rush Dr. Limbaugh Fearmongers Over Flu Vaccine

http://mediamatters.org/items/200910070033 By Greg Lewis Rush explains why Obama has the "inside track" to be the "worst president in history" Rush started the day off by reading from "state-controlled" Associated Press' report that Al Qaeda's role in Afghanistan is fading. Rush said none of this made any sense, and asked why we don't just declare victory and get out of there if the story is true. Rush asked what happened to all the terrorists we "created" during the Bush administration because of Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, and the Iraq War. Then Rush went on to list all the failures of the Obama administration, which led him to conclude that Obama has the "inside track" to becoming the "worst president in history." One of the reasons Rush listed was the global cooling trend -- which is strange, because we didn't realize Obama had control over the weather: LIMBAUGH: I don't have enough time here to list Obama's failures, much less comment on 'em. And it's not even a list, this is a catalogue. The demise of the U.S. dollar; a planet that is getting cooler, and the president says he has to impose a deeper recession on the country to stop non-existent warming. The record-breaking cold weather stories alone would take three hours to report today. Ski places are opening earlier than ever. The first snow day in Idaho today because of overwhelming snow. Global sea ice is normal -- there's not any more of it, there's not any less of it than there have been in the past 30 years, there maybe have been a decrease in North Pole ice and an increase in South pole ice, but overall global polar ice, volume is the same. Rush continued his list: a possibility of a double-dip recession, states being billions in debt, rising unemployment, and late night comics "pounding" Obama after saying there was nothing funny about him. Rush also listed the messes in Guantánamo, Afghanistan, and Iran, and the fact that his UN speech still has people "reeling." Rush also mentioned a conservative blogger'sairport run-in with Bill Ayers, in which Ayers told the blogger that he wrote Obama's first book. Rush stated that he "doesn't buy this for a minute," adding that it was probably just Ayers trying to yank the chains of gullible conservatives. Rush concluded that there was an "endless stream of evidence that Obama has failed already." Rush falsely claims Sebelius said "you must take" H1N1 vaccine; proceeds to freak out over it After spending a few minutes complaining about controversy over Michael Jordan smoking on a public golf course in San Francisco, Rush got really angry at Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius: LIMBAUGH: And now you got Kathleen Sebelius saying you must take the pig flu vaccine. You must take it. Screw you, Ms. Sebelius! I am not going to take it, precisely because you're now telling me I must. It's not your role, it's not your responsibility, and you do not have that power. I don't want to take your vaccine. I don't get flu shots. Sebelius is not "saying you must take the pig flu vaccine." Maybe that's what the Drudge headline is suggesting, but the article it links to doesn't agree. The closest thing we could find to Sebelius saying "You must take it!" was this: Because of the danger of easy transmission, especially in school and day-care settings, Sebelius said, "We strongly urge parents to take precautionary steps. Flu kills every year ... and we've got a great vaccine to deal with it." Anyway, Rush probably didn't read the article, as he continued his defiant, anti-government advice rant: LIMBAUGH: We are going to have all kinds of mess here with Sebelius saying you must take the pig flu vaccine. No, we don't. How are they gonna make me take it, Snerdley? Wait until they get control of my health care? That's not gonna happen 'till 2013. Sebelius is saying today you gotta take it. How are they gonna make me take it if I refuse to take it? What is this, "you must take it"? Who the hell do these people think they are? "You must take it"? You know, I'm just like -- I'm a contrarian, I'm a non-conformist -- you have some idiot government official demanding, telling me I must take this vaccine. I'll never take it. Then, Rush mentioned DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano telling Sheriff Joe Arpaio to "stop it" (again, Drudge's phrasing, not Napolitano's). Then, he addressed the latest Letterman gag of playing video of Rush's Dittocam sans audio, and then appeared visibly upset over a story about a Japanese airline asking its customers to use the bathroom before a flight to reduce weight and save fuel. Who would have thought Rush would be so apoplectic over a company trying to save a few bucks? After the break, Rush addressed the recent news reports about him and a business partner in talks to purchase the NFL's St. Louis Rams. There wasn't much Rush could say about the deal beyond confirming it, due to confidentiality agreements. Staying mum, Rush aired a few clips ofESPN talking heads debating the subject. Limbaugh jokes about whether or not he should "bleep" his comment that "participants" in a recent Chicago fight "were all black" Following another break, Rush opened up a segment with this: LIMBAUGH: Hey, folks, did you know that youth gang violence is a problem in America? Did you know that? Yeah, they just had a string of bad incidents up there in Obamaland in Chicago, where he and his community organizer buddies suppos -- and by the way, the city of Chicago is in