Posted on 02/17/2021 11:21:07 AM PST by Eleutheria5
PALM BEACH, Fla. — Rush Limbaugh, the talk radio host who ripped into liberals and laid waste to political correctness with a merry brand of malice that made him one of the most powerful voices on the American right, influencing the rightward push of conservatism and the rise of Donald Trump, died Wednesday. He was 70.
Limbaugh said a year ago that he had lung cancer. His death was announced on his show by his wife, Kathryn.
Unflinchingly conservative, wildly partisan, bombastically self-promoting and larger than life, Limbaugh galvanized listeners for more than 30 years with his talent for vituperation and sarcasm.
He called himself an entertainer, but his rants during his three-hour weekday radio show broadcast on nearly 600 U.S. stations shaped the national political conversation, swaying ordinary Republicans and the direction of their party.
Blessed with a made-for-broadcasting voice, he delivered his opinions with such certainty that his followers, or “Ditto-heads,” as he dubbed them, took his words as sacred truth.
“In my heart and soul, I know I have become the intellectual engine of the conservative movement,” Limbaugh, with typical immodesty, told author Zev Chafets in the 2010 book “Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One.”
Forbes magazine estimated his 2018 income at $84 million, ranking him behind only Howard Stern among radio personalities.
Limbaugh took as a badge of honor the title “most dangerous man in America.” He said he was the “truth detector,” the “doctor of democracy,” a “lover of mankind,” a “harmless, lovable little fuzz ball” and an “all-around good guy.” He claimed he had “talent on loan from God.”
Long before Trump’s rise in politics, Limbaugh was pinning insulting names on his enemies and raging against the mainstream media, accusing it of feeding the public lies....
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(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...
I haven’t had a dry eye for hours. The rush revere stuff if priceless and his close today with Olivia a young gal from a long ago show was just too much.
THey should be!
Tears.
Rest in Peace my dear Conservative Friend. May the good Lord comfort his family and friends.
Many may not know this, but Rush was based out of Sacramento CA before he was a national radio personality. Many of us early Freepers know that Rush did research for his show using FR. I would read FR and then listen to Rush the next day, only to hear that items taken from “his stack of stuff” had been already posted on FR the day before. Rumors had it, that he posted on FR, but I never saw it or knew his screen name.
It was so fun to hear the liberal heads exploding during his show. Rush’s line about living rent free in people’s heads is epic.
Leftists convinced themselves that people on the Right got
their marching orders from Limbaugh. I laughed when I’d
hear/see that, because it revealed how clueless the Left
was on one more topic.
God fearing nation loving people, felt that way long
before Rush Limbaugh was on the scene nationally. When
he did break out in his new platform, we flocked to hear
a man that got it, something the Left never has.
Our Founding Fathers got it. Many public figures since have
also. Reagan got it. Trump got it. Rush got it, but we
all came to it through living life and seeing what worked
and what didn’t.
I’ll miss Rush, because he was able to explain it to others,
but they had to be willing to listen. And if they were,
that only showed they had taken the first step before
Rush could echo the beliefs they already had begun to adopt.
Rush did help many along the way to see things more clearly.
I don’t mean to underplay his role and accomplishments.
There’s a great big void in my life right now, and I don’t
see anyone that can fill it.
I didn’t listen to Rush every day. I still knew he was
there and I could listen to a man that I saw eye to eye
with most often.
He was a master at what he did. Made it look real easy he
did. Many others out there are proving that every day.
We’ve lost a true American......
Rest in Peace Rush, you changed the world for the better. You will be missed, there is no replacing you.
Really crappy and biased report but considering the source I guess it’s a good thing.
We were lucky to hear him as long as we did there will never be another Rush.He was that good!
Perhaps it was time for this doddering old man to go. You have to understand, almost ALL of the media was liberal. This was before FOX. Before the Internet. The media had a virtual monopoly on what the slant of the news was. I mean, there was William F. Buckley, but he was pedantic and available for like half a hour a week on PBS.
So, I used to listen to WBEN during the day at work. They had a parade of lefties, culminating even in the rebroadcast of the audio of the Phil Donahue show. Then one day, they announced that a new program was being carried. The Rush Limbaugh show. I remember thinking to myself, what kind of leftie is THIS going to be?
Like everyone else, I was stunned. Not only was he a conservative, he made fun of advocates for feminism, the homeless, animal rights (remember them?), environmentalists. He went on the attack. I had been conditioned that one did not criticize those kinds of people. They only wanted good things to happen. Rush had the keen perception that these people could care less about their so-called 'constituencies'. They were Trojan Horse causes designed to bludgeon conservatives into submission and clear the way for socialism. He did not accept the premise. He fought back. He completely reformulated my thinking process. AND he did it with a scathing humor and the full and uncompromising courage of his convictions. He was accessible, and he had 15 hours a week to work with. He will be missed, but I think he spawned an army of Dittoheads.
On Ash Wednesday.
“Remember, you are dust, and to dust you shall return”.
“You alone are immortal, You who created and fashioned man. For we mortals were fashioned from the earth, and to the same earth we will go again, as You who fashioned me commanded and said to me: “You are earth, and to the earth you shall return”; where all we mortals shall go, as we make our funeral lament: Alleluia.”
Yep. Never. God broke the mould....ground it to a fine powder...and scattered it to the wind.
Truly a great American. Thank you for everything, Rush. RIP.
First heard Rush in the late 80s / early 90s. The show was so funny, so refreshing and so insightful I thought it had to be a one-off special. To my amazement, it was on 3 hours every day. Rush was and always will be a legendary talent.
Aww man, I feel as though I’ve lost a family member. Lord, take care of Rush, he was a good man. Give him a new shiny medal and, like someone said, a Golden Microphone.
Just wow, I’m tearing up here so I’ll stop.
I agree with your sympathies completely, but let’s put the half-mast use back to its original intent. It’s been so overused the last decade to the point that it’s almost a constant observation for any number of things. Almost as useless as the Nobel Peace prize.
That said, I think this is THE tragedy of 2021.
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