Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:12 pm
On his radio show today Rush Limbaugh made the claim that President Barack Obama is inciting the violent protests against healthcare reform. Limbaugh said, “No incidents of violence until Obama’s people showed up…He is out there inciting violence.” Wait, so the people at these town halls who are screaming that Obama is a socialist were sent there by Obama. Wow.
Here is the audio courtesy of Media Matters:
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After issuing his standard warning to Republicans not to vote for the healthcare bill, Limbaugh said, “These are the people Obama is marshalling to prevent you from engaging in the democratic process while saying that you are sabotaging it. No incidents of violence until Obama’s crowd showed up. I can’t sit here and express to you how shocked and stunned that this is happening in the United States of America that we have a president who has abandoned the office now. He may as well be back on the campaign trail. His speeches are cocky, nasty, arrogant. He’s out there inciting violence. White House officials say we’re going to push back twice as hard. That’s the Chicago way. You bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. That’s the President of the United States.”
The, if you bring a knife to the fight we’ll bring a gun comment is not something that the White House is saying now about healthcare, it comes from a comment Obama made last June at a fundraiser in Philadelphia. Obama was referring to the then upcoming general election when he said, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun. Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. I’ve seen Eagles fans.”
According to Rush, Obama is inciting the violence at Democratic town hall meetings to make the Republican Party look bad. This is a big plot by Obama to harass members of his party in order to make it seem like there is public opposition to healthcare reform. The president is trying to convince his fellow Democrats not to support his policy.
I think Limbaugh’s liquid diet is making him even more paranoid than usual. His whole theory that Obama is behind the violence makes no sense, especially when one can visit the right wing websites like Recess Rally which are organizing the protests. Yesterday, Limbaugh claimed that there was no violence occurring at these events, but today he is blaming Obama for the violence, so which is it Rush?
Limbaugh’s imaginary Obama is quite an interesting character, but he is nothing like the real president. As far as I can tell Obama has been, not on the road all of the time, but in the White House lately. It is so obvious that right wingers are behind the violence that Limbaugh has had to create an alternate reality to dismiss it. This is the current state of the just say no to facts Republican Party.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
