Why are they surprised about Limbaugh?

I don’t understand the surprise over Rush Limbaugh’s incendiary remark on ESPN. In the words of NFL VP Joe Browne, “ESPN knew what it was getting when they hired Rush Limbaugh.”

Limbaugh is a man very much like George W. Bush, in that he’s deeply in love with his own opinions, seeing very little need to question them.

“Judge men not by their opinions but by what their opinions have made of them.”

— Georg Lichtenberg