As readers are likely aware, the New York Times has published an online preview of an article about Rush Limbaugh which will appear in Sunday's Magazine.
Although author Zev Chafets responded "Absolutely" when Snerdly asked him as he entered the EIB control room, “Are you the guy who’s here to do the hit job on us?” this ended up being anything but a hit piece.
Quite the contrary, Chafets did a marvelous job of opening up Rush's world to his faithful listeners who certainly aren't impartial concerning their praise of the EIB host, but also, and maybe more importantly, to liberal NYT readers around the country who might just come away with a little more respect for the man they consider Public Enemy Number One.
Think I'm crazy? Couldn't be in a Times piece? Well, consider the following paragraphs before eschewing this article:
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.
Would such praise be in a hit piece? I think not.
Read the whole thing. You won't be disappointed.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.
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Interesting
July 2, 2008 - 12:13 ET by JDWMy question all along has been how will news media react to contract renewals?
JDW
Remember the Countrywide Six?
Who forgot to write about the advances in Iraq?
If bin Laden is presumed innocent, why not just shoot him there?
Wow, and double Wow! Why
July 2, 2008 - 12:32 ET by Clear thinkerWow, and double Wow!
Why do I get the feeling that this is an attempt to lure Rush in with Honey?
45 Communist Goals for America http://www.nationmakers.com/com_goals.htm
The MSM has been bashing
July 2, 2008 - 12:39 ET by mattmThe MSM has been bashing Rush for 20 years, and they come out with one non-bashing piece and we're supposed to praise them?
Not me. The only way the MSM can redeem itself in my eyes re. their treatment of Rush, is to kiss his behind everyday for 20 years. Anything less is just pissing in the ocean.
still..
July 2, 2008 - 14:04 ET by UndercoverConservativegotta give credit where credit is due. each little step helps. Maybe this is the "common sense insurgency" finally getting a little control. Signaling to the masses that they're not dead yet?:)
Hell, if terrorists can use our media against us, why can't we use it too?:)
"to call an illegal immigrant an "undocumented alien" is the same as calling a streetcorner drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist".
Rush
July 2, 2008 - 12:50 ET by WR JonasWow ! The New York Times validates my beliefs and views . Do I ever feel ........ completely uncaring . The only thing I care about regarding the Times is , how long will it take for the organization to collapse and disappear. Then they may stop poisoning the nation with their socialism /communism. Then my local paper will be forced to write real reports and news instead of spreading the toxic lies they obtain and disguise as news.
I'd expect this piece will
July 2, 2008 - 13:01 ET by wiwfI'd expect this piece will make the NYT subscriptions fall even faster with all the upset liberals angered at the NYT pandering to the Right. haha
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
→ Listening to Ruh
July 2, 2008 - 13:02 ET by Cool ArrowRush just indicated (tongue in cheek) his new contract is actually a pay cut since he was expecting more.
Reminds me of the upcoming tax increase the Nancy Botox wants.
LYDSEXICS UNTIE
There must be an angle...
July 2, 2008 - 13:05 ET by trak65I suspect they anticipate a triumphant sweep by the Left in November and thus think they can afford to be magnanimous. I predict that if Obama is ahead in the polls, we might see the Washington Post editors endorse McCain (like they did with MD governor Ehrlich) so they can burnish their "centrist" credentials with little cost.
This is what I was thinking
July 2, 2008 - 15:41 ET by deerjerkydaveNoel, you're giving way too much credit to the New York Times. They are probably under the assumption that Rush's job is short lived. Once Obama gets into the White House it will be the end of free speech and talk radio in this country. Basically, their attitude is that they've won the battle and now its just a matter of time before Rush, Hannity, Savage, etc are off the air, and so now they can play nice. When that time comes, a few of the big talk shows may move to satellite radio, but the market for it will shrink considerably. I can only hope that there will be an uprising against the government for censoring radio.
Uprising
July 2, 2008 - 17:10 ET by rammingspeedDeerjerkydave:
There already is the beginnings of an uprising. There would be a wholesale outage of Democrats from every level of government in the '10 elections. Obama knows this. Pelosi and Reid and all the rest know this. It's like the George Bush impeachment threat in '06. If the Dems try, it'll be fun to watch their bleeding.
The Fairness Doctrine is a clear cut violation of the First Amendment - even more so than Washington D.C.'s gun ban was. Any attempts to activate it will be challenged in court and that'll be the end of it.
Job search
July 2, 2008 - 13:09 ET by LionKingI am sure that this so-called journalist is now in need of a job. The Times cannot allow such tripe to be published.
That picture of Rush looks
July 2, 2008 - 13:24 ET by Chris NormanThat picture of Rush looks sinister and scary - like something Disney would hang in The Haunted Mansion.
Rush
July 2, 2008 - 13:31 ET by Emma GrumpThe bottom-feeders over at huff-n-puff post are apoplectic over this. They keep telling themselves that he is only an entertainer, and no one takes him seriously politically - yet, they want him yanked from all airwaves because of his influence on politics. They are such a confused bunch over there...hahahaha
Maybe the NY Times is trying
July 2, 2008 - 13:35 ET by Hero SquadMaybe the NY Times is trying to create a template for a successful talk show host in the hopes that a liberal counterpart will follow it and create an equally successful program.
