Rush accused Obama of “voting present” on Afghanistan

By Greg Lewis

Rush got things started today by declaring that President Obama is “voting present” on the war in Afghanistan. Rush said Obama is putting the war to the side in favor of climate change, and he went on to discuss Obama's speech today at the UN Climate Change Summit. Rush picked on this line by Obama in particular:

OBAMA: And I am proud to say that the United States has done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution in the last eight months than at any other time in our history.

Rush said this was the “perfect example” of Obama “lying” to you. Rush also claimed that “not one policy” that would reduce emissions “has happened.” Of course, if fairness were Rush's gig, he might have let us know Obama's support for his claim that the U.S. has “done more to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution”:

OBAMA: We are making our government's largest ever investment in renewable energy -- an investment aimed at doubling the generating capacity from wind and other renewable resources in three years.

[...]

OBAMA: We've proposed the very first national policy aimed at both increasing fuel economy and reducing greenhouse gas pollution for all new cars and trucks -- a standard that will also save consumers money and our nation oil.

Rush also referred to what ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback had to say about climate change.

Rush mocked Jerry Lewis telethons and compared them to Obama administration

Rush went on to talk about cooling global temperatures, citing the lack of sunspots as a possible culprit. But Rush was still caught up with Obama's claim that America has done more to reduce carbon pollution. He again called it a lie, but said if it was true, then we “don't need” cap and tax. After mocking “full blown idiot” Prince Charles for saying we need to get rid of cars in favor of public transportation, Rush played some audio bites from Obama's speech at the summit. Rush countered the speech by mocking Jerry Lewis telethons:

LIMBAUGH: Every policy item, every agenda is a crisis, life-threatening. It's like the Jerry Lewis telethon: “Look at that poor child; won't you do something? He's going to die unless you do something. How can you sit here and watch this telethon and not give?” That's the -- it's the Obama administration.

After some more sound bites, Rush responded to Obama's call to provide developing nations with “financial and technical assistance needed to ... pursue low-carbon development” by claiming they already have low carbon development because they “live in sewers” like Obama's father's village. Rush went on to rant about the “low carbon” squalor of developing countries.

Then, Rush read from a New York Times article on stabilizing global temperatures. Rush criticized the way the article portrayed global warming skeptics “seiz[ing]” on this trend “as evidence that the threat of global warming is overblown.”

Rush then went back to the topic of the war in Afghanistan, playing a clip of CNN's Michael Ware warning that Obama needs to fight the war or he will oversee defeat. Rush was surprised to hear a CNN correspondent say that and claimed that Obama was “voting present” on the war because he didn't want to upset the balance on the health care debate.

Rush: The left “love[s] it when the U.S. military loses. Look at ... their efforts to secure defeat during the Iraq war”

After the break, Rush continued to criticize Obama's handling of Afghanistan, then said this about the climate change summit, complete with fearmongering over a “worldwide government”:

LIMBAUGH: And now he's spouting additional lies, threats -- “the end of the world”; “we're all going to die” -- at a climate change conference, which is nothing more than a meeting of worldwide leftists who seek to implement a worldwide government that has control over every aspect of every person's life on this planet. That's the endgame.

Then he read from a Politico article speculating about who leaked the McChrystal memo to Bob Woodward. Rush thought the premise of questioning the motives of a leaker was ridiculous and claimed that these types of stories didn't get written about in the Bush administration during the lead-up to the Iraq war. (Well, if that's true, it's probably because Politico wasn't around back then.)

Then Rush came up with his own theory for the leak:

LIMBAUGH: I totally believe, by the way, I totally believe the possibility that somebody in the White House leaked it -- discredit McChrystal. Remember, these guys -- the left, the far left -- they don't like a victorious America; that's imperialism. They love it when the U.S. military loses. Look at -- look at their efforts to secure defeat during the Iraq war. They're all about the America -- American military being humbled and being defeated.

