HELP ME understand how a BLOWHARD like LIMBAUGH was ever taken seriously...

[polichick]

I've only listened to him a total of about fifteen minutes, but there have been lots of clips covered by the media that I've also been *cough* treated to.

imo this guy is an ignorant throwback with a big ass and a bigger mouth.

What did I miss? How did it happen that someone like that was EVER taken seriously in this country?


I DON'T GET IT!


(This mini rant was inspired by the serious consideration of Limbaugh's opinion about the Powell endorsement on CNN.)

[leftofcool]

1. People have been taking him seriously for about 20 years now

[polichick]

2. I know, but WHY? HOW did that happen?

[leftofcool]

7. Probably because he was the original shock jock

and people sat up and took notice. He is either loved or hated, but he is listened to.

[polichick]

15. Oh, I didn't realize he was the original shock jock.

[NewJeffCT]

22. The original when it comes to politics, I think

But Howard Stern & Don Imus preceded him by at least a decade.

However, I think Limbaugh timed things perfectly (by chance) in regards to the supposedly victimized and powerless "angry white male" demographic and gave them a voice. There was a certain segment of the population that resented equal rights/feminism for women, affirmative action for minorities, rights for gays, etc, and Limbaugh was like the perfect storm in giving voice to their anger.

[polichick]

35. I always laugh at the idea of the "angry white male" - he's presumably angry...

...because he doesn't get to be high man on the totem pole 100% of the time (whether he deserves it or not). LOL

[City Lights]

3. There are lots of easily-led sheep in Uhmurika. nt

[Overseas]

4. Republican elites fund him to help dumb down America

and keep him there for that reason. That's his purpose. Keep the fake culture war going. Republicans don't want the poor Christians thinking about how their standard of living has gone down during Republican trickle down management. Republicans need them to be thinking about those darned liberals instead. So right wing billionaires have paid Limbaugh very well.

I'm glad they have not succeeded in dumbing down the whole country. Just that 30% that liked W. for far too long.

[polichick]

19. That's pretty scary, but I shouldn't be surprised...

It's also the reason religion has been peddled in so many places around the world ~ control their minds and emotions, and you don't need armies.

[Overseas]

21. Religion helps keep people divided. Republicans don't want us to

figure out that 95% of us earn less than 250K per year. They don't want us to question why the $400K lawyer and $100K school administrator pay the same taxes. The lawyer must be favored by God.

Republicans don't want us to think about why all the other industrialized countries have national health and we don't.

Republicans don't want us to think about how pushing alternative energy right now would create thousands of jobs here at home.

Republicans don't want us to think about the huge subsidies our taxes have paid for the oil companies that are making record profits, while those tax breaks are being denied to alternative energy development. (Unless it is nuclear, which needs to be controlled by giant companies for safety reasons.)

It is God's will that the top 2% prosper while we suffer. Let us pray and not listen to those darned liberals who want wealth to be shared TWO WAYS, up and down, not just up.

[polichick]

30. Although I was raised Christian, it's been a long time since I've had any use...

...for religion ~ it seems clear that SPIRITUALITY UNITES and RELIGION DIVIDES.

It's shocking that so many are so easy to fool ~ and control.

[Overseas]

32. I hope we'll revive the understanding that separation of Church & State

provides more religious freedom for ALL religions.

Hope people will learn to pray at home if that's what their core values are.

[polichick]

34. I sure hope so...

Obama is a bit too religious for me ~ didn't like hearing he would grow the "faith based initiatives" thing. But I do think he'll try not to blur the lines between church and state.

[spanone]

5. because fucking idiotic morons need a spokesperson too.

[Jennicut]

6. I heard him the first time in 1992. I nver got it either. Most grating voice ever.

Dumb ideas too.

[BOSSHOG]

8. Its his audience

who prove that ignorance is a conservative value. He knows it and plays to their ignorance, their fears and their racism. He got a big boost when reagan did away with the fairness doctrine, cause how could we possibly have fairness on the public airwaves when the "market" accepts the aforementioned?

Conservatives fear the fairness doctrine and swearing to tell the truth. Imagine!

[polichick]

24. "Conservatives fear the fairness doctrine and swearing to tell the truth."

Yeah, if things are fair they can't be king of the mountain without actually earning the position.

[BOSSHOG]

28. Oh and right wing radio

national and local have done a great job of misconstruing what the fairness doctrine is all about, and they know they can because they know their target audience.

[ErinBerin84]

9. Rick Sanchez

Just had an (African American) conservative talk radio show host on CNN, and he was using the same line of attack as Rush. On CNN, it's all race, all the time.

[polichick]

33. CNN is really creepy these days. :/

[MissMarple]

10. I could never listen to him. If you try to make sense of what he is saying...

your brains begin to feel like they've been scrambled.

