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Rush Limbaugh selection in children’s book competition causes a stir

haymarket said:
I watched William F. Buckley for a very long time and he seemed to present rational conservatism without the blowhard over-the-top hyperbole in-your-face factor that Limbaugh uses. Same with George Will or John Leo - both of whom I always enjoyed reading or seeing on TV.
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Buckley went to Yale, and got an Education, Rush dropped out of a Missouri community college. Rush will never have the ability to be rational and classy and well rounded like Buckley. You can't buy the education and experience Buckley had...you have to actually do it. Rush is a disc jockey who found his schtick, but it is schtick, first and foremost
 
beefheart said:
Buckley went to Yale, and got an Education, Rush dropped out of a Missouri community college. Rush will never have the ability to be rational and classy and well rounded like Buckley. You can't buy the education and experience Buckley had...you have to actually do it. Rush is a disc jockey who found his schtick, but it is schtick, first and foremost
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Good points. I see where his mother said he failed everything at the local CC. But I guess he more than made up for it in his bank account. I still prefer Buckley, Will and Leo however.
 
nota bene said:
I'm not a Limbaugh fan, but I also don't like false claims. Not willing to research all the quotes, but I did check with Snopes about some of them. snopes.com: Rush Limbaugh 'Racist Quotes' List
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Per Snopes, only one of the quotes ("They're 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?") I used is listed as undocumented. Several of the others were verified.
 
bubbabgone said:
Since you appear to have some kind of irrational confidence in a source that admits up front that they got their "information" from emails submitted to them, we can leave that be.

But let's recap, shall we?
  • You said Limbaugh makes provocative comments that inspire groups who are prone to violence to commit such violence. The implication being that such groups are violent and from the radical Right.
  • I list actual groups who are not only prone to violence but do & did actually commit such violence. Those groups are unmistakably from the radical Left.
  • You then respond with a link to a site that lists comments allegedly made by Limbaugh that I gather you meant to suggest had encouraged violence of some sort or other to be committed by somebody or other. Yet you listed neither.

That's whatcha call disjointed nonsensical thinking born of partisan fervor and you should have that looked at.
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I said "He doesn't advocate genocide, but he does promote the type of nationalist, racist and sexist attitudes and ideologies that tend to cause violence." Is that really in question? The widely reported Sandra Fluke quote alone is evidence that he is a deceitful scumbag.
 
haymarket said:
I watched William F. Buckley for a very long time and he seemed to present rational conservatism without the blowhard over-the-top hyperbole in-your-face factor that Limbaugh uses. Same with George Will or John Leo - both of whom I always enjoyed reading or seeing on TV.
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I have also read and watched Buckley, Will, and Leo and also have enjoyed their particular perspectives as well as probably 40 or 50 others ranging from liberal to conservative that I could name over the years. I also can probably name 40 or 50 different authors I have enjoyed over the years, many with vastly different styles and points of view. I can probably name 40 tor 50 different actors/actresses from pure comedians to the most serious dramatic types that I have appreciated and enjoyed their performances. I love a good intelligent comedy and I appreciate action flicks and great serious dramatic movies. I can name a lot of great painters I have appreciated ranging from Van Gogh to Michelangelo to Rembrandt to Grandma Moses to Picasso to Georgia O'Keefe to my granddaughter, all with very different styles and points of view. I enjoy classical, jazz, country, blues, rock, pop, contemporary, new age, gospel, and bluegrass music and some other that don't fit those categories. I have studied and appreciate gothic, Victorian, contemporary, territorial, and other architecture.

So your point is?. . . .
 
AlbqOwl said:
I have also read and watched Buckley, Will, and Leo and also have enjoyed their particular perspectives as well as probably 40 or 50 others ranging from liberal to conservative that I could name over the years. I also can probably name 40 or 50 different authors I have enjoyed over the years, many with vastly different styles and points of view. I can probably name 40 tor 50 different actors/actresses from pure comedians to the most serious dramatic types that I have appreciated and enjoyed their performances. I love a good intelligent comedy and I appreciate action flicks and great serious dramatic movies. I can name a lot of great painters I have appreciated ranging from Van Gogh to Michelangelo to Rembrandt to Grandma Moses to Picasso to Georgia O'Keefe to my granddaughter, all with very different styles and points of view. I enjoy classical, jazz, country, blues, rock, pop, contemporary, new age, gospel, and bluegrass music and some other that don't fit those categories. I have studied and appreciate gothic, Victorian, contemporary, territorial, and other architecture.

