Limbaugh said Obama "look[ed] like Ayman Zawahiri" in photo, described Michelle Obama comments as "womb-to-womb frontal attack on Hillary Clinton"

During the February 29 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, guest host Laura Ingraham interviewed Rush Limbaugh, who said, referring to a photograph of Sen. Barack Obama dressed in traditional Somali clothing that was recently posted on the Drudge Report, that Obama "look[ed] like Ayman [al-]Zawahiri," Osama bin Laden's chief collaborator. Additionally, referring to comments by Michelle Obama at a recent campaign event in Zanesville, Ohio, Limbaugh said: "I think this was Michelle Obama with a womb-to-womb frontal attack on Hillary Clinton, and I think Hillary Clinton's seething. I think she knows this. I know most men probably would not pick this up, but this is juicy. It is -- it is just too good."

Limbaugh asserted: "I think that Michelle Obama is seething over the attacks that the Clintons have made against her husband with that photo with, you know, Obama looking like Ayman [al-]Zawahiri, all of this talk about his middle name and so forth." In fact, during the February 26 Democratic primary debate hosted by MSNBC, Clinton denied any knowledge of the photo's release and said, "[T]hat's not the kind of behavior that I condone or expect from the people working in my campaign." Obama responded that he took "Senator Clinton at her word" and said: "So I think that's something that we can set aside."

Yusuf Garaad Omar, head of the BBC's Somali Service, said of the clothes Obama was wearing in the photograph:

These are the normal clothes that nomadic people wear. The head turban is especially used by elderly people as a suggestion of respect. It is something that has no meaning whatsoever in Somalia culture. If you see someone dressed like that in Somalia, you think it is a nomadic person -- that is all. There is no religious significance to it whatsoever. It is mainly the nomadic people who use it. Some of them are religious, some are not. It is simply a tradition of the place where they are from.

Limbaugh has previously made numerous disparaging and controversial remarks about women.

From the February 29 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

INGRAHAM: Rush, I understand that the Rush Limbaugh audience is mobilizing in Texas for Hillary. Am I hearing that right?

LIMBAUGH: I don't know if the audience is mobilizing or not. I am urging people -- I'm using a phrase, the Republicans -- I mean, our nominee is chosen; it's John McCain. Texas is open. And I want Hillary to stay in this, Laura. This is too good a soap opera. We need Barack Obama bloodied up politically, and it's obvious that the Republicans are not going to do it and don't have the stomach for it.

As you probably know, we're getting all kinds of memos from the RNC, saying, "We're not going to be critical there." Mark McKinnon of McCain's campaign says he'll quit if they get critical of Obama. This is the presidency of the United States we're talking about. I want our party to win. I want the Democrats to lose. They're in the midst of tearing themselves apart right now. It is fascinating to watch. And it's all going to stop if Hillary loses.

So, yeah, I'm asking people to cross over and -- if they can stomach it. I know it's a difficult thing to do, to vote for a Clinton. But it will sustain this soap opera, and it's something I think we need. And it'd be fun, too.

INGRAHAM: I mean, Rush, Bill, and Hillary -- very strange bedfellows. I mean, I've never heard of anything like that, but anything to keep the chaos going.

LIMBAUGH: Well, let me tell you what the chaos is. Let me give you a great example. We had Michelle Obama, who was in Zanesville, Ohio, talking to a bunch of people that live there. The income, average income, is below the national average. So is the education level. And Michelle Obama is telling them, don't go into corporate America. Don't be -- she specified two things: Don't become a corporate lawyer and don't become a hedge-fund operator.

Now, Hillary was a corporate lawyer, and Chelsea is in the hedge-fund business. I think that Michelle Obama is seething over the attacks that the Clintons have made against her husband with that photo with, you know, the -- Obama looking like Ayman [al-]Zawahiri, all of this talk about his middle name and so forth.

I think this was Michelle Obama with a womb-to-womb frontal attack on Hillary Clinton, and I think Hillary Clinton's seething. I think she knows this. I know most men probably would not pick this up, but this is juicy. It is -- it is just too good.

The whole point of Michelle Obama's riff was not to talk to that audience in Zanesville. It was -- is to appeal to Hillary Clinton.