Just as Jon posts on Rush Limbaugh’s mental gymnastics (the only kind we’ll ever see him do) to find something to criticize Pres. Obama over, a new poll shows just as how out in right field the Portulant Guy is.

Nearly nine-out-of-10 voters (89%) nationwide approve of President Obama’s decision to use Navy SEALs to rescue U.S. commercial ship captain Richard Phillips by killing his Somali pirate kidnappers. Phillips was being held hostage after the pirates botched an attempt to hijack his ship. Just three percent (3%) disapprove.

Rush’s own team is even more on Obama’s side on this one.

Ninety-six percent (96%) of Republicans, 91% of unaffiliateds and 83% of Democrats approve of the decision to rescue the captain by killing the kidnappers.

Limbaugh’s latest tirade, defending the pirates as “teenagers” who were “upset” and “just wanted out of there,” comes at a particularly bad time for mouth-breathers. Many on the political right (and by many we mean, actually, many) are questioning the leaders of the so-called conservative movement, which has lost itself in social issues and can’t seem to find a working target in Obama. FOX News is drawing the most attention.

Commenting on [Mormon Glenn] Beck’s manic transitions between light comedy and frothing-at-the-mouth rage, Allahpundit [an anonymous blogger on Michelle Malkin's site] added: “Either he’s acting or his mind is … highly nuanced.”

“What the hell is going on at Fox News?” wrote David Frum, the former Bush official and conservative writer, in a recent column. He added, “There’s always been a market for this junk of course. Once that market was reached via mimeographed newsletters. Now it’s being tapped by Fox News.”

Even Fox’s own Shepard Smith seems to be uncomfortable with the new trend, frequently mocking Beck on live TV and referring to his show as a “fear chamber.”

While not as specific in their targets, there have been some other eyebrow-raising commentaries from the right recently, calling for a more fair-minded approach. Few would ever accuse David Horowitz, author of books like Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left, of shying away from strong language, but even he took up the cause of civility recently, penning a widely distributed column this month accusing conservatives of falling prey to “Obama derangement syndrome.”

…Horowitz added that Obama should be given credit for pursuing policies in Afghanistan and Iraq largely supported by mainstream conservatives. His criticism that Obama can’t catch a break from the right seemed to resonate with Fox News regular Bernard Goldberg, who recently got into a surprise tussle with Sean Hannity over whether Obama deserved praise for the Navy SEALs successful rescue operation in Somalia.

“If something bad happened here… I’ll tell you who would have been leading the crusade against him—you,” Goldberg told Hannity.