Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:37 am
While claiming that he was illustrating the absurdity of the situation, Rush Limbaugh blamed President Obama and class warfare for the Empire State Building shooting.
Here is the audio from Media Matters:
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Transcript from Rush Limbaugh:
LIMBAUGH: The New York Daily News and a lot of the New York media, and some of the television networks, are reporting that the Empire State Building shooter… You heard about this? Okay. The New York Daily News is reporting that the Empire State Building shooter did indeed kill his boss. He was fired. He went out there and he killed his boss. I wonder if Obama’s constant warfare on bosses and so forth might have led this guy to pull the trigger?
Oh, you ought to see the faces of the people on the other side of the glass!
“Oh, no. Rush, you didn’t really say that! We have time on the delay to bleep it. No, Rush! Oh, you didn’t really say that!”
Yes, I said it, and we’re not gonna bleep it out. I’ll guarantee you. The last time there was a shooting in New York, who’d the mayor blame it on? Tea Party people that didn’t like health care, right? Gabby Giffords, you name it. The shooting out in Colorado? Brian Ross said the Tea Party did it. Well, here you have a guy shooting his boss for being fired. Who’s out there ripping bosses to shreds every day? Who’s out there ripping businesses to shreds every day?
And who’s out there killing jobs every day?
So, yes, we’re trying to illustrate absurdity by being absurd. That’s the absurd way the news media and the rest of the left try to capitalize and politicize any terrible crime that they think they can associate with Republicans or conservatives. We’ve seen it time and time again. So why not give them a dose of their own medicine here? Do you think Obama, do you think the Democrats, have any blood on their hands with this shooting today? Don’t be frightened in there on the other side of the glass. It isn’t any big deal.
By the way, Mayor Doomberg went out there and immediately stressed the shooting had no relation to terrorism. And that’s how we know that the alleged perp can’t be connected to the Tea Party, because people like Doomberg and the Democrats think the Tea Party’s a bunch of terrorists. Yep, he did kill his boss. So, “Obama’s constant class warfare, could it be a factor? Might it be a factor, the Democrat Party and all this fear they’re putting in people’s hearts and minds?”
Ultimate responsibility for these incidents should always fall on the shooter. I don’t think anyone is disputing that, but Rush Limbaugh used this shooting to push his bogus propaganda about class warfare.
While claiming to highlight the absurdity of such things, Limbaugh blamed Obama’s class warfare rhetoric for the Empire State Building shooting. The only class warfare going on in this country is one being carried out by Republicans who falsely claim that half of America pays no taxes in order justify cutting taxes on the wealthy.
Paul Ryan’s budget is class warfare that is designed to reward the rich and burden everyone else. Republicans have been engaging in a Koch funded class war for years, but they only call it class warfare when the wealthy are asked to do a little bit more.
Limbaugh was trying to play to the paranoia of his listeners. Rush Limbaugh’s attempt at a disclaimer about absurdity is pretty easy to see through. He is telling Republicans that everybody is out to get you. His class warfare nonsense follows the same path as Mitt Romney’s constant whining about being, “punished for success.”
Remember, class warfare is Republican code for tax cuts for the rich.
Republicans will literally say, do, and blame President Obama for anything if it will keep them from paying their fair share in taxes.
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
