Rush Limbaugh

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (born January 12, 1951 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri) is a popular American entertainer and radio talk show host. A commentator with a conservative point of view, he discusses politics and current events on his show, The Rush Limbaugh Show. For over 15 years (and continuing as of 2005), Rush Limbaugh has been the most listened-to radio talk show host in the United States and the world, and has an audience estimated by Arbitron at 20 million listeners weekly, the second largest overall radio audience after Paul Harvey.

Philosophy

Conservatism and libertarianism

Rush Limbaugh claims to be a conservative, but his show has sometimes advocated a more libertarian viewpoint. On May 18, 1999, he identified himself as "a conservative/libertarian" in his criticism of a caller who argued that the government should break Microsoft up into smaller companies http://www.self-gov.org/good/a0190.html. Libertarian economist and columnist Walter Williams has been a frequent substitute on his show. Terry Mattingly remarked, "Limbaugh is kind of an in-the-closet Libertarian, trapped with a Bible-believing audience." http://jollyblogger.typepad.com/jollyblogger/2004/06/rush_limbaugh_d.html. Yet, he does not seem to share the libertarian perspective on social issues such as gay rights. Unlike most libertarians, Limbaugh supports the War in Iraq, the War on Drugs and many other policies of the current Bush administration.

Related Topics:
Libertarian - May 18 - 1999 - Microsoft - Walter Williams - Gay rights - War in Iraq - War on Drugs

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Views on homosexuality

In 2003 Limbaugh suggested that the pro-choice movement was promoting an anti-gay rights policy:

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Imagine we identify the gene ? assuming that there is one, this is hypothetical ? that will tell us prior to birth that a baby is going to be gay?. How many parents, if they knew before the kid was gonna be born, was gonna be gay, they would take the pregnancy to term? Well, you don't know but let's say half of them said, "Oh, no, I don't wanna do that to a kid." gay community finds out about this. The gay community would do the fastest 180 and become pro-life faster than anybody you've ever seen. ? They'd be so against abortion if it was discovered that you could abort what you knew were gonna be gay babies. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/827830/posts

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Limbaugh opposed teaching grade school students about homosexuality in 1993 and wrote of gay rights as being special rights. He has made similar statements about transsexuals.

Related Topics:
1993 - Gay rights - Special rights - Transsexuals

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Balance and point of view

Critics decry what they assert is the lack of a balance between liberal and conservative viewpoints on talk radio. Limbaugh's response to this accusation is to claim that most news reporting is liberally biasedhttp://mediamatters.org/items/200508160010http://mediamatters.org/items/200508300005; a common saying of his is "I am equal time." He also does not claim to be a neutral reporter and contrasts his stance with the major news media's claims of objectivity (in the United States). He also has explained himself on occasion as being a commentator and entertainer, not a reporter.

Related Topics:
Entertainer - Reporter

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Limbaugh's satire, especially that of his early years, has been criticized by his detractors. News about the homeless is often preceded with the Clarence "Frogman" Henry song "Ain't Got No Home". For a time, the song "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again" preceded reports about people with AIDS. For two weeks in 1989, Limbaugh performed "caller abortions" where he would end a call suddenly to the sounds of a vacuum cleaner and a child's scream, after which he would deny there was ever a caller explaining that the call had been "aborted." In his references to Ted Kennedy, he often cites Kennedy's alcohol abuse that led to the death of Kennedy's girlfriend at Chappaquiddick, and has nicknamed him "the swimmer". He refers to Robert Byrd as "Sheets Byrd" in reference to Byrd's former membership in the KKK. (An extensive list of Limbaugh's nicknames for various political figures may be found at The Rush Limbaugh Show). Although controversial, his satire has been praised by his supporters and fans.

Related Topics:
Satire - Clarence "Frogman" Henry - AIDS - Ted Kennedy - Alcohol - Chappaquiddick - Robert Byrd - KKK - The Rush Limbaugh Show

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On the topic of what demographic Limbaugh appeals to, Conservative economist Thomas Sowell states:http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20030221.shtml

Related Topics:
Conservative - Economist - Thomas Sowell

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:The liberal vision of Rush Limbaugh is that he is some guy who appeals to ignorant rednecks and Joe Sixpacks. As with so many things that liberals believe, they feel no need to test their notions against reality. Actual research on Rush Limbaugh's audience has shown that they are above average in both education and income.

Related Topics:
Redneck - Joe Sixpack

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:Anyone who actually listens to Rush's show knows that those listeners who phone in are usually pretty savvy folks, and clearly a cut above those who phone in on other radio or television programs. But many liberals have such a sense of superiority that it would never occur to them to listen and learn.

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Sowell may have been referencing surveys such as those from the Annenberg Public Policy Center. http://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/03_political_communication/archive/1996_03_political-talk-radio_rpt.PDF

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