Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:06 pm
On his radio show today Rush Limbaugh tried to rally the obese against healthcare reform by claiming that if the overweight don’t lose weight, the bill will send them to reeducation camps. Limbaugh said that the government could, “send you off to some reeducation camp if you don’t lose weight.”
Here is the audio courtesy of Media Matters:
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Limbaugh said, “They’ve been trying this, they’ve been trying to get this done since FDR. Again, it’s not about healthcare. It is about one thing fundamentally, and the offshoots of this are even more hideous, but the primary thing this is about is the redistribution of wealth, which will result for the first time in well over a majority of Americans being fully dependant on Washington for their existence. With the Democrats in charge of Washington, the theory is that no voter will ever vote against the government that is providing for him or her, and therefore Democrats will be in power in perpetuity.”
He continued, “That is the thing that is diving this, the redistribution of wealth, the cutting the country down to size, taking as much of the private sector away from the private sector, putting it under government control, making you dependent on government, not the private sector, for your prosperity, well whatever there won’t be any prosperity, for your existence.”
Then he fear mongered the obese, “Now the more hideous offshoots of this are that when they have this kind of power that makes you totally dependent, I mean its real power. They can tell you when and when you can’t use a cell phone. When and when you can’t do this, what you can and can’t eat, where you can and can’t go, what you can and can’t weigh, send you off to some reeducation camp if you don’t lose weight. They can’t wait to do this. They exist for the exercise of power.”
Limbaugh completely ignores the fact that the government is not taking over healthcare. The House version of the public option only covers 6 million people, but this doesn’t stop Limbaugh from spinning a paranoid fantasy that would make Glenn Beck proud. Ask yourself how reducing the cost of healthcare is a redistribution of wealth?
The obese are often discriminated against in the current health insurance system. They are constantly turned down for coverage due to their weight being a preexisting condition, so wouldn’t people who can’t currently get coverage, support a bill that would allow them to be covered? Limbaugh’s rants are getting more distant from reality each and every day.
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
