Limbaugh Claims The Swine Flu Is Being "Overhyped" Like AIDS In Africa

http://mediamatters.org/items/200910280037 By Greg Lewis Rush celebrates anniversary of pivotal Reagan speech Rush got the day started by exclaiming that Denver is expecting 18 inches of snow, which he followed up moments later by noting such weather wasn't unusual ... Following that inauspicious start, Rush went on to play a clip from Obama's campaign speech for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds. Rush claimed this line from the speech -- "Are you looking for slick? Or are you looking for somebody who is going to be fighting for you?" -- was akin to Obama throwing Deeds under the bus. Rush then called Obama a "narcissist" because everything has to be about him. Moving on, Rush celebrated the 45th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's Barry Goldwater stump speech, which, as Rush described, launched Reagan's political career. Rush said that it was "silly" and "stupid" for the conservative media to continue to claim that the era of Reagan is over, and went on to air several sound bites from the speech. Rush said the point of him playing the excerpts from the Reagan speech was to demonstrate how the left never changes -- that totalitarianism is always what it is, and American exceptionalism is that we avoided that. Rush went on to extol the virtues of American exceptionalism for a few minutes, adding that it is why what is happening right now is so dangerous. After some more Reagan bites, Rush explained that the left did everything they could to destroy Reagan by making him out to be a dunce and an idiot. Unlike Bush, Rush explained, these attacks didn't work because Reagan was so likeable on television. As Rush introduced the next Reagan clip, he echoed Dick Cheney's recent choice of words in describing Obama's "dithering" on Afghanistan: LIMBAUGH: Now consider this next, as Obama goes around the world apologizing for America and dithers on deciding whether we should try to win the war in Afghanistan or hand the country and the people who live there back to the Taliban. Rush comes up with conspiracy about NYT's report on Karzai's brother links to CIA Then Rush read from the New York Times scoop that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's brother is on the CIA's payroll. Rush said this was reminiscent of what JFK did in Vietnam, by allowing a coup against the "only one" willing to stand up to Ho Chi Minh. Rush went on to speculate that for the Times to report this, the story had to come from somewhere. Rush "wouldn't doubt" that this is the Obama administration trying to get rid of Karzai to set the stage for "whatever surrender policy" they want. Following some more Reagan audio clips and a commercial break, Rush was back with two Associated Press stories from today. The first said that new home sales were expected to rise, while the other reported new home sales fell. Rush said there was still a lot of huffing and puffing by the media waiting for good news to come back. Next, Rush read extensively from a UK Telegraph blog post by Nile Gardiner (who is employed by the Heritage Foundation) headlined, "Barack Obama has failed to defeat conservatism in America." The post was based off a recent Gallup poll on political ideology. Gardiner, like other commentators, used the poll to make the flawed claim that America is a conservative country. After another break, Rush proclaimed that there is indeed a "conservative ascendency" in the country," and said that to say that the era of Reagan is over is to say that the era of our founding is over. Rush then went through a few more polls. First, he looked a poll showing bad news for Sen. Arlen Specter, and later read from a Rasmussen poll confirming the grim prospects for Creigh Deeds in Virginia. Rush also noted that he got a letter from his brother with information about a "traveling road show" featuring Newt Gingrich and Howard Dean. He later clarified that this was to be a travelling "debate" between the two. Then Rush read from a Politics Daily write-up of a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll finding that a majority of Americans say the US is on the "wrong track" for the first time during Obama's presidency. Rush was skeptical over some aspects of the poll: LIMBAUGH: Fifty-two percent say the country's on the wrong track. Obama's job approval rating stands at 51 percent, the same it's been during the previous two months, and I think, folks, if the truth be known, they are doing everything they can in these polls to keep that number at 50 percent or above. 