Posted on 02/04/2020 12:19:54 PM PST by Kaslin
It’s a tribute to the great Rush Limbaugh that the reaction to his cancer diagnosis by the tens of millions of people he inspired was not to be devastated but to focus and to resolutely offer their thoughts and prayers in his fight. And he will fight – he’ll fight this like he has fought everything and everyone else that tried to take him out over the last third of a century. He is the archetypal conservative brawler, a no-apologies, no-excuses conservative who never submitted, never allowed himself to be domesticated and neutered by the elite. At the same time, he is gracious and a charity juggernaut. We love him for his strength and wit, and the left – to judge by its vicious, hateful glee over the news – has never forgiven him for either.
But then, the glory of Rush is that he doesn’t ask to be forgiven.
Here’s how I learned about Rush. I was back from the Gulf War in mid-1991, out of the Army and staying with my parents for a few weeks before I went to LA to start law school. One day, a guy I grew up with who lived across the street told me, “You gotta hear this Rush guy!”
“What’s a Rush?”
“Rush Limbaugh!”
That’s when this all began for me. Sure, I was conservative already, but I was kind of on my own. Lots of us were – millions of us thought we were the only ones who thought like we did. Back then, being a conservative meant you waited for the National Review and maybe the American Spectator to show up in your mailbox. That was it. That was the whole conservative media. You social media cons are spoiled. We were the conservative diaspora.
And conservatism was still nice. Nice worked for Ronald Reagan, but he had a spine of steel. Nice did not work for George H.W. Bush. He would dive bomb a Japanese destroyer and send me and half a million others off to war, but get into an undignified political brawl? Oh well, I never! He got pummeled.
But Rush was not interested in submission. He was interested in conservatism, raw and undiluted. And he gathered us together and demonstrated that we were not alone.
For me, Rush was preaching to the choir, but then the choir needs preaching to too. Yet, his most vital function is to create new conservatives out of mushy libs who were that way purely out of habit. I can’t count how many other conservatives I’ve met who were liberal until they heard Rush. The lies the liberals told about him were often the first liberal lies these converts noticed – they tuned in expecting a monster and got a good natured, funny but uncompromising conservative who won millions of people over through the power of the common sense of his message. People wondered that if liberals were lying to them about Rush, what else were they lying about?
My friend Andrew Breitbart, the other great non-governmental conservative visionary of the last 50 years, wrote about how he was converted and inspired by Rush. That’s the importance of Rush to our movement – he generates conservatives out of liberals and moderates, all by talking to them like they are adults.
But while freedom and the Constitution sell themselves, don’t underestimate Rush’s technical skills as an entertainer. Today, I occasionally substitute for incredible radio hosts like Hugh Hewitt and Larry O’Connor – every conservative host traces his lineage to Rush. And doing that job gives you an appreciation of what it takes and what Rush does. You stare at that mic looming in front of your face and realize you have 11 minutes until the next hard break to fill with coherent thoughts that will keep hands off that dial. But Rush has done that for decades, making it look easy (it’s not) and without the crutch of guests. It’s all him.
There has never been anyone like him on radio, and never will be again. But there will be many who were mentored by him whether Rush knew them or not.
People say there would be no Trump without Rush, but it’s more than that. There would be no conservatism without him. Our movement could have been strangled in the cradle, but Rush nurtured and grew it off in what had been the abandoned wasteland of AM radio where the smart set never bothered to venture.
He started in the three-network era and singlehandedly busted that liberal monopoly on discourse. Rush ignored the gatekeepers and simply tore down the whole gate. Oh, they tried to stop him. They tried to force him off the air, because they feared the unstoppable combination of unparalleled talent promoting the ideology of human freedom backed with the courage to never quit. He could have walked away years ago. He could have taken his money and retired. But he’s there, every day, working in the cause of freedom.
How they hate him. His announcement was met by determination and faith from his friends and vile delight by his enemies on the left. Did you see a single major Democrat take to social media to wish him well? Keep that in mind when they invite you to disarm.
Remember, they hate Rush not for anything he did, but simply for articulating American freedom effectively and without equivocation. They want him to die, literally, because they disagree with what he thinks, so how do you think they feel about you? Again, consider that the next time a Democrat tells you to give up your guns.
I think back on the countless hours I spent with Rush in my car and smile. It seems like he’s always been there, a voice of sanity during the Clinton years, the Bush 43 years, Obama years, and the Trump era. He’s been there pretty much my whole adult life. A lot of you younger cons never knew a time before Rush. He was always there when you turned on the radio, doing his unique thing, not part of any other network or organization, entirely sui generis.
He’s Rush.
And though I never met him, he’s been amazingly gracious to me. Every once in a while, my phone will go nuts, and I know the great Rush Limbaugh has read one of my Townhall columns on the air again, and no doubt mispronounced my last name!
Rush, you can pronounce “Schlichter” any way you please. If not for you, I probably would not be a columnist, or an author, or an occasional radio host. Thank you.
