Hear audio of Limbaugh's comment here.
Kennedy has long been a target of conservative criticism, and his name, at times, has been used as a rallying cry by conservatives who have referenced him as an emblem of liberalism (East Coast liberalism in particular). The tone and gist of Rush's comment, some time ago, wouldn't have sounded out of place, save the word "memorial," which is the crux of this and many other articles Friday night.
But since his health problems began last year (he was diagnosed with brain cancer in May, underwent surgery in June, suffered a seizure in September and another on Inauguration Day at a post-ceremony luncheon), those references have basically ceased. Attitudes toward Kennedy from his conservative colleagues in the Senate, especially, have been congenial and supportive. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), one of the nation's most conservative senators and a member of Kennedy's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, welcomed Kennedy when the Massachusetts senator returned to the Capitol in January to chair a committee hearing, adding, "I can't wait 'til that thundering voice comes at me on the Senate floor."So partisan rhetoric has largely been absent from references to Kennedy since May. Not so from Rush.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/03/limbaugh-and-the-kennedy-memorial-health-bill/1316/
