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Rush Limbaugh Is Just Getting Started
NY Times Magazine ^ | 03 July 2008 | Zev Chafets

Posted on 07/03/2008 5:23:25 AM PDT by txradioguy

THE ATMOSPHERE in the studio on the morning after our dinner at Trevini was relaxed, even festive. When I arrived around 11, Limbaugh was at his computer, wearing shorts and doing prep.

Augusto, his personal chef, was there, preparing lunch, signaling an occasion. Limbaugh skipped the meal, explaining that he doesn’t eat close to show time for reasons of “burp prevention.” Snerdly, Dawn and the engineer joined me in the dining room, which looks as if it were decorated by Nancy Reagan’s fussy aunt.

Limbaugh’s program that day was, as usual, a virtuoso performance. He took a few calls, but mostly he delivered a series of monologues on political and cultural topics. Limbaugh works extemporaneously. He has no writers or script, just notes and a producer on the line from New York with occasional bits of information. That day, and every day, he produced 10,000 words of fluent, often clever political talk.

There was nothing he said that was startling — he spent parts of the show mocking Obama’s “change” mantra and excoriating those who believe in global warming and talking about foreign affairs. But if you think it is easy turning ancient Greenland, the influence of the teachers’ unions or changes in E.U. foreign policy into polemical comedy that will hold an audience for three hours — try it for 15 minutes at your next cocktail party.

Limbaugh entertains, but he also instructs. He provides his listeners with news and views they can use, and he teaches them how to employ it. “Rush is an intellectual-force multiplier,” Rove told me. “His listeners are, themselves, communicators.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: eib; elrushbo; maharushie; rushlimbaugh
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It's an incredible piece that will be in the NY Times magazine of all places.
1 posted on 07/03/2008 5:23:26 AM PDT by txradioguy
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To: holdonnow; Fudd Fan; Just Lori; tiredoflaundry; TSchmereL; NonValueAdded; LibertyisSpecial; ...

*PING*


2 posted on 07/03/2008 5:27:45 AM PDT by txradioguy (Welcome Home Delta Company 3rd US INF The Old Guard Job Well Done!)
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To: txradioguy

Somebody should tell Rush they repealed that federal law making it a felony to be photographed w/out a cigar to show everybody how cool, powerful, and manly one is.


3 posted on 07/03/2008 5:28:34 AM PDT by Mr. Pumblechook
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To: Mr. Pumblechook
What's with the snide remarks?

Carolyn

4 posted on 07/03/2008 5:32:54 AM PDT by CDHart ("It's too late to work within the system and too early to shoot the b@#$%^&s."--Claire Wolfe)
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To: CDHart

Don’t like phony cigar smokers like Bill Clinton and Rush and 50 billion trillion others who started publicly puffing away the minute Cigar Afficionado hit the stands. Do you remember? Suddenly 35 to 50 year old men (men who reached an age where they should know better) said to themselves (much like junior high schoolers) “Hey! That looks cool! I’ll bet I’ll look real powerful and manly if I suddenly go EVERYWHERE smoking a cigar.”


5 posted on 07/03/2008 5:37:11 AM PDT by Mr. Pumblechook
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To: txradioguy

Overall a pretty favorable article. They still seemed to add a bit of poison by spending so much of the article trying to pit Rush against Hannity who makes it clear he adores and looks up to Rush. Also, a little snarky calling OReilly “Ted Baxter”, even if it may be true.


6 posted on 07/03/2008 5:37:27 AM PDT by ozzie
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To: Mr. Pumblechook

Ok so you don’t like smoking.

Why the need to vent here?

Start a thread about it of your own.


7 posted on 07/03/2008 5:38:36 AM PDT by txradioguy (Welcome Home Delta Company 3rd US INF The Old Guard Job Well Done!)
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To: Mr. Pumblechook
WOW! Good point! Very effective delivery!. Keep it up!
8 posted on 07/03/2008 5:39:39 AM PDT by SubMareener (Become a monthly donor! Free FreeRepublic.com from Quarterly FReepathons!)
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To: txradioguy
Hi, Tx!

Yes, this is a great article--hard to believe the NYT decided to publish it.

I love this part:

Recently, I sent Limbaugh an e-mail message, his preferred means of long-distance communication, asking what his own presidential agenda would look like. His answer reflects his actual concerns. A Limbaugh administration would seek to:

1. Open the continental shelf to drilling. Ditto the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

2. Establish a 17 percent flat tax.

3. Privatize Social Security.

4. Give parents school vouchers to break the monopoly of public education.

5. Revoke Jimmy Carter’s passport while he is out of the country.

6. Abandon all government policies based on the hoax of man-made global warming.

No. 5 was a joke. I think.

9 posted on 07/03/2008 5:40:08 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia (Rush on McCain: "We're so screwed.")
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To: ozzie

Yeah the author was definitely looking for a “gotcha” quote there.

the closest he got was the...IMHO...accurate depiction of BORe.


10 posted on 07/03/2008 5:40:08 AM PDT by txradioguy (Welcome Home Delta Company 3rd US INF The Old Guard Job Well Done!)
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To: txradioguy

I’ve been smoking cigars since 83 when the Corps sent me to Cuba. Smoking IN PRIVATE, trying not to show off when I do it. Rush and the boys drove the price through the roof with their childish public posing, and the quality of the tobacco went straight into the toilet.


11 posted on 07/03/2008 5:40:12 AM PDT by Mr. Pumblechook
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

LOL! I just read that passage.

Not to Zev Chafets...NO! Number 5 was NOT a joke.


12 posted on 07/03/2008 5:41:00 AM PDT by txradioguy (Welcome Home Delta Company 3rd US INF The Old Guard Job Well Done!)
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To: txradioguy

Zev Chafets and the editor who approved this story better get their resumes warmed up before the white shirts up there find out.


13 posted on 07/03/2008 5:42:04 AM PDT by Dick Bachert
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To: txradioguy

I was wondering if a fairly accurate article about Rush in the NY Times might be one of the lesser known signs of the Apocalypse. ??


14 posted on 07/03/2008 5:44:53 AM PDT by Pablo64 (What is popular is not always right. What is right is not always popular.)
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To: Mr. Pumblechook

You got a problem. How do you correllate smoking cigars with showing off? Or are you just another Rush hater?


15 posted on 07/03/2008 5:49:12 AM PDT by caver (Yes, I did crawl out of a hole in the ground.)
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To: Mr. Pumblechook

Did you ever stop to think that he’s mocking the very famous cover photo done of him with the Cigar?

Remember? The one with the caption claiming he was “The Most Dangerous Man In America”.


16 posted on 07/03/2008 5:49:44 AM PDT by txradioguy (Welcome Home Delta Company 3rd US INF The Old Guard Job Well Done!)
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To: Pablo64

We’ll know for sure if we see the same kind of article in Time or Newsweek.


17 posted on 07/03/2008 5:52:35 AM PDT by txradioguy (Welcome Home Delta Company 3rd US INF The Old Guard Job Well Done!)
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To: Mr. Pumblechook
Smoking IN PRIVATE, trying not to show off when I do it.

I nominate this for the dumbest, most meaningless statement to be made on FR in quite a while.

Rush and the boys drove the price through the roof with their childish public posing...

Words fail me on this one.

...the quality of the tobacco went straight into the toilet.

And this is the fault of Rush Limbaugh?

My friend, I think you need to go over to BatCrap, er, uh, BiffBop, uh, I mean Bart Cop or that other bastion of meaningless pissing and moaning, the DUmp.

You should check to make sure that you're on the right forum, at least.

18 posted on 07/03/2008 5:53:20 AM PDT by OldSmaj (Death to islam. I am now and will always be, a sworn enemy of all things muslim.)
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To: Mr. Pumblechook

Sometimes a cigar is just a smoke.


19 posted on 07/03/2008 5:54:15 AM PDT by eddie willers
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To: caver

You got a problem. If you cannot see that people do indeed show off with cigars (it can be an affectation, much like an ascot) then I can’t help you.


20 posted on 07/03/2008 5:54:24 AM PDT by Mr. Pumblechook
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