Rush haters don't like the dittoheads either

Gallons of ink and a like quantity of electrodes were expended commenting on Rush Limbaugh's disclosure that he was addicted to painkillers and going into rehab for 30 days. With all the braying about "hypocrisy" in the ensuing weeks, you would get the impression that Rush is despised by his critics.

Yet it isn't just the bombastic radio talk show host they loathe. To be sure, Limbaugh emerged as one of Bill Clinton's most effective critics – perhaps the most effective – in the 1990s and remains the bane of liberals everywhere. Plenty of talk radio's voices have little reach beyond the studios they fulminate in, but when Rush makes a statement even Democratic congressional leaders often feel the need to respond.

But many anti-Limbaugh jeremiads are not aimed solely at Rush; indeed, they drip with contempt for his roughly 20 million listeners. Ever since he burst onto the national scene, liberals and elitists of every stripe have spoken derisively about the "dittoheads" that form his adoring audience, casting them as deluded masses that have been deceived into supporting a nefarious right-wing political agenda. Limbaugh himself has picked up on this, with his famous quips referring to his listeners as "mind-numbed robots."

Of course, much of the mainstream press would have you believe that his fans aren't in on the joke. In Newsweek, Evan Thomas likened Limbaugh not just to Elmer Gantry but also the "Wizard of Oz," implying that he had his audience fooled into believing he is something that he is not: "The man behind the curtain is not the God of Family Values but a childless, twice-divorced, thrice-married schlub whose idea of a good time is to lie on his couch and watch football endlessly."

As harsh as this may be toward Limbaugh, at least he is given a certain amount of backhanded credit for being able to pull off this act. What can be said for the listeners dumb enough to believe it? Thomas helpfully explained, "When Rush Limbaugh declared to his audience that he was ‘your epitome of morality and virtue, a man you could totally trust with your wife, your daughter and even your son in a Motel 6 over night,' he was acting." The average Limbaugh listener would have to choke back the impulse to say "no s—t." But Thomas (in what was incidentally a straight news story to which Eleanor Clift contributed, not an opinion piece) proclaims in the penultimate sentence, "Limbaugh's long-running act as a paragon of virtue is over."

It isn't enough to write a story about a famous but flawed man struggling with weaknesses even his closest friends didn't know he had. The underlying tone is that this also is a reflection on his audience, whose alleged naiveté has now been exposed for the entire world to see just as much as Limbaugh's prescription drug abuse. Rush might describe what they are getting at this way: "You fools! You believed in him and now we know that he is a druggie! Not only should you rethink your support for this man and his hate-filled intolerant message, but you should also admit your poor political judgment. It is time for you to reevaluate your politics, your values and every opinion you have that you formed in agreement with Rush, because his hypocrisy has refuted it all!"

The reality is that it has always been clear that large parts of Limbaugh's persona were an act and that his lines about being the "epitome of morality and virtue" with "talent on loan from God" were tongue-and-cheek. More importantly, the overwhelming majority of his listeners knew it. While a champion of God and country, Limbaugh never pretended he was not a sinner. Many of his conservative Christian fans – and critics – have always faulted him for being too secular, too inside-the-Beltway and insufficiently moralistic in his outlook.

While personalities like Limbaugh always attract uncritical admirers and sycophants, the bulk of his audience isn't comprised of people whose views were formed by what they hear on talk radio. On the contrary, Rush struck a cord with so many millions because they liked hearing somebody say things they already agreed with, things they weren't hearing anybody else in the broadcast world say. Although rivals and copycats have since arrived, Rush has won listeners' loyalty because for most of them he was the first and also because he has established the strongest brand name over time.

It's as simple as that. People who were tired of hearing their beliefs ridiculed, their values torn down and their opinions marginalized found Limbaugh to be a breath of fresh air. He was willing to speak up in agreement with Americans whose opinions weren't well represented in newsrooms, university classrooms or popular culture. Unlike his program, none of these other forums came clearly marked as purveyors of opinion. Consider that one of his biggest critics, Al Franken of Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot fame, did not come from the pages of some obscure leftist periodical. He was a writer for the mainstream comedy hit "Saturday Night Live."

It's especially important to remember that Rush really became a household name at the onset of the Clinton years. This was a time when it seemed as if everyone had forgotten about the accomplishments of Ronald Reagan, the Democratic Party looked not just resurgent but ascendant and Clinton was being received as the political equivalent of a rock star. Millions of people in red-state America did not agree with this new conventional wisdom and yearned for a spokesman to challenge it and communicate their views.

When Limbaugh rose to the challenge, many liberals responded with anger at the spokesman and fear of the people being spoken for. They treated ordinary conservative Americans as a malevolent force whipped into a violent frenzy by demagogic leaders, a collection of rednecks, bumpkins and militia members congregated together in fly-over country. This view was reflected when the media described the religious right as "poor, uneducated and easy to command" and tried to reduce the 1994 election results that gave Republicans control of both houses of Congress to a temper tantrum by "angry white males."

Rush isn't perfect. He can be simplistic, excessively partisan and sometimes wrong. I agree with those who hope that this episode prompts him to rethink the notion that the government can stamp out drug use at gunpoint by putting people with personal problems in jail. But his shortcomings don't diminish his talents as a performer and communicator.

