Sat, Oct 20, 2007 (7:16 a.m.)

Here's how an opera-loving little old lady ended up paying $2.1 million on eBay for a bunch of senators' autographs:

A while back Rush Limbaugh called veterans who oppose the Iraq war "phony soldiers," and otherwise not as brave as him, El Rushbo. Or so says some liberal media watchdog group that likes to spend all day listening to Limbaugh and getting madder and madder. And Limbaugh, who likes to call himself "America's Truth Detector," said, oh no, stupid liberals, he was talking only about one phony soldier who actually was a phony soldier. Uh-nuh, the stupid liberals said ; Limbaugh altered the transcript.

And so on.

But then of course, this being a matter of supreme national importance, U.S. senators put aside their usual business and weighed in against Limbaugh. It took 41 U.S. senators to weigh in against Limbaugh. Among these brave senators was Nevada's own Harry Reid, who happens to be the powerful Senate majority leader and can therefore get a minority of senators to sign the same letter as him. Following Reid were Democratic colleagues such as Sens. Clinton, Biden, Dodd and several who apparently missed the John Hancock course on penmanship.

They sent the letter to a radio syndicate that carries Limbaugh. The letter went on and on about mom and apple pie and free speech and then finally asked Limbaugh's boss to ask Limbaugh to apologize.

And my goodness, the outrage. The downright umbrage. It turns out Limbaugh, who calls himself "Chief of the Patriotism Police" and calls Reid "Dingy Harry," is actually a delicate, gentle aquatic creature and those senators were picking on him and threatening his job and free speech. Oh, the huge manatee.

Legally speaking, of course, Limbaugh is not considered a private citizen but a public figure, like President Bush or Tom Cruise.

To show the senators that they can't get away with writing letters, Limbaugh put the thing up for auction on eBay along with a letter from his Rushness, both inside a security briefcase made by Halliburton, a company hated by liberals and government fraud investigators. The money would go to a charity for the children of Marines and cops killed in the line of duty, matched by an equal donation from Limbaugh.

The opening bid was $100. By Friday morning, bidding was up to $2 million.

So at noon Friday, Reid took to the Senate floor and said it was a really good cause and people should bid on the letter , even though "Rush Limbaugh and I don't agree on everything in life and maybe that is kind of an understatement."

Naturally, Limbaugh went on the air and called Reid a buttinski and, he really did say this, "a demagogue."

He also challenged Reid to match the winning bid (we're getting to it) and pony up $2.1 million of his own money for the children.

A spokesman for Reid's office said although the senator was pleased the money was for a good cause, this was Limbaugh's thing and he could pay for it himself.

Right. Now for the little old lady with all the money.

She's Betty Brown Casey, 79, a millionaire socialite from Gaithersburg, Md. The money is by marriage. In 1955 she married Eugene B. Casey, a wealthy land developer and former adviser to Franklin Roosevelt. Casey happened to be 24 years older than her and had six children by two previous wives. Her relations with his children and grandchildren reportedly were strained when he died and left most of his $100 million to her and a foundation controlled by her. In 1990 she survived the blast of a pipe bomb planted in her car's trunk. The crime was never solved.

In 1992, 10 of Eugene B. Casey's grandchildren sued Betty Brown Casey.

She still has the money and uses it for philanthropy. She's donated money to plant trees in D.C. and to support the Washington National Opera. She also once tried to donate a fancy mayoral mansion to Washington but the city, on careful reflection, decided that its mayor shouldn't live in a fancy mansion and should instead represent the city by getting caught in drug busts.

But what's an opera lover doing with Rush Limbaugh?

The office of the Eugene B. Casey Foundation, which is headed by Betty Casey, read the Sun a two-sentence statement, saying it "believes freedom of speech is a basic right of every citizen of this country. The purchase of the letter was to demonstrate their (sic) support of it and to support Rush Limbaugh, his views and continued education of us."

No further questions were answered.

Betty Casey has donated heavily to the Republican National Committee, George W. Bush's presidential campaigns and Republican Sens. Tom Coburn, Mel Martinez, John Thune and David Vitter.

She's also donated $4,600 to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Ah. It seems Betty Casey also took an interest in the 2000 and 2006 New York senate races, where she backed Rick Lazio and John Spencer.

Both ran against Hillary Clinton.

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