Rush Limbaugh: The King of the DGIs

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

I just heard Rush approvingly cite an editorial in which the writer claimed that:

1) All major Y2K problems are fixed (only the "little guys" will have problems and these will be insignificant).

2) Hoarders-of-toilet-paper-and-other-sundries are the real problem, not broken computer code.

Rush claimed that it's easy to convince people of doom and gloom. Concoct any gloomy scenario you like and folks will just hop on board without a thought. But getting to the truth, now that's tough, according to Rush.

ROTFLMAO!

I like Rush and agree with him, oh, maybe as much as 70 or 80% of the time. But this is a hilarious disconnect from reality. He spends his entire day debunking spin, talking heads, and pundits and then can't see when he's being spun. He is so blinded by his faith in the System that he can't see that the doom and gloomers (both politically and Y2Kly) do in fact have the truth/evidence on their side. He of "don't expect anybody else to take care of you" fame derides folks who step up to the plate to take responsibility for themselves and their families. And all of us who GI know all to well that nothing sells worse in this country than TEOTWAWKI. Hot stock tips and Limbaughesque optimism sell big; news that your personal net worth is about to go seriously negative and you may or may not survive...nah, that doesn't sell well at all.

It is wonderfully ironic that the Clinton presidency was the best thing that ever happened to Rush Limbaugh, while Y2K will be his undoing in a big way. Even if the infrastructure stays up just enough for him to stay on the air, the collapse of the national economy will fatally damage his credibility.

-- D.P. (dpalm@mwt.net), February 09, 1999

Answers

Prediction: Rush Limbaugh will not miss a meal in 2000 nor will he shiver.

(Recall yesterday's prediction: No US Senator would get cold or hungry in 2000. [Hey, if a Senator stores up a garage full of food, well, that's different. You see, it's very important to the people of this nation that Senators eat regularly; chances should not be taken. You on the other hand would be a despicable little donut hoarding peon if you try to buy extra food now while everything is in unbelievable surplus.])

I can hear Senator Byrd now: "I truly beleeve that it would be a high crime to store up food; however, having said that, the nation needs my fat a** to sit up here and save the nation, so to get the y2k thing behind us and let the national healing begin, in y2k I'm going to eat like Mr. Creosote ("just a wafer thin mint") until I explode like a can of pork and beans at a Cub Scout camping trip."

Bonus Prediction: Rush has enough Cohiba's in his humidor to choke every Indian in Bombay.

-- Puddintame (dit@dot.com), February 09, 1999.


I too have been frustratingly in awe of his ignorance on this issue. I agree with much, not all, of what he says. He always says that "we, here at EIB, are in a relentless search for the truth". I see now that Rush is after certain truth, but disreguards others. I would not be as disappointed in him if he said nothing about y2k on his program. Instead, he does talk about it some and always uses some spin instead of sharing facts about the situation.

-- James Chancellor (publicworks1@bluebonnet.net), February 09, 1999.

Another comment, no respected national figure is going to intentionally say anything which might cause a bank run, regardless of what they believe in their heart. If you're waiting for your favorite straight shooting analyst or businessman to come out with something other than a "Red Cross" style preparation warning, then you may as well have a Snickers bar cause you won't be going anywhere for a while. You are on your own. Get used to it. There simply won't be any high-level "leadership" on this issue until crisis has ensued; then, of course, high level leaders will be falling all over themselves about preparation, causes, you name it.

Remember the 1987 crash. How much warning of that did you see in the national press. Then, the next day analysts were busting at the seems with "I told you so's" and silly boasting about how they had gotten all their clients out the week before, etc. Same in politics. After it breaks, they'll all be experts and they'll all be "out front" providing "vital leadership in a time of crisis"

-- Puddintame (dit@dot.com), February 09, 1999.


DITTO. I think Rush is in the dark because the event is still too far in the future. His focus is on very current events. I sat on a panel several months ago at a Y2k awareness meeting. Among the folks on the panel was a representative of a local TV station. Maybe his observations apply to Rush's inattentiveness to this issue.

