This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by the “manufactured” health care crisis
By Simon Maloy

We're just going to go ahead and get this out of the way. The Congressional Budget Office released its estimate on the costs of the Kennedy-Dodd health care bill -- $1 trillion over 10 years with an additional 16 million people insured. These figures, as many conservatives are already crowing about, are not what one would call optimal. However, it's vitally important to point out (as health-care obsessives Ezra Klein and Jonathan Cohn have) that the CBO's estimate was based on a stripped-down version of the bill that did not contain a public option, an employer mandate, or an individual mandate with any teeth. These elements of the bill, as you would guess, will have not-insignificant impacts on cost and coverage. We mention this caveat now because we're confident that Rush won't -- he'll likely be too busy explaining why heartworm pills and flea baths should not be covered under insurance.

Rush got things going by saying he's getting tons of e-mail from people surprised and upset that ABC is turning their network over to Obama -- Charlie Gibson will anchor World News from the Blue Room of the White House, followed by a prime-time special from the East Room on health care. They're part of the state-run media, said Rush, so what's the news here? After another silly parody “message” from the White House on Iran, Rush said he wanted to go back to what he said on March 26, comparing Obama to Big Brother from 1984. Rush said his prediction then has now manifested itself with ABC turning programming over to Obama. Rush said that the “objectivity” of the state-run media is to promote the state, so this what they're doing.

And over on another state-run network, said Rush, David Letterman apologized to Sarah Palin. Rush said that everyone is missing what happened here -- all Letterman did was pull a Katie Couric. Couric, explained Rush, was desperate for attention and ratings, so she got Sarah Palin on, embarrassed her, and her ratings rose and she won an award. Letterman did the same thing, since everyone was buzzing about Leno and Conan, but not him. If you need liberal attention, said Rush, make fun of Sarah Palin. And sure enough, Rush observed, Letterman was everywhere in the media for a few days, so he got exactly what he wanted. You'll recall that Rush was among those who gave Letterman a ridiculous amount of attention, so we guess he's admitting that Letterman played him.

Anyway, Rush then turned his eyes to the CBO estimate, saying that it'll cost $1 trillion to insure just one-third of the uninsured. By Rush's math, this means it will actually cost $3 trillion. Rush wondered why the Democrats and Obama were worried about the estimate, given that they haven't cared about the cost of anything else they've done. Then Rush returned to a story he flogged yesterday -- the Obama administration's alleged plan to bulldoze 40 percent of Flint, Michigan, and 50 cities across America: “We had this comment -- we had this story yesterday out of Flint, Michigan, that a local Democrat liberal machine politician wants to bulldoze 40 percent of the city and then wants to -- and Obama loved the plans so much, bulldoze 40 percent of Flint, Michigan, that they've asked this guy for a blueprint of bulldozing portions of 50 other American cities. Why is it -- why, I ask you, an open-ended question -- why is bringing a bunch of bulldozers in and bulldozing 40 percent of a city brilliant government policy, but when a hurricane does it, it's a disaster that is the fault of George W. Bush?” As we explained yesterday, this is not accurate -- the Obama administration has not asked this Flint Democrat to apply his city-bulldozing theories to the rest of the country.

After the break, Rush touched on his Morning Update from today on the Obama Justice Department and its recommendation that the federal courts throw out a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act. Rush noted that the New York Times editorialized on the DOJ recommendation this morning as well, but somehow claimed that he was a day ahead of the Times. Anyway, Rush had a message for the “members of the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgendered community” in his audience: “President Obama is getting busy. He's got some things that rank ahead of you and your marriage rights. He has to finish off the economy. He's got to destroy healthcare. And those are pretty big deals. ... So for the moment, you lesbian-gay-bisexuals and transgenders are just going to have to do what the rest of us have been doing with this guy, and that's bend over and grab the ankles.”

After another break, Rush noted that Obama just finished a press conference with the South Korean president, and aired a sound bite of Obama saying that it is not productive for the U.S. to be seen as meddling in Iranian elections. Rush was incredulous at this statement, saying that Obama was “meddling” last Friday when he tried to take credit for fostering a spirited in debate in Iran with his Cairo speech. We're not so sure Obama tried to “take credit” for what was going on, but we're pretty sure the president today was talking about the legitimacy of the elections and whether it would be appropriate for the head of another state to question it. That's very different from saying that you're happy to see a spirited debate in Iran. But such distinctions are lost on Rush, who declared that Obama felt “burned” because he thought his Cairo speech would change everything, and all it did was stiffen the backs of the mullahs.

Obama, said Rush, keeps complaining about what he inherited, but did you ever hear Bush complain about 9-11? No, you didn't, said Rush, and if Obama keeps complaining, someone is going to eventually tell him to shut up and man up.

Rush's first caller of the afternoon wanted to know what, exactly, the crisis in health care is. Rush responded: “The crisis in health care is like the crisis in everything else -- manufactured.” Rush elaborated: “There is no crisis. The crisis in health care is in the UK. The crisis in healthcare is in Canada. The crisis in health care is in Cuba. The crisis in health care is in the -- with the ChiComs. The crisis in health care is with a lot of other places. The crisis in health care here had been manufactured.” Rush asked his audience: How many people do you know who are walking around in fear that an auto accident or a disease is going to wipe them out? Then he read extensively from a Heritage Foundation blog post on the CBO estimate.

After the break, Rush took a call from a man who said that Letterman didn't really apologize to Palin. Rush said he has the sound bites, but he doesn't want to play into Letterman's hands and give him more publicity.

Greg Lewis and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: We had this comment -- we had this story yesterday out of Flint, Michigan, that a local Democrat liberal machine politician wants to bulldoze 40 percent of the city and then wants to -- and Obama loved the plans so much, bulldoze 40 percent of Flint, Michigan, that they've asked this guy for a blueprint of bulldozing portions of 50 other American cities. Why is it -- why, I ask you, an open-ended question -- why is bringing a bunch of bulldozers in and bulldozing 40 percent of a city brilliant government policy, but when a hurricane does it, it's a disaster that is the fault of George W. Bush?

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Now, as you know, we have several members of the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community in this audience and well, you boys and girls in that community, you have to understand something here. President Obama is getting busy. I mean, he's got some things that rank ahead of you and your marriage rights. He has to finish off the economy. He's got to destroy healthcare. And those are pretty big deals. And in doing so, he's gonna end up controlling a whole lot of money, like 4 to $5 trillion currently in the private sector he's going to get his hands on. Your little Defense of Marriage business doesn't get him any money, doesn't get him any control of anything. So for the moment, you lesbian-gay-bisexuals and transgenders are just going to have to do what the rest of us have been doing with this guy, and that's bend over and grab the ankles. But don't doubt him. Your turn's coming, so to speak. I mean, he's one of you guys, he's on your side; you're just not a priority right now. Man up and deal with it, like we've all had to man up and deal with this guy's -- it's your turn to man up and deal with the guy. Stop whining.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The crisis in health care is like the crisis in everything else -- manufactured.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: There is no crisis. The crisis in health care is in the UK. The crisis in healthcare is in Canada. The crisis in health care is in Cuba. The crisis in health care is in the -- with the ChiComs. The crisis in health care is with a lot of other places. The crisis in health care here had been manufactured.