Fully aware that the topic of domestic violence has recently dominated the news — and perhaps suffering through a less-than-stellar week in terms of ratings? — Rush Limbaugh described the Republican Party as "the equivalent of a battered wife" during the Thursday edition of his popular radio show.

The comment came at the end of a long, meandering and, to our ears, halfhearted rant about how "leftist hypocrisy" permeates "everything that occurs here," a charge Limbaugh supported by invoking a vague hypothetical in which "civil unrest" and violence is greeted by leftists with cries of the need for understanding.

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Limbaugh also unveiled what he seemed to think was a provocative line of argument, namely that calls for understanding are never heard when violence is being done by domestic abusers, but only when the perpetrators are themselves leftists. "Most of the behavior we're talking about is committed by leftists," Limbaugh explained, "so it can't be condemned, it must be understood."

After walking across that extremely rickety rhetorical bridge, Limbaugh bellowed that leftists were the real bullies, and that in the realm of politics it was the left, not conservatives, who played the role of aggressor. "They really are what they accuse us of doing," Limbaugh said, before correcting himself: "They really do what they accuse us of doing."

"This battered wife syndrome?" Limbaugh said, finally transitioning into a bit that sounded to us like it was created previously, "I think it extends to political parties. I actually think the Republican Party is suffering from it. The Republican Party is the equivalent of a battered wife: They don't get out. They continue to take the abuse. They get beat up all the time."

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After a brief detour into bemoaning the lot of multimillionaire and former presidential nominee Mitt Romney, specifically his treatment at the hands of the media ("Mitt Romney — a classic example of [a] battered wife! Just incessant lies, distortions; it was brutal what was done to Romney!), Limbaugh returned with gusto to his central argument.

"I think the Republicans exhibit classic battered wife traits!"

Listen to Rush try to turn the whole domestic violence issue into some ratings gold below, via Media Matters: