A confession of just how naive I was about 30 years ago: I thought there was "no way" Rush

[Atticus]

Limbaugh's arrogant daily radio rant could possibly last more than a couple months.

My work at that time involved near daily driving and I happened to catch this new guy on the car radio who began his show with "If you just don't know WHAT to think, listen to me. I'll tell you!" I was astounded that anyone could hope to build a radio show by insulting the intelligence of his listeners each time he waddled onto the AM airwaves.

My, my, my! I totally underestimated the number of shameless goobers eager to be told that their ignorance was not just ok, it was superior to anything advocated by "those liberal elites". He was eventually "honored" to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from someone even more arrogant and shameless: Donald Trump.

To be clear, my assessment of Limbaugh was totally accurate: he was an arrogant, racist, misogynistic liar---but that's what his fans loved about him and when someone with the same qualities rode down that escalator in 2015, they were ecstatic because he was an immoral hater, JUST LIKE THEM.

I misjudged Americans, not Limbaugh.

[Aristus]

1. I worked in a book store around the time his first couple of rant collections appeared in print.

Goddamn if every shit-for-brains, shovel-browed, meth-mouth idiot who probably couldn't write his own name, let alone read it or anything else, shuffled in to the bookstore to ask if we had "Rush's books".

Don't think the people who bought the books had bookshelves at home. But maybe they displayed those wastes of paper and ink proudly on top of the TV...

[Harker]

32. I worked in bookshops, too. Second hand an antiquarian.

We never bought any, but if they were donated, I drew little Hitler moustaches on his face and threw them in the dollar bin outside.

[ShazzieB]

35. I Ike your style!

[Harker]

39. Not everyone did...

Bill O'Reilly and Glen Beck got the Sharpie treatment, too.

Every now and then an incensed browser would express their outrage. That's when I knew, in my own little way, I was making the world just a little bit better.

[overleft]

2. The first time I heard "limpbrain", I thought he was a loud mouth idiot.

He was. Only one with money behind him sadly.

[bearsfootball516]

3. There's a fantastic documentary called "The Brainwashing of my Dad"

Which is centered around how Rush Limbaugh started America down the path that led to dozens of millions of Americans being brainwashed into believing far right ideals.

[LakeArenal]

12. Exactly. My parents were hooked before I even heard his name.

[MyOwnPeace]

16. How ironic to think that when I was growing up

in the 50's we were talking about how Russia and China were 'brainwashing' their people to believe how 'great' their system of government was.
And now we're looking at the erosion of our own governmental model by the same means - the brainwashing of the masses.

As the Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev once said: “We will take America without firing a shot. We do not have to invade the U.S. We will destroy you from within....”

Thanks, Rush......

[Celerity]

30. super doc, and it is amazing how much more normal and non-hateful he became when it was removed

(the RW media hate machine)

[Mosby]

4. For me, when I saw how popular his TV show was

I knew he was going to be around for a long time.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. At Least That Didn't Last

His TV ratings, after about 6 months started dipping & by the time stations quit carrying it, the ratings line looked like a sigmoidal curve.
Alas, it did little to his radio life.
That said, his ratings were greatly overstated due to captive listenership and weekly accumulation methods.
His show was a loss leader so somebody was eating that salary as a cost of propaganda.
I too, am surprised he had that kind of staying power.

[Atticus]

18. His tv show failed because he could not hang up on a guest who disagreed with him. He wasn't

very good at actual discussion or debate. He needed the anonymity of the super-screened radio studio. He could deal with sycophantic callers; people---not so much.

[ProfessorGAC]

29. Good Point

But, the ratings in major markets everywhere tanked in relatively short order.
Here in Chicago, his show went to the wee hours, on tape delay, after a few months.
But, you're dead on.
He was incapable of actual discussion or debate. And, anything even slightly off script would send him reeling.

[BigmanPigman]

5. Never underestimate the shear stupidity of your fellow humans.

This is how I knew tRump would win in 2016.

