{"id":214045,"date":"2016-07-25T18:21:21","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T22:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/172.24.32.11\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/"},"modified":"2017-07-12T09:23:07","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T13:23:07","slug":"28_years_of_confounding_the_left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/","title":{"rendered":"28 Years of Confounding the Left"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: In one week, we\u2019ll be celebrating our 28th anniversary here — and I\u2019ll tell you why we make a big deal of it, folks.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that I\u2019m very proud of, because it\u2019s unheard of.\u00a0 The number of people, the number of radio shows in this business that have been around, well, anywhere close to this length? It\u2019s very rare.\u00a0 And it\u2019s… I mean, the standard rule of thumb in broadcasting is that there\u2019s so much change and so much turnover and so much evolution that there\u2019s this natural recycling of things. One of the badges of honor in broadcasting is being fired.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t been fired, you haven\u2019t actually done anything.\u00a0 It\u2019s strange.\u00a0 In a lot of businesses getting fired, it\u2019s a black mark forever.\u00a0 In this business, it\u2019s… Well, it\u2019s not great, don\u2019t misunderstand. But it\u2019s certainly not limiting as it is in other things.\u00a0 But 28 years with one radio show at number one for all of those years is a rare thing, and it\u2019s all owing to you being there.\u00a0 So that\u2019s why, whenever one of these anniversaries comes up, we at least acknowledge it, because it is something that is unique for this business.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Also, ladies and gentlemen, as you know, because I just mentioned it, one week from today is the 28th anniversary of this program, August 1st, 1988.\u00a0 So we\u2019re gonna be starting our 29th year on August 1st.\u00a0 And I was reading one of our favorite websites today, part of the show prep, NewsBusters from the Media Research Center, and they reprinted excerpts of a blog post from Saturday that appeared at the Washington Monthly.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the headline:\u00a0 “Unhappy Anniversary: Blogger Accuses Limbaugh of Leaving a ‘Sick Stain\u2019 and a ‘Loathsome Legacy.\u2019<\/a>” And here is what it is.\u00a0 The Washington Monthly “has a different choice for ‘the moment when the GOP truly lost it.'”\u00a0 They start by saying Paul Krugman thinks that supply-side economics, when supply-side, when Reaganomics became what the GOP was known for, that began its downfall.\u00a0 (laughing) That led two landslide Reagan wins.<\/p>\n

But the Washington Monthly has a different take, “a different choice for ‘the moment when the GOP truly lost it\u2019: August 1, 1988, when Rush Limbaugh\u2019s radio show went national. By the sheer size of his audience, many millions of Americans have disagreed, answering “Yes” to Time magazine\u2019s question on the cover in 1995: “Is Rush Limbaugh Good for America?” Of course liberals say no.” This is from the Washington Monthly, the blog. “The 28th anniversary of that morbid moment will arrive in just a few days.”<\/p>\n

The blog said that “syndicating the program had been ‘made possible by President Reagan\u2019s elimination of the Fairness Doctrine a year earlier. Limbaugh and his backers had a clear goal of driving the GOP, and America\u2019s overall political\/media culture, as far to the right as possible — and sadly, they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.'”<\/p>\n

The left continues, the Democrats, whoever they are, continue to fail to understand how this program began.\u00a0 I did not have backers.\u00a0 I had a broadcast executive partner who invested, took a risk in some satellite time that he had been given in his retirement package when he left ABC.\u00a0 It was Ed McLaughlin.\u00a0 And he was not a Republican.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know if he was a Democrat.\u00a0 He was a broadcaster.\u00a0 There weren\u2019t any backers.\u00a0 This is a capitalist money-making enterprise.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t any funding here. (interruption) You think they really don\u2019t understand it and just persisted?\u00a0 You know, they may not.\u00a0 I think they may have, two things: such a hatred for capitalism and therefore a lack of understanding about it. And, secondly, a belief in how they function in the real world.<\/p>\n

Everything they do is fundraising.\u00a0 Air America had backers.\u00a0 It was fundraising.\u00a0 Everything they do is fundraising.\u00a0 Every enterprise they have is with backers.\u00a0 Well, we didn\u2019t have any backers. But beyond that, “Limbaugh and his backers had a clear goal of driving the GOP.”\u00a0 Nothing could be further from our minds.\u00a0 Driving the GOP?\u00a0 I wanted to be a radio guy.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want to be a party person, for crying out loud.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re accusing us of driving America\u2019s overall political media.\u00a0 To this day, after 28 years, they fail to understand what drove this program.\u00a0 It was a desire to be a successful media guy.\u00a0 It was simply that.\u00a0 It was nothing more.\u00a0 I wanted to be the most popular radio show in the country.\u00a0 That\u2019s all it was.\u00a0 And I had the opportunity to be honest, which meant I could make jokes about liberals, which just wasn\u2019t done.\u00a0 I could be honest about my conservatism, but there wasn\u2019t any political agenda here.\u00a0 This program took everybody by surprise, including us, at how quickly it was growing and why.\u00a0 They want to make it out to be this brilliantly strategized, flawlessly executed secret plan to take over America\u2019s politics in the GOP.<\/p>\n

