Oh, Rush

You know, it's funny enough when Rush Limbaugh gets punk'd by a prank. It's a whole 'nother level of funny when he tries to defend himself.

Last Friday, Rush stumbled upon a hot and juicy exclusive - Obama's college thesis, in which he wrote:

'While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned,' read the fake report on Obama's Columbia University thesis, referring to the Constitution. 'While many believed that the new Constitution gave them liberty, it instead fitted them with the shackles of hypocrisy.'

Limbaugh went off on his show.

'So here is who we have as our president of the United States: an anti-constitutionalist man who finds it an obstacle and is finding ways around it on purpose, unconstitutionally,' Limbaugh said.

The fires were stoked, according to Limbaugh, because someone at Time had this story for months and was sitting on it. The outrage! The injustice! The spittle flecked rant!

One problem - it was all a hoax, which Rush fell for hook line and sinker.

Which is funny enough. But what's really revealing is how Rush handled the news:

Later in the program, Limbaugh learned the report was a fake and alerted his listeners. But he insisted the fabricated thesis was still in line with what the president thinks, the New York Daily news reported.

'So I shout from the mountaintops: 'It was satire!'' Limbaugh said on the program. 'But we know he (Obama) thinks it. Good comedy, to be comedy, must contain an element of truth, and we know how he feels about distribution of wealth.'

In other words, the important thing is what Rush thinks about Obama, not the actual truth of the matter. That's particularly ironic, coming from Rush.

Remember the dust up when he was booted out of the group looking to buy into the St. Louis Rams a couple of weeks back? Turns out that several of the racist statements attributed to Rush, some of which were picked up by the mainstream media, were hoaxes themselves. Rush fans were outraged. Turns out, all that outrage was wasted, as Rush has now shown that what someone actually says isn't important, it's what we think they said (or really think) that's important.

Thanks for clearing that up, Rush!