Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How Radio Wrecks the Right (Derbyshire disses Rush)
American Conservative ^ | John Derbyshire

Posted on 02/23/2009 2:47:57 PM PST by pissant

You can’t help but admire Rush Limbaugh’s talent for publicity. His radio talk show is probably—reliable figures only go back to 1991—in its third decade as the number-one rated radio show in the country. And here he is in the news again, trading verbal punches with the president of the United States.

Limbaugh remarked on Jan. 16 that to the degree that Obama’s program is one of state socialism, he hopes it will fail. (If only he had said the same about George W. Bush.) The president riposted at a session with congressional leaders a week later, telling them, “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.” Outsiders weighed in: Limbaugh should not have wished failure on a president trying to cope with a national crisis; Obama should not have stooped to insult a mere media artiste, the kind of task traditionally delegated to presidential subordinates while the chief stands loftily mute. Citizens picked sides and sat back to enjoy the circus.

(snip)

In place of the permanent things, we get Happy Meal conservatism: cheap, childish, familiar. Gone are the internal tensions, the thought-provoking paradoxes, the ideological uneasiness that marked the early Right. But however much this dumbing down has damaged the conservative brand, it appeals to millions of Americans. McDonald’s profits rose 80 percent last year.

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


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: derbyshire; jealousy; johnderbyshire; rushlimbaugh; talkradio
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-55 next last
I guess we should go back to relying on the thin gruel served up by Derb and the other girly boys at National Review?
1 posted on 02/23/2009 2:47:57 PM PST by pissant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: pissant
I know who Rush is--everyone does. But who the hell is this "derbyshire?"
2 posted on 02/23/2009 2:50:08 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant
If only he had said the same about George W. Bush.

Want some cheese with that whine? Rush was all over Bush when Bush strayed from conservative values, especially on spending.

3 posted on 02/23/2009 2:51:10 PM PST by dirtboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hinckley buzzard

I think the question is “what the hell is this “derbyshire?”


4 posted on 02/23/2009 2:51:44 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: hinckley buzzard

My thoughts exactly.


5 posted on 02/23/2009 2:51:50 PM PST by txnativegop (God Bless America! (NRA-Endowment))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: pissant
I guess we should go back to relying on the thin gruel served up by Derb and the other girly boys at National Review?

Leave the crappy mag on the shelf or read it at a library if you can't help yourself. Don't put money in their pocket.

6 posted on 02/23/2009 2:52:04 PM PST by Myrddin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xcamel

This guy
7 posted on 02/23/2009 2:54:17 PM PST by ari-freedom (Hail to the Dork!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: pissant

Obviously, John Derbyshire is an idiot.


8 posted on 02/23/2009 2:54:58 PM PST by Jim Robinson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant

Completely distorts the facts like your typical liberal turdbrain. Rush did not say he hoped Obama failed and this has been played out ad nauseum for the past month.


9 posted on 02/23/2009 2:55:59 PM PST by NoobRep
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dirtboy

You can always tell when Rush is being diss-ed by a neo-Rockefeller....they have no clue what they are talking about because they never listen to Rush. You are correct Dirtboy. There was plenty of Bush bashing going on in conservative talk radio when Bush strayed from conservative principles.


10 posted on 02/23/2009 2:56:05 PM PST by Til I am the last man standing
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: pissant

I’ve never heard of him.

He can’t be important in any form.


11 posted on 02/23/2009 2:56:52 PM PST by ConservativeMind (Who is now in charge of the "Office of the President-Elect"?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant
And here he is in the news again

.....watsamatter there Scooter,slow day AC mag? not enough porkulus to talk about?.why do you read the bill?..or were you naughty and just happen to get this assign to you?

12 posted on 02/23/2009 2:57:59 PM PST by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Derbyshire

Derbyshire has differed from his fellow writers at National Review on important subjects. For example, Derbyshire supported Michael Schiavo's position in the Terri Schiavo case, showed sympathy for class-warfare themes in movies such as Titanic, argued that Pope John Paul II was totally unable to stop the secularization of the West, ridiculed George W. Bush's "itty-bitty tax cut, paid for by dumping a slew of federal debt on your children and grandchildren",[7] has derided Bush in general for being too sure of his religious convictions and for his "rich-kid-ness",[8] dismisses small-government conservatism as unlikely to ever take hold (although is not unsympathetic to it), has called for immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq (but favored the invasion), opposes market reforms or any other changes in Social Security, defended Michael Jackson as harmless, is pro-choice on abortion, supports euthanasia in a fairly wide range of circumstances, and has suggested that he might (in a time of international crisis) vote for Hillary Clinton as president.[9] Derbyshire's views on the Schiavo case attracted harsh condemnation from fellow writers at National Review Online. NRO writer and frequent blogger, Ramesh Ponnuru, attacked Derbyshire in language far more forceful than customary in National Review's internal debates.[10] The Derbyshire-Ponnuru dispute arose again over Ponnuru's recently published book, Party of Death. Derbyshire reviewed the book harshly in the New English Review,[11] and Ponnuru replied on NRO with another strongly worded attack on Derbyshire as "wrong," "florid," "anti-intellectual," "gaseous" and "preposterous" among other terms.[12]

See also: RINO

I added the last part...

