Hours before his participation as a limited partner in a group vying to buy the St. Louis Rams was dropped, Rush Limbaugh decried his critics, including members of the cable news media. Limbaugh says his staff is working “behind the scenes” to get apologies and retractions “with the force of legal action” against any journalist who has misquoted him over the past few days.

Limbaugh directed some of his ire for a certain MSNBC host: “Now we hear from Chris Matthews, he talks about somebody putting a pellet gun in my mouth and pulling the trigger.”

But Limbaugh aimed squarely at Rick Sanchez dredging up the CNN anchor’s past.

Rick “DUI, Leaving the Scene” Sanchez. Now on CNN every afternoon spreading filth and lies, knowingly… like many journalists, he can’t take the kind of investigation or coverage he dishes out and the rest of his people dish out. They head to the tall grass, hide behind executives. I know ordinary people go to jail for this. But he was friends with the cops! As a TV reporter, he was friends with the cops. He got preferential treatment.

Limbaugh is referring to an incident in 1990 when Sanchez was a local anchor in Miami.

Tonight on his show, Bill O’Reilly added his voice to the mix, but said “NBC News [meaning MSNBC] is taking the lead on Limbaugh.” And on Anderson Cooper 360 a panelist called what happened to Limbaugh, “a high-tech lynching.” [clip after the jump].

Earlier this week, Rush Limbaugh unabashedly told NBC’s Jamie Gangel he does his show for ratings. And, by extension Limbaugh, in good times but more often bad, is a sure fire ratings grab for the networks that cover him. But this time, did they go too far?