[deurbano]

22. I wish it was "just" stupidity, but a horrifying number of them are so much more hateful than I

could have imagined... not to mention, shamelessly hypocritical. For a person like my 90-year-old mother to have fallen so hard for a hateful, amoral creep like Limbaugh was quite startling, and in her case, not because I didn't realize she already shared the same hateful prejudices, but because I would have assumed she'd consider him uncouth, rude and immoral (four wives, human trafficking vacation in the Dominican Republic, criminal drug use, etc.) as opposed to "brilliant," "hilarious" and a major influence on her political opinions... but it turns out her previously rather puritanical standards were completely situational, and do not apply to any MAGAt Republicans. (Most obviously: TFG.)

[empedocles]

6. Some of them have very specialized 'information' about the rw view.

My wife just came back from lunch with a long time friend at a 'horsey set' place in rich Middleburg, Virginia.

I've known her for some years. Very busy, has a job. Has 5 horses, small castle, hard-working husband. Has tons of ribbons for competitive riding events.

Gernerally knows extremely little, ouside of her job and horses.

Will 'never get vaccinated!' My liberal wife got an earful of 'science-based facts' at lunch. For example, 'young women who will be permanently infertile for life' because of 'these vaccines'.

Suspect its rw radio on her commute, and her husband, who has become evangelical.

[FakeNoose]

7. I get you - I had the same reaction the first time I heard him

At the time I worked for a not-very-smart boss who kept telling me about this "great guy" on the radio. You may not know this but Rush Limbaugh got his start on a local Pittsburgh radio station. A lot of blue-collar listeners, and all Limbaugh did was stroke their egos and tell them how smart they were. Why? Because they're conservative, and they can see right through liberals like Hillary and Bill Clinton. The Clintons were the reason why our country was going to hell, etc. etc. Once in a while he mentioned the great Ronald Reagan, but mostly he trashed the Clintons.

It was insulting, but I didn't tell my boss that I couldn't stand this guy. I just assumed Limbaugh could never find an audience in Pittsburgh because we've always been blue. Little did I know, Limbaugh had been hired by Richard Mellon Scaife to be the new "talking head" for American Hate Radio, and he was quickly syndicated all over the country. In a few short years he became a multi-millionaire. It was all based on lies and trash-talk.

[LeftInTX]

8. Morton Downey Jr was his precursor

At first, I thought Rush was Morton Downey Jr (Didn't listen long enough to catch the name difference)

I think he was on about an hour before I picked my kids up from school. So, if I happened to hear him, I just switched the station.
I couldn't stand to hear him.

[Paladin]

9. The damage Limbaugh did to this country is incalculable.

I hope he keeps Joseph Goebbels company in hell for eternity.

[Botany]

11. And his ditto heads didn't seem to be bothered by ..

... his drug usage or that he went to the Dominican Republic to screw little boys. Rush knew it was all an act and that he was just scratching an itch that millions of mouth breathing dumb fucks liked to have scratched.

Even after his radio show was losing tons of money "they" kept him on the air because it kept a solid dumb ass right wing base fired up and pissed off at the liberals.

[UGADawg]

13. Rush and Hannity etc have brainwashed many to hate the government. Thus......

they loved the Trump Molotov cocktail.

[LakeArenal]

14. He did inspire Birch Barlow...

https://m.

[musette_sf]

36. and Gus Baker

[kimbutgar]

15. My late Dad when he retired used to turn on the rump show in the afternoon

He and my Mother used to care for their only grandchild. I was sitting in the den one afternoon with my Dad and overheard rump say some awful things. I didn’t say anything to my Dad that day but the next day he had it on again. I told my Dad he sounded like a mean racist man and probably a Republican. My dad laughed and said he’s a comedian. The next week when I picked up my son he had something else on and agreed with me and never watched him again.


This was pre internet days 1994 or so.

[patphil]

17. What Limbaugh, and others like him, did was validate the hatred already present in people.

He fanned that spark of malice into a raging fire within the hearts of millions of Americans.
As others of his kind did likewise, the stage was set for a "hero" to emerge to lead these hate-filled, despicable people.
And so TFG became their "hero". A true "patriot" in their evil eyes.
TFG essentially released the hounds of hell upon the rest of us, and we can see where that has gone to.
But it is the early haters like Limbaugh that prepared the way for those who now see hatred as the path of the true "patriot".

What and incredible asshole that guy was.

[aggiesal]

19. The first time I heard him, I was driving home ...

and could only listen to him for about 5 minutes, and thought "What an idiot!"

