A Premature Eulogy For Rush Limbaugh re Equal Time and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

February 8, 2020 (re State of the Union Address on 02-04-2020):

            While driving my Suburban way back in the late 1980s when liberal⁰¹ politicians (and the uniformly lockstep-liberal media -- ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, PBS, NYT, WaPO, LaT, etc.) were relentlessly still trashing Ronald Reagan as a bigoted, cowboy war-monger who had dared to insist on deploying intermediate nuclear missiles in Europe to counter Soviet missiles, dared to call the Soviet Union an "evil empire," and dared to walk-away from a nuclear-arms treaty proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev at Reykjavik that would have prohibited Reagan's proposal for a high-tech missile-defense system (which refusal by Reagan plus Soviet fear of U.S. technological prowess ultimately induced Mikhail Gorbachev to agree to Reagan's proposal for an intermediate-range nuclear-arms reduction treaty, which ultimately led to the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty a.k.a., "START"), I stumbled upon Rush Limbaugh's "talk-radio" program in which he used clever and often hilarious satire and parody to mock liberals and proudly tout Reagan's political philosophy.

            It was a breath of fresh air-- but not for liberals.  As Limbaugh's popularity and influence rapidly grew, liberals immediately began demanding reinstatement of the FCC regulation purporting to require "equal time" for opposing political views (which regulation the Reagan Administration had presciently repealed).  Without a doubt, Limbaugh's program did not include "equal time" for liberals to express views opposing his views, but in response to the liberal clamor for reinstatement of the "equal time" rule to require him to do so, he brilliantly responded, "I am 'equal time'" by explaining that his entire program constituted "equal time" in response to the uniformly liberal content of virtually the rest of the media (ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, PBS, NYT, WaPO, LaT, etc.).

            Most Americans sensibly understood that Limbaugh was exactly correct with respect to such "equal time" issue even though virtually the rest of the media intensified their demonization of Limbaugh as a bigoted warmonger.  Such demonization still continues not merely unabated but to an even greater degree.  Of course, liberal Americans, who glean their news entirely from their ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, PBS, NYT, WaPO, LaT, etc. echo-chambers,  still accept such propagandistic demonization as "gospel truth" even though only a small percentage of them ever actually listened to his program (rather than merely hearing or reading excerpts contextually distorted by his bete noire (i.e.,ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, PBS, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, NYT, WaPO, LaT, etc.).  

            I never listened to Limbaugh "every day," but I virtually always listened whenever his program was "on" while  I was driving.  As was and still is the case with most of his regular listeners, I never came close to agreeing with all of his views but usually found myself in agreement with most of the views he expressed-- because I heard his views in contexts rather than merely hearing propagandistically misleading excerpts promoted by his haters in most of the traditionally dominant media

            Thus, I wasn't surprised when President Trump's award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Limbaugh during Trump's February 4, 2020, State of the Union Address sent all liberals and the traditionally dominant media into apoplexy.  That's because virtually all of them harbor intense disdain for Limbaugh (and virtually anyone else who refuses to fully embrace liberal orthodoxy).  Virtually all of them are blind to the fact that many (perhaps most) Americans not under the influence of the liberal echo-chamber have similar (but non-apoplectic) negative views of President Obama's award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to die-hard echo-chamber leftists such as Robert De Niro and Robert Redford.  So, who cares that liberals and their echo-chamber media are in a state of apoplexy (and in a state of denial) that Trump awarded the Medal to Limbaugh?  They may think most Americans care, but they are wrong.

            Why am I describing this column as a "Premature Eulogy" for Limbaugh.  The word "premature" serves two purposes:  First, it expresses a hope that it's "waaaaay" too "premature"; Second, it expresses a wish (which most of feel when we hear a eulogy for a just-deceased loved one -- i.e., we wish they could have heard the eulogy before dying) for Limbaugh to have an opportunity to enjoy knowing that countless Americans who would not describe themselves as "Ditto Heads" for him nevertheless recognize, and greatly appreciate, the incalculably beneficial effect his role as an advocate for Liberty had on the extent to which post-Eisenhower America has resisted the cultural trend towards the gray, bureaucratic mediocrity of statism.  So, to you, Rush Limbaugh, I say, "I hope you overcome cancer and I thank you for your incalculable contribution to liberty, for which the Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award you richly deserve."

--Jim Wrenn

⁰¹When I use the term "liberal," I am not referring to what reasonably well-informed and enlightened people would classify as "classical Western liberalism," when modern liberals seem (to me) to view with almost as much disdain as they view Limbaugh's views.)

By Jim Wrenn, Editor, PoliticalXray.Com a.k.a. PoliSat.Com 

http://PoliSat.Com/A-Premature-Eulogy-For-Rush-Limbaugh-re-Equal-Time-and-Presidential-Medal-of-Freedom.htm

OR

http://polisat.com/DailyPoliticalSatire-Commentary/Archives2020/du20y20m02d04-01.htm 

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