Rush Limbaugh was in rare form last week.

His mockery of Chinese President Hu Jintao's speech -- mockery that he later defended -- earned the condemnation of Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), who blasted his “childish and offensive tactic.” He falsely labeled Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) a “well-known socialist” during his return to flirting with birtherism. And he devoted several segments on his Friday show to demanding a congressional investigation of a conspiracy theory that he ginned up about the Obama administration bailing out GE with TARP money. (That's wrong on many, many fronts.)

It seems that Limbaugh is trying to regain his title as the most irresponsible voice in the conservative media, a position that is now clearly occupied by Glenn Beck, and it seems that he's doing it by using the exact same formula Beck has employed.

Inflammatory ethnic rhetoric, similar to Limbaugh's open mockery of the Chinese culture?

Beck has already been there. His smearing of Jewish philanthropist George Soros as a Holocaust collaborator was condemned by Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors. He's also said India's Ganges River “sounds like a disease” and was forced to apologize for mocking an Asian caller back in 1995.

Red-baiting, similar to Limbaugh's attack on Abercrombie?

Beck introduced the modern right-wing renaissance of red-baiting.

Insane, complex conspiracy theories, like Limbaugh's flimsy attempt to reveal “serious insider dealing” between President Obama and GE?

One of the websites run by notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has said that Beck “now sounds almost identical” to Jones. Limbaugh's Obama-GE theory bears a similarity to the conspiracy theory that Beck has promoted about the Obama administration, Soros, and a loan to a Brazilian oil company, in that both involve blaming the Obama for events that took place before he ever became president.

We see where you're headed, Rush. If you want to take your crown back from Beck -- and the attention that comes with it -- you've got a lot of work to do.