'Dishonest bunch of SOBs!' Media scorched for distorting coronavirus threat

Rush Limbaugh (video screenshot courtesy RushLimbaugh.com)

The national news media are being hammered for distorting information about the coronavirus threat, with radio's Rush Limbaugh blasting them as a "dishonest bunch of SOBs!"

Limbaugh pointed to the Drudge Report's lead story on Wednesday, with a headline blaring, "TOP DOC: Virus 10 TIMES more lethal than flu." It was from a report by the Week, whose headline was: "Coronavirus is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu, Trump's task force immunologist says."

"Now, wait. That's not the lede," said Limbaugh. "They're burying the lede. That headline is gonna scare people to death. It's an outrageous headline."

"That's not the point of the story. Do you know what's really the point of the story? The fatality rate is just 1 percent from this disease! So who cares if it's 10 times more lethal than the flu? The fatality rate of the coronavirus is 1 percent."

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Limbaugh quoted the Week story, which noted Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, "did clarify that 10 times figure actually brings the new coronavirus' fatality rate lower than official estimates, which hover around 3 percent."

Limbaugh explained: "That's the story. It isn't that it's 10 times more lethal than the flu, and this is how this crap gets politicized!

"Pardon my yelling, but this stuff is what ticks me off, and my instincts tell me this. I know this kind of trickery and monkeying around with stuff is going on in these things because I know the media, I know the left, I know the Democrat Party, and I know how they're trying to scare everybody -- and now they're using Fauci here."

Jim Acosta (CNN screenshot)

Limbaugh continued:

So this is how it works. I'm just watching CNN during the break, and Jim Acosta is saying (summarized), "It's not going great for the White House today! Anthony Fauci has been contradicting the president all day, and most recently pointing out that the virus is 10 times more lethal than the flu." So the Drive-By Media has their headline based on something Fauci said, but they're leaving out the lede.

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They're leaving out the main point that Fauci made.

They're even lying about Fauci "contradicting" Trump all day long now. "Anthony Fauci's got his work cut out for him. He's having to contradict the president all day long by pointing out today that the virus is 10 times more lethal than the flu!" It doesn't matter! What Fauci said is that "10 times more lethal than the flu" figure actually brings the coronavirus fatality lower than official estimates!

Why can't they say that? Why can't they say that the new discovery is that the coronavirus fatality rate is not 3 to 6 percent; it's 1 percent and falling, by the way? Why don't they say that? Well, because it doesn't fit the agenda because there's a political agenda behind this. They have weaponized this, and they're doing everything they can to damage Trump.

This is no more than the continuation of Trump-Russia collusion and the meddling and all that, and then you have the Ukraine impeachment phone call.

"The point of the story is they have learned that the fatality rate is not nearly as high as they thought it was for coronavirus. That's what CNN ought to be telling people! Dishonest bunch of SOBs is what they are. They're doing it on purpose. They know full well! If I can read the story, they can. Fauci knows how they're misreporting it."

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