Good luck with that.
*****
"People only insist that a debate stop when they are afraid of what might be learned if it continues." - George Will
Rush has made the offer many times to provide a template...
July 2, 2008 - 14:08 ET by ThalpyRush has made the offer many times to provide a template for his broadcast, with no takers. Attempts at this would be futile; they would end in failure and the reasons are obvious, not hidden. Rush Limbaugh is the preeminent renaissance man. There is no contest; many are just not bright enough to know it.
The Great One
July 2, 2008 - 17:00 ET by i b squidlyI enjoyed the several comparisons to Jackie Gleason. They reflected on the prodigious appetites and the Florida-philism they share.
I sprayed the keyboard when Rush refered to Bill O'Reilly as Ted Baxter. I'm still chuckling.
First, kill all the lawyers.
-Wlm Shakespear
Get out!
July 2, 2008 - 18:30 ET by acumenBreaking -- Space-time continuum warp discovered at NY Times in bizzaro article revealing for first time what a newspaper would appear like in normal world managed by normal people.
Timeframe developing....
What an excellent article
July 2, 2008 - 19:29 ET by bigtimerWhat an excellent article by Zev Chavets...I couldn't quit reading until the end.
Thank you for this...I heard Rush talk about this today also.
I loved the information you would of never learned otherwise...
What made me laugh the hardest was the Ted Baxter reference to BOR...fits perfectly too!
Also, this is just my opinion but it did seem Zev was certainly goading Rush about Hannity, I like Hannity, listen to his radio show now and then, plus his nightly show on Fox most always, but he couldn't hold a candle to Rush...I mean no offense to him either..it's just the truth.
What I could not agree with more though were his words about liberals..."they aren't grown-ups".
I also heard Rush's show the day he said America isn't the problem...America is the solution....to danged bad the leftists despise those sentiments, they do all they can to tear that very greatness of our country down every single day they can..24/7...it's their job, it's what they do.
God bless our forefathers, our military, past and present and great men like Limbaugh and great leaders like Reagan and others...and all of us conservatives out here.
I remember about 16 or more years ago now reading in a very small town paper that comes out twice weekly here about "have you heard Rush" in the wanted advertisement section or some-such, we had never heard of him...well, we found out who he was about six months or so later...and have loved him ever since, he was speaking for us, finally a voice who echoed our thoughts and sentiments...and there was a long ten year period when I couldn't get him where I live now depending on the radio reception, until I got a computer...thank goodness.
Rush is right...simple as that.
Even when I don't agree 100% time, I usually find out later, he was right after-all...lol.
Btw...I didn't know that Snerdly was James Golden, I also didn't know Rush helped write the parodies with Shanklin either...he is a genius..simple as that, let alone the excellent imitations he does of people...plus the imitations of a little kid...
I love the picture too on the cover...just love it
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Wilson
Perhaps this is the kind of
July 2, 2008 - 20:25 ET by Chris NormanPerhaps this is the kind of article the NYT runs every now and then so they have something to point to in attempting to defend against the otherwise overwhelming evidence they have become nothing but a left wing rag.
Numbers Don't Lie And Even Morons Need Money
July 2, 2008 - 23:07 ET by Templar10Hmmmm...
I'm sitting at the NYT. Month after month the numbers go down; fewer ads, fewer readers, fewer new hires, smaller physical dimensions of the printed page, fewer dollars per share.
Month after month the numbers go up; number of staff cut, number of Fox viewers, number of shares sold, number of Fox viewers, number of interviews with Sr. Mgt. proclaiming their brilliance and resolve to keep doing what they are doing, number of Fox Viewers, number of co-workers looking at the want-ads, number of Fox viewers.
(Light-bulb moment) MY JOB IS ON THE LINE!!!! What is actually selling? Which market is actually healthy? Let's see...Fox viewership is up, liberal newspaper sales are down and falling faster than Real Estate, Rush Limbaugh signed a $400M deal, Rush Limbaugh has 20,000,000 listeners (DUDE, that's 15% of the entire US Population), NYT sales just fell some more, five more guys next to me just got pink slips, Pinch just said everything is OK, 10 more guys got pink slips, Fox viewership just went up, my cubicle mate just got a pink slip, ....
Heyyyyyy....what if I did a piece on Rush?
Heyyyyyy....what if I don't really "hit" him. Yeah....that's the ticket. I do a piece on Rush, I sort of laud him, I impress people over at Fox, or wherever those ignorant conservatives go for news and information, and when MY pink slip comes...I'm golden! I can jump over the fence and say..."well, I was always uncomfortable at NYT."
YEAH! That's the ticket! We call it...
"SMACK"
(Conservative slaps the moron) .....
"Stop talking to your friends in Manhattan and try telling the truth. Manhattan is not the world. If you have to ask, 'What is the truth?' there's no hope for you."
Note to liberals: there IS objective truth. Still need help? Try this question when you consider anything: has it withstood the test of time?