Limbaugh playing for bigger stakes against 'Marxist Pope'

Some time ago we discovered that Rush Limbaugh was the GOP's  Great White Whale with a blowhole as big as Grand Canyon.  He once spouted insanely that Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown law student,  was a " slut"  after she was denied an appearance  before a Republican House committee hearing on contraception and religious liberty.

But he may have topped that reckless remark  by referring to Pope Francis as a Marxist.  Rush was not at all pleased that the Pope had called unregulated  capitalism a "new tyranny"  in raising concerns about the poor.

"Somebody has either written this for him or gotten to him. This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope," Rush declared.

Well, we've heard the same things said about Jesus, which is where the Papacy all began.

With Limbaugh, a multi-millionaire  and then some, it's all about money and his Munchkins called dittoheads. He says he's considered becoming a Catholic.  But that's no longer in his future. Now he is playing on a world stage with his assault on Francis. Maybe he is seeking a still bigger audience - not a pun - to fill in a few more listeners for his show.

But with his money, you'd think the time has come at least for hiring  a new writer.  After all, Pope Francis does have  far more listeners.

Darrell Issa: Catching up with Louie Gohmert

We get a little spooked when we hear a congressman who is  the Republicans' leading investigator  engtangle himself in the the English language. We could have forgiven my immigrant grandmother for imprecise references to little things like verbs and nouns.  But when Darrell Issa, the Republican chairman and Inspector Clouseau of the House Oversight Committee does it, you have to wonder whether America has moved one step closer to Orwell's Newspeak.

Issa,  a forever showboating right-wing nuisance, has yet to produce anything of substance from his feral probes.  Back in February 2012 , you may remember,  he barred Sandra Fluke from appearing on his all-male panel on contraception, supposing she lacked "expertise". That raised the bar to declaring that condoms and such are only a guy thing.

Now, back in the fetid trenches of Benghazi, Issa insisted  that "an act of terror is different from terrorist actions".

Huh?  Right.   For this profound insight into international terrorism and American unpreparedness  (read: Obama/Clinton deriliction) we have  hauled out the cherished Grumpy Abe Linguistic Lunacy  (GALL)  Award for the congressman.

That will put him still a tad behind  on this day to the Louie Gohmert Award.  But with Issa, you can be certain there will  be more opportunities for him to even the score.

UPDATE: Limbo apologizes...He did what?!?

When Rush Limbaugh apologized to Sandra Fluke for denouncing her as a "slut" and a "prostitute", you had to conclude three things: It was getting too hot in the kitchen with sponsors pulling ads from his radio show, that his lawyer framed the apology, and that it was Saturday afternoon when many Americans were at basketball games or shopping the malls and not paying attention. .

But the retreat only made him look like the greater monster that he is. He said: "I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke"

Since Wednesday, as his Republican friends raced to find cover, he not only called the Georgetown law student (who testified before Rep. Nancy's Pelosi's committee on birth control) those slanderous names but alleged that she was sexually promiscuous and wants to be paid by insurance companies to have sex" - so much so, he said, "it's amazing that she can still walk."

You can see, I'm sure, that he was only kidding when , as he put it, "I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation" - even, I suppose when he referred to her as an "anti-

Catholic plant."

Finally he humbled himself by explaining: "My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices."

Sorry, Rush. We heard you the first time.

Limbaugh's landfill is overflowing

WHAT A SPECTACLE! I refer, of course, to the ugly meltdown of Rush Limbaugh, who delights in his slanderous attacks on Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke as a "slut" and "prostitute" while demanding that she provide videos for her alleged sexual encounters! It is the latest political porn from Limbaugh. This, from the guy who as early as 1994 was chosen by GOP congressional conservatives as an "honorary member" of their caucus. But by the looks of things, that, too, is hardly the worst of it. Rush is actually the heart and soul of the Republican Party, and their leaders would agree if they had an ounce of courage to confirm it as we head into the

Super Tuesday GOP primaries.

His intrusion into the campaigns' narrative has drawn the the two Abbot and Costello frontrunners - McMitt Romney and Mc.Rick Santorum - into offering silly, don't-

-bother-me responses. "It's not the language I would have used," shrugged Romney as though he was objecting to a distasteful dressing for his artichoke salad. If not that language, then what other one? He didn't say. Santorum said only that the choice of words was "absurd", but absurdity is not the same as outright slander. John Boehner's aide said the Speaker described Limbaugh's comment as"inappropriate," but added that was also true of the Democrats' trying to raise money from the viral controversy. The round-the-clock primal partisan, Boehner always try to draw blood from the other side.

Interesting how these guys who are forever accusing President Obama of being soft on our overseas enemies cannot solidify their spines to stand up to their honorary congressional member.

No one should be surprised that the Fox folks immediately circled the wagons around Rushbo by deflecting the issue away from birth control, while isolating the debate as solely a religious freedom matter. Echoing the maniacal Limbaugh, Bill O"Reilly accused Sandra Flute of wanting to have others pay for birth control with company-paid insurance. Huffed Dr. O'Reilly (father of two) that birth control was in no way related to health, while Viagra, which was OK with him, dealt with real male health problems. (He said what ?!?!?)

Well, some of Limbaugh's sposnors , including Dan Gilbert, the owner of Quicken Loans Inc. and the Cleveland Cavaliers, has now reversed himself as the kitchen got hotter and withdrawn his ads from Limbaugh's syndicated radio show. But we would be more impressed if Limbaugh's fearful minions in the GOP told him that enough is enough. Fat chance. It's tough to give up your pre-Jurassic notions.