Radio host Rush Limbaugh, angered that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has not defended President George W. Bush against charges that he failed to fulfill his National Guard duty (McCain defended Senator John Kerry against the discredited attacks of the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth), wondered whether the former Vietnam prisoner of war (POW) had “been taken prisoner and being held as a POW by the Kerry camp, in the Kerry Hilton somewhere, in the basement of the DNC [Democratic National Committee].”

From the September 9 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

So we are nearly two days into the latest regurgitation of the National Guard flap and CBS hatchet job on George W. Bush, and McCain is nowhere to be seen. Where is he? Where is he condemning this exposé into George Bush's “honorable service,” quote, unquote? He hasn't been seen since that Monday at the convention. I'm wondering if McCain's been taken prisoner and being held as a POW by the Kerry camp, in the Kerry Hilton, somewhere in the basement of the DNC. The McAwful Hilton [an apparent reference to DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe]. I mean, where is McCain? Really. I mean, the question is -- to me -- is serious.