Author Topic: Limbaugh: "The Baron of Bombast's"? (Read 20529 times)

Monkeyleg · « **on:** October 14, 2009, 02:39:13 PM »

Rather than interfere with the NFL thread about Limbaugh, I thought I'd address Chuck Dye's "Bombastic" comment about Rush Limbaugh here.

I won't argue that Rush is always right, because I don't always agree with what he says. What I do think, though, is that he's extremely good at what he does.

I've heard Laura Ingram, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mark Levine, G. Gordon Liddy, and all of the other conservative talk radio hosts, as well as the liberal talk show hosts. None of them has the ability to engage an audience the way Rush does. In fact, I really didn't appreciate how good Rush is at his job until I listened to the others.

It's not easy making politics entertaining while simultaneously being serious. The other talk show hosts can be very, very dull. That's a big part of the appeal of Limbaugh.

Here in Milwaukee we have Mark Belling, a conservative talk show host who occasionally fills in for Limbaugh. Belling is very, very good, and for the same reasons.

When someone is very good at his job--whether it's a talk show host, a mason, a photographer, or something else--he makes doing the job look effortless. It's only when you watch or hear someone who's not good at his job that you realize how hard it is.

And that's my defense of Rush Limbaugh. So there.

Jocassee · « **Reply #1 on:** October 14, 2009, 02:46:43 PM »

Right on. I am never ashamed to say that I listen to Limbaugh because he is entertaining and funny as can be, some days. Don't always agree with him and in fact he annoys me sometimes. That said some of my earliest memories are hearing Rush on summer afternoons as my mom listened in the kitchen. I'm a bona fide Rush Baby.

MechAg94 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 14, 2009, 03:09:30 PM »

My earliest memory of listening to Rush was commuting to junior college and catching a few minutes of his show before the radio signal got lost. I had grown up conservative, but had never really heard that properly voiced before. It was great.

I probably agree with him more than not. Most of my disagreements are with points made or not made about subjects. He also gets pretty full of himself at times and loves spending long monologues talking about critics discussing himself. :) He is entertaining though which is his job.

mellestad · « **Reply #3 on:** October 14, 2009, 03:20:50 PM »

Quote from: Cmdr. Gravez0r on October 14, 2009, 02:46:43 PM

Right on. I am never ashamed to say that I listen to Limbaugh because he is entertaining and funny as can be, some days. Don't always agree with him and in fact he annoys me sometimes. That said some of my earliest memories are hearing Rush on summer afternoons as my mom listened in the kitchen. I'm a bona fide Rush Baby.

I spent some of my latter-teen years listening to him too. He is a huge part of conservative culture, all by himself.

Was he the first of his kind, or did he just refine conservative talk radio? I'm young enough I don't really remember what it was like before he came on the scene.

AZRedhawk44 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 14, 2009, 03:46:04 PM »

Quote

I've heard Laura Ingram, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mark Levine, G. Gordon Liddy, and all of the other conservative talk radio hosts, as well as the liberal talk show hosts. None of them has the ability to engage an audience the way Rush does. In fact, I really didn't appreciate how good Rush is at his job until I listened to the others.

Rush has this self-effacing sense of overblown grandeur that just makes you appreciate him that much more.

RoadKingLarry · « **Reply #5 on:** October 14, 2009, 03:54:41 PM »

Listening to him right now as a matter of fact.
I've been listening to him for 16-17 years off and on. It took me a while to catch on to his methodology for annoying the idiot liberals but eers since I enjoy it when he is deliberately baiting the left and they fall for it.
I also appreciate the Shanklin parody songs.

Waitone · « **Reply #6 on:** October 14, 2009, 05:30:49 PM »

There was no talk radio before Limbaugh. He launched the genre. AM radio was on the way out. FM had the market on music and sports. As a technology AM was in its sunset years. Along comes Limbaugh who chooses the AM band because there was no competition. AM was looking for programming and Limbaugh delivered. He was dismissed as a bombastic fool for what he said but more importantly he was ignored because he was on the AM ban. Out of sight, out of mind. Once it was determined there was indeed a market for conservative talk, it was "Kattie bar the door". Limbaugh demonstrated one fact so-called left hasn't learned: talk radio has to be entertaining first and foremost. No entertainment, no audience.

