Rush Limbaugh and calls for unity

a reply to: putnam6

I think it all comes from where you are looking at things. I have a fear of both the radical right and left extremist wings of politics in this country. By the FBI definition definitions of these groups they are a threat and should be taken seriously. The problem I see now is that the environment is so polarized that if you lean right you rather see the right wing extremist as your allies and those on the left do the same with their extremist wing.

There is no alliance to be had with those who threaten the fabric of this nation through threats and violence and at this point I wish that the GOP implodes from within and the Democrats really distance themselves from the extreme leftist element and we can govern from the middle. Sure we won’t agree on everything but is better than the tit-tat policy making this country has had for the last 20 years.

originally posted by: SeektoUnderstand
a reply to: Bluntone22

Rush Limbaugh is the embodiment of free speech; controversial.... yes, but he also was an encyclopedia of knowledge and regardless of any shame you can throw on him (shame on you) he still commanded the LARGEST audience in broadcasting history. No matter how you view him, he will always be a leader in his industry, a legend and a benchmark that will probably never be reached again.....

RIP to a man that spoke his mind, and excepted the consequences... in the name of free speech.

I will add that Rush was very relatable to many ordinary Americans and I think that was one of his biggest strengths. He spoke casual, smart, witty but with a big political acumen. I will listen to him sometimes to kind of “hate listen” but very rarely a came out outraged at what he had to say even if I didn’t agree with him.

I wish we had someone like him on the left. Someone with such presence and feel for what the ordinary person on the left wants.

originally posted by: Bunch

originally posted by: SeektoUnderstand
a reply to: Bluntone22

Rush Limbaugh is the embodiment of free speech; controversial.... yes, but he also was an encyclopedia of knowledge and regardless of any shame you can throw on him (shame on you) he still commanded the LARGEST audience in broadcasting history. No matter how you view him, he will always be a leader in his industry, a legend and a benchmark that will probably never be reached again.....

RIP to a man that spoke his mind, and excepted the consequences... in the name of free speech.

I will add that Rush was very relatable to many ordinary Americans and I think that was one of his biggest strengths. He spoke casual, smart, witty but with a big political acumen. I will listen to him sometimes to kind of “hate listen” but very rarely a came out outraged at what he had to say even if I didn’t agree with him.

I wish we had someone like him on the left. Someone with such presence and feel for what the ordinary person on the left wants.

Wonder why a down-to-earth Everyman never made it the way he did.

For the Left I mean...

a reply to: slatesteam

What you are implying is not even true for the right either. Rush was unique in his era and he took the right by storm and at the beginning the elite on the right didn’t knew what to make of him. If you are going to tell me that the right has been this open beacon of hope for ordinary Americans you just knew to politics or not being truly honest. Rush made the right care about ordinary Americans and that’s what I mean that is what’s needed on the left.

Their is this one guy I listen that I think comes close to being what I envision as a voice for the left but even him doesn’t seem himself as leftist.

originally posted by: Bunch
a reply to: slatesteam

What you are implying is not even true for the right either. Rush was unique in his era and he took the right by storm and at the beginning the elite on the right didn’t knew what to make of him. If you are going to tell me that the right has been this open beacon of hope for ordinary Americans you just knew to politics or not being truly honest. Rush made the right care about ordinary Americans and that’s what I mean that is what’s needed on the left.

Their is this one guy I listen that I think comes close to being what I envision as a voice for the left but even him doesn’t seem himself as leftist.

Okay. So Rush was a Leftist?

I’m implying totally not that.

Politics in MSM in America ain’t been right in a long time.

I’m just SOOOOooo relieved that no matter which way I swing, the talking heads tell me the emotional state I ought to be in before giving me “the news”

How’s that for implications

a reply to: slatesteam

I think I misunderstood your post. I thought you were implying that a “down to earth everyman” talent like Rush could find a home on the right while a similar talent has no room on the left.

originally posted by: Bunch
a reply to: slatesteam

I think I misunderstood your post. I thought you were implying that a “down to earth everyman” talent like Rush could find a home on the right while a similar talent has no room on the left.

