Were you as gratified as I was when Rush Limbaugh finally admitted on the air yesterday that he has gotten rich and famous by “pandering to the prejudices and insecurities of marginally literate, unfathomably ignorant jackasses who have to be told what to hate”?

Under assault for his rant against a Georgetown Law School student who dared to incur his wrath by advocating insurance coverage for birth control, and hemorrhaging appalled advertisers from his show, Limbaugh finally took to the airwaves to issue both an apology and an unusually frank and honest self-appraisal.  

I was surprised yet delighted that he finally forthrightly addressed his past criminal charges stemming from his addiction to prescription painkillers,  saying he used them to numb his conscience to the terrible knowledge that his soul had become “a spavined, corrupt, shriveled, pathetic, withered little thing, not unlike my manhood.” That final reference was to a 2006 contretemps in which he was detained at an airport for carrying 29 100-mg Viagra pills in a mislabeled bottle. Yesterday, Limbaugh admitted this was enough Viagra “to arouse a corpse” but noted that he needs the extra stimulation since “the only woman I ever found truly sexy was my mommy, circa 1978.” 

http://live.washingtonpost.com/gene-weingarten-120306.html?hpid=z6

 

It really doesn’t matter what Limbaugh and his cohort say as long as it is outrageous, hurtful and grabs the headlines. He doesn’t even need to be ultra-conservative, Fascist or a neocon, though it helps to be right wing because liberals, in general, are philosophically opposed to such cruel and juvenile behaviour; they will always fight with one hand tied behind their backs.  

If one wanted further proof that Limbaugh is as dumb as a donkey, one need only read his comments after the Pima shooting when he blamed the Democrats, of all people, for the tragedy.  

But it doesn’t matter to many journalists whether he’s a few clowns short of a circus. Indeed, it helps us write our copy or get our soundbites precisely because we don’t need to present a lengthy rational argument with such people. Emotiveness is everything.  

When Australian shock jock Alan Jones used the airwaves of Radio 2GB to stoke the fires of hatred during racist riots in Cronulla in December 2005, he made more headlines and occupied more broadcast hours than anyone urging sanity and restraint. The fact that he was widely condemned only confirmed in his own mind that he was on a crusade and that “they” were ganging up against him, whoever “they” were. In a few short days he went from bully to martyr.  

So where does that leave journalists? We’re damned if we report mindless demagoguery and damned if we don’t.  

 

http://www.thenewsmanual.net/Resources/whats_new_in_news00.html

 

 

Advertisers learned something about Rush Limbaugh’s demographic this week.“Here we thought lots of pleasant, upstanding people were listening to and enjoying the rational things Rush had to say,” dozens of companies said. “Apparently not.”

It turns out that people who really, truly still enjoy Rush Limbaugh’s show are — how do I put this? — jerks.

At least that’s what the new advertisements moving into the vast empty lot of Rush Limbaugh, Inc., implies. “Ah,” you say, as a rat runs over your foot and several people offer payday loans and try to sell you watches from their trench coats. “This place seems to have gone downhill somewhat.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/rush-limbaughs-show-targets-jerks-judging-from-the-latest-ads/2012/03/07/gIQAiwQLxR_blog.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop