In Defense of Rush

Rush Limbaugh doesn't have many defenders these days, but Paul Theroux is crying foul over the reaction to Limbaugh's now-infamous "slut" remark. Sure, the shock jock's dismissal of Sandra Fluke was "offensive hyperbole," and "odd for the man whose idea of a good time is a week in the Dominican Republic with a bagful of Viagra," writes Theroux in the Daily Beast. But what about lefties who dismiss "George Bush as a chimp, and Sarah Palin as a skank"?

"You have to give Limbaugh a pass," Theroux says, "otherwise you lose the right to go on calling Gingrich and Eric Cantor pimps for Israel, and Rick Santorum a mental midget, and if you foreswear colorful, if not robust or wicked language altogether you might as well shut up." For Theroux's entertaining asides about America's obsession with sex, its inability to produce satire, and Limbaugh's role "as a gas bag on the sidelines," see the full column here. (More Rush Limbaugh stories.)