It's obvious that a lot of Rush's critics just don't get him. They take his shtick a lot more seriously than most of the dittoheads do. But it is more disturbing how little they understand that vast section of America that votes Republican, believes in traditional values and prefers free enterprise to big government. You have to wonder how some of these elites can speak out in the name of "working families" and yet find so many of them so alien.

The more neurotic liberal types, the ones having nightmares every night about brown-shirted Limbaughoids taking over the country, tend to be rather mentally unbalanced. Rush flirted with the verbal margins of propaganda and ridicule in ways which set them off into paranoid hysterics. The people who want a population control culture-of-death tyranny so bad they wet their pants over the the supposedly "mean-spirited" comments of Limbaugh, the ones who wanted it so bad they were willing to look the other way when a grotesque hillbilly rapist was their president, these people will always find some way to divert attention from their own bizarre abnormalities.

Arnold Schwarzenegger will become their next "biggest threat" to liberal domination. It never ends. Rush Limbaugh was never the leader of the conservative movement. The frenetic libs chose him as their favorite whipping boy because he was an easy target for oversimplifying what the liberal vs. conseravtive battles are really about. They were never about Rush Limbaugh. His personal problems are his own. The liberal piling on Limbaugh reveals a lot more about their personal problems than his.

That John Kerry has decided he is running against Rush Limbaugh for the presidency reveals quite a lot about the abnormalities of the liberal brain. Al Franken, Barbara Streisand, Alec Baldwin, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton...if they represent America, it doesn't matter how many pain pills Rush pops. Their pills are much too hard to swallow. People who wanted to take it up the a_ _ from Bill Clinton are in no position to lecture to anyone about morality or correct behavior.

Great article. It is amusing that so many of Rush's critics do not seem to know what he is all about. Even dullards like Ted Koppel practically called Rush Limbaugh "hate radio". What he said was: "I don't want to call it hate, but..." One wonders if Koppel actually ever took the time to tune in to one of Limbaugh's brodcasts. Limbaugh is a satarist who pokes fun at things -especially pointing out the hypocracy of the Demos. But many anti-Limbaugh jeremiads are not aimed solely at Rush; indeed, they drip with contempt for his roughly 20 million listeners. Ever since he burst onto the national scene, liberals and elitists of every stripe have spoken derisively about the "dittoheads" that form his adoring audience Here is something elese that the critics do not seem to get. Dittoheads are not "mind numbed robots" & not even necessarily adoring fans. Here is how Rush explained it.

It does not mean, "Rush, you are right and I agree with everything you say." Dittos simply means, "Rush, I love the show, don't ever stop."

Dittos is an abbreviation for what was eating up valuable broadcast time at the beginning of each phone call. When someone gives me a dittos, or even a mega dittos, that doesn't mean they agree with me, it just means they like the program and enjoy listening. Even liberals can give me dittos.

Now that we have established the ditto definition, have you ever wondered where the word came from in the first place - how it all started, by who, and that sort of thing? Well, it's kind of like the American Revolution as far as who fired the first ditto. But I'll tell ya, when we hit the airwaves on August 1st in 1988, it was the broadcast heard 'round the country, and now the world.

It was unlike any other program out there nationally and people just gravitated to it. Every caller began by saying, "Rush, this is the greatest thing I've ever heard, don't ever stop doing what you're doing, just keep it up." Of course, I liked hearing it, so I let the compliments keep rolling in. This went on for months until one day some guy hung up after saying, "This is the greatest show, Rush, whatever you do keep it up and don't stop." The next caller was a woman who said, "Dittos to what that guy just said," and soon dittos became a practical way to save time, it became shorthand for, "Boy, this is the greatest show I've ever heard, and don't ever stop." You can hear more about "Dittos" in the link below, along with the definition of a dittohead. You may be one and not even know it - even you liberals!

From Rush Limbaugh.com.

The reality is that it has always been clear that large parts of Limbaugh's persona were an act and that his lines about being the "epitome of morality and virtue" with "talent on loan from God" were tongue-and-cheek. More importantly, the overwhelming majority of his listeners knew it.

Indeed. Much of those bombastic lines are shtick which is likely based on Leftist idioms & caracatures. For example: one editorialist called Limbaugh "the Patriotism Police". Which Rush then used this line on his show in referene to himself -all done tongue-and-cheeck. When Lefties complain about his satirical use of these idioms, they do not seem to realize that Rush is making fun of them. While a champion of God and country, Limbaugh never pretended he was not a sinner. Many of his conservative Christian fans – and critics – have always faulted him for being too secular, too inside-the-Beltway and insufficiently moralistic in his outlook. Indeed. Rush is even a fan of The Sopranos & uses some "blue" language now & then on his program. Rush is not a religious brodcastor delivering a sermon. He is more of a sataritst with a political bent. It's obvious that a lot of Rush's critics just don't get him. They take his shtick a lot more seriously than most of the dittoheads do. But it is more disturbing how little they understand that vast section of America that votes Republican, believes in traditional values and prefers free enterprise to big government. You have to wonder how some of these elites can speak out in the name of "working families" and yet find so many of them so alien. Well said. I myself am critical of Rush in areas -such as his Lincoln worship & pro war views- but anyone listening to his program can tell that he is a satarist.

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