NYT's Brooks Calls Limbaugh Rhetoric Insane, Rush Responds

On Sunday's "Meet the Press," New York Times columnist David Brooks called comments recently made by Rush Limbaugh insane, and the conservative talk radio host has fired back.

On Thursday, Limbaugh said the following in response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Cali.) comments about town hall meeting protesters carrying swastikas:

There are far more similarities between Nancy Pelosi and Adolph Hitler than between these people showing up at town halls to protest a Hitler-like policy.

Brooks apparently didn't like this (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript):

MR. DAVID GREGORY, HOST: Republicans in office and on the airwaves insist the anger is real, reflecting real fears about a government takeover of the healthcare system. But the rhetoric has become extreme.

(Videotape, Thursday)

MR. RUSH LIMBAUGH: There are far more similarities between Nancy Pelosi and Adolph Hitler than between these people showing up at town halls to protest a Hitler-like policy.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY: White House advisers say the tactics will backfire against the GOP. But can the president retake center stage of this debate?

And we're joined now by Jon Meacham of Newsweek magazine, CNBC's Erin Burnett and David Brooks of The New York Times. Welcome to all of you.

So, David, that is the question. What's going on here and how does the president retake center stage?

MR. DAVID BROOKS: I hadn't seen the Rush Limbaugh thing. That is insane. What he's saying is insane.

The Washington Examiner's Byron York got the following response from Limbaugh about this:

Everyone seems to ignore that Pelosi started this, saying town hall participants were showing up with swastikas, etc. That's calling them Nazis, as Dick Durbin referred to our Gitmo interrogators from the Senate floor. I've been listening to the left compare George W. Bush to Hitler for eight years. I've been listening to Democrats and the left compare conservatism to Nazis my whole career. This time I responded.  In kind, by comparing the radical left policies of the Nazis to today's radical left leadership of the Democrat Party.  I'm not surprised they don't like it.

Neither am I.