All along the ramparts the word was quickly passed. Before the news had hit the airwaves, I received a call from my daughter who, with some delight informed me of the blessed news. I, in turn, quickly called my uncle who, while on the phone, turned and told his friend the tidings of great joy: Rush, the scumbag, Limbaugh is finally dead.
I recall back in the late 80's when he came upon the scene. In hushed tones my father asked me if I had heard of Limbaugh. Being in the business, I was then an account executive for a local A.M. Radio station, I was aware of the swine. “Yeah, I've heard of him”, I replied.
“What do you think?” my dad asked me.
“He's an idiot”, I replied, adding “and from the looks of him, you can tell the son-of-a-bitch has never missed a meal in his life. The lard ass has no idea what it is to go to bed hungry.”
Dad dropped the subject and never brought it up again.
It is said that, in ancient Greece, the Oracle of Delphi would sit upon a fissure in the earth and, snorting the toxic fumes belching from the Vulcan furnace, would begin to speak. Her speech was unintelligible so a priest would attend her and translate to the supplicant the advice that she, for a price, dispensed. So it was with “Rush-To-Judgement” Limbaugh. Snorting the toxic fumes from every fascist stink tank, dredging for contents ever more outrageous and disgusting; 'ripping and reading' without validating his sources anything that might fit into his frenzied performance; Limbaugh would launch upon his daily three-hour jeremiads without benefit of either education or clergy. (1)
Limbaugh would, for instance, 'rip-and-read' the contents of the 'Drudge Report'--whose sole expedition into accurate reporting was Bill Clinton's blow-job—without checking into its veracity and, with his trademark vitriolic flair, launch upon his usual three hour rant without any sensible voice in the studio questioning the wisdom of our now high priest of political ignorance. This is what happens when the government does away with the Fairness Doctrine and its “Equal Time” provisions.
This was how the story of Obama taking half the U.S. Navy with him on a trip to India. Rush ripped an article from an obscure Indian publication, did not check the source, read the contents on the air and gave birth to a vicious account of Obama wasting huge sums of tax dollars on a 'junket' involving half the White House staff and half the U.S. Navy. Never mind that the President of the United States travels on Air Force One, primarily for security reasons and has not traveled by sea, or train, in over half century. Again, without benefit of clergy.
Limbaugh was the 'Gateway Drug'. He was the first, the pioneer as it were, to what became an industry. Many would ape his antics, Neil Bortz, Glenn Beck and Alex Jones among them. Jones and Beck even surpassing the original swine in tin-hat conspiracy as a mad scramble ensued over who could be more outrageous, who more pointedly partisan, who more demonstrably mad. Rush demonstrated to the world what happens when the marketplace dictates content, when industries fail and the ensuing consequences.
What made Limbaugh possible was the decline of A.M. Radio. When the auto companies began putting F.M. Radios into the cars the 'drive-time' market, the most treasured segment in the industry, changed. Overnight F.M became all the rage and A.M. Became obsolete. Previously, there were few F.M. Stations, nearly all carried classical music. Why? Because F.M is superior to A.M. For musical formats. There is nearly no static, the range is superior, especially at night, and so is the sound.
Previously, F.M. was an afterthought. An F.M. station was usually linked with A.M. and was seen as the poor cousin of A.M. It didn't make much money and would barely cover it's expenses. Public Radio, for instance, is an F.M. affair, primarily because when it was set up, an A.M. operation was much more expensive to set up. As the old joke went, one could buy and F.M. outlet with 50 cents and a box top. That all changed in the mid to late 70's. By the mid 80's F.M. had taken over 'drive-time' and A.M. became obsolete. The roles were reversed.
Then came, with the Reagan administration, the repeal of the “Fairness Doctrine” and its equal time provisions, regulations requiring equal time must be given to opposing points of view.
The best use, if there were any use at all, is for talk. And since any programming that had a chance to cover the basic cost of operation meant keeping the transmitter a headlong rush to talk radio ensued. Millions could be made flushing the toilet into America's living rooms and work places every afternoon. What matter if this shit don't float? There's money, real money to be made. Enter the marketplace; enter hate radio; enter Rush Limbaugh, the king-hell boar to a 'generation of swine.'
For over three decades now the corpulent one has held court, dragging his nets in the cesspools of conservatism raising the dregs of political thought to a nationwide platform from which he cast these false pearls before real swine. Rush and his 'Ditto-Heads' became all the rage. He has cheapened political discourse, he has vandalized public probity. With Limbaugh license was granted and without Limbaugh the great 'bomb-thrower' Newt Gingrich would not have been possible. Limbaugh and his imitators made Gingrich look respectable. Gingrich, in turn, made Moscow Mitch and Caesar Disgustus possible. It took a mere 30 years to take that small step from Rush to “Q”; from “Ditto-Heads” to “Qanon”. Indeed, in his last broadcasts Limbaugh could be heard lamenting that the violence at our nation's capitol had fallen short.
Some of my colleagues are lamenting the dancing in the streets. They say that it is unbecoming, indeed unseemly, to be celebrating the death of a man, to whom I respond with this observation: If, on balance, it can be said that the world is a better place now that this man is dead, then it is a cause for celebration.
The death of Rush Limbaugh is, indeed, a cause for reverie. Let the celebrations begin!
___________
Limbaugh, it has been duly noted in previous columns, failed every class he took in college, even ballroom dancing. Images of that fat ass waltzing across a ballroom floor notwithstanding, it has always amazed me how anyone demonstrating such intellectual shortcomings could be taken seriously. The answer, of course, is that by his very being on the 'air' imputes a certain validity, much as gaining the ReSCUMlickan presidential nomination imputes a certain legitimacy.
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