So your point is?. . . .
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My point is the idea behind that old Stones song - "It's The Singer Not the Song" from that terrific DECEMBER'S CHILDREN album. Delivery counts for a great great deal in that business. Someone like Buckley comes off as intelligent and educated and can even come off as bit of a snob at times because he does it with sincerity and a smile and it works. Will has perfect delivery and he rarely comes off as offensive.

Limbaugh, on the other hand, tries to offend and tries to do so at every opportunity. He got where he is by people talking about him around the water coolers and its a lot like Stern and other shock jocks. I suspect Buckley would have wanted nothing to do with the man and would have considered him crass and crude and someone whose brashness and lack of tact would hurt the greater cause in the long run despite his financial success.

When he went national in the late 80's I used to listen to him a bit since he advertised himself as a conservative and I had enjoyed Buckley and others we already mentioned. When the administrations changed parties, his tone changed noticeably. It did not take a Rhodes scholar to see that he was first and foremost a partisan REPUBLICAN in all capital letters and conservative was a distant second.

Limbaugh found his niche where a marginal audience can be an asset. It is worth nothing that when he got his largest exposure - NFL football - he crashed and burned in very very short order.
 
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Hard Truth said:
I said "He doesn't advocate genocide, but he does promote the type of nationalist, racist and sexist attitudes and ideologies that tend to cause violence." Is that really in question? The widely reported Sandra Fluke quote alone is evidence that he is a deceitful scumbag.
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heh heh ... he really got you going with that Fluke thing, huh.
I had to look it up since I never personally heard him say it.
So tell me, you heard his remarks in their entirety?
Apparently he said some things over a few days.
You heard them all?
What exactly did you hear him say that you can share that warrants such volatile language as deceitful scumbag.
Be specific and thorough.

BTW, your "nationalist" is another's "patriotic" ... you don't object to patriotism do you?
Or would you rather choose to define patriotism in such a way that you can say it's okay.
And I bet when you come right down to it, "racist and sexist attitudes" pretty much means no one can say anything about sex or race that you disagree with or that makes you uncomfortable.
That's it, isn't it.

Further ... you still insist on that "promotion" assertion while I have shown you examples of the "actual" violence perpetrated by the Left.
What inspired that?
Please include examples of actual violent acts encouraged by Rush Limbaugh's radio show.
 
haymarket said:
My point is the idea behind that old Stones song - "It's The Singer Not the Song" from that terrific DECEMBER'S CHILDREN album. Delivery counts for a great great deal in that business. Someone like Buckley comes off as intelligent and educated and can even come off as bit of a snob at times because he does it with sincerity and a smile and it works. Will has perfect delivery and he rarely comes off as offensive.

Limbaugh, on the other hand, tries to offend and tries to do so at every opportunity. He got where he is by people talking about him around the water coolers and its a lot like Stern and other shock jocks. I suspect Buckley would have wanted nothing to do with the man and would have considered him crass and crude and someone whose brashness and lack of tact would hurt the greater cause in the long run despite his financial success.

When he went national in the late 80's I used to listen to him a bit since he advertised himself as a conservative and I had enjoyed Buckley and others we already mentioned. When the administrations changed parties, his tone changed noticeably. It did not take a Rhodes scholar to see that he was first and foremost a partisan REPUBLICAN in all capital letters and conservative was a distant second.

