Rush Limbaugh

For other uses, see Limbaugh.

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III
File:Rush Limbaugh 2004 cropped.jpg Rush Limbaugh
Born	(1951-01-12) January 12, 1951 Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA
Occupation(s)	Commentator, author, and television personality
Spouse(s)	Roxy Maxine McNeely (div.) Michelle Sixta (div.) Marta Fitzgerald (div.)
Children	none

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (born January 12, 1951) is an American radio talk show host and political commentator. Born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, he is a self-described conservative, who discusses politics and current events on his program, The Rush Limbaugh Show. He has been credited with reviving AM radio in the United States, and is considered to have been a catalyst for the Republican Party's Congressional victories in 1994.

Personal life

Limbaugh was born to Rush Hudson Limbaugh Jr. of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Mildred "Millie" Limbaugh originally from Searcy, Arkansas. His father was a lawyer and a World War II fighter pilot who served in the China-Burma-India theater. The name "Rush" was chosen for his grandfather to honor the maiden name of family member Edna Rush. His family is filled with a number of lawyers including his grandfather, father and his brother David Limbaugh. His uncle, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Sr. is a Ronald Reagan appointed federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and his cousin, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., is Judge on the Supreme Court of Missouri. Rush Limbaugh, Sr., Limbaugh's grandfather, was a Missouri prosecutor, judge, special commissioner and served on Missouri's state House of Representatives from 1930 to 1932. Limbaugh's grandfather was very well respected as one of the "patriarchs" of the Cape Girardeau community. Limbaugh began his career in radio as a teenager in 1967 in his hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri using the name Rusty Sharpe.

Education

He attended Southeast Missouri State University, where he earned a "D" in a speech class. (Some contend it was an "F".) Limbaugh dropped out after two semesters and one summer; according to his mother, "he flunked everything," even a modern ballroom dancing class. This would have normally made him eligible to be drafted for service in the Vietnam War but he was classified as "1-Y" (later reclassified "4-F") due to an undisclosed medical problem thought most likely to be a pilonidal cyst located on the base of his spine.

Relationships

Limbaugh was first married on September 24, 1977 to Roxy Maxine McNeely, a sales secretary at radio station WHB in Kansas City, Missouri. They were married at the Centenary United Methodist Church in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In March 1980, McNeely filed for divorce, citing "incompatibility." They were formally divorced on July 10, 1980.

In 1983, Limbaugh married Michelle Sixta, a college student and usherette at the Kansas City Royals Stadium Club. They were divorced in 1990, and she remarried the following year.

On May 27, 1994, Limbaugh married Marta Fitzgerald, a 35-year-old aerobics instructor, whom he met via the CompuServe online service. They were married at the house of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who officiated. On June 11, 2004, when the couple separated, Limbaugh announced on the air, "Marta has consented to my request for a divorce, and we have mutually agreed to seek an amicable separation. As I said, it's a personal matter and I want to keep it that way. I don't intend to say any more about this on the air." The divorce was finalized in December 2004.

He has no children from any of his marriages.

Professional career and rise to fame

1970s

Following college, Limbaugh moved to McKeesport, Pennsylvania. There he became a Top 40 music radio disc jockey on station WIXZ, a station that covered the Pittsburgh area. In October 1972, he broadcast over Pittsburgh station KQV under the name "Jeff Christie". For the rest of the decade Limbaugh moved around to several radio stations before settling in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1979, after several years in music radio, he took a break from radio and accepted a position as director of promotions with the Kansas City Royals baseball team.

1980s

In 1984, Limbaugh returned to radio as a talk show host at KFBK in Sacramento, California, where he replaced Morton Downey, Jr. The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine—which had required that stations provide free air time for responses to any controversial opinions that were broadcast—by the FCC in 1987 meant stations could broadcast editorial commentary without having to present opposing views. Daniel Henninger wrote, in a Wall Street Journal editorial, "Ronald Reagan tore down this wall (the Fairness Doctrine) in 1987...and Rush Limbaugh was the first man to proclaim himself liberated from the East Germany of liberal media domination."

In 1988, after achieving success in Sacramento and drawing the attention of a former president of ABC Radio, Edward F. McLaughlin, Limbaugh moved to New York City and the talk-format station WABC-AM, his flagship station to this day.

