Limbaugh's finest hour

The voice of conservatism was silenced today as lung cancer took Rush Limbaugh at age 70.

The tributes will be many and all are earned. 

The mainstream media will say this or that about the man. Obituaries for conservatism will be posted. I won't care. Let News Busters and other watchdogs of the media bark. I refuse to let crazy people on the left upset me.

I seldom listened to Limbaugh because his show was on when I was working. Even at a newspaper that marketed itself as conservative, the staff would not allow his show to be aired. Then my hearing disintegrated.

My memories of Limbaugh as a broadcaster are limited to his speech to CPAC on February 28, 2009. His performance was so outstanding that Saturday afternoon that it defined him and the two generations his national radio show spanned.

By the way, he saved AM radio by giving hundreds of stations on that dying medium a 12 pm to 3 pm (Eastern) tentpole whose ads covered the station's expenses.

He closed that CPAC convention in the miserable days of the nascent Obama regime. Conservatives were devastated by the failure of McCain to keep the Reagan dream alive. 

Into this depression, Limbaugh waltzed. His stirring, extemporaneous speech was his finest hour. Being Limbaugh, it lasted 90 minutes. C-Span archived the video.

Real Clear Politics posted a transcript.

Memory recalls how uplifting Limbaugh was that day. He turned despair into hope.

He began with a nod to Fox News, which was a conservative channel because Roger Ailes was still in charge.

Then Limbaugh told a joke, "I would like to introduce to you my security chief, a man who runs all of my security. His name is Joseph Stalin. Joseph, would you please stand up. I am safe from any liberal attack, in public, because they would be afraid of offending Stalin."

After a second joke at his own expense, the man with talent on loan from God reminded us of who we are.

Limbaugh said, "For those of you watching on C-Span as well, and on Fox, I want to tell you who we all are in this room. I want to tell you who conservatives are. We conservatives have not done a good enough job of just laying out basically who we are because we make the mistake of assuming people know. What they know is largely incorrect based on the way we are portrayed in pop culture, in the Drive-By Media, by the Democrat Party.

"Let me tell you who we conservatives are: We love people. When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don't see groups. We don't see victims. We don't see people we want to exploit. 

"What we see -- what we see is potential. We do not look out across the country and see the average American, the person that makes this country work. We do not see that person with contempt. We don't think that person doesn't have what it takes. We believe that person can be the best he or she wants to be if certain things are just removed from their path like onerous taxes, regulations and too much government."

On and on he went. He was relentless and entertaining. There was no complaining. There was no vitriol. There was only an uplifting message about and for conservatives.

Everything he said resonates today.

Everything.

He was shoving back at the deplorable smear nearly 8 years before Missus Clinton said it.

Limbaugh said, "Let me deal with this head on. You know what the cliché is, a conservative: racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe. Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen of America, if you were paying attention, I know you were, the racism in our culture was exclusively and fully on display in the Democrat primary last year."

He also said make America great again. He mentioned greatness many times. The first time was when he said, "We love the people of this country. And we want this to be the greatest country it can be, but we do understand, as people created and endowed by our creator, we're all individuals. We resist the effort to group us. We resist the effort to make us feel that we're all the same, that we're no different than anybody else. We're all different. There are no two things or people in this world who are created in a way that they end up with equal outcomes. That's up to them. They are created equal, given the chance."

Not only was the message good, his delivery was perfect. Usually the spoken word does not hold up when read, especially if the speaker has no script. That day, Limbaugh spoke in clear and complete sentences throughout. He was at his peak when we were at our nadir.

He had to be. Conservatives felt alone. The media had ruined Sarah Palin while McCain just sat there with a goofy grin. Democrats held the House by 40 seats and the Senate by 18.

Limbaugh showed the brilliance of being positive.

He said, "Now, let me speak about President Obama for just a second. President Obama is one of the most gifted politicians, one of the most gifted men that I have ever witnessed. He has extraordinary talents. He has communication skills that hardly anyone can surpass. No, seriously. No, no, I'm being very serious about this. It just breaks my heart that he does not use these extraordinary talents and gifts to motivate and inspire the American people to be the best they can be. He's doing just the opposite. And it's a shame."

