Rush Limbaugh has long bristled at the idea of being considered a radical or an extremist. For those who don’t know much of Rush’s rise to fame – and for those who got in late – you would be wise to look up Rush’s first visit to CNN‘s old point-counterpoint show Crossfire, where he appeared on an episode called “Radio Radicals”. What was most striking was not to see that CNN would consider him a radical, but that it seemed host-on-the-right Bob Novak also seemed to want little to do with Rusty either. Back then, Rush was really just beginning his national ascent, and while he realized he represented something new, he always resisted any notion that he represented the fringe. His first task, and one he seemed genuinely deflated to have to confront, was to persuade the leaders of his own party to treat him with respect. By the time the episode of Crossfire was over, an exasperated Rush finally had to say that if he had known he was being trotted out as an archetype radical, he wouldn’t have shown up at all. In reading his description of his un-invitation from the group seeking to buy the NFL’s St. Louis Rams, I was reminded of that reaction – namely that he wouldn’t have shown up had he known he was going to be treated as such.
Rush’s entire story arc has been a struggle for legitimacy and respect, and it is an aim he seems to have an endless wellspring of energy for working towards. After this episode, I have to wonder if he hasn’t come to the natural end of this narrative, and if any further attempt to position him as anything other than a radical is wasting his time.
Rams takeover leads to controversy far from football field.
If I had to guess, I think Rush initially wanted to avoid the story arc of the last ride of the renegade Conservatives around the candidacy of Barry Goldwater. Senator Goldwater and his followers were unashamed of being on the outs of mainstream politics, including mainstream Republican politics. If the Goldwater wing’s extremism was no vice, the hangover after the big party was no less painful for being the product of (their) virtue. Without Goldwater fighting as he did, with little concern for the mainstream traditions of the political class, there could not have been the near-total collapse of GOP power on the national stage during the mid-60′s – an era that proved to have an extremely long-term impact on the course of the country. The handing over of such a significant victory to LBJ helped launch many of the programs and ideas which modern Conservatism now seems to be all-but a counter-revolution against. By allowing Conservatism to so easily be positioned as outside-the-mainstream, the Goldwater faction put the GOP into recovery mode for the decades immediately following his defeat in 1964. Who could blame Rush for feeling that it was counter-productive to allow Conservatism to be seen as extreme? At this point, who can blame anyone for thinking he failed and is doing for the modern Democrats what Goldwater did for LBJ and the New Society?
By Rush’s own admission, he gave the RINO’s and moderates a pass during the opening years of this decade because the stakes were high. By 2006′s GOP electoral thumpin’, he realized working within the party mainstream brought him no closer to making his agenda the GOP agenda and that he wanted out of any moderate-friendly agenda, refusing to further “carry their water”. Since then, Rush has been more high-profile than ever, and often for comments that absolutely back up his assertion that he is no longer going to do the bidding of a moderate GOP. Rush has had many a flamethrower moment in recent years, some of which -rightly or wrongly – made the kitchen a little too hot for his group of NFL investors. Perhaps out of frustration in finding himself STILL on the outside looking in after all these years on the upswing, Rush came out swinging in the WSJ about his failed participation in the NFL bid, but his piece lacks Rush’s usual laser-focus and seems as confused as the right does in general.
It is sad to see Rush at this point in his career going back to his old boogeymen Al Sharpton and the Reverend Jack-son to explain how he got snagged here. He can’t get out of the first few paragraphs without bringing these two has-beens of American politics front-and-center in his tale of woe. It doesn’t take him too much longer to go after George Soros, another chestnut from the old playbook. If Rush or his backers really believe that he is currently being brought down by Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and George Soros, then I can only ask what progress it is that they think they have made in the 20+ years Rush has been a leading voice from the right? It is to be expected that any figure on the right being called on the carpet is going to claim to be a victim of the liberal media, but for Rush to do so, after all this time, seems like a cop-out. If the liberal media is who he says they are, and can do what he says they do, why do they allow him to continue in any endeavor?
Rush Limbaugh and Al Sharpton
To then go on and try to make this about President Obama, and repeat the “Obama’s America” line – as if Rush himself is the lone white kid on the back of the bus, being beaten up by/for cheering blacks and undergoing his own high-tech lynching – shows that Rush may not be the big believer in personal responsibility he has long claimed he is. It is a dodge. To claim he is the victim of lies and made-up quotes is too.
At the end of the day, he was done in by business partners who decided they could make more for themselves without Rush than with Rush. Rush’s invitation and dis-invitation was not made by the NFL, it was made by a group of investors who ultimately decided not to carry Rush’s water when the stakes were at their highest for them. It seems to be a business decision first and foremost – and I don’t imagine Rush would insist business decisions need to be fair.
However, if Rush’s current explanation, and that of his patrons at the WSJ, is right, and the responsibility really belongs to the usual suspects – who have always been out to thwart his arrival – then any message about personal responsibility from Rush has to be wrong.
Related posts:
Rudy Grahn Jr. is a former talk show host turned writer turned analyst who currently writes primarily on the personal on his weblog Rudayday.com. Rudy is also a digital photographer whose work has been featured on PBS, NBC, and web outlets like BoingBoing.com and The Morning News. His nickname “Rudayday” was conferred upon him by John Romano in the 20th Century. Rudy Grahn article archive.
