Most people who hate Rush do not listen to him; they hear about him from liberal outlets who tell them what to think about him. Fifty years from now, he will be looked upon as the Will Rogers of this age. All the bitching and moaning about him will be long forgotten.
He was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on January 12, 1951. Most of the men in his family had been lawyers for several generations. His grandfather, who appeared on the radio show a couple of times, was somewhat famous and is the author of this. He lived to be over 100 years old, and was as sharp as a tack up until the day he died. Those of us who enjoy Rush wish him the same luck.
Rush disappointed his family by dropping out of college and working as a DJ. He worked in Pittsburgh at KQV, and then moved to Kansas City. He got fed up with the DJ life there and took a job in the Sales Dept. for the Kansas City Royals. He became close friends with George Brett, and they still spend time together whenever possible.
In 1983, the radio fever hit him again and he began doing what he does best: Political commentary. His first such gig was with KMBZ in Kansas City. He then moved to Sacramento, California, and went to work for KFBF, where he tripled the programs ratings in just four years. He still refers to Sacramento as his "adopted home town," and seems to have nothing but fond memories of that area.
His big break came in August of 1988. He got a nationally-syndicated network talk show up and going in New York City, beginning with 58 stations. Today, he is heard on almost 700 radio stations around the country. He single-handedly pulled AM radio out of the shadows and back to some semblance of the popularity it once had. It's not too far-fetched to believe that, without Rush, there would no longer be an AM dial on most radios.
His monthly newsletter, "The Limbaugh Letter," has over 400,000 subscribers. He's written two books which have sold around 9 million copies. The first was "The Way Things Ought to Be." The second was "See, I Told You So."
He's happily married to a lady, Marta Fitzgerald Limbaugh, whom he met online after she sent him an e-mail asking for advice on how to handle a left-wing college professor (that was redundant, wasn't it?). They were married by Clarence Thomas at his Virginia home.
Rush has changed the entire political landscape in America, whether you like it or not. As he says himself, he doesn't feel as if he changes many minds; but he does validate a lot of what people already had in their hearts and just didn't hear anyone in the media saying. I first heard him around 1989, and he has entertained me for more hours since then than I could count. Folks who drive around in cars for a living are a large part of his audience. He's on from noon to 3 PM in the Eastern time zone, and you can almost bet that the salesman or the truck driver sitting next to you in traffic during those hours is listening to the "EIB" (Excellence in Broadcasting Network).
I know a lot of you liberals hate him. There has been more venom spewed toward and lies told about this man by the liberals in the media than any other one figure since Joseph McCarthy. He's hated because he's so effective. You liberals should listen to him for a week and see if he doesn't know more about you and your politics than you feel comfortable about. The truth will start to itch you like a bad rash, and you'll either have to admit that he's right or turn it off. He doesn't hate you, but he knows that you must be defeated at the ballot box.