You may have heard the reports that Elton John played at Rush Limbaugh's wedding over the weekend. Limbaugh was wed to his girlfriend, Kathryn Rogers, his fourth wife.  The wedding featured "giant bouquets of white roses," as well as all the conservative stars you would expect, from Karl Rove (shudder) to Sean Hannity.

But the big surprise, from both sides of the fence, is that none other than Elton John sang at Limbaugh's wedding.  Limbaugh has been outspoken in his opposition of homosexuality and of gay marriage; Elton John is, of course, both homosexual and gay married.

Many sources are reporting that Elton earned a cool $1 million for his appearance.  Why such a suspiciously round figure, released so early?  I'm positive that Rush himself released that number, to make his wedding sound even more grand.

I don't expect every performer to entirely vet their audience before they perform.  And certainly an up-and-coming singer couldn't be expected to turn down a million bucks.  Singing is a hard gig, it doesn't pay well, and young artists of every stripe are strapped for cash.

But Elton John?  Elton Fricken' John?  Surely Elton doesn't need the money.  Surely he could have afforded to give this one a pass.  And surely he must have been aware of The Deal With Rush Limbaugh.  Or has the financial downturn hit Elton so hard that he couldn't afford to turn down Rush's offer?

I'm just as surprised that Limbaugh chose Elton.  The entire affair is vexing, is what it is, and maybe that was precisely Rush Limbaugh's intent.   

"Gruesome capitalism" is the phrase that comes first to mind.  I have to assume it was strictly a business transaction for both of them, because neither has made any kind of public statement.  I haven't heard Elton talking about how we need to heal the divide, or Rush talking about how society's best and brightest, the "one percenters," are able to make the gays dance to the tune of the almighty dollar.

Now, I wish Rush all the best.  It takes a certain devil-may-care, eternal optimism to get married for the fourth time.  Second marriage, sure, everyone deserves a do-over.  Third marriage, okay, you've learned some lessons at the College of Hard Knocks. But the fourth marriage, that's an act of unabridged starry eyed childhood wonder.  That is some hard core belief in the power of love right there.  Particularly after only having been divorced from Wife #3 since 2004.  (Which coincidentally is the same year that Limbaugh met Rogers.)

I wonder what Limbaugh's ex-wives have to say about him?  Funny that none of them have ever spoken up in public.  I suspect that silence is the price Limbaugh extracted for a continuing financial settlement.  Too bad, because I bet they would have some great stories to tell.  

Speaking of which, I wonder if Limbaugh insisted on a pre-nup?  I wonder if that eternal optimism stretched that far, and no farther?  

And most of all, I wonder what Elton sang as their wedding song?