Rush Limbaugh responded today to former GM executive and fellow conservative Bob Lutz, who has repeatedly called out Limbaugh and other right-wing commentators for relentlessly attacking the Chevy Volt, a vehicle he championed at GM.

Lutz took a shot at Limbaugh during an appearance earlier this month on The Colbert Report. And in a speech at the Hudson Institute yesterday, Lutz criticized conservatives' “knee-jerk reaction” to “the idea of vehicle electrification,” when they should support “shifting portions of the American mobile sector onto a more efficient and domestically produced power source.”

Limbaugh has previously cast doubt on the safety of the Volt, telling his audience that it “causes fires” and that GM is “trying to kill its customers.” In July 2010, Limbaugh said he had turned down an advertising campaign from GM because “I can't in good conscience recommend” that people purchase the Volt; “That would shoot my credibility.” And earlier this year, Limbaugh said the Volt was a sign of “the wussification of America.” “The electric car is the product of cowards,” he said.

In an attempt to explain this rhetoric to his “friend” Bob Lutz, Limbaugh declared today that he has attacked electric cars because he resents the suggestion that there's something “wrong with oil.” He continued: “Bob, Mr. Lutz, the problem is not me. The problem is that the pro-electric car crowd are the people making this political.” According to Limbaugh, “the electric car is about taking away choices from the American people about what they want to drive.”

Across the political spectrum, however, people agree that there is, in fact, something wrong with our dependence on oil, which, is indeed a large contributor to the climate change that Limbaugh and Lutz deny, but is also an economic liability and a national security threat - the topic of the conservative panel that Lutz was a part of.