The Daily Signal - Rush Limbaugh's Legacy: Stories and Perspective From a Friend

Episode Date: February 19, 2021

America said goodbye Wednesday to conservative talk radio legend Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh, who revolutionized talk radio, will be remembered for his intellect, sense of humor, and bold rhetoric.  Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center, was good friends with Limbaugh. Bozell joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to share stories about how the talk show host often frustrated those on the left and challenged conservatives to stand firm in their beliefs.  We also cover these stories:  President Joe Biden unveils a bill that would give at least 11 million illegal immigrants a path to U.S. citizenship. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot launches a review of 41 statues and monuments in an effort to confront the “hard truths of Chicago’s racial history." The president says he is willing to give reparations for slavery to black Americans.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, February 19th. I'm Rachel Dald Judas. And I'm Virginia Allen. Earlier this week, America said goodbye to conservative radio talk show legend Rush Limba. Limba greatly impacted talk radio and will be dearly missed by his many listeners. Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center was good friends with Limbaugh, and he joins the show today to share a number of stories about working with Limbaugh and explain the legacy, the radio, giant leaps behind. Don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now onto our top news. President Joe Biden unveiled a bill on Thursday that would give 11 million people a path to U.S. citizenship. The legislation, which includes a provision to give citizenship to dreamers or those

who are brought to the U.S. by their parents, is led by Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, a Democrat of California and Senator Baum Menendez, a Democrat of New Jersey. Per the Hill, the Biden administration said that the bill is an opportunity to reset and restart conversation on immigration reform, labeling the bill as Biden's version of what it takes to fix the immigration system. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has launched a review of 41 statues and monuments in an effort to confront the hard truths of Chicago's racial history. According to the Chicago, Chicago's the Chicago Sun Times. The list of 41 statues, plaques, works of art, and other monuments include those of four former U.S. presidents, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant,

and William McKinley. From now until April 1st, the public have the opportunity to review the list of monuments and provide feedback online on whether or not the works of art should remain in the public square. Per the Chicago Sun, the criteria for the statues, plaques, or other works of art being added to the list for review, include promoting narratives of white supremacy, presenting an inaccurate or demeaning portrayal of Native Americans, celebrating people with connections to slavery, genocide, or racist acts, or presenting selective, oversimplified, one-sided views of history.

Lightfoot said of the review process that it provides a powerful opportunity for us to come together as a city to assess. the many monuments and memorials across our neighborhoods and communities to face our history and what and how we memorialize that history. President Biden said he is willing to give reparations to black Americans. Here is an exchange a White House reporter had on Wednesday with press secretary Jen Saki about the Biden administration's support of reparations via Forbes. The president during the campaign supported the study for operations, the committee to study reparations. There was a House through the shared committee hearing today. Does the President

support the legislation? He stopped short of saying that during the campaign. Will he sign that if it came to his desk? Well, he supported a steady of reparations, which I believe is what's being discussed and studying the continuing impacts of slavery, which is being discussed in this hearing on H.R. 40, I believe it is. And he continues to demonstrate his commitment to take comprehensive action to address the systemic racism that persists today. Obviously, that is having that study is a part of that. But he has signed an executive order on his first day, which would begin to deliver on his commitment to having an across-government approach to addressing racial inequality and making sure equity is a part of his entire policy agenda. But

he certainly would support a study of reparations. We understand that we don't need a study to take action right now in systemic racism. So he wants to take actions within his own government in the meantime. But would he support the bill? Because you're talking about the study, but if the bill came to his desk, he signed it. Well, it's working its way through Congress. He'd certainly support a study, but we'll see what happens through the legislative process. And let's just ask a question on that.

The President has signed quite a few executive actions. Why not on this issue create a commission and by executive order? He actually signed a number of actions on racial equity on his first day or his first couple days in office because he felt it was essential to send them to the government. to send the message to the American people and the world that having an across-government approach, ensuring that equities is a central part of his policy agenda, was not just a singular issue, but something that would be a part of every policy issue he approaches, whether it's health care, whether it's economic inequality, a range of issues. That's his

approach and how he's trying to, you know, change, address the root causes of racism in our country today. But he doesn't support a reparations executive order. He won't sign them. Again, well, it would be up to him. He has executive order authority. He would certainly support a study, and we'll see where Congress moves on that issue. Herschel Walker, a former pro football running back who was black, said he believes black Americans shouldn't get reparations.