[Zero Division]

11. demagoguery on the radio, as old as Father Charles Coughlin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Coughlin

[Orsino]

12. He tells people it's good to hate the people they were going to hate anyway...

...and that it's cool not to think.

[droidamus2]

13. Very short history

Rush, in his current incarnation, started on a station in Sacramento, CA. at the time people couldn't figure out whether he was serious about what he was saying or whether he was really a liberal making fun of the closed minded conservatives. He discovered if you just tell the conservatives what they want to hear they will follow you like a happy puppy lapping up everything you say (or to put it another way eating up your shit). He then was approached by Ailes (forgot his first name) to be syndicated on a national level to push the Republican talking points. He had a lot of money behind him and was able to get on a lot of stations in big cities and small markets nationwide so he became very well known. That 'celebrity' is the only reason anybody besides died-in-the-wool conservatives even listen to him.

[polichick]

23. Thanks, it's very helpful to know the history...

I guess it's possible that he doesn't even believe the stuff he spews ~ he's like a smarmy preacher who gets off on the adulation.

[daa]

14. There are two reasons.

First, when he came on the scene, he was it. You could listen to bee bop, religion and he was new. When he started he was an entertainer. He was funny and gored everyones ox, even republicans. That changed when he stayed at the Lincoln bedroom with poppy bush and was told republicans don't speak ill of other republicans.

The other reason he was popular was there was no Internet, no fact checking. If he said people booed at an event, there was no you tube to verify what he was saying.

Once he became a partisan polemic, a deaf drug addict, he played to a hard core base.

When he started he stayed in hotel rooms by himself. He fell apart when he started paling around with the party big wigs and reading their daily faxes.

One thing you have to remember about limbaugh, he is in business to sell advertising and make money. Notice he has very few mainstream advertisers, just fringe hucksters.

Rush got fired many times, failed and found himself, then got full of himself.

[camera obscura]

18. This is exactly right

especially with fact checking. Amazing what he got away with back then.

[polichick]

26. Wow - wonder if he even believes his own bullshit!

[daa]

39. Only if it sells advertising nt

[Arkansas Granny]

16. He is taken seriously by people who find it easier to let him tell them what they think

instead of trying to figure it out for themselves.

[polichick]

31. I guess it makes sense that his listeners would...

...also depend on their churches to tell them what to think.

[Arkansas Granny]

37. Sounds like the same crowd.

[mtnsnake]

40. I always ask this one acquaintance why he lets Limbaugh do his thinking for him

He used to be a friend of mine until he started listening to Limbaugh religiously and parroting everything Limbaugh said like a little neocon nutjob. His job involves driving for hours on end, and that's how he initially got involved with Limbaugh. Limbaugh can always be picked up on the airwaves in just about any location, unfortunately, and some people are just happen on to him when they're scrolling through the channels looking for talk radio.

I'll be celebrating when that blowhard can no longer utter another spoken word.

[CoffeeCat]

17. Back in the 90's I listened to Limbaugh daily...

...because I wrote columns about him and his distortions.

Rush is popular because he is very, very good at what he does. He really
is a master of communications at this level. He's got it down to a science.

Yes, he is a blowhard. Yes, he is wrong about everything. Yes, he is
a liar and someone who perpetuates hate. He has done so much damage to
this country--as far as dividing our nation and furthering lies.

However, he's entertaining. He serves up politics in easily digestible
bites, using humor.

Furthermore, he pacifies and strokes the egos of societies misfits who--up
until Rush--had to hide their bigotry, their elitism, their narrow-mindedness
and their fear-based beliefs. Rush is the mouthpiece for political
and social dysfunctionals. A great deal of his show is spent glorifying and
placating his ignorant audience. Rush celebrates their ignorance and reassures
them that their hate and stupidity--really are signs of intelligence.

That's why you can't argue with these types. Not only are they ignorant
misfits--they have been told by their daddy-figure Rush--that they are
special, special brave souls. These types don't want to give up
their views, or the belief that they are actually right and smarter
than everyone else.

His listeners are addicted to the validation that Rush provides these
very fractured people--as well as the venomous messages.

[polichick]

25. Thanks - that really addresses the draw for his audience...

It's scary to know how many of these "fractured addicts" are out there ~ though I can't help thinking (hoping, praying) that the gig is almost up.

[Dr Fate]

20. The problem was that Liberals refused to take RW talk radio seriously.

I remember back in the 80's & early 90's, the typical Liberal response to talk radio was:

"It's just entertainment, no one really takes this stuff seriously- it doesnt have any real effect..."

Of course it's hate filed & facutally inaccurate, but the problem was that Liberals ignored it and refused to take it seriously- it didnt go away, instead it grew, largely unchallenged until recently...

[Faygo Kid]

27. Agreed. He has been dismissed here, and he has built hate like no one in history.

He is like Father Coughlin, but worse, and with a longer reach.

