Limbaugh Congratulates Himself On Kennedy Death Prediction

Rush Limbaugh offered himself some kudos Wednesday for predicting in March that the health care bill wouldn't be passed before Ted Kennedy's death.

"Before it's all over, it'll be called the Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill," Limbaugh said at the time.

Indeed, with Kennedy's passing, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has called for health care reform legislation to be named in his honor.

Limbaugh, who was criticized for his insensitivity over the Kennedy remarks, is expressing vindication. "I predicted it, and I caught all kinds of grief for it out there," he said.

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Comments

[AZ4thatone]

Rush can give himself all the kudos he wants for STATING THE OBVIOUS and the rest of us can pat ourselves kon the back for seeing it coming as well.

[WellTickleMeWillie]

Barack Obama, John McCain and Rush Limbaugh are all in a 3 man life boat. In the water surrounding the life boat are several people wanting to be rescued. Obama leans over and gives a helping hand to a man in the water but is stopped by McCain who says "Hold it. We cannot afford to bring anyone aboard this life boat b/c it will sink if we do." Obama says "Yes we can. The life boat is designed to hold twice as many people than the posted 3 man limit. " Rush then turns to Obama in his inimitable style of strong man bravado and throws Obama into the water and says. "Now there's more room for the two of us but John if you give me any lip, you're next."

[Ed and Deb Shapiro - Huffpost Blogger]

How can Gush Bimbaugh be such a nerd and only he doesn't get it?

He is by far the most irritating jerk on the air waves.

Thank goodness is is dark humor .. mor thathe is so of the tract that he is funny than the John Stewart, Bill Maher type.

do his followers listen to goof on him or are they his undeniable pathetic devotees?

Who knows and who agrees with me that goofball Rush, Sarah Pathetic, and the rest of the boring tribe of right wing dingbats sit in a room and listen to themselves rant on forever.

Ed

[Unfussy]

I love it! You rock Ed :)

[PoliticalRockChick]

Some on here have been defending Rush on his prediction. We all knew the great Senator Ted would soon leave us. But I don't see how one can congratulate themselves on predicting a man's death after he battled such a horrible disease. There's an old saying if you have nothing nice to say, don't say nothing at all.

[embobi]

I predict that before this week ends rush will say something controversial and stupid.

[Sandmanj]

Don't look now, but he just did.

[lolyla]

Limbaugh predicted the death of an 80-year old man with cancer. That's a real psychic insight there, Jean Dixon.

[tempramint]

Ignore Rush Limbaugh. Just ignore him. Talking about him lends credibility to his presence, so don't. Turn off the program when it comes on. When his name comes up, change the subject. If someone insists, choose to refuse.

[jackostrato]

even a blind man can hit the board once if he throws enough darts.

[mari2JJ]

Actually my 4 year old grandson figured it out that Mr. Kennedy would die and even seemed to know the date of his death. So I guess it does not take that much intellect to know that fact. Like I said, I have this very grown up 4 year old whose other granny just died and the minute he saw Mr Kennedy, he recognized that he looked just like his other "granny". We could say that Rush has the same insight as a 4 yr old and it would be very accurate. But alas, who of us saw Mr. Kennedy on the TV and did not realize the end was near.

[PoliticalRockChick]

Are you trying to defend Rush? I mean we all know he would soon leave us. But on the day of his death, you really think it's okay for your son and Rush to congratulate themselves on predicting Ted's Death, instead of just saying may he rest in peace or just keep silent? I'm not really following you.

[MinervaLA]

Rush Limbaugh has made numerous predictions regarding the Democrats that have come true in the past. It is exactly why they hate him so much. When one man can create such chaos within the Democratic Party, you have to wonder- He must be saying something right! Otherwise people wouldn't bother, i.e., the President of the United States bringing him up in speeches, and telling American citizens not to listen to him. Why is that? If he's just some loud, crass, loose cannon- Why even bring him up in conversation? Naturally, you would avoid/ignore someone like him like the plague! Yet they just can't seem to leave this guy alone! He just really gets under their skin for some reason.....(Hint: He deals in truth.....)