Here's what he had to say via Keith Boykin. Reparation is only feeding you for a day. It's removing the sign of for white. only replacing the sign for no education here. Black America is asking for a hand-up, not a hand-out. If reparation is a free, is a fee, or a correction for a terrible sin of slave owners, government, and others, but we punish the non-guilted party. Is it not creating division or separation with different races? I feel it continues to let us know we're still African-American. rather than just American.

Reparation or atonement is outside the teaching of Jesus Christ, who you are teaching, who will not be teaching the Word of God. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Brent Bozell as we discuss the life and legacy of Rush Limba. Americans use firearms to defend themselves between 500,000 and 2 million times every year. But God forbid that my mother has ever faced with a scenario where she has to stop a threat to her life. But if she is, I hope politicians protected by professional armed security

didn't strip her of the right to use the firearms she can handle most competently. To watch the rest of heritage expert Amy Swearer's testimony on assault weapons before the House Judiciary Committee head to the Heritage Foundation YouTube channel. There you'll find talks, events, and documentaries, backed with the reputation of the nation's most broadly supported public policy research institute. Start watching now at heritage.org slash YouTube. And don't forget to subscribe and share.

I received a diagnosis that you all know, but there's something I want to say about it. Stage four, advanced lung cancer, terminal diagnosis. The objective of everybody involved was to extend life for as long as possible. as enjoyably as possible. Now, many of you have been through this. Lots of you have been through this, as individuals as families. And you know what that means.

Medical treatment that is designed to attack the disease as greatly as possible while maintaining a quality of life that makes it worth it. Some people can't deal with the side effects of chemo or other forms of treatment. Well, back in late January, when I received this diagnosis, and I was shocked, I was stunned and I was in denial for about a week. I mean, I'm Rush Limbaugh.

I'm Mr. Big, the vast right-wing conspiracy. I mean, I'm indestructible. I said, it can't be right. but it was and what I didn't know at the time that I learned later in the course of the year was that I wasn't expected

to be alive today I wasn't expected to make it to October and then to November and then to December and yet here I am and today I've got some problems

but I'm feeling pretty good today God's with me today. God knows how important this program is to me today. And I'm feeling natural in terms of energy, normal in terms of energy. That, of course, was conservative radio talk show host and legend Rush Limbaugh talking on his program this past December about his battle with cancer. Limbaugh lost that battle at the age of 70 on Wednesday, and the world is mourning his loss. He was a titan in the world of radio, and he really had a way of going straight to the heart of an issue and challenging people to think for themselves. Here to talk with us about the life and the legacy of Rush Limbaugh is Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center.

Mr. Bozell, thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. It's my pleasure. So shortly after the news broke of Limbaugh's passing, you wrote on Twitter, you had this decision. say, Rush was one of the most humble men I have ever met. I once told him that America would have been lost, but for him. He recoiled, insisting he'd done no such thing, but he did. And so America mourns a magnificent man. Could you talk a little bit about your relationship with Rush LaBaw? Sure. You know, I've struggled to remember when I first came in contact with him, but it was right after his show began because it was right after the Media Research Center was launched in 1987.

So I think his show was launched in 1988. And I invited him to come to a roast that I was going of Bali North. And I had people like Pat Robertson and Phil Crane and men like Matt and Rushkin. And I think that was probably his first national for a that he did. And that just started a friendship. I was always admiring of him on so many fronts, the personal and the professional. There are so many stories on both that are being retold by people. But the common theme is the man was brilliant.

The man had an understanding of the world. He was principled. and he was also a genuinely nice man. Do you have a favorite memory of Rush Limbaugh as you think back on your interactions with him? I think I do. I mean, I've got several. I'll give you two. One was about, I don't know, whenever it was that he came out of his drug rehab program,

Rush had not made any public appearances. I invited him to have some fun at one of our big gala in Washington, D.C., and to, in fact, crash the gala, to come on the stage unannounced. But this would be his first public appearance since coming out of rehab, since going through what was a controversy. or a scandal where he had been so roundly ridiculed by his enemies for the struggle he was going to. And so on the appointed evening, we were doing our gala and we had guests and speeches and some such thing. And suddenly on cue, we started the music playing, his theme song playing in the background. And it got louder and louder. And I watched from the stage looking at the audience and everybody started looking at it.

each other, just wondering what was happening. And out came rush, and the place went white. Now, that wasn't, that wasn't the teller. The teller was what happened at the end of it. He gave a talk, huge standing ovation. When he came off the stage, he looked at me with this kind of surprised smile on his face. And he said, Brent, they gave me a standing ovation, as if he were thinking, well, maybe they wouldn't like him anymore. It was that kind of genuine spirit. But my second memory is one I had more fun with because it's more unique. This goes back to the very, very early times when he was becoming a national figure.

