Rush Limbaugh: Political Commentator or Resilient Form Of Bedbug?

Rush Limbaugh. The name itself is spoken by many as if referring to some form of nasty venereal disease or a type of insect infestation that necessitates the burning mattresses and linens… it is a name associated with what many deem to be the worst of the worst of sensational right wing reporting. Our friends over at Bartcop have even stopped using the name entirely, preferring to refer to the conservative commentator as “Pigboy”. He currently is looking at a potential landslide victory in our political poll asking readers which American political pundit they would eat first if their plane crashed in the mountains of Argentina.

Love him or hate him, Rush Limbaugh is a cultural icon and a fixture in US politics, with more than 20 million listeners a week, clearly someone out there either agrees with Limbaugh, is entertained by his antics or does not know how to switch stations on their radio. But what do we really know about the man who Ronald Reagan once called “The number 1 voice of conservatism” in the United States? Here are: Five things that you didn’t know about Rush Limbaugh.

Number 1: if you don’t like what Limbaugh has to say, you could always just buy a tie from him.

Limbaugh actually launched a line of ties after viewers of his television program expressed some interest in the distinctive ties he wore. The ties were designed by his then-wife Marta, and Limbaugh grossed 5 million in sales in year 1. The ties  were eventually discontinued. Don’t all rush to Ebay at once.

Number 2: Limbaugh once worked for the Kansas City Royals

Way back in 1979, Limbaugh took a brief break from radio to become Director of
Promotions with the Royals. To this day he  counts retired Royals  star George Brett as one of his best friends.

Number 3: Limbaugh covered football on ESPN (If you sneezed you may have missed it)

Limbaugh brought his gift of the gab to the NFL, but left only three weeks into the 2003 season after making comments about quarterback Donovan Mcnabb that some construed as racist. We will never know the  impact that  ESPN’s “Hail Mary” choice of Limbaugh as a commentator would have had.

Number 4: Limbaugh once staged mock on- air “caller abortions”

Yes, it is hard to believe, but if you were to have called Limbaugh on his Sacramento radio show for a certain two week period in 1989, there would have been a good chance that your call would be terminated by the sound of a vacuum cleaner and a scream.

Limbaugh had claimed that his on-air “caller abortions” were merely a gag that illustrated “the tragedy of abortion” as well as an effort to bring into question whether abortion constitutes murder.  Apoliticus editors think it better illustrates the need for a move to a two week radio delay from the traditional seven seconds.

Number 5: Limbaugh can attribute much of his success to a repealed FCC doctrine

“The Fairness Doctrine” had required that radio stations provide free air time for responses to controversial opinions broadcast, but was repealed by FCC Chairman Mark Fowler (a key member of Ronald Reagan’s campaign staff in 1980) in 1987.

The result was the political commentator’s equivalent of Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader, as Limbaugh could ply his trade with unprecedented freedom whilst building his conservative talk show Death Star to what it is today.

A bonus interview with Barbara Walters:

Number 8: About.com

About.com is the central repository for political humor on the web. Though the site layout is about as exciting as watching paint dry… the content itself is solid. From political top 10’s like “Top 10 Bushisms of 2008″, to summaries of the best political humor on the web and TV, to the funny “real” political moments, About.com’s section on political humor has it all. Blogger Daniel Kurtzman does a good job putting some order to the chaos and collecting the best political humor on the web.

Number 7: Barely Political

One of the biggest viral sensations on the internet during the run up to the 2008 Presidential Election was ” Obama Girl” …an uber hot actress/model/singer  named Amber Lee Ettinger who professed her love for the candidate through song. Her videos, along with a large library of other funny politically oriented stuff have been viewed on Barely Political over 125 million times.

Number 6: Scrappleface

Scrappleface is a conservative political satire site that was started in 2002 by  ex-journalist Scott Ott. The site gained some notoriety after a post on Donald Rumsfeld’s comment about Germany and France being an “Axis of Weasels” went viral in 2003. The style of this blog is mock news pieces, put together with a little more love and attention than most bloggers devote to a typical entry.

Number 5: Bartcop

A granddaddy of political blogs on the internet (established in 1996), Bartcop is less of a straight up humor site, more of a compilation of funny and thought provoking political content from around the web.  The layout might get you clicking on text that you think should be hyperlinked, but all you need to know is that the homepage has everything you need to read the current issue. Remember to keep a bottle of Tequila handy as Bart often commands his readers to take a shot when an item is shotworthy. Remember to surf responsibly.

Number 4: Youtube

Youtube doesn’t require much explanation, it is the resource for online user generated video. What is notable is how many people accessed Youtube for humorous clips related to the 2008 presidential campaign. According to Integrated Media Measurement (IMMI), twice as many people saw Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin sketches online as watched it on television, and many of these views were from good ole Youtube.

Number 3: Colbert Nation

Colbert Nation is the online accompaniment to the famous Colbert Report, a spin off of The Daily Show hosted by Stephen Colbert. The show is comedy’s answer to personality driven pundit shows, taking aim specifically at Fox’s “O’Reilly Factor”. Colbert’s character is a right wing self aggrandizing, ill-informed, well intentioned, status-driven numbskull, prone to not letting facts get in the way of a good diatribe, particularly if a story has some “truthiness” to it (the quality by which one purports to know something emotionally or instinctively, without regard to evidence or intellectual examination).

Number 2: Satirical Political

Satirical Political is a left of center blog written by NY attorney Don Davis. SP entries are  usually pretty simple consisting of an image and a patently false, but extremely funny headline and caption.  Davis posts often, making his entries timely and an interesting interpretation of the political news of the day.

Number 1: 23/6 (Now on  The Huffington Post)

According to their motto, 23/6 delivers “some of the news, most of the time”. An animated version of the popular political cartoon “Get Your War On”, a feature on the political figures within the ever popular “Dickipedia” and a variety of humorous blogs and features based on current events (example:”We Can’t Quit W. Countdown – 50 Reasons We’re Sorry to See President Bush Go”) put 23/6 at the top of our list.