Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh may be America's most prominent bumper sticker partisan. The splenetic talk show host is master of the baneful buzz word, and unquestionably infamous for perjoratives such as feminazi and NAG. Limbaugh intentionally defines these terms to be the most hurtful. For example, his negative connotations for both feminazi and NAG were reinforced with this vile attack: "love your body, 'because nobody else does'."

Limbaugh preaches such noxious poison into the right wing echo chamber for 780 hours each year, over more than 600 radio stations. Pundits, newspaper columnists, cable television hosts, bloggers, and assorted ditto heads across the country echo Limbaugh's talking points each and every day. There is no comparable propagandist on the left. No left wing pundit has a similar following, and no U.S. politician — representative, senator, nor president — has ever enjoyed such a platform. We ignore Limbaugh's perverse impact on politics at our peril.

Many of Limbaugh's favorite buzz words are intrinsically offensive. Others are offensive only in their use and potential for abuse. For example, Rush seems to like the word "disown":

"Obama has disowned his white half. He's decided he's got to go all in on the black side." —Rush Limbaugh

"Obama denounced Don Imus, but won't disown Reverend Wright." —Rush Limbaugh

"This is the essence of Barack Obama, to go around the world, apologize for America, admit what he thinks are the imperfections, to disown and ignore the entire concept of American exceptionalism." —Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh has frequently predicted that the left will disown Obama. Here is Rush hitting that theme this past summer:



They are now beginning to speak among themselves. If Obama loses, it can't be because of liberalism. It can't be because of leftist ideology. It can't be because of socialism. It can't be because of Marxism. So what they're gonna be forced to do if Obama loses is start writing stories explaining the defeat and dumping it all on Obama. —Rush Limbaugh: Quick Hits Page, July 31, 2012

A month ago Rush Limbaugh discussed how the Left would deal with such a defeat. Rush predicted the Left would ruthlessly disown Obama, toss him rudely under the bus, and focus on saving Liberalism. The Left would insist that their own ideas were doubleplus good. Any bad results were entirely Obama’s fault.

Barack Obama was the most far-left Senator we ever had and the most far-left President we ever had. All his friends and family members were Communists, Marxists, or Socialists of some variety. These people cherish the same small set of collectivist ideas, which promise paradise but usually end up causing poverty and misery, except for themselves.

As one example of Limbaugh's nefarious influence, today a right wing website (that I won't bother linking to) rehashed this bile:The same article echoes Limbaugh's attempts to falsely pigeon-hole Obama:In fact, many on the left consider Obama to be more conservative than progressive, and far more capitalist than collectivist. That said, is the left really any more suspicious of Obama than the right is of Romney? Given the campaigns we've witnessed to date, can such claims by right wing nutters be anything other than projection

In fact, Limbaugh has also claimed,



If Obama wins, let me tell you what it's the end of: The Republican Party. —Rush Limbaugh As recorded in a Daily Kos Diary by Richard Myers: Rush Limbaugh's great idea

Rush Limbaugh's talk radio career is in a slow downward spiral in part because of the activism of consumers, volunteers, and activists who seek to hold Rush accountable for his hate speech. One very active group in this cause is Flush Rush on Facebook. Flush Rush and other, similar groups use the StopRush Database to inform advertisers about where their ads are appearing. Please consider joining. Small donations are also accepted to fund data storage; visit StopRush for more information.

if Romney loses the election, as predicted by Limbaugh himself. Disown, anyone?