Posted on 01/05/2021 5:22:43 AM PST by shortstop
Rush didn’t come to work today.
I fear that he might not ever come back.
I fear that now, or soon, my friend of 30 years will be gone. And I already grieve him.
And I don’t think I’m alone.
There are millions of us across the country, tens of millions, many tens of millions, who hold this brother and father of the heart dear. Many tens of millions of us who have laughed and raged and resolved while he has led in the vital heart of American public thought.
Rush Limbaugh has been an evangelist of the American spirit, a Billy Graham of our founding principles. And he has done it with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye, a shy man with a calling, bringing inspiration and joy to the people behind the wheel, doing the work and raising the families of the American people.
A disc jockey out of nowhere who became the most influential political voice of his generation.
But calling him that – a political voice – sells him short. It leaves out part of who he has been. Sure, he probably tipped an election or two, but Rush has been less about politics than he has been about principles.
The bedrock principles upon which this nation was founded, and which have never steered it wrong.
He arose in the last days of Reagan, as a great voice of patriotism and conservatism was going silent. A baton was passed. Not from Reagan to Bush, a man of good character but flaccid politics, but from Reagan to Rush. The optimistic, evangelistic view of America’s past and future, connecting the dots between the beliefs of the founders and the challenges of their descendants, became Rush’s bailiwick.
And he never faltered.
Over a generation, amidst the struggles of life and the affairs of the world, Rush stuck with it. Admired and beloved.
Oh, not by those who opposed him. Their hatred has always been white hot. But such a response was to be expected. Evil always lashes out at good, denouncing and deriding it. The passion of Rush’s detractors is in direct proportion to their own confusion and mistaken nature. The devil goes after those who threaten his kingdom.
And Rush has been a constant threat to the sinister effort to bind the hearts and hands of men. He has always been a voice of freedom. He has always been a liberator. He has always been the kid pointing out that the progressive emperor has no clothes.
And the feathers he has ruffled all needed to be ruffled.
He was a disc jockey out of nowhere who figured out how to be heard in a national media culture owned lock, stock and barrel by the liberal elites. Progressivism has taken over the popular culture, and it imposes a harsh orthodoxy, destroying those who deviate. But Rush found a way. He used excellence to force the market to embrace him and give him place. The bosses might not have agreed, but they could read the ratings, and the ledger, and he won the market and the industry in a stand-up fight.
The progressives raged and spat. They tried boycotts and pressure from the government. They denounced him and vilified him, they Borked him while the blood of that man still stained their teeth. He has been the one voice the cancel culture couldn’t still.
And it hasn’t all passed into the ether, evaporating in the moment, washed away by the flowing tide of events. The career of Rush Limbaugh has erected a structure of permanence which will last another generation and more. But it is not a monument he has built, at least not primarily, it is a fortress. It is a foundation from which the next generation’s fight for freedom will rise.
Because we’ve been listening.
As he has spoken our hearts and improved our understandings, he has been passing on the culture of freedom and the heritage of liberty. In his dissection of yesterday’s issues, we learned the solutions to tomorrow’s problems. And his evangelism of American self-reliance and constitutionalism has converted many tens of millions whose turn on earth will long outlast his, and whose ability to impact the nation’s direction will endure for decades.
Time and chance come to all men, the Bible says, and perhaps they will soon come to Rush. Perhaps they will soon silence his voice. And yet it will still echo in the hearts of the American people and in the annals of the American Republic.
Rush didn’t come to work today.
I fear that soon he might not ever come back.
And we will mourn a friend and brother, a best friend and brother, come to us on waves of air and electrons.
Because we don’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh, we love Rush Limbaugh.
And this isn’t about who will replace him on the air, it’s about letting him know that no one will ever replace him in our hearts.
And that we, these many tens of millions of us, until we meet up with him on the other side, will continue the fight for freedom here in his place.
He had treatment just last week per Bo S. Taking an extra day of rest is not unusual.
Exactly!
Just like DJT, the darkness tried to put out Rush’s light for decades. Why did Rush succeed? Jesus and the truth! He’s in good hands as Jesus is with us wherever we go!! Rush didn’t leave us with the dark but brings it to light!
Thank you Rush, Kathryn and also his EIB staff!
Darkness is here to kill, steal and destroy. The Bible told us this!! Then, we have what Jesus brings to our life. You may have life, and life abundantly. Then, when saved you can have Galatians 5:22! God wants Americans back with Him.
