Rush Limbaugh Exposed?

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: DAILY CALLER

URL: http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/30/rush-limbaugh-exposed/

by: Matt K. Lewis



I keep struggling to come up with the right metaphor to describe the call Rush Limbaugh took from “Rick from Los Angeles” yesterday. (If you haven’t heard the above segment, you should.) On one hand, it reminded me of Jack Nicholson’s You’re damn right I ordered the code red! moment in A Few Good Men. In both cases, someone else—an attorney in the movie and a talk radio caller in the Rush situation—prompted a rare moment of honesty, which turned out to be a personal indictment.

But that’s not quite right either. Nicholson’s character (Colonel Jessup) was angry at the line of questioning. Limbaugh might’ve been flummoxed by the questioning, but he wasn’t angry.

And there’s another reason the Nicholson analogy fails. As Conor Friedersdorf’s title suggests, Limbaugh’s comments demonstrate that he had misled his own audience. Conversely, Col. Jessup was willing to bullshit the civilians and a Navy lawyer, but that was, after all, for their own good. Jessup’s sense of loyalty was to his men and his country. He felt the ends justified the means.

In a sense, Limbaugh was exposed as “the man behind the curtain” from The Wizard of Oz, not the man who ordered the “code red.”

Whatever the appropriate analogy, I don’t think this will constitute the “end” of Rush Limbaugh—there won’t be any “scene” where he is led out of the courthouse in handcuffs—but I do think this moment might matter. Of course, not everyone agrees. On Twitter, I’ve been debating some smart political observers who have differing opinions on what this all means:

@mattklewis Rush will face no consequences for yesterday’s call

— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) August 30, 2016

@allahpundit @mattklewis Not now of course, but if Trump loses badly Rush will likely be retired or totally irrelevant by 2020.

— John Ziegler (@Zigmanfreud) August 30, 2016

For those who think that nothing matters, I would point to July 19, 2016, the day Roger Ailes’ ouster became evident—and the day Donald Trump became the official Republican nominee for president.

Here’s how it works: For a long time, nothing seems to change. But what we don’t notice is accretion. Eventually, there’s a tipping point. Neither of these events were predictable. Both seemed highly unlikely a year ago.

Rush Limbaugh’s response to “Rick from Los Angeles” on August 29 might end up on the list of important dates that (at best) leads to the demise of the Con$servative Entertainment Complex, and (at worst) leads to the end of the conservative movement as we know it.

For me, this is bittersweet. As I wrote in my book, I grew up a fan of Limbaugh. But a year ago, I basically begged him to stand up to Trump, arguing that he was abdicating his responsibilities if he failed to do so. If this keeps up, there might not be too many Rush babies in the future.

[musiclady]

That's the first time I've actually listened to Rush's response to Rick's cogent call, and appropriate questions to him.

It's almost embarrassing to hear him, in arrogance and condescension, claim he never took Trump seriously, when, at the time, he was cheerleading for Trump at every turn, and never once said he didn't take Trump at his word.

He has lost ALL credibility, and it's a relief for me to no longer be a Rush listener.

He's a complete hypocrite.

[geronl]

That's the first time I've actually listened to Rush's response to Rick's cogent call, and appropriate questions to him.

It's almost embarrassing to hear him, in arrogance and condescension, claim he never took Trump seriously, when, at the time, he was cheerleading for Trump at every turn, and never once said he didn't take Trump at his word.

day after day he defended Trump from conservative callers, and he says he never took Trump seriously??

[musiclady]

day after day he defended Trump from conservative callers, and he says he never took Trump seriously??

I know.  It's unbelievable.

There were times that I disagreed with Rush, but I never thought him to be dishonest.

This is an outright lie.

I have no idea, no matter how arrogant he is, how he expects to recover from what he is doing now.

[SirLinksALot]

I know.  It's unbelievable.

There were times that I disagreed with Rush, but I never thought him to be dishonest.

This is an outright lie.

I have no idea, no matter how arrogant he is, how he expects to recover from what he is doing now.

Hmmmm... Perhaps his previous wives know something we heretofore, did not...

[geronl]

I have no idea, no matter how arrogant he is, how he expects to recover from what he is doing now.

I feel the same about FR. I just do not see how it can recover, by that I mean become an actual conservative forum again

[musiclady]

Hmmmm... Perhaps his previous wives know something we heretofore, did not...

A valid point.  There's something terribly amiss here.....

[Axel]

That's the first time I've actually listened to Rush's response to Rick's cogent call, and appropriate questions to him.

It's almost embarrassing to hear him, in arrogance and condescension, claim he never took Trump seriously, when, at the time, he was cheerleading for Trump at every turn, and never once said he didn't take Trump at his word.

He has lost ALL credibility, and it's a relief for me to no longer be a Rush listener.

He's a complete hypocrite.

