"…burst like a supernova on the national political landscape"?
A little not-so-hidden rah-rah for Trump? Supernova, as if representing light, power, glory, magnificence on a hitherto unimagined scale? How about "that barreled toward earth like a asteroid that if it hit would end human life as we know it"?
Well, T did get elected, but the asteroid missed in the sense that he went down to defeat significantly reducing the chances of nuclear war, accidental or otherwise, and the winter that would follow, setting back the human race, that part of it that survived, for eons. And his defeat staved off climate calamity at least for a little while longer. (Shame on whoever cooked up those feeble terms "global warming" and "climate change" for what we are facing."
As for Limbaugh, I allow myself a little joke that will take us back to the limbo days of early '60s. How low can you go?
I listened to him a couple of times. Why did his fans accept his call to wallow in hatred and ridicule instead of calling for political change that would improve their lot? The only answer I can think of is that scapegoating and blaming and hating take less effort than doing the work of bringing about political change. If Trump is the result of Limbaugh, we can call that change, but it sure did not improve the lot of his listeners. Of the rich, yes, but not of the disaffected, the unemployed, the hopeless, those who saw themselves without a future.
388
JDV in California, you're RIGHT ON! I was going to say the same thing, but you have said it much better!
19
@Thomas, my question is: How many of those negative commenters actually ever listened to Rush Limbaugh’s program. My guess is not many.
47
I grew up listening to Rush in my parents’ car, sometimes 2x a day. To the other young women he taught self-hate, I hope you also found a way to unlearn his messages. To his fans, I promise you life is better when you don’t believe him.
609
In 2014 I had lunch with three guy pals. The youngest, a creature of this hilarious foursome, said to me, "You know, I've been listening to Rush Limbaugh. He's got a lot of good ideas." The man speaking to me was a single child of privilege, never read a book in his life, unmotivated in any way, and had manners that would offend the paint on the walls. He later adopted vile tactics himself in public and it led to a falling out. I'd known him almost 30 years. But, he was the uninformed rep of the masses who were suckered by a con man named Rush Limbaugh. I don't miss either Mr. L or the people that agree with his lack of information. Dangerous? It is known in the world of mass propaganda, "you tell someone something over and over and you can change culture because they begin to believe whatever they hear." He misused great power; prospered; and eroded culture.
539
The vast majority commenting here were not fans of Mr. Limbaugh. The comments section on Fox News seems to reflect a majority audience that takes the polar opposite view of him. I'm firmly in the camp that trusts the reporting at the NYT over most of what I see at Fox, but I still have to wonder how we can reunite the country when, for so many, choosing a news site is a both political statement and insulation from inconvenient information.
147
I am just devastated by the death of this caring, sensitive, incredibly honest and fair minded radio talk show icon. So deserving of the Presidential Medal of Honor, this man’s name will live on (in infamy) for many decades to come.
127
Another incessantly dark force has left us and, most pointedly, he's lost to Trump as well. Lou Dobbs has been absent for a while, but that may not last. Hannity and Carlson are still at Trump's beck and call, but they're no Rush Limbaugh, nor is Donny Jr.
Joe Biden's voice now stands out. He's not a singer, but he has soul and for us, young and old, he has hymns and lullabies.
256
I never listened to his radio show, and this article makes me glad that I didn't.
259
He started out on his daddy's radio station doing sports. Somehow, he adhered to an AUDIENCE who wanted to hear the hatred and venom he's now famous for. That audience is still out there.
Could this be the opening Bill O'Reilly has been waiting for?
63
On a long ride my bike broke. Luckily before my eyes, a bike shop! I went inside asked for help and the greasy toads in there didn't move. They were glued to their seats listening to a vitriolic spray from the radio which I gathered on my way out was what I understood to be what they call "conservative talk radio".
Rush Limbaugh I surmised. This was in 1997 and it only got worse.
164
Thoughts and prayers to all the people this man denigrated over the years.
461
He always claimed what he did was "just entertainment." It wasn't. It was right-wing demagoguery.
318
So here lies Rush Limbaugh.
Early 90s. The Clintons are trying to overhaul the American health care system.
They’re being met with a new and very fierce force from the conservative side. Specifically, right wing radio. There were also, as many might remember, the infamous Harry and Louise adds.
So I’m in the kitchen with my future wife and sister-in-law. And me and the sister-in-law are discussing the issue.
This discussion is occurring, mind you, in a once great but now battered Western Pennsylvania steel town and this is not an educated woman.
So she is gleefully recounting all the pushback that was occurring at that moment from the right against the efforts of the Clinton administration.
I pointed out that two of her adult brothers did not have health insurance of any kind. She gleefully brushed that concern aside.
What I remember most about that day is how she just kept saying over and over again, “Like Rush says, like Rush says, like Rush says.”
This guy was a game changer who did historic damage to our country. His name should be remembered in infamy.
438
I will not miss Rush. He poisoned my brother's mind which was a first step to supporting Trump and telling me I had a conflict of interest and should not be allowed to vote. What created this serious conflict of interest, Social Security Disability Income. Because of Rush there was no explaining to him that there is no such thing as conflict of interest that prevents private citizens from voting - even if they are die hard liberals..
202
he had an opinion. most do. he was just much better at expressing his opinion than most.
35
Enjoyed his show. Irreplaceable. RIP.
39
He was An entertainer, a carnival barker who grew bigger than he ever imagined on a platform that he never imagined would be so influential. A share of Blame for his corrosiveness lays on his audience as well.
100
I can't forget how Limbaugh, while Clinton was president, said there was not only a cat but also a "dog" at the White House -- Clinton's 13-year-old daughter.
The major effect of Limbaugh that I've seen on some family and friends is the normalization of hatred and name-calling. More than anything else, he made it acceptable to speak indecently of others.
652
Limbaugh was without question the most important radio personality of the last 25 years. Love him or hate him, he became the symbol and single reference point for conservative talk radio and political talking points for the nation.
Unfortunately he was also one of the most hateful, petty and at times dishonest influencers of the last 25 years.
It is difficult to find sympathy or forgiveness for such a hateful and cynical person. He utterly and unconditionally lacked empathy and compassion. He mocked racial minorities, women, the disabled, and frankly anyone with a different point of view.
He was a singular hero to many and he often said he was merely a mirror of American society. Given the hatred and intolerance of the last decade, and in particular the last four years, indeed he was right.
139
Anyone’s passing is a solemn event and a reminder that how one chooses to live life inevitably defines them and their legacy.
Despite the vast fortunes he accumulated, his thirty decades of commentary still leave me with the impression I realized at least two decades ago. His divisive rhetoric has done as much as any other American citizen (except perhaps the architect of sorcier earth political attacks, Newt Gingrich) to foment the cancerous divisions we see today. It has taken mainstream this idea that our beautiful and ingeniously created government, borne from the oppressions so eloquently worded in our Declaration of Independence, is somehow our enemy, and that those who answer the call to government service are the worst of the worst, unless of course they further Rush’s agenda. But ironically I heard Mr. Limbaugh years ago say in an interview that he was an entertainer, not a political wonk, and that he didn’t believe a lot of what he spouted; he said a lot of it to draw an audience. But regardless of what he personally believed, the words still have resulted in extensively corrosive consequences. And we are a very sick society because of it.
196
How a 4-time divorced, racist birther, and drug addict was able to be the leading conservative for 30 years speaks volumes about the emotional needs of conservatives, at the expense of cognitive ones.
When we suffer emotional pain, we often seek out empathy from others, and our intense desire to soothe the psychological effects of our problems derails our search for solutions. “When our minds are bathed in chatter, we display a strong bias toward satisfying our emotional needs over our cognitive ones.” - Ethan Kross
Conservatives - Heal thyself.
317
Reply to comment by Brian of Maine
Your comment of Okinawa experience is the best objective
comment regarding the damage that anyone like Limbaugh
has made, in particular on the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of the military. Number one lesson to all citizenry. Thank you!
17
If you believe that people are held to account for their sins in the afterlife, I believe Mr. Limbaugh is in for some tough sledding. Unlike my brief encounters with the "Rush Limbaugh Show" in the past, I would listen to the entire program without changing the station.
39
Sadly, there is lots of grave dancing by liberals on social media right now, which is an unfortunate comment on the state of our culture these days. Though to be fair, there were lots of us conservatives who celebrated openly when RBG passed last year.
21
Limbaugh invented the I-Hate-Liberals genre, and blazed a trail for conservative hate radio and Fox News that blankets the country with maybe the biggest lie of all: that Democrats are not patriots, and liberals don't love their country.
Of course it's natural for conservatives to tap the brakes on change, just in case we might lose something of value; but it's one thing to tap the brakes and quite another to vilify all liberals and their entirely. Liberals don't hate their country when they ask for change, for wanting America to be an even better place. If it weren't for liberals, we'd still be in the Dark Ages.
But Limbaugh killed the idea of the "loyal opposition" and instead poisoned the Republican party to agree that the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.
And if liberals are finally fighting back after being the subject of Limbaugh-like hatred for 30 years, the only surprise is why it took us so long.
178
Limbaugh was the catalyst to the small town America learning to hate democrats and turning so deep red. His model was simple - local radio stations got 3+ hours of daily broadcasting for free with no production costs - they kept the local ad revenue he kept the national. On air personalities were fired. Farmers, retirees and people listening to local radio across America got a constant stream of his right wing propaganda woven in with the occasional high school game broadcast, school lunch menu or crop prices. now Fox, Oan and Newsmax reinforce what he started
123
Once became "too depressed to mow his lawn", and received welfare that year, Rush guided a whole generation to scapegoating the Left, scapegoating underfunded bureaucracies, and stoking the politics of hate. Hired to get poor people to agree to rich people's tax cuts, an effective hack.
127
Following the news is not particularly entertaining. So many people resort to commentators who entertain. It is unfortunate that Rush Limbaugh catered to the right with entertaining misinformation. But I think that the left is pretty much the same.
Because they tend to be younger and more liberal, the left buys into misinformation that is more hip than angry. I knew a lot of folks who got their news from John Stewart and the Daily Show and never read a respectable newspaper.
9
He also didn’t believe smoking caused lung cancer. Sadly for him and his loved ones, science didn’t care what he believed.
148
I stand corrected Limbaugh did contribute to charity although 300000 from someone who made billions seems rather miserly
35
I listened to Rush faithfully for probably 20 years. But for the last few years his comments were too much of a departure from the truth. I blame him, along with Donald Trump, Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson, for this country's inability to tell truth from lies.
114
Rush Limbaugh begat Trump. That will be an unfortunate part of Limbaugh's divisive, and often corrosive legacy.
79
From this article I see but one position he took that I can go along with: promoting American jobs. But virtually all politicians say they are for American jobs, so end the end this blowhard will not be missed. His words had consequences, destroying the fabric of civil discourse.
38
There are people who build and promote truth. There are people who lie, tear down, criticize and foster hate. Limbaugh was the latter and fewer of his type will benefit all.
77
Rush Limbaugh. Sean H., and Tucker C. are us and their influence on public discourse not going away. Will he really be missed? Only by his friends and family. His legacy will live on.
14
I first heard Limbaugh's "alternative" views during the Lewinski scandal. The entertainment soon wore off as realized the "liberals" he disparaged weren't just the Clintons or Hillary feminists but huge generalized swaths of our population, and that I was some lesser American merely for being an independent from the East Coast. As Koppel said of Hannity, I knew Limbaugh was bad for America then: divisiveness, arrogance, contempt, lies, and a flag-draped worship of capitalism. One can almost trace a direct line from Limbaugh to the ditto-head and now ex-mayor of Colorado City, telling his "socialist" citizens to pull up their own bootstraps or freeze. Such an exceptional nation we've become.
43
I'll give the guy credit for going on the air and delivering a lively program. That's a rare talent. He was a true broadcaster, who spewed poisonous lies. One of the great dividers of this country--he told millions of Americans that "more" was their birthright because they were white.
38
He was just one of many in the pantheon of toxic talkers. But to paraphrase Shakespeare: "The evil that men do lives after them: the good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Limbaugh."
34
Eckhart Tolle says that when you are tempted to hate someone imagine that they are lying in the street broken and dying - their eyes frantic, then dull, as life slips away.
It is impossible to hate anyone as they die. All of the strength they used - for good or evil - is gone.
I do not hate Rush Limbaugh. I never did. I do not even hate Trump. They and so many like them are just a collection of negative energy that will dissipate in the blink of an eye.
23
My dearly departed mother would always say, ‘Your judged by the company you keep.’ As a result, I never tuned in!
52
I remember during the Clinton years if Bill proposed something, then Rush was against it, often fabricating an outlandish conspiracy, sound familiar? In 2016 he so hated Trump that he announced that he'd vote for Hillary if Trump won the Republican nomination, a flip-flop anyone? When Jerry Garcia died in a drug treatment center he mocked Jerry as just another hippy drug addict. But karma happens; a few years later he had to plead "No Contest" to a black market use of oxycodone.
I don't like to speak ill of the dead, so I'll just state this fact: when Paul Wellstone, his wife, and his daughter died in suspicious plane crash less than two weeks before an election. One of Paul's friends spoke passionately about continuing Wellstone's progressive causes during a large emotional memorial. Rush turned a grieving political comment into a cause for his brand of conservative righteous indignation that he used to fuel animosity towards a grieving progressive Minnesota. RIP, but I'll shed no tears.
32
I assumed DJT would inherit this microphone, though even he may not have the requisite level of hatred to tackle the job.
This is a death that I simply cannot mourn. He proclaimed his talents were on loan from God. How anyone could thereafter believe in a loving God is unfathomable. The airwaves are at peace today.
53
Rush Limbaugh was a man just like the rest of us who had flaws and foibles. But he also had a kind heart and soul which must not be ignored. The tributes that have been paid to him on television have been heart warming at this sad time. May he rest in peace and regrets to his family.
238
I was conservative long before I started listening to Rush's radio show in 1992, and even watched his TV show when it was on. So I am not a "ditto-head," nor were my viewpoints molded by Rush. However, I do believe he is a legend in radio, and he is smart, talented, insightful, funny, kind and generous. I remember when he began his announcing the annual drive for childhood leukemia, and he was very charitable and gave large personal contributions toward fighting that disease. Rush is also the kind of person that even though you don't know him at all, you feel like you know him. I will miss his unique insights into current news and political events. Extending deepest sympathy to his family. RIP Rush.
147
@Bonnie Chernin
Funny how memories differ:
I'm gay and remember in the 90s when your kind and generous hero mocked and sneered at gays with AIDs--Rush Limbaugh actually laughed at our distress and suffering. He enjoyed every minute of it.
Can you imagine how I feel at this moment? I hope so.
Laurence
1300
@Bonnie Chernin Tell us what a conservative is in today's climate? The ugly truth amd all.
231
@Bonnie Chernin
Bonnie, sorry to tell you ... but he was a malignancy on public discourse. He did not seek the good in people, he had no love for people different than him.
When did he EVER seek to genuinely bring people together for common good? By making fun of teenage Chelsea Clinton's appearance? Mocking people with AIDS? Denigrating people with substance abuse problems, all the while hiding his own addiction to opiates?
I don't mock his struggle, I despise his hypocrisy.
His greatest skill was providing potent ammo to revanchist forces. Marshalling the will of regular people in order to protect the powerful. To marginalize and demonize and belittle his ideological opponents with hateful names, purposeful misrepresentation, and intellectual DIS-honestly.
He has a giant claim to be among the biggest catalysts for all the the retched problems in public discourse today.
Many people don't see it that way. Especially his marks ... I mean... his fans.
Condolences to his family. But sometimes when certain people leave this life, the world becomes a nicer place.
803
I neither cared for nor understood his popularity. Strange creatures, these culture war heroes of the American right. Their shouting contributes almost nothing to our politics and yet somehow end up dying wealthy and respected.
73
Let it never, ever be forgotten that he filled the airwaves with lies, bigotry and baseless demonization day after day after day - and that the targets of all that hatred-spewing suffered mightily as a result.
In addition, his followers who believed his words took the country to ugly and dangerous places it would not have descended to were it not for his twisted warping of reality.
147
3 hours of sanity in an insane world. The friend you always listen to for rational, intelligent, and thought provoking views. I have been a listener since the beginning and will truly miss my pal......
180
@George
"Liberals should not be allowed to buy guns, nor should they be allowed to use computer keyboards or typewriters, word processors or emails, and they should have their speech controlled."
-Rush Limbaugh
I don't revel in the misfortune of others, but there are some that I don't spare a thought of empathy for either.
1138
@George To some a friend, to others the uncle that makes Thanksgiving uncomfortable.
315
@George With friends like that who needs....
243
There is nothing about the dead that makes them saints once passed. Rush Limbaugh showed no compassion, veered from the truth and incited anger and hatred his entire radio career. He used his life to wreak havoc and cause enormous, and I fear, permanent damage to this country. I, for one, am unable to mourn his passing.
7985
Could not have said it better. Thank you.
385
And he got the nation’s civilian highest honor as if out of the pocket of Mr 45. He duped millions with unscientific falsehood. When he reaches the portal of judgment, he will have to answer all his unscientific lies.
675
Yes, the truth shall set us free. None of us should count on death to do that. So, that applies to Rush Limbach too.
57
Being a fellow Missourian, I will miss him greatly. He educated the minds of many and always kept the airways interesting. God bless Rush today.
128
@Victoria Peurifoy
“Educated the minds of many”?
Show me.
836
Dear Victoria: I’m sure right-wing conservatives everywhere will miss Limbaugh’s daily eruptions of venom and hate. But not to worry, there will be other hate-mongers eager to fill the blessed, though temporary, silence his passing has left.
