Fears of a Clown

The New York Times ^ | March 4, 2009, | Timothy Egan, Esquire

[AJMCQ]

Once upon a time, you could drive to the most remote reaches of the United States and escape Rush Limbaugh. But from the Mogollon Mountains of New Mexico to the Badlands of South Dakota, where only the delicious twang of a country tune or the high-pitched pleadings of a lone lunatic came over the AM dial, there is now the Mighty El Rushbo. As someone who spends a lot of time on the road, I used to find Limbaugh to be an obnoxious but entertaining companion, his eruptions more reliable than Old Faithful. But now that Limbaugh has become something else — the face of the Republican Party, by a White House that has played him brilliantly — he has been transformed into car-wreck-quality spectacle, at once scary and sad.

[silverleaf]

Mr Eagan has a radio that only gets one station and is forced, forced I tell you, to endure Rush Limbaugh.

How sad.

[ml/nj]

As the conservative writer David Frum said recently, “If you’re a talk radio host and you have five million who listen and there are 50 million who hate you, you make a nice living. If you’re a Republican party, you’re marginalized.”

And if you're a writer who has 263 readers, and several hundred million who have never even heard of you, why would anyone care what this writer has to say or whether any of his assertions are right or wrong.

I'm not sure I ever heard of this guy Frum before last night's Mark Levin show (stupidly preempted in NYC, but available I'm sure at the Levin archives) when Frum called in to respond to Levin's criticisms of him. The two went at it for about 20 minutes. This listener thought Levin exceptionally gracious in allowing Frum as much time as he did, and thought Frum exceptionally rude in that the only way Levin could get a word In edgewise was to turn down the input on Frum's line.

ML/NJ

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Now he knows what it's like to be a conservative and to flip through the channels on TV, or to look through the movie listings, or to read a newspaper.

Hey, Mr. Eggin, (Esq — what a pompous ass) go to hell.

[tiredoflaundry]

Rush's fault!

lololol!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I’d take Rush’s audience vs. your circulation right now.

[MarkL]

Once upon a time, you could drive to the most remote reaches of the United States and escape Rush Limbaugh.

Wow! Who knew? This scribbler (I refuse to call him a "writer") for the New York Times must have gotten some sort of a new radio that's "All Rush, All the Time!" Every radio I've ever seen has both an on-off switch AND a tuner! If I ever want to "escape Rush Limbaugh," and I do, occasionally, when he starts talking about the Steelers or golf, all I need to do is turn either turn the radio off, change the station, or pop something into my CD player, like some music or an audio book.

Maybe this scribbler doesn't have a radio like that. Maybe he's just so incredibly stupid that he doesn't understand how an on-off switch works. I'm more inclined to go with that impression.

Mark

[Travis McGee]

Yes, we hope he fails!

[MarkL]

No wonder he's cranky. He's gonna need a day job.

Nahhhh.... Obama's gonna fill his gas tank and pay for his house... He don't need no job...

Mark

[coon2000]

Not only does he scribble but I think he writes with a crayon!

[mewzilla]

LOL!

[RoadTest]

Mr. Egan, you should get down on your knees and thank a merciful God that there is still a handful of people telling the truth in this country! Rush is one of them.

[princeofdarkness]

Maybe David Frum mattered in the conservative world at one time but no more. The times have passed him by. Espousing ideas like embracing global warming issues and dissing social conservatism is not going to bring more people to the GOP.

[Grampa Dave]

Eagan is just another butt boy/Jayson Blair clone.

He should stick to writing his bs articles pushing the Gay life style and agenda.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-hptb5&p=Timothy%20Egan%20%2b%20gay&type=

[RichInOC]

No, you know what’s scary and sad? What’s scary and sad is that President Obama and the Dems’ idea of “change” is spending like a drunken sailor who just won the Mega Millions jackpot instead of a drunken sailor who just drew his pay; the economy, at least partially as a result, is going down faster and nastier than George Peppard at the end of “The Blue Max”; and, oh, yeah, the First Couple and White House staff just managed to gratuitously offend our closest allies...and the White House and their little doggies in the media are not only trying to change the subject by setting up a scapegoat, they (and when I say “they”, I include the Clinton War Room vets who really ought to have known better) picked a guy who, with all his flaws, probably actually can still give them a beating with half his brain tied behind his back.

[fours]

What the hell are you talking about?

It’s dishonorable to just post a link to a Yahoo search for someone’s name plus the word “gay” and then call them a “butt boy.” These are real people we’re talking about. Your link mostly finds articles Egan has written about the Portland mayor.

If you search for Egan’s bio, you’ll find: “He lives in Seattle with his wife, Joni Balter, and two children, Sophie and Casey.” http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=58089

We can disagree about his politics, but I don’t see anything in the article about Rush that “pushes the gay agenda.” (And neither do I see anything in the article about the Portland mayor that pushes any agenda — its main point is that he’s been a disapointing mayor.)

You should think before you type.