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Take the Limbaugh Challenge (Good Read!)
Los Angeles Times ^ | March 29, 2009 | Andrew Klavan

Posted on 03/29/2009 6:33:46 AM PDT by kellynla

If you are reading this newspaper, the likelihood is that you agree with the Obama administration's recent attacks on conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh. That's the likelihood; here's the certainty: You've never listened to Rush Limbaugh.

Oh no, you haven't. Whenever I interrupt a liberal's anti-Limbaugh rant to point out that the ranter has never actually listened to the man, he always says the same thing: "I've heard him!"

On further questioning, it always turns out that by "heard him," he means he's heard the selected excerpts spoon-fed him by the distortion-mongers of the mainstream media. These excerpts are specifically designed to accomplish one thing: to make sure you never actually listen to Limbaugh's show, never actually give him a fair chance to speak his piece to you directly.

By lifting some typically Rushian piece of outrageous hilarity completely out of context, the distortion gang knows full well it can get you to widen your eyes and open your mouth in the universal sign of Liberal Outrage. Your scrawny chest swelling with a warm sense of completely unearned righteousness, you will turn to your second spouse and say, "I'm not a liberal, I'm a moderate, and I'm tolerant of a wide range of differing views -- but this goes too far!"

There is more untruthfulness in that statement than in a speech by President Obama.

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


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Front Page News
KEYWORDS: lefties; liberals; limbaugh; rushlimbaugh; talkradio
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To: NTHockey
“Quick, check to see if California is still there or been swallowed by an earthquake.”

We're still here.LOL
And “if” we weren't; you wouldn't be able to post on FR...now would you?...just remember that! ,

21 posted on 03/29/2009 7:02:16 AM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: kellynla

Of all the indications of Rush’s superiority over the libs, the one that I love the most is that he (a high school graduate) can out think and out debate the Obamaloon (Harvard Law). One must think about how the loon got that degree,


22 posted on 03/29/2009 7:02:31 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: kellynla

The liberal bandwagon is akin to a lynch mob. You can’t get a lynch mob to listen to reason... and you’re not going to get very many liberals who really listen to Rush.

If one of two of them do actually take the author’s advice and listen for a good length of time, they will probably stay in the lynch-mob-mentality mind-set.

Reason doesn’t easily reach the lynch-mob-mentality mind-set.

Especially when it is the lynch-mob’s own victim trying to reason with the mob. I can’t imagine that ever working.

Still, this is a good article and I thank the writer for writing it. I’m just not very optimistic of it having much effect.


23 posted on 03/29/2009 7:03:02 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: defconw
Glad to hear it...I did too...exactly, why I posted it!
24 posted on 03/29/2009 7:03:09 AM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: maryz

you’re welcome


25 posted on 03/29/2009 7:05:22 AM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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Bookmarking


26 posted on 03/29/2009 7:05:56 AM PDT by RandallFlagg (Satisfaction was my sin)
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To: kellynla; Ernest_at_the_Beach; SierraWasp; Grampa Dave; PhilDragoo
And “if” we weren't; you wouldn't be able to post on FR...now would you?...just remember that! ,

CA Freepers--the tip of the FREE SPEAR! ! ! !

27 posted on 03/29/2009 7:06:11 AM PDT by BOBTHENAILER (my tagline is over-stimulated)
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To: kellynla

Eleven years ago we used to drive frequently from the Bay Area to Southern Utah. I always made certain to turn the radio dial to Limbaugh on those long stretches down Highway 5.
Dear wife was always annoyed in the beginning. I loved it when she started being the one to try to find him as we passed through Barstow and over to Vegas.

Point of it is: She figured out that she too was a conservative but prior to Rush she had no political direction. She indeed woke up and freed herself from the bonds of, I’m a “Moderate”.


28 posted on 03/29/2009 7:07:01 AM PDT by Utah Binger (Mount Carmel Utah, aka Maynard Dixon Country)
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To: kellynla

Years ago, I figured out Rush Limbaugh’s big secret, why he is so popular and other people listen to him. And it’s very hard to duplicate—try it sometime and it will leave you squirming in your seat.

Rush Limbaugh always used the second or third-best “punchline” in what he says. Not just humor, but in making a point. It leaves his audience at the edge of their seat, because they personally can think of the *better* “punchline”, and that makes them feel good and part of the “conversation”.

“Why does the chicken cross the road? To get across the street!”, says Limbaugh.

And everybody in the audience thinks, “No! To get to the other side! Hee hee, ha ha!” They get the “*honors* to finish the thought”.

