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Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday found a convoluted way to use the CBS drama Hawaii Five-0 to link the story of three kidnapped women in Cleveland to President Barack Obama and welfare benefits.

Limbaugh admitted that he had "no idea" about why Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight had been kidnapped and then were able to escape after 10 years.

"But as it so happens, I happened last night to watch Hawaii Five-0 on CBS," he explained. "Hawaii Five-O's premise last night was kidnapped girls held until they were 18 and then let go or killed -- well, always killed -- by a couple doing it for the welfare benefits."

"Now I don't know what happened in Cleveland, but I couldn't help but make the connection. I mean, if everybody else in the low-information crowd is going to use what happens on TV for reality, why can't I?"

Limbaugh added: "Three brothers, but not related the the three women, have been arrested in Cleveland -- which voted Obama. Not that that's got anything to do with anything!"

(h/t: Media Matters)

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Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday concluded that permitting same sex marriage would effectively legalize pedophilia.

In a clip posted by Media Matters, Limbaugh expanded on a caller's argument against the Supreme Court coming down on the side of LGBT rights.

"She was talking about contracts, folks, just so you understand," the radio host explained. "Everybody can contract with a member of the opposite sex to marry them. But her point was that if same sex fits the bill of the contract then everything fits the bill."

Limbaugh then took that logic one step further.

"And at some point, who's to say that you cannot have sex with a child?" he asked.

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MSNBC host Chris Matthews on Thursday compared conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh to the rapist character from the movie "Deliverance" who told his male victim to "squeal like a pig."

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy earlier this week, Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had praised President Barack Obama, causing Limbaugh to rip the governor for playing "the role of a Greek column" and expressing "man-love" for the president.

On Thursday, Matthews reviewed the attack on Christie and mocked Limbaugh for sounding like a "walrus under water."

"He reminds me more of the guy from 'Deliverance' -- 'squeal like a pig' -- than anybody," the MSNBC host laughed. "It just seems that he's squealing like a pig essentially. He knows he lost the day and he just wants to complain about it, bromance, suggestions of gay behavior. It's absurdity, it's high school."

During the 1972 movie "Deliverance," the character Bobby encounters a hillbilly while canoeing in the Georgia wilderness. Beatty tries to buy some moonshine from the hillbilly, but he is forced to strip at gunpoint and is raped while being ordered to "squeal like a pig."

(h/t: Real Clear Politics)

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Rush Limbaugh is calling on his listeners to keep the election date a secret from the poorest Americans.

"Ninety-nine days, folks," the conservative radio host announced on Monday. "Ninety-nine days before the election. If you are a welfare recipient, that's just a little more than three checks."

"Maybe we shouldn't remind people," he added after thinking about it. "We shouldn't remind people on welfare when the election is. That may not be something we want to actually do."

Earlier this month, Limbaugh suggested that President Barack Obama was plotting to win reelection with new rules that allow states to apply for waivers to work requirements under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program.

The president doesn't "want people off of welfare in this regime" because "those are voters that are getting away," Limbaugh said.

In a July memorandum, Department of Health and Human Services said it was exercising its waiver authority under the law to encourage “states to consider new, more effective ways to meet the goals of TANF, particularly helping parents successfully prepare for, find, and retain employment.”

Within a day, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney had accused Obama of wanting to “strip the established work requirements from welfare.”

But George Sheldon, acting assistant secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, defended the policy as something that had been asked for by both Republican and Democratic state officials.

“Federal rules dictate mind-numbing details about how to run a welfare-to-work program,” Sheldon wrote. “Most States and experts agree that these aren’t helpful. … We need state workers spending less time filling out data reports and more time helping parents find employment.”

(h/t: Media Matters)

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Lawrence O'Donnell had the editor of Radio-Info.com, Tom Taylor, on to discuss this unusual move in the wake of the Sandra Fluke debacle, aka "Slutgate." Taylor sees this as a cooling off period as Premiere Networks plans their next move:

TAYLOR: The whole temperature level of this thing is something that the syndicator and Rush himself would like to bring down. And as you say, that's why Rush had a round of golf today.

via Think Progress:

Radio-Info.com reports that Premiere Networks, which syndicates the Rush Limbaugh show, told its affiliate radio stations that they are suspending national advertising for two weeks. Rush Limbaugh is normally provided to affiliates in exchange for running several minutes of national advertisements provided by Premiere each hour. These ads called “barter spots.” These spots are how Premiere makes its money off of Rush Limbaugh and other shows it syndicates.

But without explanation, Premiere has supended these national advertisements for two weeks. Radio-Info.com calls the move “unusual.” The development suggests that Rush Limbaugh’s incessant sexist attacks on Sandra Fluke have caused severe damage to the show.

From the memo:

Attention Traffic Managers of Premiere News/Talk Affiliates:
We are suspending the requirement to run barter spots for two weeks, March 12th and March 19th, for our News/Talk affiliates only.

Please replace/re-traffic any Premiere barter spots immediately. Contractual requirements to run barter spots are being suspended for these two weeks only. Replace them with Lifelock and Lear Financial or a local spot of your choice.

Think Progress have also reported that 140 sponsors have now requested their ads no longer appear on the Limbaugh Show.