Limbaugh found his niche where a marginal audience can be an asset. It is worth nothing that when he got his largest exposure - NFL football - he crashed and burned in very very short order.
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Marginal audience? He has been No. 1 in his genre for more than a quarter century! Even if I accept your characterization of who Rush is and how he is successful--and for the record, I do NOT accept that--that is impressive. And even if he did happen to be what you see him as being--and I believe you have some of that wrong--what difference does it make? He has been successful as nobody before or during his reign on the airways has been successful. Does everybody have to conform to the style you prefer in order to be credible and valid? I just don't see it that way. He 'crashed and burned' as an NFL commentator for no other reason than he was Rush Limbaugh. Had he been somebody less controversial, what he said that night was so innocuous, it wouldn't even have generated a ripple.

The point I was making is that everybody isn't going to be like you. Everybody isn't going to share your preferences. Everybody isn't going to have the same tastes you do. That is why there is opportunity for so many in the business. That Rush is not George Will or William Buckley is not a character flaw or weakness. He is just different and does things differently than they do.

And for the record, I listen to Rush very occasionally. But since he is on most #1 markets in the nation, I do hear him in the background now and then on my home radio or when driving places. So I am familiar with both him and his style and his content, and I do believe I am as competent as most to evaluate his scholarship.
 
rcart76 said:
I don't give a damn. There is no way I will give this hatemonger a dime. Nor will I even present anything written by him to my children. The man is a disgusting human being. At the end of the day honest or not, you are making this bastard richer.

Lets flip the script....

Suppose Al Sharpton did the same thing and wrote a children's book that is completely honest. Would you give his book the time of day?
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Actually yes I would.
 
Superfly said:
Have you?
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You made a lot of negative comments about it, yet you haven't ever read have you?

Kind of closed minded of you isn't it? Personally I'm more of an open minded person so I'd give something a chance and actually read it before closing the book on it so to speak especially if it's been given good reviews but that's just me :cool:
 
Monserrat said:
You made a lot of negative comments about it, yet you haven't ever read have you?

Kind of closed minded of you isn't it? Personally I'm more of an open minded person so I'd give something a chance and actually read it before closing the book on it so to speak especially if it's been given good reviews but that's just me :cool:
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Sure you would. Did you read the new HIllary Clinton children's book?
 
rocket88 said:
Have you?
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Nope. That's why I'm not shooting it down right off the bat. You didn't answer my question though did you read it or are you just prejudging it based solely on the author? It's okay if you are, not all of us can be open minded people.
 
Superfly said:
Sure you would. Did you read the new HIllary Clinton children's book?
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Nope. But I wouldn't shoot it down based on the author, and I'm a fan of Hillary Clinton so her being the author really wouldn't affect me in a negative way now would it? I can't say the same about Rush but again, it got some good reviews, it actually looks kind of interesting so being the open minded person that I am I would look into it for my kid if I had any of reading age.
 
AlbqOwl said:
Marginal audience? He has been No. 1 in his genre for more than a quarter century!
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So what is his audience? He claims 15 to 20 million based on many years ago. But that has NEVER been proven. Read this

Cenk Uygur: A Challenge to Rush: Prove Your Ratings

LEt us say that Limbaugh has five million people per day who listen to him and most of those are regular listeners. And let us say that there might be as high as a 50% addition on any other day. So that might give him 7 to 8 million different people each week.

Flip that coin. Over 300 million American never listen to him.

If seven million different people had purchased tickets to STAR WARS or LORD OF THE RINGS or HUNGER GAMES, it would be a major flop of HEAVEN'S GATE proportions.

But lets say I am being uncharitable to Limbaugh and his listeners total twice that amount. He still only reaches perhaps 3 to 4 % of the American adults in this nation.


Limbaugh survives because he is in a cheap medium that has a niche audience which is loyal. I would love to see a demographic breakdown on who listens to him and I would be willing to bet they skew very white - much older, very male, more non urban than city folk and hardly in the so called "desired demographic" that advertisers love.

"His genre" is basically a very marginal niche at best.
 
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American said:
Plenty of Republicans are getting elected. Even in the last presidential election, nothing changed. But the numbers aren't looking so good anymore for the Dems, who have alienated the white population to death. The Left has shown nothing but extreme hate for the white population in this country. Then there's Obama's approval rating which I don't think is going to improve very much. I wouldn't count the Republicans out.
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That's one of the most asinine things I've ever read.
 
haymarket said:
So what is his audience? He claims 15 to 20 million based on many years ago. But that has NEVER been proven. Read this

Cenk Uygur: A Challenge to Rush: Prove Your Ratings

LEt us say that Limbaugh has five million people per day who listen to him and most of those are regular listeners. And let us say that there might be as high as a 50% addition on any other day. So that might give him 7 to 8 million different people each week.

