Rush Limbaugh has died.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh
I remember when he was a radio commentator in Sacramento. That would have been early eighties, I think. In those days, pre national fame, he was conservative certainly but not entirely insane. As I recall, he had not yet developed the name calling style for which he later became famous. If his show came on the radio while I was cleaning the apartment I didn't rush to turn it off. As for his later career, I think I am superstitious enough not to invite bad luck by speaking ill of the dead.
I say, let his legacy be an object lesson of what can happen to an ordinary person with perhaps some talent who is not entirely unreasonable when that person answers the siren call of the Big Bucks and National Fame. The more you do the bidding of evil the more you become a caricature of what you might have been. There are figures on the left who would do well to contemplate Rush's later career as an example of what to avoid.
Comments
I just received a Rolling Stone article.
I didn't know he received a $400 million contract! Richest radio commentator on the planet! The Rolling Stone reporter tore him a new one, so don't worry. People are not worried about being jinxed by speaking ill of the dead!
The man ruined many friendships for me, and I will never get them back. A man I to whom I never listened, for whom I gave no care, poisoned otherwise nice folks, made them hate me.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
My condolences for
your lost friendships. I too had friendships with conservative minded people who listened to a stead diet of shock jock radio. sigh I mostly avoided talking about politics, except to say gently that I am afraid I disagree. I have never seen the use of confronting the powerless.
Mary Bennett
I never argued or engaged with them at all.
They all knew me well enough to accuse me of being a feminazi commie. I mean, all it took for them to hate me was to see me through Rush's eyes.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Better off without people like that.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
My cousin bought his wife a Rush subscription for her birthday.
The two of them were Rush devotees. We used to discuss politics for fun. I still take pride in the fact that he used to introduce me to his friends as his "Commie Cousin."
-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962
As posted on another thread
Death is too good an ending for that sleaze ball
the amount of hate he fomented should get him
a prime seat in the seventh ring of hell, if there is
such a thing. Perhaps hate radio could have at least
tortured him in a special episode, hung by his balls
and whipped with each of his hateful lies by all of the young
boys he screwed in Domenica. Ouch.
question everything
I remember that
I was on my 3rd job after moving to CA and started working in the Stockton office and the guy who worked there was a huge Rush fan. I feel that it did start out toxic and then got more so as he continued gaining wealth and power. I wasn't paying much attention to politics, but what he was saying about the left was untrue and tried discussing that with the guy. Not a chance. His mind was closed to discussion. I finally had to go to the boss to get him to not play it. I said it created a toxic environment for me to work in and I don't want it on anymore. Not sure how long I fought for that, but I finally got it. Better than threatening my Jewish boss on Good Friday. His words, not mine. Loved all the doctors' ethical standards, but as men I found them lacking.
Well goodbye then Rush. I hope that your funeral service goes like many of the ones for people who died of AIDS did at your urging. Rest in Pieces you Piece of Shit.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Mom always said
if you can't say anything good don't say anything at all.
Rush dead at 70. Good!!!
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
This has been playing in my head:
“He’s gone where the goblins go,
Below, below, below . . ..”
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Finally.
Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.
Ditto.
That is all.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I am thinking lately
that the angry "shock jock" style is fast becoming dated. Or so I hope.
I do agree with QMS and Snoopy Dog that the guy did a lot of harm.
Mary Bennett
Yay!!!
Hated that guy.
Just one (of many) examples. My dad was an early listener when he went national (and continued to be throughout the rest of Rush's life). Listened to Rush while at work, every day. Earlier in life, my dad was a Democrat, cared about minority rights, etc.
That changed over the decades. Come the financial crisis of 2007/2008, all I heard from my dad was how it was all the fault of minorities who took all those adjustable-rate (ARM) loans. All of that courtesy of the views promulgated by the Rush Limbaugh Show. Thanks, Rush!
When pointed out that the majority of ARMs were actually taken out and defaulted on by white people, and when pointed out that maybe the banks shouldn't have been lending risky loans to people who had no way to pay them back (you know . . . doing their responsible fiscal duties), my dad's view was basically . . . nope! It's the fault of minorities! Rush told me so!
I'm so glad I've managed to outlive that assh*le. Another person of hatred, bigotry, misogyny, and evil is removed from this world. Thank goodness! On top of Sheldon Adelson leaving this mortal coil, this year is turning out to have some bright sides, especially when it comes to evil people with tons of money!
Edit to change assh@le to assh*le. Didn't realize there was a user here that used the former handle!
Again, condolences.
That must have been painful to watch. My parents were mostly pretend liberals, what used to be called liberal Republicans. Voted for Nixon in 1960, and against him later on. Democrats were in their minds conflated with mob-connected big city machines. To their credit, they never did swallow the Reagan koolaid. I remember my grandparents, living on Social Security, were "afraid" of "McGovern's economics". I didn't know the guy had any economic knowledge or policies, other than what some consultant might have sold him.
Mary Bennett
Welfare queens
To this day no one can have a nice car or iPhone if they are on food stamps. I fought back against that in every food bank tweet I saw. People who just lost their jobs still can have those things and be desperate because they need them to get another job or for any reason. I look at those miles long lines and think thank dawg I’m not needing to use one.
Twitter is full of assholes today, but Biden’s happy because his death took the wind out of Biden’s fu to people desperately needing relief. It’d stimulate the economy so much, but Biden’s hiding behind the lie of rich kids holding student debt. Dumb ass.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Community Reinvestment Act
That lie just won;t die. When i hear it, I tell people, "Think! if it was caused by loans defaulting in the ghetto, why did it start with million dollar jumbo loans in Las Vegas? It had to be caused by the house flippers with the liar's loans." But it couldn't be rich republicans, could it? Nooooo.