'Cause I frankly don't think he's anywhere near 50 percent in real job approval in the minds of most Americans. I mean, you're always gonna have 25 or 30 percent of the population with their heads in the sand, who are clueless and simply buy what they see in the mainstream, state-controlled media. Rush went on to mock Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) over her floor speech in which she said that the H1N1 virus will "find" the uninsured children in the country. With GPS? asked Rush mockingly. One more break for the hour and Rush returned to read a Plum Line blog post about the House whip count lacking enough votes to pass a robust public option. Rush said this meant that under the "great unifier" Obama, Democrats cannot get their own house in order, so Republicans shouldn't be blamed if health care reform fails. However, the important thing to note is that the whip count that Plum Line reported on is specifically concerning a health care bill with a "robust" public option, not about health care reform in general, which would probably get enough votes if it contained a lesser version of the public option. Denying that he holds up Reagan as a "cult personality figure," Rush proclaims that "Ronald Reagan simply is the best Republican to ever articulate" founding principles "in our lifetimes" Then Rush took a caller who asked if there was some inherent danger is holding up Reagan as the standard bearer during elections. Rush said the caller had a point, and went on to elaborate his feelings about Reagan: LIMBAUGH: But when holding up Reagan, we're not holding up a man, we're not holding up a cult personality figure. We're holding up principles. We are reminding people of ideals, we are reminding people of what the founding of this country was. Ronald Reagan simply is the best Republican to ever articulate them in our lifetimes. Rush: "What's happened now is we're not fighting the Soviet Union, we're fighting the Democrat Party. We're fighting the American left" The second hour began with Rush reading emails from listeners who disagreed with Rush and felt that the "era of Reagan" was indeed over. Rush spent the next segment in an effort to prove these rogue emailers wrong. Rush said if you go back to the 1960 election -- which was very close and came down to the "dead vote" in Chicago and "chicanery" in West Virginia that Nixon "could have" contested, but conceded for the good of the country -- then you will see that both JFK and Nixon agreed on the fundamental issues like national security. Rush claimed that JFK even "pre-dated" Reagan on tax cuts (well, not exactly). This led Rush into a long rant about how today's Democratic Party "advocates for the defeat of this country": LIMBAUGH: These two parties today do not even agree on national security. One of our political parties today advocates for the defeat of this country. We have now elected a president -- we may not have a Soviet threat, but we have a communist threat. It was all about keeping communism out of this country. Rush elaborated on the communists in the administration: LIMBAUGH: JFK didn't want a communist country. Now, we have an administration with members saying their favorite philosopher is Mao Zedong. Next we're going to learn that somebody else in this administration admires Josef Stalin. We have avowed Marxists, self-proclaimed communists in this administration. This country has moved so far and gone and -- well, the left in this country has gone so far left since -- from where it was in 1960. And Rush, of course, brought it all back to Reagan in order to disprove those pesky emailers: LIMBAUGH: Reagan was exactly right. If you think that the era of Reagan is over simply because the external threat of communism in the Soviet Union was beat down, you missed the whole point. Reagan was talking about tyranny, liberty, freedom. It's always threatened, it always has to be fought for. It has to be earned. What's happened now is we're not fighting the Soviet Union, we're fighting the Democrat Party. We're fighting the American left. We are now fighting to save our own country from itself. We are fighting within our own country to preserve our freedom. Reagan was exactly right. This is why the era of Reagan will never be over, because it is the era of our founding. It is the era of individual freedom, American exceptionalism. Rush explained that we're in crucial times and that conservatism is in ascendency, winning the battle for the hearts and minds of the American people. Rush brings up HUAC Rush then said that "something happened" after the assassination of JFK: LIMBAUGH: That is where I think the modern left really started gaining its ascendancy, which is amazing because it was a leftist communist who assassinated JFK. Then Rush exclaimed that we used to have a House Un-American Activities Committee. Do you know that? he asked: LIMBAUGH: But that gave birth to Lyndon Johnson, a massive leftist -- I mean, it was always bubbling under the surface, it was always -- you know, you always had Hollywood leftists and communists and you always had -- you know, we used to have a House Un-American Activities Committee, do you know that? In the House of Representatives, we had a House Un-American