What's amazing about Rush Haters is...they've never really listened to his show. If they hear you're a Rush listener, they automatically ascribe all sorts of nasty things to you--anti-feminist, homophobe, right-wing nutcase, etc. Then you press a little bit: Have you ever listened to Rush. I've heard him, comes the reply. Have you ever LISTENED to an entire show...and then followed up by listening to several shows, so your opinion is at least based on some reasonable experience? Uh...no.
Same goes with Fox News. Some people react viscerally to the mention of it. Do you listen to it? Uh...no.
I always reply, You should tune into Fox News just from a cultural standpoint. After all, very soon they will have bigger ratings than CBS, NBC and ABC. Then I say, Combined.
The same thing happened to me. When I lived in NY, I never bothered listening to him because of all the negative things I heard...
Imagine how much MORE true that was for me, living in Europe at the time! Filtering every bit of news through the International Herald Tribune and the brand new CNN International. Rush Limbaugh, why he must be a monster with three heads! The horrors!!
Then one night he was a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which was broadcast on the new NBC Superstation a day later. I took one look and couldn't believe it. He was a NORMAL HUMAN BEING, very funny, and made a lot of sense.
When I moved back here in 1994, the first thing I did was to listen to his radio show. I'm still listening 10 years later. He is a master at articulating issues so that you understand the meat but also pick up on what the other side is clinging to as their line of argument. He is very witty, most of it held out of sight on his show, with twinkly comments for those who get it. It would be hard not to love the guy.