The Final Flush of Rush

From yesterday's Sacramento News & Review

A tremendous amount of ink was spilled yesterday reporting the death of one radio broadcaster.  As a former radio guy, perhaps I saw more than average, as I belong to several broadcasting-type groups, and have many friends who are still in the industry.  But I don’t recall ever seeing so much commentary about one man who, in my opinion, doesn’t deserve that much praise.  Or any, really.

I exaggerate a bit, but then again, so did Rush Limbaugh.  He was a pious, holy man.  OK, I lie, but so did Rush Limbaugh.  To be fair, Rush was good at what he did.

But what he did was vile.

Rush did what he did for two reasons – one was for Rush (ratings and money) and one was for the Republican cause.  It’s no wonder the right and the far-right, not to mention Fox News and that ilk went bonkers heaping praise on him.  All owe something to Rush.

The truth is, Rush owes everything to Ronnie Reagan.  His gutting of the Fairness Doctrine set the stage for Rush to be Rush, and to dominate the AM airwaves without a General Manager having to worry about that pesky “equal time” nonsense.

Rush also owes a debt to Joe Pyne.   Before Rush there was Pyne, and I mentioned this on a few posts yesterday.  One guy responded that Pyne was mild compared to Rush and Hannity and the loud-mouthed bastards we know today.  I shot back that Pyne was radical for his time.  Also, the Fairness Doctrine was still intact then.  Even though I was just a kid back then, I know Pyne was conservative and controversial.  How can I know?  Simple – my dad never watched talk shows and he never missed Pyne, and politically, my dad is just to the right of Archie Bunker.

About those broadcasting posts, there were as many posts praising Rush as there were criticizing him, and many of the Rush-lovers got their panties in a bunch whenever someone was critical of Rush.  They were horrified that people would say bad things about him…as if Rush never made fun of anyone’s dying – he was notorious about poking fun of gays who died of AIDS, and mocked all sorts of celebrities – as long as they were Democrats.

I had a neighbor who was a Rush fan.  He always would stop me to tell me what Rush said someone said, or what Rush said someone did.  Of course, by the time Rush got around to telling the tale there were bits missing, emphasis changed or added, and just enough fiction tossed in to make what actually was said or actually happened very very different than the way Limbaugh described it.  It was his style too to be “just the guy asking questions here” even though he already knew the answer was bullshit.

From a radio programming perspective, Rush was a “better” broadcaster when he was on the offensive, attacking the Democrats when they held the keys to the kingdom.  He fared less well defending the GOP during the Bush eras as it was harder to pin everything on Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi.  Not that he didn’t try.

Of course, when “the Obama regime” took over in 2009, Rush was in heaven.  Here was a guy he could unload his entire arsenal of hate upon.  There was only one problem; Obama didn’t do much that was wrong.  That didn’t stop El Rushbo from cranking up the “outrage du jour,” whether it be a tan suit or Dijon mustard or Fast ‘n’ Furious.  And then in 2016 it was TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP as Godzilla met King Kong and a love-fest soon followed.

By then Limbaugh’s ratings were a shell of what they used to be when he “wrote books” and “was on television” and was pretty much the only game in town.  Now there’s several NETWORKS of pundits who “do the Limbaugh” and are far more outrageous than he.  By the time Rush got his Medal of Freedom he was yesterday’s news, but he’d never admit it.  Then again, he’d be living in a fantasy-land for the last 30 years, so why stop now?

I obviously was no fan of Limbaugh, but I never wish a person dead.  But he’s no one I wish glad tidings on, either.

Two others in the industry offered their perspectives, and they’re worth reading.  The first is the veteran/legendary Paul Harris.  Rather than excerpt his excellent piece, I link to it here:

http://www.harrisonline.com/rush-to-judgement-day/

The other comes from Jeffrey P. Jones, the Executive Director of the prestigious Peabody Awards and University of Georgia Professor of Entertainment & Media.  He tweeted:

What Rush Limbaugh did to us:

1. Made opponents into true enemies

2. Revived overt and dog whistle racism

3. Stifled attempts to revive the Fairness Doctrine

4. Showed Roger Ailes the formula for right-wing broadcast success

5. Offered ignorance as "common sense" thinking

6. Created an army of listeners with little knowledge and skills in civics or critical thinking into believing themselves political experts

7. Stifled dialogue and said it was OK to talk politics without debate (rarely took calls from those who disagreed)

8. Made partisan propaganda into a consumable product with tremendous market value.

9. Made hatred and violent rhetoric commonplace and "acceptable"

10. In sum, laid the groundwork for the triumph of MAGA and Trumpism, a reality we will deal with for decades to come.

 

All I can add to that is, “he’s gone.”