Rush claims he didn't see any black people on Kennedy “parade route”

By Greg Lewis

Rush kicked off “Open Line Friday!” by reading from a Huffington Post piece by Melissa Lafsky, who pondered: “What Would Mary Jo Kopechne Have Thought of Ted's Career?” Rush highlighted Lafsky's closing line -- “Who knows -- maybe she'd feel it was worth it” -- and asked if we're now supposed to believe young liberal women would like to die to advance the cause of the Kennedys. Rush also said that discredited author Ed Klein said that Kennedy “liked” Chappaquiddick jokes. If that was true, said Rush, it could mean he can start to tell them.

Next, Rush read from the latest Drudge special, a CNET report by CBS political correspondent Declan McCullagh, about a bill proposed by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) that “appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.” Rush took this to mean that Obama would end up having authority to “seize your computer,” just like the health reform bill would give them access to your bank accounts.

Rush then got a little sidetracked, commenting on the Ted Kennedy “caravan” yesterday, in which Rush said "[t]hey had to go out and stack people standing on the streets with union thugs." Then Rush detailed a drinking game he did(n't) play while watching the coverage on television:

LIMBAUGH: And I had -- I played a game yesterday afternoon. I watched a replay of this whole thing, and I said, “You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna take a drink in honor of Ted Kennedy of the caravan going to the library there to lie in repose, I'm gonna take a drink for every black person I see on the parade route.” And I was sober at the end of the parade. They forgot to stack the deck with any black people, but there were a lot of union thugs out there. I mean, what a -- no better way to honor Ted Kennedy, take a drink for every black person you see on the caravan route.

Then Rush read about California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger holding a state "garage sale" to “bulk up the state's depleted finances.” Rush declared this “more embarrassing” than being married to a Kennedy.

After the break, Rush announced he would be on vacation all of next week and then joked that if you really want to honor Ted Kennedy and his contribution to society, you could mint a $10,000 bill with his picture on it. Rush also mused that a $5,000 bill would feature House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a $1 million bill would feature President Obama.

Rush joked that Gallup poll shows that “19 percent more Americans are racists”

Then Rush read the “sad news” in the latest Gallup presidential approval poll and interpreted it to mean that “19 percent more Americans are racists.” Limbaugh explained what he meant by this:

LIMBAUGH: There can only be one reason for this approval to tank, and I hear it everywhere in the state-run media, and that's racism. There's just blatant racism in this. We hear it everywhere, don't you?

His health care plan is near perfect, but nobody wants it, must be racism. His savaging of the CIA is more than perfect, but people don't agree with that; it must be racism. His cap-and-trade is at least as good as his stimulus bill, but nobody wants that either; it must be racism.

Pushing the boundaries even further, Rush added:

LIMBAUGH: But what if it's the color of his ideas -- red ink, not the color of his sk -- oh, you can't say that, Rush, it's not politically correct. The radio czar won't tolerate it.

Then Rush declared he had “good news” for Obama; he has a new group to blame: women. He was referring to a study that found that women are more pessimistic about the economy than men. Rush mentioned a “companion story” to this, about the “pig flu” hitting black people, women, and the poor more than anyone else. Rush declared this part of a “template”: “Whenever there's a devastating economic story, women and minorities hardest hit. And they're doing it now with the pig flu.”

Rush then again went back to Kennedy and discussed how liberals like MSNBC's Rachel Maddow harbor all kinds of resentment over the Wellstone memorial. Rush predicted the Kennedy memorial would be like the Wellstone memorial “on steroids.” This is their religion, said Rush, and to them, they're burying their pope.

After another commercial time-out, Rush bemoaned that the media didn't cover Ronald Reagan's death with the lovey-dovey attitude in which they're covering Kennedy's. Rush said nobody was watching the media covering Kennedy. Then he went back to the previously teased clip of Ed Klein saying that one of Kennedy's favorite topics of humor was Chappaquiddick. Rush called that sick and “just not normal.” Rush proceeded to make his own Chappaquiddick-themed joke on a “true story” about Kennedy in a speedboat off the south of France.

Rush compared health reform to pregnancy

Rush took the first caller of “Open Line Friday!” a physician who was glad Rush talked about Betsy McCaughey's latest column on his show yesterday. Rush took this as an opportunity to talk about it once more. Needless to say, in her column yesterday, serial health care misinformer McCaughey had distorted various passages of Ezekiel Emanuel's writings and interviews. Then Rush mentioned the latest Charles Krauthammer column, which stated that “Obamacare Version 1.0 is dead” and included advice for passing version 2.0. Rush wished Krauthammer hadn't written the piece, calling it disingenuous because you would still get government health care, even with a toned down ObamaCare bill. He compared it to -- uh -- pregnancy... and “getting screwed”:

LIMBAUGH: No, we have been screwed; we're just trying to prevent the pregnancy. That's exactly where we are here. We have been screwed -- we're only seven months in and we've been screwed, and we're trying to stop the pregnancy here. And some say we are for abortion in this case, but right now we don't have a fetus. But we're gonna get one if we're not careful, and the fetus is going to be this health care bill.

