Following in the footsteps of Rush Limbaugh, CNN host attacks teenaged girl

There was a famous incident that became something of a litmus test: Anyone who knows about it and still takes Limbaugh seriously is an idiot.

Al Franken wrote about this incident in his bestselling Lies & the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, but I first heard of it some 10 years before that. In a speech broadcast on radio, the late and lovely Molly Ivins noted in one of my three favorite of her commentaries:

"On his TV show in 1993, [Limbaugh] put up a picture of Socks, the White House cat, and said: ‘Did you know there's a White House dog?’ And then he put up a picture of Chelsea Clinton. Who was 13 years old and as far as I know had never done any harm to anyone.

How time flies. You may have heard of a more recent incident. As covered by USA Today:

John McCain spent nearly an hour talking about such topics as merit pay for teachers and fielding questions about public service when the town hall meeting Tuesday at his old high school took a slight detour.

Katelyn Halldorson, 16, stood up and said the event at Episcopal High School had been billed as non-political yet some of the ground covered had a decidedly political tone. "What exactly is your purpose in being here, not that I don't appreciate the opportunity," she asked.

"I knew I should have cut this thing off," McCain joked. "This meeting is over!"

Now--video exists of this exchange, and in it, Ms. Halldorson asks her question in--you should pardon the expression--a "ladylike" way. Her syntax is a little convoluted, but she's not a professional speaker used to appearing on camera.

But, according to Jim Acosta of CNN's Ballot Bowl...

"So there you have it. John McCain, who is no stranger to incoming fire, able to handle that heckler there in Alexandria, Virginia."