Unfortunately, Sen. Joseph Biden's, D-Del., week hasn't been going so well. Biden was talking about presidential hopeful Barack Obama, D-Il., in an interview and referred to him as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy." This isn't the most carefully worded or tactful statement that comes to mind for congratulating Obama. I think Biden's heart was in the right place, but it came out horribly wrong.

Once this statement is taken out of context, it makes Biden look really horrible. It might show some prejudice on his behalf, or it could have just been a slip or bad wording. The important thing is that Biden immediately apologized, explained himself and explained why what was said was wrong. Obama brushed it off and said it was no big deal; basically, the news story became a non-issue.

Expectedly, news sources talked about the issue, but what really baffled me was that on ABC World News, station managers chose to have Rush Limbaugh be the counterpoint by citing a clip from his show. Since when has Rush Limbaugh been the anti-prejudice champion?

Limbaugh said, "See, folks, this is the problem for the Libs: Once they get off script they expose their idiocy, they expose their prejudice."

Well, thanks to a group called Media Matters, there is giant archive of all the horrible things Limbaugh has ever said. I would like to go over just a few to help show why Limbaugh was a horrible choice to be the champion against prejudice.

Relating to Obama, Limbaugh has called him: a "Halfrican-American" and a "half-minority." Maybe Limbaugh was the most inappropriate person of all to be defending Barack Obama.

A while back, Limbaugh commented on the show Survivor when the teams were divided by race. He mentioned that it wouldn't be fair if there were a lot of water events because "blacks can't swim."

He also said that Hispanics have shown the most survival tactics and they "have shown a remarkable ability to cross borders."

Limbaugh sounds like a real champion against prejudice to me. Oh, did I forget to mention that on his Web site he sold T-shirts saying "I got my free Koran and Prayer Rug at G'itmo?"

When it comes to other African-American politicians, Limbaugh doesn't hold back either. Carol Moseley-Braun was the first black woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Whenever Limbaugh would refer to her on his radio show he would play The Jeffersons' theme song "Movin' On Up." I'm sure his intentions were good; it's not as though he's racked up a huge laundry list of racist remarks.

What moral ground does Limbaugh have to stand on to comment on prejudice and racism? This kind of brash and disrespectful behavior is expected from him, and he's shown a pattern that keeps repeating itself. The real tragedy is that ABC News chose to air a clip from his show to chastise Biden on his racist comment.

What is wrong with the news? Instead of reporting just the facts or interviewing a good source, they waste precious airtime by citing a talk radio host who has proven himself totally incapable of addressing issues of race and prejudice with any kind of tact or respect.

Unless the title of that clip was "Pot, meet the kettle," ABC was way out of line.

Reach columnist Hunter Kincaid at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.