Rush concluded his rant by saying if health reform passed, there would be more outrage than you could possibly understand.

After another break, Rush read about the Clintons' more low-profile vacation in Bermuda. This reminded Rush of when the Clintons “fake-danced” on the Virgin Island beach before the Lewinsky scandal broke. Rush also lamented the political correctness of the National Hurricane Center in categorizing a “thunderstorm cluster” as a tropical storm.

Rush ranted about media template of “racist” swine flu virus

Beginning the second hour, Rush predicted that somebody in the state-run media this weekend would say that the East Coast storms are symbolic of the heavens crying for Ted Kennedy. Then he read from the aforementioned AP article about the swine flu affecting minorities and women. This led to an extended rant in which Rush explained how the swine flu is a “racist virus”:

LIMBAUGH: Did you know that the pig flu is obviously a racist virus? I mean, the pig flu knows that when it somehow ends up in the body of a black or a Hispanic, to get even worse than when it gets in the body of a white.

Then Rush incorporated the drinking game he told us about in Hour 1:

LIMBAUGH: Now, that might be why there were so few blacks on the caravan route yesterday. I was playing a drinking game with myself in honor of Ted Kennedy and the funeral caravan there up to the Kennedy library. For every black I saw along the route, I was going to take a drink. And at the end of the whole hour -- I watched the replay of it when I got home, and at the end of the time, I was sober. And now I know why. 'Cause all the blacks are in the hospital because of pig flu.

Rush then got to the article's explanation for why the virus is “racist”: “because blacks and Hispanics suffer disproportionately from asthma, diabetes, and other health problems that make people more vulnerable to the pig flu.” Rush then declared it a “nothing story” because it was “based on fairly small numbers.”

Next, Rush read from an American Thinker piece about fighting ObamaCare “in the spirit of Ted Kennedy.” Then he played an audio clip of a union member who turned out at the processional yesterday to pay tribute to the senator for doing so much for labor. Rush mocked the man, calling him a union thug who was reduced to sniffles. Rush wondered if there was a memo that went out to make sure people were lining the streets, just like memos from the White House to get health care supporters out to town halls.

Rush continued attack on Wellstone memorial

From there, Rush returned to the Wellstone memorial, playing a series of audio clips from the memorial to “give you an idea” of what is probably coming for Kennedy's service. After playing the clips, including speeches by Wellstone's son, Rush accused the Democrats of turning the service into a political rally. After the break, he played a clip of Sen. Tom Harkin's speech at the event and said Harkin sounded like he came from Castro's Cuba.

After another break, Rush quipped:

LIMBAUGH: I want to revise and extend my remarks on Ted Kennedy, a man of the people, people he can identify with. He certainly was a man of the people, especially if they had big boobs.

Rush: “Nobody has the right to good health”

Rush then moved on to the next caller, who agreed with a caller from earlier in the week who said drug prices are too high. Rush said he has talked about health care costs numerous times on his program, and how you need to get the government middleman out of health care to bring down costs. The caller accused Rush of praising insurance companies, to which Rush's response was that he only defends them from attacks by our leftist president. Rush went on to state that health care “is not a right”:

LIMBAUGH: But nobody has the right to good health. Nobody has the right to good health. I mean, it's -- we live and there's so many misconceptions this whole thing. Health care's a right, government or employers should provide it. There would be a revolt if the employers of this country just decided, “You know, we're not going to provide it anymore.” And that will be the case when Obama gets his public option.

The next caller on “Open Line Friday!” told Rush that he started listening to his show at 10 years old because he was shunned by Ted Kennedy. Rush expressed amusement then went back to talking about the common theme of callers who are upset with insurance companies. They talk about getting rid of the middleman, said Rush, which is what Obama says. The common theme among communists and socialists is to take out the middleman and deal with the government instead.

Coming back from another break, Rush read an AP article about how Ted Kennedy was on Nixon's enemies list. Rush was stunned that Nixon's Secret Service agents were unable to expose Kennedy cheating on his wife. Rush said that if Nixon had intervened sooner, maybe Ms. Kopechne would be alive today. Rush also read an article about Kennedy's first wife, Joan. Rush objected to the quote in the article saying that Joan Kennedy was “victimized by the press.” It was not the press who victimized her, said Rush.