[multigraincracker]

20. First time I heard him, all he talked about was

"women farting in cars". That was enough for me.

[Treefrog]

25. Only heard him once.

That was more than enough for me.

[Midnight Writer]

21. I was a union steward and people coming to see me started quoting Rush Limbaugh to me.

People I worked with for years and all of a sudden every conversation I had with them came around to "Rush says...".

They were obsessed with this guy on the radio and his insane rants.

Pretty soon these people were telling me about the Feminazis, about the blacks and the gay agenda and the drive-by media, about doctors butchering children, about the crooked politicians and the tyrannical government, about their gun collections and their ammo stockpiles.

I see it as a turning point, when lies and lunacy and hate became mainstream.

[WVreaper]

23. Before he went national

I used to listen to Rush on KDKA out of Pittsburgh. One hour plus commute to work. WDVE was always there but sometimes listened to Rush. To me, it was all satire. Nobody can really believe this bullshit. To this day, I will never buy Snapple (commercial every five minutes).

[BumRushDaShow]

24. I actually heard his first show

because back in the '80s, I regularly listened to various talk shows, including Lynn Samuels on WABC 770 (that we can pick up here in Philly), and she originally had that noon - 3 pm slot, and complained that he was taking over "her studio" (and she was moved down the hall).

[TlalocW]

26. Conservative/evangelical Christians

Get tired of always having to present a certain front. With modern technology, there's always been someone who essentially gives people permission to display their hatred openly. Charles Coughlin in the 30s to Morton Downey Jr., Rush Limbaugh, and culminating with Trump in modern times.

TlalocW

[Tiger8]

27. Mencken proverb wins again

"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."

[Escurumbele]

28. That is why "It Can't Happen Here" from Sinclair Lewis should be required reading in High School

Kids will learn to recognize a demagogue and the consequences of supporting one. And of course, "1984" by George Orwell, they will see republicans and their intentions in those pages, even repeating quotes form the book like GW Bush did when he said "War is peace", third "Animal House" by George Orwell as well, and a couple of Kurt Vonnegut books, "The Cat's Cradle" and "Mother Night".

Kids would be alert at people like trump and 98% of republicans. There is no doubt why republicans are anti-education, they don't want people to see them for what they are, they do not want independent thinkers.

[panader0]

31. Perhaps you mean Animal Farm. But you gave me a good chuckle.

[Ford_Prefect]

33. FWIW RW dark money kept Rush on the air long after his sell-by date.

[KT2000]

34. Back when his show was young

there was a story in the local paper about a man playing the show outside, a man working next door shot the guy's radio. At the time I also thought it would not last very long. I just hope the shooter has not gone over to the dark side.

[Gore1FL]

37. I thought the internet would kill authoritarianism

It's hard to soothsay.

[Moebym]

38. My dad told of how

When we were still living in Tennessee (mid-90s to mid-2000s), one co-worker would always have Rush on the radio when they would drive out to worksites. See, my dad has been a Democrat pretty much since he'd first settled in this country, so he was not thrilled to have been forced to listen to Rush for hours at a time, although he was too polite to ask the guy to turn that shit off.

The ten years I'd spent in Tennessee has made me keenly aware of what we are up against and impatient with those who'd grown up in highly-populated, diverse cities and can't conceive of there being huge swaths of the country that don't share their values.

[TuxedoKat]

40. How old were you

when you first heard him? I was horrified when I first heard him. I couldn’t believe the negative hateful things he was saying about democrats, women, etc. I was very worried he would become popular and influential with people and not surprised at all when he did. After I saw Reagan get elected I knew there were enough stupid people who would fall for Rush’s garbage.

[cinematicdiversions]

41. Am I misremembering but wasn't Rush on Monday Night Football for one season?

[RANDYWILDMAN]

42. He went lowest common denominator though

praying on white fear, homophobia and sexism and misogynist all at once and very unfortunately digestible forms.

Rush was a master of tell the idiots what they wanted to hear and to keep them engaged all the same time, just like TFG and they both were aces at making money of these people and moving the needle for these people without really doing anything at all.

Notice Rush and the former guy would never debate, the just yell louder and scream down anybody who does not like them.

They both made being a Bully ok again, when we as a country were moving away from this weak minded idea's