EDITORIAL: Hollywood vs. Rush Limbaugh

1; Hollywood: 0. Janeane Garofalo - actress, liberal activist and failed radio host - went after Rush Limbaugh, the nation’s top-rated talk-radio host, during a recent interview with the Village Voice. She said she almost turned down her role in the hit Fox series “24” because of “the right-wing nature of a couple of the writers.” To prove her liberal credibility, she added that: “When Rush Limbaugh visited the set, and when Lynne Cheney visited the set, I refused to have my picture taken with them or meet them or anything.”

Few screenwriters write such good fiction. The problem with Ms. Garofalo’s script is that she wasn’t on the cast when Mr. Limbaugh visited the set.

Radio Equalizer’s blogger Brian Maloney emailed Mr. Limbaugh about the mystery, who stated that: “The last time I visited the set of ‘24,’ Garofalo had not been hired to appear in the series. She was not there, she was not a member of the cast the last time I visited. … This current season, seven, has been in the can since last summer or fall and I have been nowhere near the ‘24’ set for any shoots for this season, which is this lunatic’s [Ms. Garofalo’s] first season.”

The typical plot of a “24” episode climaxes as time runs out for the good guys. While the clock ticks down, star Kiefer Sutherland agonizes that, “We have to do this now. There’s not enough time.” Ms. Garofalo also has a time problem. Unless she owns a time machine, or was there as a guest, she couldn’t have been on the set at the same time as Mr. Limbaugh. Her next role would be better cast in science fiction.