After the health care reform bill passed on Sunday, Rush Limbaugh - in a move that surprises no one - went back on his word.  He is not planning to leave for Costa Rica, and he thinks it's pretty funny that you ever thought he would.  Clearly you don't actually pay attention to his show!  Clearly you just misinterpreted his words, which mean something totally different when you put them in the right context!

That's the first check box Rush marks off on his same-old-sam-old dance card.  "You took my words out of context."  Well, when a caller asked Rush what he would do if health care reform passed, Rush's words were "I'm going to Costa Rica."  So I don't know how hard it is to take that out of context.

It turns out that what Rush really meant was, "I will go to Costa Rica for all of my health care needs, and this is a reference to the caller I had several months ago who mentioned Costa Rica as an escape plan for her health insurance company."  But he didn't say that.  He just said "I'm going to Costa Rica," and he left it at that.  It's pretty clear, if you ask me.  I don't doubt he's been sweating over how to get out of this Costa Rica thing ever since he said it.  

The second box that gets ticked is the "straw man."  Rush likes to conflate the actions of one or two liberals with the actions of "all Liberals."  This happens all the time on the Fox News side of the fence.  That's why, when only 28% of Americans are opposed to health care reform, their headlines read "Americans Oppose Health Care Reform."  Makes it sound like ALL Americans, but it's really just "some Americans."  (And sometimes not even that - but I digress.)

Two guys from New York have set up a website called ATicketForRush.com.  They are collecting donations, $1 at a time, for the cost of a flight for Rush Limbaugh to Costa Rica.  

Suddenly according to Rush, these two guys magically become "all the liberals."  As in, "all the liberals are offering to pay my way to Costa Rica."

Now as much as I love the idea of banishing Rush from America, I do not recommend that you donate a dollar to these guys.  For one thing, although I agree that it's funny, and it's probably on the up and up, it's just two guys.  Who knows what the real story is, you know?  They could be planning to keep the money, or secretly donate it to the Republican Party.

Instead, I recommend that you donate directly to Planned Parenthood, in Rush's name.  Rush comments that he doesn't know how much an abortion costs at Planned Parenthood.  Well it's pretty easy to look up that information: it costs between $350 and $900.  If you hate Rush Limbaugh, then I recommend that you donate $25 to help defray the costs of abortion and reproductive medicine for disadvantaged women.  I can't think of a better way of giving him the virtual finger!

Creative Commons-licensed image courtesy of Flickr user tosaytheleast