[Poorsarah]

Noticing the glaring hypocrisy and lies that come from th life and lips of Rush Limbaugh, I can understand why President Obama would encourage us not to listen to him; makes good common sense. MinervaLA; unfortunately, Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, and the like do not deal in truth. What they are crafty at is misinforming/lying to the American public with their stealth fearmongering tactics.

[Unfussy]

Thank you and thank you Poorsarah!!! Somebody needed to say what you did to "MinervaLA". And I will too: you are so off base about Limbaugh. Predictions against Democrats that have come true? Limbaugh causing chaos? Wrong again and the "chaos" isn't what many would call what he supposedly causes. He deals in truth? He doesn't even come close to dealing in truth or fact!
I agree with Poorsarah in that he is in the same family as Beck, Hannity and I'll add a few more. O'Reilly, Coulter and more I'm sure. He is nothing but an ignorant sensationalist who collects a paycheck for it.

[Gatorray11]

What BS your post is.

Rush makes a lot of predictions. He plays back tapes only of the ones he is right on.

Many of his predictions are outrageous and if, by chance, one is right he plays around the clock for three hours. It doesn't bother me because Rush Limbaugh has First Amendment rights like everybody else.

However, except for Keith Olbermann nobody really holds him accountable. Media Matters for America does, but it's a blog that largely progressives check.

The significances of Rush is that he is really the GOP front man who daily does the party's dirty work. He gets the talking points of the day and after his show one right wing talk show host after another repeat them around the clock. They are also well coordinated with the Republican Pravda network, AKA Fox News. Roger Ailes a professional GOP point man micro manages this not only with what stories are emphasized, but with one sided questions being asked of Democrats.

Because nobody is there to hold Rush accountable he seem far more right on predictions than he really is. Take the Iraq war., I remember listening to Rush before the war and he could not be more wrong. He predicted the war would be a cakewalk and would be a big boost to the U.S., getting us cheap oil and thus low gasoline prices. He -- following the Paul Wolfowitz lie to Congress -- said Iraqi oil revenues would pay for the

[Gatorray11]

Rush could not be more wrong about the war. He predicted we would win in a cakewalk. We would be out quickly. Irqi oil revenues would not only pay for the war, but cheap Iraqi oil would result in cheap gasoline prices. The Republicans would benefit and maintain their power.

Instead, they had to engineer another no count of all the votes in Ohio with a partisan secretary of state. There were numerous supressions of minority voting and undercounting in New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. There were irregularites in Iowa. And starting in 2006 Republicans went into the dumps. Gasoline rose to nearly $4 a gallon, briefly dropped and spiked back to $3 a gallon.

We did not use Iraqi oil to counter the OPEC Saudi cartel. In fact, James A. Baker III, the Bushista errand man, made sure that Iraqi oil would remain in line with Saudi oil prices. This is the same Baker who represented the Saudi Royal family when families of the 9/11 victims sued the Saudi Royals. Baker got the suit dismissed before damaging discovery could get underway.

Why does Barack Obama want to publicize Rush? Because if the American people knew the things Rush says it would send the Republicans into a tail spin. But the corporate press makes ure that doesn't happen. How many many Americans know what Rush said about the war in Iraq? I rest my case.

[desertman]

One must be discriminating. Understand what is truth and what is not. No single source of information offers the truth. Rush is not the truth anymore than Olbermann is the truth.

[bohannekin]

Right on! Now that is dealing in facts. I would just add that Limbaugh and their ilk cater to the baser instincts of humanity. The baser instincts are hate, anger, greed, and the tendency to judge others. I will say he is smart enough to push the right buttons insuring a very large following. But his followers are at the extreme of the political spectrum and only a quarter of the population if that. His rhetoric is for one purpose: keep the money flowing by stoking these the fires anger.