Next, Rush played a clip of Rep. Barney Frank on MSNBC yesterday. Asked how he thought Kennedy would respond to town hall protestors, Frank said he would have allowed them to voice their feelings, but wouldn't have been intimidated by them. Frank also mentioned how two of Kennedy's brothers were murdered by “political opponents.” Rush took issue with Frank's accusation, saying that Frank made it look like the Kennedy brothers were murdered by right-wing political opponents, which Rush explained they weren't. (And if we can just jump in here for a moment, Frank didn't say right-wing opponents, just political opponents, and as even Rush acknowledged, this is true. Rush is really grasping at straws here.)

At the end of the second hour, and picking back up again at the start of the third, Rush took a caller who was upset with a recent RNC mailing he received, criticizing it for being out of touch. Rush agreed that it was disturbing and went on to offer the caller a free mattress from his featured mattress advertiser.

Rush explained why “there is no right to good health”

Rush then returned to his lecture on health insurance, arguing that paying doctors directly would bring prices down. Rush explained that the more the government forces insurers to cover, the more risk goes up, and the more everybody has to pay. “If they're gonna have to insure things that everybody's going to get, then by God, folks, it's going to cost everybody a lot of money.”

Then Rush pointed to an argument he made on his July 22 show, that health insurance needs to be more like caring for your automobile. Rush continued to explain how insurance is an instrument for neutralizing financial risk and complained that Democrats want to argue that health care should be a right and everything should be covered:

LIMBAUGH: Now, not only is the insurance a right, but the insurance oughta be free, a lot of people think, and it oughta cover everything, from hangnails, routine care visits, to erectile dysfunction, to ADHD, to add-a-dick-to-mes. People want health insurance for add-a-dick-to-mes for crying -- if you want a add-a-dick-to-me, pay for it, friends. Do not ask your neighbors to turn you into a guy when you're a woman. If you want an add-a-dick-to-me, pay for it.

Rush, apparently an actuary in another life, continued his explanation of how health insurance works, and why he doesn't think everyone should have it or that it should cover everything:

LIMBAUGH: The more you make an insurance company cover, the more their risk goes up, and all they do is monetize their risk. They're not insuring your health -- they can't. You can't. What you're insuring is that you won't be destroyed financially if you get a dread disease. But you're not gonna be destroyed financially with a standard check-up. You're not gonna be destroyed financially if you break a leg.

It's just -- people have these wild expectations. The minute the Democrats started talking about health care as a right, I mean, that was the death knell, because there is no right to good health. And I'll tell you something else -- something cannot be a right if the government can take it away from you. And if -- and they can take away your health care. That's what the Obama plan is all about is taking away health care from certain people.

After the break, Rush took a caller who expressed her theory that the Clintons were using their Bermuda vacation to plot Hillary's run against Obama in 2012. Rush interjected by saying that the Clintons “cause more damage to minorities, and minorities just don't know it. Just like the pig flu.” The caller went on to talk about her reading of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, and said she was struck by Alinsky's cynicism.

Another break, and Rush returned with Eugene Robinson's column about Kennedy, which Rush described as “absurd.” Rush explained that Kennedy got health care that people wouldn't get under ObamaCare. Then Rush got into a letter that detailed how Kennedy offered to help the USSR defeat Ronald Reagan's efforts to build up a nuclear deterrent in Europe.

The next caller on the program said he attended a local tea party in April and saw Alan Keyes speak. The caller said Keyes was a true leader and thought he should be in the White House right now instead of Obama. Rush was proud of the young caller and explained how conservatism needs action.

Birther Rush called Rep. Diane Watson a birther

One more break, and Rush reminded us of all the flak he took when he said he wanted Obama to fail, but Kennedy not only wanted Reagan to fail, he worked with our enemies to make it happen. Rush finished off the show with audio clips from Rep. Diane Watson's (D-CA) recent town hall event, in which Watson criticized Limbaugh for saying he hoped Obama fails. Watson said if Obama fails, it means the country fails, and expressed pride that the country elected a president “from Kenya and Kansas.” Based on that last remark, Rush accused Watson of being a “birther” (Rush used to be a birther, but he'd like you to forget that), and argued that Obama failing “saves” the United States.

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

Highlights

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Hell, they couldn't even run -- they couldn't even run a caravan. They couldn't even get the caravan -- and by the way, did you know they lined the caravan route with union thugs? They did. They had to go out and stack people standing on the streets with union thugs.

And I had -- I played a game yesterday afternoon. I watched a replay of this whole thing, and I said, “You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna take a drink in honor of Ted Kennedy of the caravan going to the library there to lie in repose, I'm gonna take a drink for every black person I see on the parade route.” And I was sober at the end of the parade. They forgot to stack the deck with any black people, but there were a lot of union thugs out there. I mean, what a -- no better way to honor Ted Kennedy, take a drink for every black person you see on the caravan route.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Also sad news today. According to the latest Gallup poll, ladies and gentlemen, 19 percent more Americans are racists. In only seven months, we went from 31 percent racists to 50 percent racists in this country. Here's the cold reality of the numbers. Obama approval numbers were 69 percent shortly after the immaculation, and that's in February. And his approval numbers have dropped 50 percent -- to 50 percent, 19 percent -- 69 to 50 percent. There can only be one reason for this approval to tank, and I hear it everywhere in the state-run media, and that's racism. There's just blatant racism in this. We hear it everywhere, don't you?