He contrasted the messages of conservatives and liberals.

He said, "Ronald Reagan used to speak of a shining city on a hill. Barack Obama portrays America as a soup kitchen in some dark night in a corner of America that's very obscure. He's constantly telling the American people that bad times are ahead, worst times are ahead. And it's troubling, because this is the United States of America."

He also pegged Obama's stooge, saying, "Joe Biden, ladies and gentlemen, was watching CBS -- when did you start here? Thursday. You might have seen this. The days run together. It might have been Wednesday, but Biden was on the CBS Early Show. And he was asked -- the anchorette -- sorry. I'm trying to change my ways. I've been doing women summit programs so not to offend women. The anchor, Maggie Rodriguez, went out and got some man-on-the-street questions. And one guy, woman, I think question for Biden. What is in the stimulus package for small business? Biden was clearly stumped because there isn't anything in the stimulus package for small business. So what Biden said, honest to God, what Biden said was: Well, if there's a bridge to your small business, we're going to make sure that bridge stays open so that you can get to your small business and your customers -- honest. I kid you not. Now, of course, the media today is a bunch of hacks, they're out there as PR agents; they're starting to get a little embarrassed. Maggie Rodriguez says, Senator Biden, there's a website that answers all these questions. What is the name of the website and Biden says I don't know. He looks off stage. 'Does somebody have the website number?' "

Limbaugh then broke the fourth wall and talked directly to TV viewers, as he said, "I realize those of you watching at home during my first address to the nation, you have never heard liberal Democrats be made fun of in this way. Get used to it."

Closing CPAC, Limbaugh was the lion who stood alone against what appeared to be a tidal wave of socialism.

That was 12 years ago.

He was not alone this time. Nor is Donald John Trump standing alone. There are 75 million of us and counting. The America Limbaugh faced that day is not the America we are in today. The divide has widened, true, but conservatives have the wind at their back. We are winnowing our leadership. 

On that day a dozen Februaries ago, Limbaugh said, "Conservatives are naturally happy. We seek happiness. We pursue it. It's part of who we are. So what can you do? Live your life. I swear, folks, you do not know in just the everyday life that you live in your homes, your neighborhoods, the favorite word of this administration, your 'communities.' Remember the root word there is 'commune.'

"Be happy, live your life according to your values and principles. Know you're going to fail, no human being is perfect, you're going to make mistakes, but live your life -- you'll be stunned at how many people you impress. Don't be afraid to tell children that they're wrong. They don't know what you do. They simply haven't lived long enough. It's not their fault, but they're being fed a bunch of garbage in school and don't be afraid to tell them that they're wrong."

The speech went so long that organizers panicked. They had a deadline to clear the room and leave.

Limbaugh ended his speech, "The things that by virtue of your listening to my radio show and being active in this movement that we all cherish and love, you have meant more to me, my family and my life than whatever it is I might mean to you, even though I know that's considerable.

"You still can't outdo the absolute joy and awe and thanks I feel for all of you. I've been doing this for 20 years and the numbers just keep growing. And I can't tell you how appreciative I am and proud to be in a movement with the same passions, desires and core beliefs that all of you have, because we know that it's right for the country, and we know it's right for people. It's not something that has to be forced on them. It's not something that has to be authoritatively pressed on them. We are what is, and that's why we are an enemy because we're effective. The people that do want control look at us as the enemy. We're always going to be -- don't ever measure your success by how many Drive-By Media reports you see that are fair to us. Never going to happen. 

"Don't measure your success by how many people like you. Just worry about how they vote. And then at the end of the day how they live, but that's really none of your business once they close the doors. Thank you all very much. It's been great."

God loaned him his talent. Today, Limbaugh returned that talent to its maker.

Don't be sad that Limbaugh is gone. Be glad that he was here.