debt like it never has been, and they're in trouble. It's a huge, huge problem. Chicago is just a mess, and it's run by Obama and his buddies and cronies. They're getting this youth violence all over the place up there, and remember, the latest incident involved a little kid getting killed trying to break up a fight. The participants were all black -- dare I say this? Dare I say that? We've got 40 seconds to delete that comment. I'm putting it up for a vote of the local staff here. Should I delete the comment? We've got 30 seconds now -- should I bleep the comment that I pointed out that all of the participants in the most violent crime spree in Chicago were black? Should I have the broadcast engineer bleep it? I've got 15 seconds in order to -- OK, we're not bleeping it. We're not bleeping it. It's too late to bleep it now. The 40 seconds went by. Rush went on to comment on Attorney General Eric Holder's speech on Chicago's violence today, accusing Holder and the Obama administration of using "any bit of chaos" to get the federal government involved in a city's affairs. Rush even called it a "power grab." He added: LIMBAUGH: Dirty little secret: It is liberal policies which create the social-economic circumstances that lead to this kind of culture. It is liberal cultural policies, it's liberal economic policies, it's liberal welfare policies, it is liberal fix-it-up policies -- they create the circumstances. The cultural problem -- can't judge anybody, nobody's right, nobody's wrong. People who are from a poor background, if they engage in bad behavior, it's excused. "Oh, they got every reason to be. You'd be mad too if you lived like they do. We have to understand their rage." Well, now it's getting a little bit over the top, it's embarrassing Obama, he didn't get the Olympics, black-on-black violence in Chicago where he's from, "Oh my God, we gotta go and do something about it." Now national attention on youth focus and a chance to spend more money, and another power grab. Rush said he would be accused of racism for pointing this out, and went on to read a lengthy American Thinker piece charging that Gallup is changing their poll questions to "push" public opinion in favor of Obama's health care reform. Coming back from another break, Rush read from an AP article declaring that health care reform "has a pulse." Rush called it "fascist propaganda" because the AP article doesn't mention that "everything Obama says" about reform "is a lie." Then Rush directed his ire at a Reuters reporton Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner saying that Americans need to "save more." Only Rush Limbaugh could find himself outraged (or at least sound outraged) over the US Treasury Secretary suggesting that Americans save their money. Rush still defiant over H1N1 vaccine: "The next time you hear 'The government says...', don't believe it. You'll be healthier, trust me" Next, a caller asked Rush if Sebelius was using some kind of reverse psychology is telling everyone to get the H1N1 vaccine, so that they won't... or something (it didn't really make sense to us). Rush continued his defiance against Sebelius [not] telling everyone they have to get the vaccine, declaring that "[a]ll I see is a bunch of typical government panic and hype." Rush bitterly continued his defiance: LIMBAUGH: Even some of my own staff here are now warning me against my obstinance here. Let me ask you a question. Who put the notion that you gotta have this shot, or this nasal spray -- whatever the hell the vaccine is -- whoever the hell put in your head the notion that you gotta do it? Government did. The Obama government, to be specific. [...] The next time you hear "The government says..." don't believe it. You'll be healthier, trust me. The second hour began with Rush reading a story out of Detroit about stimulus funds being used to help low-income residents to help them from becoming homeless by helping them pay their bills. Rush upped the race-baiting ante by playing a clip of a local news reporter interviewing a resident in line for an application for the funds. The interviewee was asked where the funds for the program were coming from, and answered that it was "given" by Obama. Rush said this was a "model citizen" as far as Obama is concerned. Rush said the person is a classic illustration of a person who is a "rightful owner" of the nation's wealth. Then Rush read a Washington Times report about DHS funds going to ACORN instead of firefighters (though he neglected to note this funding decision has since been reversed). Then Rush read from a Weekly Standard article that sums up what he has been trying to say for months. Rush on youth violence: "It's a liberal problem. It is a radical leftist problem" Following the break, Rush aired a few sound bites from the aforementioned event in Chicago today on youth violence. Rush said Mayor Daley is happy because he's going to get the money he was going to get for the Olympics, "ostensibly" to deal with violence. After reminiscing more about the "black on black" crime in the 90s, Rush said this sort of thing wasn't new, and blamed the youth violence now on the 52% unemployment rate amongst teens, as well as liberal social programs that "bust up families." Then Rush read about a British judge "set[ing] free" 30 "high-risk" terrorists. Rush said this story, and the story about Chicago youth violence, were evidence that not only is liberalism wrong, "it's deadly" and a "threat to western civilization." Rush concluded that the Chicago story today was just