We are seeing the results of 20 years of Limbaugh. And it's ugly.

[polichick]

29. Too true - that's what I thought when I first heard him...

I couldn't imagine that anyone would take it seriously.

Reminds me of that quote, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance," which some people attribute to Jefferson.

Hopefully, we've learned our lesson.

[Xolodno]

36. I'd say its a long story, but here's my....

...attempt and making it short.

He's been in radio since the 80's but didn't really take off until the 90's. That's when you might say his "take" on things appealed to a lot of unhappy people. Yeah sure, the economy got better under Clinton but you might say people were hungry for more than just the "Its the Economy Stupid". Rush made criticisms of some Democratic Party ideals, politicians, unions, etc. what many people felt were valid (if you agree with that or not is another matter).

Give you an example, at that time I was employed for a company and belonged to a union. The union would come in and "implore" about how we all had to vote a straight democratic ticket. So many were angry with the union it often had the opposite affect. Not hard to see why, the union would give its spiel about "intense" negotiations and why the raise in wages was so low, etc. Then after the contract got voted in....the union dues would go up and essentially eat the raise (they didn't trust the company, but often everyone's frustration was taken out by other means such as the unions endorsements). Interestingly enough, Rush would discuss things of this nature. Everything from how people should take personal responsibility and not force society to pay for their mistakes to how ultra liberals in power were willing to pass an eco law that would shutter your town, and force you to move somewhere else or starve (think small timber town and a large area of forest was declared off limits due to conservation, discovery of an endangered species, etc.). And of course he used examples which made is points "real".

Fast forward, Republicans eventually gain control and blank check their policies for all intents and purposes. Well...under republican leadership, we have seen more foreign involvement less personal responsibility and corporate responsibility (yeah sure, they relaxed laws that didn't shutter your town, but the company may have went under or shipped overseas and now you have clear cut hills with no economic base...as the tourism vanished with the trees). Long story short, the promises made were never kept. So whats a talk show guy to do? He spews crap in order to keep his job. I'd bet secretly, Rush is hoping the Dem's win so he can go back to criticizing and "connecting". Hate speech only gets you along for so long.

On a personal note, I think Rush indirectly helped the Democrats. He pointed out all the flaws and gave them an opportunity to refine them. Perfect example, Obama's remarks on abortion at the last debate when he said "No one is pro-abortion"...It definitely looked as if McCain was caught off guard. And of course, Obama has discussed at length about personal & corporate responsibility and many things you used to hear (and still do) from Republicans....difference is, Republicans have no more credibility given all thats happened. You might say he has helped Democrats to connect once again to peoples concerns.

[polichick]

38. Thanks for those insights - he sounds like a predator...

...in that he sniffs out the vulnerabilities and fears of people, and uses them to manipulate and control.

I agree that Obama has used the information provided by the other side to his (and our) advantage.

[cliffordu]

41. part of the human heart can feed on hate.

[lutefisk]

42. He, like Hannity and others, tap into people's assholiness.

They make it ok to hate, to be selfish, to feel the strength of membership in what is essentially a mob (Limbaugh's "dittoheads", Hannity's "great Americans").

That's really the current Republican party: a phony, delusional, idealogical excuse to be assholes.

[ItNerd4life]

43. There is 1 reason, and 1 reason only. But it's why people I know listen to him.

Rush is right in 1 respect, and then he extrapolates off that belief.

Where Rush is right is this: Most people believe the purpose of the Bill of Rights is to protect our freedoms. However, this is wrong. Because it doesn't address who are freedoms must be protected from.
What Rush says is 'The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to protect us from the government'. This is true if you read and understand the Bill of Rights.

This then feeds into the mantra that ALL government is bad and that the less government there is, the better off people would be. This of course is NOT true.
But, people want to feel independent and have control of their lives. If the government is in control, they lose their independence.
The philosophy is 'The more the government does, the less freedom you have'. There is also some truth to this statement as well.

Since, it may sound like I'm endorsing him, I will now start to explain (which most people here in DU know) why he is wrong.

The government can protect society from the abuses of the individual or companies. It's why we have pollution laws, it's why we have laws against Drunk Driving, etc.
The rights of the individual to be drunk means the person is free and can do whatever he/she likes. The drunk driving laws means the drunk has fewer freedoms. If we didn't have these laws, imagine the anarchy and damage to society without government oversight and laws.

But you will never, ever hear that type of discussion on his show.

Also, remember why this country was founded. It was founded because people were being persecuted by the government. Therefore,
the simple philosophy is that all government is bad. Of course, intelligent people know that their is a place for government and a place for freedoms.

It's why right wing radio is so popular and left wing radio struggles. The people that listen to right wing radio are railing against the government, and that is a powerful draw.