Importantly, critically, this is *not* talking down to an audience. They have to *get* the idea to finish the idea. So Limbaugh can use great complexity in the build-up, because his audience is far more attentive than for a typical radio show.

But let me tell you, this technique is not easy. It is very, very hard to use. And the rewards are high as well—you would become the “life of the party” if you could do it consistently. But for almost everybody, their ego would be screaming at them to give the *best* punchline.

“You did the work, so you should get the reward!”, of giving the punchline.


29 posted on 03/29/2009 7:07:15 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: kellynla
Now let me tell you the real answer: You're a lowdown, yellow-bellied, lily-livered intellectual coward. You're terrified of finding out he makes more sense than you do.

Obama has made such an ass out of himself in the last 60 days, all you need to do is mention the government spending and liberals go silent. They know.

30 posted on 03/29/2009 7:07:21 AM PDT by GVnana
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To: kellynla

My favorite response to Limbaugh critics is “What do you disagree with him about?”


31 posted on 03/29/2009 7:09:53 AM PDT by G Larry (Obama's plan = "STEALING FROM THOSE WHO CREATE THE JOBS!")
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To: hosepipe
They know thats not steak that they are eating..
But it tastes like steak.. looks like steak.. and smells like steak..
Really. I don't know if this writer is the first to link the drive-by's to The Matrix. If so he deserves some kind of public award. It is an excellent, excellent metaphor.
32 posted on 03/29/2009 7:12:14 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: OCCASparky
The greatest fear liberals have is the truth.

My mind is made up, how dare you try to confuse me with facts.

33 posted on 03/29/2009 7:17:22 AM PDT by dearolddad
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To: kellynla

And “if” we weren’t; you wouldn’t be able to post on FR...now would you?...just remember that!

My, but you people in CALIF(Come And Live In Florida) are sensitive. Every OTHER state can be criticized, but yours? Must be the enjoyment of paying all those high taxes that thin the skin.


34 posted on 03/29/2009 7:18:14 AM PDT by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners.)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
But let me tell you, this technique is not easy. It is very, very hard to use. And the rewards are high as well—you would become the “life of the party” if you could do it consistently. But for almost everybody, their ego would be screaming at them to give the *best* punchline.

I remember back in the days of my college speech class listening to some student speak in chapel and referring to the Wilbur Mills reflecting pool incident. I told my speech teacher that if he had just left it as an allusion, his point would have had more impact because everyone else would have filled in all the details on their own. Instead, he went into unnecessary detail and detracted from his main point. The speech teacher said that a good speaker will lead his listeners to a place where they will make the intended connection. This keeps their interest and makes what he's saying a lot more meaningful because he's drawing something out of them.
35 posted on 03/29/2009 7:19:14 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: kellynla
There's only one problem with this challenge:

Listen to the show. Not for five minutes but for several hours: an hour a day for several days.

More often than not, it takes longer than that for Rush to get to his point. I've heard Rush starting to make his point, gone into a McDonald's, eaten my meal, returned to my truck, and Rush still hadn't gotten to the point yet.
36 posted on 03/29/2009 7:20:14 AM PDT by wolfpat (Revolt, and re-establish the Constitution as the law of the land!)
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To: NewCenturions
"you will turn to your second spouse and say"...

Spouse?! I think he means "Life Partner."

37 posted on 03/29/2009 7:23:40 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault ( Obama, you're off the island!)
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To: Temple Owl

A good one.


38 posted on 03/29/2009 7:24:24 AM PDT by Tribune7 (Obama wants to put the same crowd that ran Fannie Mae in charge of health care)
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To: kellynla

Really enjoyable piece. It reminds me of talking to my boss who said something about Rush’s hate-filled rhetoric. I told him that having listened to Rush since 1989, I could say that my data sample was broad enough to tell me this wasn’t the case.


39 posted on 03/29/2009 7:24:47 AM PDT by aruanan
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Excellent analysis of one of Limbaugh’s teaching techniques. And that’s what it is, a form of teaching at the highest level. The brain-disablers in the NEA are so far beneath this level of teaching they wouldn’t be able to even understand your description of the technique, let alone the technique itself. (They spend their career s putting young-people’s heads in a series of iron-vices; but they too are cramped and disabled in thought as well.)

But Rush does more than just teach. He also thinks cold hard political thought. The technique you refer to is a teaching technique that he uses to great effectiveness. But Rush is not just a teacher. Not just (even) a great teacher.

He is a true political thinker. Right up there with Mark Levin.


40 posted on 03/29/2009 7:25:58 AM PDT by samtheman
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