“I think Rush’s performance as a whole has declined since his latest wife (#4, I believe).”
True, but I think that the decline started with his hearing loss. I’ve listened to Rush for 22 years and he is not the Rush of the early 1990’s. That Rush endorsed Pat Buchanan as a protest vote against Bush 41. That Rush did his own research instead of just reading what’s on the Drudge Report. By the time Rush is on I’ve already read the Drudge Report, I don’t need Rush to tell me what’s on it.
He and other conservative talk hosts have been especially useless during Republican primaries. By trying to be neutral he does more damage than if he actually endorsed someone.
It could well be that his hearing loss has affected his performance. He doesn’t take very many callers and he often doesn’t seem to understand the point they’re making when he does take them. So instead he just tends to rant, which gets a little tedious if what listeners really want is analysis. And often now, instead of being witty the way he used to be, he can be simply loud and rude. I think that’s how he got himself into this current situation.
The other thing is that success kills. Rush has become a personality now and is sought after as a speaker, celebrity dinner guest, etc., in addition to simply being extremely wealthy and spending his time golfing and hobnobbing with other wealthy people. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this, but I think it may have taken off his edge and also simply not left him with a lot of time to devote to his program. As I say, maybe this will be a wake-up call and we’ll get the old Rush back.