Activities Committee. We had -- you know, academia was left, but it really started marching full speed ahead in the '60s after the assassination of JFK, and it has not stopped. Concluding his rant, Rush explained of Obama:  LIMBAUGH: And now that same man is dithering in Afghanistan while American soldiers -- not Bush soldiers and not Obama soldiers, American soldiers -- are dying at record numbers. The threat that people in this country who want to be free face is now within our own borders. That's the stark reality. Rush on latest Sowell column: "[I]t's time to stop gathering evidence concerning Obama's character and do anything within the boundaries in the law to stop his agenda" After the break, Rush explained what a Congressional "whip" is to his viewers. Then he read a Washington Post article about "recession lesson[s]." Rush said the subtext of the article is that it was "wonderful" that people were getting laid off, and claimed that such a story would be reported much more negatively if it happened during the Bush years. Next, Rush read the latest crazy-filled column by Thomas Sowell, introducing it as follows: LIMBAUGH: People ask me all the time, "Rush, you'll tell us when it's time to panic, right?" And I say, "Yeah, and it's not time to panic." But I have just finished a column by Thomas Sowell that strikes me as somewhat remarkable. There should not be any doubt that Americans interested in the truth about who Barack Obama is and what he represents has become clear, surreal clear. Dr. Thomas Sowell, a brilliant, accomplished man, a distinguished gentleman. When distinguished gentlemen, distinguished Americans such as Thomas Sowell think and write as he has in his latest column, it's time to stop gathering evidence concerning Obama's character and do anything within the boundaries in the law to stop his agenda. Following another break, Rush returned with a list of Post headlines which he claimed put a positive spin on the recession. Maybe we need a perpetual recession, he mused, so that we can become an even better country. Then Rush read from a report about the Obama daughters getting the H1N1 vaccine. Rush read in the report that White House physician used the "same process" as everybody else in obtaining the vaccine for the girls, but Rush was skeptical. Rush charged that the first daughters were vaccinated while there were people standing in lines. Staying on the subject of swine flu, Rush aired an audio clip of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano talking about the vaccine's availability and advising people to protect themselves by coughing in a certain way and washing their hands. Rush called this the "chickification" of US government. Rush said Napolitano and Kathleen Sebelius demonstrated flaming government incompetence. Then Rush had something to say about the latest controversial remarks from Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL): LIMBAUGH: This Alan Grayson guy, this guy must have -- you know, I think he is a legitimate ADD, attention deficit disorder. And I mean it literally. This guy craves attention; he can't get enough of it. He goes out -- you know, he calls this adviser to the Federal Reserve, Linda Roberts, a "K Street whore" during -- we had the audio yesterday, I just didn't get to it. [...] He woulda gotten away with it -- Mr. Grayson, you're a Democrat, I think you'd be more up to speed here on pop culture. The correct and more widely used term is ho. If you woulda said "K Street ho," the National Football League might have asked you to become an owner of one of their teams. But you went out there and used the word "whore," and, well, we just can't have that. Next time you're gonna do this Alan, you go out there and say" K Street ho." And instead of everyone shocked, they'll laugh at you and think you're a pop culture icon. Then Rush took a caller who asked what he thought would happen in the 2010 elections. Rush said there would be an uprising of people voting against Democrats, especially if they pass the health care bill. Rush predicted that this revolt would be so stunning that the races wouldn't even need to be nationalized like they were in 1994. Rush closed out the hour with a caller who informed Rush that in Illinois, his wife was told that she could not get the H1N1 vaccine for their asthmatic son because he was not of Native American decent (or something like that; the caller was unclear). Rush said if this was true, it would mean this was an "affirmative action" vaccine. He promised to look into the caller's claims. Rush claims the swine flu is being "overhyped" like AIDS in Africa The final hour of the show began with Rush still on the topic of whether the swine flu was being hyped. Rush argued that the number of people who have been diagnosed with the swine flu and the number who have died from it have been hyped. Rush compared this to the way AIDS is hyped in Africa