Limbaugh suggests Jackson died because of Obama

Is there no end to the evil of President Obama?

Published July 1, 2009 10:50PM (EDT)

Thanks to the eternal vigilance of radio host Rush Limbaugh, we already knew that President Obama has the U.S. on a march towards socialism. And we also knew that Obama's policies caused South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford to disappear to Argentina for what turned out to be one last tryst with Maria Belen Chapur. 

Now, we hear that Obama may have even caused the death of the King of Pop.

On his show Wednesday, Limbaugh didn't go quite so far as to suggest Obama was responsible for Michael Jackson's death -- but then, there didn't seem to be any other point to his remarks, except to sing the praises of former President Ronald Reagan. "Jackson's success, if you stop and think of it -- and this is going to really irritate some people, which I will enjoy doing -- Jackson's success paralleled the rebound of the United States under Ronaldus Magnus," Limbaugh said, continuing:

Michael Jackson's biggest successes, and as it turns out his final successes, real successes took place in the eighties. That was Billie Jean, Thriller and all this. I mean he was as weird as he could be but he was profoundly, because of his weirdness, an individual. He wasn't a group member. He reached a level of success that may never be equaled. He flourished under Reagan; he languished under Clinton-Bush; and died under Obama. Let's hope the parallel does not continue.

Seems like Limbaugh was arguing that individualism -- that is, in his mind, Reaganism -- was responsible for Jackson's success, and that the same held true for the U.S. But even assuming everything else about the host's argument held true, it's not like the singer suddenly rejoined the Jackson 5 once Obama was inaugurated. (Actually, he did a decent amount of work with his brothers during the Reagan administration. And the fact that the first allegations of child molestation against him came during the Clinton years may play a small role in the timeline of his career.)

Even Limbaugh's staff apparently questioned the host for saying this, so he took the time to repeat it more than once, reveling in the idea that he was pissing off some liberals by doing so. He was giving himself too much credit -- to get angry at Limbaugh, you have to take him seriously. This sort of attempt to blame Obama for everything bad that happens to anyone, anywhere is too absurd for that.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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