What Rush Limbaugh Really Thinks of You

I was talking to someone at lunch about the Rush Limbaugh show. My companion sneered and said, "With talent on loan from God... the audaciousness of that!" He also couldn't believe some listeners actually thought there was an EIB building, or even that an Excellence in Broadcasting network existed. Who was my luncheon companion who made those observations?

Rush Limbaugh.

Okay, not yesterday. Or when he was all doped up on illegal pain medication. It was twenty years ago but he did say those things and not just to me but also my writing partner, David Isaacs.

In 1989 David and I wanted to do an updated version of the brilliant Kaufman & Hart play, The Man Who Came to Dinner. The problem was finding the contemporary equivalent of Sheridan Whiteside. I had heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio a few times and thought he might be an interesting candidate. So I contacted him (back in the days when you could contact him), described our project, and he agreed to meet for lunch to discuss it. We warned him up front that we were his political opposites and he was fine with that.

I was very surprised by how down-to-earth he appeared to be. Self deprecating, easy going, very candid. He revealed that originally he was very nervous about leaving Sacramento for "the big city" of New York. In fact, he offered to stay in Sacramento if the station owner merely ponied up a few extra grand a year but the owner said give my regards to Broadway.

What I liked most about Rush was that he didn't take himself too seriously. His political views (such as they were) were genuine but the rest of the show he recognized as an act. He was a showman, a radio veteran who knew how to attract and keep listeners. A lot of his schtick was lifted directly from his Top 40 disc jockey days on KQV, Pittsburgh. The only difference was he was now selling George Bush instead of David Cassidy.

But he knew the difference between being an entertainer and the self appointed guardian of Democracy. His goal was to build an audience, not overthrow a presidency. It was an act, pure and simple.

So what happened? When did Rush start to buy the act himself? At what point did he become one of his own dittoheads? When did he go from a humble radio geek to someone who thinks he can cure lepers with his urine? I hear the outrageous things he says on a daily basis and I can't believe it's the same guy. Recent random example:

"Exercise freaks ... are the ones putting stress on the health care system."

Really Rush? That's really what you think? It's not the sick and infirmed who can't afford health care, it's Jack LaLanne?

Instead of The Man Who Came to Dinner Rush is now playing Macbeth with a touch of Face In The Crowd.

At first it was amusing, but it stops once you realize that millions of people are swayed by this man's rantings - people he clearly has disdain for. I only wish his "loyal listeners" could have been with us at Musso & Frank's Grill that day.

I haven't seen him in years. But then again, neither has he. I haven't heard him in years either (I imagine it would be like listening to the book-on-tape of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) but for purposes of this article I did check him out last Friday and caught this:

"Obama has an ego and a narcissistic complex about himself that can only be described as unhealthy and dangerous."

Considering the irony, considering the parallel (which obviously Rush can no longer see), all I can do is shake my head and say, "The audaciousness of that!"

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Comments

[Mabo]

Maybe we should go dig up some interviews on Obama from 20 years ago and apply that to him today. If this had been a recent interview, it might have had a point...but 20 years ago?

[Wodooyino]

As I understand it, the whole point of the article was to reveal the ambitious, cynical and non-idealogical man behind the purportedly ultra-right mask before he and his 'act' became indistinguishable, possibly even to himself.

[oldgeek1]

Unless one is naive, it is clear Rush has an great act and he knows it. There may be a crumb of a conservative belief but that is over shadowed by his understanding of his core group of listeners, and people who buy his books and act.

He uses the right wing conservatives to further his own interests and they use him, it is a marriage of mutual benefit.

Rush is far from stupid. He has ridden this one trick pony and made a lot of money. I find him cleaver much more so than Sarah Palin who believes she is the real deal. Rush knows he is an act.

[newsprism]

I don't think Rush influences people's opnions; he anticipates the opinions of those on the far right, and gives them what they want. It's still disturbing to hear what 20 million extremists think, however.

