'I Don't Know Why the President Would Take Him On'

The absolute last person I thought would come to Rush Limbaugh's defense is John McCain. Rush has had no love lost for the Arizona senator all these years, but apparently McCain realizes well who has the ear of the GOP constituency.

Add John McCain to the legion of "dittoheads" sticking up for conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh in the wake of President Obama's lecturing Republicans to quit listening to his top-rated radio program.

Asked yesterday why Obama would make such a warning, McCain replied: "I don't know why he would do that."

"Mr. Limbaugh is a voice of a significant portion of our conservative movement in America," the Arizona senator, last year's Republican presidential nominee, told Fox News yesterday.

"He has a very wide viewing audience, he is entitled to his views, and he has a lot of people who listen very carefully to him," McCain said.

"I don't know why the president would take him on. He's part of the political landscape, and he plays a role."

Obama has badly miscalculated his move to take on the radio behemoth. The thought he could marginalize the most popular conservative in the country has only brought more attention to Limbaugh and again set him up to be a difference-maker in the midterm election, just as he was in 1994. Obama clearly hasn't learned from history.

His problem.