It's not that he's a secret liberal, more that if you say things like "smoking has never given anyone lung cancer," you're either a galactic black hole of cynicism or have an IQ of 12. Then he died of lung cancer from smoking. lol

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You don't think he was trying to push people's buttons to get an emotional response? I have no doubt he was a legit right winger, I just think he was ramping it up to an 11 when it was probably more of a 7 or 8.

But point is I highly doubt he ever said anything like that. Similar to how the AIDS thing that so animated the Spiral Stairs of the world turned out to be a 2 week bit he’s long apologized for, there seems to be a deliberate lack of understanding as to what this guy did and who he was.

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He knew his shtick and he knew his audience.

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I think you’re exactly right. He effectively communicated his audience’s views and ramped those views up for entertainment value.

I don’t claim to be a regular listener or anything. I’d throw him on when I was driving out of Chicago range; he seemed a brilliant off the cuff speaker with a great feel for radio mechanics. Put differently, he seemed a true believer and I think his ability to clearly articulate that worldview helped make him so reviled by the Clintons & Obamas of the world.

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In my opinion, deliberately pushing people's emotional buttons is, at least somewhat, cynical.

Well, he got his medal, and smoking killed him. Call it even.

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If that’s the extent of it, you’re a ways off from “smoking has never given anybody lung cancer.”

He’s minimizing second hand smoke, sure. That’s dumb. But he’s more trolling re: the tax benefits availed to society by smokers.

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Do you think Art Bell believed in most of the stuff he offered on his shows?

I would say it is better described as he didn't disbelieve.

Then he took that not disbelief and exaggerated it and surrounded it with bells and whistles. Classic shock jock radio. Stupid slogans, tchatchkis for sale, radio fights with competitors...all classic shock jock tropes.

Did he get in arguments with station management or have his wife on the air?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Just looking at the context it seems to me that this:

may be a misquote that actually did not include the "at".

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I hate to burst your bubble, but all those great off the cuff speakers on radio and TV, really aren't speaking off the cuff but have rehearsed and pre-planned the segments 99% of the time. It's professional entertainment, you really think Rush just rolled out of bed and opened the phone lines?

Rush was an entertainer who cultivated and retained a vast audience. There are few people who have done that in radio for the duration that he did it. That's about 98% of his biography right there, and it's a hellava accomplishment. To ascribe anything more to him than that is pure poppycock.

Lets put it this way, how many of his listeners would have been straight ticket democrats had there not been a Rush. I'll start the bidding at zero. He provided entertainment to a radio audience, no different than Stern, Jim Rome, or Dahl.

I’m sure you’re aware that live radio is not 99% scripted. Yes, his show was planned and produced, but he still had to drive it.

Regarding his influence, there are major members of both parties going back decades who felt otherwise re: his impact on the country’s political dialogue. Whether he was shifting voters - or helping recruit new ones - is obviously unknowable. I can’t imagine a down the line Dem would enjoy his content, but I wouldn’t remove the possibility he could persuade people on the margins.

The guy was arguably the most impactful person in political media in the last 40 years aside from maybe Roger Ailes. Stern may be in a similar class in terms of cultural impact; guys like Jim Rome and Steve Dahl are nowhere close.

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I don't think the argument that Rush believed everything he said helps his legacy.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

When was the last time you listened to Rush?

I think it may be worse if he was in character for 40 years as some type of proto own-the-libs guy.

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Everyone on this board has said something they regret. Judging someone's legacy off of a couple stupid comments is lazy. The sad truth is the anti Limbaugh voices have not listened to more then 5 minutes of his radio show in the last decade and base their opinion from leftist who tell them what to think and say.

As a result of my job having me in and out of the car for years, I've always listened in stretches. People would ask why, to which I'd respond for comedic relief. It'd be even funnier when he'd be replaced by obnoxious gasbags like Mark Steyn. His crap was always predictable, lowest common denominator drivel aimed precisely at the prejudices and partisan beliefs of his cult of personality.

Whether he believed it or not is irrelevant, he was consistent over 30+ years in his hate.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I wouldn't judge him based on only a few comments but that also doesn't mean those stupid comments cease to exist.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Does anyone believe Limbaugh made only "a few" stupid comments during his career?

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Drake LaRrieta
Caller Bob
waitingforruffcorn

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I believe I called Limbaugh "morally" a piece of shit a few pages back.

You stole Patron Saint's bit.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

And he's terrible at it.

Rush took calls that his phone screener put up that were based on the four topics of the day that he and his production team spent hours prepping for, researching, and planning for.

You show put up a clip of him extemporaneously deep dive analyzing Benelux within the context of the broader EU, and then yeah, I'll agree that he's working with no net. He's no more or less planned any any other professional radio personality on a national scale, which is to say, he's entirely planned from stem to stern.

But there’s obviously a difference between prep and scripting out the show. Given his success, I’m sure his team planned & prepped better than most. He still had to run the show when it was time to go on air.

The point was he was extremely talented at what he did, arguably more so than anybody in the history of the medium. That’s my error if I made it seem otherwise.

Your Benelux example would probably end up the political equivalent of Grobber’s show - meandering, unfocused, etc. Who - outside of those interested in the Wikipedia definition of a 3-technique - would want to listen to that?

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Yeah, who was he, Dan Bernstein?

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I assume you mean political talk radio by medium.

I don't think he would rank very highly if you mean all radio personalities.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

No, I meant all irrespective of genre. At the very least he’s in the team photo (though probably not on the team for next year).

Who clearly outranks him?

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Talent is hard to quantify

As far as making an impact, he's in the top tier for sure

He couldn't crack the Loop lineup of Brandmeier, Stern, Dahl and Matthews back in the day. That is just a starting point. Most of the big markets had at least one incredibly talented guy, but they radio was local.

I don't see any real great radio talent from Rush. He was niche radio. I doubt he would have made it as a general talk entertainer.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.