Fingers are pointing and blame is being hurled in different directions after a terrorist gunned down 11 people, killing three, at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs on Friday. Now in custody, the murderer was said to have yelled, “No more baby parts!” This leads many to believe he might have been driven to act out his rage after hearing extremist propaganda about Planned Parenthood. Early in the summer, misleading videos were released regarding the organization’s donation of fetus parts for medical research. All the videos were created to discredit and destroy Planed Parenthood.
Some people blame Friday’s murders on CMP (Center for Medical Progress), the anti-choice group that set up and recorded the undercover interviews/videos. Some blame FOX News for fabricating and broadcasting Planned Parenthood lies, which the Republican lawmakers continue to use in their War Against Women. The GOP 2016 presidential nominees also continue to rant against Planned Parenthood. Carly Fiorina’s lie about a horrible Planned Parenthood video that doesn’t exist was a disgusting assault upon the organization in front of millions of viewers at the second GOP debate. There are also religious right-wing extremists who use the name of their God to justify violence. Most of the erroneous right-wing information has been debunked, but that doesn’t seem to stop anti-choicers, in the public eye, from continuing to spread falsehoods, while they create new ones.
One particular conservative talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, has been twisting the truth about Planned Parenthood for decades. The “King of Hate Radio” is known for malicious commentary that attacks women, Blacks, Muslims, LGBT, the homeless, the poor … in fact, no one seems off-bounds for Limbaugh. For many years, he got away with his vitriol, which many consider to be “hate speech.” Then in 2012, a massive public protest began, causing thousands of advertisers to abandon his show, leaving Limbaugh to barely hold on. Unfortunately, he remains just long enough to spit out what some might now consider to be lethal commentary. His verbal, on-air attacks against Planned Parenthood throughout the years, to millions of listeners, has been relentless. After the CMP videos were released, Limbaugh went on a rampage.
We don’t know how many millions of listeners Rush Limbaugh still reaches, nor do we know if the terrorist, Robert Lewis Dear, who lived in in the mountains without electricity and running water for many years, listened to the talk show host via a battery-powered radio. We do know the venomous rhetoric of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk can be extremely dangerous when consumed and acted out by fearful, angry and unstable listeners.
Here are transcripts to 10 of some of the most slanderous, false, ugly and potentially deadly words Limbaugh has spouted against Planned Parenthood,mostly by way of America’s public radio:
“We cannot ignore the sickening, evil depravity of Planned Parenthood.”
“In case I didn't make myself clear, I... (disgusted sigh) It's just tough. The point about the latest video from Planned Parenthood is that the brain harvested from the aborted baby was taken while the baby was still alive, folks.” -Rush Limbaugh
“Wait a minute. Planned Parenthood does a lot of good things, not just baby killing and throwing fetuses into bags?” -Rush Limbaugh
“This is one of the greatest illustrations of the butchery, if you will, of our culture and the literal attack on words to call what happens in a Planned Parenthood clinic ‘health’? Whether you preface it by saying women's health or whatever, there's nothing healthy going on in here.” -Rush Limbaugh
“Selling these body parts -- the life -- for medical research. And yet, there isn't one medical advancement that any of the people responsible for this can point to and say, ‘Look what we've done! Look at the advances that we've made!’ It's purely for money and profits. It's barbaric beyond any ability I have to describe it.” -Rush Limbaugh
What Rush Limbaugh most likely heard, but fails to tell his audience, is that the New England Journal of Medicine came out to defend Planned Parenthood and how fetal tissue has greatly benefited medical research and the lives of human beings.
“They're talking about it as though it's just... I don't know. It's clear that these people at Planned Parenthood have something other than a soul. They're operating on something clearly foreign to most of us, to be able to clinically discuss the harvesting of organs from newborn babies, the way they're talking about it in here in a detached way. I don't know how you do that.” -Rush Limbaugh
“So, Planned Parenthood -- the people that murder and butcher babies -- are now calling the outfit that exposed all this a bunch of extremists. But they are getting really worried about what's coming, like evidence of Planned Parenthood dissecting aborted babies for organs, dissecting them after birth.” -Rush Limbaugh
In previous years, Limbaugh has enjoyed perpetuating the myth that Planned Parenthood is all about “black genocide,” which is ironic coming from one the media’s most hateful racists:
“Planned Parenthood, doing the job the Klan could never finish.” -Rush Limbaugh
"Planned Parenthood is all about family planning. Yeah, but not the kind you're thinking about. It's called the elimination of black families." -Rush Limbaugh
“Without Planned Parenthood and all of the abortions, the Black population would be 36%.” -Rush Limbaugh
Perhaps Limbaugh thinks if he can pump the black genocide idea and convince the black community, who doubtfully listen to his show, maybe he can get the majority of blacks to vote Republican.
And then we have the most dangerous statement by Rush Limbaugh, alluding to Planned Parenthood and clinics that offer abortions:
“You know how to stop abortion? Require that each one occur with a gun.” -Rush Limbaugh
The last quote should have shut down his show, but big money in politics seems to be stronger in this country, than ethics, truth, and the welfare of its people. So the poisonous lies and contemptible media rhetoric continue under the guise of “news” in order to meet various political agendas, allowed by our First Amendment. The United Kingdom, France, Denmark and the Netherlands have strong laws in place against hate speech and propaganda. America does not—even when there is little doubt that when falsehoods are repeated again and again to the masses, you can brainwash a population. Just ask Hitler.
To take part in the Rush Limbaugh protest:
Sign: Limbaugh Sponsor & Clear Channel/iHeartPetition
Visit/Like: BoycottRush Facebook Group
Join: The Fight To Flush Rush
Visit: StopRush.net
Tweet: #StopRush
h/t Daily Kos community member certainot and StopRush volunteers.
Special thanks to Media Matters for their extensive documentation of right wing Republican propaganda and lies.