There's no question that Rush Limbaugh is a polarizing radio host, but now he is getting a rise out of residents of Bristol.
Limbaugh blasted the town on his national radio show about local businesses receiving a share of $3.3 trillion in federal stimulus loans, the Bristol Press reports.
He then went on to say that Bristol was nothing more than ESPN.
"That's all that's there: ESPN and a couple of cheap hotels," Limbaugh said on his nationally syndicated show on Thursday.
Mayor Art Ward sent Limbaugh a letter on Friday demanding an apology and said Limbaugh’s claims were not true. Ward is currently in the hospital in a medically induced coma after choking on meat during a UConn watching party.
T.J. Barnes, head of the city’s Retirement Board – and a member of the town’s Republican Party – told the Press that the city took advantage of the chance to invest some of its surplus pension money in a new federal program aimed at making more credit available to business, but didn’t get money from the government as a loan or a grant.
Limbaugh is quite familiar with ESPN. He resigned from his position on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown in 2003 after controversial statements about Donovan McNabb. You can read more of that on ESPN’s Web site.
Bristol was named 84 out of Money Magazine's Top 100 best places to live in 2010.
The Bristol Press could not reach Limbaugh for comment.
