According to Rush he made the "Skull and Bones" initiation comment when the first (mildest) photos came out. I'm sure he has gone back through transcipts, etc. enough to verify this. None of the comments he has made over the past week have questioned or mocked the severity of these photos.
What Rush has done is to now claim his comments were taken out of context. But he has never clarified the context they should have been considered. Buckerman is correct. Any decent God fearing person would have immediately condemned the actions taking place in the photos. Rush was trying to make a defense for the administration cause this was gonna be a stinky and sticky situation for them. He goofed.