Blitzer brought up Limbaugh just after the bottom of the 6 pm Eastern hour during in a panel discussion with Begala, Republican strategist Ed Rollins, and CNN personalities Gloria Borger, Joe Johns, and Jessica Yellin. The anchor asked Johns, “Rush Limbaugh- he’s thinking about buying, or at least, participating in a group that’s buys the St. Louis Rams in the NFL....What, if anything, would that mean for the St. Louis Rams?” Johns replied, “Probably very little....you know, [if] you’ve got a good football team in a place...like St. Louis, people are going to watch. And so what if Rush Limbaugh is the owner” [see video from the segment below the jump].
Begala interjected himself at this point with his crack about his adversary on the right: “Just- just don’t put him in charge of the team’s drug policy. That’s the only thing. Don’t give him access to that medicine cabinet.” All of the other panelists smiled and/or laughed in response to Begala’s remark. Blitzer turned to Rollins and remarked about how “there’s a lot of liberals in St. Louis, as you well know.” The Republican answered, “Just so long as he has deep pockets and spends on a good team- you know, you have to- I will pit Rush Limbaugh, as unpopular he may be among liberals, against the owner of the Washington Redskins [Dan Snyder] any given day on a popularity contest.”
The strategist has a history of bashing Limbaugh by using the host’s past addiction to prescription painkillers. On Election Night 2006, Begala insulted the conservative host as a “drug-addled gasbag.” Nine months later in August 2007, during another panel discussion on The Situation Room, the strategist attacked Republicans for “going after people’s families,” lumping in Limbaugh in his offensive: “Not just attacking Bill Clinton, we remember Rush Limbaugh attacking Chelsea Clinton. Maybe it was the OxyContin talking.” Earlier in 2009, he labeled the talk radio giant a “corpulent drug addict.”
The transcript of the relevant portion of the panel discussion segment from Tuesday’s Situation Room:
WOLF BLITZER (to Joe Johns, CNN correspondent): Joe, Rush Limbaugh- he’s thinking about buying, or at least, participating in a group that’s buys the St. Louis Rams in the NFL. We love football.
JOE JOHNS: Absolutely.
BLITZER: What, if anything, would that mean for the St. Louis Rams?
JOHNS: Probably very little (laughs), because-
BLITZER: They’re not very good.
JOHNS: Frankly- you know, [if] you’ve got a good football team in a place like- like St. Louis, people are going to watch. And so what if Rush Limbaugh is the owner. That’s the only kind-
PAUL BEGALA: Just- just don’t put him in charge of the team’s drug policy. (Johns, Gloria Borger, and Jessica Yellin all laugh). That’s the only thing. Don’t give him access to that medicine cabinet. (unintelligible crosstalk)
BLITZER (to Ed Rollins, Republican strategist): Because you know- you know- Ed, there’s a lot of liberals in St. Louis, as you well know.
ED ROLLINS: Just so long as he has deep pockets and spends on a good team- you know, you have to- I will pit Rush Limbaugh, as unpopular he may be among liberals, against the owner of the Washington Redskins any given day on a popularity contest.
