Full disclosure:-
The following commentary is tribute collated and put together from articles and information available on internet, and I am sharing my view of fearless and strong personality of Rush Limbaugh. Internet as always, has glowing and not so benign tribute about Rush Limbaugh, as Fox News.com noted, was one of the most influential media figures in American history.
“This monumentally influential media icon, who transformed talk radio and politics in his decades behind the microphone, helped shape the modern-day Republican Party, died Wednesday morning at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer.”
I have observed Rush Limbaugh all these years, and the impact this monumental radio personality had on Republican Party, his demise brings an end to an era in American politics and Republican historians would cherish here after.
Rush Limbaugh, whose rhetorical persuasiveness and political pugnacity brought him a massive radio following, made him a multimillionaire and won him a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Limbaugh’s fourth wife, Kathryn, 44 years young, announced his death on his radio show, she said on the air, “Rush was an extraordinary man, a gentle giant, brilliant, quick-witted, genuinely kind, extremely generous, passionate, courageous and the hardest-working person I know. Despite being one of the most recognized, most powerful people in the world, Rush never let the success change his core or beliefs. He was polite and respectful to everyone he met.”
Here are some famous statements made by the polite and respectful Rush Limbaugh. His fans and followers derived pleasure and life changing inspiration from his incendiary and funny views on minorities, feminism and the environment.
Rush Limbaugh, a schlock jock, humored his followers, what his critics may find asinine statements, nevertheless inspirational to his fans. (Schlock jock is a radio jockey who is deliberately controversial or provocative.)
Take a look at his legacy and his thoughts, as we mourn the celebrated icon…about his views and beliefs and how it helped shape the current and future of Republican Party.
- “There is no conclusive proof that nicotine’s addictive… And the same thing with cigarettes causing emphysema, lung cancer, and heart disease.” ( Sadly but ironically, the cause of his demise.)
- “Columbus saved the Indians from themselves.” (Although internet is rife with theories that Columbus did not discover America.)
- “He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He’s moving all around and shaking and it’s purely an act… This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn’t take his medication or he’s acting.” (Michael J. Fox is a retired film and television personality with Parkinson disease.)
- “[African Americans] are twelve percent of the population. Who the hell cares?”(On the numbers of African Americans voters and impact on republicans.)
- “Kurt Cobain was, ladies and gentlemen, a worthless shred of human debris.”(Kurt Cobain was the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band Nirvana, one of the most influential acts of the 1990s and one of the best-selling bands of all time. Kurt Cobain died of an apparent suicide at age 27. )
- “Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream.” (Feminazi is used to describe a radical feminist. Rush was also a fan of this word and popularized it.)
- “We are a growing country and everybody needs energy! We’re not going to stay the United States if we start reducing energy usage. Conservation is not the answer.”
- To a black caller: “Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.”
- On torture at Abu Ghraib: “This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation. And we’re going to ruin people’s lives over it, and we’re going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time. You know, these people are being fired at every day. I’m talking about people having a good time, these people—you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of need to blow some team off?”(Skull and Bones, secret society of senior (fourth-year undergraduate) Students at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, that was founded in 1832. Male society members are called Bonesmen, and many have ascended after graduation to positions of prominence in business or government. Three of them—William Howard Taft, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush—became U.S. presidents.)
- “Screw the world. Do you really think we ought to govern ourselves based on what the world thinks of us?”
And this situation went little out of control but he took it on his chin. Here is how it unfolded.
In 2012, Rush Limbaugh outraged a student Sandra Fluke, a third year student at the Georgetown University law who became a “poster child” for Democrats since Republicans wouldn’t let her testify at a House hearing about President Obama’s policy on contraception. Fluke made a case that religious institution like Georgetown should provide contraception to students. Limbaugh targeted her to make an example out of Fluke.
On February 29, 2012, Rush Limbaugh referred to Fluke’s testimony to House Democrats, calling Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute”. Limbaugh said Fluke’s position “essentially says that she must be paid to have sex.” Not content with that calumny, he continued: “It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex.” He continued on his radio, the next few days, and his audience reveled in his delightful remarks, Limbaugh continued to assail Fluke and the women at Georgetown, at one point saying “I will buy all of the women at Georgetown University as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want.” He suggested that one way women could repay him for allowing them to use birth control would be to post videos of them having sex “online so we can all watch.”
Sandra Fluke could be a daughter or a niece to someone of his age. Rush Limbaugh had considerable backlash and potential loss of revenue as advertisers threatened to leave his radio show. He then considered apologizing for saying that. Limbaugh issued a weak apology after advertisers fled his show: “In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke,” he graciously wrote.
Six months after the controversy began, in response to Fluke’s being considered for Time’s Person of the Year; Limbaugh said in part that his comments were a mistake and weighed in: “If anybody is going to be named Person of the Year on that basis, it ought to be me. It’s not an ‘honor’ I would appreciate because it represents a little bit of a screw up.”… “Nobody would know who she is if it weren’t for me.”
For additional information, check the following links.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBOAEWXLa3U (YouTube clip where Rush Limbaugh is attacking Ms. Fluke.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh%E2%80%93Sandra_Fluke_controversy
The great Rush Limbaugh survived the opiate scandal, hearing loss, three divorces and even a 2012 advertiser boycott, triggered when he called activist Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute,” which to his credit, prompted him to issue a rare apology.
But in the end, he could not survive lung cancer.
Rush Limbaugh, the monumentally influential media icon who transformed talk radio and politics in his decades behind the microphone, helping shape the modern-day Republican Party, died Wednesday morning at the age of 70 after a battle with lung cancer.
RIP Rush Limbaugh. “The United States of America is better because of you.”
With Malice Towards All 