Rush Limbaugh: Democrats Seek "to Profit Out of Murder"

Rush Limbaugh is not exactly dialing down the rhetoric in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others in Tucson on Saturday.

In his first comments on the tragedy, Limbaugh lashed out at the Democratic Party as one that "seeks to profit out of murder," Roll Call reports, citing Limbaugh's comments as aired on a Tucson station. The Roll Call report also quotes Limbaugh saying that the political left "openly wishes for such disaster in order to profit from it."

The transcript of the program posted to Limbaugh's website, which appears to be incomplete, does not include those quotes. But there is still plenty of incendiary rhetoric to be found. Limbaugh lashes out at the media and Democrats for what he characterizes as a rush to tie alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner to the Tea Party right.

The talk show host argues that "every association that any act of violence has been made with the conservative right has fallen on emptiness. There has never been any evidence of it."

He goes on:

Don't kid yourself. What this was all about is shutting down any and all political opposition and eventually criminalizing it. Criminalizing policy differences, at least when they differ from the Democrat Party agenda. One of the more disturbing things about this incident is that someday the left will finally get their wish. One of these days it's going to happen. This is all setting the table for it. Groups are large. Many people populate groups -- and within any group of people, a sample is gonna find those who are unstable, deranged, and so forth like this kid.

Limbaugh argues that the left is trying to exploit the tragedy to "take away as many political freedoms as they can manage," arguing that the plan is already "in place."

"I wouldn't be surprised if somebody in the Obama administration or some FCC bureaucrat or some Democrat congressman has it already written up, such legislation, sitting in a desk drawer somewhere just waiting for the right event for a clap-down," he said. "They have been trying this ever since the Oklahoma City bombing."

He continues: "And the first thought, the desperate hope that the losers in November of 2010 had, was that they could revitalize their political fortunes because of this unfortunate shooting of a congresswoman in Arizona. That was the most important thing to them -- and that, to me, is sick. You know that they were rubbing hands together. You know that they were e-mailing and calling each other on the phones saying, 'A-ha, this might be the one! This might be the one where we can officially tie it to these guys and shut 'em up and shut 'em down.'"

"They want you to believe that sadness was on the order of the day, and I'm sure it was, but the opportunity! They couldn't help themselves," adds Limbaugh. "They just couldn't help themselves."

Limbaugh then laments the criticism of Sarah Palin in connection with the incident, calling it "insane," and asks if Loughner's parents are "derelicts" or "did they just draw an unlucky card, get a kid born with mental issues." He repeatedly references Loughner's alleged marijuana use and says, "mental health issues like this [are] often caused by drug use."

He also argues what he calls a "partial list of some of the incidents the left has tried to pin on conservatives," including the Oklahoma City bombing, the Times Square bombing attempt, and the DC sniper case.

"They sit around and they wait for these events to happen, hoping and praying that what they know are lies -- what they know are false allegations, nonexistent associations -- can somehow be made to be believed by the public at large," said Limbaugh.