in order for organizations and countries to receive "AIDS money." Rush claimed there was a giant pile of money for the swine flu, and all you have to do is report cases. Everything has a scam aspect to it, Rush explained. This launched Rush into an explanation of his general distrust of government. He claimed the job of the government is to create panic and try to control people, but Rush said he refused to be controlled or a member of the "herd." He said that the government is a dismal failure every time it tries to solve a problem -- with the few lone exceptions like the "early days" of NASA. Rush continued to say that he didn't believe there was a swine flu epidemic, since the death toll didn't compare to past epidemics, again claiming that the Obama administration is doing everything they can to hype it. Rush asked for people who have a natural distrust of business to be equally as distrustful of the government because the evidence is clear that the "real shafting" starts there. Rush came back from the commercial break still asserting that there was hyping going on over the swine flu, and that the state-controlled media was keeping people on the edge about it. He brought up the previous caller's charge of the vaccine being reserved for minorities, but this time Rush referred to this as "death panels" in Chicago. He still lacked any evidence -- beyond the caller's word -- that this was actually going on. Rush continues to push conspiracy theory related to reported Karzai brother-CIA link Then Rush went back to his conspiracy theory about the New York Times report on Hamid Karzai's brother's connections to the CIA. Rush suggested that the Obama administration was leaking this information to try to get rid of Karzai. Rush went into more detail about his aforementioned comparison between this and the JFK administration's actions in regards to the Diem coup in the early years of the Vietnam War. Rush then played a new Paul Shanklin song parody about Obama's "dithering" on Afghanistan. After the next break, Rush moved on to a Vanity Fair article by a former female writer for David Letterman's show. He said the point of him bringing up the article was to show that liberal women are unhappy because they are treated like dirt by liberal men. Rush added that the dirty little secret is that liberals are unhappy in general because it's part of their ideology. Then Rush talked about Harry Reid's "meltdown" press conference yesterday and how the state-run media "dumped" on Joe Lieberman for threatening to filibuster a health care bill with the public option. He returned from another break to bash a proposed "smart grid" talked about by President Obama yesterday. Rush claimed the smart grid would control when you can run your dishwasher. Rush spent the remaining few minutes of his show replaying more of Reagan's 1964 Goldwater speech sound bites. Rush closed out the program bringing up last week's feud with New York Times reporter Andrew Revkin. For those who chose not to remember what happened on last week's Limbaugh programming (all the best to you!), Rush had told Revkin he ought to just "go kill" himself for conducting a thought experiment on climate change policy. Rush concluded by mentioning that Revkin wanted an apology: LIMBAUGH: Remember last week, I had a little fun with this New York Times guy Revkin, who seriously considered the carbon limiting implications of limiting childbirths to one per family. And I suggest, show some leadership on this -- I mean, you always tell everybody else whether or not to have -- go ahead and show us how it works, you know, die and save the planet. He was profoundly offended by this, and I am told wants an apology. Zachary Aronow and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire. Highlights Outrageous comments LIMBAUGH: Fifty-two percent say the country's on the wrong track. Obama's job approval rating stands at 51 percent, the same it's been during the previous two months, and I think, folks, if the truth be known, they are doing everything they can in these polls to keep that number at 50 percent or above. 'Cause I frankly don't think he's anywhere near 50 percent in real job approval in the minds of most Americans. I mean, you're always gonna have 25 or 30 percent of the population with their heads in the sand, who are clueless and simply buy what they see in the mainstream, state-controlled media. [...] LIMBAUGH: These two parties today do not even agree on national security. One of our political parties today advocates for the defeat of this country. We have now elected a president -- we may not have a Soviet threat, but we have a communist threat. It was all about keeping communism out of this country. 