I doubt you could find any radio talk jock of substance who would not emphasize Limbaugh's contribution.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #7 on:** October 14, 2009, 06:52:09 PM »

As a fan of The Maha-Rushie, I have no problem with Chuck's epithet. Rush does use bombast rather liberally.

But if he was trying to cast aspersions on Limbaugh, let us pay him no mind. We've wasted enough time trying to explain things to folks from Rio Linda.

While we're on the subject, it's funny how the regressives alternate between "he's just an entertainer," and "HE'S A HATE-MONGERING RACIST WHO THREATENS THE VERY FABRIC OF AMERICA!!!11eleventy-one!!"

roo_ster · « **Reply #8 on:** October 14, 2009, 09:39:40 PM »

Quote

When someone is very good at his job--whether it's a talk show host, a mason, a photographer, or something else--he makes doing the job look effortless. It's only when you watch or hear someone who's not good at his job that you realize how hard it is.

This ^^^. Rush is the reigning grandmaster of his craft. Talent, hard work, and experience. Credentials be damned.

Even so, he sometimes bores me with repetition of basic conservative/classical liberal principles. But, then I remember that a lot of people haven't spent the time I have thinking, reading, & writing political philosophy. Rush gets new listeners every day who are learning while being entertained.

My favorite bits are when he is lib-baiting by using their own logic against them. Oh, how that makes them howl!

Another who is a grand master of their craft is Oprah. I can't stomach more than five minutes of her, but there is no doubt in my mind she is tops in hen-circle daytime entertainment.

Declaration Day · « **Reply #9 on:** October 14, 2009, 10:11:08 PM »

Quote from: Monkeyleg on October 14, 2009, 02:39:13 PM

I've heard Laura Ingram, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mark Levine, G. Gordon Liddy, and all of the other conservative talk radio hosts, as well as the liberal talk show hosts. None of them has the ability to engage an audience the way Rush does. In fact, I really didn't appreciate how good Rush is at his job until I listened to the others.

I agree with you, with one exception- Sean Hannity. He may not be quite as entertaining as Rush, but his personality is likeable enough to make up for it.

I don't always agree with Rush, but he is incredibly smart and very entertaining. I listen to him almost daily.

I remember a comment he made once about the then-new "Air America" liberal radio network. It was struggling at the time ( I have no idea how it's doing now or if it even still exists). He said the reason conservative talk radio thrives and liberal talk radio struggles is because conservatives are more likely to have a car, with a radio, that takes them to and from a job every day. Not sure how true that is but it's damn funny.

seeker_two · « **Reply #10 on:** October 15, 2009, 06:39:42 AM »

I'm no fan of Limbaugh...esp. after he urged his audience to keep RINO's like McCain and Snow in office after the "Contract With America" was tanked by the Senate in the '90's....

That said, I livid about the vitriol being shown to conservative radio hosts by the MSM and other organizations...including the US Gov't. Apparently the First Amendment no longer applies to political speech....at least, not certain political speech. And, as it increases against the conservative "celebrities", regular "Joe Conservative" will continue to feel more alienated by their own country.

If you've watched the anti-abortion movement; you've seen that, as the legal means for expression were curttailed, more "aggressive" protesters like Eric Rudolph started coming out of the woodwork. I'm afraid that may be what happens if people aren't allowed to express opposing views to the Hopey-Changey Administration....

MechAg94 · « **Reply #11 on:** October 15, 2009, 08:17:54 PM »

Quote from: mellestad on October 14, 2009, 03:20:50 PM

I spent some of my latter-teen years listening to him too. He is a huge part of conservative culture, all by himself.

Was he the first of his kind, or did he just refine conservative talk radio? I'm young enough I don't really remember what it was like before he came on the scene.

As far as I know, he was the first of his kind on a national level. There may have been local guys, but few were willing to push the limits with non-politically correct commentary.

