I rest my case — the right wing mouthpieces that spew “let the market decide except when the market fails the fat cats” are in completed disconnect with the real world. Fat-wallet Rush thinks that since he is uninsured, saw the bill and declared his treatment “cheap.” I assume the purpose of his diatribe is that you all out there are belllyaching — our system works just fine. (Media Matters via Politics USA):
Limbaugh said, “I realize I’m on a tough challenge here, and probably going to lose it because we’ve had 50 years to establish a mindset which basically has most people believing that healthcare should not cost anything or it should cost very little, and when somebody comes along like me, and accepts responsibility for paying for it, look I am one of the 47 million uninsured, and I’m, look at me in one way, I’m providing leadership. I’m advocating a system get reformed so that people can afford it, that their be a relationship the patient, the provider, and the hospital, without some middle man or two, where people could actually afford it just as they’re able to afford other services throughout our economy.”Limbaugh made the argument that healthcare is actually cheap, “You hear here that multimillionaire, only Limbaugh could afford it, that’s such a misrepresentation of the truth. I’ll just tell you if you can afford a car, you can afford what I did in the hospital. If you can afford a pretty expansive media room, you can afford what I spent in the hospital, and with all the tests and everything else. If you can afford an SUV, could have gone to the hospital 3 or 4 times for what I, it’s just a matter of choice, what you want to budget for and pay for, Rush we got to have a car to get to work, and we got to have a house, yeah but everybody says they got to have healthcare too. The people don’t prioritize it the way they do other things.”
Um, what if you don’t have a 70″ flatscreen with surround sound and stadium seating in your basement? Or for that matter, a JOB? Oh, yeah, what about all of those people driving around a beater because they couldn’t even find a way to take advantage of Cash for Clunkers? Americans aren’t choosing health care vs. upgrading their SUVs — they are losing their homes over extraordinary illnesses that bankrupt them, or choosing whether they can buy enough to feed the family.
Man, it’s incredible to see the naked ignorance tossed out there, not only because it’s painfully elitist, but that he really thinks it’s a good talking point! Holy crap, probably half of his Diitoheads are uninsured or underinsured.
The audio is below the fold.



10 Comments





How long?Good ol’ Rush was in the hospital for, like, 2 days? I wonder how cheap he would have thought it was if his daughter had had to stay in Pediatric Intensive Care for 3 weeks with all the tests that accompany such a stay. I know good ol’ Rush could afford it if it was his kid, but I guarantee you that a stay like that won’t be covered by foregoing your media room or your SUV. It might be covered by selling your house. And your SUV. And everything else you own.
WowI can’t even formulate a response.
Right
Let me describe my Media room.(I get by on SSI, less than US$800 a month)
Stereo is a 40 year old KLH Model 20 Compact unit. (turntable and FM tuner) I plucked off the curb before the trash pickup, 15 some years ago. Speakers are likewise salvaged.
I DO have a flatscreen hidef TV. A 26″ Samsung LCD. A christmas/birthday gift from an old friend when my 30 year old RCA color set started to show signs of senility.
The sound system for the TV is a pair of Boston Acoustics computer speakers. US$5.00 from Goodwill. The DVD player is getting on to 10 years old and will likely be replaced with something an order of magnitude better and costing maybe US$50 at the most.
The “media” room is what I call the “living room” in my small studio apt in a Boston Housing Authority building.
My digital media needs are handled by an old used Dual Processor (G5 PowerPC) Mac, a pair of used Creative Labs speakers and an Apple 21″ CRT Studio monitor. Again, plucked off the curb. (I lugged this 77 pound monster half a mile to the nearest subway stop. As an aside. Boston/Cambridge has the Best.Trash.EVER!))
If not for the gift of the TV, when my CRT set died, I was going to wait until the analog to digital cutover and then get a used CRT TV from Goodwill for a pittance. As I have cable TV, (gotta have my Discovery/History/Science/NatGeo channels!) it didn’t matter that it was an analog set.
Let me make a point of the fact that MY outlay of money for all this was less than US$400 over the course of 3-4 years.
If one defines “media room” as a place where the TV, DVD player and CD player/FM tuner is, that pretty much describes the living room of most “poor” people.
I will not begrudge some poor family who saved US$20 a month for a year or so to help pay for a flatscreen at WalMart, a US$30 DVD player at Family Dollar and some computer speakers at a yard sale.
But then, I’m not Limbaugh.
Thank you, Jeebus!
Rush’s salaryLet’s see….Rush’s salary was $33 million in 2007 (wiki.answers.com)- works out to ~634,000 per week (52 weeks), so roughly 15,865 dollars per hour (40 hours). So he makes more in one hour than I’m making per year right now.
So, RUSH, I don’t wanna hear it!
Rush Is Such A Spoiled Pigthat he believes if HE owns something, EVERYONE must own the same thing.
Obviously he hasn’t set foot in an average middle-class home since he’s been paid to run his trap.
Emergency Surgery = $15,000That was back in 2004 when I was bashed by a couple of hater teenagers and had half my face smashed in with a brick. I make a good living, but certainly did not have and extra $15,000 hanging around to pay for reconstructive surgery (and that was not including the surgeon’s fee). And that was for a surgery that only meant a one-day stay in the hospital. I suppose Rush would claim that because I’m a fag I deserved the beating and should have paid for it, but my opinion is a bit different.
Oh you didn’t deserve it for being gay.You just shouldn’t have been shoving it in people’s faces.
Now that I’m done satirizing the reich, I need to go wash that taste out of my mouth.
media room?when i read that, i really didn’t have a notion what a “media room” meant. after realizing it wasn’t related to his media employment, i figured out that the privileged little man was talking about a room dedicated to putting high priced entertainment equipment in, or a home theatre. that you would transport to your house in your suv.
somewhat reminiscent of george the elder being confused by a checkout line at a store.
Let Them Eat Cake