Rush is Wrong

Rush is Wrong!

I must begin by stating that I have been and still am a fan of Rush Limbaugh. I listen as often as I can and Rush still provides helpful insights into the political realm. However, I and many others cannot abide by his new affiliation with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). This allegiance has alienated the millions of gun owners and hunters who have faithfully supported this radio icon. For clarification, HSUS operates NO shelters for animals. It is an anti hunting lobbying group playing on its perceived affiliation with the local Humane Societies and animal shelters nationwide. The HSUS opposes all hunting and ultimately would like to end the hunting tradition in America.
So why does Rush endorse a group that is directly opposed to a large part of his audience? There are two plausible scenarios. In the first, perhaps Rush truly opposes hunting and underestimated or ignored the backlash. He is, after all, an animal lover as the frequent mention of his cat “Pumpkin” will attest to. The second is that Rush was misled, or made the convenient but erroneous connection with local or state Humane Societies which do such an enormous service with often heartbreaking choices concerning abandoned animals and which no one could oppose. I tend to believe the latter.
As a listener since the late 1980’s I have noticed the drastic difference in the Rush of today. Not to sound like one of the main stream media attacks, but he does seem to be out of touch with the common man. Even during the time of his painkiller addiction and the rehab triumph he still seemed as sharp on the show as usual. Now however, a critical week of tuning in may reveal a sad truth. He seems to be trapped in a bubble of celebrity golf outings and dinners along with his near isolation of his Florida compound. Though he does give speeches to large crowds, how much actual interaction is there? Traveling in his own orbit, he takes any trifling criticism as an attack on him personally. Any event scheduled from noon to three is somehow connected to his show. Even in his patter, which many of us can recite verbatim with him it is evident that something is amiss.
His well rehearsed and delivered rants often still include Peter Jennings and Dan Rather as relevant broadcast media members. Sadly, the ability to follow the salient point of the callers to his show cannot go unnoticed. Though his now frequent misunderstanding of callers may be explainable by his hearing loss, it cannot explain his trouble with misunderstanding events or headlines. Recently Rush believed a British headline referred to President Obama as a mutt. He even read the headline aloud which cited Obama as “the owner of The First Mutt”. It took several minutes before he realized his error. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. I know some will attack me for taking this “one” mistake and insinuating the loss of mental acuity. So be it. Before you do though, listen and I mean really listen to Rush. Not with the ear of a fan or someone listening to an old friend recount a favorite story, but with the ear of someone listening to Rush for the first time. With one week’s critical listening, you too may discover that a beloved radio icon has started down the long road to pasture.