Rush Limbaugh Talk

Rush Limbaugh has promised to leave America for Costa Rica if "all that stuff gets implemented."  He is vague on what "all that stuff" means, although the run-up to this statement talks about doctors not being able to opt out of the federal medical care system.  Basically Rush seems to be saying that if private doctors (ones who choose not to practice on the hypothetical new federal system) are outlawed, he will move to Costa Rica.
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Limbaugh has taken up the banner of the Republican party as being "the party of NO," but to most people, that's meant to be a bad thing.  Like a toddler screaming NO NO NO NO NO regardless of what is being offered, whether it's marshmallows or mushy peas, Rush Limbaugh rejects any offerings of health care policy change.

So what, one wonders, does Rush think we should put in place?  What health care system would Rush support?  Given that we do not have the world's best health care system, but its 31st best.  And that our national statistics for both infant mortality and average life span (typical benchmarks of a country's level of infrastructure and development) are ridiculously bad.
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The Civil Rights ActAmong all the many and varied forms of nuttiness that comes pouring out of Rush Limbaugh's mouth when he starts talking about health care reform is his latest jab, when he called it a "civil rights bill."  The mind boggling thing is that he meant that as a bad thing.

He also called it "reparations."  So the racist implications here are clear: bleeding heart liberals want to provide black people with health care, out of a constant need to deprecate themselves to black people.  For shame!

And people have the nerve to say Rush isn't a racist.
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Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin are an odd pair.  My theory is that each despises the other, but knows that they are valuable for their career.  Limbaugh wishes to curry favor with the Republican party (which has been trying to disown him for some time now), whereas Palin is clawing for the spotlight and the fringe lunatic crowd.  

Circumstance has driven them together, and not even Limbaugh's profligate use of "the R word" shall drive them apart, apparently.  

Last August, Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel used the word "retarded" as a pejorative.  (And really, there is no longer a non-pejorative context for that word.)  Earlier in the month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Emanuel's use of the slur, which got Palin up in arms.
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I continue to find it fascinating that the climate change camp has actual data and science and advanced degrees on the subject of the Earth's climate, but this is exactly why Rush mistrusts them.  I guess in Rush's world, what makes you an expert is… well, I'm not really sure.  He never says.  What DOES give Rush the authority to tell us that climate change isn't a real thing?  The fact that he gets paid to be plunked in front of a microphone, as far as I can tell, that's his only qualification.

(But please note, the fact that Rush is a national radio talk show host does not make him part of "the media."  Because "the media" is one of his Four Corners of Deceit, from which lies emerge.  Rush: not the media.  If that makes sense to you, please drop me a line to sort out my confusion, because it makes exactly zero sense to me.)
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Every time something less than tropical heat hits the news, you can guarantee that Rush will be gloating over it.  And so he has, in the wake of the freakish pair of snowstorms that hit the Eastern Seaboard over the last week.  "Where's Al Gore?"  Rush demands, as if Gore has somehow gone to ground in shame.

Here's the funny thing: everyone else, even people who don't believe in climate change, know that this is a stupid thing to say.  Aside from the known idiots, those who pride themselves on their idiocy, know that "global warming" doesn't necessarily mean "everything gets hotter all the time."  

In fact, I have found myself in several conversations recently which follow an identical path:

Dork: Where's that global warming now?  HA HA.
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Today I realized that the key to Rush Limbaugh's Crazytown is Ayn Rand.  Particularly Atlas Shrugged, which he references frequently.

Rand's philosophy can be summed up with a single word: selfishness.  Or, in more Rand-ian terms, "enlightened self-interest."  

Atlas Shrugged depicts a world where government interference has run amok in the business world.  To quote Limbaugh (an outspoken fan), "It is basically about the achievers of life quitting, because they're tired of being 1% of the population pulling the other 99% in the cart."  
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As soon as I heard that Osama Bin Laden had emerged from his hidey hole to condemn America for causing climate change, I knew that Rush Limbaugh would be all over that action.  And I was not disappointed.  

Now there are two ways you can go with this.  The first is the random ad hominem attack.  The thing about a crazy man is that he is liable to say anything, because he is crazy.  Rush can gleefully point out that Bin Laden agrees with Al Gore, and that should weaken Al Gore's position.  But for one thing, it was just a coin flip - next thing you know, Bin Laden could come out against America's school lunch program, or in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy.  You never know, right?
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Those with a memory longer than that of a goldfish (i.e. those who are not Rush's core audience) will remember a little while back when Rush Limbaugh pitched a temper tantrum over the government recommending that citizens be vaccinated for influenza and for the H1N1 swine flu.  A government recommendation, and the man flipped out, drumming his heels on the ground and pounding his fists and insisting that he wouldn't, you can't make me, you mean lady!

"This is what the world will be like under the Democrats," Rush basically said.  You will be lined up outside the flu clinic and held in place by armed soldiers and given a mandatory vaccine.  Or something.  I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but Rush made it clear that it would be Orwellian and Very Bad.
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"You want me to do WHAT with my money?"You know, it's times like these that make it clear that Rush Limbaugh is his own worst enemy.  If Rush didn't want people to hate him, then the way forward is obvious.  Instead, Rush has chosen to attack the credibility of everyone who has ragged on him for saying what he did about Haiti last week, and to try and misdirect our attention away from what he did say.

Rush constantly falls back on the "I'm being quoted out of context" excuse, combined with "That isn't what I meant."  So let's look at what he said last week.  On the topic of Haiti, Rush Limbaugh said "We've already donated to Haiti.  It's called the U.S. income tax."
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