488
@Victoria Peurifoy
Educated? “Now, I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus. … Yeah, I’m dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.” Rush Limbaugh
700
I hope he had family and friends who loved him. That's all that matters. The rest of it was an act, if $85 million/year and 24,000 sf oceanfront estate is any indication.
I'm now almost 49 years old, and in my life I've seen various people who were famous die. Every time such a person dies, there's this outpouring of something, in most cases it's sorrow/sadness/etc. but some cases can be mixed, like this one. Then it passes and people move on.
The people who don't move on and who keep you alive in their memories with love are those with whom you have a personal connection. I like to say that I don't have any heroes that I don't personally know.
23
In the spirit of forgiveness, give Mr. Limbaugh a fine Conservative Christian service of remembrance and then inter with great care. Take no chances.
22
Hopefully he can rest in peace . His public life wasn't characterised by supporting the philosophy of our global mutual interdependence. It encouraged division and separation.
19
Sometime the middle of last decade, about this time of year, I was driving I-15 from LA to SLC, in the middle of a snow storm that was hitting a large portion of the US, the East and mid-west the hardest. For a brief stretch all I could get on the radio was Rush. He spent the whole time I had to listen to him going on about how the weather forecasters were a liberal hoax trying to control conservatives.
50
I never rejoice over the death of a person, no matter how vile, and I find myself able to adhere to that principle on the news of Limbaugh's passing. My challenge is to find it in my heart to forgive him. He spent his long and lucrative career driving wedges into the political fault lines of America with the purpose of making them bigger, and profiting off of the anger that resulted.
3521
I think it is different when someone is by choice famous and by choice in the public eye dies. At that point it is OK to have an opinion about them and their questionable opinions, especially when it was intentional, planned and broadcasted hate-mongering for 3 decades.
522
@JDV
He was a liar like Trump. This is not an insult it is a fact.
826
@JDV I, being one with Parkinson's, am not rejoicing, but I have no remorse saying that I feel no empathy for he or his wives.
393
Rush Limbaugh was charismatic, silver-tongued, uncaring and shameless in pursuit of his worldly goals. The same can be said of Donald Trump. Both men have been wildly successful in using their natural ability to influence others and create a world that mirrors their worldview.
The lesson I take from this is: Powerful people come in all stripes. Buyer beware.
1548
I think rush was a little smarter than Trump but equally not worth listening to.
241
@Susan Davies
Yes, and let's hope the surviving member of this duo ends up in stripes of another sort.
239
@Susan Davies I am going to say that I "feel" the same as you and would begin my comment the same as you: Rush was charismatic and silver tongued. Yes he was aligned with DT, but I am not so sure that 'uncaring and shameless pursuits' are the exclusive domain of the right side of the spectrum. Moreover, as "populist" as Rush and DT messages were, they resonated with half the country and across all economic and regional boundaries. I am not willing to dismiss them as self interested because I think our more worldly and statesmanship perspective risks losing with that stance in this political competition.
12
Conservatives will express righteous indignation when they hear people celebrating news of Limbaugh's death. When they do, remind them how he mocked people dying of AIDS, women, and racial minorities.
3853
@Poo-tee-weet
I'm with you. The Rush Limbaugh that some of these conservatives people are writing about is not the one that I've heard on the radio or seen on TV. To me he came off as a mean spirited bigot to anyone that wasn't far right. While I'm not celebrating his death, I believe the world is a better place without his type of conservatism.
290
Young people who have (of course) joined the battle against hate culture recently might not realize how fundamental Limbaugh was in creating it.
38
Rush Limbaugh was an outstanding personality of our time, whether you like him or not. He excelled in his field. His influence with his audience was a reason for Donald Trump's election. Both men used their natural ability to influence politics and society. His demise is an irreplaceable loss to conservative world.
122
@Alex K
"His demise is an irreplaceable loss to conservative world."
thanks for the positive spin on that.
248
@Alex K and I am so thankful for his loss.
452
@Alex K
The guy is outstandingly mean.
206
Limbaugh was the master of Hate-for-Profit radio. America is much worse off for his vitriol that pretended that hating your neighbor who didn't happen to think, pray, or look just like you was the key to fixing your own life.
I do hope someday soon we will return to an updated version of the FCC Fairness Doctrine so that the Rush Limbaughs, Alex Jones and Tucker Carlsons of the world can't toss out their hate and lies unopposed throughout their broadcast.
92
Rush was a voice in the choir of today's chorus of conservative nastiness and meanness. I can't say that I'm sorry he's gone.
51
I'm disgusted with myself that the first thought I had when I heard this news was "Good." What have four years of Trump, hate and divisiveness done to me?
57
Hopefully, the things that Rush represented in the end will crumble and die along with him. Back in the 80's he was funny. What happened?
5
May those Limbaugh terrorized be given relief in his silence. That includes most of us.
55
For me, Rush Limbaugh will always be tied to April 19, 1995. At the time, my job required me to keep track of political trends. And so, Contract With America in full swing, I listened to his show every day. It was pandering and half-truths and hatred--all of that and more. But on that spring day, Mr. Limbaugh told his listeners that he had a close, secret, reliable source who said that the federal building in Oklahoma City had been blown up by Middle Eastern terrorists. You can look it up, and I hope that whoever writes the promised full NYT obituary will do exactly that.
We should avoid speaking ill of the dead. So I'll shut up now.
69
Schadenfreude, no matter how satisfying, ought to be indulged in with moderation.
16
This man had a streak of cruelty that he nurtured like a vineyard of fine grapes, gratuitously trashing myriad individuals, institutions, ethnic groups, and humanitarian causes, among others, with his slashing invective laced with the alternative facts and condescending contempt. That he was able to so handsomely profit from that enterprise rests with his fans who worshipped at his altar of celebrating divisiveness, outrage, odium and vulgarity. In doing so he became a trendsetter who spawned an American industry whose extreme fruits were most recently flaunted by the hysterical mob of criminals and kooks that assaulted the Capitol. If there is an afterlife, may he come to realize that the enormous energy he brought to his life could have been more productively and positively oriented.
56
Instead of this, what was the other thing that was going to happen to him?
3
Rather than speak ill of the dead, I'll leave it in God's hands.
Rest assured, his slot will be filled with someone ambitious to reap the money he was paid. Maybe win a Medal of Freedom too.
7
I wonder if he had a deathbed epiphany. Or do those only happen in the movies?
7
I credit Rush Limbaugh et. al. with much of the conservative indoctrination I received as a teenager. I was racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, and thought that trickle down economics was a respectable theory. Compared to teenagers who were not exposed to his nonsense, my intellectual development was infantile. Thankfully, I later got a good education in the social sciences at the University of California and worked and travelled abroad, which developed my critical thinking skills and world view. I'm now consider myself a social-progressive democrat. And, I'm glad this piece of she'ot is dead.
106
And in the end, fear was the root of all evil. Once we are no longer afraid of each other... hope Rush is learning up there.
5
Offensive for sure. But he could also be highly entertaining.
1
I struggle with the fact that not only are these guys dying in old-age, but they're my contemporaries. Were these haters not once part of our peace/love generation? I understand grifting, though I hold all opprobrium for it. The harder part to grasp is the attraction of such noisy people who, at the heart of it, are fearful, angry folk, full of self-loathing at their hypocrisy. These are, I guess, fallen-angels in how they project fear and self-loathing in their hatred of The Other, and how they empower themselves with filthy lucre and with influence. They go (mostly) unmourned, I think, as we attain wisdom through coming to understand what motivated them. Theirs is a no-irony zone, a wasteland of humour that comes only at the expense of The Other, never self-deprecating. Not fascinating - to me, at least. They stomp loudly and destructively, inciting, carrying their little stick...
14
This obituary was full enough, thank you.
The mention of Mark Twain in the same sentence as Limbaugh was absolutely jarring.
45
He did his damage, prospered from it. I have no respect for this man. I hope he's facing is maker.
49
Rush was like Trump, self promoting and self absorbed. If you disagreed, both called you names and anti-American. Everybody exits this Earth. Rush was part of the division problem in the US, instead of trying to heal and unite the society.
32
Thoughts and prayers go out for him and to his family. He will be missed. Died on Ash Wednesday-- what a coincidence.
5
Sorry, not much sympathy on the passing of this particular individual. He paved the way for so much of the outright lying and xenophobia present today in our national discourse.
36
In the words of noted epistemologist Marjorie Taylor Greene, he "allowed us to believe things that weren't true."
48
I will never understand why my local radio station KMOX St. Louis allowed all of the hate and anti-American vile to spew from Rush Limbaugh daily on their airwaves. Ratings and advertising dollars are not everything when trying to preserve a democracy. I truly hope now that he has passed KMOX will take a closer look at it’s on-air programming.
20
If you live a life of cynicism, greed, intolerance, and mendacity, when you die, it ends up being all people can talk about. And after a few days, people hardly remember you or all the effort you put in. Turns out, Rush, all your energy was wasted, you had zero positive impact, and you were here for nothing.
50
When evil such as Limbaugh dies, should we applaud? I think so. Because of his words, America has suffered so much and political division has become the norm. I and many Americans are happy such evil is no longer on the radio, but the damage he has caused is, most likely, irreparable.
33
May we all live our lives in a manner which will keep us from the Lake of Fire once our time is up.
6
He wasn't just hateful, he was funny. His hate was a function of his sense of humor. You can't understand the rise of the modern Republican Party without understanding the role of humor in facilitating the spread, acceptance and belief of racist, fascist ideas. There is a direct line from Andrew Dice Clay to Rush Limbaugh to Donald J. Trump. And it runs right through: comedy.
10
That man was responsible for starting everything that is happening now. He was evil, and should not be forgiven. I remember him well from the WABC days, a radio station that is nothing but racist and hateful. I don't know why they still have a license to broadcast. Maybe things will get better with his passing, and hopefully with Trump's passing in a few years as well.
25
To all Christian Nationalists (I am a Christian, but not a Christian Nationalist) Rush’s passing will be a big loss.
To me, Rush reminded me of 2 Timothy 4:3 & 4 (NIV):
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
There are plenty of Christian Nationalists ready to step into Rush’s shoes.
20
Someone here tries to "evince some of the milk of human kindness" at Rush's death. At best, I can wring out a few drops of 1% milk of human kindness for Rush, if only for the sake of his wife and children who no doubt loved him.
I wonder if on his deathbed, anything at all but his awful beliefs ever crossed his mind. Did God reach into him in those last few minutes to relieve him of all of the hatred and bile he expressed about people over decades. I would hope he had an Ebenezer Scrooge moment or too. It's never too late to open one's heart. When it comes down to it, despite how much listening to him hurt my own heart, I sincerely hope he died peacefully.
9
Should have lived at least another year to witness GOP falling apart.
Will not be missed for sure.
15
He lived long enough to see the Capitol Insurrection... ultimately a result of his decades long attack on the truth and civility. I doubt he ever reckoned with what he wrought.
26
Rush did more to divide our country than anyone else in recent history. His racism, anti-feminism, fear mongering and anti-environmental views helped to contribute to the void in civility in America today. His willingness to lie and insult others simply to increase his ratings were shameful.
35
In addition to Donald J. Trump, Limbaugh was a disgusting man with no apparent redeeming qualities. I am sorry for those whose lives will be affected by his loss, but I am surely not one of them.
27
I woke up this morning and said to myself, "Hmm... the world feels about 15% better. I wonder why...?"
Then I checked the news.
Mystery solved.
50
The conservatives commenting here are very much the products of his devious propaganda, and evidence of the massive ongoing damage this man did to American society, all in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
22
An icon of hatred and lies has passed. Rest in peace.
13
I cannot believe that anyone with love in his heart could agree with his rhetoric. He profited on hate.
Makes me sad that so many listened.
30
RIP To be fair, the man was great at his job. I listened for a minute in 2009.
To be further fair, the impression was "Oh, he's just making stuff up as he sees fit. Just complete baloney. Ok. I guess there is always a market for baloney."
Not sorry to see him go, all respect to his family and friends.
Actually looking forward to the passing or retirement of certain men born in the 40s and 50s, if only to halt the spread of unabashed horsefeathers.
And that's puttin' it nice!
Presidential Medal Of Freedom, my foot.
15
While I feel sorry for him and his family, he was not one who cared one bit when someone he disagreed with passed away. At best, he is just another right wing, garden variety purveyor of hatred and racism.
He openly mocked Edward Kennedy's death, displaying vitriol that I can only imagine grew from a lifetime of insecurity and deep unhappiness.
He discounted Clinton's victory, noting that a majority of "white" Americans did not vote for him.
Everything about this man exudes racism and hatred. I hope in the long term, that is his legacy.
31
Cruelty, mockery, and a hatred of "the other" are the weapons of the small and scared. He will be buried in the grave of obscurity reserved for those whose live only to hate.
30
A man who would not know the truth if it got up and bit him on the nose. He will not be missed, except by those who encouraged him in his endeavours. He lived in a massive home without children but with many, many millions of dollars to keep him happy, just like the former occupier of the White House. All that money and all it brought Limbaugh was an early grave. There is a saying: "God pays his debts without money". I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
19
a few months ago, when I learned of his cancer I wondered if the world would be better off with Rush Limbaugh dead, and I thought yes. He corroded american politics and help create the climate that lead to this stark political divide. But still though, condolenses to his family.
14
This death is a landmark signal of the ever more rapid passing of the Boomer generation in general. A large majority of white Boomers despicably voted for Trump and were on the Fox-Rush wavelength. The sooner the Boomers are gone and replaced by the predominantly progressive Millennials and Gen Zers, the better for America and the world. What a nightmare right-wing white Boomers have been!
15
I’m sure 1000 others will say “good riddance.” I will say “Godspeed, Mr Limbaugh” and know this with utter certainty as if face to face. We will clean up your mess.
11
To quote Mark Twain: "I have never killed anyone, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction".
52
How much money did this man receive who caused so much damage to belittle a la Trump? A disgraceful soul who did so much damage to the people who didn’t have the time to do their work but just use their basest emotions. That’s why culture is so important: we have to suppress our basest instinct and raise civil, respectful discourse.
13
Share your thoughts, is what this space invites us to do. I can't do that. Not all my thoughts, anyway.
I first listened to Limbaugh while caring for my dying mother. I remember that as I carried her to the bathtub to clean up a mess, Limbaugh was complaining about the terrible seats he had been gifted to a football game -- how he had to sit among the poorly-dressed riffraff. He went on and on as I brushed my mother's filthy teeth, and I had to think of all the people in this country who would be grateful if all they had to complain about was poor seats at a football game. Gifted seats.
I listened to Limbaugh for awhile because I wanted to hear firsthand what he was like. A more entitled, ignorant hate monger I have yet to come across.
I won't say exactly all I'm feeling now. One thing I am feeling is that there are few people less deserving of the Presidential Medal of Freedom than Limbaugh.
52
Condolences to his family and friends but the world is now a better place without him.
18
Perhaps Congress can some day legislate some standards, any at all, for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but I won't hold my breath!
13
When I saw this news, I was reminded of what Justice Frankfurter said to one of his law clerks when he heard of the death of Chief Justice Vinson in 1953:
"This is the first indication I have had that there is a God."
26
Thoughts and prayers that we never have to hear his name or image or hear his words forever again.
24
“There is no talk radio as we know it without Rush Limbaugh; it just doesn’t exist,” Sean Hannity, the conservative Fox News and talk-radio star, said in a tribute to Mr. Limbaugh on Wednesday. “I’d even make the argument in many ways, there’s no Fox News or even some of these other opinionated cable networks.”
Thanks, Rush. :-(
13
The riot at the Capitol on January 6 was a predictable result of three decades of Rush Limbaugh's lies and provocations and disdain for the truth. He won't be missed.
39
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. -- Ephesians 4:29-31
That is, if you can't say anything nice, don't bother.
8
Limbaugh's world of tremendous bad news fed upon the condition of angst in his weak band of followers. He lost his orientation in people who love that kind of underworld. This isn't the first time he died.
16
No one is going to be talking about anything Rush Limbaugh said in his long career, even a few years from now, let a lone decades. It may be remarked that he did have a role in right wing media was to usher in a crude and disingenous platform useful to the GOP.
To be remembered for your role and not for the actual content of your thought and words is to be forgotten for being an actual human being. And so goes the diminuation and anti-legacy of Rush Limbaugh.
20
Rush became a vile human being who left a path of social and moral destruction in his wake. The life he led is far sadder than is his passing.
It is interesting that people who knew Rush from his early days in broadcasting have fond memories, recalling a jovial respectful person. The same cannot be said of his followers like Sean Hannity, a man who always has been mean and racist on top of being completely vile.
After Rush's passing, "faith, hope, and love abide," still. He, Sean, and their compatriots have done their best to destroy "these three" things.
15
Rush Limbaugh was an unrepentant muck-raker extraordinaire who didn't deserve the Medal of Freedom (an award reserved for those who spread peace and security). That was just about the biggest joke ever! I suppose the idea was that the medal would somehow suggest Rush was a patriot, on the side of right, or something. Sort of like giving a hit and run driver a star and hoping the star will paper over the man beneath it.
14
Man, he did a lot of damage to our country.
38
Rush Limbaugh spewed vileness over the airways. He goaded, entrapped, and dismissed in "conversation" anyone who did not go along with his views. His language and lack of civility freed folks who were so inclined, to imitate and behave in his ugly, callous manner. He was a hero to people who can't be bothered with compassion, consideration, respect, or selflessness. He will be mourned by those who think the power to insult is true power.
30
May he rest in peace. I remember him as the very hip edgy afternoon DJ at KQV radio in Pittsburgh in the mid 60's. He went under the stage name "Jeff Christie.". I even visited KQV's 7th avenue street window to watch and hear his cool cynical style as he spun the Beachboy's latest surfer sound record. i was upset back then when he was let go or left. Now, not so much.
