The thoughtful Maddow has established a lower-key approach with her "just the facts, ma'am" essays, and she's carved out an important niche for herself at MSNBC.

So why is Rush's show so "popular?" Why do hundreds of stations around the country carry his show, the most widely syndicated talkfest in the country? The real story is not generally well-known.

"I have actually been moved by what you have written and the way you have written it," Rush Limbaugh wrote to me.

The whole sordid mostly unreported 401(k) saga largely involves big corporations dumping their pension plans and pushing 401(k)'s and then brazenly gaming the bankruptcy laws.

I've had the sad journalistic duty of writing about this pathetic-but-popular hatemonger longer than anyone, ever since this braying bigot first surfaced on San Francisco's top-rated radio station.

The GOP/Fox News clown show has been very funny indeed, and it shows no sign of winding down. Many laughs remain.