Not today. Not anymore. Not for either side.

He was famously fabulous because he got in when he could, found his niche (which wasn’t), and rode that wave.

Like any great American would and should.

Except...nvm

Also: sorry for the confusion. I’m not very with it much

Rush would’ve been much more entertaining and humble

Ignorant people with no personally formed opinion on any subject, who not only never listened to Rush Limbaugh, but never even listened to the broadcast radio, much less any talk radio programs, are the ones putting down Rush after his death. Young ignorant ass holes with zero clue about most anything.

My GF's daughter mentioned Rush's passing on FB, the ignorant and disrespectful comments that came after made me ashamed for her and her "friends". They have no clue in the slightest about Rush or any talk radio, but they parrot their echo chamber crap and then take it to the next level with such incredible disrespect. It makes me feel like taking a swing at such smug dumb asses, and I'm not a violent person in the least. I'd characterize them as "jerk wads", but a squirt of gizz on a sock has more common sense than they do.

Many here have mentioned hate from both sides and of course I agree that it exists on both. That’s is something we will never get rid of but the level of hate on Limbaugh makes me understand that it’s not just extreme ones this time.

When Ginsburg died, I say her because she is very recent, there was some of the same type of comments but not every other comment like the ones on Limbaugh.

a reply to: Lumenari

I definitely don't hate him and it did seem like he accomplished a bit back in the day. But when i started listening to him out of boredom on long car rides i heard nothing but what one might expect from a diehard conservative.

I get why some said, that in the end, he was just another talking head that pushed the left vs right divide.

I don't discount that he accomplished much as a radio host, but i don't think he brought any powerful insight or "unity" to American politics.

a reply to: blueman12

I agree mostly.
He wasn’t just another talking head, he was “the” talking head and I don’t believe he ever claimed to be trying to unite the left and right.

My whole op is mostly pointing out this particular topic and that the idea of both sides coming together is even less likely than I would have ever believed. This was posted in chit chat for that reason.
Extreme viewpoints have always existed but now it just feels like the viewpoint of regular people is closer to extreme than ever before.

a reply to: putnam6

Maybe, but a lady was on the local talk radio show this morning with her memory. She said the one thing she appreciated about Rush most was that even as he was poking fun at the left and being slightly outrageous about it all, he was always optimistic and said, "But it's not time to panic; I'll tell you when it's time to panic."

In other words, yes, he was a pressure valve for frustration in millions of folks and place to vent, and he was a positive voice in the main even though the left doesn't see it that way because he was doing it all at their expense (but they are ridiculous).

Now, who takes up that slack? Where do those people go to vent their frustrations, and will the replacement be a largely positive voice or something more like the voices on the left?

a reply to: ketsuko

I'm wondering if Rush has already pre-selected his heir apparent.

a reply to: Bunch

until everyone realizes that there is one main driving factor in the division. It's painfully easy to see, but almost impossible to repair.

The Media.

They drive the wedge, they stoke the fires, they drive the narrative. Sure they do it at the behest of the true leaders, but without their part being done, we would have an honest way to get facts. As it stands, we have to secretly curry facts as if they were slaves on the underground railroad, due to the possibilities of bruising the narrative.

MSM is a cancer, and it must be removed, or it's matasticization will kill us.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Many here have mentioned hate from both sides and of course I agree that it exists on both. That’s is something we will never get rid of but the level of hate on Limbaugh makes me understand that it’s not just extreme ones this time.

When Ginsburg died, I say her because she is very recent, there was some of the same type of comments but not every other comment like the ones on Limbaugh.

I don't think you can compare the vitriol from the left with the right. On the right, we might have some random unknown person say something out of line on a message board whereas the vitriol from the left comes from people who are mainstream. That is the difference to me. You aren't going to see conservative media run a piece saying "F*ck Ginsburg and F*ck anyone who supported her" whereas the left has no problem with normalizing that kind of behavior by people who actually do have a public platform.

The Democratic Party doesn't really want unity.

At least not the traditional definition of unity.

They want submission.

