Rush Limbaugh's False Premise Strikes Again

I shouldn't even give that pathetic right-wing blowhard the time of day, or space on my blog, but here's some of Rush Limbaugh's misguided and misleading reaction to Barack Obama's speech in Berlin:

So now he has to go apologize for the United States of America. This is just beyond the pale. He's talking to Germans and making excuses for the United States of America? Exactly right. This is insulting. It is demeaning. But ladies and gentlemen, if you are wondering when you hear Obama talk about change, this is it. The change is: America sucks, America's deficient, America's guilty. He lives in America, likes the country, but he's a citizen of the world. And he has to go over to Germany, and I don't know about you, but I'm frosted. That was Barack Obama ripping his own country.

Wow. Unfortunately, some voters will get so dizzy from this ridiculous spin that they will actually believe it. "Obama went to Germany and RIPPED AMERICA!!"

Really? When did Obama say that America sucks? How exactly did he rip his own country? Let's take a look at the passages from Obama's speech that got Limbaugh so riled up:

People of Berlin, people of the world, this is our moment. This is our time. I know my country has not perfected itself. At times we struggle to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people, we've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

We acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world. Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from other lands and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people?

Hmm... so now admitting that the U.S. isn't perfect, rejecting torture, shunning discrimination, and keeping the promise of equality and opportunity is now deemed as "insulting" and making excuses for America and held up as an example of "Obama ripping his country."

I know, we should expect and ignore such simple-minded drivel from an idiot like Rush Limbaugh. But I'm concerned about the sadly large percentage of the population that will buy into this faulty logic.