Well, Rush Limbaugh is dead and gone and I know people are sick of hearing about him, but I just wanted to write a few words about him before I forget he ever existed and move on.
I never really listened to him except a little bit when he first came on the radio back in the early nineties or if I was stuck in a car with someone who had him on. At the time I would occasionally tune him in just out of curiosity just like you would look at a terrible auto accident on the side of the road.
I immediately realized that I despised the man with a passion. He pretty much personified everything I hate in people. He was arrogant, self righteous, sanctimonious, holier-than-thou and a total hypocrite. He was filled with hatred, racism and bigotry of every kind. He hated Democrats, he hated blacks, gays, and anyone who wasn’t a Christian. He claimed he was a Christian, but he was about as un-Christlike as a person could possibly be. He was filled with contempt for the poor and unfortunate of our society. Those who are Christians are supposed to care about the poor and unfortunate.
So how could such a nasty and disgusting person become so popular? How could anyone with a shred of decency want to listen to the vile garbage that came from his mouth?
Well, to the republican base, (not all republicans, but many) he expressed the hatreds and fears they themselves harbor deep down inside. These hatreds and fears are things that most people don’t really readily express in the normal course of their lives. They keep them inside. But Limbaugh began to express these feelings. He made a point of saying the quiet part out loud so to speak. He loudly expressed the hatreds and fears that his listeners themselves felt but were reluctant to say for themselves. So they could tune in to the radio and listen to the obnoxious jerk openly express what they were really feeling for them. He gave a loud voice to their hateful feelings and fears.
He would reinforce and legitimize their feelings. He would convince conservatives that they were good and decent and everyone not in their camp was evil and un-American. If you are conservative you are good and pure, but if you are liberal you are evil and anti-american. He would drive this point home for them.
Many conservatives think the media is “liberal” (yea right) and against them. They think they are victims of some giant conspiracy against them and many have a persecution complex. The big bad liberal media is trying to marginalize them and doesn’t respect them and looks down on them. So, then Limbaugh came around and they had someone who would fight back against the mainstream media. And they had someone who would “punch back” at the evil traditional media and tell “the truth.” (Their truth).
The best thing that can be said about Limbaugh is that he was a skilled liar and propagandist. He is at least partially responsible for the hatred and division we see in our politics today. He didn’t invent hatred and division, but he certainly did everything in his power to spread it around and pour fuel onto the fire of hatred. For decades he did nothing buy spew out hatred and lies and division and certainly helped drive our political discourse into the gutter.
He was a giant hypocrite. He criticized drug addicts even though he was a drug addict himself. He was a coward. He was pro-war, and criticized opponents of the Iraq war, but when he was 18 years old at the height of the Vietnam war, he dodged the draft. When he had the chance to serve he avoided service because he did not have the courage to serve.
He was lazy. He spent decades sitting on his lazy ass spewing out lies and propaganda into a microphone and made millions doing so. I wonder if he ever had a real job. If he ever did real work. He sat around making millions while sitting on his ass lying and spreading hatred while others did real work for a fraction of the money.
He claimed he had “family values” and yet he had more wives than I can remember. He apparently didn’t believe in “til death do us part.” He claimed he was “pro-life,” but as far as I know he didn’t help bring any children into the world. He would criticize Democrats like Nancy Pelosi for being pro-choice and yet Nancy brought five children into this world. In my opinion Nancy Pelosi is very pro-life. Any woman who spends years of her life being pregnant and laboring through five childbirths is very pro-life.
He spent the last year of his horrible existence downplaying the severity of a deadly virus that has killed more than half a million Americans. I believe he is partly responsible for many of these deaths. He along with trump and many other like-minded republicans. He claimed the virus was just the common cold or a liberal hoax. He may have convinced some of his listeners that they don’t need to worry about wearing masks or social distancing because those things aren’t necessary. Maybe many of his listeners failed to do these things because he convinced them that it wasn’t necessary and as a result many of them may have been infected. He may have caused some of his listeners to get sick because he may have convinced them to ignore the risks of the virus.
Limbaugh helped bring about trump and he is partly responsible for helping to bring about the current incarnation of the GOP. The current GOP as it exists today was founded on hatred and racism and bigotry of many kinds. Limbaugh certainly played a role in helping to turn the GOP of today into a cult of hate and self-righteousness and all of the horrible sentiments it stands for. He helped bring about and inspired a whole new generation of hateful, nasty wanna be rush pundits like Hannity, O’reilly and Tucker Carlson and all the rest of those horrible people you see on fox news.
And in the wake of his death republicans want to honor him and normalize him. Think about that. They want to normalize and honor a nasty, disgusting man who spent most of his life spewing out vulgarity and lies and disgusting insults of the lowest variety. They want to honor a man who spent decades trying to tear this country apart with hatred, fear and division. The fact that they want to honor this gross man tells me all I need to know about the current GOP and what an awful cult it has become.
But before I end this rant I was wondering just how much of an impact did he have on elections? The answer to this is debatable, but I would say probably not so much. Sure he helped rile up the republican base, but did he really help republicans win presidential elections? Let’s see.
Limbaugh rose to prominence some time in the late eighties and early nineties. He became popular around the time before the 1992 election I would say. If you look at the six elections which occurred right before his rise to prominence (1968, 1972, 1976, 1980,1984,1988) you will recall that the republican candidate in these six elections won five times. All except 1976. Four of those were won by landslides by the republican candidate: 72, 80, 84, 88. If you look at the eight presidential elections which have occurred since his rise to prominence, 1992-2020, Democrats have won five of those eight elections. And the popular vote seven of those eight times. Republican candidates won only three, and two of those were won when the republican candidate lost the popular vote. The only election during this time where the republican won the popular vote and the electoral college was 2004. And that one was fairly close.
So it appears to me that Democratic presidential candidates have fared a lot better in the age of Limbaugh than they did before he came onto the scene. He bashed Clinton for four years, yet Clinton comfortably won re-election. He bashed Obama for four years, yet Obama won re-election comfortably. He did his best to help trump win a second term, but that didn’t work out. So I would say his affect on presidential elections was not so beneficial to republicans after all.
In closing, I’ll say this: I’m glad the disgusting asshole lived long enough to see his monster trump lose re-election. I’m glad he lived long enough to see Joe Biden inaugurated as president of the USA.
I’m glad that all of the effort he made over the course of the last four years to help boost up trump and help trump win re-election failed miserably.
