Week of 06/08/2009

Rush Limbaugh Is An Entertainer
– by David Matthews 2

Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer.

Repeat it with me:

Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer.

Let’s say it again:

Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer.

In fact, maybe it needs to be repeated over and over and over again, like a mantra. After all, a certain Texas Doofus that we had elected to the highest office in the country once commented that repeating something over and over and over again is the only way to - in his own words - “catapult the propaganda”.

Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer.

I know that makes a certain segment of the population feel very uncomfortable hearing that. They don’t like hearing that pronouncement.

Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer.

They get very childish about it. They act like elementary school kids that just heard that their mothers were ten-dollar prostitutes. They start screaming at the high heavens “That’s not true! You take that back! You take that back RIGHT NOW!” They refuse to accept the fact that…

RUSH LIMBAUGH is an entertainer.

They spend three hours every business day listening to his program. They listen to the replays on the weekends. If there is a book that they will ever read, it will be his. Every time he is interviewed on Fox News, they will program their digital video recorders to tape it, and then they will watch it, record it, burn it to DVD, and upload it to the Internet for their friends to watch. They will smoke the same cigars that he smokes, they will buy only the products that air on his program, they will only listen to the music that he plays on his program… no doubt if it were legal they’d probably be hooked on the same drugs that he is addicted to. They live, breathe, eat, and sleep like him… so obviously they simply will REFUSE to listen to ANYONE that dares to tell the truth that…

Rush Limbaugh IS an entertainer.

They don’t want to accept it, because he has become so much a part of their daily lives. He’s been there through good times and bad ones for the Republicans. He was there when Democrats ran things in Washington, and he was there when Republicans ran things in Washington. He was there when politicians weren’t. When politicians started to waver and waffle, he would remind people of what to believe in. They certainly don’t want to believe that…

Rush Limbaugh is AN entertainer.

He’s been the inspiration for so many others that have followed him. Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Neal Boortz, G. Gordon Liddy, Laura Ingram, Michael Savage, Michael Reagan… sure some of them have been in the business just as long or even longer than him, but they probably wouldn’t have gotten the national spotlight if he didn’t get it first. He started the trend. He made it cool to be conservative and to be on talk radio and NOT talk about sports or orchestral music or how to fix a car.

If conservatives were a fraternity, then he would be Bluto. And who can say no to Bluto, huh? Bluto is always fun!

But then again, that would suggest that…

Rush Limbaugh is an ENTERTAINER.

And that can’t be true, can it? That would insult the intelligence of those conservatives who have been living and breathing everything that this guy has touched. It would suggest that what he talks about isn’t serious. That everything he does is just for yuck-yucks and ratings and corporate sponsorship. Sure he does some parodies. Sure he gives quick snippy comments. But it can’t just be for the sake of entertainment, can it? I mean, there are some SERIOUS problems in this world to deal with. There are bad guys threatening to do harm. No… I meant bad guys in OTHER parts of the world… not the ones protesting at women’s clinics. The economy is going downhill, and the politicians seem hell-bent on making it worse. Those aren’t matters of ENTERTAINMENT, are they?

Or maybe… just maybe… they refuse to accept the truth because they really WANT him to be more than just that. Maybe they refuse to accept the truth because they really and truly WANT him to be the leader of the Republican Party instead of the ass-kissers and failures that currently inhabit that leadership position.

Unfortunately they seem to forget the simple fact that…

RUSH LIMBAUGH IS AN ENTERTAINER!

Let’s get brutally honest here… there is a reason why I have repeated that particular statement as a mantra. For those who do not seem get it, Rush Limbaugh IS NOT the Republican Party. He may be a card-carrying member of the Republican Party (I don’t know if that even has been established), he may have voted for Republicans more than Democrats (again, I don’t know if that has been established), he may have even endorsed Republican candidates (also yet to be determined), or that he did any kind of advertising for the Republican Party outside of his normal workday schedule (which I haven’t heard of), but that still doesn’t mean that he officially REPRESENTS the Republican Party in any way shape or form.