Cheerleading for Trump at every turn? Limbaugh was definitely a Cruz guy before Trump became presumptive nominee, and he was reticent to support him. Once he gave him his support though, he has been staunch and unwavering.

[Wingnut]

I liked the Rush Baby notation.  Those are long gone due to infertility of the last generation.

[musiclady]

Cheerleading for Trump at every turn? Limbaugh was definitely a Cruz guy before Trump became presumptive nominee, and he was reticent to support him. Once he gave him his support though, he has been staunch and unwavering.

You must not have listened much in the primaries.  Cruz barely got a mention.  Trump got ceaseless praise.

I stopped listening to Rush after decades because he proved he never meant what he said about conservatism's being the answer.

He was cheerleading for Trump at every turn LONG before he became the nominee.

[Idiot]

Cheerleading for Trump at every turn? Limbaugh was definitely a Cruz guy before Trump became presumptive nominee, and he was reticent to support him. Once he gave him his support though, he has been staunch and unwavering.

Rush was a huge Cruz supporter.  I think Rush is just going through the motions supporting Trump only because he has a (R) by his name.  Rush hasn't come to the point yet where he disses the party.  Rush was just being honest about Trump. 

Rush is purely entertainment anyway..........

[skeeter]

Rush was a huge Cruz supporter.  I think Rush is just going through the motions supporting Trump only because he has a (R) by his name.  Rush hasn't come to the point yet where he disses the party.  Rush was just being honest about Trump. 

Rush is purely entertainment anyway..........

Don't think I'd call Rush a huge Cruz supporter, at least not during this campaign. He acknowledged Cruz was the conservative of the bunch, but he never went any farther than that. It seemed to me Rush was far more impressed with Trump and his ability to say anything without consequence among his supporters.

[Axel]

You must not have listened much in the primaries.  Cruz barely got a mention.  Trump got ceaseless praise.

I stopped listening to Rush after decades because he proved he never meant what he said about conservatism's being the answer.

He was cheerleading for Trump at every turn LONG before he became the nominee.

That's just simply not true.

http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/02/10/rush-limbaugh-ted-cruz-is-the-closest-in-our-li/208509

From Feb. 10

Rush Limbaugh: Ted Cruz "Is The Closest In Our Lifetime We Have Ever Been To Ronald Reagan"

RUSH LIMBAUGH (HOST):  Now about Cruz and his being self sufficient, there is no question about that. Here, let me just say something right off the bat, and I've said this before, I opened the program with it yesterday. When I saw what Jeb and Kasich were doing in New Hampshire, at the last minute in order to get votes, they were going left as fast as Dion Sanders can backpedal. They were moving left faster than anybody I've ever seen anyone go left. And I opened the program yesterday saying you will never, ever have to worry about that with Ted Cruz. And then I expanded on it, and let me say one -- if conservatism is your bag, if conservatism is the dominating factor in how you vote, there is no other choice for you in this campaign than Ted Cruz. Because you are exactly -- this is the closest in our lifetime we have ever been to Ronald Reagan, in terms of doctrinaire, understandable, articulated, implementable conservatism. There is nobody closer.

From March.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/rush-limbaugh-praises-ted-cruz-221164
Limbaugh: Media hate Cruz for his IQ, intelligence, talent, ability

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/rush-limbaugh-praises-ted-cruz-221164#ixzz4IvXhdNJb
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

The mainstream media can't compete with Ted Cruz's IQ, intelligence, talent and ability, and they hate him for that, Rush Limbaugh declared Wednesday.
Limbaugh vigorously defended the Republican presidential candidate from what he perceived as unfair treatment in interviews in which Cruz explained his call to expand policing of Muslim communities in the wake of the Brussels attacks. "You can practically touch that hatred as it comes out of their mouths when they question him," Limbaugh told his listeners, referring specifically to CBS's Norah O'Donnell, who interviewed Cruz Wednesday morning.
During that interview and others during a morning blitz, Cruz remarked that the New York Police Department had programs to monitor the Muslim community in the city until current Mayor Bill de Blasio ended the practice.
"Why do they hate Ted Cruz so much? Well yeah, partly it’s because he’s conservative. But why hate that?" said Limbaugh, who has not endorsed. "It’s more than—it’s threatening. And I’m just going to tell you in the case of Ted Cruz, every damned one of these people knows full well that they are not in his league in terms of IQ, in terms of intelligence, in terms of talent and ability. They can’t compete with him."
Members of the media then "ignore him," Limbaugh said, and when he does appear for interviews, "they usually resort to tactics of intimidation or putting him down or snark or some such thing to try and mask his intellectual superiority."

