Rush-ing for the Exit?

If there’s a deep end, Rush Limbaugh has finally gone off it.

The deep end is a “bright line,” but admittedly, it’s not in the same place for everyone. Many of you have concluded that he went off it a long time ago. But I worked at a radio station which aired the very first Limbaugh show back in the 1980s. He was always conservative, of course, but he was intelligent, articulate, clever – and yes, even logical. You could disagree with him, but there was often a smile on your face, and he forced you to think.

That was then, as they say, and this is now. For Rush to have used the “s” word to characterize the young woman barred from testifying before Congress on birth control coverage in insurance is shocking, inexcusable, and way, way beneath him. I expect that kind of talk from the Michael Savages of the world, but not from Rush. A number of his sponsors are pulling the plug; will some radio stations be far behind?

Has Rush finally caught a fatal strain of the Republican virus – a compulsion to throw a bomb to blow up his own argument? Like Rick Santorum’s “snob” and “throw up” comments?

Once the bomb is thrown, the explosion drowns out the argument – and there may be issues worthy of some discussion. For example, some may ask what birth control is doing in insurance policies in the first place, on the grounds that having sex is a choice. But even the “choice” argument has a major problem. Eating red meat is a choice, yet we don’t question insurance coverage for cardiovascular issues. You can continue down this moral rabbit hole if you want, but I think I’m going to pass.

To return to the matter at hand here, though, the 1980s Rush would have made his points without the megatonnage heaped on that Georgetown student. Out of respect for his audience, which he needed to grow in the early days, it wouldn’t have happened. He didn’t become the No. 1 radio talk host in the country so quickly for no reason – and for the liberal readers here, there just weren’t – and still aren’t -- that many morons around to provide that audience, so at least a few people with brain cells must be listeners. Could it just possibly have been real talent?

Which makes the whole thing especially sad.