6
My sincere condolences to Rush's family.
Will I miss Rush's celebration of Hate and divisiveness? Not one bit.
21
Sadly, there are still far too many of his acolytes pandering the same tripe. These individuals have no place in a civilized society. It is not a long jump from them to right wing dictatorship. The rest of the country will continue to suffer rule by (the noisy) minority.
12
With his departure, I do hope America becomes less divided.
He was one of many tortured individuals who spoke evil of opponents.
May the present class of loudmouths be more responsible.
16
Simply search the internet for "Rush Limbaugh Hate Quotes" or perhaps "Rush Limbaugh's Most Outrageous Quotes". Therein, you will find the measure of the man.
60
After reading this, I fully recognize how much Donald Trump wasn't even original: he was a clone of Rush Limbaugh!
18
I heard Chelsea Clinton speak a couple of years ago. She said Rush (though I don't think she mentioned his name) had helped build her personal resilience and strength.
Clinton remembered when she was 13--with the typical braces and frizzy hair of adolescense--and Rush called her the "White House dog." Once this happens to you as a child, she said, you can take anything.
I doubt anyone else could take such a view of intentional cruelty to a child.
134
Although I wasn't a listener for the past 30 years, Rush was famous for needling sensitive lefties. Judging by the comments here, he was enormously successful.
5
The very environmentalists that he ridiculed----were trying to raise awareness of cancer causing toxins in our environment.
35
Here was a man who profited and took great joy in creating the maximum amount of hostility that he could generate towards others. Just another huckster who could care less about the damage he caused, as long as he was rewarded.
59
Rush Limbaugh may be "an indomitable patriot, an icon of wit and wisdom" to his faithful followers...
but comparing him to Mark Twain???
21
Strong conservative opinions are necessary but this man leaves a legacy of hatred and lies.
54
Unfortunately, he used his bullhorn not for truly conservative issues, but rather for White Grievance, misogynistic, anti-Muslim, anti-gay, anti-science, racist tropes. He’ll be missed mostly by many who feel permitted (because he normalized deviancy) to “say the quiet parts out loud”. I wish they’d have more self awareness and shame.
Conspiracy theories, destructive bigotry and misogyny were always welcome subjects on his show and we’re all the worse for it.
102
Calling Limbaugh conservative is a misnomer. Conservatives can have understanding, compassion and decency. He exhibited none of those attributes on the air. He trafficked in fear, paranoia, anti-intellectualism and bigotry. He calls to mind a quote attributed to Issac Asimov: In America, “democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge”.
92
Rush Limbaugh would have been only a compartmentalized voice for the far right, promoting insane conspiracy theories, attacking minorities, insulting and rolling out his racist, misogynistic style of journalism on his admittedly clever radio show to a narrow audience, but Donald Trump, the President of the United States, praised Limbaugh's hate speech, tried to exalt his role to that of a national spokesman for American values, and even awarded him an important medal.
Limbaugh's family should receive our condolences and sympathy, as should every family who suffers a loss, but it will be difficult to forget what Limbaugh did as Trump's champion media liar.
24
He pioneered the monetization of fear, anger and hate. Many have followed his path and our country is much worst off because of it.
100
Rush Limbaugh made a ton of money being nasty, telling lies, exaggerating whatever he could, and he helped to make America impossible to govern. He could have done so much more for America but he chose not to.
73
Rush Limbaugh, more than anyone else, co-opted the word "conservative" and made it synonymous with "hate."
Rather than a dog whistle, he shamelessly used a bullhorn. With it, he paved the way, on a national scale, for normalizing figures such as Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Donald Trump and set the stage for the likes of Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Marjorie Taylor Greene. The damage he did to America through decades of poisoning our social discourse is incalculable.
What a terrible legacy.
140
Kudos to the Times for allowing reader comments on this story. Most sites I've visited are not letting readers give their thoughts. Wonder why.
106
What a tragic life. To be him. With no escape other than dying.
69
A man of his times, shamelessly pushing racism and hatred in the sole interest of entertainment, ratings, and personal gain regardless of who it hurt, or how deeply it destroyed faith in our ability to come together to celebrate our common interests. When the history of these times is written, Limbaugh will be seen as a catalyst of our crisis of faith and if it comes to pass, one of the lynchpins of the potential dissolution of our democracy.
43
"I started a joke which started the whole world crying.
....
I started to cry, which started the whole world laughing.
....
I finally died, which started the whole world living."
The Bee Gees obviously didn't have Limbaugh in mind with this song, but it sure does fit.
62
I listened to Rush back in the 90’s on my lunch break in my car. It was the only talk radio station available. I found him disrespectful of ANY progressive ideas.. He was stuck in the 1950’s where white males had the system under their thumbs..He was unmerciless about the Clintons, actually seemed to enjoy the whole ML scandal and the ridiculous ensuing impeachment. I did learn a lot about politics listening to him but always came away convinced of my Democratic principles. One thing I did get out of his last few years (I would listen once in awhile during the Trump years) he talked and criticized the Steele Dossier..I went right in to work and downloaded the whole dossier and kept it close over the next few years and ticked off every single item they proved to be true. While I don’t usually speak ill of the dead, I can say, without reservation, that our country is SO MUCH better without him!
67
I heard him first on AFRTS radio in Saudi Arabia about 30 years ago. I couldn't believe it then, and I didn't realize where his poison would lead us.
49
In some distant future, Limbaugh may be listened to by space aliens in a galaxy light years from earth. All right: Far, far away. The question is what will they say about us? What will they say about Rush Limbaugh? My guess: "Man this guy can lie like nobody on Kepler-2 296b."
19
Rush Limbaugh was The Godfather of division in this country...and he made hundreds of million of dollars doing it. The medal of freedom is forever degraded by this recipient and the guy who gave it to him.
63
May he rest in peace, but wow, I would be so ashamed if my obituary read anything like this. Before the whole world was following Trump's twitter account, this man was the king of grade-school vitriol and mean-spiritedness. He stood for nothing uplifting. Even if you agreed with his politics.
24
I was taught not to speak ill of the dead, even if the deceased was a toxic, destructive influence on our politics and our culture.
So I won't.
46
I always wanted to see Limbaugh on a debate program premised on the 1980’s PBS series “The Constitution, That delicate balance”. A forum like that holds people’s feet to the fire and you have to debate with other very well informed folks. No getting away with slick half truths and rhetoric. But then again I’m sure he would have begged off with an “I’m just an entertainer” excuse.
21
I can think of no person who contributed to today’s atmosphere of mindless hate more than Rush Limbaugh.
And he wasn’t even sincere: he freely admitted what he did was entertainment, adding to his guilt.
So my “thoughts and prayers” upon his death go to the millions of people he marginalized in his quest for fame and money.
Not often do I find less charity in my heart upon an individual’s death. Maybe for Father Coughlin.
47
He did irreparable damage to our society.
57
I don't rejoice in anyone's death, but the fact here is that Rush Limbaugh's life was one long exercise in hateful lies. Not one iota of good came from that career. I won't mourn him for a single second.
57
Like Trump and Murdoch his "gift" was the ability to monetize cruelty as a form of entertainment. To people not entertained by cruelty his "schtick", like those of Trump and Murdoch, was an abomination.
And for those for whom cruelty is endlessly entertaining, they got their money's worth. The problem with his show, and Trump's, and Murdoch's as well, is not that there are people like them who are willing to put it on. The problem is there are millions and millions of people who literally can't get enough of it.
What a piece of work is man.
35
I usually refrain from negative comments upon the death of a person. But Limbaugh is responsible for brainwashing my formerly mild mannered, middle of the road Republican father and millions of others, as well as inspiring a journalism of hate. Limbaugh created much of the divisiveness in this country today. He will not be missed.
61
A tremendously successful pioneer of the industry of selling people the misinformation they love
20
I tried, oh how I tried, to listen to Rush for longer than the five minutes I could take.
His tone of ridicule not only drove me away but served to define his audience for me as in, anyone who can listen to that is from some other planet.
I tried because I wanted to understand. I just couldn't. R.I.P.
15
he was, without doubt, the perfect personification of the right.
9
a man whose career was dedicated to increasing the misery and sorrow in the world
50
Could there be anyone less deserving of the Congressional Medal of Freedom than Rush Limbaugh? A travesty if there ever was one. Only by being Trump's sycophant did he receive this honor. Devin Nunes, however, approaches this level of deplorability as a medal recipient.
52
Limbaugh did nothing but fuel America’s misplaced anger while amassing wealth. The prototypical conservative for the 21st century.
33
To call Rush Limbaugh evil may sound like hyperbole, so let's just say he probably spread more hate and divisiveness than anyone in our nation's history, with the possible exception of Ronald Reagan, and the even more possible exception of Donald Trump. They had bigger megaphones, but he had his for far, far longer. The damage he did. I lost one of my closest friends, and my only brother, to his daily toxic stew of lies, bigotry, misogyny, and generalized irrational anger. All of it disguised in a reasonable-sounding wrapper, and excused as "entertainment." Thank goodness he's gone. He leaves some big shoes to fill. RIP, Rush. Take a rest, you've earned it.
17
There are few people of whom you could say they had no redeeming characteristics whatsoever, but Limbaugh was one of them. Louis Armstrong used to sing a novelty number called "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal, You" I'm not big on schadenfreude, but I'm feeling it today.
41
Limbaugh took advantage of the “Fairness Doctrine” cancellation for radio and TV by President Reagan. As a result the American countryside was inundated by lies, exaggerations, and Republican propaganda for years. Trump, the world’s greatest conman, merely followed in his footsteps. Both are/were despicable human beings. Too bad the Republican Party has lost its way and fails to know the difference between lies and truth. The world will be a better place with neither of them.
36
There are deaths that call for one response: No great loss. This is one of those deaths.
Theonly worse thing to come out of Missouri? Josh Hawley.
46
Hate speech, no matter how smoothly delivered - is still hate speech. The world is a better place with him gone.
I tried to listen once, just to see what the deal was. He rarely made sense, he just made strife.
32
Fear not conservatives. His brand of outrage politics, lies, conspiracy theory peddling and bullying of the most disenfranchised of Americans (the homeless for god sakes!) is alive and well in every other right-wing pundit out there salivating at the opportunity to take his place.
The question is why so many people will continue to confuse this ugliness for wit.
21
May he rest, or not, in the place he deserves.
21
It is unfortunate that the Limbaugh rise to fame and fortune came at the expense of American democracy and civility.
Using the well known playbook of the demagogues, he plied his craft on those who felt forsaken, and those who needed someone to look down upon.
He himself was remarkable only in his lack of contrition and the total shamelessness which enabled his success. That was greatly admired by Trump. Birds of a feather...
12
He will be gone, but he won't be missed.
25
For those of us who were horrified by the ignorance and ill-will he fomented, his death registers as most likely a sorrow for his family, friends and admirers and as a gift to democracy itself.
10
I feel badly when anyone, Limbaugh included, dies of cancer or any ailment that takes people too soon. I don't want that to happen to anyone.
That being said, I will not miss him. I found his words to be repugnant and represented the coarsest dialogue in this country, and believe he was of no use in this nation or to this nation. He was good at developing toadies and spreading lies. He was a master of exaggeration and nothing else.
9
While never rejoicing in the death of another, one can mourn that the pass did not come sooner.
17
This man spewed lies, division and hatred for 3 hours a day for years and called it "entertainment". The only thing worse than this are those who listened to his evil divisive vitriol against more than half of the American people as well as others around the world, and were "entertained" by him/it/that.
21
He profited off of division and falsehoods. I don't have anything positive to share about the demise of self serving, profiteering individuals
16
Hard to think of one man who’s done more damage to the body politic in our country than RL. Nothing good came from his lies, cynicism, pure indecency, and divisiveness. He helped tear the country apart and won the Medal of Freedom for it. He made millions selling his poison. Sorry, but I can’t think of anything nice to say about this man or his legacy.
24
I will miss him. Though not perfect, he did a great job of exposing the ongoing hypocrisy of the left.
8
Such a huge platform with such a loud voice. My true grief is that he wasted it on hate speech.
7
My mother always told me to say something good about the dead. So here it is: He’s Dead. Good.
45
Sad but the loss is minimal.. Many of us are breathing a sigh of relief.. his abusive and abrasive commentary carries on ..Too bad his legacy will be negative .. His choice ..his life
11
He proved that a radio is at least, if not more destructive to this country as is a gun.
21
Limbaugh was a bell-whether. His growing popularity over the decades presaged the radicalization of the Republican Party that we see today. The party was already Trump-ist before there was Trump, as evidenced by the shameless obsequiousness of Cruz, Graham, Rubio et al. despite being targets of Trump's vicious, debasing rhetoric in 2016. They understand what has become of the party and what is now necessary to advance within it.
10
I abhor illness of any kind, afflicting any person whether I like them or not. That said, Rush Limbaugh is now mercifully beyond suffering the devastation of lung cancer. The public should celebrate that Mr. Limbaugh is now at peace.
As the COVID pandemic was ravaging ever more Americans, their families and their communities, however, Limbaugh dismissed the illness as little more consequential than a common cold. He advocated for the criminalization of drug abuse while he, himeslf, required rehabilitation for illicit substance consumption.
In his last days, I wonder if Limbaugh likened lung cancer to a nasty cough, or if he reflected upon his previously serophobic contempt for people afflicted with AIDS? I also wonder how readers outraged by this comment felt when Limbaugh was mocking the suffering and death of other, ill human beings?
22
The vitriol in these readers comments is a bit troubling. A man, loved by many, died of lung cancer, for gosh sakes. But the anger is a product of the very nastiness and partisanship that Mr. Limbaugh set on fire through his entire radio career. The tragedy of a Limbaugh or a Hannity or a Trump or a Hawley is not that these personalities don't just bring their listeners down. They bring all of us down.
12
Several years ago I was working at a hospital and while waiting at the curb for the patient's ride, another car pulled up, windows down, radio blasting. The guy on the radio was ranting about somebody and I remember being disgusted by the hate and vitriol I was hearing. I thought "who is that person?"
About that time, I heard "this is Rush Limbaugh." I knew I never wanted to hear that voice again.
27
When navigating our way in the world, it is a good practice to think of how we’ll be remembered in thought and in print. What a sad comment this ( fair, factual) remembrance is.
10
While at university in the early 90s I had a debate with a fellow art student whom, I was surprised to learn, was a born again Christian and adored Limbaugh. He asked me, “Was the deforestation of Europe a bad thing?” That question really shut me up. Partly because it seemed outrageous, but more so because it forced me to consider how complex the answer is.
I assumed everyone knew deforestation was bad, but never imagined having to defend the position.
Was thinking about our debate this morning, before I read the news.
RL was an intelligent master at being glib. He used the gift of gab and sophistry to disparage, divide, damage, destroy, and inflict pain all while laughing. His followers were given permission to behave badly. He did it for money. There is a name for this: evil.
46
I was never a 'dittohead' or fan of Limbaugh. However, if I were in my car driving i would listen to him because he was entertaining and exuded gravitas.
I disagreed mostly strongly with him on environmental issues. When discussing the new plant based meat substitutes, he bemoaned why should people eat them when the coconut oil used to make them has as much fat as regular beef. it never did, nor would it ever occur to him, that sparing intelligent animals horrible lives in factory farms was something worth pursuing.
Likewise, he recounted a story of how some bird watchers set out to sea to photograph a bird which as a member species facing extinction, and how the bird was swallowed by an immense fish when it came to rest on the water. he found that funny.
He dismissed covid, but felt the media was in part to blame for not highlighting the relation between tobacco and the cancer he was fighting.
But for all that, I never found him to be mean spirited. I certainly never heard him speak in racist manner. he really seemed to have an attitude of these people are misguided, rather than inherently evil.
He joked about how the media took his words out of context, and ignored the levity with which some were spoken.
He really had a vision of freedom and free enterprise and humility. Often mentioning how lucky he was to make it after so many failures.
Though i disagreed with him strongly on many issues, he had the common touch. I will miss him like many others.
5
My condolences to Limbaugh's family. They certainly are not to blame for Rush's hateful and divisive rhetoric. That said, he is responsible for much of the hate, fear, and division that inflicts our politics and public discourse. I don't believe in an afterlife, but it's really unconscionable that he used his platform for so much harm instead of good. Limbaugh may be gone, but many of his disciples are still poisoning our public discourse...
13
Sad to see him pass at such a young age. RIP!
3
In his final days he saw most of the country reject Trump, reject hate, reject racism, and reject most of what he stood for. That couldn't have been a good feeling.
20
I remember when my dad picked me up in his car at school in the mid-90s. He had on Rush, G Gordon Liddy or Oliver North's radio shows. What a trifecta of "conservative" propaganda.
16
Obviously I disagreed with Rush Limbaugh often, seeing that I am member of the "Democrat" party.
Having said that, I do I did think he was an extraordinary storyteller - and quite funny. When he first came on the scene thirty years ago, I loved the way he punctured the conceits of certain Dem politicians.
He was a good political humorist - much in the tradition of Will Roger - though obviously much more partisan.
His radio stage craft was so very good . Rush had a vocabulary above and beyond the spoken tongue . Sighs, pauses, chortles , snorts & the rustle of paper was the unspoken language with which he communicated with his audience.
Though I found him wanting as a thinker, as a performer he was brilliant .
Rush on this Ash Wednesday, I will remember you with the words that the priest uttered to me this morning: "Dust thou art and to dust though shalt return".
RIP Sir.
178
Limbaugh was a sharp intellect, god bless & namaste
6
While I disagree with his politics, his challenging of the mainstream media establishment seems pretty justified (coming from an IP-banned, NYT commenter).