RoadKingLarry · « **Reply #12 on:** October 16, 2009, 03:32:02 PM »

There werre otheres in Local markets Neil Boortz claims he has been doing it for forty years (I think). Rysh brought it mainstream.
I enjoy Boortz, Levin, Rush and a little bit of Hannity. Savage bores me and Beck just makes my teeth hurt (not his message but his style).

Bigjake · « **Reply #13 on:** October 17, 2009, 08:11:07 PM »

I'm a big Rush fan (not that bizarre rock band with the annoying lead singer), and he does his job well. That guy has turned aggravating and flustering The Left into a higher art form.

That said, I can only take so much of his show. It's the same old politics as usual, every day. Glenn Beck is my talk show of choice. He has a clue on current events.

Balog · « **Reply #14 on:** October 18, 2009, 01:23:46 AM »

The little Boortz I've heard puts him at the top of my personal talk radio list. Rush is good, Hannity is waaayyyyyyy too repetitive, and Beck just kind of goes off on random non-sensical tangents every once in a while. Heard a little Savage, but some of his views are :rolleyes:. Never heard Levin that I recall.

nraforlife · « **Reply #15 on:** October 18, 2009, 10:40:45 AM »

Early on I enjoyed Rush because he was spot on consistent in his busting of liberal myths. Clearly a job which needed doing. In recent years though he has become nothing more than a sounding board for the neocon faction of the Republican Party. Statism branded Repub or branded Demo is STILL Statism. Rush could have had an incredible impact in awakening America on inconsistent aspects of the 9/11 Official Version, the questionable justifications for the Iraq/Afgan Wars, the security state imposed on America these past 8 years, Open Borders, the destructiveness of globalisation, Republican budget busting, BHO's criminal usurpation of the Presidency,..............the list of foregone opportunities is endless BUT he chose not to.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #16 on:** October 18, 2009, 11:05:48 AM »

I want pancakes.

Monkeyleg · « **Reply #17 on:** October 18, 2009, 11:09:09 AM »

Mark Levin's voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Balog · « **Reply #18 on:** October 18, 2009, 11:25:10 AM »

Oh God not another troofer...

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #19 on:** October 18, 2009, 11:36:01 AM »

I thought this thread was about pancakes.

Headless Thompson Gunner · « **Reply #20 on:** October 18, 2009, 11:50:37 AM »

I like pancakes.

I wish Limbaugh would conform to my peculiar views on pancakes.

Strings · « **Reply #21 on:** October 18, 2009, 12:56:25 PM »

Sorry... the only true breakfast food is french toast. Pancakes are for folks who follow the herd...

makattak · « **Reply #22 on:** October 18, 2009, 01:19:51 PM »

Quote from: Monkeyleg on October 18, 2009, 11:09:09 AM

Mark Levin's voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Indeed. My wife couldn't STAND listening to him for a few months for that reason. (She loves him now).

I particularly like Mark Levin. He screams at the stupidity so I don't have to. It's cathartic.

roo_ster · « **Reply #23 on:** October 18, 2009, 03:38:08 PM »

Quote from: makattak on October 18, 2009, 01:19:51 PM

Indeed. My wife couldn't STAND listening to him for a few months for that reason. (She loves him now).

I particularly like Mark Levin. He screams at the stupidity so I don't have to. It's cathartic.

If ML is cathartic, savage is manic-depressive.

Stand_watie · « **Reply #24 on:** October 18, 2009, 03:59:07 PM »

Quote from: makattak on October 18, 2009, 01:19:51 PM

Indeed. My wife couldn't STAND listening to him for a few months for that reason. (She loves him now).

I particularly like Mark Levin. He screams at the stupidity so I don't have to. It's cathartic.

Mark Levin's voice and delivery style annoy my ears and bruise my psyche. His philosophy is right on the money though. I'd rather read him, than listen to him. I'd like to see his brainpower combined with Dennis Miller or Dennis Prager or Michael Medved's delivery style.

News:

Author Topic: Limbaugh: "The Baron of Bombast's"? (Read 20529 times)