I’m also KFBK Rush veteran from the very first days of his local broadcast. He was a big influence on my love of freedom and reverence for the constitution when I was 17, and still is to this day. When I finally noticed that he has the podcast for free on Apple Podcasts, I was elated. I used to be a Rush 24/7 for years about 15 years ago or so, then let my subscription lapse, and was happy to explore other conservative podcasts, but always missed Rush. I finally found out just a few months ago that I could get his podcast via Apple now, and he’s again the first conservative show I go to each day - along with Dan Bongino, Sebastian Gorky, Matt Walsh, Andrew Klavan (not so much recently since he capitulated to Joe Biden’s “win” shortly after the election). It’s great that Rush set the stage for all these other great conservative voices. I wish him well every day and miss him dearly when he’s not at the microphone.
**By the way, does anyone know when his show was made a podcast for free? I’m still kicking myself knowing that I missed out on however-long I could have been listening. I don’t recall it being available on Apple Podcasts two years ago or so.
Wow. What a great story. Thank you for sharing.
There are a few times in my life that I recall an epiphany. I was a new listener to Rush, driving in my car. He was doing a brilliant dissertation on “What constitutes a fundamental human right”. Going 35 in a 25 zone, my car lit up bright red. When the officer came to my window, I handed him my license and registration and said that I could not talk to him now, I had to hear the end of “this”. He could hear it was Rush. He took my documents back to his car. As soon as Rush went to commercial, the officer got out of his car and told me to watch my speed and have a nice day.
Rush taught me something that day about human rights that I have never forgotten, but he also saved me from a ticket. I thing the officer was listening to Rush too.
I wish Rush well as I do everyone here at FR (well, except one of you). ;o)
Stage 4 lung cancer isn’t something that will allow for the
previous normal activities. Rush knows that and will adapt
as he lives his final miles of life. May he rest in peace.
When he comes back, call him, please?
I think he’d like to use that story to encourage all who start out timid (and who doesn’t?).
Instead of saying Happy New Year I have started saying Crappy New Year.
Because it doesn’t look any better.
Snerdly said Rush had a treatment last week and hopefully he’ll return this week.
@BoSnerdley 6:04 AM Today We expect @RealRLimbaugh to be back tomorrow. Prayers that he is feeling better after treatment last week. Today @MarkSteynOnline will guest host the show - and is sure to be as informative and witty as always. Thank YOU for being there, and staying with us.
Actually, it can happen that way.
I have a photo of my husband on vacation in October, laughing ,smiling and looking wonderful.
He was diagnosed with liver cancer when we got home and exactly one month from that photo he was dead. It happened that fast.
What's amazing is that Rush has held on this long. I figured he didn't have long when was rolled in in a wheelchair for the Medal of Honor - and that was a year ago.
Lung cancer is usually a ruthless killer. I thought the last time I heard his voice before Christmas was the last time I'd ever hear his voice live. He'd said in the fall his cancer was progressing.
Rush is not replaceable.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Rush has been and is a national treasure, not just because of his political message and showing how the Leftist king has no clothes, but for how he lifted the spirits of tens of millions of people with his message. He has been an inspiration, and only God Himself can know the effects that he has had (and will continue to have) on people’s lives. The life’s work of this amazing man will continue to spread like rings in a pond after you toss in a stone.
That said, I hope and pray that God will cure Rush of his cancer, and extend His loan of talent for another few years.
Rush had treatment last week. I am hopeful he is saving up his energy for tomorrow.
I’ve been listening to Rush since the early 90’s. He has talked me off the cliff more than once. I would listen to him at work on my little radio every day. Now I’m retired I have listened to him every day here at home . I have him as our lunch time guest in the background. Some days I’ve turned down lunch dates because I did not want to miss him. However since he’s been off we’ve started to listen to Bannons War Room since this election mess his show has been a godsend since our dear Rush isn’t on. If you haven’t listened to Bannon give him a try. In the meantime we will all keep praying for Rush, for his return.
I think he's closer to the end than he sounds and/or many of us think.
God Bless Rush.
People used to tell me that I had to listen to this new guy on the radio, "he sounds just like you."(I believe it was 1989)
They were talking about his conservative ideals and railing about the liberal media. There wasn't a conservative voice on the radio in those days.
I retired in 1995 and I generally schedule my day so that I can always listen to some Rush daily. It's not uncommon for friends to call often and say. "did you hear what Rush just said?"
The bad news of 2020 was just that, from RUSH’s diagnosis to the election fraud to CHYna releasing Covid to hurt Trump. I’m hoping we pick up the two GA senate seats and the NY-22 Congressional seat, we need a lift, a momentum change.
God Bless him.
Yes. We were wondering if he were getting oxygen between segments - and that was way back in September.
I’ve dealt with lung cancer before (loved ones who smoked) and know its effects.
Not only will miss Rush, but still miss the Black Avenger Ken Hamblin https://kenhamblin.net/
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