Considering the fact that Rush rarely gets personal in his skewering of Democrats, recent remarks by high level Democrats about the talk show host reveal a pettiness and viciousness that is pretty shocking.

Paul Begala on Rush:

"Rush is the bloated face and drug-addled voice of the Republican Party," said Paul Begala, a longtime Democratic strategist who rose to prominence during Bill Clinton's presidency. "Along with lots of others, I intend to continue to turn up the heat until every alleged Republican either endorses or renounces Rush's statement that he hopes our president fails."

A spokesman for Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, Todd Jurkowski, confirms a Grayson quote floating around on some blogs:

I’m sorry Limbaugh called for harsh sentences for drug addicts while he was a drug addict. I’m also sorry that he’s bent on seeing America fail. And I’m sorry that Limbaugh is one sorry excuse for a human being.

Grayson, who had previously called Limbaugh a "has-been hypocrite loser," seems to have done himself one better.

The day that 20 million people listen to anything Grayson has to say - much less on a daily basis - is the day he will be qualified to call Limbaugh a "has been loser."

It was social liberals who fought for decades to get addiction recognized as a disease rather than simple human weakness. Now, like sexual harassment as a serious matter being tossed under the bus during the Clinton-Lewinsky battle, the left is perfectly willing to use someone's medical condition as a cruel jibe in a political war.

RNC Chair Michael Steele referred to Limbaugh's speech at CPAC as "ugly and incendiary." Can't get much uglier than Begala and Grayson and their hurtful taunts about Limbaugh's addiction. 

Of course, it's all part of a new strategy by the Democrats to distract people from the epic failures of the Obama Administration.

According to [Jonathan] Martin, the Rush "controversy" began as an idea last fall that followed a poll taken by Stanley Greenberg, who owns the house where White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel stays when he is in Washington. With his old Clinton Administration colleagues, Paul Begala and James Carville, Greenberg realized that Limbaugh was deeply unpopular among wide swaths of the American electorate. So, the strategists figured, why not turn the turn Republican Party into a Limbaughesque caricature? Limbaugh, a consummate publicity hound, was only too eager to help. Earlier this year, he said he hoped Obama "fails," a reasonable claim in context, given that Limbaugh's entire worldview is constructed around an opposition to the sorts of policies that Obama has proposed.

Begala may have to amend his promise to get every Republican to repudiate Rush. Congressman Grayson has apologized to Limbaugh for his remarks.

Hat Tip: Ed Lasky