Blogger and former Washington Times staffer Robert Stacy McCain has an article over at The American Spectator's Web site that blows away the stereotype many in the MSM seem to have about Rush Limbaugh's audience being nothing more than "angry white men."
In "Taxi Driver Dittos, Rush", McCain relays a brief story of his interaction with a D.C. cabbie originally from Nigeria who loves Limbaugh.
Here's an excerpt:
Cabs lined up with engines idling outside Washington's historic Omni Shoreham Hotel about 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Drivers were waiting to sweep away thousands of guests who soon would depart the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), but nobody was leaving yet, and so the drivers waited.
"When does Rush speak?" asked a stocky driver in a blue hooded sweatshirt.
"He just started speaking," I answered.
"Oh, man, I wish I could be there," the driver said. "He is great."
Wally Onakoya drives Fairway Cab No. 1 and said he had hoped to listen to Rush Limbaugh's speech on WCSP-FM, but was disappointed that Washington's C-SPAN radio station was not broadcasting it live.
He came to America from Nigeria in 1983. A quarter-century later, he now drives his cab in the nation's capital to pay tuition for his daughter, Seun, a freshman biochemistry major at Maryland's St. Mary's College, whose school emblem adorned the blue hoodie Onakoya wore Saturday with paternal pride.
Onakoya has been a loyal Dittohead for years. He explained that not all who ride in his cab appreciate his radio habit of listening to Limbaugh from noon to 3 p.m. weekdays.
McCain went on to describe how he got Onakoya into the Omni Shoreham hotel to see part of Limbaugh's speech, before closing by expressing inspiration from his interaction with Mr. Onakoya:
Onakoya applauded along with many others, both in the hospitality suite and in the ballroom, as Rush paid tribute to the greatness of America and her people. And he listened as Limbaugh discussed, with tremendous passion, the human wreckage created by decades of liberal policy and the message of victimhood that Democrats convey to the poor.
"It breaks our heart to see this," Rush said. "We can't have a great country and a growing economy, with more and more people being told…that they have a right to the earnings of others."
From the corner of my eye, through the window, I saw the cab at the head of the queue in front of the Omni Shoreham roll forward to pick up a fare. I nudged Onakoya to indicate that his services were needed outside as the taxi herd was slowly rearranged.
"Thank you so much," the cabbie told me, after we'd pushed through the door and were strolling back toward the driveway. I assured Onakoya that the pleasure was entirely mine, and that it was he who deserved gratitude, not I.
Today at 12:06 p.m., while Fairway Cab No. 1 rolls through the streets of Washington, the taxi's radio will carry the voice of a man who cares more for the opinion of cab drivers than for the praise of elitists. Rush looks at this country's Wally Onakoyas and sees like-minded souls engaged with him in the "relentless pursuit of excellence."
Why do the liberal elitists insist we should see such proudly independent Americans as something else, or something less?
McCain also blogs at The Other McCain. You can follow him on Twitter @RSMcCain.