And he and I were talking one day, and he said, you know, 60 minutes has contacted me. and they want to do a profile on me. And I said, rush, for the love of God, why are you agreeing to do something like this? And I said, look, what I want you to do is, and they told me he had done the interview. I said, what I want you to do is to tell me when the show is going to air. And as a gift, I'm going to buy you a one-way ticket to some island in the Pacific as my guest, one-way. and I'll tell you when you can return based on what they're going to do to you. And so a few weeks later, we're having dinner at Ruth Chris's in Washington.

And he said, you know, I got a call from CBS and they're going to air it on Sunday. Well, what's the island that we've chosen? Because I've got to get to the travel agency to buy you that ticket because you've got to get the hell out of this country. I can't believe that. And he said, he said, oh, but they told me I'm going to like it. I said, oh, that's the kiss of death. That's what they tell you when they're going to kill you. So on the appointment, I don't know if it's in the files.

And so my memory may not be 100% clear, but it went something like this. It began with a shot, a video of him get on his radio show. First, he's talking about, I think it was gays. And he's making fun of gays. and at the end of it, they play it, they play that video to some gay organization. That gay organization is very upset and denounces him. Then they show that video to Rush. Rush laughs.

He's just having fun with this. The second one is him doing an animal rights routine, where he plays born free, the music with a machine gun fire in the background. And at the end of it, it is shown to an animal rights organization. And they go ballistic on Rush. It is sent then to Rush, and Rush watches them going ballistic on him and bursts out laughing. The third one is his routine on feminazis. And he was having fun with Feminazis.

And again, they show this clip two. or run this clip by this feminist organization, that goes bonkers on Rush. They show it to Rush. Rush is laughing even harder. The bottom line was that this was a complete home run for Rush Limbaugh, because America got to see. This guy's having fun. He's irreverent. He is politically incorrect, but he's having fun.

but he's having fun with these people and these people have no sense of humor and they are all attacking him viciously and personally which he never did to anyone so that really showed the flavor of us but you know what he showed me more than anything else was he really understood media he understood how to to work it to his advantage he said he told me once that he said you know everybody says that I'm a politician, that I'm an analyst. He said, I'm not. He said, I'm an entertainer. I entertain. I'm a conservative who entertains. I think it's so fun to hear those personal interactions and just be able to look back on how unique Rush Limba was. There wasn't anybody else like him. He totally changed the game on media, really. How do you feel like he did

you know, really become such a disruption in the media. I mean, he was so unique. What made him stand out from all of the other news commentary voices on the radio? There was a columnist for the Washington Post, William Raspberry, who passed away, I don't know, maybe 15 years ago. He was one of the very, very left-wing columnist in that newspaper. He wrote a piece one day about Rush Limbaugh. Again, these being the very early days when Rush was first emerging on the scene. And he absolutely eviscerated Rush as being a right-wing,

a flamethrower, character assassin, bigot, on and on and on, it went. About two or three weeks later, a Lillin Raspberry filed a second column. It was an apology to Rush Limbaugh. He did something that made him in my book a man's man. He admitted he never listened to the show that he was going by what everybody was telling him about Russia. And he felt uneasy after he followed the column and decided to listen to Rush Limbaugh. And as the more he listened, the more he realized they were completely at odds politically. But this man was nothing like he was being portrayed as a personal human being.

He was actually enjoying the show that he was watching. So he openly apologized to Rush. And that was Rush, you know, the similarities between Rush and Bill Buckley are quite interesting. It's not that they thought the same way and they did. It's not that they were both highly intelligent, which they were. It was that both were portrayed as having these. personalities that were ugly, misogynist, bigoted, hate-filled, et cetera, et cetera. And yet, if you knew them both, you knew they were just the opposite of that.