His health care plan is near perfect, but nobody wants it, must be racism. His savaging of the CIA is more than perfect, but people don't agree with that; it must be racism. His cap-and-trade is at least as good as his stimulus bill, but nobody wants that either; it must be racism. But what if it's the color of his ideas -- red ink, not the color of his sk -- oh, you can't say that, Rush, it's not politically correct. The radio czar won't tolerate it. But, what are we to conclude? The approval number's gone from 69 to 50 -- that's 19 percent -- so we've got 19 percent more racists in this country since -- well, according to state-controlled media, since February.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Oh, and a companion story. The pig flu -- I -- honest to God, I kid you not, there's a story the pig flu will hit racists -- blacks and women harder. The pig flu is gonna hurt blacks and the poor and women harder than anybody else. I don't know -- I don't have the story in front of me, I'll get the details, but it doesn't matter. It's a template. Whenever there's a devastating economic story, women and minorities hardest hit. And they're doing it now with the pig flu.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: No, we have been screwed; we're just trying to prevent the pregnancy. That's exactly where we are here. We have been screwed -- we're only seven months in and we've been screwed, and we're trying to stop the pregnancy here. And some say we are for abortion in this case, but right now we don't have a fetus. But we're gonna get one if we're not careful, and the fetus is going to be this health care bill.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Did you know that the pig flu is obviously a racist virus? I mean, the pig flu knows that when it somehow ends up in the body of a black or a Hispanic, to get even worse than when it gets in the body of a white. So in addition to everything else about this thing, it's a racist virus, according to a study in Chicago. The report echoes some unpublished information from Boston that found three out of four Bostonians hospitalized from pig flu were black or Hispanic.

Now, that might be why there were so few blacks on the caravan route yesterday. I was playing a drinking game with myself in honor of Ted Kennedy and the funeral caravan there up to the Kennedy library. For every black I saw along the route, I was going to take a drink. And at the end of the whole hour -- I watched the replay of it when I got home, and at the end of the time, I was sober. And now I know why. 'Cause all the blacks are in the hospital because of pig flu.

“The cause for the difference is probably not genetic, health officials say.” Of course not -- the pig flu's gotta be racist, then. More likely, it's because blacks and Hispanics suffer disproportionately from asthma, diabetes, and other health problems that make people more vulnerable to the pig flu. Well, then, maybe that's what the hell needs to be studied, rather than race. “It's not clear if a racial or ethnic difference will hold up when more complete national data is available” -- it should be “are available” -- “one federal health official said. The findings are based on fairly small numbers of” -- so the -- it's a nothing story. They don't even know if it's true or not, just get the template story out there that, oh, it's worse for blacks, it's worse for Hispanics, what a rotten country.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: I want to revise and extend my remarks on Ted Kennedy, a man of the people, people he can identify with. He certainly was a man of the people, especially if they had big boobs.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: And they do -- the Clintons, they do cause more damage to minorities, and minorities just don't know it. Just like the pig flu.

Vox populi

LIMBAUGH: But nobody has the right to good health. Nobody has the right to good health. I mean, it's -- we live and there's so many misconceptions this whole thing. Health care's a right, government or employers should provide it. There would be a revolt if the employers of this country just decided, “You know, we're not going to provide it anymore.” And that will be the case when Obama gets his public option.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: If they're gonna have to insure things that everybody's going to get, then by God, folks, it's going to cost everybody a lot of money.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: Now, not only is the insurance a right, but the insurance oughta be free, a lot of people think, and it oughta cover everything, from hangnails, routine care visits, to erectile dysfunction, to ADHD, to add-a-dick-to-mes. People want health insurance for add-a-dick-to-mes for crying -- if you want a add-a-dick-to-me, pay for it, friends. Do not ask your neighbors to turn you into a guy when you're a woman. If you want an add-a-dick-to-me, pay for it.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: The more you make an insurance company cover, the more their risk goes up, and all they do is monetize their risk. They're not insuring your health -- they can't. You can't. What you're insuring is that you won't be destroyed financially if you get a dread disease. But you're not gonna be destroyed financially with a standard check-up. You're not gonna be destroyed financially if you break a leg.

It's just -- people have these wild expectations. The minute the Democrats started talking about health care as a right, I mean, that was the death knell, because there is no right to good health. And I'll tell you something else -- something cannot be a right if the government can take it away from you. And if -- and they can take away your health care. That's what the Obama plan is all about is taking away health care from certain people.