So it's entirely possible to me that somebody had leaked this to make McChrystal look bad as a way of damaging him and making Obama look good to the left, as he's trying to do, by not caring about defeat or victory in military conflict.

Rush took his first caller after the next break, who thought McChrystal leaked the memo, not the White House. This got Rush thinking about Watergate and Deep Throat leaking to Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Here is what Rush thought was the “correct lesson that nobody draws from Deep Throat”:

LIMBAUGH: I'll tell you what's -- what's fascinating to me about this is that all during -- even Watergate -- let's go back to the -- the number one leaker was Deep Throat. And nobody cared what his motivation was because they all knew he was out to destroy Nixon, which was fine. That was cool. They all focused on the substance of what Deep Throat had to say. And you know what Deep Throat really was? You know -- I'll tell you the real lesson that nobody draws -- the correct lesson that nobody draws from Deep Throat. Deep Throat was not so much bringing down a president -- although he did -- what Deep Throat was doing was actually manipulating and controlling media, and he showed how easy it was to do it.

Woodward and Bernstein, of course, had these great journalistic reputations as the two kings of investigative journalism. They are the models. They're what's taught in journalism schools. But Deep Throat manipulated those guys. He had them going everywhere he wanted them to go. They would -- they found out nothing on their own, or very little, other than what he led them to or fed them. And the real lesson of Deep Throat is how leakers can manipulate the media.

Rush called Obama “a walking threat to this country, as we've known it, in every way possible”

Anyway, Rush went back to talking about the war in Afghanistan, claiming it is being fought the way the left wanted us to fight it, by asking the world to participate, and now we're on the verge of defeat. Then Rush complained about a Washington Post editorial criticizing (too lightly, in Rush's mind) Obama for wavering on Afghanistan. Next up was a USA Today article about Obama possibly changing course in Afghanistan “again.” Rush commented:

LIMBAUGH: Don't forget, during the campaign -- am I the only one who remembered this? Obama said he'd nuke them over there, even if the Pakistani government didn't know about it. Whoa, he had to dial that back, because, folks, the man is a walking threat to this country, as we've known it, in every way possible -- domestic, foreign policy. This is incompetent boobism on parade.

After another break, Rush delved into the argument over what is and isn't a tax, based on Obama's interview with George Stephanopoulos, which Rush talked about on yesterday's show as well. Rush aired an audio clip of Obama's economic adviser Austan Goolsbee on CNBC arguing that individual health insurance mandates aren't a tax. Goolsbee also said that if we go by what Rush Limbaugh defines as a tax increase, then declaring yourself a Democrat would be a tax increase in his world. “Damn straight,” responded Rush.

Rush still calling Obama's policies “fascist”

Next, Rush brought up Obama's interview on last night's Late Show with David Letterman, commenting that Letterman was in “full anal poisoning mode.” Rush aired a sound bite from the interview, in which Obama was talking about people who say it's “fascist” to ensure people don't go bankrupt when they're sick, and how people are justifiably angry, but the source of it is the economic situation. Rush objected: “It's you, buddy.” Rush went on:

LIMBAUGH: I mean, it was fine until you took office and you just compounded the problems rather than let the market work itself out. Suggesting somehow that's fascist that you want to help people make sure they're not going bankrupt -- that's not what we're suggesting is fascist. What's fascist is you running automobile companies. What's fascist is you taking over the student loan program. What's fascist is taking over one-sixth of the U.S. economy. It is fascist. It's not socialist.

Socialism is where the government owns the means of production. They're not gonna -- they're gonna just tell everybody else who does own what they own how to run it. They're gonna regulate 'em. To say that we got into trouble because we didn't have enough regulation? We got into trouble because of liberalism -- pure, radical, left-wing liberalism form the likes of Barney Frank, Bill Clinton, Chris Dodd, on the subprime mortgage business -- the desire to lend money to people who had no way to pay it back and call it affordable housing.