another "play for power" and "transfer of wealth" from Washington to a "patron of Barack Obama," Mayor Daley. After another break, Rush had this to say about the Chicago event: LIMBAUGH: Lookit, folks, if I may be serious for a moment, this is another case. With this press conference today with Holder and Daley and Arne Duncan, it's another case -- it's just like Katrina. It's just like Katrina, it's just like Enron, it's just like every other thing that goes on; the case of the government swooping in now, as innocent bystanders, as spectators. [...] They are the problem to begin with. Their social programs create the culture and the climate for this. It drives me nuts. He then aired this sound clip of Attorney General Eric Holder at the event, and responded as such: HOLDER (audio clip): Youth violence is not a Chicago problem any more that I is a black problem, a white problem, or a Hispanic problem. LIMBAUGH: OK, fine. It's a liberal problem. It is a radical leftist problem, and you're gonna make it worse by throwing a bunch of money at the mayor. Then Rush moved on to a Business Insider article about bank overdraft fees. Man of the people Rush Limbaugh blamed the problem of overdraft fees on the fact that people don't have any money because they're "taxed through the roof." Rush describes basketball as the "favorite sport of gangs" Next, Rush took a caller who told Rush about how a local California town wanted to raise its sales tax by a cent to pay for programs to prevent gang violence that was becoming a problem in the town. Rush asked what the local government would specifically do with the anti-gang funds. Rush said this about the idea of "midnight basketball": LIMBAUGH: Midnight basketball -- I mean, we've done it all. We've taken the favorite sport of gangs and we put it at midnight to get them on the basketball court. Limbaugh concluded the hour by describing the "created, manufactured crisis" that is the H1N1 flu, gracefully segueing from here to an ad for show sponsor Zicam. Then Rush took a quick call from a doctor who found Obama's Rose Garden photo-op offensive because not all doctors support Obama's reform plans. Rush in sick denial: "We are not having food poisoning in this country, it's not happening" The third and final hour began with Rush reading a series of posts from the Heritage Foundation's The Foundry blog. Then he read an ABC News report asking if the US was "preparing to bomb Iran." Then Rush played an audio clip from today's edition of Morning Joe, featuring co-host Mika Brzezinski and columnist Bob Herbert reacting to Limbaugh's comments yesterday attacking Herbert's latest column. Rush declared that Mika and Bob still don't get that Obama is "shepherding this downturn" and that it's all "happening by design. After the break, Rush went on a rant about the "food Nazis" at the Center for Science in the Public Interest over their latest report on the riskiest FDA-regulated food. Rush couldn't believe that leafy greens would top the study's list -- perhaps spinach wasn't in his diet at the time of themassive E. coli outbreak in 2006 affecting the leafy green. But it got worse from there: LIMBAUGH: Life expectancy is rising. We are not having food poisoning in this country; it's not happening. These are bunch of busybody people that will not mind their own business, they want to make their business yours, and they are -- these are the kind of people that just irritate the hell out of me. We're "not having food poisoning in this country," Rush? Why don't you tell that to Stephanie Smith, who was paralyzed from an E. coli infection after eating a hamburger made with tainted ground beef. Limbaugh's flat out denial of the shortcomings that exist in our industrial food system is ignorant and telling. He simply doesn't care that there are real problems in America that don't break down by party line. The next caller said that Obama has "absolutely no concern" about what was going on in Afghanistan because it was a distraction for his health care reform plans. After another break, Rush was still ranting about the "lunatics" at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and tied it into an article from Time about alcohol abstainers being at a higher risk of depression. Rush continues right-wing smear campaign against Kevin Jennings Rush then took a caller who talked about how he convinced his wife that Rush was right about wealth redistribution. Next, Rush set his sights again on Obama's "safe school czar" Kevin Jennings, pushing old and new smears and falsehoods about Jennings: LIMBAUGH: I meant to play this audio sound bite yesterday. I didn't get it in time, nobody's fault; we were just busy. I have it now. This is 2000, in Iowa, at the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, it's an event there. It's audio of Obama's safe schools czar, Kevin Jennings. This is the guy that, the 15-year-old kid approached him, "I'm having a older man is forcing way on me, sex and so forth", Jennings says, "That's fine, are you using a condom?" and urged the 15 year old to [unintelligible] the relationship, and said later "I saw this kid come back to school and every day had a big smile on his face, I knew I'd done a good thing." That's Obama's safe schools czar. So, nine years ago, Kevin Johnson is at this -- Jennings -- Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network. He is criticizing schools for promoting heterosexuality. This is from a speech Kevin Jennings gave at this event in Iowa. [...] LIMBAUGH: So he's gay, obviously, and