"They can’t keep up. They despise him. He’s a threat in that regard. You combine the kind of raw native intelligence Cruz has with his heartfelt conservatism and you have personified what the left fears the most, therefore what they hate, what they despise," Limbaugh continued, adding, "They know they’ll never be able to corral Cruz, they’ll never be able to control him. They will never be able to impugn him intellectually."
The media goes after him "in other ways," Limbaugh said, remarking that they will "do anything to ride and run down his personality or individual characteristic quirks or what have you. But they can’t take him on on substance."
The particular instance of Cruz defending his call for more stringent policing of Muslim communities "is even crazier," Limbaugh averred.
"This is simply the acknowledgment of a program previously put in place by a Republican administration and an NYPD mayor and continued under Obama and Mayor Doomberg, and yet they act like Ted Cruz is proposing something that’s 'never ever' been done, and it’s 'discriminatory' and it’s 'painting all Islamists, all Muslims with a broad brush,'" he said. "It boils over to not to attack Islam. Islam has nothing to do with terrorism. That’s what Obama and everybody in the media apparently want us to believe.”

Rush Limbaugh: What Ted Cruz did in Colorado isn't cheating its Winning

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/04/11/rush-limbaugh-what-ted-cruz-did-in-colorado-isnt-cheating-its-winning/

Now, what happened in Colorado is, I’m sorry to say, it’s not a trick. What happened in Colorado is right out in the open. Everybody’s known how Colorado runs its affairs. Everybody has known. Nobody just chose to look at it. It’s no secret that Colorado was gonna have a convention and they’re gonna choose their delegates before the primary. It’s not a secret. It’s just nobody leaked it. Nobody talked about it. Nobody bragged about it. So it was left to be discovered by people who didn’t know. And it turns out that people on the Trump campaign didn’t know…

So I don’t see Ted Cruz lying and cheating his way to the convention. I see a lot of hard work. I see some people who know what they have to do, given where they are. They’re in second place in both the vote count and the delegate count. They’re serious about winning. The Cruz team is serious about winning. They have made themselves fully aware of how the process works, and they’ve been out working it for quite a while. They went into Louisiana where Trump scored a massive win but they’ve come out of there with many more delegates than, by appearances, they should have.

Ted Cruz had goals. He worked the problem ’til he got the result he wanted. What he’s demonstrating, folks, he’s demonstrating he knows how to work himself within this insider labyrinth. He knows how to navigate it. He knows how to work it. He knows how to turn it to his advantage. You have to look at this and say, “Okay, what does this tell us about Cruz, if he should become president?“

[Jazzhead]

Rush may not have endorsed Trump, but he certainly legitimized him in the eyes of many who'd otherwise have dismissed him as a game show host. 

In that sense, Rush (and others like Hannity)  can be fairly blamed for Trump's rise and Clinton's election this November.   

[skeeter]

That's just simply not true.

http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/02/10/rush-limbaugh-ted-cruz-is-the-closest-in-our-li/208509

From Feb. 10

Rush Limbaugh: Ted Cruz "Is The Closest In Our Lifetime We Have Ever Been To Ronald Reagan"
From March.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/rush-limbaugh-praises-ted-cruz-221164
Limbaugh: Media hate Cruz for his IQ, intelligence, talent, ability

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/rush-limbaugh-praises-ted-cruz-221164#ixzz4IvXhdNJb
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


Rush Limbaugh: What Ted Cruz did in Colorado isn't cheating its Winning

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/04/11/rush-limbaugh-what-ted-cruz-did-in-colorado-isnt-cheating-its-winning/

Rush said all of these things about Cruz. Which is why I will never forgive him for not taking the necessary next step and being honest about how Cruz compared to Trump as the conservative's candidate. He did not characterize Trump's charges against Cruz as lies, which they were. Instead he professed admiration for Trump's tactics and Trumps seeming imperviousness to media criticism.

[Idiot]

Rush said all of these things about Cruz. Which is why I will never forgive him for not taking the necessary next step and being honest about how Cruz compared to Trump as the conservative's candidate. Instead he said many, many more complimentary things about Trump.

As much as I love Cruz, there was still no way even he, was going to beat Hillary in the general.  I find it very difficult to ever see a conservative as president again.  Kind of hard to admit that fact.   

[skeeter]

As much as I love Cruz, there was still no way even he, was going to beat Hillary in the general.  I find it very difficult to ever see a conservative as president again.  Kind of hard to admit that fact.   

Well, according to the polls at the time he had a better shot at Hilary than Trump did.

And if there was ever a time when the planets seemed aligned for a constitutional conservative president it was this election, as weak as Hillary is.

Given demographic trends I doubt there'll be another such opportunity. Thanks alot Donald.

[ConstitutionRose]

Don't think I'd call Rush a huge Cruz supporter, at least not during this campaign. He acknowledged Cruz was the conservative of the bunch, but he never went any farther than that. It seemed to me Rush was far more impressed with Trump and his ability to say anything without consequence among his supporters.