Lange was a very, he was a gentle man in that sense. He was a gentle person. As is being said by so many who know him, he was a quiet person. He was a humble person. But he was one. a whale of an entertainer and he knew how to do it. How did he challenge conservatives? I think that was critical at a time, you know, in the 80s and 90s, he was this powerful

voice that really challenged conservatives to stand up for what they believed in. I'll tell you how he did it. There's an anecdote. I don't know if it's being reported out there, but it's one I clearly remember. he was doing his show one day and he it was either someone who called I think was somebody called in and that person said Rush had started his his newsletter his very very successful newsletter the person who called in this young guy called in and asked if he could have a free subscription it was just a few dollars but he just couldn't

afford it because he was out of work, etc., etc. And he explained that. Rush flat out refused and told him that what he was saying was utterly inexcusable. And he said, in America, you can always find

a way to pay for things. And you can always succeed if you choose to. And he said, you go do whatever you need to raise the money for this blast of subscription. But I'm not going to give it to They said, go out and have a, I think he called it, the donut sale.

Well, the guy decided to do that. And he told Rush, he would. Rush promoted it for him. And when he had the donut sale, if I recall, I could have this number wrong, I think it was 25,000 people came to it. And he got some money for a description. But that with Rush, he understood the left. He knew how to get underwent.

their skin, but not in a vicious way, in a fun way. It was a lobster somewhere in New England. And it was like a million years old or something, because lobsters lived to be forever. And it was huge. And they were doing some left wing group, environmental group or animal rights type group, was doing an auction to raise money, to auction,

to put it in a big aquarium to care for it, blah, blah, blah. And Rush on his radio, always, you know, Rush always did these things as publicly as possible. Rush on his radio announced that he was going to bid on it and that he was going to win that bid. And when he did, he was going to take that lobster and cook it and eat it for dinner. And that gives them,

And oh, he giggled and he laughed. And, of course, I think they took it off the market at that. Hearing these stories is just so great. I love it. I love how all of these facets kind of come out. But, you know, looking back, gosh, it is wild for so many years. Rush Limbaugh, he hosted his three-hour daily radio program. He was on more than 600 radio stations.

And like you say, he had this way of really using humor to draw people in. Was he really one of the first who, in your mind, figured out that balance of how do you make a program both really fun and enjoyable, but also relay facts and information? You know, he was the trailblazer. I don't think he's been given enough credit for being the business. businessman that he was. He started that show. And he was, you know, Paul Harvey had his commentary in the afternoon out of Chicago. There really wasn't any established talk show host out there. Saras started it. Now, since he began his show 33 years ago and was at number one, there have been quite literally thousands of people who have gone into this business. So many of them, very, very talented at what they do.

And yet, for 33 years, he was number one, even though thousands challenged him, he was number one. And not only was he number one, but no one came close to him in challenging. him. That's how much he dominated the market. And yes, you know, he did it. I think he did it this way. And he's not unique in this, but I think that he was perhaps the most outstanding in this regard. He really did see his audience as his family. When he went on the radio show, He wasn't, he was talking to his audience. He was talking to his family. What a way for him to go. You know, most anyone else who has cancer, dies a horrific death. Most deaths are horrific. But he goes off silently into the night if he's a public figure. Rush was on his show up to almost the very end. And he was, was talking to his audience. He was telling them how he was doing. It was as if he was talking to a brother or talking to a sister. That's the connection he had with his audience. And I don't know that any other show, any other talk show host in the business today has that personal

connection as he does. Witness when people called in how Rush responded. His tone of voice was always respectful to his guests, always respectful because he had such respect for his audience. So at the end, I think it was, frankly, it was his audience that kept them alive in this final month. I really do believe that. Wow, that's powerful. That's really powerful. If you had to summarize the legacy of Rush Limba, how would you do that? I would say that Rush Limbaugh,

connected with the cultural heart, not the political heart, but the cultural heart of America, better than virtually any public figure in the history of the Republic, which is why it made him, unquestionably, the most powerful media figure in the history of America. Wow. Powerful words. Mr. Bozell, before we let you go, I do want to give you just a moment to share a little bit about the work of your organization, the Media Research Center. Well, more than once publicly made the statement that he, his show would not have been possible without the work that we did, which is absolute nonsense, because Rush was his own force of nature, and he frankly didn't need me for anything.

We began several months before Rush, the Media Research Center, with a focus on trying to confront and expose the bias of the left wing press. at that time, 1987, if you look at the national surveys, three out of four Americans believed that the media were objective. 75% believed that the media had no bias, which is, of course, nonsensical. When we did our first meeting, we had nothing. We had no assets whatsoever. A handful of employees. We had two desks and seven phones because we got a good deal.