[Gatorray11]

Rush just makes stuff up. Like in 2006 when the Establsihment Democrats forced Paul Hackett, who had barely lost a special election for Congress, to drop out of the primary U.S. Senate race against Sherrod Brown, a powerful Congressman. There was plenty of legitimate criticism and opponents of the Iraqi war were strongly for Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and a war opponent.

But that was not enough for Rush Limbaugh. The thrice divorced drug junkie accused the Democrats of forcing out Hackett because Brown was "african American." However, there was only one problem -- Brown is white. Rush had to retract. He really had no choice because the mistake was obvious. But it sheds light on how he operates.

[WellTickleMeWillie]

MinervaLA: So too did Dr Paul Joseph Goebbels "deal in truth" and predicted that the Americans would lose WW II as well as the Third Reich would rule for a 1000 years. He also was the chief architect of the Nazi propaganda machine attacking Jews, negros, Poles, gays, socilaists, etc. Many people hated Dr Goebbels b/c he created such chaos and yes death within the people of the world whom he directed his hatred towards. Rush Limbaugh is the modern day equivalent and not much different than Dr Goebbels. In fact they have more in common than they differ. So when you conclude that Rush must be saying something right, I think you are ignoring the possibility that Rush is not the a man of "truth" compassion you wish him to be but rather a man filled with hatred and prejudice towards many groups of individual human beings he disagrees with. He is brought up so much in progressive conversations b/c of the amazing parallels between Rush and Goebbels. It is too bad when people like yourself cannot grasp that your demagogue is really a very bad person, liar and propagandist.

[Hansyp]

Isn't he a good C.hristian?

[BannedInBoston]

He isn't.

[denicci1977]

What will be said at Rush's eulogy and who will say it ?

[wilray]

Nothing - nobody

[RichLombardo]

Three words: Addition by Subtraction

[Peregrin]

Please, do not refer to them as "ditto heads". They are "LIMBOTS" :)

[BannedInBoston]

I can think of a few other epithets too, none of them flattering. "Dittoheads" is RL's own term for his audience and expresses his own utter contempt for them.

[desertman]

such a h@ter...

[Clinton Jensen]

Rush is connected to deep running sentiments in the country and he has real knack for understanding the emotions and ideas that drive people's behavior on both sides. He's not living in another world, he living it up in this one and capitalizing on the talent he has and expressing feelings that many ordinary americans feel. Many americans are independant. They are not needy. They can take care of themselvs and their families too and they don't want to wait for a congressman or goverment agent to get around to solving their personal problems. There is nothing evil about that. Rush taps into that feeling and really frustrates people who are dependant or want to be dependant on the government.

[BruceHNV]

How utterly illusory. He has convinced you that over half of this country (those who favor Democratic politics) consists of a totally non-existent race of people. The attitudes which you ascribe to them do not exist. Until you learn at least that, you will not be living in the real world.

[desertman]

PRINCETON, NJ -- Thus far in 2009, 40% of Americans interviewed in national Gallup Poll surveys describe their political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal. This represents a slight increase for conservatism in the U.S. since 2008, returning it to a level last seen in 2004. The 21% calling themselves liberal is in line with findings throughout this decade, but is up from the 1990s.

[Unfussy]

Very well put Bruce-Thank you!

[poizinniv]

Really? Because the things I have heard him say are usually arrogant, racism, and incite hate. That doesn't sound independent, that sounds dangerous. But nice try in trying to make him sound like a reasonable, rational person. I think most of the people reading on this forum are not going to fall for that...

[MinervaLA]

No, what he does is POINT the finger at those who are "arrogant, and racist" as well as those who "incite hate." His choice of words might not be as "flowery" as some would like, but his message is crystal clear: He stands up for American's rights and freedoms, and for that he deserves a lot of credit. He's up against a mainstream media that has gone completely off the deep end. If you want to see true hate, anger, and angst, tune in to MSNBC- Their line-up is filled with the "hate" in which you speak of.