8
Twenty five years ago, I first started listening to Rush, as my father said “know thy enemy”.
He was intriguing and entertaining, and could be a reliable companion on long cross-country drives in grad school (during the pre-Satellite radio and pre-podcast era).
Yet, as time went on, his jokes became stale and his attitude became worse and worse. It was probably his vileness toward Sandra Bland that made me absolutely disgusted with his program.
Never besmirch the dead: he was a human and had his flaws. If, in his repugnance, he made us think and act to make our world better in spite of him, then he had some value.
20
Rush was my go-to guy on AM radio whilst driving between American cities in flyover counties and states. It was my occasion to tune in literally and figuratively to what the ‘patriots’ were hearing and absorbing as their political bedrock “principles and knowledge”. Always smart to scout the opposite. Nobody was on the scene longer or heard more widely. His discourse degenerated over time. His arguments had become ad hominem to the degree it sounded like middle school playground name calling mixed with absurd reductive conspiracy logic. A lousy path to a lousy political mean. Achieving a low common denominator broadcast.
25
Not a person who left the world a kinder, gentler or better place. His legacy is #Jan6, a hoard of angry, bitter conspiracy theorists, hatred of feminists, Latinix immigrants, and anyone who did not concur with his cruel brand of Conservative politics. We will be cleaning up the messes his rhetoric brought us for years.
113
I listened to Rush since day one. I wasn’t alone. In the age when Television was king and now the internet Limbaugh brought millions to the radio everyday, at last count 20 million a day. I was never a conservative but I listened to Limbaugh because I am drawn to talent. He had incredible insight, and innate ability to take the most complicated idea and make it easy to understand. I have always thought that Limbaugh yearned for a world where everybody was polite, everybody was nice, but he was too smart to be naive. He knew the world was scary and violent but he tried to create order in his own way through his show. He loved what he did and he was great at it. But in a way I am saddened that he couldn’t use his great gift for the better good. He created a divide in this country, he often talked about “ our side.” Maybe if he had a better mentor, he would have branched into other things , movies, sports, but he got mired in the quicksand of politics. His genius , that incredible bright light of genius was stuck in the mud of politics.
He once talked about the way things ought to be. In life they seldom are. We only know what we are taught, his father was an arch-conservative, a very tough man. If you want to be angry be angry at his father , and be angry of what could have been.
13
I am a lifelong liberal, but listened to Limbaugh regularly. I agreed with nothing he had to say. He was frequently petty and needlessly cruel. He did not respect women and those who disagreed with him. And he frequently lied with exotic abandon. And yet, to me he was the single greatest entertainer I’ve ever heard on the radio. He had a great voice, perfect pacing, a deep knowledge of his audience and how to speak to them, and much more. My liberal friends won’t like me saying this, but no radio personality was and is his equal.
13
Of all the great, significant and noble people I have known or have come to know in my lifetime the most common trait i have observed has been their humility. For the more you know the more you are aware of how little that really is. Limbaugh did not seem to bear that burden.
30
I am sorry for his family, but I grieve not. The most charitable thing I can say about him is that his contribution to the marketplace of ideas was not a positive one.
28
Limbaugh belonged to another era when straight white men dominated society, unchallenged. As attitudes and laws shifted towards a broader egalitarianism, he gleefully denounced these trends while cornering the market on grievance politics, making himself a hero to his audience. White supremacy is not going down without a fight, as we saw on January 6th. But it has lost one of it's most strident and effective champions in Limbaugh.
27
Rush was enjoyable his first several years, even went to see him
in concert. Then he went downhill but made a lot of money.
Bye Rush.
3
I used to listen to Rush sometimes. On one of those days, Pat Michaels (Cato Institute, University of Virginia), a prominent climate change skeptic called into the show. Aha, I thought, this should be interesting. Instead, it soon became clear that Rush had no clue who Pat Michaels is. So much for being well informed.
12
I must be an outlier. I have never had the inclination to listen to right wing commentators like Limbaugh or the left wing response commentators. These folks are in the business of oversimplifying, distorting and dividing.
But it isn’t so much that I begrudge all that. Preaching to the choir is ok by me. But if you are trying to keep up with Brexit and Myanmar and George Floyd and COVID variants and Syrian refugees, who has time for all the conspiracy theories?
It’s time consuming to stay informed. And that leaves little or no time for following the misinformed. Rush was a big deal. I would have listened to him to find out what he had to say. But there is only so much time. And you need to prioritize. Rush didn’t make the cut.
28
I listened to him a few times in his early career when I was driving long distances and I found him funny and enjoyable. To me he was an entertainer not a political savant. As he aged I don't think his career moved in a helpful trajectory. At the end, he was an avid Trump apologist and supporter. His political influence was palpable and put, in my opinion, to bad use.
12
I can generally understand and even respect where those I disagree with politically come from in their ideology. But what I will never understand is why people like Rush Limbaugh choose to generate such visceral hate and vitriol.
24
For all his faults, I have one positive thing to say about Limbaugh. And for this, and this alone, I will mourn him.
When the Palestinians were in full terror mode, Israeli streets were unsafe, and there were many voices, including many on this page and in this paper, who thought the solution was more concessions to terror, Limbaugh's judgment was clear. He understood the Israelis had negotiated in good faith and the Arabs hadn't. He said the Israelis were in the right and there should be no concessions to terror. He was right and millions of American heard it.
It buttressed my resolve.
Today Israel's success in economic, political, and military security as well as its recent international recognition are specifically because it refused to negotiate with the Palestinians. This is contrary to everything this paper and most of these readers stood for.
One doesn't have to look around much to see what Israel could have become. It could have suffered the massacres we saw in Egypt or the anarchy we saw in Syria. Concessions made to terror only beget more terror. Limbaugh supported Israel because it is a democracy. Because despite its faults it represents that best example that humans can reach their potential, even in the Middle East.
I agree with most of the vilification on this page, but the world often needs clear moral thinkers and while Limbaugh wasn't often that, at least once when times demanded it, he was.
May that one part of his memory be a blessing.
5
Early on he was interesting, an independent thinker. Later he shamelessly carried the Republicans' water. Ultimately, he became a caricature of himself.
I can't say I'll miss him.
12
Mr. Limbaugh along with Newt Gingrich pioneered the "we are right, and they are wrong philosophy" of never compromise. This led to Mr Gingrich's failed attempt to shut down the government and the beginning of the end of a cooperative government.
I believe that Mr Limbaugh's years of hateful devisive rhetoric and his final love affair with Donald Trump peaked with the tragic siege on the Capital.
A sad ending for him and our country. Fortunately we will survive better without him.
35
I wish his family the best through this difficult time, but
Mr Limbaugh's passing is no loss for humanity.
26
Well, I can honestly say I never listened to one of his programs. Basically he was a on par with televangelists who use their platform to get rich and laugh all the way to the bank. These people are essentially entertainers and hucksters. It was appalling Trump gave him the Medal of Freedom. The award had been significantly degraded after Trump handed it out like candy to his supporters. I guess tobacco use isn't good for your health after all.
28
I am not going pretend that this is sad. I would not say I'm rejoicing, but the world is not a worse place now that he is gone. He was a cynical man who preyed on our differences and made them a weakness instead of the strength those differences can bring. He helped exploit and further the divide and helped form the us vs. them mentality that has poisoned our politics. That is his epitaph, and he'd probably be proud of it.
27
Reading this article prompted me to look-up Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients (Wikipedia has an amended list going back to the Kennedy administration). As you'd imagine, the winners are notable - and typically towering - figures from the worlds of public service, science, religion, the arts and entertainment. Then you Trump's honorees.... Have a look. It makes for interesting reading.
18
His progenitor: Father Coughlin
His successor: Alex Jones
Truly part of a unique lineage.
31
This refers not to the man, who I did not know, but to the Radio Personality:
If his goal was to "defeat liberalism" (as defined by him, anyway), he failed. Indeed, if one WAS a "radical leftist," as he seemed to call virtually anyone who didn't agree with him in a given moment, one would have busts made of him and Donald Trump for prominent display in their radical leftist hall of fame. The Republican Party's implosion under Trump's leadership and Limbaugh's philosophy (see next paragraph) into civil war could provide the best chance in a generation to enact radical left policies.
What he DID defeat, tragically in my view, was any kind of real political conversation. Nuance, subtlety? Dead. The words he used all these decades were "conservative" and "liberal," but his sycophantic support of Trump (not really even a conservative on many issues) showed he was really speaking about "My Views (today)" and "Your Views." Political issues, as with life in his view, had only winners and losers, sorta like a football game. And you have a better chance of a tied football game these days than achieving any kind of compromise in government.
8
Having died once myself, (and in my case returning) I think my big take-away after you die is being able to see your life through a wider lens. I looked back at the time and said, "I have no regrets." We all make mistakes, but overall...
I wonder if Rush is thinking that now... my guess is probably not.
5
He is an argument for bringing back the Fairness Doctrine and expanding it to encompass new media forms.
31
I'm sorry to hear Mr. Limbaugh has died but the fact he was given the Medal of Freedom (by Trump of course) still rankles.
That award is for people who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace..." -etc. Mr. Limbaugh was a noxious conservative pundit notorious for his muck-racking and smarmy falsehoods about practically everything under the sun. Give the man full credit where credit is due. At times he could be mockingly entertaining but he did little to advance the truth or the state of our nation.
13
Is it moral to rejoice over any death? I don't believe so; however, for demagogues like Mr. Limbaugh and those who otherwise tear at the fabric of society we can only wish that death came earlier. He does not deserve forgiveness, and he will certainly not suffer for his actions.
Now that he is gone, though, we can choose to add his name to the (long) list of "Those on the right who have actively divided for personal gain" and move on, feeling even more self assured of our opinions, or we can choose to look within and acknowledge our own contributions to division in this country be they small or large.
I, for one, have purely and consistently hated Donald Trump and despised his supporters, and this hostility has seeped into a blanket-statement rejection of Republicans. I have grown incredibly frustrated as I try to reason with Republican family members who, though only four years prior refused to vote for Trump, have jumped on his train. I have completely lost patience with the Republican party and fully believe that the Democratic party should take what is perhaps the last remaining chance of exerting power to demolish the GOP, and yes, by any means necessary, lest the Republican party gain control of the Senate and actively seek to destroy our democracy for the sake of their power. I completely and unapologetically believe that these feelings are justified.
This is some of my own contribution to divisiveness, and it's hard not to believe that in my case it's justified.
16
Lots of vitriol in these posts that are liberal responses to decades of lies, mistruths, and irony from Limbaugh. I often ask myself what is the purpose of shows hosted by folks like Rush, Sean, Alex Jones, Laura Ingraham, Tucker, etc. Are they trying to point out problems in America and offer constructive ways to improve the country's and citizen's lot? Of course not, their only purpose is to stir up their base and increase viewership to increase ad prices and their annual salary. It is sad that such hucksterism and propaganda are allowed to exist under the guise of freedom of speech. Even more pathetic is that conservative audiences do not understand the difference between truth and "entertainment."
26
I always felt that he would say anything, no matter how false, vile, or mean-spirited, for money and ratings. Political correctness may go too far, but I think he overcompensated in the opposite direction.
14
Reagan's FCC ended the "fairness doctrine," which made it possible to use the public's airwaves to rant for hours in one political direction, unopposed. Rush Limbaugh soon took to the largely abandoned AM radio wasteland, and demonstrated that there was a lucrative advertisers' audience out there that would keep coming back, so long as they were fed daily narratives with sinister liberal boogeymen along with assurances that the conservative audience members were right about all those liberal weirdos all along.
FoxNews was soon after created to tap the same audience to do the same thing, making advertising dollars from increasingly unhinged false narratives.
This ultimately plowed the ground and made the election of Donald Trump possible, as well as the creation of a mob so willingly misinformed that it would storm the Capitol in an attempted coup, believing all the while they were patriots.
History should clearly document and take a very dim view of Rush Limbaugh's contribution to American politics and culture.
16
People tend to underestimate just how much damage one person can do. He should have been stopped.
25
Oppenheimer developed the lab that went on to result in the Atomic Bomb. Limbaugh initiated political talk radio. Pioneers both. Destructive results both. Oppenheimer showed knowledge of the destructive potential of his creation and sought to ameliorate it in his lifetime. Limbaugh continued to the end to spread a divisive "thought bomb" of sorts with no acknowledgement or concern of the consequences and set a model for non-apologetic negative blustering of the "others" in society.
15
It is hard to imagine anyone in recent history who has done more to destroy the sense of facts and reality that once permeated American discourse. He appealed to our basest selves and our most vile instincts. He made it his goal to make America divided and full of hate.
I do not wish anyone ill but I will not miss him. We are better off w/out him.
28
A very talented individual who by dividing the country, enriched his purse. He was greatly aided by the Telecommunications Act which enabled rich conservative billionaires to buy up many media stations. To me, Rush is the father of mock outrage.
Rest in Peace.
5
Sorry, I can not cry for Rush. He was never sorry or repented like Lee Atwater. He did more harm to America than anybody else. He became rich and famous. What will happen to Ditto Heads? Hannity is there.
32
Many say Rush loved this country. I'm sorry, but one can't love America while reviling, hating, even dehumanizing over half its population. Rush loved an idea of America that had no room for those who disagreed with him. And you can't love Rush without also embracing the ignorance he successfully laundered into "common sense." One can respect his humanity while hating what he stood for. His brand could not have existed without its foundation of hatred and intolderance hiding just beneath its surface.
2860
When my father died recently, we had been estranged for a number of years thanks to Limbaugh and his ilk. At family gatherings Dad would always try to rile us up by spouting Limbaugh talking points. He had always been conservative, but became openly hostile and racist in his later years thanks to the racist hostility of Limbaugh et. al.. What a legacy.
64
He ruined my life by destroying my poor isolated mother’s mind. She was never same after he came along. So many poor elderly lonely white people in the South found a friend in this horrible radio circus he created. Cancer of the mind, I call his show. Ruined many, many families and stood so much joy.
253
“And in the end, the love you take...”
9
Limbaugh's career and impact as a testament to the stupidity of ending the Fairness Doctrine. We'd be a smarter and better country, and better to each other, if broadcasters were required to include both sides of an issue.
38
Rush Limbaugh, nil nisi bonum? And what about America’s 45th president who awarded El Rushbo (his great friend and sychophant) the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor during his 2020 State of the Union address? Limbaugh has gone the way of all flesh, has ceased to exist, as we all do sooner or later. Nil nisi bonum...
8
Ah, where would be we without those horrid liberals, Democrats, feminists, environmentalists he castigated so vociferously.
Much further down the road to perdition, I think.
I saw nothing constructive about him. You don't make the world a better place by tearing down.
23
Death is the greatest silencer of all noise, it doesn’t matter how big your bullhorn is. I pray that, he RIP.
6
For the ex president, is this the ghost of Christmas future?
Maybe so, if you read the comments.
Where’s that love now, guys?
10
For years I was fascinated by this man whose voice was forever broadcast for all to hear in the shop of the barber who cut my hair in downtown West Palm Beach. I could never understand how anyone could possibly take this ignorant blowhard seriously and yet, apparently many folks did. May he rest in peace and his foolish diatribes be buried with him. I find it a tad difficult to justify freedom of speech when I consider how this freedom enables such purveyors of nonsense like Rush Limbough to poison the very air we breathe. Alas - I'm afraid we must all learn to accept the bitter along with the sweet. Freedom of speech means we have to put up with the trash as well as the truth.
19
I remember back in 1987 or ‘88, my mother told me about a new discovery she’d made on the radio. “His name is Rush Limbaugh. He’s great, you should listen to him, I think you’ll love him.” So the next day I tuned in and gave him a listen. That was the first time in my life I remember thinking that my mother really didn’t know me very well.
82
He mentioned me once a long time ago so I was flattered. He stole my father's mind and turned me into the enemy so I hated him for that.
28
There is no virtue in "respecting" someone just because they have died, especially when their lives were all about profiting personally from selling disrespect for and hatred of so many other people.
This country and the world will be a better place without his uncivil, poisonous, for-profit rantings.
80
I am sorry for his family's loss, but I, for one, will not mourn the end of his misogynist rants, the racist tropes and lies, and the negativism. If I was on a long drive, and felt sleepy, I would tune in to his radio hour to wake me up, and provoke my ire. He never failed.
26
@insomnia data Is his family sorry? I wouldn't assume so.
2
I wonder where Dante would place Limbaugh. I vote for the eighth circle-Fraud. And yes he can keep the Medal of Freedom Trump gave him. My he walk his Bolgia in perpetuity.
23
I always knew Rush Limbaugh was purely an entertainer. Too bad his listeners thought otherwise.
8
@Susan - He was a propagandist. But, not a racist, conspiracy theorist, or misogynist.
1
Like Trump, Rush uses his bad influence to make money while riling up people's worst instincts.
24
"In the Limbaugh lexicon, ...women who favored abortion were 'feminazis'..."
Mr. McFadden, please be aware: Women don't "favor abortion". Women favor CHOICE: the right to make one's own reproductive and medical decisions, the right to autonomy over one's own body.
There's an ocean of difference.
51
A kind, warm-hearted man who, like the monster he helped to create and unleash on this country, realized that inciting anger and inflaming hatred was a real money maker.
A man who dedicated his life to bringing out the absolute worst in the the absolute worst among us.
A life led in complete self-service to himself and his own insatiable ego.
A life, by any real measure, that was completely wasted in the pursuit of demagoguery, scapegoating, race bating, xenophobia, and hollow know-nothing-know-it-all rhetoric.