13 posted on 02/23/2009 2:58:10 PM PST by dirtboy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant

How radio makes me irrelevant...err I mean...ruins the right


14 posted on 02/23/2009 2:58:46 PM PST by Fishface (teach a man to fish...he eats for a lifetime.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant
John Derbyshire

I never heard of this guy. I wonder if Rush has.

15 posted on 02/23/2009 2:58:49 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jim Robinson

And he has a major case of Rush envy. Have some Derbyshire cheese with your whine, Mr. Derbyshire.


16 posted on 02/23/2009 2:58:50 PM PST by mplsconservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: dirtboy

Thanks for posting the wiki. Now this idiot’s rant makes sense (as far as a liberal makes sense).


17 posted on 02/23/2009 3:00:28 PM PST by mplsconservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: pissant

Reagan was president when Rush started. I wonder how long Rush was able to delay the state we find ourselves in today.


18 posted on 02/23/2009 3:01:39 PM PST by Crawdad (Barack Obama- Economic Arsonist)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant

I believe the GOP tried a version of Derb’s “middle brow conservatism’ when they ran McInsane in 2008. How did that work out, Derb?


19 posted on 02/23/2009 3:01:41 PM PST by Ikemeister
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant
“You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.”

I actually get a lot of chores done while I listen to Rush. He also makes my 20 minute workout go by rather quickly. I, however, generally save my errands for another time.

20 posted on 02/23/2009 3:01:44 PM PST by stayathomemom (Cat herder and empty nester)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hinckley buzzard

Good point. I guess he’s good friends with Christopher Buckley and Kathleen Parker.


21 posted on 02/23/2009 3:01:47 PM PST by Professor_Leonide (I said to the young man who showed me a photo, "Who can ever be sure what is behind a mask?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: pissant

 

 

 

And now he's famous.


22 posted on 02/23/2009 3:01:58 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (PIE FIGHT!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

23 posted on 02/23/2009 3:03:51 PM PST by Bon mots
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Chandler

John Cleese’s uglier brother?


24 posted on 02/23/2009 3:04:17 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Bon mots

LOL!


25 posted on 02/23/2009 3:04:48 PM PST by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: pissant

National Review has turned into a trash heap of “Rockefeller Republicans”.


26 posted on 02/23/2009 3:05:37 PM PST by Mr. Jazzy (No greater friend, no worse enemy -The United States Marine Corps.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant
Derbyshire?

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

27 posted on 02/23/2009 3:06:31 PM PST by Bon mots
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant

Derbyshire wants to return to Queen of Marquesberry rules. There’s a reason why Republicans were out of power from FDR to LBJ, and losing two consecutive elections. It’s time conservatives start jerking their knees too. We have the facts on our side, we could use a little passion and bluster rather than resorting to George Will talking points.


28 posted on 02/23/2009 3:08:10 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (The Libertarian and Constitution Parties should merge into one)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stayathomemom
I actually get a lot of chores done while I listen to Rush. He also makes my 20 minute workout go by rather quickly. I, however, generally save my errands for another time.

I have found two small stores with great AM reception and I save these errands for high noon :-)

At night, fold all the laundry while podcasting 24/7.

29 posted on 02/23/2009 3:09:20 PM PST by littlehouse36
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: pissant
The problem is that too many conservatives do not have a very simple truth that they follow. It is pretty simple—small government, low taxes, freedom and adherence to the plain language of the constitution.

The republicans forgot this and tried to do to much thinking and strayed from the truth. That is they are out of power. Rush is just telling the truth. I read in most conservative publications of how conservatives need to "change" to be more like democrats to win people over. No thanks.

30 posted on 02/23/2009 3:11:39 PM PST by HwyChile
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: xcamel
John Cleese’s uglier brother?

I was about to ask if this wasn't Nigel Incubator-Jones...

