[FartinMowler]

he Nation Wed Oct 25, 1:40 PM ET

The Nation -- Rush Limbaugh has proven time and again what a nasty bully he can be. Remember his feeble attempt to insult Chelsea Clinton by criticizing her appearance when she was just a child? And his racist musings on whether black men were equipped to play quarterback? (FYI, Rush, at least five African-Americans are starting quarterbacks in NFL right now.)
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This week however, Limbaugh sank to a new low by mocking actor Michael J. Fox and his battle with Parkinson's disease.

p> Fox has become a Limbaugh target because he has appeared in political ads for Democratic senatorial candidates who support stem cell research, such as Rep. Ben Cardin of Maryland and Claire McCaskill in Missouri.

"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," Limbaugh told listeners Monday. "He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act...This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."

Limbaugh ultimately offered a half-hearted apology, but it's difficult to take this seriously. With a weekly audience of 10 million, he lives to generate this type of controversy. He and Ann Coulter seem to be in a competition for who can be the most consistently repugnant and woefully ignorant.

With his acting career essentially over, Fox now works to raise awareness of the plight of people who suffer from Parkinson's. Even if Limbaugh objects to stem cell research, it certainly isn't a crime for Fox to weigh in on the issue. Muhammad Ali has done this admirably. So did the late Christopher Reeve. Will they be the next to draw Limbaugh's vindictive ire?

Does anyone think that because there a comedians like John Stewart that these clowns (Rush Limbaugh and Coulter) think it's ok to just blurt out anything to regain some kind of audience?