It's hard to know who to crown the King of Losers. Rush or Trump? Perhaps they'll just have to share that honor among themselves, along with people like Tucker Carlson, Ann Coulter, and Sean Hannity, and the vast majority of the modern Republican Party.
40
I never thought I would outlive him and by me ,he will certainly not be missed , I hope if there is an afterlife he is a forever room mate with Franklin. D. Roosevelt
11
@Carlyle T.
Why wish THAT on FDR?
6
Rush Limbaugh was my hero. He spoke against the hypocrisy practiced by the Democrats and those of the left (especially the New York Times), especially as they rallied behind Bill Clinton to impede his impeachment conviction caused by his obvious "Me Too" movement. He earned his wealth honestly. Yes, he had flaws like the rest of us, even succumbing to chemical dependency; let he who hasn't sinned cast the first stone. That said, Rush practiced his First Amendment free speech rights just like those who comment on this website are practicing theirs. May he rest in peace as God anoints another person to lend him the talent that will fill his shoes. Shame on the person who wrote this death notice as to vilify an accomplished dead man.
6
Limbaugh made a fortune by mocking liberals, but also women, gays, racial and religious minorities, the sick and the poor. He gave his audience, mostly white self-described Christians, a way to feel virtuous for despising the unfortunate. It says much about our nation that so many held him to be their personal hero, and what it says isn't flattering.
47
Wondering how we got here? Look no further. The origin of misinformation and fear mongering.
16
Rush Limbaugh spent his entire career peddling racism, xenophobia, misogyny and bigotry. He never had anything worthwhile to add to the national discourage. His mission was to turn Americans against one another. He inspired hatred in millions of people. Our country is a better place without him.
38
On Fox News, many comment makers are aghast "liberals" are happy that the man is dead. Maybe if they understood how much racist, hateful, IGNORANT, unintelligent, and irresponsible language this man spewed, they would celebrate the fact that he can no longer hurt people and work to undermine the rule of law for personal profit. He and Trump have worked to ruin Conservatism for a generation by their distortions of this venerable political ideology (with modern roots back to Edmund Burke). Limbaugh can no longer be a force toward sundering our Republic. That is good news.
23
Some folks can brighten a room just by leaving it.
73
It's a hard hearted thing to think and feel and maybe even more hard hearted to state, but I bottom line is Rush Limbaugh was one of the most despicable public figures I've ever come across in my lifetime. He was an arsonist.
24
He needed to get in line with all of Trump's criminals. He destroyed Democracy and fairness. He won the American Medal of Freedom award? For what?
10
LA Times, Website Headline and Byline
"Rush Limbaugh, highly influential conservative radio host, dies at 70
Limbaugh had huge influence in the political sphere, setting the stage for the rise of his conservative talk radio show."
NY Times, Website Headline and Byline
"Rush Limbaugh, Who Built Talk Radio Into Right-Wing Attack Machine, Dies
Mr. Limbaugh, who was 70, pushed conservative radio to the right with misogynistic and racist language while trafficking in conspiracy theories."
One reports facts, the other mixes facts and opinion
7
@John News outlets always "mix facts and opinion". They always have. It's called editorial viewpoint. That's why it's a good thing if you pay attention to several different ones, so you can form your own conclusions.
8
They both look accurate to me. Where’s the “opinion”?
14
Intellectuals have a responsibility to tell the truth, to reveal the lies and deception that is rampant in a society, to out the players of disinformation and their camouflaged agendas that significantly setback moral evolution.
Rush Limbaugh's death will put one more nail in the coffin of a maligned and an expertly planned coup against democracy.
9
All one needs to know is that in Feb. 2020 Limbaugh equated Covid-19 to the common cold.
36
He was responsible for the former President rise and and the polarization that exist in our country today. I will not mourn his passing. Sadly someone will step into his chair, and fill his fans ears with more hate.
16
What can you say about someone who had so little good to say about others? Nothing, I suppose.
Oh well, I will add that he brought such toxicity to public discourse that he is largely responsible for much of the division we currently see in this country. People want to blame that on "liberals" but the truth is this guy made a fortune off of hate and was truly an ugly soul. The fact that he had such a large audience for that vile content just makes me sad.
23
Each day toxic waste is removed from society. Nothing to loose sleep over. Looking ahead to a better healthy 2021.
20
In the 80's my father was conservative in his politics while being compassionate and loving in his beliefs and actions. He engaged in respectful policy debates with left leaning friends and neighbors, but politics did not play a central role in his life. We was a devout Christian raised in the Mennonite tradition of non-violence, and I never heard him say anything cruel or bigoted.
In 1992 I left for college. Over the next several years I began to encounter a father I no longer recognized. Politics became an obsession, and he became spiteful and mean-spirited. Former friends who identified as Democrats were no longer individuals with different views who were worthy of respect; they were now deranged idiots, worthy only of mockery, who posed an imminent threat to everything good in the world. I was saddened and baffled.
One day he suggested I check out this guy on the radio named Rush. Suddenly the source of change in my father's outlook became clear. He was parroting what he heard on the radio every day. The sneering, bullying megalomania proved so rhetorically alluring that his worldview was transformed. Only it wasn't his political views that changed. He was already conservative. Instead, it was his attitude toward those with different political views, including me, who now deserved nothing but disdain and disrespect bordering on hatred. Our relationship never recovered.
Rush claimed to have talent on loan from God. What a sad and destructive way to use one's talents.
72
I'm a SF Bay Area liberal who did not share Rush Limbaugh's politics and objected strenuously to his term "feminazi." But I recognize that Limbaugh was a gifted radio broadcaster. He was the best at what he did. He pointed out hypocrisy in liberals before anyone else did.
I see that many comments here - allegedly "moderated for civility" - use the word "hate" to describe Limbaugh. I wonder when my fellow liberals are going to examine the hate they spew out.
I COMPLETELY disagree with Rush Limbaugh's politics, but I respect his expertise.
7
"women who favored abortion were “feminazis,”"
*Get this straight, once and for all:* women do not "favor" abortion. Women favor the right to control their own bodies, which includes whether to become or remain pregnant. It's not up there with mom and apple pie; it's up there with the right to vote.
43
This incredibly wealthy man convinced the easily led to hate and blame others for whatever vexed or ailed them. Women. Minorities. Immigrants. And so on. And those rabid listeners convinced themselves that a multi-millionaire in a sprawling mansion was their guy and had their backs. For shame.
26
I am nauseated by all the accolades about Rush Limbaugh being a "true patriot"when in fact he was our most notorious cultural pornographer! All the obscene bile he spewed over a lifetime, setting the stage for the GOP culture of grievance and rage, makes Larry Flynt look like a choir boy. And that's no easy task...
95
He proved what is wrong with America by his faux deliberations.
15
My father, a WWII vet who landed at Omaha Beach on D Day as nothing more than a kid, fought Nazis all the way to Berlin. He was disgusted in his life by people who turned people against each other in order to gain power for themselves.
I share that disgust.
108
@John Harrington: Just for the record, the Red Army took Berlin, not the Americans or British. The US Army took a few places east of a pre-determined demarcation line such as Weimar and Leipzig, and Patton's spearheads even made it into western Czechoslovakia. Berlin was agreed upon in advance to be solely a Russian objective, and became such. No disrespect for American arms during the war intended with my comment--without Lend Lease, the Russian army would have had to walk to Berlin, instead of riding on Dodge 2 1/2 ton trucks from Detroit.
1
The pied piper of Junk Radio. The unelected boss of the Catatonic State. The man who ventri-loquated D. Trump.
Millions owe their neurosis to him. Other millions gave him their lives via his Covid Denial.
59
The beginning of the end for Generation Hate.
50
The Mozart of Misogyny.
59
Rush Limbaugh destroyed my family along with many others.
139
@Tom Henry - No he didn't.
I listened to Rush when he was on WABC. He was on after the left-wing host, Lynn Samuels. She adored Rush despite their obvious political differences. And he was always kind to her.
They would often talk during the handoff between shows, I enjoyed that they were respectful of each other and their positions.
Looking back, hearing them helped me find a way to remain friends of folks of various political ideology.
173
@profwilliams
It's ironic that you are describing one of the most influential individuals in destroying civility in this country & opening us up to hostile attacks of disinformation from within & abroad...and specifically in our daily discourse amongst friends, colleges & family.
'Just putting on a show' hardly softens being the harbinger of doom to the very thing you are claiming he truck in with those he chose to, for all the rest of us.
48
I learned a lot from Rush Limbaugh. I learned that I am a human being with plenty of faults and that I should make sure that my mirror works. I should not make fun of others as I have plenty of my own human frailty. I also learned that whether I get my news from print media or broadcast media that I should be constructively critical. Most of all I should avoid letting others do my thinking for me. Thank you Mr. Limbaugh!
10
I for one, won't miss him. Years ago, I used to listen to Rush religiously. At some point though, I realized he, as well as most of his fellow conservative commentators and broadcasters were in it only for the money. That realization helped lead me out of the conservatism I had been raised with.
I am convinced that Mr. Limbaugh, along with his fellow ilk, have done immeasurable harm to this country. That his seat will soon be filled by another person willing to lie for fame and money is rather discouraging.
71
In 2012 Steve Tilley, then House Speaker in the Missouri legislature, ramrodded the placement of a bust of Limbaugh in the Hall of Famous Missourians, a ring of busts in the Capitol rotunda recognizing prominent Missourians. The faces of the busts of Mark Twain and Stan Musial took on a sort of cringe following it's installation. There is talk of having Josh Hawley similarly recognized. Nothing more needs to be said to inform one's understanding of the direction that politics has taken in Missouri since.
26
@Rhein Dabler This is not the Missouri I grew up in
6
@Rhein Dabler The had to put a hidden camera in Rush's bust to prevent Missourians from indicting what they really think about him.
4
There have been times when my work requires that I drive several hours, and at the end of a long workday I am likely to get very sleepy on my return trip.
No amount of caffeine drinks would help. Then I discovered that all I had to do was find Rush somewhere on the dial.
Now I am assured of getting safely to my destination, ready to demolish anything within my reach.
For that, and nothing else, I thank you, Rush.
11
@Tim
That's the adrenaline rush people get when they are incited to outrage. Rush was the first extreme right-winger who turned his listeners into addicts and then monetized their addiction as surely as the Purdue family got rich from Oxycontin.
8
I always thought he was an entertainer, that his substance was not serious. Unfortunately too many took him seriously. His impact grew and led to other copy cats, also entertainers. All of this contributed to the current divisiveness which the country needs to figure out how to reverse.
10
We all pass from this earth and leave behind our legacy, and we will be judged by future generations for that legacy. How will Rush Limbaugh be judged? I think we already know enough to say that history will not absolve him.
37
My father, a Republican most of his life who moved leftward in the Clinton years, nonetheless loved to sit in his car and listen to Rush -- before coming into the house and my Democratic mother (and me). For that memory I bow my head for a moment of silence.
3
I forced myself to listen to him at least once a week. He was mean-spirited right up to the end. The hallmarks of good citizenship that date back to the American Revolution--virtue, responsibility, modesty, and reason--eluded him.
41
I listened to him quite a bit when I first discovered his show, probably in the late 1980's. It was truly a low point in my life.
26
Well, we can definitely say he left a legacy.
Good or bad, that depends on your point of view.
In my opinion it was a bad one.
I was definitely not a fan of his, I did not agree with at all his opinions or crazy conspiracy theories or his adulation of Trump, but I send my condolences to his family. I hope they are able to recover emotionally from their loss
But I hope his legacy of craziness and conspiracy will be supplanted by more rational voices of reason.
7
History is strewn with people like Rush Limbaugh, who could not distinguish from being famous versus infamous. That same history rarely fails to sort them out into the proper category. What is hard to understand is not that these people are attracted to the spotlight like moths to a flame but that they fail to recognize how likely they are to have an untarnished legacy.
It would be hard to believe Mr. Limbaugh did not believe heartily in much of what he promoted, and he has made an impact during his career and likely past his life ending today. Given his talents, one would have hoped for the impacts to have been more to kindness and tolerance. Let us at least extend those to him and his family.
5
I discovered Rush Limbaugh in the 2016 presidential race when, as someone with a political background, I found I could not trust everything I was hearing from more liberal-leaning publications. I had been reading the Peggy Noonan columns, and she seemed to have the right of it, no pun intended. A huge segment of the American population--mostly non-college-educated and in flyover country--were feeling left out and disrespected, especially by liberal elites on the coasts. As a liberal, myself, I tuned out when Limbaugh got going on environmentalism and feminism, both movements he hated. But I found his analysis of Trump and Trump's appeal astute. Limbaugh turned out to be correct in his analysis. And, unlike the liberal establishment, I was not shocked when Trump won the presidency. Peggy Noonan, by the way, won a Pulitzer for her columns leading up to the presidential election.
1
I think the comments all missed the point - he had the largest audience in Talk Show radio. Like any good seller, he gave his audience, the buyers, exactly what they wanted to hear. His many years of success and the fact that liberal radio could never seriously challenge him speaks more about the hearts and minds of fellow Americans. Perhaps this deafening silence on radio resulting from the death of Rush Limbaugh can be the starting point of talking with each other again.
5
I never listened to his radio program. I knew that we were opposites and didn’t want to get all riled up. HOWEVER, I knew that he went deaf as an adult and had gotten a second cochlear implant after having lived with one for a while. I also went deaf as an adult and was presented with the same choice. He was the only person I knew of who was like me in that way. I wrote him a letter and told him that I was in the same boat hearing-wise. I asked if he was happy with his choice to get the second implant. It was a human to human question. I never got a response from him. I feel certain that he received my letter because DeJoy wasn’t Postmaster then.
17
I’m sorry for his family and friends, and I hope he did not suffer, but that is the best I can do. Even before tRump l always said Limbaugh was the worst thing that had happened to this country in my almost 66 years, and he was one of the major factors in how we got to tRump. Even though there are plenty of Limbaugh wannabes out there, I believe the greater good benefits from his passing and I’m glad he’s gone.
22
I listened to him since mid 80s, when I lived in Oregon and worked for GreenPeace. He was always the guy on the other side but not the enemy. Something happened around 10 years ago and he started to get more mean and nasty. Anyway interesting to listen to once in a while.
After all he's done to advance civil discourse in the country, I can only respond to this news as Rush would. Which is to say that this is good news, and I hope it hurt.
26
Limbaugh's eulogy is spoken in these comments. He certainly earned his salt but then poured it on our wounds. But I try be better as a person than he was and those who lost their way in the din. As the writer E.M. Cioran wrote: "I have decided not to oppose anyone ever again, since I have noticed that I always ended by resembling my latest enemy".
5
There is no doubt that Limbaugh was profoundly influential. He also helped to divide and polarize Americans. And he contributed greatly to American society's toxic political climate by vilifying those of different political ideologies or perspectives. Although I do not rejoice his passing, I certainly shall not miss his bilious rhetoric either. Peace.
11
Limbaugh was the proto-Trump. Love him or not (I am firmly in the latter camp) it is impossible to name anyone more influential in modern American politics who was never elected to public office. His demagoguery was a massive contributing factor to the Republican Party's shift from a center right party into the far right, borderline extremist entity it has become. Likewise he helped fuel the take no prisoners culture that has come to dominate our politics since the 1990s.
7
The first time I heard him on the radio - going solo, instead of having balancing voices on with him (as typical at that time), I knew that he was going to be terribly dangerous. I felt the same way when I saw Newt Gingrich on C-Span, talking to an empty room.
22
Making a fortune by dispersing misinformation and stirring up anger and resentment is not an epitapth I'd want to have. But even for such a public figure, a bit of mystery remains. What did he do that merited the Congressional Medal of Honor?
15
@JR I believe it was the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It was certainly not the Congressional Medal of Honor, which only goes to military personnel who perform the most heroic of deeds in combat. Limbaugh was a draft dodger.
5
It was the Presidential Medal Of Freedom, not the Congressional Medal of Honour. And your answer is - he loved Trump. Other than that - absolutely nothing.
5
I was 22 years old and in grad school. Turned on the TV late evening and his show pops up. It starts with the intro "America Under Siege - Day XX," which was apparently a response to President Clinton's election. I never saw the country referred to in such harsh tones during the Reagan and Bush presidencies. But, here it was, in the minds of his cohort the only legitimate government was a Republican led government. This mindset gave rise to Trumpism and the behavior of the Republicans for the last 30 years.
27
I realize I should not celebrate the death of any human being, but Mr. Limbaugh sowed the seeds of discord and division long before Donald Trump became a politician. I cannot be sorry that he is finally gone and there are no doubt others who will continue to get rich following his formula of hate and vitriol. But for the moment, I am breathing a sigh of relief that one of the purveyors of hate is no longer on the airwaves.
22
Is it possible to take back the Presidential Medal of Freedom that he was awarded by Trump? Over the last four years the MoF symbolized the best of America. Limbaugh was far from the best. He served Trump's interests in maintaining dissension. That is nothing to reward.
23
Some folks are fighting to hold back tears and others are fighting to hold back laughter. I'm personally doing both. Laughing so hard, I'm crying.
16
Rush Limbaugh used to gloat about smoking cigars. It finally caught up with him. I used to tune in from time to time in the mid to late 90s but not after that. Any objective listener would have to admit that he was a master of the radio airwaves, but so too were Paul Harvey and Bruce Williams, who were far more decent men. Limbaugh and Gingrich set the tone that led to the Tea Party, which in turn led to Trumpism. He could be articulate but also a blowhard. Sean Hannity described him as s mentor and both hosts had the habit of hammering home the same tired talking points daily. Limbaugh, like all ideologues, saw the world in sharp contrasts that were simplistic but conveyed a sense of moral urgency even as he revelled in his exclusive and flamboyant lifestyle. Despite being a political independent, I grew weary of him decades ago. His slavish regard for Trump made a mockery of his conservative principles. But then both men relied on their cult of personality to flourish.