31 posted on 02/23/2009 3:13:24 PM PST by LRS (Just contracts; just laws; just a constitution...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: hinckley buzzard
Derbyshire is ok, though he can be an intellectual snob at times. As in this article, where he appears sanctimonious in his remarks about talk show conservatives, especially Rush Limbaugh. Derbyshire's, more than likely, is just envious of their success, and more so, influence.
32 posted on 02/23/2009 3:13:43 PM PST by jla (Sarah! sarahpac.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Extremely Extreme Extremist; jimrob; All
Dear Rush,

Thanks for all you're doing to promote Republican and conservative principles. Now that I've retired from active politics, I don't mind that you have become the Number One voice for conservatism in our Country.

I know the liberals call you "the most dangerous man in America," but don't worry about it, they used to say the same thing about me. Keep up the good work. America needs to hear the way things ought to be."

Sincerely, Ron (Reagan)

33 posted on 02/23/2009 3:23:00 PM PST by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: jla

He’s one of the few who will take on political correctness. For that alone, he’s a good read.


34 posted on 02/23/2009 3:24:27 PM PST by freespirited (Help save humanity. Cure the RINOvirus.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: hinckley buzzard

Derb has been around a long time and is a very interesting guy.

He makes some very good points on a lot of subjects, although I disagree with him frequently.

Those calling him a RINO or Rockefeller Republican are quite off-base. He’s pretty much in a class by himself, but a Ron Paul and Sarah Palin fan is not your standard RINO.

He was perhaps the originator of whack-a-mole war theory for fighting terrorists. Don’t invade, conquer and rebuild them when they piss you off. Just destroy their society and leave. Destroyed societies are no threat to anybody. Think what you will of this theory, it’s hardly Bushian neo-conservatism.


35 posted on 02/23/2009 3:40:32 PM PST by Sherman Logan (Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: pissant
Instead we have crude cheerleading for world-saving Wilsonianism, social utopianism, and a cloth-eared, moon-booted Republican administration.

Am I a rube for having no clue what "cloth-eared, moon-booted" is supposed to mean?

OK Mr. Derbyshire, you go on for paragraph after endless paragraph about the obviously lowbrow antics of Limbaugh and others. You mention Levin explicitly. You dredge up "feminazi", a twenty year old term. You've heard nothing "lowbrow" from Limbaugh for 20 years? And Levin actually said "Washington Compost"? On the air? Really? Shocking. This totally negates his learned take on all matters legal, doesn't it? In a culture with Kieth Olbermann and "Family Guy" on prime time, you look ridiculous.

If you want to argue that if conservative talk radio was so great and so effective we wouldn't be in this mess, who's to argue? But the fact that you consider commentary laced with a bit of humor and irony intellectually inferior to what drones on PBS produce, just reveals you as the snob a lot of people already seem to think you are. You aren't nearly as highbrow and sophisiticated as you fancy yourself to be. You have no preference for intellect and reason. What kind of intellect cites an Obama supporter as an authority on the leadership of the conservative movement simply because he's the twerp son of somebody? That's just...well, stupid It's lowbrow, if you ask me. What's next Ron Reagan? No your preference isn't for intellect. Your preference is for the PBS tone of voice. Rush is smarter than you. Levin more so. While deeply insane, even Michael Savage is smarter than you. Deep down you know it, and it eats you up.

36 posted on 02/23/2009 4:26:43 PM PST by Minn (Here is a realistic picture of the prophet: ----> ([: {()
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hinckley buzzard
"I repeat: There is nothing wrong with lowbrow conservatism. Ideas must be marketed, and right-wing talk radio captures a big and useful market segment. However, if there is no thoughtful, rigorous presentation of conservative ideas, then conservatism by default becomes the raucous parochialism of Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity, and company. That loses us a market segment at least as useful, if perhaps not as big."

Sounds like he thinks of himself as elite among a group of "Highbrow Conservatives" who covet the powerful voice and position Rush enjoys - "the ruling classes" donchaknow.

This appears to be a slick attempt to redefine and marginalize Rush by lumping him into a group of what he considers 'lowbrow carny barkers' - just one of the pack.

I had to laugh at the quote cited from Wm. F. Buckley's son about Rush being no Wm. F. Buckley. As much as I respected Mr. Buckley, I say thank goodness for that in a number of ways. From what little I know about Mr. Buckley's biological son, bloodline is as close as he comes to being another Wm. F. Buckley. He appears to fall quite short of the ideological mark.

I don't know for certain, but I'd bet this guy is one of the "higbrows" who says Reaganism is dead, but they know that isn't true as long as Rush Limbaugh has a voice. That isn't lowbrow, Mr. Derbyshire.

37 posted on 02/23/2009 4:30:27 PM PST by LucyJo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: pissant

National Review’s circulation is only 155,000.

How many more people listen to Rush every day?

Maybe Derbyshire should start his own radio talk show and quit whining.


38 posted on 02/23/2009 7:04:11 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (Obama promised a gold mine, but he will give us the shaft.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibFreeOrDie

They could do a round robin of girly men. Fresh effeminate voice of conservatism each day of the week.