In fact, should he actually START to act like a leader of the Republican Party, then it is very likely that his program would have to be subject to all of the federal laws surrounding political advertising. His syndication company and his broadcasting provider would also be subject to federal and state laws regarding political advertising. All of his sponsors would have to be declared political campaign contributors and be on the record as such.

After all, if Rush Limbaugh WAS in fact the leader of the GOP in any official way shape or form, then his daily program, “The Rush Limbaugh Show”, and everything that came from it, including his books, his radio spots, and his “Limbaugh Letter”, would automatically be declared the OFFICIAL MESSAGE of the Republican Party, subject to all the rules, regulations, and limitations for any kind of political message. That would essentially END all of that media material that his supporters so desperately crave.

The only way he could get around those restrictions, then, would be to say that what he does is not for political purposes, but for… yes, I DARE to say it… ENTERTAINMENT. It may be conservative entertainment, but it must BE for entertainment purposes nonetheless. That means that he has to point to those parodies and cheap cracks and songs and say that HE IS doing those things for yucks-yucks and for listener ratings instead of trying to advance political agendas and give political advantage for one particular party over any other.

Even worse, if Rush really IS the leader of the Republican Party, even if only in a public sense, then HE would be held responsible for the successes or failures of that party. That means that if the GOP wins back control of Congress in 2010, then he could take credit for it, but also if the GOP FAILS to win back control of Congress, then HE would have to take the BLAME for it.

Remember Newt Gingrich? As Speaker of the House, HE was the public face of the GOP back in the 1990’s. Remember his sudden decision to resign from office following the 1998 mid-term election? He actually had to man-up and take responsibility for the party’s failure to secure their majority control in Congress. Do you REALLY want Rush Limbaugh to do the same in 2010? Do you REALLY want him to give up his vast right-wing media empire if he can’t deliver a GOP comeback in 2010?

Is any of this sinking in yet?

All of you dittoheads acting like immature eight-year-olds whenever you hear the TRUTH about who Rush Limbaugh is and what his show is for are actually doing yourselves AND your idol a disservice! Every time you start throwing fits whenever you hear someone in the GOP say that Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer is not only petty, but also threatens to put the show and the entertainer in an area that it could never survive in.

In fact, you need to take the OPPOSITE track when someone calls him an ENTERTAINER. You need to point out that not only is Rush Limbaugh an ENTERTAINER, but that he is JUST AN ENTERTAINER. He reminds people of what the conservative message should be, but that it is the responsibility of those that listen to him and agree with him to actually FOLLOW THROUGH and to make those things happen.

It was about fifty years ago that there was a certain media personality that also latched his career to a political movement… only this movement consisted of a politician instead of a political party. That media personality’s name was Walter Winchell, and while he could blame the transition from radio to television as the reason for his eventual downfall, a huge factor that cannot be denied is the fact that HE DID latch on to the movement of a certain powerful politician in Washington, and when that politician was in favor, then Winchell’s program was in favor, and when that politician fell OUT of favor, then Winchell’s career followed suit.

That powerful politician, of course, was Senator Joseph McCarthy. And while McCarthy died a miserable drunk after his fall, Winchell’s own fate was even worse for an entertainer such as himself. He was consigned to relative oblivion, remembered only for his inflammatory support of a power-mad fear-monger, and for his narrative role in a TV show ironically called “The Untouchables”.

Such can also be the fate of Rush Limbaugh as long as his self-described “dittoheads” continue in their efforts to link him to the sustainability of a political party.

What has kept Limbaugh employed and prosperous after two decades of syndicated broadcasting is NOT that he was linked to any one political party, but rather that at the end of the day, no matter which way the foul winds of politics blow, his show would still be there because of those five simple words that his supporters really have no business taking offense to…

Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer.

And his supporters should be happy that he is just that.