Obama Campaign Fundraises Off Rush Limbaugh

President Obama has made Rush Limbaugh his bête noire before. Back in 2009, he told Republican Congresspeople, “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.” When Rush attacked Sandra Fluke for her bizarre testimony before Democrats in Congress, Obama got directly involved, calling Fluke for a heart-to-heart chat. And just a couple months back, Obama ripped “good, decent” Republicans who had gone into hiding thanks to “an atmosphere in which folks like Rush Limbaugh and Grover Norquist are defining what it means to be a true conservative.”

Now he’s going even further – he’s fundraising off of Rush. Here’s the latest Obama campaign email, titled, “Bad even by Rush standards”:

Benjamin —

If I emailed you every time Rush Limbaugh said something nutty, I wouldn’t be allowed on the internet anymore.

But you need to hear what he said about President Obama on his show yesterday — it says a lot about the people we’re up against in this election.

Direct quote from Mr. Limbaugh:

“I think it can now be said, without equivocation — without equivocation — that this man hates this country. He is trying — Barack Obama is trying — to dismantle, brick by brick, the American dream.”

News flash: Barack Obama — son of a single mother and the first African-American president in U.S. history — embodies the American dream as much as anyone. And in case Rush forgot, here’s what President Obama has said about it: “As long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.”

Rush Limbaugh is someone no one should have to take seriously. But when upwards of 20 million people listen to his show every week, and Mitt Romney says he finds it “hard to disagree with Rush Limbaugh on topics,” we can’t let it go unaddressed.

Let’s respond to Rush Limbaugh by winning this election, shall we? Donate $3 or more today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Rush

Thank you,

Julianna

Julianna Smoot

Deputy Campaign Manager

Obama for America

This is certainly the height of hypocrisy by the Obama campaign – for the President of the United States fundraise off of a radio host after trying to put that host out of business via collusion with Media Matters in an astroturfed boycott certainly smacks of irony. And how about the Obama campaign attacking Rush – a private citizen, just like Sandra Fluke – personally, stating, “Rush Limbaugh is someone no one should have to take seriously”? Since when should the President’s surrogates be attacking individuals who are not members of the government, even if this President seems to make a habit of it?

Unlike President Obamas, who unilaterally makes rules that govern our lives and speaks in contravention of basic foundational American principles, no one has to take Rush Limbaugh seriously. He’s not a member of government. Americans choose to take him seriously because he is a brilliant spokesperson for conservative positions, and because he expresses his viewpoint in entertaining and enlightening – and yes, controversial – style. For Obama to treat Rush like a member of Congress, attacking him for what he says on his radio show, is a desperate and bizarre move. But desperate and bizarre are becoming buzzwords for the Obama campaign.