39 posted on 02/23/2009 7:06:08 PM PST by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: hinckley buzzard
Derbyshire trashes Limbaugh as low-brow, by which he really means pro-life.

BTW, “American Conservative” is MSNBC commentator's Pat Buchanan's magazine. A glance at it will show how strongly anti-conservative it is.

40 posted on 02/23/2009 9:14:14 PM PST by iowamark
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Sherman Logan
Derb has been around a long time and is a very interesting guy. . . Those calling him a RINO or Rockefeller Republican are quite off-base.

Agreed. I wish all these people slamming him would read a dozen of his columns in NR first. He is a paleo-conservative of the first water. I cannot think of another public intellectual at a respectable journal that is less politically correct.

He was perhaps the originator of whack-a-mole war theory for fighting terrorists. Don’t invade, conquer and rebuild them when they piss you off. Just destroy their society and leave. Destroyed societies are no threat to anybody.

I believe the short motto is "more rubble, less trouble."

41 posted on 02/23/2009 10:51:57 PM PST by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Minn
You aren't nearly as highbrow and sophisiticated as you fancy yourself to be.

Derb comes from the British equivalent of poor white trash and is quite proud of it. I do not place him in the same category as some of the other country club Republicans at NR.

Also, you have no idea just how sophisticated the guy actually is. He has written two best-selling books about graduate-level mathematics. I have a physics degree and could barely follow them.

-ccm

42 posted on 02/23/2009 10:58:42 PM PST by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: hinckley buzzard

Who is John Galt?


43 posted on 02/24/2009 6:37:43 AM PST by NoGrayZone ("Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people."... J. Adams (we're screwed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: pissant

This is really rich, coming from a guy who used to work for William F. Buckley. WFB virtually ANNOINTED Rush Limbaugh as his successor as leader of the conservative movement.

Limbaugh spent a lot of time with WFB, and when WFB would come on the air with Rush, he would adulate Rush to the point where it was almost out of character.

So, now that WFB has gone on to his eternal reward, Derbyshire decides to take potshots at Rush? WFB is probably rolling in his grave.


44 posted on 02/24/2009 8:30:19 AM PST by backwoods-engineer (Proud to be an American, where I least I know I'm free!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant

Now is the time to cancel your subscription to National Review, if you were gullible enough to have ever subscribed.

That last line, How did we allow Carny Barkers to run away with the Right (I’m paraphrasing) is the equivalent of Kathleen Parker’s snide comment about Christians once being relegated to standing on crates and screaming at crowds - neither analogy works but both are all puffed up on arrogance.

As for elitism, it does need to go. But not the concept of an elite, which Rush Limbaugh belongs to and John Derbyshire does not, after all, Mr. Limbaugh never makes his point by looking down on people. Mr. Limbaugh is the big thinker, Mr. Derbyshire (great name - I think from a town in England famous for shoe making in the middle ages) is the big poser.

For all of the extolling of William F. Buckley, remember that Mr. Buckley never won an election for the Republicans and please don’t credit Reagan’s victory to NR.

Please cancel your subscription to National Review, it makes no sense at all to give your ever shrinking discretionary spending budget to people who, in their heart of hearts, hate you.


45 posted on 02/24/2009 11:41:44 AM PST by Professor_Leonide (I said to the young man who showed me a photo, "Who can ever be sure what is behind a mask?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pissant

Just like Mr. Derbyshire, Jonah Goldberg hates us and only uses us, SO PLEASE cancel your subscription.

Any magazine that mocks your core beliefs is not a magazine that you should spend one single dime on.


46 posted on 02/24/2009 11:43:22 AM PST by Professor_Leonide (I said to the young man who showed me a photo, "Who can ever be sure what is behind a mask?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Professor_Leonide

I don’t subscribe. Nat. Review is not completely worthless. Levin hangs out there, as does Steyn.


47 posted on 02/24/2009 11:45:26 AM PST by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Ikemeister

You’re absolutely right, we ran John McCain - isn’t he middlebrow enough for that pantywaist Derbyshire?


48 posted on 02/24/2009 11:48:54 AM PST by Professor_Leonide (I said to the young man who showed me a photo, "Who can ever be sure what is behind a mask?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: pissant

Yes, it’s not completely worthless, which really is what makes it such poison.


49 posted on 02/24/2009 11:49:45 AM PST by Professor_Leonide (I said to the young man who showed me a photo, "Who can ever be sure what is behind a mask?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Professor_Leonide

Please cancel your subscription to National Review.

NO! In fact I may renew my subscription.


50 posted on 02/27/2009 7:11:24 AM PST by Valin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-55 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson