I was going to give this a good leaving alone. But there I was flying home from a mellow family visit when El Rushbo filled the screen before me, delivering what he called “my first ever address to the nation.” Who knew there’d been a coup while I was gone?
Dressed in a style David Letterman later labeled as “Eastern European Gangster,” Rush Limbaugh delivered a rousing 85-minute sermon to conservative true believers that included an unapologetic hope that Obama will fail. Ah yes, a talk radio host who’d rather be (far) right than have his country rescued. Charming.
I later read glowing reviews saying the speech “will be talked about for years and even decades.” And so I am forced to return to the subject our man Rush implied just days earlier: “Why don’t women like me?” This question came after Public Policy Polling showed a gender gap of massive proportions in his approval ratings. It turns out that 56 percent of men view him favorably compared to only 37 percent of women.
Pew Research folks have charted an even deeper divide in the audience — 72 percent of his listeners are men, only 28 percent are women. Nevertheless, with the deepest of faux sincerity, Limbaugh announced a Female Summit on his favorite subject: Rush Limbaugh.
As he framed it, “Cause I’m just a harmless little fuzz ball. I’m the sweetest, the nicest, most generous, compassionate, confident, cocky, I-know-what- I-want-and-I-know-what’s-right-and I’m-going-to-say-what-I-think kind of guy you could run into, and I’m saying to myself, ‘What could be the explanation for the gender gap?’ ”
Gosh. Was it something he said? Could it have the teensiest bit to do with all those “feminazi” cracks? Was it his warning that “the last place you want to be is between a liberal who gets herself pregnant and a morning-after pill”? Was it his crack that Hillary would lose because Americans didn’t want to see a woman age in office? Or his description of New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand as “marginally hotter than the former senator.” If that were the only problem, we could cure it with duct tape.
A touch of reality here. Women don’t tune in to talk radio as much as men. And you don’t own women unless you can listen to them. More to the point, remember that Oprah is all about change. Rush, however, is the prototype of the Man Who Won’t Change.
None of this is world-shattering. Let him entertain us. Yes, our pinup boy has a following of about 20 million listeners. But last time I looked, Obama won with nearly 70 million voters. At this rate, The Party That Won’t Change is going to have to rename itself the Grand Old Ditto Heads.