14
Never ever a fan of Rush Limbaugh by a very long shot, this however is a masterly written obituary. I show a lot more respect for Robert McFadden than the subject of his artistry.
7
He was our voice and will be sorely missed.
1
@Asking Hard Questions
and that's the problem.
13
Rush Limbaugh was unforgettable. I will always remember him as the most undeserving recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
37
Limbaugh was generally entertaining here in Sacramento during the 1980's when his right-of-center opinions were balanced by other local talk show hosts who were left-of-center. It was only after he went national in 1988 that his commentary and opinions became increasingly right-wing and eventually totally unrestrained when the Fairness Doctrine was eliminated. He was most offensive when he attacked individuals at a personal level including some who could not easily fight back. One of his favorite phrases he used when someone he disliked had died was that the individual had "attained room temperature." Disrespectful of others when alive, he certainly deserves no less now that he has "attained room temperature" himself.
20
My condolences to his family and to those who cared about him and admired him. Any opinion I have about him can wait for another day.
2
Gone but not forgotten. But not for the same reasons he would like.
6
I still think that Limbaugh was a principled person. He was not afraid to speak his mind on subjects that many others shied away from.
2
@Calgarian He didn't walk the talk--he lived the life of a Hollywood liberal elite while baiting ignorant rural white folk with conspiracy theories that mostly served to line his own pockets.
22
His guiding principle to insult and demean those he disagreed with.
11
This is also the twilight of the influence of talk radio generally.
You never heard a talk radio host try to incite an attack on Washington, and anyway it was not even possible. But with the internet you can do it via a couple of tweets.
4
I used to switch back and forth between Limbaugh’s show and NPR after particularly newsmaking days. Oh, my. It was like two alternative universes. Neither of which I could fully subscribe to. If one buys into the assumption that government, or Trump, or whatever is unequivocally bad, it is easy to fall into believing every conclusion that follows. Rush Limbaugh mastered the art of the extreme poisonous assumption. Conservative principles provided some scaffolding but his showmanship just felt mean. Effective, but mean.
Having said that, may he RIP. Cancer knows no politics and perhaps some of the money he made in life can help enhance the lives of others who are stricken.
2
People either loved or hated Rush Limbaugh and there was no in between. He influenced conservative talk radio and brought others into the fold. He made an impact in American politics like no other.
3
Was it karma? No, just science. You can publicly deny the dangers of smoking and second-hand smoke all you want, but statistics will tell you that the chances of a male smoker living until 80 is halved relative to a non-smoker. That Limbaugh died of lung cancer makes him just another statistic.
9
I've had plenty to say about Limbaugh over the years and I'm sure that if there is any reason to I'll have plenty to say about him in the future, but today I'll keep most of it to myself. There's no point in getting into it today. It accomplishes nothing and just further alienates those people who, for whatever reason, like the guy.
1
I had a close relative fall into the Rush Limbaugh pit. On his deathbed, he asked for me after 20 years apart due in large part to Limbaugh’s corrosive influence.
I went. Limbaugh was nowhere to be seen.
18
Rush Limbaugh was a stunning success at his chosen path:
To divide and weaken the United States.
His three-fold legacy will far outlast him:
(1) to destroy any sense of harmony and unity amongst the American people,
(2) to destroy any commitment to honesty and maturity in journalism,
(3) to destroy any responsibility to behave in a dignified and accountable manner when in public life.
He was a towering success with these three achievements.
Rush Limbaugh's greatest accomplishments included making the United States more vulnerable, more contentious, more immature, and more dishonest.
A great American he was not.
41
In 1992 my college boyfriend fell under Limbaugh’s spell at a most impressionable and naturally progressive time in his life. I watched in wonderment as this sweet sensitive young guy absorbed and rationalized Limbaugh’s insipid superiority. Then miraculously my boyfriend veered left into the realm of Tom Leykus. I cheered inwardly, too naive in my own views to say anything out loud. However, our division over the ‘92 presidential candidates (Clinton and George HW Bush) was more outspoken and probably played a hand in our breakup, though at that age there were plenty of factors. His malleability was one, for sure.
10
Mark Twain?? The Father Coughlin part was right but Twain, no way.
Mark Twain was a brilliant humorist ahead of his time and whose humanity still shines through as a quintessential American.
Limbaugh was nothing like that. He was a guy who found a lucrative niche in hating a wide swath of America.
29
If only we could go back in time forty years and warn the world about Rush Limbaugh. If Donald Trump hadn't arrived on the scene, we would be remembering Limbaugh as the ultimate PT Barnum-like huckster of the late 20th and early 21st century in America. The Medal of Freedom has been stripped of its meaning.
19
It is during a time like this when one wonders if it is a Christian myth or indeed true that a man - or woman - will be judged at the time of death. If it is the second of this immortal, and as of yet unanswered question, let us hope that Mr. Limbaugh made his peace with God, and that God is indeed a forgiving one.
3
My mail lady listened to him daily for over a decade. Every year she grew angrier and angrier. She started having blood pressure problems and grew increasingly hostile towards everyone. If you asked her about herself, she would go on and on about whatever Rush was saying was "destroying America". She ended up alienating nearly everyone and took an early retirement because of health issues that I am sure were, at minimum, compounded by the seething anger Rush brought out in her. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she was part of the mob that stormed the Capital. Ultimately, she bears responsibility for allowing herself to get so worked up over a radio show. That's on her. But it's hard not to imagine how much better her life would have been had Rush been even a bit more responsible.
19
My only exposure to him was through the Daily Show, and late night comedians. It was all I needed. Didn’t someone recently give this guy the American Medal of Freedom? I wonder who would do such a thing?
13
Limbaugh had a chance, when he received his terminal cancer diagnosis, to recant his message of hatred, fear and disinformation. He had the chance to speak to millions of listeners and tell them that he did it solely for ratings, solely for profit. He had the opportunity to make amends and to calm down the masses in his last months on earth. He missed that opportunity and was a bomb-thrower until the end.
24
Rush really perfected the "Strawman" argument. He was a master at choosing a target, then ascribing all kinds of false characteristics to that person and then tearing into them as if everything he said was true. Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson, and the like have studied his style well and will carry on his tradition of grievance politics, which never really solves anything. It just creates more hate and discontent. One purveyor of hate is gone, but there are a whole host of others waiting to assume the mantle and all the riches that come with selling hate. If there were no money it, no one would be doing it. Just remember that.
14
The damage that Limbaugh did to the body politic will never be able to be properly measured. He was a malign influence for too long, and we only need to look at the sickness that has taken root in the minds of many right wing bases to see it. Perhaps not every death is a tragedy. In any case, I hope his family is OK.
9
It is no coincidence or accident that the rise of alt-reality brainwashing began with Limbaugh on the heels of the ending of the Fairness Doctrine. The fault line in our fracturing society runs directly back to his beginning. I won't say I'm glad to hear that he dies, but I am glad that we won't have to hear his alt-reality right wing worldview any more.
10
The death of the Fairness Doctrine was the birth of Limbaugh as a national celebrity. As we ponder the death of Limbaugh and the divisions he created and nurtured throughout his life, perhaps we can spare a thought to reinstating the doctrine whose absence made him and his ilk possible.
12
I have read through over 100 of the Reader’s Picks of Comments, I found myself recommending every single one.
The Reader’s comments and frankness makes mincemeat of this initial obituary…
10
What a guy! It takes a special level of Chutzpah to call for the extermination of drug addicts while yourself being a drug addict. I guess if you believe him you’d believe just about anything.
64
“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”
4
So much hate in these comments. From enraged commenters who claim they’re not the haters, the dead guy was. No wonder our country continues to spiral into such bitter divisiveness.
5
Yeah. This is the kind of divisiveness people can really get into!
1
@Beantownah maybe some of us 'hate' that so many millions were attracted to HIS hate.
12
@Beantownah
I read a lot of truth in some of the comments
8
Remember......it all started with Reagan....lest we forget.
28
My favorite memory of Rush is the time my car's radio was stuck on AM which pretty much meant talk radio which meant him.
One day I was listening to him expound on something, I forget what. He then took a call from someone who proceeded to repeat what Rush had just said, albeit in different words.
Rush proceeded to argue with him and call him an idiot.
18
As a Brit with only occasional (horrifying) excursions into your right-wing media, exposure to Mr Limbaugh has been limited.
It is really sad that someone with obvious talents has used them to such evil purpose.
There are those who enhance life by their coming.
And those who do so by their leaving.
Tragic; a waste of potential.
41
I used to go trout fishing in the high Sierras. Stayed at a little out of the way motel run by a sweet older couple. One day as we returned from our day in the streams, the husband was on a ladder, painting the trim on the motel. He had a transistor radio on with Limbaugh spewing his hateful garbage, and this nice guy had been transformed into a red faced, enraged monster. I couldn't believe it was the same person. Limbaugh made a sultan's fortune off of this sewage and now his horrible blowtorch has been passed on to the Hannitys and Carlsons to continue the deliberate turning of Americans against one another through propaganda and lies as "entertainment."
What a legacy to be remembered for.
82
Donald Trump gave Rush Limbaugh a Pardon for his opioid conviction and the medal of freedom for his spread of hate and misogyny.
How’s that for a one -two punch
44
I remember many years ago listening to Rush Limbaugh when he first came on the airwaves in New York on WABC. At first, he wasn’t overtly political and I enjoyed listening while in my car. Over time he drifted rightward. As he became more proactive I lost interest.
At that time, WABC was a bellwether for right wing talk radio. Bob Grant had a daily drive time show. They soon added Sean Hannity to their lineup. I am not a masochist so I stopped listening. (WABC had one liberal talk show host, Lynn Samuels. Not sure what happened to her).
5
He was a main contributor to right-wing propaganda that corrupted minds and souls.
3153
@Truth I"d go as far as saying he created the trump we were burdened with.
69
@Truth Yes - it's particularly tragic that the Al Franken Show on the Air America radio network didn't topple Rush in the ratings. The vast conspiracy against progressive media needs to be exposed.
9
He was talented at the art of misinformation. A more accurate description of his talent is to call him out as one of the biggest liars with a microphone.
33
It is hard to mourn a man whose brand was outrage and untruths.
2979
@RA The pandemic has closed the bars and I'm snowed in anyway, otherwise I'd be out celebrating right now. So I'll just do a little happydance in front of my computer instead.
145
1. One would go away only with nauseating repulsive negative feelings, even if per chance, happen to just pass thru his perpetual rants, scanning any channel.
2. If a visitor heard him, would think that America as a whole, was such a hate filled nation (which actually is the opposite).
3. Those who hope to leave a lasting positive legacy, might gain, by knowing what path, NOT TO FOLLOW.
4. May God provide peace for his soul.
18
I guess his hate radio creation will never be the same. But unfortunately racism and bigotry will not have died with him!,
20
Still waiting for Mr. Limbaugh to apologize for his lie about President Obama being born in Africa.
You know it takes a really, really small man not to admit to a lie.
53
The most incendiary, disgusting, bigoted radio voice since Marconi invented radio. A man who delighted in vilifying women, minorities, and basically anyone who did not fit into his hypocritical view of conservatism. I will not miss him.
81
@Indrid Cold - When you think about it, Rush exploited the radio, a means of communication. Rupert Murdoch did the same, or is doing the same with the Wall Street Journal and Fox News and Zuckerberg and friends (Google, Apple and Twitter) are exploiting the internet.
3
Don't bother with a 'full obituary'. This was enough.
64
Rush was a revolutionary anti-intellectual. His legacy lives on unfortunately.
32
Rush Limbaugh's true talent was to convince people that his one sided monologues were an accurate portrayal of the facts. In truth, he rarely if ever, engaged in any type of debate with those who had an opposing viewpoint. He was the master of the straw man argument.
That being said, for me his legacy will always be referring to a young woman as a slut because she had the audacity to testify in congress about a friend's need for contraceptives to ward off ovarian cancer.
65
It was all about toxic grievance, payback and opposition to anybody who did not share the same mindset. So much arrogance, so much hate.
42
Mountebank.
That being said, no one deserves the cruel suffering of cancer. I’ve observed it to be torture.
5
Frankly after all the damage he did it is hard to agree with your sentiment.
2
Rush Limbaugh was a great communicator. He cleared things up for millions and millions of people who where being duplicitously fed political biased information by the left. The nasty comments here in the NYT prove that he was doing his job well.
8
He was a liar, a racist, a misogynist, and a bigot.
These are facts.
43
@NYChap
As we say in the south, bless your heart, child.....
20
@NYChap Despite Mr. Limbaugh's obvious talent as a radio personality, I'm afraid you are wrong to praise him. If, indeed, he was a pioneer in picking apart the main stream media's stranglehold on information, he became a caricature and a charlatan; he was someone addicted to his own voice and willing to say or do anything to stay on top of the conservative talk show heap. Whenever I listened to him it was like going to a carnival sideshow. His patter was obviously the product of an overheated imagination, and I felt amazement that people could believe he was delivering serious news.
12
I wonder how many people died because he said Covid was like the common cold. One of his many lies.
94
Trump was such a parrot of Limbaugh's talking points. Limbaugh was an entertainer who knew how to make money by enraging people. I would love to know how much of what he sold, he actually believed.
23
My contribution to his epitaph, with apologies to Shelley:
“My name is El Rushbo, Greatest of All Time;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
16
Evil has many forms but deliberately lowering society's standards is one of the most insidious. This was no conservative thinker, this was a bile-filled attack dog who rationalized and normalized hate for his many listeners. He helped create an America where ill-educated, unaccomplished, unqualified buffoons like Sarah Palin and Donald Trump became considered viable alternatives. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is forever besmirched.
196
@Adam Clarke Well Said !
6
His greatest sin, among millions, hypocrisy.
43
Make a donation to Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, or the ACLU in his name.
347
We should remember that it was Reagan's abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine that paved the way for his show and all that followed. The idea of reporting fair and balanced coverage was born when five NYC newspapers joined forces to cover the Mexican American War, giving birth to The Associated Press. The articles had to stick to the facts so they could run in newspapers of all persuasions. This is how journalism should be—present the facts, let readers decide for themselves and leave opinions to the Editorial pages.
65
Hard to believe your obituary leaves out Ed McLaughlin who gave Limbaugh his break when he was a disk jockey in central California and placed him on WABC. Without that, he would have remained what he should have been, at a not particularly special spot in the history of AM radio.
11
I never celebrate the death of anyone. However, I cannot celebrate this drug-addled man’s life or legacy. Rush profited off of divisive hate speech, racism, misogyny, and lies.
America was the worse for it. He was perhaps the least deserving recipient of the Medal of Freedom in our nation’s history.
107
Al Franken's titled book "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot" seemed shocking at the time, but it proved to be an insightful look at someone's who's caustic and pugnacious nature got more dangerous with time. Alas, Limbaugh's public run outlasted Franken's... how ironic is that? Perhaps Al should get a Presidential Medal of Honor one day. Payback.
82
sadly his ideas won't die with him ... i don't like to speak ill of the recently passed so i'll leave it at that
18
That would have been his only saving grace.
He lived just long enough to see his idol lose and get impeached twice.
65
David Weintraub -- Perfect!
6
@David Weintraub Young people who have (of course) joined the battle against hate culture recently might not realize how fundamental Limbaugh was in creating it.
3
It’s inaccurate to call him conservative. He was a right wing extremist who espoused white supremacy. Much of his talk on the radio was hate speech. I will not miss him.
263
@Nelson Brilliantly stated. Nicely done.
6
Buckley, Goldwater, Romney, Kristol are conservatives. Limbaugh was a political demagogic shock jock. He was quick witted and possessed a great broadcast voice. He was a radio man before he was a right wing pundit. He simply harnessed an opportunity and became the stage coach driver.
12
Limbaugh was one of the most divisive people on the planet for the past 30 years. He made a living spouting nonsense to the ignorant and poorly educated. As much as anyone, he is responsible for miserably divided country we now posses. His being awarded the Medal of Freedom by Trump has made a mockery of the award. Those are the nicer comments I can make.
175
@John Antonucci - he was at the creation of trump!
4
@John Antonucci thanks that is succinct and well put.
2
If I were to make a bet on defining his character I would say that Rush was the epitome of a bully, and at bottom all bullies are cowards who hide their cowardice by bullying others.
Donald Trump in this sense is a twin brother to Limbaugh, and both evaded the draft during the Vietnam era for obscure medical reasons.
Here is a quote from Snopes: Limbaugh biographer Paul D. Colford noted that “Limbaugh himself … stated that he was not drafted during the Vietnam War because he had been classified 4-F after a physical found that he had an ‘inoperable pilonidal cyst’ and ‘a football knee from high school.’ He added: ‘I made no effort to evade it or avoid it.'”
32
To all the many, accurate critics of this skilled but vile radio communicator, I say “Mega-dittoes”.
I first heard him in 1990 and thought to myself, “what a buffoon”. Would that was all he was. It turns out he was the first and most revered Minister of Propaganda of the Autocratic Party. Let’s hope and pray that he’s never featured with a sculpture or portrait in the Capitol.
40
Could never listen to more than about 5 min of his show. Can't say anything good about him. Not a good idea to speak ill of the dead. I'll just say that the world will be a little less filled with hate with his passing and leave it at that.
41
Did Rush Limbaugh tell former president Trump "'We love you'" or President Biden?
2
A while back, I published a paper on climate change in a highly visible scientific journal. After Rush Limbaugh made silly claims about the analysis, I received many hateful e-mails from his followers, including one that claimed that I was a climate Nazi and threatened my family. This was ironic because my father was a German Jewish Refugee, I hope that he did not suffer, but the world will not miss Rush Limbaugh.
