Limbaugh hopes to drown poor voters by 'shoring up levees' with 'bags of money'

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday proposed putting "bags of money" around the levees in New Orleans so that "Republicans can get rid of even more Democrats" when poor people drowned because they tried to make off with the cash.

"We are mere hours away from Tropical Storm Isaac, which everybody's desperately hoping becomes a hurricane," the conservative icon pointed out during his Tuesday morning broadcast. "It's the Democrats' wet dream that this thing hits New Orleans!"

Recalling the way that President George W. Bush's administration bungled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina seven years ago, Limbaugh decided to offer the Republicans a few tip on dealing with the current storm.

The first idea seemed reasonable enough: "First thing we do is offer to send 500 bus drivers to New Orleans, paid for by us, to make sure that the busses that were not used by the Democrat mayor during Hurricane Katrina will be used to evacuate people should it become necessary."

But the next proposal was shocking and cynical, even by Limbaugh standards.

"The second thing that I think the Republicans ought to do is send bags of money instead of sand," he said. "Bags full of money to shore up the levees in New Orleans."

"So, we have Romney's five sons deliver the bags of money to shore up the levees," he added. "Now this will accomplish much. It will show our compassion."

"And it will do something else: Once we publicize that we have sent 500 bags of money -- well, whatever number of bags -- bags filled with money to shore up the levees, what will happen? The poor of New Orleans will storm the levees and steal the bags, thereby putting themselves at risk for the eventual flooding that will happen once they remove the bags of money. And that way, Republicans can get rid of even more Democrats in Louisiana and shore up the state for themselves."

Limbaugh seemed to be referring to a discredited media narrative created after the 2005 storm, that minorities in New Orleans looted the city.

"Repeatedly, reporters refer to white victims clinging to life as 'survivors' and 'residents,' while African-American victims doing the same things are called 'looters" and 'criminals,' Van Jones noted at the time.

"Disproportionately, the humanizing, 'heart-breaker' stories feature white victims and families. Meanwhile, images of African-American crowds are almost invariably in the background during discussions of 'criminal activity,'" Jones wrote. "This is the kind of shameful bias that keeps the country divided, even during awful tragedies like this."

Tropical Storm Isaac was upgraded to a hurricane on Tuesday and was expected to make landfall before Wednesday morning.

Listen to this audio from The Rush Limbaugh Show via DailyRushbo, broadcast Aug. 28, 2012.

(h/t: Mediaite)