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Rush Limbaugh just wants his internal combustion engine back. Just like the founding fathers envisioned when they invented cars at the Constitutional Convention. Or something like that. In any case, Limbaugh is unhappy with the liberal media at Motor Trend because they named the Chevrolet Volt their 2011 Car of the Year. Nov. 22, Motor Trend, quoting Limbaugh: “Folks, of all the cars, no offense, General Motors, please, but of all the cars in the world, the Chevrolet Volt is the Car of the Year? Motor Trend magazine, that’s the end of them. How in the world do they have any credibility? Not one has been sold. The Volt is the Car of the Year.” Motor Trend’s Todd Lassa quickly dismisses the specious “not one has been sold” argument by noting the Volt hasn’t yet gone on sale. Their decision to name GM’s plug-in electric as Car of the Year was based on test drives and other pre-sale reviews of the Volt. There’s perhaps a legitimate criticism here about all Car of the Year awards processes. These awards are given to new or completely overhauled models. Until we see how a car performs in real world conditions over an extended period of time, the pronouncements of automotive journalists are basically educated guesses. However, you don’t hear Limbaugh or anyone else raising a stink about past forgettable Motor Trend Cars of the Year. No one ever takes the magazine to task for fawning over the completely style-less 1995 Chrysler Cirrus or equally bland 1997 Chevy Malibu. Limbaugh’s beef with the Volt isn’t a question of automotive aesthetics or engineering. He just doesn’t like the Volt because it’s one of them librul eel-eck-trick cars that Muslim-Socialist Obama forced on the real ‘Mericans in Detroit. That an interesting theory. Interesting, in so far as it’s completely made up. As Lassa explains, the Volt was unveiled as a concept car in January 2007 and championed by GM’s in-house environmental skeptic Bob Lutz. At which point, Lassa suggests Limbaugh (soberly) drive one for himself. Nov. 22, Motor Trend: All the shouting from you or from electric car purists on the left can’t distort the fact that the Chevy Volt is, indeed, a technological breakthrough. And it’s more. It’s a technological breakthrough that many American families can use for gas-free daily commutes and well-planned vacation drives. It’s expensive for a Chevy, but many of those families will find the gasoline saved worth it. If you can stop shilling for your favorite political party long enough to go for a drive, you might really enjoy the Chevy Volt. I’m sure GM would be happy to lend you one for the weekend. Just remember: driving and Oxycontin don’t mix. Some might call that last line a cheap shot, but it’s hard to consider Limbaugh without factoring in his history of drug abuse. Back in the 1990s, even Limbaugh’s most hardened critics would concede the man had wit and style. Today, he seems more like another angry man looking to shout at clouds than anything else. From his “phony soldiers” comments to mocking Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s Disease to suggesting that Donavan McNabb – 32nd all-time quarterback rating, ahead of Troy Aikman and Bart Starr – was over-rated, Limbaugh’s rantings betray more than just controversial political opinions. They suggest a man divorced from reality. There’s some evidence that long-term Oxycontin addiction can permanently diminish brain function: Livestrong.com: Oxycontin abuse can result in problems in the brain and heart. For example, Oxycontin abuse can result in a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, which puts pressure on the tissue. The increase pressure in the skull can cause changes in mental function, such as confusion. It seems reasonable to ask, after these increasingly regular controversies, if Limbaugh is still playing with a full deck. After all, he’d be the first to raise the issue if it was his political enemy, with a five year-plus prescription opiate addiction, making repeated baseless assertions about almost every subject under the sun. added by: TimALoftis