On the August 15 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh referred to Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA) as a “no-growth socialist.” After criticizing Meehan's opposition to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Limbaugh blamed “a whole bunch of no-growth socialists like him” for the recent surge in oil prices.

From the August 15 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: At any rate, here's Marty Meehan and he's all worried, Bush didn't sign -- how many of your people in the party, Marty, opposed the energy bill from Day One? How many of you still oppose? Can I give you the height of absurdity? Let me just give you the height of absurdity. Literally, the height of absurdity, and there are countless other examples of this. The gasoline price is up anywhere from 40 to 50 percent over what it was this time last year. The oil price is up now, what? Over $65 a barrel, right? And we've got people whining and moaning about it, as I'm sure they are justified in doing. It's a huge percentage increase in the price of any one commodity. If anything went up 40-50 percent in one year, it would cause the same reaction. Be it housing or whatever. Some cases, housing is going up that much.

[...]

We complain to the president or members of Congress for not being able to do anything to get the gasoline price down, like Marty Meehan's doing. Marty Meehan is a no-growth socialist, and a whole bunch of no-growth socialists like him are responsible for the price hikes. These no-growth socialists who will not allow development of any kind, particularly oil, are responsible for this, more so than the president. Yeah, even more so than OPEC [the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries], because their no-growth socialist policy is what makes us a prisoner to the world price of oil. It's just that simple. It's absurd to get upset about this while at the same time maintaining this rigid opposition to producing our own supply.