Rush and Gorby.

For nearly four years, Mikhail Gorbachev presided over the murderous Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which resulted in the death of millions of Afghans. Tens of thousands of children were left maimed by Soviet anti-personnel mines disguised as children's toys. in the late 1980s, Gorbachev ordered crackdowns against independence movements in the Baltic states and elsewhere in the captive Soviet "republics." Soviet military and secret police operations in Vilnius, Lithuania and Tiblisi, Georgia, left thousands of civilians dead.

During the early years of his talk radio career, Rush Limbaugh frequently, and mercilessly, mocked those who swooned over the former Soviet dictator and regarded him as an apostle of world peace and human rights. Yet on June 13 Rush himself joined that rapturous throng during the 80th birthday party of former president George H.W. Bush in Houston.

"All of the eulogists at the national funeral for Ronald Reagan, other than Margaret Thatcher, were in attendance, including Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, with whom I ended up in two pictures," recalled Rush during his June 14 radio broadcast. "[In] one of these pictures, our arms [were] around each other."

Rush recounted that Gorbachev had asked former Secretary of State James Baker for an introduction. "Gorbachev had his translator, who introduced me by saying 'Roosht Limbaugh,'" he continued. "Gorbachev reacted to me the way I once saw him react when he met David Rockefeller."

Also on hand for Bush the Elder's birthday were President Bush the Younger, Vice President Cheney, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, CNN's Larry King, and numerous country and western stars and other celebrities. As Rush observed, "everybody loves everybody at [an event such as] this." Rush certainly got along swimmingly with the Butcher of Afghanistan, as well as the other representatives of the power elite, who obviously don't consider him to be much of a nuisance.