Difference between revisions of "Rush Limbaugh"

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Rush Limbaugh (born January 12, 1951) is an American radio talk show host popular with an older, largely male, audience. The typical listener to Rush Limbaugh and conservative talk radio is a 67-year-old male. Married and divorced three times -- and now married for the fourth time -- Limbaugh participated in the media bullying of Todd Akin in August 2012, along with other RINO Backers.^[1][2]

In recent years, Limbaugh has become more and more irrational. Most recently, he claimed, with no supporting evidence whatsoever, that "Hollywood" and "the left" are "gaga" over the movie Lincoln (2012) because they want to do what "Lincoln did not fully finish," that is, that "the South has to be wiped out."^[3]

Media bullying of Todd Akin

Congressman Todd Akin is the Republican Party nominee for one of the most-watched races for the U.S. Senate in 2012. He has represented a portion of the greater St. Louis, Missouri area in the House of Representatives since 2000 (Missouri's 2nd congressional district).

On August 19, 2012, in a local television interview with KTVI, Akin rejected a suggestion that there should be a broad rape exception to limits on abortion. He distinguished between an actual rape and a false allegation of rape by referring to the former as a "legitimate rape," terminology that the liberal media then unfairly took out of context to engage in demagoguery against him.

Perhaps fearful of losing an advertiser, even though he's already made millions by pretending to be conservative, Limbaugh piled on with the media bullying against Akin. He called Akin's comment "stupid" and then, illustrating his foolish self-centeredness, declared that "If I had demanded Akin drop out, he’d be gone."^[4] Limbaugh added, "What I think Mr. Akin should try to realize here as he makes his decision is that all of these things that he truly cares about will be much easier to make happen if we win the Senate and the White House and hold the House this November. He must put the nation and its future ahead of everything else that he's considering. And I hope he comes to the right conclusion."^[5]

True conservatives stood with principle and defended Akin's remarks, and his right to remain in the race.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]}

Early Years

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was born in 1951 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. At age 16, he chose to explore his passion for broadcasting by working as a disc jockey, hosting a radio show in his hometown. After four years, he left for Pittsburgh to work for the former ABC owned and operated KQV. Following his work as a disc jockey, Rush briefly left broadcasting for business, joining the Kansas City Royals as Director of Group Sales, and then Director of Sales and Special Events. In 1983, he re-entered radio as a political commentator for KMBZ in Kansas City. A year later, in 1984, Rush dropped out of college after his freshman year to pursue work full-time as a disk jockey, when KFBK in Sacramento, California hired him to host a talk show that reveled in controversy about conservative politics. Limbaugh tripled the program's ratings in four years. From there, in 1988 he went on to New York where the record-breaking national show, the EIB Network, was born.

On August 1, 1988, Rush launched his phenomenally successful radio broadcast into national syndication, with 56 radio stations. More than 20 years later the show is heard on nearly 600 stations by up to 20 million people each week and is the highest-rated national radio talk show in America. Rush was awarded the "Syndicated Radio Personality" of the year by the National Association of Broadcasters in 1992, 1995, 2000, and 2005. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993 and National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998. Rush Limbaugh has been labeled as the savior of AM radio by broadcast industry leaders, sometimes called the "Doctor of Democracy."^[15]

Radio

Limbaugh hosts a radio show famed for its incisive criticism of the follies of liberalism. He is often at odds with liberal activists, such as Al Franken, who wrote a book entitled "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot". Limbaugh habitually refers to feminists who support abortion as feminazis and to his own self as having "talent on loan from God". Sensitive about his own schooling, he ridicules the college educated as the "Arts & Croissant Crowd."