By then I had a collection of letters from Time Magazine, to which I subscribed. I sent them letters describing exactly why they were wrong, and they sent me responses that all showed a graphic of a right-facing eye on the left looking toward a left-facing eye on the right. Time intended for that to mean "We disagree, but keep those subscription checks coming." Eventually I canceled the subscription. Conservatives don't need Time Magazine.
The only downside to listening to Rush over the years has been that he turns me into a bad driver. Again and again, I have found myself laughing so hard at one of his jokes/parodies that I almost drove off the road.
Get better, Rush. You can't be replaced.
Rush is my hero. I know he will beat this because we are all praying hard for him. He made me realize there are so many that think the same as him, we are not alone. by the way this is my first post, I’m no longer a lurker.
Amazing how many of us remember the first time we heard, or were introduced to, “this guy” Rush.
Any list of ‘conservatives’ that includes Hugh Hewitt and GHW Bush is one that doesn’t know what a GOP hack is.
Excellent analogy!
Not bad for a first post:) You have it exactly right. Dumbass liberals think "oh, you agree with Rush" have it exactly wrong. No, Rush thinks like me. Dumbass liberals love to gloat about his addiction to painkillers (which will, in the end, help America by raising awareness, so GOD Bless America for him), or his multiple marriages (oh wow, that's a real winning issue). Bottom line is that Rush is an American hero. Even if he doesn't beat this present condition, I'm so grateful to him. He agrees with me, and gave me a voice.
Welcome!
Howdy
“I know he will beat this because we are all praying hard for him.”
I firmly believe that I am alive now due to prayer, once from cancer and once when I was small.
Rush was my everyday habit, but I must say, on snowy Ohio days, I could not wait to cook and listen to Rush. It was everything, comfort food, common sense and being with a best friend. Now I live in the SC low country and will look forward to this coming hot steamy summer days, drinking delicious sweet tea and STILL listening to Rush. I was blessed to be a three time caller and that made my life a little more special. Hang tough Rush.
Will definitely keep Rush in my prayers.
Absolutely. The kicker for me. (I have always loved and have done radio) was when I was driving to a sales call and he was talking about a VD pamphlet he stressed “Don’t use Crisco as a lube because Crisco is Shortening...”. Baaaaaaaaaaaa DUM!! I lost it. I said “this guy is good!”
Hope and pray!
Agree. Horrible news to hear. I have looked forward to his program for almost 30 years. Like my older brother. Hope God has mercy on him and that this horrible sickness is destroyed,
The early 90’s, driving north from Champaign-Urbana, about half way to Chicago, not too far from Kankakee, and I’m looking for a decent radio station to get me the rest of the way there. So I dial around 890 AM, trying to pull in WLS - maybe they’ve got something decent.
You know how out in the boonies you sometimes pick up two stations, one fading in and out, then another picking up? That what seemed to be happening - I’m listening to Andy Williams singing “Born Free”, then I’m getting what sounds like World War II newsreel feed: bombs going off, machine gun fire, planes roaring over head - it was so freaking bizarre, I couldn’t punch out. Then all of a sudden there’s this booming voice over the whole cacophony announcing some “Animal Rights Update”. After listening to this guy for like 20 seconds I’m laughing so hard I almost left my car in a ditch on the side of I-57.
From that point on I tried to at least an hour of that guy Rush every day. Then came the Gulf War - Fat-arse Kennedy and his minions going on about 18,000 body bags getting sent to the Mid-East. Meanwhile Limbaugh is almost alone in saying something on the order of “Trust me, folks, you won’t believe what you’ll see - our guys we’ll go through those clowns faster than fecal matter through a goose”. Or words to that effect. And I’m thinking “I really liked this guy, and I just know when thousands of body bags start returning home, those scum in the liberal media are going to eat him alive - hate to see it.”
But of course it all turned out just as he predicted, and I was hooked ever since.
Thanks, Kurt for the tribute. And especially thanks Rush for fighting the good fight - with good humor - all these many decades. We all owe you a real debt of gratitude, and we all pray for a hoped-for recovery.
and from a death grip by the International Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of North America (AFL-CIO).
Thank You Maha Rushie - El Rushbo!
A grateful ditto-head!
My favorite bumper sticker-
Rush Is Right Even On Drugs- LOL!
Get well wise owl, get well soon!
freepersup
Just listened to President Trump awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rush!
Rush Limbaugh was groundbreaking and changed my life and the life of my whole family. I was a radio junkie before Rush but had to settle for Larry King or Jim Bohannon. Paul Harvey at Noon was ok. But before Rush, there was no Rush. I have loved Rush since I first heard his voice in 1991. This was before the internet when I could stream quality sound from anywhere on the road. Back then I would drive and listen to Rush on one station until the distance would make it scratchy and impossible to hear. My kids would say, it’s all static. I would say, no I can still make out what he was saying. Then I would start looking for another station carrying him from 9 to noon Central. I would make sure I was driving on a trip on a weekday and hated it if I had to drive on a weekend. One of my 17 grandchildren is named Rush. One more thing. When people say that Rush is a lot like Donald Trump, who I love, I say Donald is like Rush.
What a tribute!
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