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Rush Limbaugh, the self-proclaimed “Doctor of Democracy” who led the conservative media revolution by bashing “feminazis,” “environmentalist wackos,” “commie libs” and prominent Black people — especially former President Barack Obama, died Wednesday. He was 70.

His wife announced his death on his radio show.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/17/rush-li ... ge-70.html

I've never listened to talk radio of any stripe, so this affects me not at all, but I do remember when he was a major cultural force in the early 2000s. Did any of you listen to his show? If so, what do you think his legacy will be?

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 5:53 pm ...what do you think his legacy will be?

Trump

I’ve listened on occasion. Best guy to ever do it. Seldom took calls; three hours a day of him talking and a few clips.

nafod wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 7:41 pm

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 5:53 pm ...what do you think his legacy will be?

Trump

Not sure if you're serious, but that's not really fair to the rest of his career. Rush's legacy will (eventually) be that he was the best in political radio, and certainly one of the best radiomen ever. I say that as someone who agreed with very little of his politics.

But like Turd said, he took very few calls and still managed to engage an audience for 3 hours and influence conservative culture in a broad way for decades. I don't think there's anyone else out there, left or right that has done, or could do, what Rush did.

He was magnificent at his craft, I'll give him that.

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 5:53 pm Did any of you listen to his show? If so, what do you think his legacy will be?

Yeah, "mega dittos" and such stuff. Limbaugh was a disk jockey at KQV in Pittsburgh PA named Jeff Christie. He got into "journalism".

Flaming Clinton was fun until Limbaugh got waived off. Some think that Roger Ailes, his boss and benefactor, got a talking to about this "conspiracy shit". I remember the Toenail Fungus day. Limbaugh started talking about Toenail Fungus. After that Limbaugh stopped taking "conspiracy" phone calls.

By the early 2000s Limbaugh became a side show. No left wing sins, no basis of material. I stopped listening to him when he gave Bush Jr too many passes.

Limbaugh's legacy? A nice exercise in Free Speech after Reagan got rid of FDR's fascist "fairness doctrine". FDR put it in because he got tired of "resistance" to the New Deal. Something about Rev Billy Sunday. Fuck FDR.

nafod wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 7:41 pm

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 5:53 pm ...what do you think his legacy will be?

Trump

Trump was Barack Obama's legacy. Too much crony capitalism, too many working class people left behind due to "globalism".

The Trans-Pacific Partnership was Obama's idea.

Gene wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:19 pm

nafod wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 7:41 pm

Fat Cat wrote: ↑Wed Feb 17, 2021 5:53 pm ...what do you think his legacy will be?

Trump

Trump was Barack Obama's legacy.

There could have been any number of conservatives who could have claimed that mantle. But Trump is the inheritor of Limbaugh. Where the only policy that matters is sticking it to the libs.

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:34 pm There could have been any number of conservatives who could have claimed that mantle. But Trump is the inheritor of Limbaugh. Where the only policy that matters is sticking it to the libs.

Hillary was the person who ran against Trump. Do you think that Trump would have beaten former Sen Jim Webb so easily? Webb has a working class background. Hillary hasn't driven herself anywhere in twenty years. She said so. Hillary accepted $255,000 from Goldman Sachs for a few hours of work, this was reported on CNN.

Ignore that Hillary is a woman. What does Hillary know about working class issues? How many jobs has she done with her hands, Nafod? At least Trump slummed it at his hotels from time to time. Token work but more than Hillary.

What about the War on Coal? Those miners don't understand complex systems of differential equations. They may lack faith in models derived from them. To them it's about feeding their families. How about displaced steel workers? Auto workers?

Trump appealed to their class interests, not Rush Limbaugh. Trump demagogued the issue. He's no working class person. He at least seemed to care.

Hillary was a princess royal. Wearing expensive clothes, hanging around celebrities.... where was she when American workers needed her?

Biden's Climate Czar John Kerry said that Keystone Pipeline workers should get "jobs building solar panels". Skilled trades versus building commodity items. Which pays better? Is this a trick question? Guess you all haven't learned a damn thing.

Which would make more CO2? Trains carrying Canadian derived tar sands that can only run on petroleum or a pipeline that can run on nuke power, hydroelectric or wind/solar? You are aware, Nafod, that the tar sands derived petroleum products are being refined in the US? This ban was a pointless gesture.

People are not as dumb as they seem, Nafod. Most often they don't have enough motivation to think carefully.

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:34 pm There could have been any number of conservatives who could have claimed that mantle. But Trump is the inheritor of Limbaugh. Where the only policy that matters is sticking it to the libs.