1960, Reagan, Nixon, Kennedy -- it was all about keeping communism out of this country. JFK didn't want a communist country. Now, we have an administration with members saying their favorite philosopher is Mao Zedong. Next we're going to learn that somebody else in this administration admires Josef Stalin. We have avowed Marxists, self-proclaimed communists in this administration. This country has moved so far and gone and -- well, the left in this country has gone so far left since -- from where it was in 1960. Reagan was exactly right. If you think that the era of Reagan is over simply because the external threat of communism in the Soviet Union was beat down, you missed the whole point. Reagan was talking about tyranny, liberty, freedom. It's always threatened, it always has to be fought for. It has to be earned. What's happened now is we're not fighting the Soviet Union, we're fighting the Democrat Party. We're fighting the American left. We are now fighting to save our own country from itself. We are fighting within our own country to preserve our freedom. Reagan was exactly right. This is why the era of Reagan will never be over, because it is the era of our founding. It is the era of individual freedom, American exceptionalism. [...] LIMBAUGH: And now that same man is dithering in Afghanistan while American soldiers -- not Bush soldiers and not Obama soldiers, American soldiers -- are dying at record numbers. The threat that people in this country who want to be free face is now within our own borders. That's the stark reality. [...] LIMBAUGH: Now, something happened after the assassination of JFK. That is where I think the modern left really started gaining its ascendancy, which is amazing because it was a leftist communist who assassinated JFK. [...] LIMBAUGH: But that gave birth to Lyndon Johnson, a massive leftist -- I mean, it was always bubbling under the surface, it was always -- you know, you always had Hollywood leftists and communists and you always had -- you know, we used to have a House Un-American Activities Committee, do you know that? In the House of Representatives, we had a House Un-American Activities Committee. We had -- you know, academia was left, but it really started marching full speed ahead in the '60s after the assassination of JFK, and it has not stopped. [...] LIMBAUGH: People ask me all the time, "Rush, you'll tell us when it's time to panic, right?" And I say, "Yeah, and it's not time to panic." But I have just finished a column by Thomas Sowell that strikes me as somewhat remarkable. There should not be any doubt that Americans interested in the truth about who Barack Obama is and what he represents has become clear, surreal clear. Dr. Thomas Sowell, a brilliant, accomplished man, a distinguished gentleman. When distinguished gentlemen, distinguished Americans such as Thomas Sowell think and write as he has in his latest column, it's time to stop gathering evidence concerning Obama's character and do anything within the boundaries in the law to stop his agenda. [...] LIMBAUGH: This Alan Grayson guy, this guy must have -- you know, I think he is a legitimate ADD, attention deficit disorder. And I mean it literally. This guy craves attention; he can't get enough of it. He goes out -- you know, he calls this adviser to the Federal Reserve, Linda Roberts, a "K Street whore" during -- we had the audio yesterday, I just didn't get to it -- during an interview on a syndicated radio program. A "K street whore." He woulda gotten away with it -- Mr. Grayson, you're a Democrat, I think you'd be more up to speed here on pop culture. The correct and more widely used term is ho. If you woulda said "K Street ho," the National Football League might have asked you to become an owner of one of their teams. But you went out there and used the word "whore," and, well, we just can't have that. Next time you're gonna do this Alan, you go out there and say" K Street ho." And instead of everyone shocked, they'll laugh at you and think you're a pop culture icon. Reagan mania LIMBAUGH: But when holding up Reagan, we're not holding up a man, we're not holding up a cult personality figure. We're holding up principles. We are reminding people of ideals, we are reminding people of what the founding of this country was. Ronald Reagan simply is the best Republican to ever articulate them in our lifetimes. Enemies list LIMBAUGH: Remember last week, I had a little fun with this New York Times guy Revkin, who seriously considered the carbon limiting implications of limiting childbirths to one per family. And I suggest, show some leadership on this -- I mean, you always tell everybody else whether or not to have -- go ahead and show us how it works, you know, die and save the planet. He was profoundly offended by this, and I am told wants an apology. Echo chamber LIMBAUGH: Now consider this next, as Obama goes around the world apologizing for America and dithers on deciding whether we should try to win the war in Afghanistan or hand the country and the people who live there back to the Taliban.

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