutbacks to Medicare." What plan, Mr. President? You haven't presented a plan. How can you tell us what is or isn't in the plan when you don't have one? All we've got to go on is the House plan, and it's all there. [...] LIMBAUGH: Barack Obama cannot produce a plan that spells out anything. Now, if he wants to rely on the House legislation, he should say so. If he's making comments -- but he better be very careful, because there is -- there are provisions galore for factoring your death when you reach a certain seasoned citizen age. There are facts and proposals and pages galore of how health care is going to be rationed. [...] LIMBAUGH: Well, I don't know that the Democrat plan is his plan by virtue of him being the head of the party because what he's saying about the plan isn't true. This is why I'm making the point. He says that there's no euthanasia in it. Well, maybe there's no actual euthanasia by giving them hemlock, but there's euthanasia by denying them medical treatment based on certain things. And what else -- it's in there, and if he says it's not in there, then it can't be the House plan he's talking about. If he says there's no way you're going to lose your private insurance or your doctor, if you like it you can keep it, he can't be talking about the House plan, because you will lose your private insurance and your doctor. It's on page 16 in the House plan. [...] LIMBAUGH: Page 16 states if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change your insurance, you'll be required to take a similar plan. If that is not available, you'll be required to take the government option. Page 22 mandates audits of all employers that self-insure. Page 29 -- it admits on page 29 your health care will be rationed. Page 30, a government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get. And unlike an insurer there's -- well, there's an appeals process, but you don't want even to mess with that. Page 58, every person will be issued a national ID health card. Page 59, the federal government will have direct real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer. Page 239, the bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Meaning, there will be Medicaid cuts. The president's out there saying that there won't be. Page 427, government mandates program that orders end of life treatment. Government dictates how your life ends. The Washington Post read the section, section 1233, and came to the same disturbing conclusion. Page 429, advance care planning consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an order for end-of-life plans. The order will be from the government.

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