Throughout his spectacularly successful career, Rush Limbaugh revolutionized talk radio and energized many millions of conservative listeners all across America. His contributions were so important, Republicans even made him an honorary member of the Class of ’94 — the first Republican-controlled House of Representatives in more than 40 years — because he was so indispensable to their success.
Yet because of his many achievements, the disgusting hatred now being spewed by lefties at Rush Limbaugh — even in the wake of his passing — is nothing new. He was always a threat to the liberal news outlets, so they spent decades trying to destroy him.
They used every trick in the book.
They took statements out of context (remember the “phony soldiers” slander?), deceptively edited clips and even made up fake quotes.
Much of it is detailed in this 2009 MRC report Rush to Ruin.
The liberal media also tried to paint him and by extension, his audience as hateful and racist. His listeners were “fools” who believed his “fairy tales.” They even blamed horrific acts like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing on Limbaugh.
The following are just a few of the most hate-filled attacks on Rush Limbaugh over the years (as culled from the MRC’s archives):
Honoring the “Face of Racism”
“Rush Limbaugh is a bigot. Rush Limbaugh is racist. Rush Limbaugh was a birther....This President goes from Charlottesville to s-hole nations to giving the Medal of Freedom for the whole world to see to Rush Limbaugh – that is a big contradiction. That’s hypocrisy.”
— CNN political commentator and Urban Radio Network White House correspondent April Ryan on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time, February 7, 2020
“Opinion: What’s next – giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to David Duke?”
— February 5, 2020 tweet from Washington Post’s official twitter account.
“Someone’s Going To Jam a CO2 Pellet Into Rush’s Head”
“I have to tell you, Rush Limbaugh is looking more and more like Mr. Big, and at some point somebody’s going to jam a CO2 pellet into his head and he’s going to explode like a giant blimp. That day may come. Not yet. But we’ll be there to watch.”
— Hardball host Chris Matthews during MSNBC live coverage on October 13, 2009.
Offended by “Degenerate Cowboy” Limbaugh’s Book for Kids
“[Limbaugh] has never shown any signs of being a serious or thoughtful or earnest guy. He is a degenerate rodeo clown — a toxic provocateur who, while undeniably entertaining for like-minded adults, should be kept as far away from kids as possible.”
— Newsweek/The Daily Beast’s Michelle Cottle, September 10, 2013.
Laughing at Limbaugh’s Demise
“Laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out.”
— What producer Sarah Spitz of NPR affiliate KCRW said she would do if she saw Rush Limbaugh dying, in a posting to the Journolist reported July 21, 2010 by The Daily Caller. Spitz later conceded her comment was “poorly considered.”
Limbaugh Has “Blood On His Hands”
“What was the more likely cause of the Oklahoma City bombing: talk radio or Bill Clinton and Janet Reno’s hands-on management of Waco, the Branch Davidian compound?...Obviously, the answer is talk radio. Specifically, Rush Limbaugh’s hate radio....Frankly, Rush, you have that blood on your hands now and you have had it for 15 years.”
— MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann naming Rush Limbaugh the “Worst Person in the World,” April 19, 2010 Countdown.
Limbaugh Is Creating an American “Bigotocracy”
Anchor David Shuster: “Rush Limbaugh creates this picture of fascism and Nazism on the march. And you then start to have people going out of control acting crazily on Capitol Hill, yelling all kinds of racist things at members of the Congressional Black Caucus, yelling hateful things at Barney Frank....”
Georgetown University’s Michael Eric Dyson: “This is a bigotocracy. I think Rush Limbaugh is trying to foment a universe of bigotocracy.”
— Exchange during 3pm ET hour of MSNBC Live, March 22, 2010.
Typical Liberal Media Tweet
“Rush Limbaugh is really a loathsome racist.”
— Washington Post reporter/blogger Ezra Klein in a February 24, 2010 Twitter posting.
Rush Is a “Human Vat of Vitriol”
“If you didn’t know better this past week, you’d think Rush Limbaugh was more important than the guys in Washington....Two facts are clear about this human vat of vitriol. He relishes the attention and he sells anger as a weapon.”
— MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on his syndicated Sunday program The Chris Matthews Show, March 8, 2009.
Limbaugh’s “Act” Has “Fooled a lot of People”
“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. When Rush Limbaugh declared to his radio audience that he was ‘your epitome of morality of virtue, a man you could totally trust with your wife, your daughter, and even your son in a Motel 6 overnight,’ he was acting....Granted, Limbaugh’s act has won over, or fooled, a lot of people. With his heartland pieties and scorn for ‘feminazis’ and ‘commie-symps’ like West Wing President Martin Sheen (‘Martin Sheenski’ to Limbaugh), he is the darling of Red State, Fly-Over America.”
— Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas in the October 20, 2009 cover story, “The Real Rush.”
Tells His Audience “Fairy Tales”
“[Rush Limbaugh] is, above all, a sophisticated propagandist, an avatar of the politics of meanness and envy....He must, like all demagogues, scare his listeners, get them to believe in conspiracy, rumor....Like Reagan, Limbaugh is neither curious nor brave; he would rather tell his audiences fairy tales than have them face the world; he would rather sneer at the weak than trouble the strong.”
— Former Washington Post reporter David Remnick in the Post, February 20, 1994.
“Charlatan” Who Makes “Fools” of His Audience
“Why does anyone take Rush Limbaugh seriously?...He’s entertaining. But, come on, he is to truthfulness as President Clinton is to faithfulness -- he has but a passing acquaintance with it. He’s toying with you, folks, getting you all riled up with a stew of half-truths and non-truths. He’s making fools of you, feeding you swill -- and you’re taking it in....So keep listening if you want. But just remember that he’s a charlatan.”
— Former NBC News President Michael Gartner in a USA Today column, July 12, 1994.
Blaming OKC Bombing on Limbaugh
“The bomb in Oklahoma was not ignited by Rush Limbaugh or G. Gordon Liddy, but they are significant as well as highly visible fomenters of a mood that is fairly described as hateful, i.e., full of hate...The distance between speech and action is wide and it is exceedingly difficult for anyone to understand how and why it is closed. But anyone who thinks that the right-wing zealots are merely mouthing off is fooling himself.”
— Washington Post columnist and chief book critic Jonathan Yardley, May 1, 1995.
“The bombing in Oklahoma City has focused renewed attention on the rhetoric that’s been coming from the right and those who cater to angry white men....Right-wing talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Bob Grant, Oliver North, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Reagan, and others take to the air every day with basically the same format: detail a problem, blame the government or a group, and invite invective from like-minded people....Never do most of the radio hosts encourage outright violence, but the extent to which their attitudes may embolden or encourage some extremists has clearly become an issue.”
— Today co-host Bryant Gumbel referring to President Clinton’s pointed criticism of talk radio six days after the Oklahoma City bombing, April 25, 1995.
“Hitler Would Have Killed In Talk Radio” Too
“What must it be like to live in Rush Limbaugh’s world? A world where when anyone other than conservative, white men attempts to do anything or enter any profession, be it business, politics, art or sports, the only reason they’re allowed entry or, incredibly, attain excellence is because the standard was lowered....Edgy, controversial, brilliant. What a way to shake up intelligent sports commentary. Hitler would have killed in talk radio. He was edgy, too.”
— CBS commentator Nancy Giles on Sunday Morning, October 5, 2003.