1990s

The program gained in popularity and moved to stations with larger audiences eventually growing to over 650 radio stations nationwide. When the GOP won control of Congress in 1994, one of the first acts by many freshmen (calling themselves the "Dittohead Caucus") was to award Limbaugh the title of "honorary member of Congress" in recognition of his support of their efforts during this period.

Humor columnist and journalist Lewis Grossberger acknowledged that Limbaugh had "more listeners than any other talk show host" and described Limbaugh's style as "bouncing between earnest lecturer and political vaudevillian".

The Rush Limbaugh Show

Main article: The Rush Limbaugh Show

After the shift of music to FM in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Limbaugh's show was first nationally syndicated in August 1988. Talk radio stations, many built around Limbaugh's show, and programming which may be viewed as conservative have now come to dominate AM radio. As of 2005, Arbitron ratings indicate that the show has a minimum weekly audience of 13.5 million listeners, making it the largest radio talk show audience in the United States. Such high ratings have been a consistent hallmark of his show. Relative to all other television and radio programs in the United States, Limbaugh's audience has the highest percentage (56%) of hard news consumers.

The show has had controversies. On the October 23, 2006 edition of Limbaugh's radio show, Limbaugh imitated on the "DittoCam" (the webcam for website subscribers to see Rush on the air) the physical symptoms of actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease and has appeared in political campaign ads for candidates who support a form of embryonic stem cell research he believes may help cure Parkinson's, showing to the viewers what he saw on the commercial he saw, and stated that "He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act.... This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting." He speculated this because of an earlier speech Fox made to Congress where he was supposedly off of his medication to show to the Congress the effects of the disease.

Limbaugh commented on his October 26 show. He said "Okay. I need to apologize. I was wrong, because I speculated he either didn't take his medication, or he was acting - never said the word 'faking'..." He then mentioned that Fox took too much medication because Fox did not appear on Boston Legal looking like that. He mentioned that he had never seen him act like that, and that he doesn't know him personally, so he didn't know how it affected him, other than what he saw on TV. In an interview with Katie Couric later that day, Fox suggested that it was comical to him and other Parkinson's sufferers to imagine titrating the medication to elicit just the desired amount of movement.

Television appearances

Limbaugh's first television hosting experience came March 30, 1990, as a guest host on Pat Sajak's CBS late-night talk show, The Pat Sajak Show. ACT UP activists in the audience heckled Limbaugh repeatedly; ultimately the entire studio audience was cleared. In 2001 Sajak said the incident was "legendary around CBS".

December 17, 1993, Limbaugh appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman. Limbaugh also guest-starred (as himself) on a 1994 episode of Hearts Afire. He appeared in the 1995 Billy Crystal film Forget Paris, and in 1998 on an episode of the The Drew Carey Show.

Most recently, in 2007, Limbaugh has made cameo appearances on Fox News Channel's The 1/2 Hour News Hour in a series of parodies portraying him as the future President of the United States. In the parodies, his vice president is conservative pundit Ann Coulter.

His persona has often been utilized as a template for a stereotypical conservative talk show host on TV shows and in movies, including an episode of The Simpsons (as a conservative talk radio host named Birch Barlow), as "Gus Baker" on an episode of Beavis and Butt-head, as "Lash Rambo" (host of "Perfection in Broadcasting") on an episode of The New WKRP in Cincinnati, and as "Fielding Chase" in the Columbo Mystery Movie Butterfly in Shades of Grey (played by William Shatner).

Television show

Limbaugh had a syndicated half-hour show from 1992 through 1996, produced by Roger Ailes. The television show discussed many of the topics on his radio show, and was taped in front of a live audience.

Cigar aficionado

In the early 1990s, when the cigar boom was gaining momentum, Limbaugh was seen frequently with a cigar in hand and by the end of the 1990s, cigars had become Limbaugh's staple in many public appearances. Often starting segments of his show with the phrase, "amid billowing clouds of fragrant and aromatic first, second, and sometimes third hand premium cigar smoke," cigars became a common topic of discussion. In the spring of 1994, Limbaugh appeared on the cover of the popular magazine Cigar Aficionado and shared the story of his conversion to cigars. He has since been a frequent participant in many events such as "The Big Smoke," hosted throughout the year by the magazine. Limbaugh has participated in many charity cigar auctions hosted by the magazine, and is known to talk frequently with his listeners about his and their cigar interests, preferences and recommendations. "I think cigars are just a tremendous addition to the enjoyment to life."

