Rush Limbaugh Eaten Alive By Audience
There's a reason Rush is on the radio, not TV. See for yourself.
That said, he is a brilliant broadcaster, as is Howard Stern. I've listened to Stern on and off much of my life -- from the days he was at Detroit's W4. His mind is wasted on the midgets and porn stars. I just wish he were talking politics.
via Metafilter
Was this before or after the drugs? And the three marriages? And the hearing loss? (And BTW, is this all of a piece; does addiction cause hearing loss the way it causes back pain?)
Best thing I ever read about Limbaugh was actually about Franken:
http://tinyurl.com/2pfwb
Crid at March 14, 2006 1:48 AM
I don't like Limbaugh, as those who know me on this blog can guess. I can't listen to his show for more than a few minutes at a time, because I can't get past the pompous, blustering tone of voice. He is also dishonest to the core. You only have to look at how he grossly distorted what actually occurred at the memorial service of Paul Wellstone, for an example of his shameless dishonesty.
That said, I find myself somewhat in his corner during this segment. The audience's accusations verged on the hysterical. How, for example, is being against abortion "want[ing] women to die"? I have never yet met a pro-lifer who thought an exception should not be made if the pregnancy was a threat to the life of the expectant mother.
Ah, well. He's pissed off a lot of people. Experiences like this have taught him that he needs a stacked deck. His audiences should be prescreened dittoheads only. When he guested on Letterman, for instance, the crowd turned hostile when he likened Hillary Clinton's face to a Pontiac hood ornament. The audience erupted into applause when Letterman asked him, "Do you ever wake up in the night and say to yourself, 'I am just full of hot gas?'"
He did have a television show, briefly. And the audience were obviously the prescreened variety. Each male in a business suit, that sort of thing. Obviously, so enthralled by the great Rushter, that they could perceive no fault in him. You only have to look at the time when he called Chelsea Clinton (who was then 13 years old) the "white house dog." His adoring dittoheads, at least the ones I spoke to, didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with that.
Just for the record, Limbaugh did tender a vague, unspecific apology for the insult...ten years after the incident and he gave it to Hilary, not Chelsea.
Patrick at March 14, 2006 2:00 AM
Opie & Anthony on XM 202!!
Jim Treacher at March 14, 2006 6:10 AM
Here Rush looks like the sane, intelligent one and the audience full of rabid "liberal" asshats who can't articulate any position. Reminds me of Cindy Sheehan leading the anti-war movement.
It's funny how those who perceive they are not in power get emotionally irrational, and those who think they are in charge get so cool and calm. Same thing going on now in Iraq between the "in-charge" Shiites and the "out of charge" Sunnis.
eric at March 14, 2006 8:11 AM
Yeah, but he's the one who went charging up into the audience to confront the woman. Probably figured he could easily put her back down into her seat. He bit off way more than he could chew!
A lot easier being bombastic and cruel when he's alone in his room/studio with his vials of meds!
silo at March 14, 2006 9:42 AM
I'll answer my own question that I asked earlier "How, for example, is being against abortion 'want[ing] women to die'?"
The answer, now that I thought about it, is the fact that women who don't want to bring a child into this world will still find methods to abort, which (besides being illegal) were unsafe. And women sometimes died as a result.
While I agree that Rush is the sane one in this picture, it is a gross mischaracterization to classify the entire audience as "rabid 'liberal' asshats." There certainly were a few of them, yes, but how many people actually spoke up? Three, maybe? True, they applauded the veto of the Idaho bill against abortion, but being pro-choice does not make a person a "rabid 'liberal' asshat." We only actually heard from three people. The first woman was truly unreasonable. The gentleman in the sweater with the pink triangle on it seemed a bit of a demagogue (so is Rush), but hardly rabid.
Regarding the question earlier of when the incident occurred, since apparently the questioner can't remember much of what he reads (the website did say 1990) much less make logical inferrence (Hello? The website did say Pat Sajak's talk-show. Would this possibly give you a ballpark of the date in question?)
1990 would be after Limbaugh's failed marriages with Roxy Maxine McNeely (married in 1977 and divorced in 1980) and Michele Sixta (married in 1983, left him in 1988 and finalized the divorce in 1990), and the same year he met the woman who would become his third wife, Marta Fitzgerald, via CompuServe. They were married in 1994. (And Clarence Thomas performed the nuptuals. How romantic.)
Patrick at March 14, 2006 9:59 AM
Agreed Patrick- I was just commenting on that particular scene.
Speaking of Idaho, where I am, it is interesting to see the clash of two cultures- BIG money characters from California and Washington developing the area, bringing in a more liberal and worldly point of view, and then the Mormon/Evangelical elements from Utah/surrounding states who recently tried to have our stores remove ANY AND ALL magazines with any flesh shown, including legs, upper arms and stomachs. Everyone has an opinion....
eric the liberal asshat (with shots) at March 14, 2006 12:37 PM
Rush Limbaugh does have his uses.
Back when i was a truck driver I used to drive occasional night shifts. My main (legal) trick to stay awake all night was to listen to Rush and Doctor Laura. It's hard to fall asleep while yelling at the radio.
I really do wish this video had been better, maybe a point or two from the Bryan Adams-looking queer.
BTW eric, one of my coworkers at the trucking firm landed a gig trucking potatoes TO Idaho, it seemed so wrong
GISstud (looks like Steve is already taken) at March 14, 2006 2:33 PM
I so bungled that earlier comment & link. Sullivan correctly notes that radio liberals are mortified that someone might not be in on the joke if they say something self-aggrandizing. Does anyone ever, ever laugh out loud at NPR hosts, or are we only permitted nodding smirks of agreement? Last time I listened to Air America --in a hippified Pico Blvd coffee house-- this fear was tangible. But this doesn't explain the opposite side of the point, which is why liberals hate Limbaugh.
When lefties hear Limbaugh's commercial-break raps (one hand hand tied behind my back to make it fair, all-seeing all-knowing, with talent on loan from GOD), there's a part of them that can't recognize the irony, and they directly relate this 'pomposity' to his conservative positions. But conservatives see the wink & nudge: 'I'm a fat guy with a microphone, and we're just talking about politics.' His phone callers rarely speak with that comfortable-in-their-skin humor, but they admire it in Rush, and it's one reason they come to him.
I can't remember which columnist first wrote about this so clearly (maybe it wasn't Sully). If you recognize it, say so.
Liberals have humor issues. Beware of people who can't speak without knowing the precise boundaries of the sacred before conversation begins. And beware of people who can't smile during a punch line because they think two social risks at once is one too many.
The last truly humorless people I met were at the Scientology compound in Hemet. Those fuckers are grim. They got great teeth, but you never see 'em.
Crid at March 14, 2006 4:44 PM
While I don't agree with Crid that liberals have humor issues, I will agree on the grimness of the Scientologists up in their castle on the hill. I have to drive by that creepy, castle-y, Disney-with-barbed-wire-y place, and am always a little freaked out by all the cameras facing the road. Oddly, there don't seem to be many Scientologists in Hemet proper. It's like they just hide out in there waiting for celebrity-piloted planes to fly in.
Kimberly at March 14, 2006 9:51 PM
Too bad the liberals can't compete in the radio market. Instead, they try to silence Rush with the fairness doctrine! Air America has to PAY stations to play them! Pathetic.
Furthermore, this clip was from way before Rush had HIS OWN tv show, which was on for 4 years.
Tyrone niggerdick at May 29, 2006 1:37 PM
I hope the niggers don't shhot at any more rescue helicopters in new orleans!
Niggersmegma Racistpeace at May 29, 2006 2:56 PM
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