Limbaugh's conservative talk show is nationally syndicated and averages over 16-20 million listeners weekly, making him the #1 radio talk show host in America. ^[16] In July 2008, Rush announced "he has renewed his contract with Premiere Radio Networks and Clear Channel Radio, continuing syndication of his show 'many years into the future.'" ^[17]

Audience

Limbaugh's fans enjoy his bluster and bombast, but behind it there is a substantive defense of a coherent political philosophy. He makes politics engaging and entertaining, producing an audience more eager to seek out other sources of information. Limbaugh "dittoheads" consume more print news than do non-listeners. Like Fox News viewers, Limbaugh fans are more likely to tune in to presidential debates. Far from making people cynical or indifferent toward public affairs, Limbaugh reinforces his audience's disposition to participate in the political process.^[18]

Conservative Republicans are in his audience, but educational attainment, family income, and race do not predict who listens. Listening to Limbaugh is significantly correlated with public affairs information. He is not merely an entertainer and people who listen to him regularly are very well informed on public affairs. However, his radio audience is smaller than the TV audiences of conservative commentators Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity.^[19]

Poking fun at Obama liberals

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas said on MSNBC's "Hardball" that Obama was "sort of God."

Asking rhetorically what God has in common with Obama, Limbaugh said, "Neither has a birth certificate." ^[20] He went on to say "God does not think he's Obama," and "Liberals love Obama." Limbaugh explained more differences, "Another difference is that God only demands to be worshiped once a week," and "God asks for only 10 percent of your money", and "God gives you freedom to live your life as you choose."

Obama to Fail

Limbaugh made national headlines when he was asked to write 400 words for a newspaper column about Obama's plans. He said he didn't need 400 words, he needed just four: "I hope he fails." He was immediately attacked by the Obama White House and liberal pundits as an unpatriotic obstructionist. Limbaugh expounded his view in the show's transcript; if Obama is for socialist policies and against capitalist policies, of course Limbaugh could not support those policies, and hoped he would fail. ^[21]

Limbaugh addressed CPAC and further discussed his stance that generated so much attention. ^[22]

Republican National Chairman Michael Steele called Limbaugh an "entertainer" whose comments were "incendiary" and "ugly," and Limbaugh counterattacked Steele's fitness to run the party. A Gallup poll in May 2009 on who was the main voice of the GOP found Limbaugh leading the pack at 13%, with Steele trailing at 1%.

Other Media Work

During the early years of his radio show, Limbaugh also had a syndicated, self-titled half-hour television show patterned along the lines of his radio show. Rush Limbaugh ran from 1992 to 1996. ^[23]

The Limbaugh Letter is a monthly publication that contains conservative articles and humor in Rush's style.

Limbaugh is involved in the conservative satire show The 1/2 Hour News Hour show on the Fox News Channel. ^[24]

Rush occasionally writes op-ed pieces for the Wall Street Journal.

Politics

Limbaugh endorsed Mitt Romney for the 2008 Presidential Election. ^[25] He was often critical of John McCain during the Republican primaries, but supported him in the general election.

Limbaugh has warned against false prophets, telling his audience in 1996 that, "You are being manipulated in a way that I find very bothersome." "Pat Buchanan is not a conservative. He's a populist."^[26].

The Harry Reid Letter

On October 2, 2007, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wrote a letter to Mark P. Mays, President and CEO of Clear Channel Communications, who is Limbaugh's chief patron. In it Senator Reid essentially demanded that Mays order Limbaugh to apologize for remarks he made concerning "phony soldiers."^[27] A phony soldier is someone who is not a soldier at all but is pretending to be one, especially in a public forum. Such activity is unlawful, and the faker whose activity prompted Limbaugh's attacks has since been convicted and punished.^[28] This letter was co-signed by nearly all Democratic senators. In a speech in Philadelphia on October 11th, Limbaugh announced plans to sell the original letter on eBay in a charity auction. The proceeds went to the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation. The letter sold for $2.1 million and Limbaugh matched the winning amount with a total of $4.2 million being donated. ^[29]

Victim of a Democratic prosecutor's witchhunt

On October 6, 2003 Limbaugh told his audience he was addicted to OxyContin and other painkillers citing a failed back surgery as the cause of his pain and subsequent dependence. ^[30][31] Limbaugh underwent treatment for his addiction, and charges against him for alleged "doctor shopping" to procure prescription medications were dropped^[32] after Democratic prosecutors illegally seized private medical records^[33] in a blatant misuse of the criminal justice system to discredit Limbaugh.