174
Such a good man. So sad.
7
@JS - LOL. Concise humor is the best.
15
I’ll take that as sarcasm, even if you didn’t mean it that way.
10
Let's not forget he was also a drug addict who bullied his maid to buy him drugs. If a Democrat had done such a thing the right would have been outraged. Instead, they were able to accept he had a disease. But I frankly wonder if a lot of his comments came out of a drug addled mind.
174
@Gwhizrd But at one point he said all drug addicts were evil, and took a hard line against drugs and drug users. He really was evil and hypocritical.
30
Rest In Peace, Rush. You will be missed.
4
He polluted my father's mind and made a compassionate conservative into a mean one. I imagine he did that to a lot of older folks. Like Trump, he gave permission to be mean.
478
@lbethjones he did that to my father as well, sadly.
26
Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingram will carry on his legacy so his listeners will have an outlet to enjoy.
30
I always thought of him as a comedian: theatre. Listened about 6 times a year, just to hear what he’s talking about. But could not take him seriously!
I guess some did, which is sad. Many Americans buy into commentary on the extremes of the right or left without a discerning eye or brain. Truly sad.
21
Our Conservative voice passed on today by an evil disease but we will not be silenced. I will miss his voice on the radio and maybe he will be replaced by another conservative but I’ll always be Rush fan. RIP my friend
3
Thoughts and prayers... no, really. No matter the devastation caused by Limbaugh since 1989, the hate that he stirred up, the tatters he caused the US to be in and in fact the uncivil war he encouraged, I do send my condolences to whoever survives him in his family.
11
Not me, I’ll save that for positive contributors, like the late Corea.
13
@Brian Whistler ... exactly. . . Corea being a true hero who actually contributed to society & made the world a better place for everyone, whether they knew it or not.
5
It seemed everything that was good and decent he ridiculed. Every world compromising event he diminished. Every sober warning about the threats to our lives and liberties he mocked and demonized.
He lied....misled and showed utter contempt for the truth. His “humor” was always at the expense of others. He preyed upon the weak and vulnerable.
In the end his legacy was tarnished not by the opinions of others but by his own words and deeds......
104
My Dad would listen to Rush in the garage and while my mom was listening to NPR inside. My mom could never understand how he could listen to such "garbage" and he would say it was "entertaining". My father died before Trump came on the scene and we always wanted to believe that he would have never gone that far over the cliff and supported Rush and Trump. I think Rush did our country a great disservice by making disrepect, hate and anger the foundation of his show. He amplified and made acceptable this disgraceful behavior we have in our country today. Disagreement has always been a part of our county's DNA but I think we all see that Rush's style of disagreement has taken our society to a very dark and dangerous place. Not something to be proud of.
117
No matter how rich and powerful any one of us may become, we will all die. Many work hard to leave the world a better place. Mr. Limbaugh worked with singular focus to leave the world a much worse place.
150
Limbaugh was merely Donald Trump with a better vocabulary and a longer shelf life.
The Conservative mouthpiece has said some really disparaging things about women, minorities and his political opponents. I'm imagining that whomever or whatever awaits on the other side and points Limbaugh in either the Up or Down direction, they'll have a hard time sending him to a glorious afterlife. He brought a lot of misery to people who did not deserve his wrath and nastiness. Sorry for his family, but the Family of Man is no better off for having had him walk the earth.
50
@H. Clark backwards -trump was a iimbaugh without ideas or vocabulary.
8
For three decades Limbaugh profited from channeling, bringing out, and himself embodying the worst in America. His bullying racism, misogyny, jingoism, and anti-intellectualism prefigured Trump.
Now that he has gone to his reward, I'm reminded of the ancient wisdom: "Be careful how you treat people on the way up, because you will meet them on the way down."
43
I really hate to say this. It should not be said of anyone. But it is the way I feel: he died 69 years too late.
104
I'm curious to know, what kind of an obit with the Times write? Generally, obits are supposed to reflect a person's life, what they did. If the Times writes an obit, well, yes, he defined talk-radio, but his rhetoric should be front and center. Write what he really said.
It should be a statement on what his views were and what he tried to accomplish. What he said about folks he didn't agree with. It should cover his lies and tell why they are lies. It should contrast his drug addiction to what he said about other drug addicts.
It would be nice to see a factual obituary instead of one that just discusses what he accomplished in terms of capturing the talk-show market.
29
I do not celebrate his death. I am relieved his voice is forever stilled.
No more can he spout out the words of hate, division, insult, and bigotry that are now part of the American cultural fabric, and unfortunately from the 45 administration.
Speaking of 45, I won't be surprised at his eulogy for Mr. Limbaugh.
28
RIP.
I’ll leave the rest to myself...
5
Mr. Limbaugh knew a year ago that he was dying. He had a great opportunity to clean up his legacy. To admit that it was all a schtick and to disavow the hateful rhetoric. How sad that he declined the opportunity to leave behind something positive.
80
The damage this man did to the body politic of this nation is incalculable. He was the biggest spreader of destructive propoganda of the last 30. He ruined a once valuable form of media, turning it into a one way street only open to one point of view. The toxic exhaust he left behind daily in his wake polluted the minds of a much too large segment of the nation, and his ulimate legacy will be his cheerleading the doubious agendas of the likes of Gingrich, Bush II, and Trump. He was very effective at what he did. That is the most unfortunate thing about him.
50
Rush Limbaugh represents the dark side of the American Dream: A man who made a fortune peddling hatred, lies, and conspiracies. America was great for him, but he was not great for America.
91
How sad to read of the praise being heaped on an individual with nothing but hate and disdain for those who differed from his view on life. Only to find that the points of divergence were visited so often by this individual. Hypocrisy at its grandest, from a drug abuser, and smoking proponent, who suffered and succumbed to the illness of his denial. You reaped what you sowed. Enjoy the heat of your new environ.
33
He was the poster child for reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine.
51
Usually when someone dies, their obituaries are overly fawning. Anna Nicole Smith, for example, was lauded as a cultural icon after her death.
I didn’t pay much attention to Limbaugh. I don’t understand why anyone would. But- compare this to other obits. This was petty and unkind. And lay off the man’s weight. It’s time to call out fat bias.
5
Given his influence, even in death we need to hold him fully accountable. Let us also not forget his egregious hypocrisy on drug addiction.
23
Is there anything Rush did that anyone can point to that made America better or improved the lives of his ditto heads?
They all can thank Democrats for their Social Security checks, private insurance through the ACA, coverage for their children through SCHIP/Medicaid, coverage in retirement through Medicare, unemployment insurance, and on and on and on...
None of it Republican or anything to do with Rush.
I'm sorry he didn't live long enough to apologize.
29
One of the aims of all humans should be to try and make the world a better place than you found it by the time you leave it, and in this he failed miserably.
768
Thank you Rush for a life well-lived.
25
@DRS
Well lived? As of he couldn't have done IT better?
Heck, even George Wallace changed and apologized. Maybe if Thrush lived out the last third of his life in a wheelchair he might have done the same.
240
Nobody can say he left the world better. He made it worse.
99
@DRS I suppose we have different ideas about 'well-lived'. Thrice divorced. Addicted to Conspicuous Consumption (among other things). A livelihood of malicious, harsh and false speech. A fomenter of division and derision. I don't consider that a life well-lived, but that's just me. He could have made this world a better place with his wit and intellect, but didn't.
125
How much do you want to bet that GOP congresspeople will urge for a Capitol Rotunda Viewing for Rush.
He did, after all, receive the Medal of Honor....uh, Freedom.
Rush was, after all, the Patron Saint of Depravity.
40
@Ninbus And we can now be thankful, again, for the Democratic majority in the House and Senate.
4
A legacy of lies, anger, grievances and ignorance. The world is worse off for his presence. The only example he set was of white privilege: a white male can abuse prescription drugs (due to the the Sackler family) and get off with a slap on the wrist.
41
Hopefully, the unabridged obituary will include how Limbaugh celebrated the deaths of people that died from AIDS and be less glowing about his accomplishments since they came from a place of hatred of others.
58
The first of the great dividers of the country via the media. I will not speak ill of him, I’m just glad he’s gone, never more to broadcast his bile to America.
30
This is America at its worst, can we learn nothing from the wreckage this man wrought?
37
A man who used his brilliant media talent to make the poor poorer, the sick sicker, the frightened more afraid. the despairing sadder, and the weak weaker. A bad way to use the gift of your life.
93
I can't let this moment go without noting how harmful his lies, racism and misogyny was to the fabric of American society. He seemed to delight in tearing it apart every time he was on the radio, and the silencing of his hateful voice by death should be celebrated, not mourned.
51
Divisive, dangerous, and deplorable.
82
Appropos on this Ash Wednesday: "Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return."
I am sorry for the death of any human being, but slightly less so for this particular one.
43
Anything, yes anything, for buckets of bucks. Our discourse has been fatally wounded by the likes of Limbaugh and his copycats...Hannity, Carlson, Perino, Bartiromo, Earhardt et al.
Always controversial, he and his counterparts spew lies, disinformation, conspiracy theories and hatred. And hide behind being entertainers when it catches up to them.
It’s time for a return of The Fairness Doctrine. It’s time to bring integrity back to the airwaves. Stop paying these hacks enormous amounts of money to further divide our country. WABC has very dirty hands along with Fox and their knockoffs.
Enough is enough.
43
A man I did not respect.
52
Rush had an estimated 35-60 million listeners and that number grew over the years starting in 1986. He kept me interested on long drives over the years. Before he came along people didnt understand Liberalism like they do now.
He was a better and clearer source of information than all the Networks spanning the spectrum combined. He will be sorely missed by Millions. He always said "Liberalism destroys everything it touches"
One of my favorite quips of his was taking a shot at clueless Californians was: "Thats xxx for those of you in Rio Linda." (some schtick from when he got his first gig in Sacramento)
Rush you are gone but not forgotten.
6
@RIP You misunderstood the Rio Linda reference. RL is a tiny area outside Sacramento that is known for flooding. It is rural and likely conservative. Rush was just re-using an old cow-town/podunk, insult the rubes joke. Not funny even to those of us who know where Rio Linda is.
As someone who lived in the area and other parts of CA, Rush certainly knew that it was not a monolithic state; but, hey, it makes a great target.
4
@RIP
Unfortunately, Rush did not do anything to help people understand liberalism. He worked to make people hate liberalism.
Sadly, many people do not understand how liberals have helped pull this country back from the economic collapse a number of times - brought on by the GOP. Liberals have also been the ones supporting Unions, the poor and most vulnerable in our society. And Rush, along with his rich friends, cared for Rush and his rich friends. The GOP has given tax cuts to the wealthy, not to those who work for their money.
4
No great loss for humanity
68
All these negative comments, about how evil he was, and what a horrible person he was, etc, etc. I wonder if anyone here actually ever listened to his radio show and did not simply make their assessments based on the few sound bites we were all spoon fed on MSM. I confess I never listened to his radio show and probably never heard more than a few snippets of his show that were broadcast on other media platforms. Yet, we are all so sure of our judgments. We are so fascinating - homo sapiens.
6
@boji3 Oh believe me, I heard plenty of Rush Limbaugh’s hatefulness, divisiveness, condescension, and insults on the car radio while driving my father to Doctor appts and shopping excursions. He deserves every negative comment. A sad waste of a life to leave the world a worse place than it was when you entered it.
27
I told a friend back in the late 1980’s that Rush Limbaugh was the epitome of egotistical, narcissistic evil, and that that money boys who gave us Reagan gave us Limbaugh to “take back America”. Ronnie and Rush! Evil incarnate.
MY friend naively said, “Oh come on! Limbaugh’s just an entertainer. He won’t be on the air long,”
How very very wrong my friend was!
32
Along with Murdoch, Gingrich, Cheney and , of course, covfefe, their his-stories will not be kind but accurate.
17
Whoever dies, high or low they may have been, is yet just another man
1
@Joshua Seprodi - If only that were true, Joshua.
A few gifted individuals can work to transform societies. For good or ill.
We ordinary people may not do much as individuals, but many together can.
3
This man's personal brand of self loathing, cruelty and hatred got us to where we are today. He did more to poison politics, reignite racism and misogyny than any private citizen in the last 70 years. He loathed democracy and worked harder than anyone to bring it down.
43
Rush Limbaugh was, above all else, a classic demagogue. He was Joe McCarthy, Father Coughlin, Newt Gingrich and a pinch of Johnny Carson (to leaven the bile) all rolled into one.
And his biggest student was Donald Trump. While Roy Cohn may have taught Trump to always "double down" - it was Limbaugh who showed Trump how to wield bombast, bigotry and Big Lies in the service of neo-fascism.
It was Limbaugh who made it "respectable" to passionately hate liberals, feminists, environmentalists, minorities and all the "Others" who could never be "Real Americans" in the eyes of white, Christian America. He repeatedly told his listeners that his overriding mission was to eradicate liberalism, multi-culturalism and diversity (which he mocked as "perversity" in one of his parody PSAs) from American life.
Make no mistake, Limbaugh was a cancer on our Body Politic.
72
Rush made the world a worst place, he made a lot of money peddling falsehoods. His show alone started the decline of America, and Trump is his creation.
28
He conducted himself reprehensibly and profited from it. We will never be free of the damage he helped sow upon our capacity for civil discourse.
21
Invoking Thimper's rule. God bless all who mourn. this death.
4
The Fairness Doctrine would have ended Rush’s lies and conspiracies long, long ago.
22
I lost my parents to Rush.
34
He was annoyingly predictable, but became an enemy of our country and our democracy when he threw in with Donald. Imagine he was paid $85 mil a year to spew his divisive junk. And people are hungry and homelss because of "the flu."
32
Eyes wide shut. Even when dealing with substance abuse. Wanting foregiveness , when not giving it. Accusing everyone & everything of being socialist , even when it was Jesus Christ or the Pope. Couldn’t come to grips with reality , inventing boogeymen to suit his world order. The penultimate ‘baby boomer’ of entitlement. He will have very special company one day, with the likes of Stone, Miller & tRump. I pray for his Soul. Even if he didn’t believe he had one. Perhaps the only thing we could agree on. Hate is not a strategy, but an illness. PTL.
14
This hate filled man has finally gone ; too bad he leaves a legacy of hate speech that turned friends and family into enemies , giving no quarter to agree to disagree . He leaves behind brutish behavior and speech .
34
An extremely talented but fundamentally cruel and morally sick human being.
32
@Siara Delyn
"An extremely talented ....human being. Calling him that even with a qualifier is what is wrong with this country. The hero worship of despicable people is wrong in my estimation. The performance of hate that was his radio show is not what I would consider talent.
4
He was a person and like all people complex. The real question is why we idolize people like him when it is obvious that he does not really believe what he preaches as seen by his drug dependency. Most of our public heroes are well dressed and made up but their feet are clay and often covered in dung. I hope he had friends and family who will actually mourn him and not just hired praise singers. Maybe Trump and Mitch McConnell will be Pall Bearers since it would make a perfect triumvirate.
11
A majorette in the hate parade of the contract on America. Drum beaters featuring newt, non-christlike evangelicals, greedocrats, and pro-polluting aMEricans.
Is it the eighth circle he will inhabit? Fourth? Seventh?
He will forever be known as the bloviating bellower of the dark.
16
Time to dispense with hollow civilities and just say the truth about this person who had spent his life sowing hate, dissent, and disinformation. Death of a demagogue does not impose some kind of gag order or NDA, where now you have to remain silent or mutter some hollow piety before you call him what he is.
21
If it weren't for the risk of travel during the pandemic I would go to his funeral just to make sure that he is dead.
32
Along with Newt Gingrich and Roger Ailes, Limbaugh did great damage to the United States.
44
Too bad El-Rushbo never got around to writing a standard memoir.
We would have had to chance to learn what went wrong.
10
I will not speak ill of Limbaugh on this day. But I cannot say that I will miss him either.
8
You just have to know that if Republicans still controlled Congress his remains would be in the Capitol rotunda and Proud Boys would be his honor guard.
What a thumbing of the nose that would be to the honorable people who came before, such as McCain, Ginsburg and Lewis to name the most recently honored.
White supremacist movements, their enablers at the highest level of government, and trash talk media have poisoned the minds of Americans.
20
@Tom
What a disgrace to hallow walls of the capitol that would have been.
Not to mention the dome.
5
Ciao, Rush. You lowered the bar lower than we thought possible.
64
I am so sorry for his loss to his family. I am not sorry for the loss of his hate and lies to America.
13
"Blisteringly sarcastic, often hilarious, always pugnacious?" I would say more like "extremely repulsive." Yes, very much extremely repulsive.
59
The cruelty is the point,
24
If you want to see first hand the hatred and deep divide in this country, just read the readers comments section of this obituary. Sad, very sad.
5
jmilbrook: Oh, now you notice the hatred and division? The rest of us originally heard it from Rush thirty years ago.
36
Jmilbrook; perhaps. Good thing Rush didn't have anything to do with creating that divide. Otherwise, a lot of the commenters would/should feel guilty when they clearly don't feel that way. I mean it's not like he regularly made racist and provocative comments for the sake of ratings and money. No siree. That wasn't Rush at all.
11
Rest in Peace Rush Limbaugh. May the hate, lies and discord you sowed over the years be gone from the airways and silenced with your passing.
82
Interesting coincidence in that the controlled "implosion" of Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City (purchased for a song by Trump supporter Carl Icahn) and this news occurred on the same day. The symbolism is apt but sadly the world that made Trump possible is still thriving. That world is largely due to Limbaugh but his influence was eroding due to so-called social media. Al Franken's book a while back is instructive (and still funny). Title, "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations."