The one issue where Rush really does harm is global climate change. He's not a skeptic, he's an obstructionist. Imagine the depravity and arrogance it takes to say, "Screw the atmosphere, screw future generations...I'm gonna negate thousands of scientists with pure BS." Planet, schmanet.

[Wodooyino]

lxc said : "I don't care what Rush really thinks of me. I'm not sure why anyone would."

Couldn't agree more, but the problem isn't what he thinks of you or me, but how he so completely mischaracterizes us and so many many others, including the President, to his millions of listeners, causing them to view many of their fellow citizens as somehow 'other' -- which both history (the Inquisition and Holocaust) and today's America (the recent shootings, chillingly hateful signs at 'tea bag' parties, and the many cries of "kill him" made at Palin rallies) is extremely dangerous for a society.

[Mabo]

"...the problem isn't what he thinks of you or me, but how he so completely mischaracterizes us and so many many others, including the President, to his millions of listeners, causing them to view many of their fellow citizens as somehow 'other'..."

That's funny...you just did that to Rush AND those on the right. You have taken isolated incidents and made it sound like Rush and his millions of listeners agree, condone and participate in those actions. You know that is bull and I know it is bull...but your hypocrisy is telling. Those that listen to Rush (even those that disagree with him), know that the Rush the left thinks they know is not what is on the radio. It is a bloated story gobbled up by those on the left that are itching to hate someone...while blaming that person for spreading hate. Laughable...of course, it is ok to ridicule someone for being overweight if they are not a liberal or to make up things about them without real facts if they are not a liberal...or to make false assumptions about someone who writes a comment when you don't know a thing about them (but I am sure you guys won't disappoint me...lol).

[Wodooyino]

Don't dump on me for what others say about him. I don't 'itch to hate' anyone, nor could I care less about his weight (though maybe he should!), only how he twists the facts to 'make' his case, and beguile others into believing him -- which, unfortunately, he does with great skill and charm, I'd be be dishonest not to admit.

[antifluff]

So, this guy had lunch with Rush once twenty years ago and pretends to know him? When the right suggested that BilAyers had not changed based on his behavior from long ago, and his remarks over the course of his life, they were told it wasn't real, he isn't like that, you are blowing this out of proportion. My question is: why are all the people that the left loves to H8 being brought out now? Is it because congress is getting ready to pull a fast one with the dear leader? Is there bills that will be passed without being available for the public to read or even the members of congress to read? This administration is about as transparent as 10 feet thick concrete.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

Ah, you've seen through our (We on the Left) clever ruse. We should have known better than to try to deceive a dittohead. You got it. President Obama phoned Ken Levine and said "Quick, write a short piece on Rush Limbaugh to distract some HuffPo readers while I slip a few secret bills through congress that will do something weird that only a rabid right-wing paranoid can hope to understand."

"Is there bills that will be passed without being available for the public to read or even the members of congress to read?"

No. Your logic is as addled as your grammar. Congress will, of course, pass a bill they haven't read, having had their attention cleverly diverted by a short Ken Levine column here. Congress hangs on Ken's every word.

Drat! Now we have to find a new subterfuge. Curses! Foiled again!

[tbonehead]

the sad part is that the poor and ignorant "ditto" pimples think he really represents them; Rush and S. Hannity are competing in a "tongue slobbering contest'" to see who can take the most money to the bank. I wonder if any has kept count of how many times they say, "I" and "Obama" in the run of their show.

[katiewon]

I find Rush Limbaugh completely repulsive. Nevertheless, occassionally I listen to his show. My first reaction is "does he REALLY believe this stuff????" It's just so outrageous that it is obvious his goal is to rile up his audience with innuendo and outrageous statements that would be defamation if his targets weren't public figures.

The scary part is many of his "dittoheads" want to believe his angry-speak because they too are angry. He offers no solutions, never has callers (or guests) with contrasting points of view. It's all Rush all the time.