Other ventures

In 1992, Limbaugh published his first book, The Way Things Ought To Be, followed by See, I Told You So in 1993. Both went to number one on the New York Times Best Seller list; The Way Things Ought to Be remaining there for 24 weeks. Limbaugh acknowledges in the text of the first book that he taped the book and it was transcribed and edited by Wall Street Journal writer John Fund. In the second book, Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily is named as his collaborator.

As a result of his television program, Limbaugh became known for wearing distinctive neckties. In response to viewer interest, Limbaugh launched a series of ties designed primarily by his then-wife Marta. Sales of the ties reached over five million dollars (U.S.) in their initial sales year, but were later discontinued.

2000s

Hearing problems

By August 2001, Limbaugh's listeners had noted changes in his voice and diction. On October 8, 2001, Limbaugh acknowledged that the changes were due to complete deafness in his left ear and substantial hearing loss in his right ear. He revealed that his radio staff was helping him receive calls on his show by setting up a system where he could appear to hear his callers. The system worked well but did not convince all listeners, some of whom noted a long delay between a caller ending his point and Limbaugh responding or Limbaugh occasionally speaking over a caller. At times Limbaugh asked callers to hold on while the caller's comments were typed and shown on Limbaugh's computer monitor.

In December 2001, Limbaugh underwent cochlear implant surgery, which restored a measure of hearing in his left ear. His voice and enunciation returned to normal after the implant. According to his doctors, the deafness was caused by an autoimmune disease.

Some medical experts have speculated that his use of opioids, such as OxyContin and hydrocodone , could have caused or contributed to his hearing problem. Limbaugh's doctors stated that "they were unsure of the exact cause of Limbaugh's hearing loss," but said that "overuse of medication was not a factor."

On February 27 2007, in the BBC Radio 4 program, No Triumph, No Tragedy, Limbaugh explained that his deafness had been caused by a malfunction of his immune system which started attacking and destroying his inner ear. He also explained that he had a full time stenographer in his employment, making notes of everything that was said around him so that he did not miss a word of what was being said.

Sportscasting career

In 2000, ABC considered adding Limbaugh to their Monday Night Football broadcast team before deciding on comedian Dennis Miller instead.

On July 14, 2003, ESPN announced that Limbaugh would be joining ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown show as a weekly analyst when it premiered on September 7. Limbaugh would provide the "voice of the fan" and was supposed to spark debate on the show. On the September 28 episode of Countdown, Limbaugh commented about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb's role in his team's 0-2 start to the season:

Sorry to say this, I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve. The defense carried this team.

On October 1 2003, Limbaugh resigned from ESPN with the statement:

My comments this past Sunday were directed at the media and were not racially motivated. I offered an opinion. This opinion has caused discomfort to the crew, which I regret. I love Sunday NFL Countdown and do not want to be a distraction to the great work done by all who work on it. Therefore, I have decided to resign. I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of the show and wish all the best to those who make it happen.

Prescription drug addiction

On October 3, 2003 the National Enquirer reported that Limbaugh was being investigated for illegally obtaining the prescription drugs OxyContin and hydrocodone. Other news outlets quickly confirmed the investigation.

On October 10, 2003, Limbaugh admitted to listeners on his radio show that he was addicted to prescription painkillers and stated that he would enter inpatient treatment for 30 days, immediately following the broadcast.

Limbaugh has said his addiction to painkillers came as a result of several years of severe back pain heightened by a botched surgery intended to correct those problems.

A subsequent investigation into whether Limbaugh had violated Florida's doctor shopping laws was launched by the Palm Beach State Attorney, which raised privacy issues when investigators seized Limbaugh's private medical records looking for evidence of crimes. On November 9, 2005, following two years of investigations, Assistant State Attorney James L. Martz requested the court to set aside Limbaugh's doctor-patient confidentiality rights and allow the state to question his physicians, stating it was necessary because "I have no idea if Mr. Limbaugh has completed the elements of any offense yet." Limbaugh's attorney opposed the prosecutor's efforts to interview his doctors on the basis of patient privacy rights, and argued that the prosecutor had violated Limbaugh's Fourth Amendment civil rights by illegally seizing his medical records. The ACLU issued a statement in agreement. On December 12, 2005, Judge David F. Crow delivered a ruling prohibiting the State of Florida from questioning Limbaugh's physicians about "the medical condition of the patient and any information disclosed to the health care practitioner by the patient in the course of the care and treatment of the patient."

