Ever since Friday afternoon, when Matt Drudge tweeted that he had just paid the “ObamaCare penalty for not getting covered” and called it a “Liberty Tax,” that post by the editor of the Drudge Report website has been slammed as a “flat lie” and “bad press” for the approaching March 31 enrollment deadline of the Affordable Care Act.
However, during Monday's edition of Rush Limbaugh's weekday radio program, the conservative host accused members of the media of trying “to smear and destroy” Drudge and anyone else “they consider to be the enemy of Obama.” Before long, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin praised Limbaugh as “consistently loyal to the cause of justice,” including his defense of Drudge “for calling out 'Obamascare.'”
As NewsBusters previously reported, Drudge's first post on the matter on his website came several hours after his tweet, and its headline read: “OBAMACARE TAX COLLECTION BEGINS; WHITE HOUSE SLAMS DRUDGE 'LIE.'”
The White House's tweeted response to which Drudge referred stated: “Flat lie, no fee for previous year. Scary how much influence he once had." That snarky reply was written by Jessie Lee, the Obama administration's director of progressive media and online response.
However, the discussion wasn't about taxes paid in 2014 for 2013, but instead dealt with taxes for this year, which those who are required to pay quarterly estimated payments must make during 2014.
In a March 23 tweet, Drudge pointed out: "IRS form 1040 ES 2014 recommends us quarterly filers estimate and pay ObamaCare tax NOW!"
Then on Monday, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh weighed in on the back-and-forth between Drudge -- whom he called a man running a small business -- and the “mainstream” media, which the radio personality said are “pig ignorant” in matters regarding taxes and the economy -- and anything else, for that matter.
He stated: “It’s on the IRS website, and still the media is running around calling Drudge a liar. Drudge is abiding by the law. … They are accusing him of trying to damage Obama. He is now referring to them as the 'Obama media.'"
Limbaugh then added:
The point here is that this is total willful ignorance on the part of people who are members of the media and supposedly experts on taxes and economics. They are supposed to know more than you do so they can tell you what all this means when it is discussed on the news.
But they are so in the tank for Obama that all they’re attuned to is anything that might appear harmful or damaging to Obama. They then have to circle the wagons as is always the case rather than debate the merits of anything. The objective is to smear and destroy whoever they consider to be the enemy of Obama.
Soon after, Palin wrote this message on the Facebook social media website:
From one Dittohead to all you others, aren't you thankful Rush defends truth, and as importantly, he defends those speaking truth? Rush is consistently loyal to the cause of justice, walking the walk as he does here in defense of Drudge calling out “Obamascare.”
It's not commonplace that someone with as high profile as is humanly possible takes valuable time to defend others. Very admirable. Very.
Also on Monday, the former Alaska governor blasted what she called the “yahoo reporters” and “crackerjack journalists” who “still squirm around with their herd mentality to avoid the obvious.”
"Their credibility is long gone,” Palin asserted, “and they waste your time, America.” She then urged people to “tap out” and change the channel if they have had enough of the liberal view of the news.
Drudge has also received some unexpected support from Rick Klein, the political director of ABC News, who stated: “Rule 1 of Twitter is that if you're going to pick a fight, be right.”
“Rule 2 is if you're going to pick a fight with Matt Drudge, you super-duper better be right because the guy has a lot of influence still,” Klein added.
It must greatly disappoint people in the mainstream media that Americans now have a variety of sources from which to get our news. As a result, the press can't get away with unsubstantiated claims and false information like they used to.
Two of the people we have to thank for that turn of events are Matt Drudge and Rush Limbaugh, while Sarah Palin has done her share of promoting conservative concepts as well. As a result, the “bad old days” are hopefully gone forever.
