The latest criticism of Rush Limbaugh's offensive and false comment claiming that accused Arizona shooter Jared Loughner “has the full support” of “the Democrat [sic] Party” and that Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik is “doing everything that [he] can to make sure” Loughner is “not convicted of murder” comes from a surprising source: Tim Carney, senior political columnist at the conservative Washington Examiner.

After stating in a January 11 Examiner blog post that Limbaugh “added as much toxic waste to the Tuscon debate as Paul Krugman -- probably more” with his comments, Carney wrote:

Limbaugh is doing the same thing here Krugman and other liberals have done: he's simply making stuff up to smear the other side, and try to turn this atrocity into a political weapon.

What liberals are defending Loughner? What evidence is there Sheriff Dupnik wants to go light on the guy? And what about this guy would lead anyone to believe he wants to be the victim -- I would guess the opposite.

As I said about Krugman, Limbaugh isn't stating a viewpoint, he's making stuff up, especially where he claims to get in Loughner's mind.

Here's the best I can do to explain Limbaugh: he seems stuck in the 1990s, where we on the Right were often battling a “blame-society” relativism. But Dupnik and Krugman aren't blaming the Right in order to exculpate Loughner -- they are most likely doing it in order to vent frustration or to delegitimize our arguments. Limbaugh's fighting the wrong fight, and assigning the motive that's least likely and most offensive.

I was just beginning to think tonight that things were clearing up and the Krugman-Kos drivel was fading away. Then Limbaugh throws this garbage into the mix.

Now the countdown begins on Carney's inevitable walkback of his criticism, like every pretty much every other conservative who has committed the offense of criticizing Limbaugh in public.