On April 28, 2006, Mr. Limbaugh and his attorney, Roy Black, went to the Palm Beach County Jail to surrender after a warrant was issued for his arrest on the charge of doctor shopping.[1] According to Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the Sheriff, during his arrest, Mr. Limbaugh was booked, photographed, and fingerprinted, but not handcuffed and then was released after about an hour on $3,000 bail.[2] [3] [4] After his surrender, he filed a "not guilty" plea to the charge. Prosecutors agreed to drop the charge if Limbaugh paid $30,000 to defray the cost of the investigation and completed an eighteen month therapy regimen with his physician.

Limbaugh asserted that the state's settlement agreement resulted from a lack of evidence supporting the charge of "doctor shopping." Under the terms of the agreement, Limbaugh may not own a firearm and must continue to submit to random drug testing, which he acknowledges having undergone since 2003.

Limbaugh has, throughout the years, condemned illegal drug use on his radio broadcast and has stated that those convicted of drug crimes should be sent to jail.

Roy Black, one of Limbaugh's attorneys, stated that "Rush Limbaugh was singled out for prosecution because of who he is. We believe the state attorney's office is applying a double standard."

Philosophy

Defining the conservative movement

Limbaugh made the following comments in an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal in 2005:

• I love being a conservative. We conservatives are proud of our philosophy. Unlike our liberal friends, who are constantly looking for new words to conceal their true beliefs and are in a perpetual state of reinvention, we conservatives are unapologetic about our ideals.
• We are confident in our principles and energetic about openly advancing them. We believe in individual liberty, limited government, capitalism, the rule of law, faith, a color-blind society and national security.
• We support school choice, enterprise zones, tax cuts, welfare reform, faith-based initiatives, political speech, homeowner rights and the war on terrorism.
• And at our core we embrace and celebrate the most magnificent governing document ever ratified by any nation — the U.S. Constitution. Along with the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes our God-given natural right to be free, it is the foundation on which our government is built and has enabled us to flourish as a people.
• We conservatives are never stronger than when we are advancing our principles.

Leukemia and lymphoma telethon

Limbaugh holds an annual fundraising telethon called the "EIB Cure-a-Thon" for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In 2006 the EIB Cure-a-Thon conducted its 16th annual telethon, raising $1.7 million; totaling over $15 million since the first cure-a-thon. According to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society annual reports, Limbaugh personally contributed between $100,000 and $499,999 from 2000 - 2005, and Limbaugh claims to have contributed around $250,000 in 2003, 2004 and 2005. NewsMax reported Limbaugh donated $250,000 in 2006. Limbaugh claimed to donate $320,000 during the 2007 Cure-a-Thon which reportedly raised $3 Million Dollars.

Balance and point of view

In his first bestseller, Rush explicitly describes himself as conservative. And he was sharply critical of broadcasters in all media for claiming to be objective when, as he described it, their bias was overwhelmingly evident. His bias, he says, balances things out.

Limbaugh is highly critical of environmentalism and has disputed human-caused global warming and the relationship between CFCs and depletion of the ozone layer, saying the scientific evidence does not support them. Limbaugh has argued against the scientific opinion on climate change by stating that scientific consensus "is just a bunch of scientists organized around a political proposition. You can't have consensus in science... they think consensus is the way to sell it because, 'Oh, but all these wonderful people agree.'"

Limbaugh supports capital punishment, having said "the only thing cruel about the death penalty is last-minute stays."

On his radio show, news about the homeless has often been preceded with the Clarence "Frogman" Henry song "Ain't Got No Home." For a time, Dionne Warwick's song "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again" preceded reports about people with AIDS. These later became "condom updates" preceded by Fifth Dimension's song, "Up, Up and Away (in My Beautiful Balloon)." In 1989, Limbaugh performed "caller abortions" where he would end a call suddenly to the sounds of a vacuum cleaner and a scream, after which he would deny there was ever a caller, explaining that the call had been "aborted". According to his book The Way Things Ought To Be he was using caller abortions to illustrate "the tragedy of abortion".

