A recent study reached a shocking conclusion: Americans have learned more about climate change from Rush Limbaugh than from anyone else. The phrase "climate change" appears 2,780 times in his talk show transcripts, and "global warming" appears almost as often, according to a Google search. With that in mind, would it surprise you to learn that Rush takes the subject so seriously he would abuse an eight year old girl over the issue?
Rush, of course, asserts that the "whole global warming thing is a manufactured left-wing hoax".
I've instinctively known this from the get-go, from 20 years ago! The whole thing is made up, and the reason I know it is because liberals are behind it! When they're pushing something, folks, it's always bogus.
—Rush Limbaugh
Not just any hoax, this. Limbaugh
considers manmade global warming to be
"one of the most preposterous hoaxes in the history of the planet." According to Limbaugh,
Every Apocalyptic Environmental Claim is a Full-Fledged Liberal Lie
Before the ozone hole it was acid rain, and then it was nuclear winter, and it went from global warming to...compact fluorescent lightbulbs! I'm telling you: Every aspect of it is a lie. Every environmental claim, every one that's apocalyptic, is a lie -- full-fledged, 100% through and through.
—Rush Limbaugh
Some credit Limbaugh with
forcing Mitt Romney to back away from his acknowledgement of global warming. But he's not averse to using global warming as a club on the Republican establishment, either:
I frankly don't know where the Republican establishment is on global warming. My guess is they probably think it's happening 'cause they want big government. They just want themselves in charge of it.
—Rush Limbaugh
Limbaugh
believes "there would be tremendous harm" if we took climate change seriously
"because the solution to manmade global warming is communism. The solution to manmade global warming is socialism."
[W]hen you analyze what the UN climate change treaty is all about, you find that all it is about is the redistribution of wealth. Here, let me give you an example:
"[The climate change treaty] could have 'positive consequences for alternative transportation providers and producers of alternative fuels.' "
Let me translate. This means they'll put out of business current transportation providers and standard fuel producers... This is spreading the wealth around, period, using the climate as an excuse... This is nothing more than a giant, global redistribution-of-wealth scheme...
The militant environmental movement since the early nineties is simply the new repository for displaced communists after the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union went bye-bye. Anti-capitalist, it's all they are, just like the feminists, just another anti-capitalist movement, pro-socialist, pro-Marxist, pro-big government, that's all they are.
—Rush Limbaugh
Rush wants to knock down every hint that the planet may be experiencing climate change. He
attacks stories that polar bears are turning to cannibalism, and misses no opportunity to
criticize electric cars. He
calls the media "brain-dead robots" when they publish climate change stories, and asserts that
only "wackos" believe there's a climate connection to wildfires.
He declares concern about overpopulation putting pressure on food and water resources "another discredited crackpot theory," and he asserts this "with ontological certitude" [his own words].
The problem is not enough capitalism. If you look where there is poverty and thus where people think there's overpopulation, you will find largely socialist or Marxist regimes, denying people freedom and liberty, economic opportunity...
[T]he planet is not in danger. We're doing a great job of cleaning up our messes. Capitalism and freedom lead to the cleanest places on earth.
—Rush Limbaugh
Rush doesn't want a two way dialog on climate change, and thus
he will abruptly cut off any caller who doesn't automatically accept his climate change assertions. But this paragon of free speech is also amused when his listeners shut down climate change websites:
A quick question before we grab the next call. Okay, we've got pretty good evidence today... By the way, thank you for shutting down Marc Morano's website, ClimateDepot.com. We love doing that. I love shutting down people's websites.
—Rush Limbaugh
Although Rush Limbaugh
has declared that "a normal person would not exploit children to advance what is now known to be a lie," when it comes to climate change Limbaugh
didn't hesitate to attack an eight year old girl, calling out her full name, the name of her school, and the city in which she lived, telling his millions of listeners that her
"little skull" is
"full of mush just waiting to absorb all kinds of rotgut drivel and bilge." What outrageous offense did this child commit to earn such rancor from the king of conservative talk radio?
"Megan Schroeder rides her bike or walks to school to do her part to help the planet." [—AP Story]
It is for these reasons, and many more that thousands of activists have joined together to take Rush down a few pegs. Many use the Stop Rush database at http://stoprush.net to inform his sponsors of his bigotry, his misogyny, his disdain for science and decency, and his generally obnoxious nature. And they are having considerable success; it is estimated that before long, a thousand advertisers will have dropped Rush. If you're on Facebook, one of the most active groups seeking to hold Rush accountable is here.