Joe Biden had strong working class support. In Frank Sheeran's book, "I heard you paint houses" Sheeran gave Biden props for "always listening to labor". If a die hard Teamster like Frank Sheeran likes you you're probably OK with Unions. The Teamsters gave Joe support to get his Senate seat.

VP Harris is as African American as any white American. She's half South Asian, half Caribbean. One her ancestors owned slaves. She is an ideological outlier. She is weak.

Neither one commands any strong support in Washington. Ain't no Lyndon Johnson on Team Biden.

Joe picked Obama's Baghdad Bob, Jen Psaki, to be his Press Secretary. Unlike Trump's combative choices Jen says nothing. She talks in circles, circling back to stuff. She has the appeal of a frustrated school teacher.


Sticking it to libs? You all seem to stick it to yourselves just fine.

Limbaugh was an entertainer. We expect our entertainers to entertain us. When our political leadership also entertains us - in Biden's case from his serial stupid shit - we have problems.

Gene wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:12 pm

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:34 pm There could have been any number of conservatives who could have claimed that mantle. But Trump is the inheritor of Limbaugh. Where the only policy that matters is sticking it to the libs.

Limbaugh was an entertainer. We expect our entertainers to entertain us.

Just an entertainer? He was the ultimate influencer. He knew it too. He used the “just an entertainer” thing to give him license to say whatever, but he wasn’t so stupid as to believe it.

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:23 pm

Gene wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:12 pm

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:34 pm There could have been any number of conservatives who could have claimed that mantle. But Trump is the inheritor of Limbaugh. Where the only policy that matters is sticking it to the libs.

Limbaugh was an entertainer. We expect our entertainers to entertain us.

Just an entertainer? He was the ultimate influencer. He knew it too. He used the “just an entertainer” thing to give him license to say whatever, but he wasn’t so stupid as to believe it.

So how did Barack Obama win in 2012 and Joe Biden win in 2020? Limbaugh supported Romney and Trump. Where was his influence?

Gene wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 5:58 am

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:23 pm

Gene wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:12 pm

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:34 pm There could have been any number of conservatives who could have claimed that mantle. But Trump is the inheritor of Limbaugh. Where the only policy that matters is sticking it to the libs.

Limbaugh was an entertainer. We expect our entertainers to entertain us.

Just an entertainer? He was the ultimate influencer. He knew it too. He used the “just an entertainer” thing to give him license to say whatever, but he wasn’t so stupid as to believe it.

So how did Barack Obama win in 2012 and Joe Biden win in 2020? Limbaugh supported Romney and Trump. Where was his influence?

The danger of his influence wasn't the numbers. It was the crazy conspiracy theories, the dark motivations he assigned to the left, and the god-derived righteousness he awarded to the right. His influence is what allows the right to embrace people like Trump and Green and Q with absolutely no misgivings whatsoever. It shifts the ideology on what is acceptable and what we should be striving for as a country. And its not a good shift.

syaigh wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:43 am

Gene wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 5:58 am

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:23 pm

Gene wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 4:12 pm

nafod wrote: ↑Thu Feb 18, 2021 3:34 pm There could have been any number of conservatives who could have claimed that mantle. But Trump is the inheritor of Limbaugh. Where the only policy that matters is sticking it to the libs.

Limbaugh was an entertainer. We expect our entertainers to entertain us.

Just an entertainer? He was the ultimate influencer. He knew it too. He used the “just an entertainer” thing to give him license to say whatever, but he wasn’t so stupid as to believe it.

So how did Barack Obama win in 2012 and Joe Biden win in 2020? Limbaugh supported Romney and Trump. Where was his influence?

The danger of his influence wasn't the numbers. It was the crazy conspiracy theories, the dark motivations he assigned to the left, and the god-derived righteousness he awarded to the right. His influence is what allows the right to embrace people like Trump and Green and Q with absolutely no misgivings whatsoever. It shifts the ideology on what is acceptable and what we should be striving for as a country. And its not a good shift.

Time will tell just how true that hypothesis turns out to be, then, won't it?

I hated Limbaugh in the 1990s. Really thought that he was all that was wrong in politics and everybody that I knew agreed with me.

As the left moved further to the left, I gave him a re-listen and though I didn't agree with many of his politics, found a huge respect for the guy. In terms of radiomen, sitting in a room, by himself for three plus hours each day for thirty years...I don't think that we will see anybody else who is able to do that.

Politically, he was the spawn from Reagan ending the fairness doctrine - Rush burst onto the scenes and provided a viewpoint that hadn't been widely heard since William F. Buckley, who, obviously, wasn't a guy to speak to the masses in the way that Rush was.

