Rush Limbaugh's Breast Obsession

Today, Rush Limbaugh focused on women's breasts. He brought up a story that he's been telling for decades, even though it's all a lie. According to Rush, there was a scientific study years ago that proved, “The higher the bust size, the lower the IQ at Tufts.” He declared, “I remember reporting on that.” No one, including Rush, has ever been able to show any evidence of any study at Tufts linking breast size and intelligence.

As I note in my new book, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Rush Limbaugh's Assault on Reason, Limbaugh has been pushing this nonexistent story for decades.

Limbaugh asserted on his TV show on May 13, 1994: "Now I got something for you that's true--1972, Tufts University, Boston. This is 24 years ago--or 22 years ago. Three year study of 5000 co-eds, and they used a benchmark of a bra size of 34C. They found that the--now wait. It's true. The larger the bra-size, the smaller the IQ."

However, no one at Tufts or anywhere else apparently did any study like this. Fifteen years later, Limbaugh again invoked this mythical study, but claimed that it proved “the larger the bust size, the higher the IQ.”

In 2010, Limbaugh complained that he had been criticized for talking about this study that no one has ever been able to find: “it's one of the things that's constantly pointed at as something I lie about, I just made up. I didn't make it up.” Limbaugh then reversed his position again on what this nonexistent study proved: “The smaller the bust size, the higher the IQ.”

Limbaugh also falsely referred to Tufts University as “a girls' school” (he corrected himself later, and perhaps it's just a coincidence that Limbaugh named his male dog “Wellesley”, the name of a famous women's college).

Limbaugh had brought up busts because he read a story today about Nancy Pelosi speaking at Tufts University. Coincidentally, breasts also have factored into some of Rush's most bizarre statements about Nancy Pelosi. After the 2007 inauguration of Pelosi as Speaker of the House, Limbaugh made strange statements on the air about Pelosi and the children of House Democrats at the inauguration, including Heath Shuler's two-year-old daughter. Limbaugh said about Pelosi during his little fantasy: "Maybe Pelosi breastfed him, I don't know, when the kid was pregnant. Who knows? She's capable of doing everything else."

Limbaugh's official transcript “corrected” what he actually said to say instead, “maybe Pelosi breast-fed her when the kid was -- who knows,” fixing Limbaugh's gender error about the child and his bizarre use of the word “pregnant.”

Limbaugh was particularly obsessed about imagined breastfeeding by Pelosi, a grandmother who was 66 years old at the time: "look at Ms. Pelosi. Why, she can multitask. She can breastfeed, she can clip her toenails, she can direct the House, all while the kids are sitting on her lap at the same time."

What motivates the idiocy of Rush Limbaugh? Is he trying to pump up his ratings by talking about boobs? Yes. Is he a sexist pig who regards women as little more than their physical attributes? Yes. After all, Limbaugh in 2007 said this about his cat:

She comes to me when she wants to be fed. And after I feed her -- guess what -- she's off to wherever she wants to be in the house, until the next time she gets hungry. She's smart enough to know she can't feed herself. She's actually a very smart cat. She gets loved. She gets adoration. She gets petted. She gets fed. And she doesn't have to do anything for it, which is why I say this cat's taught me more about women, than anything my whole life.

Shortly after mentioning the imaginary Tufts bust study today, Limbaugh told his audience, “Don't doubt me.” Considering how much of Rush's show is completely fictional, it's amazing that anyone can believe in any of the nonsense he makes up on the air.

Bust size doesn't cause a lowered IQ, but listening to Rush Limbaugh does.

Crossposted at DailyKos.