Producer for NPR Affiliate Apologizes for Hateful Remarks on Rush Limbaugh

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh speaks at a forum hosted by the Heritage Foundation in Washington, in this June 23, 2006 file photo. (Reuters)

A producer for an NPR-affiliated radio station has apologized for saying she would "laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out" if she were to see conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh suffering a heart attack.

In the latest fallout over the exposed e-mails from a now defunct private online forum for liberal journalists, Sarah Spitz, who produces the show Left, Right & Center for KCRW public radio program, said in a statement posted on NPR that she "made poorly considered remarks about Rush Limbaugh to what I believed was a private email discussion group from my personal email account."

"As a publicist, I realize more than anyone that is no excuse for irresponsible behavior. I apologize to anyone I may have offended and I regret these comments greatly; they do not reflect the values by which I conduct my life."

The Daily Caller, an online magazine launched by conservative commentator and Fox News contributor Tucker Carlson, has been releasing the e-mails that show some liberal journalists were actively seeking to influence news coverage rather than just report or comment on it. The stories recount how some journalists plotted to kill stories on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal to protect then-Sen. Barack Obama 's presidential campaign. Other e-mail chains advocated for shutting down Fox News.

The leaked e-mails led to one blogger, David Weigel, losing his job at The Washington Post. His colleague, Ezra Klein, the founder of the forum, pulled the plug on the list server known as Journolists. The e-mails provided evidence to critics that some journalists in the mainstream media harbor a deep-seated bias against conservatives.

Spitz seemed shocked by her own hatred for Limbaugh, writing, "I never knew I had this much hate in me. But he deserves it."

The outspoken Limbaugh, who famously expressed hope that Obama would fail as president, said even he could not relate to Spitz's hateful remarks.

"Not having wished anyone dead, nor having fantasized about watching someone die, I cannot possibly relate to this," Limbaugh said in an e-mail to the Washington Examiner's Byron York that he also read on his show.

Limbaugh continued that he thinks most liberals are jealous of his success.

"I am a legitimate, achieved and accomplished Number One and I've made it on my own and without them and without having followed their proscriptions," he said. "I think they are also jealous that I just sold my NY condo for a 125 percent profit while their homes are worthlessly underwater."

Limbaugh later added: "And it is not just that they hate how I became who I am. They literally hate ME. They hate me because I am the most prominent, effective and unrelenting voice of conservatism and they have not been able to stop me."