Hour two got started with Rush reading AP's Fact Check about whether the individual mandates for insurance were tax increases or not. AP took the position that they were tax increases. Rush went on to call Obama cold, calculating, and “potentially very mean,” which is why the AP wasn't trying to cover for him. Rush also wondered if somebody at AP would get fired for running the Fact Check.

Then Rush discussed Joe Biden's recent comments that losses in the House could mean doomsday for Obama's agenda. Next, he read about Energy Secretary Stephen Chu comparing the American people to “teenage kids.” Rush asked who these people think they are, and reminded us that Chu suggested in 2007 that people paint their roofs white to fight global warming.

Next up for Rush was a Club for Growth post highlighting an interview CNN'S Wolf Blitzer did with Obama adviser David Axelrod. The focal point was Axelrod claiming he was for competition in health care, but rejecting Blitzer's suggestion to open up health care to every state. Rush said this illustrated that you should not listen to what they say, because they say there will be competition in health care reform, but you will not have anywhere else to go once they implement their plan.

Rush again criticized Obama for saying that we have done more in the past eight months than any time in history “to promote clean energy and reduce carbon pollution.” Rush said the only way you can lower carbon emissions is by wrecking the economy and people's lives.

Rush: “This country's being led by people to whom victory in foreign conflict sometimes is a sin, sometimes it's imperialism”

After the break, Rush read a Wall Street Journal piece about Max Baucus and the Department of Health and Human Services sending a “threatening note” to private insurer Humana for sending out a letter to their customers saying health care reform would cut funding for Medicare Advantage. Rush said this story is a clear illustration of how health care will operate if reform becomes law. Rush added that, “in addition to fascist, this is Stalinist, and that's who these people are.”

The next caller on the program thought the Afghanistan memos were leaked by the White House, as a roundabout way of polling the public. Rush said another possibility was that the leak was to embarrass Obama and protect the military. After another break, Rush took a caller who, as a military veteran, was outraged that sending more troops to Afghanistan was even a decision, that Obama even has to think about it. Rush agreed, and explained that we're now in a different America than the one he grew up in:

LIMBAUGH: In the America you and I grew up in -- in the America your parents, my parents and grandparents grew up in, of course -- but that's not America right now. This country's being led by people to whom victory in foreign conflict sometimes is a sin --

CALLER: Wow.

LIMBAUGH: -- sometimes it's imperialism.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Obama has got a request from a general on the ground -- 40,000 troops or I don't think we can win this. And Obama -- “We'll re-examine the strategy, and I gotta worry about the left-wing base voting on my domestic” -- I mean, he's dialing back our nuke arsenal. He withdrew the missile shield that was gonna be placed in Europe to defend the Czech Republic and Poland. He's making deals with Russia. He's propping up dictatorships in Central and South America. I mean, it is what it is, friend.

And then Rush managed to tie it all back to ACORN:

LIMBAUGH: We still get these mythical polls where Obama's 54 percent approval, or 52 percent approval -- I don't believe it's anywhere near that high. I think people are shocked. I think people are outraged. I think -- when Biden speaks up and says, “If we lose 35 seats in the House in 2010, that's the end of the road for what Barack and I” -- they know. They know exactly what's -- and they were counting on ACORN, you know, to be the balance in fraudulent elections. They're counting on ACORN to help them over -- and now that ACORN's been exposed -- I mean, this is -- they know the problem that they're in.

Rush asked: “Is the historical relevance of this president, the first black president, worth all this?”

The next caller up actually had a slightly different sentiment on the conflict, which Rush didn't seem to pick up on. The caller was concerned about his son joining the Marines because he thought Afghanistan could turn into another Vietnam. Rush responded:

LIMBAUGH: I think, frankly, a lot of people are asking that question about Obama on everything: Is this worth it? Is the historical relevance of this president, the first black president, worth all this? 'Cause, clearly, there are designs on the traditions and institutions that have defined this country's greatness, and one of those is the United States military.

