Rushmania

“Sixteen electrodes do not anywhere come near compensating for the spectrum range that 40,000 hair cells can detect. So, for example, in the case of music, all music that I have not heard before sounds the same note. If I haven’t heard the music before I can’t listen to it because it all sounds the name note.” — from: “Rush to get bionic tune up.”(Show transcript/4hearingloss.com)

With Emanuel on Face The Nation, then Gibbs on Monday calling out Limbaugh’s speech at CPAC on Saturday, Rush — and his desire to see Obama fail — has been the political focus of the week. Despite plenty of options to choose from, both WAPO and the NYT ran the same picture of “the head of the Republican Party” within the past few days. Why?

1.) Corpulence.

2.) The classic harangue (I guess this really should have been #1, and maybe #2 and #3 also).

3.) The appalling evidence the man was actually in the White House within the past few months.

4.) View of the cyborg-like implant device — the hearing problem being the central metaphor.

5.) The embellishment of an unindicted war criminal.

6.) The practically stereophonic alter-ego-like, “good times-still-rolling,” red-faced cackling suits just behind.

And, don’t miss the January ’09 photo caption below — which couldn’t be more amusing at this point.

(image: J. Scott Applewhite/AP. caption: In this Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009 file photo, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh talks with former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, left, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Out of power and out of favor, the Republicans must choose: work with a popular new president who is seeking their input or set themselves apart by opposing his economic rescue plan and pray that it fails. So far, it’s been a touch of both.)