He doesn't believe any of it, as he substantively admits in the youtube video linked here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELRmgJw8muw

I saw this browsing through Fark today. Basically it's a video of him explaining how he makes people mad to keep them listening.

Are the Rush listeners out there OK with this? Before I saw this, I disregarded him as a complete blowhard douchebag, but now I somehow respect his ability to entertain his audience. It's also comforting to know that he really isn't the xenophobic asshole I thought he was.

1/25/2009 4:31:39 PM

Quote :

"He doesn't believe any of it"

He did not admit that. He talks about making an opinion show entertaining by being cocky.

He says "he wants them to get the message",

[Edited on January 25, 2009 at 4:42 PM. Reason : ,]

1/25/2009 4:39:50 PM

Quote :

"It's also comforting to know that he really isn't the xenophobic asshole I thought he was. "

He's at least some of that.....

1/25/2009 4:39:54 PM

Basically he's a professional troll. Only instead of the internet, it's radio.

1/25/2009 4:42:54 PM

yes, but he still believes what he says. If on his death bed he says he was a lib all along, i will admit he pwnt me

1/25/2009 4:46:22 PM

^^I don't think it's that simple.

There's obviously an element of trolling in his shows, but he has a point that he is trying to make, if not hidden and obscured in his idiotic ranting.

[Edited on January 25, 2009 at 4:54 PM. Reason : ]

1/25/2009 4:51:56 PM

Quote :

"he says he was a lib all along"

Not believing some of stuff he says wouldn't make him a liberal, just a middle-of-the-road neo-conservative.
No one's saying he's really a liberal.... He's just not quite as bat-shit-crazy a right-wing nut some once thought...

[Edited on January 25, 2009 at 5:09 PM. Reason : ]

1/25/2009 4:53:54 PM

It's the same type of thing Jim Rome does. You either really like him or you really hate him... I guess that's how you build a very loyal fanbase.

1/25/2009 5:30:06 PM

Quote :

"Not believing some of stuff he says wouldn't make him a liberal, just a middle-of-the-road neo-conservative."

Right.

However, many of his callers and listeners do buy in and believe the things he says, even if he himself doesn't. Those people are truly frightening.

1/25/2009 6:18:54 PM

1/25/2009 7:12:14 PM

Quote :

"However, many of his callers and listeners do buy in and believe the things he says, even if he himself doesn't. Those people are truly frightening."

I listened to this guy all through high school and loved him. I couldn't listen to him on the radio where I went to college, so I went on a 4 year hiatus. I couldn't ever listen to him after that.

I guess the development of critical thinking skills does that to you. Of course, the left has its champions of mindless drivel as well.

1/26/2009 4:51:07 AM

i used to listen to him in middle school and early high school... like every day during the summers when school wasn't in session... my mom thought i was crazy

then i got tired of the paper rattling

[Edited on January 26, 2009 at 8:55 AM. Reason : +]

1/26/2009 8:54:54 AM

you arent crazy?

1/26/2009 9:08:53 AM

Quote :

"He doesn't believe any of it, as he substantively admits in the youtube video linked here."

he did not admit any such thing.

Quote :

"Basically it's a video of him explaining how he makes people mad to keep them listening."

people who are "mad" at Rush, do not listen to him. His program is about preaching to the choir.

Quote :

"I disregarded him as a complete blowhard douchebag,"

he is and always has been

Quote :

" but now I somehow respect his ability to entertain his audience."

then you better give Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity props while you're here.

Quote :

" It's also comforting to know that he really isn't the xenophobic asshole I thought he was."

his online persona matches his personal beliefs. He just amplifies them for entertainment purposes. make no mistake, he believes what he says. its just the selective amplification process that is done to cement his self-made self-caricature in order to drive ratings.

1/26/2009 3:57:39 PM

I was using a bit of hyperbole. The man's not a liberal. But towards the very end he says that people ask him if he really believes the stuff he says -- to which he says "That's for you to figure out." I interpret that as a "No."

I also bet that he attracts many people that hate him, just because they like having something to piss them off. He gets negative calls all the time.

And yeah, I guess Hannity and Coulter are probably smarter than I first gave them credit for, and maybe they do follow the same Rush formula. Especially Coulter. If she really is as bat-shit insane as she acts, then she wouldn't be richer than all of us combined.

1/26/2009 4:41:05 PM

Quote :

"to which he says "That's for you to figure out." I interpret that as a "No.""

are you serious?

1/26/2009 4:53:21 PM

Well, yes, considering he spends the first part of the video dismissing his listeners as marks.

1/26/2009 4:56:47 PM

are you aware of the people who Rush L. counts as friends? the people with whom he eats, the people with whom he takes vacations? the people who he consults, and the people who consult him?

it damn sure isn't Al Franken, Rosie O'Donnell and Babs Streisand.

1/26/2009 4:59:13 PM

Quote :

"I was using a bit of hyperbole. The man's not a liberal. "

1/26/2009 5:00:20 PM

Yes, yes he does.

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/why-does-rush-limbaugh-even-want-n-word-134712626.html

[Edited on July 17, 2013 at 3:23 PM. Reason : ]

7/17/2013 3:11:32 PM

Dammit dude.

7/17/2013 3:22:55 PM

Wow.

This is really the most shocking and mind-blowing thread of the year.

Really, bravo. I don't know where I'd be without this stunning new information.

7/17/2013 5:28:37 PM

^ Thread of which year? 2009?

7/17/2013 7:05:21 PM

Cumulus dropping Rush and Hannity

http://news.yahoo.com/rush-limbaugh-vs-cumulus-media-whos-dumping-whom-063000081.html

7/29/2013 9:52:32 AM

Quote :

" Limbaugh and Hannity have the biggest and second-biggest talk radio shows, respectively, in the country. By a lot."

wow. i'm not a huge rush fan but do enjoy sean hannity. i guess they got too big for their own good and became unaffordable?

7/29/2013 1:15:55 PM

or the fact that one of them became toxic to the biggest sponsors

7/29/2013 1:21:14 PM

Quote :

" "New York radio observers have been expecting for the past year that Limbaugh and probably Hannity would leave WABC, which is owned by Cumulus, for rival WOR," recently purchased by Clear Channel."

i'm sure there is more to the story. or it's a negotiating tactic of some kind. I would bet that both Rush and Sean will still be on the radio.

[Edited on July 29, 2013 at 1:24 PM. Reason : ]

7/29/2013 1:22:50 PM

it would be a glorious day if they werent

i seriously dont know how anyone can stand to listen to either of them

7/29/2013 3:33:26 PM

I'll take Things we already knew for $500, Alex.

7/29/2013 5:03:04 PM

How'd you know that Cumulus was dropping Rush and Hannity?

7/29/2013 5:11:33 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/sean-hannity-extends-contract-paving-switch-wabc-wor-article-1.1453700

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/fox-news-channel-shifts-evening-schedule-article-1.1458883

9/17/2013 10:04:34 PM