Rush Limbaugh

They so proudly wear this insignia.

Comedian Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (born January 12, 1951) is a radio talk show host, recovering (at least we hope so) drug addict, and political commentator. Born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, it is a self-described conservative, who discusses politics and current events on his program, The Rush Limbaugh Show. It hit the big time after the Reagan Administration revoked the Fairness Doctrine, and has been credited with reviving AM radio in the United States, and is considered to have been a catalyst for the Republican Party's Congressional victories in 1994.

Personal life

• It was eligible for the draft on 12 January 1969. After graduating from high school, it enrolled in college, but dropped out after a year. When Uncle Sam came calling, it somehow got excused from the draft by claiming that it had an anal cyst. Funny thing, the draft continued for more than three years afterward. You'd think it would've gotten that thing lanced in that time. (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)
• Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot, according to a book written by a D-list celebrity.
• Limbaugh has been married and divorced three times. It has no children. It is also a (recovering) drug addict who narrowly avoided going to prison. So, naturally, it is one of the right wing's most strident voices on the importance of family values.

Status as a conservative

Radical, fundamentalist, Christian, conservative blog Conservapedia has brought Mr. Limbaugh's conservative credentials into question. The penultimate example of this is Mr. Limbaugh lacking several significant benefits of holding to a conservative mindset. The most notable benefits missing from Mr. Limbaugh are a resistance to addiction, temptation, and obesity.

Notable controversies

• For some reason ESPN seemed to think Limbaugh was the voice of the average NFL fan, and so they hired it to do "color commentary" during the 2004 season (perhaps they confused it with John Madden -- a reasonable mistake except for the fact that Madden already worked for Disney). This seemed to go well and good, until it said Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated, and claimed that he was lionized because of his race rather than his talent, which cost Limbaugh its job. Because it proved itself a "big, fat idiot."
• Once told an African-American caller to get the "bone out of his nose" and talk more clearly.
• Caught returning from the Dominican Republic, a known sex tourism destination, with a mislabeled bottle of Viagra.
• Sept 2007: Called soldiers who spoke out against the Iraq War "phony soldiers," which it quickly denied when progressive bloggers and talkers whipped up a firestorm. Did we mention that it got out of the Vietnam War by claiming that it had an anal cyst?

Nobel Prize nomination

Yes, it was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

However, unlike regular prize contests - like the Academy Awards - where the list of all eligible persons is reduced to a handful of final nominees, any person, institution and/or association may be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. (And they don't have to be all that peaceful, either, considering the prize exists only because of a man who helped make modern warfare possible. For example, Adolf Hitler was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1939, and Joseph Stalin for beating Hitler in 1945.) Consider the people the Nobel Prize committee allows to submit nominations:

• Members of national assemblies and governments of states;
• Members of international courts;
• University rectors; professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology; directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes;
• Persons who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
• Board members of organizations who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
• Active and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; (proposals by members of the Committee to be submitted no later than at the first meeting of the Committee after February 1); and
• Former advisers appointed by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

In other words, any well-connected person with any political agenda may nominate any other person for the Nobel Peace Prize, regardless of whether that other person deserves it. Once the nomination is accepted - and rejections are rare - that person then officially becomes a "Nobel Peace Prize nominee."

"Snerdley"

Limbaugh has nicknamed all of its call screeners "Snerdley." Among the first names given them:

• Bo
• Chin Yang
• Mario
• Marvin
• Melva
• Melvin
• Mervin

Bo Snerdley is the nickname given to James Golden, the most recognized "Snerdley." Limbaugh's defenders often single out Golden, an African-American, as evidence that Limbaugh is not a racist. After all, their simplistic logic goes, would a racist work so closely with an African-American?

A caller once asked Limbaugh to explain the origin of "Snerdley." It said that when it was a disc jockey in its hometown, it would develop mental blocks while it was talking on air. "Snerdley" was a fictitious person inside its head whom it talked to (while still on the air) until the block cleared. Hmmm.

See also

• Chickenhawk

External links

• Rush Limbaugh's radio show homepage
• Source of criticism for some of Limbaugh's claims
• Media Matters entry for Rush Limbaugh
• Limbaugh's admission of pain killer addiction
• Press release from Landmark Foundation announcing Limbaugh's nomination for Nobel Prize
• Limbaugh's incident with Viagra at airport of CBS News
• to pain killer lawsuit Limbaugh v. Florida

Humorous

• Rush Limbaugh parody
• Deferment for anal pimple: Flight of the ChickenHawks