In commenting on the confirmation hearings of John G. Roberts Jr., nominee for chief justice of the United States, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh repeatedly referred to Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) as “Dick Turban.” Limbaugh previously attacked Durbin for criticizing alleged prisoner abuse at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility.

From the September 12 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: All right, well, I'm watching this during the break -- the Senate hearings. I'm just watching Sen. “Dick Turban,” ah, Dick Turban is doing his -- from Illinois -- he of Club G'itmo fame. Ha! I wish Roberts would have shown up in the Club G'itmo T-shirt today. Maybe, maybe a Club G'itmo java coffee cup, just for Dick Turban. Ah, but anyway, Dick Turban is up there saying, “Ah, you're going to judged here, Judge. You're going to be judged on one question, just one question. You going to expand the personal freedoms of the Americans, or are you going to restrict them? You going to expand personal freedom, or you going to restrict personal freedom?”

Limbaugh has mocked criticism of conditions at the detention center by touting the facility as “Club G'itmo, the Muslim resort,” a “tropical paradise down there where Muslim extremists and terrorist wannabes can get together for rest and relaxation.” His website sells “Club G'itmo” T-shirts and other items.

Illustration from the August 2005 issue of The Limbaugh Letter