It doesn't take a political bent to understand. It just takes common sense and logic. Two things is short supply in the USA. I'm proud of my older Conservative friend, who answered, "That does make sense" when I pointed it out to him.
EDIT:
When the stock market does crash, we won't hear about multi-trillion dollar FED credit injections or 100+% shorts or greedy CEO's who bought back stock to juice their own bonuses instead of investing in company upgrades or paying down debt.. We will hear how Millennials on Robinhood killed the stock market.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Bingo!
Boy what a convenient scapegoat that Reddit will get the blame for again something rich people caused. Last time it was those damn minorities and this time it’s Redditers. They always have a plan B just in case.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Lots of evil fckers dying recently
Now it’s Kissinger and Albright's turn. I’ve got a list of people who I’m hoping expire very soon. Most are older, but there’s a few young people on it.
Fingers crossed.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
It is past time for the antiquated elites to step down.
For example, Nancy Pelosi is not by nature an evil person, IMHO, but she has clearly outlived her usefulness in public life. She needs to write or dictate her memoirs. As an activist in Baltimore and then SF, later in Sacramento and then in DC, she has been the rooms where decisions were being made for about 50 years. Think of what she must know that will be lost with her death in office.
Mary Bennett
The only way I'd care
The only way this would interest me is if she spilled the beans on all the ways we've been screwed with her help.
Otherwise it sounds pretty boring... Chapter 1 - The flavors of ice cream in my freezer.
Pelosi might not be evil at heart
but she has done many evil things. Just 2 will I name. Staying silent on Bush/Iraq/Saddam Wmds when she knew he was lying because she has admitted that.
2. No financial help for workers who lost their jobs. Going with COBRA over MFA and insisting that her friends are paying too high a property tax. No that would be people on SS who can barely save up for them because they are not being paid properly for the times.
Other than that, she sure looks great for being 80. I don't look half that good at my young age.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Two people
, that I believe are more evil than Rush.
That takes some doing.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Yup I agree that Rush did just that for 32 years
annieeli finds the best tweets:
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
The only thing better
would be a terminal trifecta. Rush, Murdoch and the whole Foxnews stable.
We knew this was coming
Shame it didn't come sooner. The world is a little bit nicer now (we hope).
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
My mother
Listened to that idiot every day. She also taped his show so she could listen to that to fall asleep. While I can't celebrate his death, bad karma or whatever, he left behind a profoundly ugly legacy. When I moved mom she would be forced to listen to that asshole with ear buds. I not only refused to hear that but would argue back loud enough she'd miss the show without ear buds. Good riddance although there are others now following his ugly legacy and he did indeed help increase the divide.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Note to the 1% and Congresscritters
Think about what will be said when YOU pass away.
It won't be pretty.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
He and
whomever was backing him do have a lot to answer for.
Mary Bennett
Bet you’d find a Koch wallet or two open
for Rush. He was the best thing to happen here because he started the toxic divide between the left and the right. Congress would never dream of reigning his toxicity in because they love it that we are so divided. It keeps us fighting each other instead of government. I wish people saw this too. We have so much in common and more than what divides us.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
I've included a few lines from a Kiwi political blogger
about Limbaugh. From his post titled - Rush Limbaugh is dead. Thoughts & Prayers.
Thanks for this
How true.
In the few times I listened to him I didn’t hear him talk about how our jobs had been offshored and factories closing and railed against it. Again imagine if he had used his voice for good. But then he’d just have been a washed up liberal who was batshit crazy and not richer than gawd. (interesting phrase)
I also read about how Reagan got in bed with the Christian Right at the same time he was doing the fairness doctrine and got them on TV. Sure wish I had saved it. Reagan did more damage to the country than Trump did in my opinion. And he wasn’t impeached for Iran Contra or the possible treasonous act he did with Iran on the hostages. Not that Clinton would have charged him if he had come right after Reagan. Then Barr pardoned Elliot Abrams for his role in genocide in .. country. Forgot what one.
Kinda makes me wonder where we’d be now if Ford hadn’t pardoned Nixon or democrats charged him for the watergate break in? That’s not going after him for crimes he did while in office, but for his role in trying to rig the election. Ya hear that? A whisper says hey weren’t democrats involved in some election shit too then and both parties did a quid pro quo and left it at that.
Well I sure went off on a tangent didn’t I? lol.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
You're still a good shot, snoopy
If only, only if ...
How's Sam and Friend? n/t
Huge
and getting bigger every minute. She is a dawg now, but still a puppy at heart. She is 4 months and has figured out a new scam. During potty training days when I am getting coffee ready she goes out to potty then comes in for her milkbone. Then goes out for the other part. Gets another. But then she misses out if she potties before I get up so she steps out the door and comes right back in. Milkbone? Lol... she is so smart. And she loves to jump ditches. I will post a video if I can figure that out. So cute.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
Sam jumping ditches
I'd like to see that.
Dogs are so clever and entertaining. Enjoy you both.
Rush L. served Wall Street, bankers, and billionaires simply by
focusing resentment on minorities and women instead of the economic policy elite, where the blame for the state of the country belongs.
Here is an essay
from Canadian blogger Ian Welsh which about covers it.
https://www.ianwelsh.net/
Mary Bennett
He must have been seriously pissed off
when he wrote that blazing article. He made a couple of goofy errors, ("Roger", not "Robert"; "are", not "at"). Nevertheless, it is still the perfect assessment of our times.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981