When Rush began his national career I used to listen to him every day and he was thought provoking and entertaining. Today he's become the "Pied Piper of hate" - a blowhard, angry white man whose statements and conclusions are so shallow and paper thin that they are easy to discredit. And he's mean.

I encourage everyone to listen to this guy for 15 minutes at least once a week. It is a window into the soul of the haters in this country.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

"I encourage everyone to listen to this guy for 15 minutes at least once a week."

Could I just hit myself in the face with a hammer for 15 minutes each week instead? It would be a considerably more pleasant pastime, and leave my brain far less damaged.

[alvin12]

I bet Rush can't swat a fly

[profitforless]

I only care about the people I hold in high regard , their opinons I value .

[KathyIndiana]

I think Rush's main problem is that everyone else is on TV and Rush had his shot at TV and flopped, so he's been relegated permanently to radio. Bitter, bitter man.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

Well maybe Rush can do better on TV now that so many people have widescreen TVs. in the past, he as - ah - too BIG for TV.

Oh wait. Lots of people also have Hi-Def TV. That would not be good for Rush.

Actually, Rush should be on Hi-Def radio, because the only ways I could ever stand to listen to the gas bag would be if I were either High or Deaf.

[pattyrenee]

Who cares? So what? Thanks Joy, for those perfect words!

[valkyrie607]

It could've been a good read. There's a limb there; you don't have to go all the way out but if you never go anywhere, who cares? The most salient fact is the observation that Rush probably despises his audience. But you never really explored that.

Better writing next time, please.

[MelFamy]

I sometimes wonder if Rush isn't like the protagonist of Mother Night, an excellent novel by Kurt Vonnegut. In short, what if Rush is really a Stephen Colbert type who is trying to be so ridiculously evil that he will turn people off to right-wing thinking? The Mother Night character did radio propaganda for Hitler's regime, and people bought the shtick wholesale, without realizing it was deliberate hokum.

[BarryChamplain]

Ah, but "Mother Night" raised the moral question of whether or not the fact that you were peddling "deliberate hokum" granted you a dispensation for that which you were doing on the surface level; in the case of Howard W. Campbell, the Allied information he was encoding in his talks was not enough to offest the real damage done by his antisemitic radio tirades, heard and heeded throughout Europe. Campbell was consumed by that reality, in his later life.

Remember the warning of "Moher Night": we become who we pretend to be.

[EST74]

I'm a registered independent with some liberal and some conservative views so unlike others I don't fit neatly in a Repub or Demo box. I really don't pay attention to talking heads like Rush and Sean Hannity because neither of them finished college, far too much projected opinions lacking actual facts. However I realize I can't develop an opinion on anyone I haven't researched so I read both of Rush's books and the racist and classism vibe runs rampant in both. It would seem that people like Rush are fueled by maintaining divisions than trying to figure out how we can all work together.

[Melizzy]

What's the point of this article? Just to get clicks because "Limbaugh" is in the title? Meh.

[schmuckwithearlaps]

Rush is important. The strong male voice telling us what to do and what to think. Don't think for yourself, I will do the thinking for you. That is not an exact quote but close. I have read all the comments, every one. I am shocked at how few liberals understand Rush. I even see the old James Earl Ray phony quote trotted out again to the delight of the gullible. Grow up, people, Rush represents that part of all of us that feels that deep urge to believe that we deserve to be better than other people, to be allowed to hate, to be free of restraints and decency. Most of us overwhelm that evil part of ourselves by goodness and the evil remains in its place. For some people, the antichrist prevails and he blows up an abortion clinic or shoots up a museum. Rush is important because each of us fights the antichrist every day in one way or another.

[Tallulah Morehead - Huffpost Blogger]

Darling, I'd think you were being disingenuous pretending to fail the grasp the obvious intent of Ken's article, as it would take a very dim bulb indeed to miss it, but then I realized that you are a dittohead yourself, thinking Ken cares a fig about gaining readers via the name "Limbaugh," and thus undoubtedly ARE a very dim bulb.