Flip that coin. Over 300 million American never listen to him.

If seven million different people had purchased tickets to STAR WARS or LORD OF THE RINGS or HUNGER GAMES, it would be a major flop of HEAVEN'S GATE proportions.

Limbaugh survives because he is in a cheap medium that has a niche audience which is loyal. I would love to see a demographic breakdown on who listens to him and I would be willing to bet they skew very white - much older, more non urban and hardly in the so called "desired demographic" that advertisers love.

"His genre" is basically a very marginal niche at best.
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You can whine and complain and speculate all you want in an effort to diminish Rush's success, but you won't change a single fact:

Arbitron is the standard for radio ratings across the nation and it has put Rush at #1 in ALL major and medium sized markets in more than 600 stations across the nation.

Rush commands and gets the prime midday window for radio listening in every single one of those markets. They don't meet Rush's requirements, they don't get his program.

They are delighted to accommodate his requirements because almost every single station, no matter what its format or genre, who carries the Rush Limbaugh Program moves into the #1 slot in their market no matter where they started. It happened here in Albuquerque. It happened in Amarillo. It has happened time and again across the country.

Rush paved the way to put talk radio on the format and make it the most popular genre of radio. And because he plowed that field, it has provided opportunity for many hundreds, maybe thousands, of others to enter that genre as talk show hosts and facilitators. And even with all those others, some of them brilliant, entering the field, it has diluted his ratings a bit because there are only so many listeners to go around, but he has never lost his #1 rating.

And he has maintained that rating for more than 25 years which is nothing short of amazing.

Hate him if you want to. Join the chorus of haters who can't stand that he is successful and desperately want him to be unsuccessful. Who are willing to join all the dishonest stupid stuff that is said about him and believe those who claim he is failing or never was successful in the first place. Who want to diminish him, minimalize him, negate him.

But the facts speak for themselves. Love him or hate him, appreciate him or not, enjoy his style or don't, appreciate his content or not, you cannot take a track record like that away from him.
 
Hard Truth said:
I said "He doesn't advocate genocide, but he does promote the type of nationalist, racist and sexist attitudes and ideologies that tend to cause violence." Is that really in question? The widely reported Sandra Fluke quote alone is evidence that he is a deceitful scumbag.
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In reality, take a look at the FBI's most wanted list. Its islamists and leftists (environmentalists etc).

Sorry, its the left that has the problem with violence.
 
beefheart said:
Buckley went to Yale, and got an Education, Rush dropped out of a Missouri community college. Rush will never have the ability to be rational and classy and well rounded like Buckley. You can't buy the education and experience Buckley had...you have to actually do it. Rush is a disc jockey who found his schtick, but it is schtick, first and foremost
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Are you a fan of Thomas Sowell? He's a classy and profoundly intelligent guy-but I dont see any love for him from the left.
 
US Conservative said:
Are you a fan of Thomas Sowell? He's a classy and profoundly intelligent guy-but I dont see any love for him from the left.
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Not just Sowell, but you can name dozens if not hundreds of others who are very well educated, thoughtful, intelligent, and classy and who never use insults as an argument who are not only dismissed as unworthy by the Left but are often demonized.
 
AlbqOwl said:
Not just Sowell, but you can name dozens if not hundreds of others who are very well educated, thoughtful, intelligent, and classy and who never use insults as an argument who are not only dismissed as unworthy by the Left but are often demonized.
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Its a shame, the tolerance of the left isn't really tolerant at all is it?
 
Jerry said:
Actually yes I would.
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Well hey Jerry , more power to you. You are probably the only conservative that has the testicular fortitude to say that.

Just like Rush , I think Sharpton is a hatemonger as well. I think he is a civil rights ambulance chaser that I wish would shut up. And by the way, I am a black man who is a liberal.
 
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