They must be wearing them - especially the 21-year-old woman quoted in another Salon article who incomprehensibly shouted "Are you married?" at Rush during his rambling monologue.

I haven't seen him in years and was frankly shocked at how he looked. Obese (again), pasty, white, doughy skin, sunken eyes and nearly bald, and rambling and repeating himself by the end of his remarks. My first thought was "He's sick - or he's abusing something again."

How this translates into "cool rock star" is beyond me.

I don't know if I would characterize McConnell as sounding like a teenager with a crush. He looks pretty lifeless to me. His words, delivery, and demeanor are pathetic. Embarrassing and pathetic.

Maybe this is why Rush has been unable to have a long-term, satisfying relationship with a woman: Rush is not heterosexual, RUSH IS ACTUALLY GAY!

Only 63% of Democrats disapprove of Limbaugh? WTF is up with that? My parents are life-long, hardcore Republicans, and even they can't stand him (they can't stand Coulter, either, for that matter. George Will is their guy...).

Between being propped up as the token black guy for the GOP and having to be an apologist for guys like Limbaugh in public (because God forbid Limbaugh should face his critics himself) I wonder if he's having second thoughts about what he's gotten himself into. If Limbaugh is the face of the GOP and the conservative movement as a whole, winning over new converts is gonna be a lot harder then they think.

I can't comment on or critique the content. They were speaking in tongues and I had no translator.

I actually spent Saturday afternoon listening to Rush ramble and ramble and ramble. It made for a number of laughs while dusting and vacuuming. I agree with Joan and love the fact that this guy is the speaker for the Elephants as it totally underscores the lack of fresh leaders/ideas/morals of the party. When you are still clinging to "Reaganomics" as the answer, you know the ship is taking on water. I am 33yo and grew-up during Reagan, but new voters aged 18yo consider Reagan history and have no recollecton of the Gipper...how is the RP going to sell this antiquated and obviously wrong approach to the economy when the people "buying" couldn't care less?

Was a simple reaction to the visual, and it's not intended as a joke or sarcasm. Dead serious. Limbaugh is still on drugs.

Who wants to hang out with guys like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich, when you can be with Rush?

Translation:

Who wants to go to college when you can get by just fine with a GED?

If Mitch had gotten his pouty way, there wouldn't even be GEDs in the state he claims to serve. The program is having to scramble for funding to continue and trying to qualify for stimulus dollars since the state budget has been slashed to ribbons.

Honestly, Mitch McConnell can move into Rush's bedroom for all I care. I just want the man out of our state and no longer claiming to represent Kentuckians. He certainly does nothing of the kind.

Mitch McConnell: "You complete me."

Rush Limbaugh: "You had me at hello."

You know, while I usually love reading your column, Joan, I have to say that I take issue with the insinuation inherent in this particular post. Do you really think that Mitch McConnell has a "crush" on Rush? That Rush makes McConnell "flushed and overexcited"? That he should "cool down" from his "Limbaugh lust"?

Don't get me wrong - Rush Limbaugh is a cancer on the GOP and the GOP is a cancer on the American body politic, but how does your sexualizing of his influence on the GOP differ from the feminizing of Obama by Maureen Dowd that you so correctly criticized in your preceding post? I can't see any difference between her attempts to emasculate Obama and your not-so-subtle effort to homosexualize McConnell's/the GOP's attentions to Rush. In both cases a "high school mean girl" method is being used, not to criticize their politics but to impugn their personal sexuality/masculinity. What does either example have to do with the political ideologies/abilities to govern of those being referenced?

You can't have it both ways, Joan. Either we're all going to accept and approve this sort of commentary or we're going to refrain from engaging in it ourselves in order to legitimize our criticism of it from right-wingers.

Further, as a gay man and fellow San Franciscan who reads you consistently, I know that you're no anti-gay bigot, Joan. And that makes it harder for me to understand this effort to sniggeringly paint McConnell/the GOP pink as if that will make them less credible or serious. That's the sort of "That's so gay" innuendo that I'd expect from Michelle Malkin. It's unworthy of you, it's unworthy of Salon and it's unworthy of the left.

I am 100% in favor of him being the leader and face of the republicans. I love that they are so foolish to accept him as their master. He is incredibly helpful to Democrats in this position. Since they have adopted Hoover's economic policies and Rush's values and have the oh so charming and lovable Mitch McConnell as their minority leader, it looks like 2010 is shaping up quite nicely. Way to go republicans. Please keep it up. Bobby Jindal sure sounded brilliant the other night. I am sure he is just full of ideas...or something.

Maybe they can talk Dick Armey into trying to help secure the female vote.

Why is Salon continuously linking to the OpenSalon "story" that treats Rep. Bachmann unfairly? Sure, she looked dumb and even a little racist with her send up last week, but the story you link to here (and on the Salon homepage) is a parody that reads a little too much like a real news story for my tastes, and others'... Commenters on the OpenSalon blog have raised the question of whether it is real, and I was tricked for a moment as well, before realizing the blogger was not spelling the Congresswoman's name right, and thus, probably not a reliable source of information. It all seems a little childish.