Anyway, hang on, \u2019cause it gets better.\u00a0 In the view of the Washington Monthly, “Limbaugh has left a ‘sick stain and [a] loathsome legacy\ud7c0\ufffdThanks to his poisoning of the Republican Party, America was unable to lead –” get this now, because of me “– America was unable to lead in a bipartisan fashion on such issues as health care reform, gun control and climate change.'”<\/p>\n

Well, thank God, if I had something to do with stopping all that from happening, then I\u2019ll take it.\u00a0 But note this guy\u2019s perspective.\u00a0 If I hadn\u2019t come along, the Republican Party would have gladly helped erase some of the Second Amendment, would have gladly helped national health care, and would have easily assisted the notion of man-made climate change.\u00a0 But I came along and I poisoned everything, and I made it impossible for there to be bipartisanship.<\/p>\n

Get this, now. “Considering the international implications of [Limbaugh thwarting bipartisan success on climate change] it can be argued that Limbaugh largely prevented America from leading the rest of the world in transitioning expeditiously away from fossil fuels — a transition that could have spared countless lives over the past 28 years.”<\/p>\n

So you understand that this clown is saying that because I prevented the Republican Party from acting in a bipartisan way to implement the Democrat agenda on climate change, that people have died.\u00a0 I have caused people to die because I stood in the way of eliminating fossil fuel.\u00a0 People are dead because of me, in this sick, perverted view.<\/p>\n

If I hadn\u2019t had this show, and if it hadn\u2019t gone national, we\u2019d probably have everybody in America agreeing with man-made climate change, and everybody would have agreed long ago we need government running health care and we probably would not have the Second Amendment, we would have gun control, and we\u2019d be just on our way to utopia, except for Limbaugh who came along and saw to it that people died.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t through.\u00a0 This guy argued “Limbaugh influenced the current GOP standard-bearer.”\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 From the blog: “Donald Trump became the 2016 Republican nominee by copying Limbaugh\u2019s shtick — appealing to the worst angles of our nature, exploiting extremism, casting scorn upon common sense, prevaricating with pride. It was Limbaugh who removed all traces of logic, reason, decency, civility and compassion from the party of Abraham Lincoln. … It was Limbaugh who led the GOP towards lunacy — and the party may never, ever find its way back.”<\/p>\n

Why, you know, folks, if I didn\u2019t know any better, these Democrats love the Republican Party.\u00a0 They thought the Republican Party was the home of logic and reason and decency and civility and compassion all during the Reagan years, except I know that\u2019s not what they thought.\u00a0 They wrote this same kind of stuff about Reagan that they\u2019re writing about me now.\u00a0 Man, look at all I have done.\u00a0 Look at all the damage.\u00a0 Just a guy on the radio.\u00a0 And here\u2019s this little guy at his blog probably wondering what it\u2019s like to have that kind of power.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: In one week, we\u2019ll be celebrating our 28th anniversary here — and I\u2019ll tell you why we make a big deal of it, folks.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that I\u2019m very proud of, because it\u2019s unheard of.\u00a0 The number of people, the number of radio shows in this business that have been around, well, anywhere close […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n28 Years of Confounding the Left - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"28 Years of Confounding the Left - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: In one week, we\u2019ll be celebrating our 28th anniversary here — and I\u2019ll tell you why we make a big deal of it, folks.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that I\u2019m very proud of, because it\u2019s unheard of.\u00a0 The number of people, the number of radio shows in this business that have been around, well, anywhere close […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jaime Endemano\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/\",\"name\":\"28 Years of Confounding the Left - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-25T22:21:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-12T13:23:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#\/schema\/person\/d3079d9586e3d29b799b4c54e0a0e81e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"28 Years of Confounding the Left\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#\/schema\/person\/d3079d9586e3d29b799b4c54e0a0e81e\",\"name\":\"Jaime Endemano\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f266a78ed0d1df53060e64ebe68c5304?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f266a78ed0d1df53060e64ebe68c5304?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jaime Endemano\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/jaimeendemano\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"28 Years of Confounding the Left - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"28 Years of Confounding the Left - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: In one week, we\u2019ll be celebrating our 28th anniversary here — and I\u2019ll tell you why we make a big deal of it, folks.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that I\u2019m very proud of, because it\u2019s unheard of.\u00a0 The number of people, the number of radio shows in this business that have been around, well, anywhere close […]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jaime Endemano","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#website","url":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg","contentUrl":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/","name":"28 Years of Confounding the Left - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-07-25T22:21:21+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-12T13:23:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#\/schema\/person\/d3079d9586e3d29b799b4c54e0a0e81e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/07\/25\/28_years_of_confounding_the_left\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"28 Years of Confounding the Left"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#\/schema\/person\/d3079d9586e3d29b799b4c54e0a0e81e","name":"Jaime Endemano","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f266a78ed0d1df53060e64ebe68c5304?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f266a78ed0d1df53060e64ebe68c5304?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jaime Endemano"},"url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/jaimeendemano\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214045"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214045"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240459,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214045\/revisions\/240459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}