They see unity as people thinking exactly as they do, speak exactly as they do, act exactly as they do.

Anything else is as Democratic Party Congresspeople and Senators often say, terrorism and sedition. Making Republicans (conservative thinkers) as Pelosi said on MSNBC after the RNC convention, long before the election and Jan 6, "enemies of the state".

Remember the Democratic Party elite politicians playbook -
total submission is unity
anything else is criminal (terrorism/sedition/enemy of the state)
in the eyes of many of their Congresspeople and Senators.
As they so often say on MSNBC, CNN and in interviews.

Now that the elite political Democratic Party Congresspeople and Senators
are in total control of the government
and are able to make laws that back up
what they claim Republicans (every person who voted for Trump) are:
regularly on MSNBC and CNN and in interviews,
well that is just plain terrifying.

And no where near as bad or dangerous
as anything the right has ever said about
liberals.

Because once the Democratic Congresspeople and Senators
pack the Supreme Court there will be no stopping them
from acting on their rhetoric, IF they choose to do so.

I pray for the nation we never become
like Stalin/Mao/Pol Pot
and make people who disagree politically
with the sole party in power criminals

a reply to: Bunch

People on the extreme are going to be idiots. When RBG passed away last year it was the same...heck she wasn’t even dead and the radical right wing extremist were posting CTs about her having a body double or something. None of it is right on either side.

I don't understand why both sides of the extreme can't see that they are exactly same. Same side of the same coin. They can post anything, and the only words that you would need to change are the words right or left and it is the same, exactly the same, rhetoric.

Why they are so blind to their own ills and so intolerant of those same ills in others is mind boggling.

I have learned to reject any political conversation with friends, family, and community, regardless of what side of the aisle they speak from. The new trending that you believe what I believe, or you are my enemy, creates a great divide for me, not because of what they believe, but because I don't do cliches, I don't do group speak, and I don't do "It is true because I saw it on the internet", well at all.

extreme is not good I am a democrat but in the middle I did not like rush limbagh but I would never wish cancer on anyone (husband died of cancer) how many of you know that when gay died of aids rush would announce their names on the air and celebrate with whistles and air horns...

how are we to come together when the extremist on the right attacked our government attempted a coup that failed and are totally ok with it.....we were MINUTES from having vice prez pence hung from the gallows and other officials killed.

I thought we lived in a free country were we can vote for who we want but trump constantly spread the "BIG LIE" that we stole the election from him..in essence trump tried to force a republican win...my own sister tried to force me to be a republican,,the total irony of that I am sure went right over her head

First....being hateful is the way of 2020 and beyond. So don't be shocked.

Beyond that, Rush was a crappy human. The joy he found in the suffering of people with opinions and lifestyles he did not agree with is disgusting. I've never really found much to life about Rush Limbaugh. His death...im sorry to hear about it. May he rest in peace. But thats as far as I can go.

Let people hate the guy. He earned it.

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: Bunch

until everyone realizes that there is one main driving factor in the division. It's painfully easy to see, but almost impossible to repair.

The Media.

They drive the wedge, they stoke the fires, they drive the narrative. Sure they do it at the behest of the true leaders, but without their part being done, we would have an honest way to get facts. As it stands, we have to secretly curry facts as if they were slaves on the underground railroad, due to the possibilities of bruising the narrative.

MSM is a cancer, and it must be removed, or it's matasticization will kill us.

The true leaders are the corporations and that's where I lay the blame. For decades the GOP was the party of the big money until Trump. About a decade or maybe 15 years ago big money started making their way to the Democratic Party and now they exert big influence on it. Big money uses the MSM as a weapon to keep ordinary Americans divided on petty little issues that makes us forget that we all want the same thing: The have a fair shot to advance in life and set up our kids for the future.

The longer they keep us apart the win, just look at income inequity trends and is easily explainable. The last 20 years of hyper polarization in this country have allowed for the rich to get richer and the poorer to get poorer and squeezing every single penny that the middle class has.

I just don't understand how ordinary Americans let themselves be blinded by this. Its not a right or left issue is a peoples issue.