heterosexuality's being promoted through vehicles like Romeo and Juliet. Recruiting, they're recruiting heterosexuals. Recruiting and promoting heterosexuals in the schools. And this guy is now Obama's safe schools czar. Rush closed out the program some more talk about media coverage of himself. First, he played a sound bite of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) criticizing Rush for cheering Chicago's failed Olympic bid. Then he aired portions of Mary Matalin and "ferret-like" Paul Krugman on CNN talking about whether the Democratic strategy of demonizing Limbaugh was effective. Zachary Aronow and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire. Highlights Outrageous comments LIMBAUGH: And now you got Kathleen Sebelius saying you must take the pig flu vaccine. You must take it. Screw you, Ms. Sebelius! I am not going to take it, precisely because you're now telling me I must. It's not your role, it's not your responsibility, and you do not have that power. I don't want to take your vaccine. I don't get flu shots. [...] Timestamp: 18:46 - 19:38 LIMBAUGH: We are going to have all kinds of mess here with Sebelius saying you must take the pig flu vaccine. No, we don't. How are they gonna make me take it, Snerdley? Wait until they get control of my health care? That's not gonna happen 'till 2013. Sebelius is saying today you gotta take it. How are they gonna make me take it if I refuse to take it? What is this, "you must take it"? Who the hell do these people think they are? "You must take it"? You know, I'm just like -- I'm a contrarian, I'm a non-conformist -- you have some idiot government official demanding, telling me I must take this vaccine. I'll never take it. [...] LIMBAUGH: Hey, folks, did you know that youth gang violence is a problem in America? Did you know that? Yeah, they just had a string of bad incidents up there in Obamaland in Chicago, where he and his community organizer buddies suppos -- and by the way, the city of Chicago is in debt like it never has been, and they're in trouble. It's a huge, huge problem. Chicago is just a mess, and it's run by Obama and his buddies and cronies. They're getting this youth violence all over the place up there, and remember, the latest incident involved a little kid getting killed trying to break up a fight. The participants were all black -- dare I say this? Dare I say that? We've got 40 seconds to delete that comment. I'm putting it up for a vote of the local staff here. Should I delete the comment? We've got 30 seconds now -- should I bleep the comment that I pointed out that all of the participants in the most violent crime spree in Chicago were black? Should I have the broadcast engineer bleep it? I've got 15 seconds in order to -- OK, we're not bleeping it. We're not bleeping it. It's too late to bleep it now. The 40 seconds went by. [...] LIMBAUGH: Dirty little secret: It is liberal policies which create the social-economic circumstances that lead to this kind of culture. It is liberal cultural policies, it's liberal economic policies, it's liberal welfare policies, it is liberal fix-it-up policies -- they create the circumstances. The cultural problem -- can't judge anybody, nobody's right, nobody's wrong. People who are from a poor background, if they engage in bad behavior, it's excused. "Oh, they got every reason to be. You'd be mad too if you lived like they do. We have to understand their rage." Well, now it's getting a little bit over the top, it's embarrassing Obama, he didn't get the Olympics, black-on-black violence in Chicago where he's from, "Oh my God, we gotta go and do something about it." Now national attention on youth focus and a chance to spend more money, and another power grab. [...] LIMBAUGH: I'm not seeing these mass deaths from the swine flu -- I'm sorry, I really don't want to insult the pork business -- from the H1N1 virus. All I see is a bunch of typical government panic and hype. Remember the bird flu. Remember the monkey flu. Remember the pig flu of four years ago. Every year, there is some disease, some disaster, that's gonna wipe us all out, and the life expectancy keeps going up. I've never had a flu shot in my life anyway. Approaching the threshold of what? What threshold am I approaching? The age threshold? Oh, is that right? The age threshold -- then why are they closing schools in panic? Why are they -- this one hits the young harder, huh? That's right. Another reason why -- then why are you even telling me about the age threshold? You know, I really can't relate. Even some of my own staff here are now warning me against my obstinance here. Let me ask you a question. Who put the notion that you gotta have this shot, or this nasal spray -- whatever the hell the vaccine is -- whoever the hell put in your head the notion that you gotta do it? Government did. The Obama government, to be specific. It is one of my fervent objectives and goals that before I do move to New Zealand, start spending everything I have before they take it away from me, is to convince as many people as possible that the damn government is not God, and nobody in it even comes close to being as competent as you are to run your life. And yet, "Oh my God, the government report says ..." The next time you hear "The government says..." don't believe it. You'll be healthier, trust me. [...] LIMBAUGH: Lookit, folks, if I may be serious for a moment, this is another case. With this press conference today with Holder and Daley and Arne Duncan, it's another case -- it's just like Katrina. It's