Birthers. Truthers. Deathers. Thanks to a Limbaugh lie, we might have Cancelers.
Except that Limbaugh is hereby totally debunked.
Rush Limbaugh told another BIG LIE today
RUSH: There's something else about a second term agenda. For you people who are well-heeled in the world of finance, I saw something speculated about. Business Insider I think was the website over the weekend. Any of you remember the Matrix movies? What's that actor's name that played Neo? Yeah, Keanu Reeves. He took the red pill, remember? The red pill. What was the red pill? Do you remember what the red pill did? It just wiped out current reality. It just eliminated current reality.
--Rush Limbaugh: Iran Leak Previews Obama Second Term, October 22, 2012
Well, that's easy enough to check.
Joe Weisenthal wrote three articles for the
Business Insider, one on
Saturday, one on
Sunday, and one on
Monday, each of which discussed debt in terms of a movie scene.
"Thinking about the Fed ripping up the debt is the monetary equivalent of taking the Red Pill in the Matrix" wrote Weisenthal on Saturday.
"The Red Pill, of course, is what Neo took in the Matrix" wrote Weisenthal on Sunday.
Without skipping a beat, Rush Limbaugh segued from the "red pill" mentioned in the article directly to commentary about Obama:
RUSH: There are some people speculating that in a second term, Obama would simply cancel all American debt. Just cancel it! And in the process, totally destroy the value of the US dollar. Just cancel it. You're asking, "How does he do that?" Well, you work with the Federal Reserve and you just cancel the debt. You just wipe it out and say, 'We're canceling it and we're starting fresh. We're starting brand-new, starting all over."
And then what do the ChiComs do? What happens? It's not anything etched in stone, but this is the kind of thing people are speculating could happen. By the way, it would not be good. No, no, no. It would not be good. Don't misunderstand. It would destroy the dollar. It would destroy the value of the dollar, plus a whole bunch of other things. But I'm telling you these are the kinds of things people are speculating would be in store for us in a second term, and that's why Obama's not talking about it.
He doesn't dare.
He doesn't dare illuminate the possibilities of a second term.
There's no way.
--Rush Limbaugh: Iran Leak Previews Obama Second Term, October 22, 2012
Just one little problem. Weisenthal NEVER MENTIONED OBAMA in any of his three articles. Weisenthal was referring specifically to European and Japanese debt. When he does very briefly mention the United States, he notes, "in the US or the UK (except politically) there's no impetus for either central bank to actually do this."
So when Limbaugh claims "[t]here are some people speculating that in a second term, Obama would simply cancel all American debt", the only person guilty of such speculation is Limbaugh himself.
Limbaugh is contradicted on the "identity" question (since he's the ONLY person mentioning Obama in these terms), but he's also contradicted on the "simplicity" claim, offering an interpretation precisely opposite that of his source.
Rush Limbaugh: faker. Liar. Bullsh*t artist. Purveyor of flagrantly partisan conspiracy theories conjured out of thin air.
Media Matters for America has the audio.
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