Questions about accuracy

Some liberal groups and individuals have questioned Limbaugh's accuracy. In the July/August 1994 issue of Extra!, a publication of a self described "progressive" organization, who some call "liberal media watchdogs," Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), there is an article which lists a number of instances where FAIR believes that Limbaugh's commentary was inaccurate. Others have since joined FAIR in questioning Limbaugh's facts. Al Franken, a self-described "liberal infotainer", wrote a satirical book (Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations) in which he questioned Limbaugh's accuracy, and Media Matters for America, a self-described "web-based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media", has also been critical.

Awards and recognition

Limbaugh was the 1992, 1995, 2000 and 2005 recipient of the Marconi Radio Award for Syndicated Radio Personality of the Year (given by the National Association of Broadcasters), joining the syndicated Bob & Tom Show as the only other four-time winners of a Marconi award. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993.

In 2002, industry's Talkers magazine ranked him as the greatest radio talk show host of all time. Currently, Limbaugh is the highest paid radio syndicator.

March 29, 2007, Limbaugh was awarded the inaugural William F. Buckley, Jr. Award for Media Excellence, by the Media Research Center, a conservative, media analysis group.

Bibliography

• The Way Things Ought to Be (1992) Pocket Books ISBN 067175145X
• See, I Told You So (1993) Pocket Books ISBN 067187120X

Books about Rush Limbaugh

• Arkush, Michael. Rush!. New York : Avon Books, 1993. ISBN 0380775395 :.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
• Colford, Paul D. (1995). The Rush Limbaugh Story: Talent on Loan from God an Unauthorized Biography. St. Martin's. ISBN 0312952724.
• Davis, J. Bradford. The Rise of Rush Limbaugh Toward the Presidency. Norcross, Ga.:MacArthur Pub. Group, c1994. ISBN 0964261901.
• Derych, Jim. Confessions of a Former Dittohead. Brooklyn, N.Y. : Ig Pub., c2006. ISBN 0975251783 (pbk.).
• Evearitt, Daniel J. (1993). Rush Limbaugh and the Bible. Camp Hill, Pa.: Horizon House Publishers, c1993. ISBN 0889651043.
• Al Franken (1996). Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0141018416. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
• Jacobs, Donald Trent. The Bum's Rush: The Selling of Environmental Backlash : phrases and fallacies of Rush Limbaugh. Boise, Idaho : Legendary Pub., c1994. ISBN 096250405X.
• Keliher, Brian. Flush rush. Berkeley, Calif.: Ten Speed Press, c1994. ISBN 0898156106.
• Kelly, Charles M. The Great Limbaugh Con: And Other Right-Wing Assaults on Common Sense. Fithian Press, 1994. ISBN 1564741028.
• King, D. Howard. Rush to Us. Windsor Pub., c1994. ISBN 0786000821.
• Layne, Tom. The Assassination of Rush Limbaugh. Red Ginger Publishing Co., Inc. ISBN 0976851504.
• Mahurin, Cecil. A Public Rebuttal to Rush Limbaugh. Vantage Press, 1993. ISBN 0533107660.
• Perkins, Ray, Jr. (1995). Logic and Mr. Limbaugh: A Dittohead's Guide to Fallacious Reasoning. Open Court Publishing. ISBN 0812692942.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Rahman, Michael. Why Rush Limbaugh is Wrong, or, The Demise of Traditionalism and The Rise of Progressive Sensibility as Perceived. Mighty Pen Pub., 1995. LCCN 95077891.
• Rendall, Steve, Jim Naureckas, Cohen, Jeff (1995). The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error : Over 100 Outrageously False and Foolish Statements from America's Most Powerful Radio and TV Commentator. Written for FAIR. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 1-56584-260-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Seib, Philip M. (1993). Rush Hour: Talk Radio, Politics, and the Rise of Rush Limbaugh. Summit Group, 1993. ISBN 1565301005.
• Tucker, R. K. (1997). The Rules According to Rush : the American people vs. Rush Limbaugh. Bowling Green, Ohio : OptimAmerica ; Chapel Hill, NC : Professional Press, 1997. ISBN 1570873399.
• Varon, Charles. Rush Limbaugh In Night School. Dramatists Play Service, c1997. ISBN 0822215349.

See also

• The Rush Limbaugh Show
• Jargon of The Rush Limbaugh Show

External links

• The Rush Limbaugh Show official site

Other links

• Rush Limbaugh at IMDb
• Rush Limbaugh at the NNDB
• Rush Limbaugh profiled by Media Matters for America