Rush continued to discuss Vietnam:

LIMBAUGH: So I am, you know -- I think this is even worse than Vietnam. In Vietnam, they were trying to win. I mean, they were bumbling around, and they were incompetent, but they were micromanaging it and everything, and -- but they were trying to win it. Even when we did win, we let Walter Klondike talk us out of it. In this situation, I don't think there's even any pretense at trying to win. In fact, I think Obama ramped up Afghanistan simply to follow through on what he was talking about during the campaign: ripping Bush, ripping the surge, ripping Iraq.

Then Rush had this little Freudian slip: “We need to capture Obama, Osama, whatever, and that's where we need to go,” he said. The next caller up was also upset Obama was being hesitant in sending more troops to Afghanistan. Rush said there are a lot of people who think Afghanistan is the place empires go to die. Rush reminded the caller that we're not the Soviet Union -- although we might be closer to it than we ever thought we would be. Rush concluded by saying it was a crying shame what is happening to this country under the leadership of “these boobs.”

One more break for the hour and Rush was back reading about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushing back against McChrystal's warning about Afghanistan. Rush asked if we feel comforted by what Hillary said. Meanwhile, said Rush, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “has them flipping backwards” at the Huffington Post because of her interview with Fortune magazine.

Then Rush took a caller who talked about Axelrod's interview with Blitzer that Rush was discussing earlier. The caller bragged about the choices he has on Medicare, and how it was an excellent prototype for what Axelrod said couldn't be done. Rush said it could be done, but they don't want to do it. Rush spent the remainder of the hour complaining about Obama's carbon emission remarks today, still calling them a “lie.”

Rush to Bill Clinton: “Your party has promoted racism!”

Rush finally got to his third and final hour by talking about Sen. Harry Reid giving his "most direct warning" that he is prepared to pass health care using reconciliation. Rush was fine with letting the Democrats “own” health care reform and said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Reid just want to ram something down our throats, and they don't care what the American people think.

Then Rush went back to Obama's interview with “genuine idiot” Letterman. One of the sound bites he aired included Obama saying the stimulus prevented jobs from being lost. Rush rejected this, claiming that only 4 percent of the stimulus has been spent so far -- in reality, though, more than 16 percent of the stimulus, or $98 billion, has been spent so far.

The next bite Rush aired had Obama talking about the Canadian health care system, and how every other advanced nation provides coverage to its people. Obama also talked about how other world leaders, including conservative leaders, don't understand why America wouldn't set up a system that saves money and makes people healthier. Rush seemed to disagree with everything Obama said. Rush claimed that Canadians and Brits are not happy with their health care systems. Rush also reissued his challenge to come up with one government program from the modern era that has accomplished its objective without exceeded cost projections or getting near bankruptcy. Rush again accused Obama of “lying through his teeth,” with “putz” Letterman facilitating it.

After the break, Rush played an audio clip of “one of Obama's buddies,” Bolivian President Evo Morales, talking about capitalism hurting Obama. Then Rush moved on to Bill Clinton's interview with Larry King, playing this sound bite:

CLINTON: I believe that some of the right-wing extremists which oppose President Obama are also racially prejudiced and would prefer not to have an African-American president. But I don't believe that all the people that oppose him on health care and all the conservatives are racist.

And I believe if he were white, every single person who opposes him now would be opposing him then.

Therefore, while I have devoted my life to getting rid of racism, I think this is a fight that my president and our party -- this is one we need to win on the merits.

Rush was none too happy with Clinton talking about race in a reasonable way:

LIMBAUGH: Your party has promoted racism! Your party has done everything it can to divide people in this country. I don't care if by race, by gender, by sex, by age, that's how the Democrat Party survives.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: These guys are doing everything they can to destroy every institution and tradition that defined this country's greatness.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: You know, I -- the human characteristic that rubs me the rawest is lying, and then arrogant condescension. And Obama is all three of those, and Bill Clinton is too.