What Mr. X from TV station YZ replied in response to criticism of the station's sparse coverage I'll summarize. From his eperience (30 yrs. in news coverage) he felt that the event horizon was too far off to catch the attention of the majority of the station's audience. The station, which is a profit-seeking organization, was not reporting on this issue because most of their "customers" would have no interest in an event which, in this fast-moving world, appeared to be far, far away.

Mr. X predicted that the coverage would begin to gradually grow in early 1999 but would not reach major event status until July or August when it would be close enough to penetrate the myopia of the average news customer! For now, I have to defer to his judgement on this matter because of his experience and because I have a hard time buying into any of the cover-up theories. This X-Files fan only suspends his disbelief for entertainment purposes and without that suspension the conspiracy stuff just won't work for me.

Final note, Mr. X didn't agree with the editorial policies that put Y2k on the backburner and he was at the meeting as part of an effort to find out how to report on the issue without having the station's customers grab the remote and search for more Monica news.

In a nutshell: Rush is just reporting what his customers want and so is the rest of the media. When the Dittoheads prove that the majority want him talking about Y2k he will do it with such fervor that many will soon believe he discovered the importance of this challenge all by himself.

-- Woe Is Me (wim@doom.gloom), February 09, 1999.


You folks have just flat out missed what is important about what Limbaugh did today.

One of the basic points of Intell is: Context is at least important as content.

What was special about the way Rush anounced that New York Times fluff piece?

He was on a nonstop rant about the impeachment, same as the last few weeks. (before you jump, my own opinion of Bubba C is unprintable amongst mixed company.) Where did this Y2K piece come from? Out of the blue, totally unrelated to anything else he talked about in that segment, not accepting any calls on the subject, no discussion, HE JUST READS THE PIECE AND MAKES A FEW OFF HAND COMMENTS.

Just POOF, it's there and gone.

He was handed that piece and told to read it. It was not planned in advance. It was a slip up by whoever was supposed to deal with it. This is my opinion only based on what I heard.

Is my read wrong?

-- Art Welling (artw@lancnews.infi.net), February 09, 1999.



I need to revise my comments. Above I said no business leader is going to be out front. Of course that is incorrect since a number of days ago Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems told the entire world that they may not be able to make computers next year. My remarks stand amended. Thanks for the thread above which reminded me of this.

-- Puddintame (dit@dot.com), February 09, 1999.

When TSHTF Rush Limbaugh will find himself on the outside. Who will need him and want to feed his fat ass ?

-- out of the loop (soonto@be.broken), February 09, 1999.

Art,

Couldn't agree with you more about Rush Limbaugh. He's a bag of hot air....I can say that with personal certainity. I met him a few years ago, and we had quite a long conversation. Believe me, this guy feels no responsiblity for what he says. He's out to make a buck and was quite open about it. Listen to him, he tells you that you don't need to do the thinking and researching...you can trust him, he'll do it for you. Yeah right! He wants no discourse from callers unless they sound like fools or agree entirely with him.

Y2k isn't a topic that he'll grab onto. This guys got more money in the bank and investements than you can imagine. The only good thing I can think of about him right now, is he lives in some huge expensive highrise apartment in the middle of New York City. Hope he stays there.

-- Cary Mc from Tx (Caretha@compuserve.com), February 09, 1999.


Do you think the government would ALLOW someone like Rush Limbaugh go on the air and tell people to prepare????? If he did, a million "Ditto-Heads" would go out do as their "God" told them to do.

-- _ (_@_.com), February 09, 1999.

Rush lives in New York City, last I heard. Probably can't admit to himself that even an armoured limo will have a tought time ferrying him back and forth between EIB network and his townhouse if TSHTF.

-- a (A@AisA.com), February 09, 1999.


