On the May 14 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh asserted, “If [Sen.] Barack Obama were Caucasian, they would have taken this guy out on the basis of pure ignorance long ago.” Limbaugh made the comment after stating that “this is from the guy who said he has visited 57 states,” suggesting that Obama mishandled the flag pin controversy, and after playing an audio clip of Obama, speaking before an audience in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Limbaugh's hometown, in which Obama said: “Right now, we don't have enough troops. And NATO hasn't provided enough troops because they are still angry about us going into Iraq. So, we just don't have enough capacity right now to deal with -- and it's not just troops, by the way. It's, like, Arab -- Arabic interpreters, Arab language speakers. We only have a certain number of them, and if they're all in Iraq, then it's harder for us to use them. And obviously, they may not speak Arabic, but the various dialects that they speak in Afghanistan -- oftentimes people who speak Urdu or Pashtun or whatever the languages are -- they're going to be needed in those areas, and a lot of them have ended up being placed elsewhere. So, we've got to focus on Afghanistan.”

After playing the clip of Obama's comments, Limbaugh said:

LIMBAUGH: Ladies and gentlemen, what you just heard was the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee wandering aimlessly in desperate hope for a cogent thought. His point was -- he was trying to tell these people in his audience in Cape Girardeau yesterday that our foreign policy's all screwed up 'cause every asset that we need to actually win the war against Islamofascists is in Iraq. And that's a phony war, it shouldn't have happened. We don't even have any Arabic translators for Afghanistan. And then, he quickly realized, “Wait a minute. They don't speak Arabic there. Oh God, what am I going to do? What --” Then he makes up a couple languages that they speak. But then he said, “We need some Arabic translators there because you never know who is there.”

The ABCNews.com Political Radar blog said of Obama's statement in a May 13 post that “Obama posited -- incorrectly -- that Arabic translators deployed in Iraq are needed in Afghanistan -- forgetting, momentarily, that Afghans don't speak Arabic.” In responding to the post, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton reportedly said that "[t]his poorly researched and written piece is inaccurate in that it just completely ignores the need for Arabic translators in Afghanistan" and noted the presence of foreign fighters in Afghanistan, including those from “various Arab countries,” as The New York Times reported in October 2007. In addition, during a report on the January 18, 2002, edition of PBS' NewsHour, correspondent Spencer Michels reported that “U.S. intelligence agencies and the military have been scrambling to hire or train speakers of Middle Eastern languages like Arabic, Farsi, and Pashto, all languages spoken in Afghanistan.”

Further, contrary to Limbaugh's assertion that Obama “ma[de] up a couple languages that they speak” in Afghanistan, Urdu is spoken there, and Pashtu or Pashto is one of the official languages of the country.

Moreover, when Sen. John McCain made the admittedly false claim at a March 18 press conference in Jordan that Iranian operatives are “taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back,” Limbaugh downplayed the misstatement as “this little -- this gaffe.” Indeed, on the March 21 edition of his show, a caller asked, “McCain was wrong? McCain was not wrong.” Limbaugh responded, “It doesn't matter whether McCain's right or wrong. This is what the Democrats do. They're going to try to attack. And Obama's desperately trying to change the subject, and he's trying to make it look like he's already won the nomination. So, he's focusing on McCain, who is the presumptive Republican nominee. It's -- and he knows the drive-bys are going to carry his water. He knows the drive-bys will then go to McCain and play this little -- this gaffe up and so forth.”

From the May 14 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: All right, ladies and gentlemen. Barack Obama was in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, yesterday -- watched the speech, watched his appearance, did not see all the Q&A, but we heard enough. Here is a portion of remarks made by Barack Obama in Rush Limbaugh country.

OBAMA [audio clip]: Right now, we don't have enough troops. And NATO hasn't provided enough troops because they are still angry about us going into Iraq. So, we just don't have enough capacity right now to deal with -- and it's not just troops, by the way. It's, like, Arab -- Arabic interpreters, Arab language speakers. We only have a certain number of them, and if they're all in Iraq, then it's harder for us to use them. And obviously, they may not speak Arabic, but the various dialects that they speak in Afghanistan -- oftentimes people who speak Urdu or Pashtun or whatever the languages are -- they're going to be needed in those areas, and a lot of them have ended up being placed elsewhere. So, we've got to focus on Afghanistan.

LIMBAUGH: Ladies and gentlemen, what you just heard was the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee wandering aimlessly in desperate hope for a cogent thought. His point was -- he was trying to tell these people in his audience in Cape Girardeau yesterday that our foreign policy's all screwed up 'cause every asset that we need to actually win the war against Islamofascists is in Iraq. And that's a phony war, it shouldn't have happened. We don't even have any Arabic translators for Afghanistan. And then, he quickly realized, “Wait a minute. They don't speak Arabic there. Oh God, what am I going to do? What --” Then he makes up a couple languages that they speak. But then he said, “We need some Arabic translators there because you never know who is there.”