Fluke Incident

In March of 2012, Sandra Fluke, a 30-year-old former Georgetown law student, gave testimony in support of an Obama directive to have private healthcare cover contraception. Fluke chose Georgetown's law school despite knowing that its healthcare plan does not cover contraception,^[34] but she then complained that contraception was expensive and that Georgetown's student health insurance should cover the cost. Limbaugh responded to her comments on his show where he said that her insurance paying for her to have sex made her a "slut" and a "prostitute."^[35] He later went on to say that he would agree to the payment if she would film herself having sex and put the video online. After several days of backlash, which included condemnations from both parties and advertisers backing out, Limbaugh apologized, saying he "did not mean a personal attack" on Fluke and had used poor word choice but reiterated his opposition to her comments.^[36][37]

Sports

Limbaugh is an avid sports fan, particularly football. He briefly held a position as a commentator on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown pre-game show. He resigned from the show on October 2, 2006 after comments made regarding Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb received widespread criticism.

After McNabb's response, "It's sad that you've got to go to skin color. I thought we were through with that whole deal," significant pressure was put upon Limbaugh to resign. ^[38]

Other Facts

The following is a list of other facts about Rush Limbaugh:^[15]

• Honorary Member of the Republican Freshman Class 1995 House of Representatives.
• Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world (2009).
• Forbes Magazine 50 Most Powerful Celebrities in the United States, numerous years (#19 in 2010).
• Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People (2008).
• The Giving Back Fund’s 10 Most Generous Celebrities for contributions to charities and individuals, such as the Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation.
• Raised 20 Million Dollars for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society since 1989. Each year Rush hosts a Radiothon (one three-hour broadcast per year) during his program to raise funds for Leukemia and Lymphoma research.
• Author of The Limbaugh Letter, the most widely read political newsletter in the country and two best-selling books, The Way Things Ought to Be (ISBN 067175145x) and See, I Told You So (ISBN 067187120X), which have sold over 8.9 million copies, including an American publishing record for See, I Told You So.
• Guest Television appearances include Nightline with Ted Koppel, Cross Fire, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, The Today Show, The Phil Donahue Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show, This Week with David Brinkley, Meet the Press with Tim Russert, and The Drew Carey Show. Rush also starred as himself in the popular network sitcoms Family Guy and Hearts Afire.
• Profiled on CBS's 60 Minutes, ABC's 20/20 and in numerous publications including U.S. News and World Report, Newsweek, National Review, Time Magazine, The New York Times Magazine and USA Weekend.
• Miss America Pageant judge (2010).

Quotes

• "You know why there's a Second Amendment? In case the government fails to follow the first one." - Rush Limbaugh, 17 Aug 1993

The Rush Limbaugh Lexicon

Like Mark Levin and others, Rush Limbaugh holds a lexicon for many liberals and Democrats, although Rush's lexicon is less expansive as Mark Levin's

• Mainstream Media = Drive-by Media
• CNN = Communist News Network (was originally called the "Clinton News Network" during the Clinton administration.)
• Barack Obama = Barack "Mmm mmm mmm" Obama (This is in reference to the propagandist school song about Obama)
• Joe Biden = Joe Bite-Me
• Harry Reid = Dingy Harry
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz = Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz
• John Edwards = Breck girl
• Nancy Pelosi = Bela Pelosi
• Barbra Walters = Baba Wawa
• Chuck Todd = F Chuck Todd
• Ben Affleck = Ben Affliction
• Paul Begala = The Forehead
• Chuck Schumer = Chuck You Schumer

References

See Also

• Articles about Rush Limbaugh from previous "Breaking News"
• Conservative Links
• Rush Derangement Syndrome

External Links

• Rush Limbaugh - Official website
• The Limbaugh Museum of Broadcasting
• Rush's 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Speech - C-SPAN, February 28, 2009
• The Rush Limbaugh Show - iPhone app, by Premiere Radio Networks, Inc.

Further reading

• Gordon, Scott. Rush Limbaugh: An Oral & Media Biography (2009). 258pp quotes and comments by his friends and enemies.
• Jamieson, Kathleen Hall, and Joseph N. Cappella. Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment (2008) balanced analysis by scholars; compares Limbaugh with Fox and Wall Street Journal excerpt and text search