You just posted exactly what I think.  I could never quite get how he was adamant that Cruz was the most conservative candidate and then spend so much of each show going over what Trump was saying and doing in a manner that I felt was rather admiring. 

[Axel]

Rush said all of these things about Cruz. Which is why I will never forgive him for not taking the necessary next step and being honest about how Cruz compared to Trump as the conservative's candidate. He did not characterize Trump's charges against Cruz as lies, which they were. Instead he professed admiration for Trump's tactics and Trumps seeming imperviousness to media criticism.

Rush did say these things, which is proof that he was cheerleading for both candidates. From my perspective, I was hoping he would get on the Trump train earlier; you'd prefer him never to get on it. Either way, its dishonest to suggest that Limbaugh was just some Trump shill (which musiclady did). He would frequently gush over Cruz and he defended him against the character defamation Trump made.

[musiclady]

That's just simply not true.

http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/02/10/rush-limbaugh-ted-cruz-is-the-closest-in-our-li/208509

From Feb. 10

Rush Limbaugh: Ted Cruz "Is The Closest In Our Lifetime We Have Ever Been To Ronald Reagan"
From March.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/rush-limbaugh-praises-ted-cruz-221164
Limbaugh: Media hate Cruz for his IQ, intelligence, talent, ability

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/rush-limbaugh-praises-ted-cruz-221164#ixzz4IvXhdNJb
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


Rush Limbaugh: What Ted Cruz did in Colorado isn't cheating its Winning

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/04/11/rush-limbaugh-what-ted-cruz-did-in-colorado-isnt-cheating-its-winning/

I didn't say that Rush never acknowledged that Cruz was conservative.  It's just that relative to the number of hours spent on how great Trump was, with absolutely no mention that he was a Democrat and a liberal one to boot, his few mentions of the truth about Cruz were inconsequential.

Hour after hour he praised Trump, never with the caveat that he wasn't even remotely conservative.

If you preferred the liberal Trump to the Conservative Cruz, it probably didn't bother you (clearly it didn't), but anyone who thought that Rush actually believed what he used to claim about conservatism got their eyes painfully opened during the primaries.

Rush loves Trump.  He abandoned Cruz.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

Cheerleading for Trump at every turn? Limbaugh was definitely a Cruz guy before Trump became presumptive nominee, and he was reticent to support him. Once he gave him his support though, he has been staunch and unwavering.

You are correct.  I'm not sure what others were listening to.

@Axel

[musiclady]

Rush did say these things, which is proof that he was cheerleading for both candidates. From my perspective, I was hoping he would get on the Trump train earlier; you'd prefer him never to get on it. Either way, its dishonest to suggest that Limbaugh was just some Trump shill (which musiclady did). He would frequently gush over Cruz and he defended him against the character defamation Trump made.

As a professed conservative, the fact that Rush got "on the Trump train" at all is a complete betrayal of every word he ever claimed he believed about conservative principles.

The fact that you're omitting in your analysis, is that Trump is a liberal......... he has the ideology that Rush used to batter on a daily basis.

And now he's head cheerleader for liberalism.

Betrayal.

[skeeter]

Rush did say these things, which is proof that he was cheerleading for both candidates. From my perspective, I was hoping he would get on the Trump train earlier; you'd prefer him never to get on it. Either way, its dishonest to suggest that Limbaugh was just some Trump shill (which musiclady did). He would frequently gush over Cruz and he defended him against the character defamation Trump made.

Except that Rush didn't bother to tell his listeners that Trump was actually lying to us about his immigration policies during the primaries. Why would that be?

[CSM]

That's the first time I've actually listened to Rush's response to Rick's cogent call, and appropriate questions to him.

It's almost embarrassing to hear him, in arrogance and condescension, claim he never took Trump seriously, when, at the time, he was cheerleading for Trump at every turn, and never once said he didn't take Trump at his word.

He has lost ALL credibility, and it's a relief for me to no longer be a Rush listener.

He's a complete hypocrite.

This is the first segment of Rush that I have listened too in a very long time, maybe as long as a year or so.  Yes, he is as intellectually dishonest as many others who are willing to sell their principles down the river, so long as their team wins.  He almost admits as much to this caller.

[catfish1957]

Don't think I'd call Rush a huge Cruz supporter, at least not during this campaign. He acknowledged Cruz was the conservative of the bunch, but he never went any farther than that. It seemed to me Rush was far more impressed with Trump and his ability to say anything without consequence among his supporters.

I think there is a narcissistic streak in Rush too that he realizes he can act like a puppet master in so many ways.  Welding 15,000,000 listeners is a tool not to be taken lightly.  Like in this case, he could have easily slammed Trump as a charlatan in the very beginning, and I believe Trump would have never gotten any traction.

Thanks El Rushbo.