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Rush Limbaugh created modern national talk radio as we now know it. For over three decades he kept at rapt attention—live from noon to 3 p.m. on weekdays—the largest conservative audience in broadcast history. More than 15 million tuned in each week.
Last week, 32 years and more than 23,000 hours of on-air commentary after he went national in August 1988, Limbaugh died of lung cancer at age 70. //
Limbaugh was hated by the left because he was deadly effective in fighting it, and he was feared at times by the Republican establishment—because he could also be deadly effective in fighting it. //
Limbaugh was a master comedian. His pauses, intonations, and mock tones were far funnier than those of our contemporary regulars on late-night television.
He was a gifted mimic, an impersonator, with as wide a repertoire as masters of the past such as Vaughn Meader, David Frye, and Rich Little. Yet Limbaugh worked mostly behind the microphone, without the aid of an onstage presence. //
Limbaugh’s canon was never to talk down to or insult the base. It was natural for him because he grew up with, knew intimately, and felt most comfortable with traditional middle America. //
For someone with a reputation for mockery, I never heard Limbaugh in private or in correspondence fixate on his enemies or blast his former friends. Mostly he laughed them off, and instead turned to what he told hundreds of those who knew him: “How can I help you in any way?” //
Limbaugh’s was a quintessential American success story. It is impossible to imagine any other country producing either him or his career. We are mourning for Rush, but also for ourselves. We are going to miss him and need him more, not less, each day that he is now silent.