They speak Dari and Pashto in Afghanistan. I have been there. Afghans do not speak Arabic. Now, this is from the guy who said he has visited 57 states. This is the guy who -- by the way, when he was on the floor of the U.S. Senate yesterday, was not wearing his American flag lapel pin.

When he showed up in Cape Girardeau, he was wearing his American flag lapel pin. Now here is the thing about this: Nobody would be making a big deal of it other than he started it. He made a big point of telling everybody why he was not going to wear the flag pin after 9-11, because he wanted to show real patriotism, patriotism ideas, not the patriotism of symbols.

So, he brought it up, so people started paying attention to it. And a lot of people say, “Come on, there's other things about Obama that we can talk about. Let's not mess around with the flag pin business. It's not going to get us anywhere.” But now he takes it off, now he takes it on. Depending on where he is, he puts it on. Depending on where he is, he takes it off.

On the floor of the Senate, doesn't want the flag pin on. Probably doesn't want his Democrat buddies to see it. When he gets to Cape Girardeau in a Republican district, swing state, bam-o -- time to put the flag pin back on.

I am just telling you, if this guy were Dan Quayle -- if he -- can I channel Geraldine Ferraro? If Barack Obama were Caucasian, they would have taken this guy out on the basis of pure ignorance long ago.

Now, Democrats keep telling us that George W. Bush is an idiot. And a lot of Democrats think that George W. Bush is an idiot because he can't speak. He can't articulate. Here's Obama. Let's listen to this again, audio sound bite number five. Here's Obama without a teleprompter. You tell me if what you're hearing is a man with gravitas.

OBAMA [audio clip]: Right now, we don't have enough troops. And NATO hasn't provided enough troops because they are still angry about us going into Iraq. So, we just don't have enough capacity right now to deal with -- and it's not just troops, by the way. It's, like, Arab -- Arabic interpreters, Arab language speakers.

LIMBAUGH: Yeah.

OBAMA [audio clip]: We only have a certain number of them --

LIMBAUGH: Hmm-mm.

OBAMA [audio clip]: -- and if they're all in Iraq, then it's harder for us to use them. And obviously, they may not speak Arabic, but the various dialects that they speak in Afghanistan -- oftentimes people who speak Urdu or Pashtun or whatever the languages are --

LIMBAUGH: Pashto.

OBAMA: -- they're going to be needed in those areas, and a lot of them have ended up being placed elsewhere. So, we've got to focus on Afghanistan.

LIMBAUGH: Wow. Now, there's a giant intellect on parade. That, ladies and gentlemen, is an intimidating intellect. There, I guess, is the gravitas that the Democrats keep telling us George W. Bush lacks.

Forty percentage points -- Hillary Clinton wins in West Virginia by 40 percentage points. The drive-by media today is just ripping its hair out. Why don't she quit? Why won't she quit? Why won't she quit for the good of the party? Why won't she get out? Why --

Drive-bys, she's not doing this for you. Drive-bys, what's the big deal with the party? Are you members of the Democrat -- I thought you guys -- you know, objective and all that? What do you care what happens to the Democrat party? Why won't she get out? Why won't she get -- they're also upset that their guy can't close the deal. And sit around and say that all these Republicans are voting against McCain in the primaries -- which they are. How about all these Democrats voting against Obama since February 22nd, drive-bys? Why don't you tell us about that?

From the March 21 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

CALLER: Thank you for taking my call. I wanted to talk to you about this Obama character --

LIMBAUGH: Yeah.

CALLER: -- which -- I am a typical white person, and I question his patriotism. I question that he's been defending this Reverend Wright and has yet never shown any kind of passion for this land, for this country, as a whole, and as -- this nation as a whole. My second issue with Obama is the fact that he's keep [sic] correcting Senator McCain, but if we all remember, this guy doesn't even know his recent history.

All of the -- some of the head of Al Qaeda and Taliban ran to Iran, and they were being harbored by that government. That government has been doing that for many years. Where is he coming from saying that Iran has never supported Al Qaeda? Why doesn't he sit and listen to our generals?

LIMBAUGH: Wait a minute. I lost you during there, because you're talking -- are you talking about McCain at the end of that, or are you talking about Obama?

CALLER: Obama. And I'm saying, why is he thinking that Obama was -- I mean, McCain was wrong? McCain was not wrong. Iran has been harboring Al Qaeda.

LIMBAUGH: No, OK. OK. It doesn't matter, Paris. It doesn't matter whether McCain's right or wrong. This is what the Democrats do. They're going to try to attack. And Obama's desperately trying to change the subject, and he's trying to make it look like he's already won the nomination. So, he's focusing on McCain, who is the presumptive Republican nominee. It's -- and he knows the drive-bys are going to carry his water. He knows the drive-bys will then go to McCain and play this little -- this gaffe up and so forth.

This is who the Democrats are, and this is -- you know, McCain's not going to play this game.