We had a black and white TV set and we had a random computer. And that was the media research center. And I was visiting with a donor. And she said, with all due respect, who do you think you are going up against a billion-dollar industry? And I thought that was quite a good question. But she had to recognize two things. Number one was that if we didn't succeed, it really didn't matter what anybody. believed in whether you were pro-life, pro-tax cuts, pro-Israel, just didn't make any difference

because your vision was going into the media as prime stake and coming out raw sewage to the American people, which is, and if you couldn't communicate your message correctly, then it just didn't matter what you did. So the public needed to learn that what they were getting when they were talking about abortion or talking about Israel or talking about tax cuts. with a leftist perspective. Second point I made to arm was that they hand and underbelly and weakness in Achilles heel, and that was credibility. And if you could take away their credibility, what you would get as a natural response

would be a market curiosity for an alternative, and you would open the door for alternative media. Now, I didn't know what that alternative media might be. But I did know market economics, and I knew that that could create it. Well, we were immediately successful with what we did because it was mana from heaven, the research that we were able to accumulate. And as we started turning the trends with the public understanding of the bias, so too the market opportunity came in. So here comes Rush Limbaugh with his radio show, and he immediately connected. with the public for that reason. And to give you an example of that, I had my wife and I had a

girlfriend from college and I had gotten, I'd had some surgery, some back surgery. And this, this girl called me and I was laying on my back one day and she said, Brent, I just heard. And I said, well, that's very sweet. You didn't need to call. And she said, no, no, no, I just heard. And I said, look, it's just simple back surgery. I'm fine. And she said, what back surgery? I just heard this guy Rush Limbaugh on the radio. I had to call you. The point being that somebody out there was talking, and certainly the people who were understanding that what they had been getting was a leftist bias and wanted to hear someone who might agree with them, suddenly comes this guy Rush Limbaugh who connects with them immediately. And that's what led to things like the rush hours, where people would get together at lunch just to listen to them. He told me one time that he called me one time, and he was doing these weekly appearances with his different radio stations around the country. And he called me once, and he said, 400 people showed up tonight.

And then the next weekend, 800 people came to this rally. The next weekend, 1,500 people came. He was genuinely befuddled by how he was connecting so well with the public. But that's because, so anyway, But a long answer to your question, the Media Research Center, our goal was to confront the press and to show America just how leftist they are, and they're getting worse by the minute. But the public understands that what they're getting is not objective truth. In fact, it's leftist propaganda.

So really your mission, the mission of the Media Research Center and the mission that Rush Limbaugh was on very, very similar, you just all, you know, had maybe a slightly different way of going about pursuing that mission, but very much so in alignment. But you know, the big difference between Rush and everybody else on the left, he was honest. Well, isn't it interesting? I think you got, Rush was a commentator and a reporter is a reporter. A reporter is supposed to tell you the who, when, where of a story. a commentator is supposed to give commentary on that story.

I would submit to you that there was more news that came from Rush Limbaugh than there was news that came from CNN, from this perspective. Whether you're CNN or MSNBC or NBC or the Washington Post or the New York Times, it doesn't matter. They have put a complete cabosh on whatever it is. is the conservative movement thinks what it's doing, its perspective on things on the world. Rush could speak to that. That's news.

When Rush talked about what might be happening in Israel and the media were covering it up because it went against their narrative, Rush was reporting news. When Rush talked about the economic picture that you saw during the Trump administration, month by month. That was news and the media weren't reporting news. So ironically, at the end of the day, Rush gave more news to his audience than news outlets gave to theirs. Mr. Vazel, thank you. I think it's just a joy to hear these stories, hear your reflections on the life of Rush Limbaugh. Let's go ahead and wrap up today's show by just taking a minute to hear from the late Rush Limbaugh. Here's what he had to say on the Rush Limbaugh show back in December.

But America is worth it. America is worth fighting for. America is worth not giving up. And that's why I think whatever form it takes, we will continue to fight for and to defend and to triumph. I know the odds are, I mean, they're stiff and they're steep. The American left is made up of a lot of people that hate this country. Hate is a very, very destructive frame of mind. It's a very, very destructive characteristic. And eventually it results in implosion. You cannot survive on hatred.

You cannot sustain a movement based on it. We just need to be patient while being vigilant and continuing to fight for what we believe in, knowing full well that we can prevail. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review at a five-star rating on Apple Podcast and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening.

and we'll be back with you all on Monday. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas, sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailySignal.com.