Rush Limbaugh, Bigoted King Of Talk Radio, Dies At 70
By: Nick Robins-Early and Christopher Mathias
Bumber.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Rush Limbaugh, a talk radio pioneer who saturated America’s airwaves with cruel bigotries, lies and conspiracy theories for over three decades, amassing a loyal audience of millions and transforming the Republican Party in the process, has died, his wife revealed at the beginning of his show on Wednesday. He was 70 years old.
Limbaugh announced in February 2020 that he had been diagnosed with advanced stage 4 lung cancer.
Former President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom during the 2020 State of the Union, calling Limbaugh “the greatest fighter and winner you will ever meet.”
Perhaps no moment better encapsulated Limbaugh’s legacy, nor demonstrated the immense influence he came to wield in Washington.
The medal was a just reward: Trump’s ascension to the presidency couldn’t have happened without Limbaugh’s brand of right-wing media.
The modern Republican party often functioned with Limbaugh as a fulcrum. President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, once called Limbaugh “the voice and intellectual force of the Republican Party.” Limbaugh would at times massage the failures of the party and its leaders, dismissing obvious policy or political failures as simply part of liberal conspiracies.
But he also helped set the agenda. When a Republican politician promoting racist and sexist policies could only use a dog whistle, Limbaugh provided a bull horn — he was, for example, an early progenitor of the racist birther conspiracy theory about Obama that Trump would later use to fuel his political career.
For decades, Limbaugh was associated with the far-right fringes of the Republican Party. In 1995, only days after Timothy McVeigh bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City, President Bill Clinton issued a blistering attack at a speech in Minneapolis in which he said the “nation’s airwaves ... spread hate, they leave the impression that, by their very words, that violence is acceptable. … It is time we all stood up and spoke against that kind of reckless speech and behavior.”
Limbaugh vehemently protested the characterization, assuming that it was about him — which in all likelihood it was. “Make no mistake about it: Liberals intend to use this tragedy for their own political gain,” he said on the radio afterward.
People did take up Clinton’s charge to speak against Limbaugh’s style of “reckless speech and behavior,” but without much success. While remaining a controversial figure and at times suffering advertising boycotts and derision from the mainstream media, less than 25 years, rather than be condemned by another American president, Limbaugh was given a medal.
Decades Of Hate
A full accounting of Limbaugh’s lies and exaggerations; his racism and his misogyny; his homophobia and his Islamophobia; and his sheer cruelty could fill books — and have — but even a cursory overview of his lowlights makes his prejudice clear.
In 2003, he was forced to resign from ESPN after stating that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was only receiving praise because the media was “very desirous that a Black quarterback do well.” In 2004, Limbaugh said the NBA should be renamed the T.B.A. —“the Thug Basketball Association.” He then added: “Stop calling them teams. Call ’em gangs.” He similarly whined that watching the NFL was like watching “a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.”
Once, after arguing with a Black man who called into his show, he told the caller to “take that bone out of your nose and call me back.“ Another time, Limbaugh asked his audience, “Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?” while discussing the Black civil rights activist and politician. Limbaugh once ludicrously asserted that “if any race of people should not have guilt about slavery, it’s Caucasians.” He invited a guest on air who sang “Barack, the Magic Negro” to the tune of “Puff, the Magic Dragon.” In 2016, he read an essay on air that had been penned by a well-known white supremacist.
Limbaugh’s radio career was also one long exercise in misogyny, perhaps best summed up by his thesis that “feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.”
In one of his most infamous episodes, he called Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” in 2012 after she testified in Congress about the importance of women having access to birth control.
Nearly every marginalized group or minority bore the brunt of Limbaugh’s bigotry. Once, while speaking about the genocide of America’s indigenous peoples, Limbaugh said, “Holocaust 90 million Indians? Only 4 million left? They all have casinos, what’s to complain about?”
Limbaugh frequently mirrored white nationalist talking points when discussing Latino immigrants, whom he described as lazy and dependent on the government. He called migrants at America’s southern border an “invasion.”
An opponent of marriage equality — which he suggested was “perverted” and “depraved” — Limbaugh argued in 2016 that legalizing gay marriage would lead to bestiality. “What happens if you love your dog?” he said. He once referred to transgender people as being mentally ill.
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He was a massive hypocrite.
A massive asshole. I put a lot of blame on him for the way our political discourse is today.
Probably where they are putting his medal of freedom for his trip to the great beyond, (AKA: Hell).
Don't say that. When I die and go to hell and the rock band is playing when I arrive, the last person I want to see is him.
Unless of course I can constantly push him into the lake of fire.
Absolutely.
No, the Dems have always had a talent for demonizing anyone who believes differently than they do, and they doubled down when Trump got elected.
They must take responsibility for their share of the sorry state of political discourse today.
Trying to be sad. Can't seem to do it.
Yeah, I'm all torn up about it, not.
Me, too.
Many of the problems we have with "disunity" and dishonesty in this country can be directly laid at the feet of Rush Limbaugh and his imitators in right wing media. He and his like have been an utter disaster for our country for 30 years.
Bye bye.
100% truth.
scratch one white supremacist alt-media propagandist. tough fucking shit. Joe needs to get that medal back.
Hope the cigars were worth it. They were for me.
Didn't he also have a long history of smoking cigarettes?