just like Katrina, it's just like Enron, it's just like every other thing that goes on; the case of the government swooping in now, as innocent bystanders, as spectators -- "Oh lordy, we got a problem. Oh my gosh, how are we gonna fix it? Oh, we got youth beaten up youth, we got youth killing, oh my God we got a problem. We gotta move in now and we gotta, just there to help. We're gonan have a press conference." They are the problem to begin with. Their social programs create the culture and the climate for this. It drives me nuts. [...] Timestamp: 1:37:55 - 1:38:12 HOLDER (audio clip): Youth violence is not a Chicago problem any more that I is a black problem, a white problem, or a Hispanic problem. LIMBAUGH: OK, fine. It's a liberal problem. It is a radical leftist problem, and you're gonna make it worse by throwing a bunch of money at the mayor. [...] LIMBAUGH: It's not reasonable that you should understand the insanity that local and state and federal bureaucracies are doing. It's perfectly normal and understandable that none of what they do would make sense to you. My question -- OK, a one-cent sales tax to fight gang violence. What do you spend the money on to fight gang violence? After-school program? Don't we already have after school programs? Don't we already have -- what do you call it, extracurricular events? Midnight basketball -- I mean, we've done it all. We've taken the favorite sport of gangs and we put it at midnight to get them on the basketball court. We had 100,000 new cops with Clinton. We've done it all. And the problem still is out of control. Liberalism doesn't work. I'm gonna tell you what. If they're gonna raise the sales tax in this little, Celias, California, wherever they're talking about -- if they're gonna raise one cent sales tax to handle gang violence, then the money oughta go to the purchase of bulletproof vests for the law-abiding citizens when they leave their homes. [...] LIMBAUGH: Now, how many of you people think that eating salad is a healthful thing and do it quite often? A lot of people do, lot of people love salads. Lettuce, greens, vegetables chopped up in there, try to responsible with salad dressing like flavorless watercress vinaigrette or whatever gunk put on, but they love salads. Leafy greens, eggs, and tuna are on the top of a list of the ten riskiest foods regulated by the FDA, according to Center for Science in the Public Interest. Those and seven other foods account for nearly 40 percent of all food-borne outbreaks linked to FDA-regulated food. That's no reason to forgo the occasional salad, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which authored the report, nor need one pass up tomatoes, sprouts, and berries, even though those foods are also on the list. But the nonprofit watchdog group says the presence of so many healthy foods on such a list is exactly why the United States Senate should follow the House and pass legislation that reforms our fossilized food safety laws. Life expectancy is rising. We are not having food poisoning in this country; it's not happening. These are bunch of busybody people that will not mind their own business, they want to make their business yours, and they are -- these are the kind of people that just irritate the hell out of me. They're no different than Sebelius -- "You must take this vaccine." I have wanted to grab a vat of coconut oil and throw it on the window at their little office where they have their fax machine.   Enemies list LIMBAUGH: I meant to play this audio sound bite yesterday. I didn't get it in time, nobody's fault; we were just busy. I have it now. This is 2000, in Iowa, at the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, it's an event there. It's audio of Obama's safe schools czar, Kevin Jennings. This is the guy that, the 15-year-old kid approached him, "I'm having a older man is forcing way on me, sex and so forth", Jennings says, "That's fine, are you using a condom?" and urged the 15 year old to [unintelligible] the relationship, and said later "I saw this kid come back to school and every day had a big smile on his face, I knew I'd done a good thing." That's Obama's safe schools czar. So, nine years ago, Kevin Johnson is at this -- Jennings -- Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network. He is criticizing schools for promoting heterosexuality. This is from a speech Kevin Jennings gave at this event in Iowa. [...] Timestamp: 2:45:39 - 2:46:00 LIMBAUGH: So he's gay, obviously, and heterosexuality's being promoted through vehicles like Romeo and Juliet. Recruiting, they're recruiting heterosexuals. Recruiting and promoting heterosexuals in the schools. And this guy is now Obama's safe schools czar. America's Truth Rejector LIMBAUGH: I don't have enough time here to list Obama's failures, much less comment on 'em. And it's not even a list, this is a catalogue. The demise of the U.S. dollar; a planet that is getting cooler, and the president says he has to impose a deeper recession on the country to stop non-existent warming. The record-breaking cold weather stories alone would take three hours to report today. Ski places are opening earlier than ever. The first snow day in Idaho today because of overwhelming snow. Global sea ice is normal -- there's not any more of it, there's not any less of it than there have been in the past 30 years, there maybe have been a decrease in North Pole ice and an increase in South pole ice, but overall global polar ice, volume is the same.

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