This week George Soros’s Media Matters took Rush Limbaugh to task for they said was a cheap shot on John and Elizabeth Edward’s announcement of the return of her cancer:

“On the March 23 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh told listeners that former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) and his wife Elizabeth are “political people [who] are different than you and I.” Referring to the couple’s March 22 announcement that Elizabeth Edwards has Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, Limbaugh said: “[M]ost people, when told a family member’s been diagnosed with the kind of cancer Elizabeth Edwards has, they turn to God. The Edwards turned to the campaign. Their religion is politics and the quest for the White House.” Limbaugh later asked: “If you’re [Sen.] Barack Obama [D-IL] or [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY], how do you now attack John Edwards?” Limbaugh added: “Not a problem for Hillary, the Clinton [inaudible] will find a way. But Barack, it’s going to be a challenge.”

Of course as usual they failed to listen to the entirity of the broadcast. Had they listened they would have heard that Rush was referring to a question by a listener that said that they found it strange that the Edwards would hold a news conference and continue in their campaign in spite of the illness. Thus his response about “political people”. Additionally Rush wasn’t the only media pundit that took the “politcal view” as for instance Chris Matthews made the same connections on the March 22nd edition of Hardball:

“MATTHEWS: John and Elizabeth Edwards say his presidential campaign will go on. He is headed off to Boston, New York, then California. We are going right now to Iowa and David Yepsen, that much respected columnist for The Des Moines Register.

An Iowa impact statement, please, Dr. Yepsen.

DAVID YEPSEN, THE DES MOINES REGISTER: I think this was all a plus for John Edwards politically. When he canceled his trip here on Tuesday to deal with this, the political community in this state really held its breath because John Edwards and Elizabeth Edwards have been all over this state, many Democrats here know them. Even people who didn‘t support him, they were just worried about what this meant.

And so, it was sad news, but he handled it with grace, she handled it with courage. And I think today if you were to do a poll, you would see a definite uptick in support for John Edwards. Chris, I think this is—this will go down as one of the defining moments of the 2008 campaign.

There will be a sympathy factor that sets in here for him but there will also be—it also told us something about the way he handled himself under pressure and the way she handled herself. And I think that counts for a lot in the way people make up their minds about who to support.

He was already the front-runner in Iowa and I see nothing today that changes that. “

Read the rest of the transcript – especially where he talks with liberal hack Bob Schrum who takes it over the top.

UPDATE: Katie Couric grills.

Waiting on Media Matters to take her to the mat!!

(crickets)