Rush Limbaugh: Afraid?

His screeners may be.

Reading Rush Limbaugh's transcript from Monday's show (excerpts, via JillStanek.com) was an eye-opener. In essence, his argument was that embryonic stem cell proponents are Pro-Choice advocates who are only using stem cells to keep abortion legal.

Okay. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Opinions aside, he made this shocking statement:

In the meantime, in order to continue the [embryonic stem cell] research, what do you need? You need embryos, and where do you get those? Well, until the left figures out how to replace God, you only get embryos from procreation, and then you have to go in and abort the result of the procreation to get the embryo, abort, abort. You have to abort....

Given that this was the first time I have read Limbaugh's opinion on the subject, I was hoping to get his opinion on H.R. 3144, which attempts to obtain embryonic stem cells without harming an embryo. If he was unaware of the bill, I thought he may be interested in it.

So today about 1:50 PM (Eastern) I started to call his toll-free number (1-800-828-8228) to try and ask Mr. Limbaugh a simple question: If there was a way to obtain embryonic stem cells for research without harming embryos, would you support it?

For those who have never called a radio station, a call screener usually answers the phones to screen out obnoxious callers. Using skills honed as a pre-teen to win free CDs and assorted goodies, I persistently redialed and was rewarded with a non-busy signal.

"Cool! I'll actually get to ask my question."

The screener picked up after a few rings. "Hi, what would you like to ask Rush Limbaugh?"

"Hi, I would like to ask him a question about stem cells."

Immediately after "stem cells" left my mouth, I heard a click sound. Silence followed. Shortly thereafter, the "If you would like to make a call, please hang up and try again" recording started. Being a good boy, I followed instructions.

A few minutes of redialing later, the call screener answered again.

"Hi, I just called and I think I got accidentally disconnected."

Click. Silence. Recording.

Accident? I'm thinking not.

Either way, I will keep trying. I would like to know what Rush Limbaugh would say about H.R. 3144.