Socially, it's insane that he survived for thirty years of what we know as cancel culture coming for the guy hard.

Personally, I know two guys who have met Limbaugh in person and both said that he was one of the nicest people they'd ever known - and nothing like the larger-than-life person you heard on the radio.

syaigh wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:43 am The danger of his influence wasn't the numbers. It was the crazy conspiracy theories, the dark motivations he assigned to the left, and the god-derived righteousness he awarded to the right. His influence is what allows the right to embrace people like Trump and Green and Q with absolutely no misgivings whatsoever. It shifts the ideology on what is acceptable and what we should be striving for as a country. And its not a good shift.

I knew a lot of people who considered Limbaugh a "pussy" because he stopped talking about conspiracy theories.

syaigh wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:43 amIt shifts the ideology on what is acceptable and what we should be striving for as a country.

We don't have a clear idea of what is "acceptable" or what we should be striving for as a country and we shouldn't.

Gene wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 5:29 pm

syaigh wrote: ↑Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:43 amIt shifts the ideology on what is acceptable and what we should be striving for as a country.

We don't have a clear idea of what is "acceptable" or what we should be striving for as a country and we shouldn't.

I think not having anything we're collectively striving for is one of the things dragging this country straight down in every single metric other than GDP, military spending, and percentage of our population in prison. We're in a race to second world status with only our ability to bully other nations keeping us afloat.
When you have a country/culture all hitched to a waggon and pulling in the same direction, the US has shown there's not a nation on Earth that can compete with us. When we have 900 different fractured groups pulling in separate directions the only thing we get is drawn and quartered.

Gene wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 5:29 pm We don't have a clear idea of what is "acceptable" or what we should be striving for as a country and we shouldn't.

A foundational thing we should all demand as acceptable is losing gracefully and turning over power peacefully when the other guy beats you in a free and fair election. It’s the core of our constitutional process. Limbaugh helped undermine it.

Alfred_E._Neuman wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:53 pmWhen you have a country/culture all hitched to a waggon and pulling in the same direction, the US has shown there's not a nation on Earth that can compete with us. When we have 900 different fractured groups pulling in separate directions the only thing we get is drawn and quartered.

We don't need a false unity. We need respectful consensus, nothing more. Respect hasn't been part of the picture since 1933. Might makes right is how they roll.

nafod wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:59 pm

Gene wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 5:29 pm We don't have a clear idea of what is "acceptable" or what we should be striving for as a country and we shouldn't.

A foundational thing we should all demand as acceptable is losing gracefully and turning over power peacefully when the other guy beats you in a free and fair election. It’s the core of our constitutional process. Limbaugh helped undermine it.

Trump did after the Jan 6 2021 vote was taken. Conceded and committed to transition. Al Gore held out until December 13 2000. Was he obstructing Democracy too?

Limbaugh had halted chemo earlier in 2020. He was dying of terminal lung cancer. How much power does a man dying of end stage lung cancer have, Nafod?

Alfred_E._Neuman wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:53 pm I think not having anything we're collectively striving for is one of the things dragging this country straight down in every single metric other than GDP, military spending, and percentage of our population in prison.

We don't need to think as one. We need to think. Groupthink doesn't make that happen.

Gene wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 12:20 am

nafod wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:59 pm

Gene wrote: ↑Sat Feb 20, 2021 5:29 pm We don't have a clear idea of what is "acceptable" or what we should be striving for as a country and we shouldn't.

A foundational thing we should all demand as acceptable is losing gracefully and turning over power peacefully when the other guy beats you in a free and fair election. It’s the core of our constitutional process. Limbaugh helped undermine it.

Trump did after the Jan 6 2021 vote was taken. Conceded and committed to transition.

Trump still argues the election was stolen. Even now. That’s not conceding.

Here’s Trump calling in to Fox News, talking about Limbaugh’s passing...

But Trump also praised Limbaugh for espousing his false claim the 2020 election was stolen through widespread voter fraud, stating “Rush thought we won” and “Rush felt we won and he was quite angry about it."

“And so do I, by the way,” Trump added to little pushback from Fox hosts Harris Faulkner and Bill Hemmer – the latter widely seen as one of Fox’s “straight news” personalities – adding, “I think we won substantially.”

nafod wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:08 amTrump still argues the election was stolen. Even now. That’s not conceding.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/politics ... index.html

Does #Resist look familiar, Nafod?

nafod wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:08 am Trump still argues the election was stolen. Even now. That’s not conceding.

I think we can all agree that the election was stolen.