Rush, being a conservative first and foremost, has a number of blind spots related to his ideology (religious and political). I.e., no problem with overpopulation, no ecologicial problems, there's significant difference between Republicans and Democrats, etc.

-- a (A@AisA.com), February 09, 1999.

Hey a,

I don't think it is a problem with overpopulation, it is more a problem of Bankers owning all the ()&%&^$&^ land. If the bankers don't own it then the government will not allow you to live on it and be Free. "Free, how dare those piss ants demand to be free!"

-- freeman (freeman@cali.com), February 09, 1999.


Until there are photo ops of leaping flames, blood running in the gutter, spectacular plane crashes or oil tanker collisions associated with Y2K, TV people are not going to cover it with any sort of seriousness. Think about it--a tractor-trailer full of widgets burning to a fare-thee-well at rush hour is worth any amount of substantive news stories as the lead in the 6 o'clock news.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 09, 1999.

Do you think the government would ALLOW someone like Rush Limbaugh go on the air and tell people to prepare????? If he did, a million "Ditto-Heads" would go out do as their "God" told them to do.

[as if the government can control him LOL]

-- now you people are (really@losing.it), February 09, 1999.


For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

(2Th 2:11-12)

-- a (a@a.a), February 09, 1999.



Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot. I don't believe him 1% of the time-just a gas bag.

-- gilda jessie (jess@listbot.com), February 09, 1999.

a@a - that's it exactly!

Gilda - it doesn't matter whether you can't stand the thought of him (indeed, I'm a conservative and I find him nearly intolerable) the point of the thread is that there are a large number of folks for whom he provides a major part of their political and social metric on current events. Think of him as the conservative radio equivalent of the front section of the NYT (which I also can't stand, but that's another story). In other words *influence* is the question here - we're fighting an uphill battle in the war to educate enough people to a high enough level of preparation that we just MIGHT have a civilization left by 01/01/01. you know?

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), February 10, 1999.


Could it be that Rush is the anti-Christ? Could someone with the expertise and knowledge checkout his name and see if his numbers are 666? He claims to be the "all knowing, all seeing."

-- betheis (bethe is@666.com), February 10, 1999.

I cannot pass up the chance to say Limbaugh is a DICKHEAD.I hope at least one person was deeply offended.

-- The coach (justcallsem@likeIsees.em), February 10, 1999.

like pshannon said in another thread (I think it was pshannon) he never bothered to turn to page 17.

Anyone who thinks that Rush is serious, at any time, needs to have their heads examined. He is just one parody after another. I think everything he says is a joke, be it an *inside* joke for his staff or a personal one that only *he* gets. Talent on loan from God my a**!

Hrumph...!

-- Sub-Mit (lurking@ofcourse.com), February 10, 1999.


First - I think you take Rush too seriously.

Second - it doesn't really matter what he says.

Third - I think he often conceals at least part of what he believes.

Although he MAY be a DGI, I doubt he would say much if he was a GI. After all, even Ed Y syas he doesn't KNOW what will happen.

SO many people take Rush as Gospel --- would you dare be responsible for possibly misleading a few million people. What I mean by that is that if Rush says it may be a problem, I bet 3/4 ths go to the store that night and clean off the shelves.

I also bet Rush has a "Bug out" strategy, although its possible as someone said that he's so optimistic and politically immersed that he just cant see it.

Anyway, I bet he wont miss a meal one way or the other either. And it really doesn't matter what he thinks. Each person should make their own decision and be responsible for it (sorry Bill).

-- Bob Rohland (narnia4@usa.net), February 10, 1999.


I read the poorly written novel Y2K-It's Already Too Late by Jason Kelly. Just about the time that Rush made one of his first comments about Y2K, saying it was no big deal, I was reading the part of the novel where Rush was a great hero because he was one of the first to warn everyone about Y2K. He sure made a fool of Jason Kelly.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), February 10, 1999.

Rush Limbaugh is a pathological liar and a pig.

-- (z@z.z), February 10, 1999.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