Limbaugh: Democrats "set Foley up ... it's all coordinated"

On the October 2 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh suggested that the recent resignation of former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), which came after allegations that Foley sent inappropriate emails to a 16-year-old male congressional page, was a "set ... up" "coordinated" by the Democrats. Limbaugh also stated that "the orgy and the orgasm that has been taking place in the media since Friday and with the Democrats is ... all coordinated, and it's ... all oriented toward the election." He added, "There's no concern about the kid," and blamed Democrats, because "[i]n their hearts and minds and their crotches, they don't have any problem with what Foley did. They've defended it over ... the years." Limbaugh's comments were previously noted in part by Salon.com's War Room.

From the October 2 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: I'm just thinking out loud here. What if somebody got to the page and said, you know, we want you to set Foley up. We need to do a little titillating thing here. Keep it and save it and so forth. How would you get a kid to do that? Yeah, who knows? You threaten him or pay him. There's any number of ways given the kind of people that we're dealing with and talking about here.

Now, folks, I don't want to be misunderstood here. I'm not trying to mount any kind of a defense. That's a bad word. I'm not trying to get into a defense of what Mark Foley did. Please don't misunderstand. I'm just telling you that the -- the -- the orgy and the orgasm that has been taking place in the media since Friday and with the Democrats is -- it's all coordinated, and it's all -- it's all oriented toward the election. There's no concern about the kid -- no concern about the children.

There is -- there is -- there's not even any real problem with what Foley did, as we've discussed. In their hearts and minds and their crotches, they don't have any problem with what Foley did. They've defended it over the -- over the years.

—R.D.