He's clearly ratings driven -- people listen to him because he is there because his ratings are high because people listen to him because he is there because ... and round and round it goes.
There are very few humans who could keep their sense of humility after making a success for over a decade getting paid mega-dollars to tell millions of people how great they were.
Rush , though bombastic and always a wee bit arrogant, became less and less interesing / useful to the Conservativecause, when he stopped really working at doing what made him popular and wealthly. It actually started wen he married Marta. She, alone of all of his wives, got him to leave his house or apartment/ get out into the world. Previously to this marriage, Rush didn't EVER take advantage of where he lived, played the hermit, and read his eyes out . When h and his then wife moved to N.Y.C., to begin his national program, he could have been living in a cave, in Afghanistan , for all he cared . He proudly ( stupidly !) boasted, that he wouldn't deign to go to a museum, theatre, park, historical site, restuarant, point of interest ... NOTHING there . His then wife was at her wits' end. Yes, he did talk about that , back in 1989.
So, what did he do ? He read newspapers and the computer. He also chatted with people ( that's how he met Marta ) on line. Fast forward a few years, he's married to Marta, he discovers golf, posh addresses, interior decorators used by " celebraties " , fancy parties, " posh " charity affairs and an actual life. Does he deserve to have a REAL life ? Of course he does, and it was something long overdue ! But... his program began to suffer , from inattention and his own now VERY distsorted ego. James Golden left, and the show went down hill even more.
You snidely wrote about Rush ignoring the Clinton mess. Well, guess what ? He actually did ignore a LOT of it and would read FR, and then days and even weeks later, not only talk about those threads as though they were " current " , he quoted FREEPERS' posts, word for word, as though they were his own ideas, and NEVER gave any attribution to the rightful owner. When Newt was ridding high, he fed ( probably others did too ) Rush stuff. Once Newt was running into trouble ... S-I-L-E-N-C-E ... descended. Rush NEVER has anything " hot " anymore; hasn't for years.
About 4 years ago, he spent three solid hours, wall to wall of the show, talking about TOE FUNGUS ! Toe fungus, in the midst of all kinds of news breaking loose ( I know that there was, I was reading FR ! ) and he has nothing better to talk about than blod toe fungus. He reprised it, for a while the following day as well.