Josephine "Ann" Harris, the "70-year-old proprietor of a diner in Akron, Ohio, died hours after meeting President Obama when he stopped in for breakfast Friday morning" as reported by the Washington Post.  Harris was reportedly an avid supporter of the President, and thrilled to have had the opportunity to meet him in person.  Obama's stop was as apolitical as one can get on the campaign trail, and it's unfortunate that anyone would trivialize Harris's death to make a cheap political "joke." But that's exactly what News/Talk 1110 WBT's new hosts Brad Krantz and Britt Whitmire did when they chose to make Josephine the punchline for a tired tirade against Limbaugh, a "parody" that begins with the host blaming Obama for the woman's death and ends with a cheap shot against Limbaugh's past drug addiction and an absurd attack against Mark Belling, yesterday's fill-in host.

The attack against Mark Belling is so pointless it doesn't even merit a response.  As for Limbaugh: yes, the radio host was addicted to painkillers. He admitted this on air in 2003, and was charged with doctor-shopping in 2006. The charges were dropped three years later in 2009 as part of a plea deal.  I'm not going to delve into the obvious, it's been almost a decade since Limbaugh admitted his drug woes and shut down his radio show to head to rehab and the continued rehashing of the event serves no purpose other than to appeal to the same group that salivates over Media Matters press releases, but to use a woman's unfortunate and untimely death to launch this craven attack demonstrates a callous disregard for Josephine's life and her family's mourning. [print_link]