On the August 28 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Rush Limbaugh accused Democrats and the “drive-by media” of “celebrat[ing] a one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,” and complained that the anniversary will culminate in an alleged “two-week orgy of reliving [the] disaster” while “9-11 has been allowed to be forgotten ... sort of shoved away in a memory drawer.” Limbaugh claimed that the media have recently avoided coverage of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because it “would help the Bush administration,” and that this purported lack of coverage is responsible for a “split in public opinion on the war in Iraq and the war on terror.”

Limbaugh asserted that “when any attempt to relive the day of 9-11 on television” occurs, “people here in New York and around the country [say], 'No, no, no, no! It's too soon! I can't handle it.' ” Further criticizing those he claimed condemn any focus on the 9-11 attacks, Limbaugh later stated: “New York is sacred ground. The hole in the ground is sacred ground. Can't talk about it. Can't show the video of 9-11; 'No, no, no! Too soon! Still too soon! We are too emotionally fragile! We can't handle it! No!' ” Limbaugh claimed that the real reason the media purportedly ignore the 9-11 attacks is because "[r]ecasting, replaying, re-airing the events of 9-11 would help the Bush administration." But according to Limbaugh, as the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, the media have no problem showing the devastation it caused. He claimed the media “cannot wait to show the destruction,” “cannot wait to show the disaster,” and “cannot wait to show the suffering” so they can “blame the Republicans and blame President Bush” and claimed that the alleged discrepancy in coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the 9-11 terror attacks was “pure politics,” adding that the "[d]rive-by media knows if you relive 9-11, it only enhances everybody's concern for the war on terror we find ourselves in."

From the August 28 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: I cannot ignore the discussion of the Democrats' efforts to celebrate a one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Some anniversary, is it not? You know, it was “too soon,” five years later, to see United 93. “No, no. Too soon! We can't stand those images. We can't stand to -- No, no, no, don't show us that movie!” When any attempt to relive the day of 9-11 on television with footage of what happened was discussed, people here in New York and around the country, “No, no, no, no! It's too soon! I can't handle it.” Well, here with Hurricane Katrina, by God, we cannot wait to show the destruction! We cannot wait to show the disaster. We cannot wait to show the suffering.

We cannot wait to relive all of the horrors and call it an anniversary. Now, I'm sure you people understand why this is. Recasting, replaying, re-airing the events of 9-11 would help the Bush administration -- it would, and I think we need to see them every day because of this. It would remind everybody that we are at war. Read a good piece over the weekend. We really aren't at war. The military is at war, but we aren't. How's the war affecting your daily life? It really isn't. May be affecting your mood; you may be palpably pessimistic or whatever. But the country really isn't at war. And it's evidenced by so many events that you just watch.

See, the split in public opinion on the war in Iraq and the war on terror and whether this is something that we need to seriously be engaged in. And that's because 9-11 has been allowed to be forgotten, it's been sort of shoved away in a memory drawer, and whenever we think about opening that drawer and looking at the contents, “No! No! Too soon!” But here, at the end of August, nearing the one-year anniversary of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, well, by golly, we're gonna look at this and we're gonna celebrate this, and we're gonna remember it for two weeks, and we're going to show you.

We're gonna have speeches by the mayor, “School Bus” [Ray] Nagin. How about this guy? This guy, you know, he should not have apologized. He's got a point. He's got a point. Everybody is complaining about the lack of rebuilding in New Orleans. He says, “hey, you got a hole in the ground at the World Trade Center for five years, haven't done diddly-squat.” That is an excellent point. What's in common? Liberals run both places. Liberals run New York. I mean, the -- everybody knows what should have happened, you start rebuilding the World Trade Center as they were, one inch, one foot, two feet taller, whatever, just do it. “No, we had to have a memorial.” We had to have a plaque blaming America for everything that's gone wrong in this country, from displacing the Native Americans, to the new Survivor show.

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LIMBAUGH: OK, there's that. Isn't it interesting? New York is sacred ground. The hole in the ground is sacred ground. Can't talk about it. Can't show the video of 9-11. “No, no, no! Too soon! Still too soon! We are too emotionally fragile! We can't handle it! No!” But we're going through a two-week orgy of reliving disaster called Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and we're probably gonna relive all the lies, too, about all the murders that didn't take place and all the rapes that didn't take place and all the toxic soup that didn't happen. The water, supposedly poisonous.

I want -- Are we gonna relive Congressman William Jefferson, Democrat in Louisiana's trip to his house to get his $90,000 or whatever he took out of there? Are we gonna relive that? Isn't it amazing? I sort of understand “School Bus” Nagin's frustration here. Of course, for these guys, it's a celebration. They get to go out and blame somebody else for why nothing's happened down there. They get to blame the Republicans and blame President Bush, just sitting around waiting for what?

And, of course, when it comes to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina, whoosh, we can see it all. We can hear it all. We can do retrospectives. We can break out all those Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists to recount the horrors, the details, many of which were abject lies. But so what? “We won a Pulitzer doing it. We'll try to win a Pulitzer again for our re-coverage. Yes, another Pulitzer for not letting people forget. Never forget. ”Never, ever forget what happened when George Bush let Hurricane Katrina destroy New Orleans and the levees and then didn't rebuild it." But when it comes to 9-11, Ground Zero and -- oh! “It's too soon. It's too soon.”

Pure politics. Drive-by media knows if you relive 9-11, it only enhances everybody's concern for the war on terror we find ourselves in. So -- and this is the kind of stuff Democrats think is gonna win them elections.