Then Rush threw in a distasteful joke about Hillary Clinton for good measure:

LIMBAUGH: Hillary Clinton, who we are led to believe once wanted to join the Marines, or some branch in Chicago, but they wouldn't let her because she was a girl! And that wasn't the reason. The Army -- the Marines do not have uniforms that'll fit that big an ass! And they don't have -- well, never mind. They don't have boots that are the right size either.

After another break, Rush brought up how Bill Clinton played the race card during the 2008 South Carolina primary. Rush went on to claim the Democratic primaries were the only place where the race discussion took place (which probably had more to do with the lack of diversity in the GOP primaries). Then Rush talked about Tony Blankly arguing on his radio show about how Democratic officials had called protesters unruly mobs, Nazis, etc. Next, Rush aired an audio clip of Louis Farrakhan on Al Sharpton's radio show talking about Muammar Gaddafi.

Then Rush took a caller who complained about the amount of money health care reform and cap and trade would take out of his pocket. Rush said it would do more than that -- your future, and the opportunity for prosperity will be “swallowed up” if the measures pass.

As Rush neared the end of his program, he brought up what Rep. Barney Frank said about him on last night's Leno Show. Rush's response expectedly involved some double entendres aimed at Frank's sexual orientation.

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

Highlights

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Every policy item, every agenda is a crisis, life-threatening. It's like the Jerry Lewis telethon: “Look at that poor child; won't you do something? He's going to die unless you do something. How can you sit here and watch this telethon and not give?” That's the -- it's the Obama administration.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: And now he's spouting additional lies, threats -- “the end of the world”; “we're all going to die” -- at a climate change conference, which is nothing more than a meeting of worldwide leftists who seek to implement a worldwide government that has control over every aspect of every person's life on this planet. That's the endgame.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I totally believe, by the way, I totally believe the possibility that somebody in the White House leaked it -- discredit McChrystal. Remember, these guys -- the left, the far left -- they don't like a victorious America; that's imperialism. They love it when the U.S. military loses. Look at -- look at their efforts to secure defeat during the Iraq war. They're all about the America -- American military being humbled and being defeated.

So it's entirely possible to me that somebody had leaked this to make McChrystal look bad as a way of damaging him and making Obama look good to the left, as he's trying to do, by not caring about defeat or victory in military conflict.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I'll tell you what's -- what's fascinating to me about this is that all during -- even Watergate -- let's go back to the -- the number one leaker was Deep Throat. And nobody cared what his motivation was because they all knew he was out to destroy Nixon, which was fine. That was cool. They all focused on the substance of what Deep Throat had to say. And you know what Deep Throat really was? You know -- I'll tell you the real lesson that nobody draws -- the correct lesson that nobody draws from Deep Throat. Deep Throat was not so much bringing down a president -- although he did -- what Deep Throat was doing was actually manipulating and controlling media, and he showed how easy it was to do it.

Woodward and Bernstein, of course, had these great journalistic reputations as the two kings of investigative journalism. They are the models. They're what's taught in journalism schools. But Deep Throat manipulated those guys. He had them going everywhere he wanted them to go. They would -- they found out nothing on their own, or very little, other than what he led them to or fed them. And the real lesson of Deep Throat is how leakers can manipulate the media.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Don't forget, during the campaign -- am I the only one who remembered this? Obama said he'd nuke them over there, even if the Pakistani government didn't know about it. Whoa, he had to dial that back, because, folks, the man is a walking threat to this country as we've known it in every way possible -- domestic, foreign policy. This is incompetent boobism on parade.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: In the America you and I grew up in -- in the America your parents, my parents and grandparents grew up in, of course -- but that's not America right now. This country's being led by people to whom victory in foreign conflict sometimes is a sin --

CALLER: Wow.

LIMBAUGH: -- sometimes it's imperialism. And now, what would -- it is what it is. You know, Bill Parcells used to say of a football team, “You are what you are.” Your record, if you're 4-and-12, you're 4-and-12. And there weren't any moral victories in there. it is what it is.

