Wednesday, February 17, 2021

RIP Rush Limbaugh

 Mark Steyn says it better than I can:

It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of Rush Limbaugh, a giant of American broadcasting, a uniquely talented performer, and a hugely generous man to whom I owe almost everything.

Rush died this morning, after a year-long struggle with lung cancer. I was scheduled to guest-host today's show. Instead, as you can hear, his beloved Kathryn will be introducing a special program put together by the EIB team to celebrate a great man's life and legacy. It's a hard thing to do - compressing a glorious third-of-a-century into three hours - but Snerdley, Kraig, Mike, Allie and everyone else I've worked with there for so many years will do their best.

Usually, in this line of work, if you're lucky, you get a moment - a year or two when you're the in-thing - and you hope to hold enough of that moment as it slowly fades away to keep you going till retirement. Rush did something unprecedented in the history of TV and radio. Commercial broadcasting began in the United States in 1920: The Rush Limbaugh Show came along two-thirds of a century later, became the Number One program very quickly, and has stayed at the top all the way to today - for a third of the entire history of the medium. And throughout all those decades Rush and his show stayed exactly the same: a forensic breakdown of the day's news, punctuated by musical parodies, satirical sketches, and Rush's own optimism and good humor, even through this last terrible year.

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My father liked to caution me with the old saw that the graveyard is full of indispensable men. But, as the conventional bias of the legacy media yielded to something far more severe from the woke billionaires of Social Media, Rush remained the Big Voice on the Right, the largest obstacle to the complete marginalization of conservative ideas in our culture. All of us who labored in his shadows owe it to him to continue the fight.

To modify Rush's tag line: Talent returned to God.

Much more at the link.


Saturday, January 30, 2021

An Open Letter to President Trump

Open letter to President Trump by Patrice Lewis

Dear President Trump:

We voted for you because you promised not to be a politician. You proved yourself by doing something no politician has ever done: You kept your campaign promises.

When you first took office, you didn't whine that you inherited a sucky economy (which you did). You didn't claim there was nothing you could do to fix it. Instead, you rolled up your sleeves – and fixed it. Tens of millions of Americans found jobs that sustained their dignity. The economy roared. Did the left give you credit for that? Of course not.

You had an unbelievably steep learning curve for this job. Most presidential candidates aren't businessmen; they're politicians to the bone, with inept "service" careers spanning decades. They're used to the D.C. swamp and how to navigate through it … or rather, how to sink into it.

But you were thrown into the deep end of the pool and had to learn to swim in a hurry. And you did. In doing so, you discovered just how deep and vicious that swamp is, and how difficult it was to drain it. The fact that you accomplished such a staggering amount while fighting a 95% negative coverage from the fake news media is a testament to your strength, intelligence and patriotism.

From the very beginning, the left (Big Tech, Hollywood, academia, the mainstream media, the Democratic Party) ganged up against you with a viciousness never before seen in American history. They were relentless, unmerciful and unabating in their attacks. Attempts to impeach you happened even before you took office. You put the needs and will of the American people ahead of the desires and greed of the elite – and for that, they hated you.

Through it all, you handled things with a brilliant feint the left fell for over and over. While you whipped them into a frothing, panting frenzy with bombastic arrogance and infuriating tweets, behind the scenes you quietly dismantled onerous regulations, restored the economy, secured our borders, negotiated with world leaders, neutralized hostile nations, made us energy independent and appointed constitutional-minded judges.

You refused to turn the IRS into a government instrument of persecution against your political foes. You scoffed at political correctness, and instead focused on constitutional correctness. You proved we are not a country of racists, but a nation of opportunity for everyone. Under one common banner – patriotism – you united an unbelievable variety of citizens. People of all races, colors, creeds, professions, sexual orientation, faiths and walks of life came together to celebrate America. No one in high office has ever, ever done that.

You brokered peace in war-torn regions. You didn't send in troops to settle international disputes. You didn't get us into any long-term unwinnable wars. As a mom whose daughter is serving in the military, that alone fills me with profound gratitude.

While staying strictly within the bounds of the Constitution, you racked up a list of accomplishments that eclipsed the accomplishments of any past president by a long shot. This list is so massive that it defies belief. The media cover-up of those accomplishments is similarly massive, and it similarly defies belief. The media spent four years carefully excising the news to omit any positive references and make sure you never, ever got the credit you deserve for the thousands of acts you performed.

But despite all the lies told about you, the American people noticed your results. Oh yes, we noticed. We noticed with gratitude, appreciation, and a deep DEEP respect for all the bulls**t you put up with on our behalf. You literally gave a voice to the voiceless and forgotten people living in Flyover Country, those of us who have been ignored and ridiculed for decades by the Beltway elites, those of us mocked by every leftist in Hollywood and by every school and university laboring to stamp out any conservative spark. We noticed. In gratitude, we flocked to your rallies; and when you weren't available for personal appearances, we made our own rallies by car, boat and even Amish buggies.

You showed us an exciting possibility: what happens when a president actually follows the Constitution. For one dazzling term, you showed us the thrilling potential of what could happen when America was treated as a business with a nation of shareholders instead of a kingdom with serfs. You also showed us a dismal reality: how abhorrent the Constitution is to those who are sworn to uphold it.

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In short, you have been the best president this nation has known in decades, perhaps centuries. We tend to laud our Founding Fathers for pledging their "lives, fortune and sacred honor" for America. You, sir, have done the same thing – literally the same thing. 

Please, Mr. Trump, stay safe. I fear for your security. These people are desperate – and evil.