25
Never a fan.
19
A nasty demagogue in the tradition of Joe McCarthy who spewed insults, bile and lies. His 'aw shucks, I'm nobody' line was part of his manipulative schtick. Those in line to claim Limbaugh's mantle (Tucker Carlson?) will try to outdo him and be much worse.
59
A man who truly made the world, and the USA, a worse place.
89
I knew it would be ugly in here.
8
He taught a huge swath of the country how to hate. What did you expect? Had he shown some remorse at the end perhaps things would be different.
8
Rush Limbaugh never let one minute pass by in life without making someone somewhere miserable with his disgusting diatribes and shameless attacks on the human race, particularly minorities. He was an attack machine without equal, not even Trump can ever surpass his profanity and mendacity. The world is at peace, at least for a while.
53
Without first talk radio and later Twitter and Facebook, such liars and hate mongers would be just shunned pariahs in their own small communities and unheard of outside them.
30
The hate in this comment section just shows how right Limbaugh was about elites and liberals.
8
Yea but when someone spread lies amd made people miserable from lies what do you expect? Say bad things about them when alive then lie and say good things when they are dead?
25
@PJ Huh? You have a mistaken view of liberals. FDR didn't "tolerate" Nazis- he took the US to war to defeat them. There's no liberal rule that we have to respect and mourn a racist, misogynistic, and extreme right wing "public figure" who lied constantly, and spent his life work trying to vilify women, gays, liberals, and basically anyone who wasn't a member of the good ol' boys club, just like his privileged father and brother, who were both judges in southern Missouri. In fact, you might say that liberals have every right to be happy now that Limbaugh can no longer spread lies. That's not "hate", that's common sense.
45
The “hate” here is simply a reflection of the man as he was .. hateful.
12
Personification of resentment, poor guy.
20
Limbaugh's entire shtick was hatred, of women, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, disabled persons, etcetera. And his audience was with him for this content, entirely, as his voice sounded like a bubbling septic tank, difficult to listen to, totally unfit for radio. Bigotry sells and, perversely, it's been recently given a Medal of Freedom.
147
Rush Limbaugh invented the job of political shock jock. His legacy as a propagandist extends to the phrases or terms he coined or popularized, like "feminazi" or "compassion fatigue" or his self-aggrandizing, "talent on loan from God."
Too bad he profited so much from hate. He was such a race-baiter that he only survived because he kept denying his racism; he was (slightly) less crude than other race-baiters, and his right-wing audience flocked to his support.
He just got nastier and more caustic as the years went by, dredging up the rancid cruelty inside many American hearts. Rush made hate and distorted (often deceitful) politics profitable, years before Fox News made its fortune (No surprise Roger Ailes was one of his earlier big champions.). And in one of those great ironies, even his hate and coarseness was no match for Donald J. Trump. The 45th president made Rush Limbaugh appear like a courtly country gentleman by comparison. So Limbaugh did what would-be fascists and reactionaries often do so well: he bowed down and became another lapdog to the new master. That's his ultimate legacy.
55
It is endlessly amusing how readers of this paper revile juggernauts like Limbaugh and Fox News while literally not possessing the base amount of introspection necessary to understand the elementary market dynamics responsible for their rise.
Let me give you a hint. Pretend you are walking down the street and there are 10 stores that only sell vanilla ice cream. You may have an idea
4
@John it was the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine that gave rise to Rush & Fox News.
42
@John This is a confusing comment. Like, if only people understood market dynamics, they would no longer revile Rush Limbaugh? Obviously there's an audience for him; many of us revile them as well. Also, how on earth would introspection, of all things, lead to to an understanding of market dynamics? Very confusing indeed.
9
@John
And the 11th store sells an artificial approximation of ice cream, chock full of harmful chemicals, masquerading as a different choice.
Given your analogy, I'll stick with vanilla.
14
If only the Obituaries Column could capture the same caustic tone about Limbaugh that he peddled every day for 40 years.
His sole legacy is destruction.
131
@Alan Wright
The Times has standards to uphold.
But the Times can also decide whether to not comments accompany an obituary. And clearly the comments here do what the Times itself would never do - at least not in an obituary.
So thanks to the Times for your standards. And thanks to the comment section for yours.
6
Rush Limbaugh's moral depravity was nonpareil. He Contributed more to Trumpism than any other right wing media figure.
65
wizard of oz "a heart is not judged by how much you love but by how much you are loved by others".
the ledger is shallow in these comments. i always ignored him as too self-righteous as one who easily saw the moat in other's eyes. i hope you do better next time rush.
10
Limbaugh was the original contemporary huckster and political divider.
I will not miss him but will hope he may RIP as every soul should.
But lets not loose sight of the dangerous game Limbaugh played by stirring the racial, misogynistic, and conservative pot that gave rise to Trump. That is his legacy like it or not.
19
Rush was entertainment for the far-right.
4
@Gary A dangerous entertainment!
1
Limbaugh is the lowest of low-brow entertainment. He is the most dishonest and misleading of "news" or commentary. He was the tip of the spear of conspiracy oriented modern media. His presence in the media contributed to the divisive nature of modern politics and civic life.
31
Rush Limbaugh opened the door for countless other right-wing insult comics to wildly enrich themselves by hurling endless tirades of childish diatribes at their perceived political enemies, broadly defined as everyone not of the most radical far-right wing. His sole skill was to make listeners pound their fists on the dashboard in anger at the end of his show so they would be lured back for another hate filled episode the next day. Like Trump, always willing to ruthlessly divide America purely for personal gain. Not clever, not useful, not missed.
52
I know several people who need to be deprogrammed from his propaganda show.
I'm hoping that there's no one who can replace the "great" Rush.
14
What a waste... he could have used his influence to improve the world. He had plenty of years in his life to change his course and be kind. I hope his family and friends find peace during this time. I hope, ultimately, that he found peace despite the negativity he brought to this world. I don't understand how he would say the things he did and be able to sleep at night.
12
He was no Mark Twain, by any stretch.
20
Some people use their short time on earth to make all the things of life worse. Limbaugh was one of them. There is nothing to celebrate here. The evil he has wrought has thrived and will live on.
77
He was given talent, charisma and magnetism. He used it for hate and meanness. A wasted life should be mourned.
35
He chose to waste it. And destroy other lives in the process. A win with him off the planet.
5
I try not to celebrate anybody’s death; this guy hurt my country, and appeared in a line of radio demogogues that goes back to Father Coughlin.
32
Rush LImbaugh was probably more responsible for leading the Republican party into madness than any other single individual. He warped the minds of millions of people for 30 years and paved the way for Donald Trump. The present Republican party is largely his creation. He was one of the most destructive human beings in American history. When we heard he died there was much cheering.
92
He represented conservatism that got candidates elected to the degree that George Bush Sr. carried his luggage to his room at the White House. He made sure that conservatism meant ignorance and denial of any science, racism and rejecting any responsibility of any value for future generations. As he said "the show is just for fun."
23
My mother always said of such people, "They're more to be pitied than censored". I'm seriously struggling right now :)
14
He wouldn't have been successful without the support of enablers. "85 million a year" surely answers any other questions one might have about Rush Limbaugh (wonder who else got filthy rich along the way). Like his fellow liars, con artists, and hucksters, all you need to do is follow the money.
Nope, won't be wasting any tears on this one. I think my emotions are better engaged elsewhere.
25
This was an immoral, unethical citizen that took pride in creating lies in order to foster hate and the support of Donald Trump. Their partnership led the USA into intentional chaos in order to undermine the foundation of our democracy. It is unfortunate that his 'passing' will not be missed, however his legacy will continue through the excessive and over-zealous Republican fanatics of Cruz, Greene, Hawley, Boebert and all of those that refused to convict Trump for inciting the murderous attack on our members of Congress; Republicans and Democrats.
28
A lot of the talented guys who helped me with home improvement projects would have his radio show on over the years as they worked. New kitchen cabinets and teardown, help with the purchase and selection of tile for the backsplash and a stair railing that could win a carpentry award for perfection and beauty and on and on.
I just don't get it.
8
What are all the people who imagine Trump and Limbaugh as "The Way' going to do with all the empty afternoons of silence?
9
No tears shed here for a man who broadcast lies on a daily basis to millions of his faithful ignorant minions of haters.... As a national DJ of hatred, lies and racism, he helped to divide our country more than ever...he earned millions of dollars in the pursuit of his nasty endeavors - loving the money more than he loved truth, fairness and his country.
33
"affecting the grandiloquence of a proud college dropout"
Perfect.
16
He would have died an anonymous disc jockey in Missouri if the Fairness Doctrine hadn't been repealed in 1987. No wonder he loved Ronald Reagan so much.
157
@Richard S.
Time to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine!
17
My local radio station used to broadcast Limbaugh's show. At first, I thought he was a comedian. I'd find myself laughing at the things he'd say. His banter was so ridiculous, I never considered that he believed what he said.
One day, on our way to a professional meeting, my colleague who was driving, turned on Limbaugh's show. "Oh yes," I blathered. "I've heard this guy. He is so funny!"
She was not amused. She icily informed me that he (and she) believed everything Limbaugh said. I was dumbfounded. Surely she couldn't believe the stupid things he uttered. Not possible. Yes, possible. She worshipped Limbaugh, as she later worshipped Trump. My political education began.........
143
@Susan Audrey I know what you mean. It’s a devastating shock when it happens. Well written.
3
I can't help but to note the irony of the Trump Taj Mahal being imploded on the same day Limbaugh dies.
198
My mom, who was fairly left wing, used to listen to Rush.
She liked Rush's critiques and analysis. Even though she disagreed with his politics, she respected his insights.
His program gave her hours of enjoyment. For that alone, I have a soft spot in my heart for Rush.
12
He was also one of the most charitable people in America, having given away tens of millions to charitable causes over the years. That could have been in the subtitle too.
2
I should probably evince more of ‘the milk of human kindness’ to hear of Mr. Limbaugh’s death, but I cannot. Let us instead shed tears for all of those that have lost over the past year who tried and worked to make the world a better place.
137
He had a great voice.
I didn’t like it and always suspected it was a bit of a put on for radio but I wanted to at least try for one sentence not to speak ill of the dead.
16
He was nice to his mother.
3
That would surprise me.
4
We do not have control over the events in our lives. But we can control how we meet events and whether our lives aim to make the world a more peaceful place or more miserable.
Most of us will not have an obituary in the Times.
Nor need we worry that we’ve left behind an obituary with comments - that rightfully disparage a legacy of hate and misery.
38
I watched Limbaugh's 30 minute TV show a few times, decades ago. (I think it was tv, not radio.) I wrote down how much time was devoted to the show, as opposed to commercials and beginning and ending credits. 12 or 13 minutes of Rush and 17 or 18 minutes of everything else. I thought this was pretty funny. Other than that, boring. He did have a lovely voice, though.
4
@dtm
I did too, once, and my first and only impression was don't trust someone who has so many copies of his own book on display on his desk.
3
I listened to him a few times over the years, just to see what the noise was about. A few things struck me about Rush Limbaugh. The first is that he was a gifted storyteller that used his overconfident demean and swagger as sort of a priori evidence that the “other side” was clearly in the wrong. Great rhetorical technique from someone who Ted Koppel forced to admit was an entertainer and not a journalist in an interview.
The other thing was that he helped lay the foundation of the black and white thinking and cultural anger that made a demagogue like Trump possible. We’ve heard it all before about how big government is the bogeyman and the federal government is stealing guns, liberty, free enterprise, and Christmas. And here today we are with Texas in the dark and a nation that has fared worse in pandemic response and coordination than developing nations because “unity, planning, and government is bad”. Meanwhile Wall Street is doing great and like eight billionaires own half of the economy. A spinner of a yarn he was though.
38
There was only one Father Coughlin in the 1930's. One of the unfortunate consequences of the expansion of electronic bandwidth via the internet and cable TV is that there are now dozens, if not hundreds of Coughlins. Limbaugh though was Coughlin's first Second Coming. His demise, unfortunately, is not the end of an era.
28
Rush mastered the art of grievance and identity politics before we even recognized it as a thing, along with painting liberal boogeymen. He was masterful at creating a narrative that was the tail that wagged the dog. Until, finally, he became it.
I have no doubt that Rush Limbaugh could be very generous to some he knew but, overall, I will remember him as someone who showed more of the worst of what Americans can be, rather than the best, dividing Americans, rather than unifying them.
I wish him and his family peace, but I won't miss him.
34
I was stationed in Okinawa when controversy arose about putting him on the Armed Forces Radio Network. I had never heard of him and was perplexed that so many service men and women wanted this one guy on for 3 hours a day.
The Pentagon finally relented and put him on for one hour each day. I listened and was horrified by his hate speech against minorities and women. I guess the top brass was equally horrified because he was moved to the rarely listened to AM station and then disappeared altogether.
Leaders will tell you that you cannot pit people against each other and then expect them to fight together. A lesson that the Republican Party could benefit from.
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@Brian
"Leaders will tell you that you cannot pit people against each other and then expect them to fight together."
Really? Because that is entirely how the US Marine Corps operates.
3
Strongly agree with the sentiments that he made America a worse place. I used to listen to him on occasion, but then I stopped for a number of years. I randomly listened to him one day in March 2020 and was awed (in a bad way) about his ability to sow disinformation. In the middle of a sentence about how covid is essentially just the common cold, he seamlessly makes reference in passing to Hillary Clinton having colluded with Putin during the 2016 election, as if it's an established fact. Of course, it's not an established fact--and the exact opposite is true--it was the Trump campaign colluding with Russia. So in one of his little bits he passes misinformation about covid while reinforcing earlier lies he tells about Hillary colluding with Russia. No wonder his audience is so ill-informed. No wonder we have armies of angry, misinformed people storming our Capitol.
59
May he rest in peace. Silently.
31
Limbaugh was popular with mainstream Republicans as well, not just the lunatic right. I heard his show playing everywhere, in cars, at mom-and-pop eateries, on tabletop radios in front of the dressing room mirror. The longer he was on the air, the faster he talked. He was up to a fever pitch where following his words became impossible at times before the cancer started affecting his voice.
No hard feelings toward him personally; building up his empire amid the rejection he endured when young took work. This had much to do with the viewpoints he espoused. But “The Way Things Ought to Be” (1993 book title) isn’t the way a society like America’s can go today, and very little of what he said came with any substantiation beyond a caller’s assertion that it was true. The last thing we need in politics is more of the off-the-cuff we’ve overdosed on.
5
I listened to Limbaugh once, many years ago. He happened to pick on a topic about which I know a lot. He was completely wrong in what he said, and he spoke as if he were an expert with a complete command of the subject. I found his act totally dishonest I never listened to him again.
63
Hard to mourn someone who's entire legacy has been to appeal to people's baser instincts, and hard to celebrate when the damage he's done has already been inflicted.
35
In 2012, Missouri native Limbaugh was inducted into the
"Hall of Famous Missourians" (by a Republican official, of
course) in a secret ceremony announced only 20 minutes
before it began in order to prevent negative media attention.
A bronze bust of the Bombast is on display at the Missouri
State Capitol building in Jefferson City.
Not surprisingly, El-Rushbo's bust includes a security camera to prevent vandalism.
Ah, statues of "great" men. Don't you wish there were more
of them?
16
The man who did his best to destroy our country and was given a presidential medal for his efforts. He may Rest In Peace, but we cannot.
35
@Carmine
The man who did his best to destroy our country and was given a presidential medal for his efforts......
by another man who did his worst to destroy this country.
6
While the dead have no special redemption of their actions in life, I think we should acknowledge at least his accomplishments at his passing. We have carved onto the side of a Mt. Rushmore the heads of four people who helped keep our country together and make it stronger.
I truly believe that if we had a similar monument for people who helped divide and weaken our country, Rush Limbaugh's face would be on it, right up there with Gingrich, McConnell and Trump.
30
@Steve
I’d argue that you have to devote a chunk of that rock to Ronald “Government is the problem” Reagan. Sorry Mitch.
3
Ronald Regan opened the door for Mr. Limbaugh when he removed the Fairness Doctrine for licensed broadcasters. Give credit, Mr. Limbaugh took over the air time from many small town stations. I'm convinced he changed Missouri from a swing state to a red state. Others will take his place. Proud to say I wouldn't listen to his lies and racism. Still hard to believe the flagship CBS station in St. Louis sells premium air time to Mr. Limbaugh!
22
I was taught that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. So I won't say anything.
27
40 million listeners lost in the wilderness! Lots of opportunity selling hate and vitriol now open to the likes of Hannity, Carlson, Ingraham, Jones and others! As they say, one man's loss is another person's gain!
10
At least with trump gone, we won’t have to deal with the national day of mourning or seeing this man lying in state at the capital.
41
Ironically, when history is written, one of Limbaugh's unintended accomplishments will be leading the Republican party down the path of Trump and its eventual destruction.
18
Perhaps the least deserving recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The honor is forever tarnished by the likes of this man.
61
To paraphrase Twain: while I haven’t wished anyone dead, there are deaths of which I do not entirely disapprove,
26
Americans like to say ‘we are better than this’, Limbaugh was a reminder that we are not.
34
Whether or not it is Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Newsmax or any other right-wing media outlet, they all essentially preach the same angry, democrats and socialism are evil while continually "playing the victim" line and clearly, in America there is a very large market for it.
What does it say when so many feel so disconnected from their own country?
13
Besides everything else, Rush Limbaugh also exemplified the race-based double standard of the American criminal justice system. Limbaugh championed long, draconian prison sentences for racial minorities on drug charges, yet he himself got away with a slap on the wrist when he was convicted of illegally obtaining prescription opiates. Rush Limbaugh was one of the public faces of American hypocrisy.
26