In a January 11 post titled, “The Poison of Limbaugh,” Andrew Sullivan wrote that "[v]ery very very few people have contributed more poison and hatred and extremism to the culture than Rush Limbaugh." Sullivan cited Limbaugh's comment that alleged Arizona gunman Jared Loughner “knows ... that he has the full support of a major political party in this country.”

From Sullivan's post:

Very very very few people have contributed more poison and hatred and extremism to the culture than Rush Limbaugh. As every single conservative commentator joins ranks in calling the Tucson assassination a completely apolitical act, and as the right discovers that there is no connection whatever between political culture and political acts, we get this:

What Mr. Loughner knows is that he has the full support of a major political party in this country.

Again, the statement is so offensive and absurd one has to pinch oneself to believe someone actually said that about a mass murderer. No one has said something that crudely partisan about Loughner and the GOP. So this is actually a classic example of what some of us have long been worried about in “conservative” discourse. Limbaugh is not mainstream, you say? National Review just approvingly reprints excerpts from Limbaugh's show. He is untouchable; and his tone will not change.