Rush Limbaugh has officially amazed me by his ability to turn the worst human suffering into an opportunity to make a buck.  His comments yesterday using the Haitian tragedy as an occasion to politicize a drastic situation and shock folks into tuning in to his radio show is reprehensible.  But it got me thinking, what wouldn’t Rush Limbaugh do for money.  For example, would Rush Limbaugh stage a fake health condition in the state where the President just happened to be spending the holidays in order to boost his ratings.  My answer:  Yes.

Think about it.  Limbaugh insisted on being taking out of the hotel in a private elevator out of sight of other guests.  Not long after getting to the hospital his handlers released a statement via his website stating that all updates on his condition would be posted on such site (increased web traffic…kaching, kaching).  Then it turns out that all the drama was for nothing and he was perfectly fine.  He then holds a press conference attempting to bash health care reform but fails miserably. First, because Hawaii mandates that all employers provide generous health care plans for every employee who works 20 hours or more per week.  Second, Hawaii consistently outperforms almost all other states in terms of health care access, quality, and costs.  Third, emergency hospital care is not health care.  Fourth, you’re the 400 million dollar man no one questions that you would receive quality health care.

But I digress.  All of these coincidences are just a wee bit too convenient especially when it comes to Limbaugh.  If it was a publicity stunt it was an unsuccessful one given that he was barely in the news for a day.  Perhaps the stunt would have worked better if the President had spent the holidays somewhere like Texas where tort reform has resulted in its ranking as one of the worst states for health care access, quality, and costs in the nation.  Chest pains in Texas may be a bit more believable.