[desertman]

He calls it like it is. Dems use the politics of race and class envy to further their agenda.

[Hawaii5-0]

That is a nice sentiment to believe that many Americans are independent. But, society is built on all of us cooperating and working together. Perhaps you could send this advice to the banks and investment firms to remind them that they should not be looking to the govt for a handout when they are in trouble. It looks like even the foundational institutions of our "free market" economy are the ones to cry loudest and longest when they need a govt bailout. Bankers cannot be forced to live in a world without their bonuses.

[denicci1977]

The only people Rush has a connection with are racists and greedy fatcats who stomp on the less fortunate or try to work hard for equality for all. If that many people believed in what Rush thinks , Obama would not be President. My husband and I work hard to take care of our family, but I do believe the Govt should get involved when big businesses are hurting Americans and taking advantage of the system.

[Gatorray11]

I hope for their sake they don't develop some kind of medical condition -- or somebody in their family does -- that their medical insurance company finds a reason not to pay. Then because of the pre existing condition that person becomes uninsurable.

Your genes should not send you into the poorhouse. Every industrialized country in the world has universal healthcare except us. Germany has had it since the days of Otto Edward Leopold von Bismark. There are different models. Some are not government run -- like in England. They are usually government financed and operate cheaper and with better results than our system.

We don't hear about them because the corporate press does not report on them.. As a result right wingers like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity are able to start spreading lies about healthcare rationing, death panel and other BS. And the corporate press -- interested in spreading the interests of the corporate world -- does not hold them accountable.

Why does no network or newspaper report how healthcare in other industrialized countries -- like England, France, Switzerland, Germany and other democracies -- operate? Has any country with so called "socialized medicine" ever abolished it and gone to over to our system? They all have democracies -- usually parliamentary democracies -- where instant change is possible. Nor does the press report what Republicans said about Medicare when JFK and LBJ were promiting Medicare. Why is that? And why does nobody hold Rush accountable?

[bohannekin]

How can anyone possible look up to this man for leadership. He was bragging about something that was so obvious that anyone with half a brain (tied behind the back or not) could have predicted. If Ted Kennedy's allies do not leverage the death of the great promoter of health care for the poor and middle class they will not only be missing a great opportunity but disrespectful to the memory of the great Senator. You don't have to be a genius or a fortune teller to see the obvious strategy because it makes sense. But you do have to be a pompous ass. Limbaugh's derision reflects on himself and his need for affirmation and praise. Limbaugh states the obvious, shamelessly provides himself kudos, and basks in his own praise for himself; self satisfied knowing the ditto heads are saying "right on Rush." Most of his ditto heads are probably impressed but I hope some can see the blatant self-serving motives of this buffoon.

[slysnootle]

Limbaugh has been around long enough to know how predictable and childish the democratic party really is.

[mari2JJ]

I can say unequivocally as a Republican, that Limbaugh has done more single handedly to insure that the Kennedy supported health care plan gets passed than any other human being except Senator Kennedy himself. As a Republican, of late, I have made my stand based on whatever Rush is against, I am wholeheartedly for. It is wonderful how much Rush has contributed towards the passage of this needed program. He may even eventually help Republicans get their good name back with all his negative nay saying that Republicans seem to be ignoring just now. So, carry on Rush.

[ginmark]

You're missing the point. When Rush first predicted that they would use Kennedy's death as a rallying cry for health care, he took a great deal of grief about it from the talking heads. How could he say that, they would never do that, etc. Now that they're doing it, and all of a sudden it's OK with the talking heads. He pointed that out in his show the other day. The unabashed hypocrisy of the "news" media. If half of you people would listen to him instead of reacting to something you READ about him that's tainted at best, perhaps you could put forth more educated insightful argument's.

[icmountainpeaks]

As a Democrat I support everyons right to free speach so all rush followers I am alway happy to hear you and all your republicans make a butt out of yourselves

[USAoldschool]

Thank you, I will refer you to your party symbol! Have a good day.