Rush Limbaugh is more responisble for the polarization of the politics in this nation then anyone

[RDANGELO]

else. He got rich by using his talents to appeal to the worst in peoples nature. He was the king of other-ism. He was the first on the scene who was able to condition people to not think for themselves and just believe what they were being told. He did this thru the human instinct of tribalism.

I remember when he came on the scene nationally, it wasn't long before politicians in DC were giving speeches on the floor that sounded like they could have been written by him. Now we have the case where the House and the Senate are loaded with these idiots.

[BannonsLiver]

1. That's why I'm not doing cartwheels

We’d have all been better off had he been hit by a bus 25 years ago. The damage has been done and it’s largely irreversible. Tens of millions of minds poisoned.

[Mike 03]

2. Right. He was one of the principle architects who redesigned the Republican Party

from an actual political party that was for a set of ideas into an identitarian party that was only opposed to a set of ideas.

Gingrich probably deserves honorable mention here too.

I could see Limbaugh's influence on people I worked with in the mid 90s, and also on their spouses. I worked for a great guy who complained that his wife had become addicted to Limbaugh and that it was changing her. And he was a conservative Catholic, and even he was worried about it.

[cbdo2007]

3. he ripped apart millions of families, including mine with his lies

and hate messages. I cheered loudly when I first heard of his passing and will continue partying throughout the day.

[Caliman73]

4. I would argue that point.

The people who paid Rush Limbaugh are more responsible for the polarization of politics, than anyone. Certainly Limbaugh had a talent for lying and banking on White grievance, but that was low laying fruit. It has always been there to exploit. Someone had to bank roll Limbaugh and other right wing talkers.

You have billionaires like the Koch's, Mercers, Murdoch's, and others who have for the most part, remained relatively obscure and untouched by the polarity, but who have benefitted most from the division among people through the lies of people like Limbaugh and those who followed him.

[orwell]

5. I think it was Newt...

...but Rush was certainly a major factor.

[themaguffin]

9. Rush had been a force in AM radio prior to Newt's rise in the House

[JHB]

13. Newt was a bomb-throwing backbencher years before Rush

They rose in synch because they both mastered a medium for their incendiary rhetoric: AM talk radio for Rush, cable TV and C-SPAN for Newt.

[irisblue]

17. Frank Luntz and his language manipulation had major input as well

[JHB]

19. Yup, he was working for Newt's GOPAC

But he just supplied ammunition, he wasn't firing the foam-cannons.

[kysrsoze]

6. I remember riding in the car with a 20-something who listened to his shit in 1990. I can imagine

how it's shaped his thinking after 30 years of brainwashing.

[jalan48]

7. I agree. However, it was the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine by the FCC in 1987 that allowed

Limbaugh and others like him to start propagandizing on the public's media.

[leftstreet]

10. +1

[Grins]

20. YES!!!!! More than anything else - THAT!

With the help of a guy named Bork, and another named Scalia. A year later, Limbaugh. A few more years and - Fox!

[PghTiny]

21. Damn straight!

Congress needs to bring back the Fairness Doctrine and make it law. Before 1987, it was just a policy the FCC enforced.

[Bucky]

8. Unfortunately, Rupert Murdoch still breathes

I would put Rush at number two behind Murdoch. TV has a broader reach the radio, but Limbaugh definitely set the mold.

[Midnight Writer]

11. Rush mainstreamed hate.

He made it OK for public displays of hate, bigotry, resentment, sexism and just plain cruelty.

His formula was simple: Think of the worst, the meanest, the most ignorant thing you can say, then broadcast it on the airwaves with glee and pubescent giggles.

[JHB]

12. It was a tag-team. Rush in public, Newt in Congress

Newt was a bomb-throwing back-bencher in Congress while Rush was still trying to be an ordinary DJ. Newt's also the guy who sent memos to his fellow Republicans to use incendiary rhetoric. When Rush hit big, they were a natural pair.

[Demovictory9]

14. I would listen to as much of his show as I could stomach.... horrible racist stuff horrible

[Johnny2X2X]

15. He poisoned my mother's mind

When us kids got older, my mother went to work at the neighborhood pharmacy. She worked there for 20 years and the Rightwing owner played Rush Limbaugh every single day. She ended up a Trumpster and her relationships with her kids and grandkids have suffered. For that alone I hate him.

[yaesu]

16. second only to fox news. nt

[Warpy]

18. It will take a while for his infuence to wane

but most of his most ardent fans are in the over 50 crowd and always have been. When they die off, he'll die off with them.

A hundred years from now, he'll be a grotesque curiosity studied by political scientists.

FWIW, I never wished him dead. I wished him a long life, incapable of speech.

[True Dough]

22. I'm just gonna leave this here...

Link to tweet

[North Shore Chicago]

23. But what makes only certain people suceptible

to his anti factual harangues?

I listened to him while driving quite a bit in the late 80's, because why? Only AM stations between urban areas. I knew he was speaking nonsense, was just an entertainer trying to stir the pot.

Other folks listening obviously just turn into rushbots. Quite interesting.

[Turin_C3PO]

24. It is interesting.

When I was 18, before my political opinions had hardened, I wanted to see if Rush Limbaugh made any good points. I listened to him daily for a few weeks. I stopped because his opinions were utterly offensive to me. In no way was he able to hook me onto his hate.