Cigars, even better. But he blamed windmills and solar power, cell phone radiation for his health issues, lol
It's interesting because cigars and cigarettes are smoked differently. In general, you aren't really supposed to inhale a cigar the way you do with a cigarette, so it should be easier on the lungs. But maybe that's negated by spending 30 years in a locked room full of smoke.
This fat fuck, pos, poor excuse for a human being, drug addict, pedo is burning in hell
Sounds like someone is just DESPERATE FOR ATTENTION
Now we see what real hate speech looks like. Liberal hate knows no bounds nor do they know the meaning of the word decency.
Some people earn their bad reviews when they die.
He spent his life pushing hate speech and now you want to condemn comments about his lack of character?
[Sweeping Generalizations]
Rush never told the truth about anything.
Bullshit. He told lies and mistruths most of the time.
He has you snowed as here you are with the evils of Liberalism meme, pushed by none other than your one and only.
Yes he did, about everything.
[Sweeping Generalization (among other things)]
You sure about that, Greg?
A sample...
Oops, sorry, You can delete mine if you want, I think it is the same thing.
You can still delete yours................
and don't forget racist...
All good, GMTA.
I read neither.
So you admittedly want to stay in the dark about his lies...
Rest in peace big guy. You will be missed.
Rush Limbaugh is probably the only person on earth who has misled more people than Donald Trump. (although it took him many more years to do so)
Not by the majority who know what a lousy scum bag hypocrite he was who stoked division and hate for decades, any derision he gets now was well earned.
Where will all his fans go for their daily dose of bigotry?
[Deleted]
He was a massive hypocrite and a liar. It's a lot more than, "not agreeing with his politics".
So I'm the bigot for calling out a bigot?
[Deleted]
None of us can fully appreciate the elements and factors of life which chip away at our thinking, intelligence, emotions, and zest for life, but still we rise for the glory of the day and set in the peace of the night. Rush Limbaugh indirectly hurt me, he ruffled my driving for miles of interstate roading-though it was self-inflicted, and he must have enjoyed every damn minute of my personal grief. No, I won't celebrate Rush's professional life, and neither will I publicly curse the dead. I wish Mr. Limbaugh the best of what the grave has to offer, as I wish to all the dead when they escape this place we call home.
I wonder if he is going to be buried with his medal...
I certainly hope so...he earned it.
How so?
He brought to light a lot of things from behind the scenes that otherwise may have gone unnoticed...........and never to see the light of day had the powers that were had their way.
Like what...
All the stuff you're bitching about.
So, you got nothing...
Its Greg, husker never has anything.
They can toss in that ridiculous bust of him from the Missouri statehouse, too.
Can you believe that? There's actually a bust of him in the Missouri statehouse.
He is one of the most famous/favorite sons to come out of Missouri.
Is Missouri that sad?
Yes.
Not as far as this Missourian is concerned, and I'm far from alone. More like a hate-mongering disgrace.
Ah, good day. Fuck Rush, no single person has done more to drag politics in America into the gutter of polarization more than him. The world is a better place today.
I disagree, although it's hard to see which came first, Newt Gingrich attitudes or Rush.
Rush started it in the 80s, Gingrich only became a complete dick in the 90s, probably because of rush.
The beginning of the divisive 'right'
In the 90's, when I commuted to work, I often listened to Limbaugh on my car radio in the morning. He never failed to convince me that he was a racist, misogynist, hypocritical, lying, disgusting POS. But it was good to know what the enemy was thinking. He will NOT be missed.
www.washingtonexaminer.com /news/trump-praises-rush-limbaugh-cancer-interview
Trump praises late Rush Limbaugh in first interview since leaving White House
Former President Donald Trump called into Fox News for his first interview since leaving the White House to offer praise of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh shortly after his death was announced on Wednesday.
The 45th president, who presented Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during his 2020 State of the Union address, talked about that emotional moment, which came shortly after the radio host announced his cancer diagnosis.
"It was a great honor to do so when we gave the Medal of Freedom. It was something special, it was an incredible night. We gave it during the State of the Union address, and it was especially — half the room, half the room went crazy, and the other half the room, they knew he should get it, but it was special and he was special," Trump said.
Trump said he last spoke to Limbaugh "three or four days ago," adding that "his fight was very, very courageous, and he was very, very sick." Limbaugh's cancer was "something that was not going to be beaten," he said.
Limbaugh died at the age of 70 Wednesday morning at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, his wife, Kathryn Adams Limbaugh, announced on his radio show.
Trump explained that he didn't really know Limbaugh well until his political career began.
"He was a unique guy, and he became a friend of mine. You know, I didn’t know Rush at all, I had essentially never met Rush, and then when we came down the escalator, he liked my rather controversial speech, I made that speech that was a little bit on the controversial side, and he loved it, and he was, without ever having met him or talked to him or had lunch with him or asked him, he was with me right from the beginning, and he liked what I said, and he agreed with what I said, and he was just a great gentleman — great man," Trump said.
Limbaugh is survived by Kathryn, whom he married in 2010. Limbaugh's fourth wife, the couple never had children.
Even in praising Rush Limbaugh Trump makes it all about himself. These two pos deserved each other.
Did the former occupant of the White House ever honor the officer in the Capitol who died because of him and his mob?
69ing to the grave.