THE EMPIRE OF LIMBAUGH
MAKES ANOTHER CONQUEST

By: Sean Scallon

You know when someone is a part of the establishment or at least as seen as a benign threat to it when you get puff pieces written about you as Rush Limbaugh did by Zev Chafets in the New York Times Magazine.

Perhaps my biggest bone of contention with the article is the fact that there are any number of ironies that Chafets didn’t really notice or even ask Limbaugh to explain.

Such as:

1). Despite daily Limbaugh exhortations against McCain on a show listened to presumably by a mostly Republican audience they didn’t listen to him and voted for McCain anyway;

2). Having been unable to have influence over his main audience Limbaugh decided to try to influence the outcome of the Democratic race;

3). After spending 16 years bashing Hilary Clinton like a piñata, Limbaugh winds up motivating those listeners who took all his anti-Hilary rhetoric to heart to take the time out of their busy lives and vote for her and

4). 13 years after being named “Honorary Member of the Republican Revolution” Limbaugh now faces the prospect of seeing Democratic majorities in Congress as big as when he first started his national career in 1988 along with the Democrtic president to boot?

But that’s the gag isn’t it? Apparently Clear Channel is giving Limbaugh eight years more airtime (Hey, that covers the entire Obama presidency!) at $400 million dollars because they hedging their bets that will be the situation come January of 2009 and given that situation. They feel Rush will be right back where he was as “Leader of the Opposition” with affiliates and advertisers clamoring to get a piece of his soon re-relevant show just as it was in the early 1990s.

But much has changed since 1993. The biggest change being there are other would be “leaders of the opposition” out there and none are going to defer to what once was a sui generis. Indeed, maybe the best part of the article is Limbaugh’s opinions of fellow talk show hosts like Savage, O’Reilly and Hannity. In fact, I have to give Rush credit for basically summing up O’Reilly for what he is: the reincarnation of Ted Baxter. Nor are there, right at this moment, any Newt Gingriches among the House or Senate GOP intelligently (stressing the word intelligently) plotting their restoration working hand in glove with Limbaugh. Remember, he’s not going to be their water carrier anymore right?

Actually if you read between the lines in the article you’ll discover some interesting tidbits about Limbaugh 2008:

1). He lives by himself, Citizen Kane style, in his Palm Beach mansion doted on by a few flunkies.

2). His biggest fear is saying something Imus-like against Obama on the air that would end his career. No doubt he was scarred by the whole ESPN fiasco and basically will be pretty much neutered throughout the rest of the campaign.

3). He craves acceptance by the establishment. Here’s a good money quote: “I assumed there was a fraternity of broadcasting guys in New York,” he told me. “I thought my success would launch me into a circle of accomplished people. Look, I admired these people. Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather — people watched these guys. I thought they would welcome me as one of them. I was wrong.” Eventually Limbaugh came to a rather obvious conclusion. “I realized that my professional achievements were discounted because of my conservatism and my constant criticism of those who I thought would welcome me.” Yes, I can just imagine Rush coming up to Dan Rather and saying “Hey Dan, how it going? I ripped you new one on my show today. Would you like to go out tonight for a couple of brewskies?” Maybe Dan doesn’t understand that’s all an act and that Limbaugh’s jibes are just ways to rile up the rubes who listen and buy his endorsed products. After all, aren’t they all in the entertainers? Aren’t they all after ratings? After all, how’s the old saying go “It’s nothing personal, just business.”

4). And yet despite all the money, the big mansion, all the listeners, all the accolades and brown nosing he receives from politicians and journalists alike, he’s still the little insecure kid from Cape Girardeau. He basically blames drug addiction on depression due to his insecurities: Being Limbaugh, he said he believes that most of these shortcomings stemmed from his inability to love himself sufficiently. “I felt everyone who criticized me was right and I was wrong,”

Rush Limbaugh is more like Bill Clinton than his fans are willing to admit.

After all, doesn’t Clinton fool around because of his “insecurities”? 5). Rush’s belief in “Americanism” makes him a perfect neocon convert as this quote shows:

“America is the solution to the world’s problems. We are not the problem.” Great! When does the invasion of Zimbabwe begin? Another problem to solve right? I’m sure he’ll be a big supporter of Obama’s decision to invade Darfur as well.

Actually, given how rootless he is and lacking of any kind sense of place, even for Cape Girardeau, it’s not surprising he would consider “American” the abstract as his home dwelling and what he cares for. Everywhere else are just dots on a map. He could do his show from Cape Girardeau if he wanted to. He chooses Palm Beach and he chooses it for a reason.

Of course then there’s barf quote:

“But in my heart and soul, I know I have become the intellectual engine of the conservative movement.”

Some scholars bust their arses in dusty university libraries doing research and writing thesis’s and formulating arguments and policy proposals and spend years writing books and all Rush needs is a microphone and a transmitter and ghost writer he’s the intellectual. That’s Entertainment!

Well, if it’s true El Rusbo is the intellectual engine for conservatism let us take a look at that engine: It’s rusty and broken down. The Republicans have their most liberal presidential nominee since Gerald Ford and the Dems are poised to make big gains in Congress if not the White House. Most Republicans now don’t mind welfare state so long as it benefits or protects them. They are tied to a discredited foreign policy and have nothing more really to say on domestic issues that they weren’t saying 30 years ago. Nowhere in this article does Chafets ponder this statement and say “Hey, wait a minute. If you’re the engine, why doesn’t the machine no longer run?”

But I should catch myself before I get taken in by the bluster and the sticht. Just like the EIB Building, the Advanced Institute for Conservative Studies, and Talent on Loan from God, such a statement is part of the act and to take it seriously is exactly what Limbaugh wants because he wants to be seen as influential on the national scene. That’s what Operation Chaos was all about and the MSM fell for it hook, line and sinker, especially when you consider McCain’s nomination should have pointed out that the Emperor of the Limbaugh Empire really has no clothes.

After all, he said it himself “My job is create and hold the largest radio audience possible.” i.e. my job is to be entertaining for three hours to keep you listening to topics that on NPR or C-SPAN would put you to sleep or change the channel. If you don’t see him, or others of his trade, as an entertainers you get suckered like Chafets was in this article and actually take the man seriously as a preeminent man of the establishment. Limbaugh is no Fr. Coughlin, he’s P.T. Barnum and that suits the powers that be just fine. After 20 years, they’re still in charge aren’t they?



"Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."

Sean Scallon is a freelance writer and newspaper reporter who lives in Arkansaw, Wisconsin. His work has appeared in Chronicles: A magazine of American Culture. His first-ever book: Beating the Powers that Be: Independent Political Movements and Parties of the Upper Midwest and their Relevance in Third-party Politics of Today is now out on sale from Publish America. Go to the their website at www.publishamerica.com to order a copy. He is a regular columnist for Ether Zone.

Sean Scallon can be reached at: pchsports@rivertowns.net

Published in the July 23, 2008 issue of  Ether Zone.
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