Obama has got a request from a general on the ground -- 40,000 troops or I don't think we can win this. And Obama -- “We'll re-examine the strategy, and I gotta worry about the left-wing base voting on my domestic” -- I mean, he's dialing back our nuke arsenal. He withdrew the missile shield that was gonna be placed in Europe to defend the Czech Republic and Poland. He's making deals with Russia. He's propping up dictatorships in Central and South America. I mean, it is what it is, friend.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: We still get these mythical polls where Obama's 54 percent approval, or 52 percent approval -- I don't believe it's anywhere near that high. I think people are shocked. I think people are outraged. I think -- when Biden speaks up and says, “If we lose 35 seats in the House in 2010, that's the end of the road for what Barack and I” -- they know. They know exactly what's -- and they were counting on ACORN, you know, to be the balance in fraudulent elections. They're counting on ACORN to help them over -- and now that ACORN's been exposed -- I mean, this is -- they know the problem that they're in.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I think, frankly, a lot of people are asking that question about Obama on everything: Is this worth it? Is the historical relevance of this president, the first black president, worth all this? 'Cause, clearly, there are designs on the traditions and institutions that have defined this country's greatness, and one of those is the United States military.

So I am, you know -- I think this is even worse than Vietnam. In Vietnam, they were trying to win. I mean, they were bumbling around, and they were incompetent, but they were micromanaging it and everything, and -- but they were trying to win it. Even when we did win, we let Walter Klondike talk us out of it. In this situation, I don't think there's even any pretense at trying to win. In fact, I think Obama ramped up Afghanistan simply to follow through on what he was talking about during the campaign: ripping Bush, ripping the surge, ripping Iraq.

Well, it's a bad move. We need to be focusing on Afghanistan -- that's where we need to go. We need to capture Obama, Osama, whatever, and that's where we need to go.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Your party has promoted racism! Your party has done everything it can to divide people in this country. I don't care if by race, by gender, by sex, by age, that's how the Democrat Party survives.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: These guys are doing everything they can to destroy every institution and tradition that defined this country's greatness.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: You know, I -- the human characteristic that rubs me the rawest is lying, and then arrogant condescension. And Obama is all three of those, and Bill Clinton is too.

“Fascism” watch

LIMBAUGH: It's you, buddy. I mean, it was fine until you took office and you just compounded the problems rather than let the market work itself out. Suggesting somehow that's fascist that you want to help people make sure they're not going bankrupt -- that's not what we're suggesting is fascist. What's fascist is you running automobile companies. What's fascist is you taking over the student loan program. What's fascist is taking over one-sixth of the U.S. economy. It is fascist. It's not socialist.

Socialism is where the government owns the means of production. They're not gonna -- they're gonna just tell everybody else who does own what they own how to run it. They're gonna regulate 'em. To say that we got into trouble because we didn't have enough regulation? We got into trouble because of liberalism -- pure, radical, left-wing liberalism form the likes of Barney Frank, Bill Clinton, Chris Dodd, on the subprime mortgage business -- the desire to lend money to people who had no way to pay it back and call it affordable housing.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: What did Humana do? What did they do? They're a private sector insurance company, managing Medicare Advantage -- their customers like it. They made the mistake of trying to tell their customers the truth about what'll happen to their coverage. And so, now, the CEO has got to go out and hire a team of lawyers -- and they better be good, they better be fearless, because Obama and Baucus are out to make the CEO of Humana an object lesson to the rest of the business class and that means they won't stop until Humana cries uncle or is ruined. That's the object -- you do not -- this is, in addition to fascist, this is Stalinist, and that's who these people are.

Ladies' man

LIMBAUGH: Hillary Clinton, who we are led to believe once wanted to join the Marines, or some branch in Chicago, but they wouldn't let her because she was a girl! And that wasn't the reason. The Army -- the Marines do not have uniforms that'll fit that big an ass! And they don't have -- well, never mind. They don't have boots that are the right size either.