Ok, everyone, the Republicans are following this guy, here is his educational background from Wikipedia:
Limbaugh graduated from Cape Central High School, in 1969. His father and mother wanted him to attend college, so he enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University. He dropped out after two semesters and one summer; according to his mother, "he flunked everything" even a modern ballroom dancing class. As she told a reporter in 1992, "He just didn't seem interested in anything except radio."
Posted on CNN's home page:
Rush Limbaugh brought a cheering crowd to its feet several times Saturday as he called on fellow conservatives to take back the country in the keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "He played to his crowd here," CNN Political Analyst Mark Preston said. "And this crowd is now energized."
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UPDATE (2.2.09):
Interesting comments that i received. I wasn't critizing folks with out a college degree, just stating that Rush obvioulsy could have used some history and socio-economic lessons. Not meant to offend, please don't overanalyze!
When you read his history and his background, it is very clear that Limbaugh only stumbled into conservative politics because it helped his radio career.
After all, this is a "conservative" who never bothered to register to vote for Ronald Reagan.
February 28, 2009 10:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh he also used to be a "left wing jock" on a station in Pittsburgh. KQV Jeff Christie.
C
February 28, 2009 10:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
This paints a whole new picture of RL for me. I thought all this time he was just a radical conservative, but he's actually a charlatan, isn't he? He must be having a ball whipping those idiot wingnuts into a frenzy.
March 1, 2009 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
He might have become a believer along the way...
March 1, 2009 10:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
And he's worth about quarter billion dollars to boot. Isn't America grand?!
Seriously though, this guys a master of manipulation and deception. Notice he he usually precedes every lie with a spoonful of truth. A little sugar before administering the poison. He also sets up and knocks down straw men like Kansas farmer.
February 28, 2009 11:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ummm.....I'm not sure I like the correlation of lack of formal education to right wing nut jobs. I'm all for a formal education of course but, lacking one myself (a shortcoming I somewhat regret), I've done quite nicely and am a liberal to boot. Without giving you the benefit of the doubt as to your point (which I am) I would be a little insulted.
February 28, 2009 11:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
no offence to anyone who didn't attend or graduate from college. rush obviously could have used some history and social lessons!
March 1, 2009 8:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm with you plan69. I have a post graduate degree; knocking a person because they flunked out of college sounds like an attempt at elitist demagoguery to me. There are many successful business and blue collar workers who never went to college. The worth of a person should never be judged by this standard. There are many reasons to knock Limbaugh. This is not one of them.
March 1, 2009 9:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think "demagoguery" was JudyAnn's intent.
I think she might be raising the question of how a group of people who supposedly believe in things educational like No Child Left Behind (as currently funded) or school vouchers or believe in "logical" thought, and value "smart thinking" could be so enamoured of one so devoid of "thinking" or "logic" or "education."
Republicans -- er, conservatives -- claim to love intelligent discourse (that supports their conclusions, of course) so how does a big, fat idiot, oxycontin-addicted, gluttonous pig (my apologies to porcine creatures everywhere) become the "leader" of the party?
March 1, 2009 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
"I think she might be raising the question of how a group of people who supposedly believe in things educational ..."
You might be right but there is nothing about what she says that says that. In fact her post, as it stands now, demagogues. It says 'look at the dropout who republicans have chosen as their leader.'
It says that Limbaugh even dropped out of dance class.
March 1, 2009 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, but I think in this forum (TPM blog) I can give the benefit of the doubt and still get the point. My concern is more broad. The charge of liberals being "elitist" failed during Obama's campaign and I'd like to keep it that way. I can still remember the "politically correct" wars of the 90's...
March 1, 2009 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Post like this left unanswered help perpetuate the meme of liberals as elitists. I think you have to call it as it is. This post is elitist. The author can retract or correct her statement if she chooses or leave things as they are.
March 1, 2009 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good grief, people, are you all cponcern trolls? Her point wasn't that "The Lump" dropped out of college, her point was that "The Lump" has never been interested in learning ANYTHING, his own mother puts it simply.
The Lump is all mouth, and no ears, so he's not likely to be a "student" of anything, let alone an academic.
Listening to wisdom, or just plain old knowledge, coming from some liberal college professor would only muddle up the Lump's mental mud.
Lighten up on the elitism accusations, people, it is beginning to become a weird sort of anti-elitist elitism here.
Either that, or we're being punk'd by some very sophisticated concern trolls.
March 1, 2009 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Damn dude. I'm just trying to have a conversation. Maybe you should be more specific on what constitutes "concern trollery" because I'm not aware of those rules.
March 1, 2009 10:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jade, please get off the fence and dispense with the cotton-ball language. Do you like Rush or not?
March 1, 2009 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, but Jade. What do you really think about Rush?
Come on, let it all out. hahahaahahaahahha
March 1, 2009 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why would you be "a little insulted'? If you are, that's your problem. What's wrong with pointing out the obvious: if Rush flunked out of college, that's relevant to his present position as titular head of the GOP. He is a half (I'm being generous)-educated demagogue. The more educated one is, the greater the possibility that one will not look at the world in simplistic terms, that one will prefer rationality over ideology. Isn't it revealing that the low-information voters flocked to Palin and the college- educated ones voted overwhelmingly for Obama?
March 1, 2009 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's the thing. Not getting a college education is something that liberals have got to handle like butterfly wings, given our (whether deserved or not) reputation. But what I want to know is (1) who PAID for all those wasted years; and (2) if it was his mom, whether he was sorry about it afterwards.
But maybe it all makes sense. I was talking to a former oklahoman, currently resident of west philly and penn student. According to him, his time in college was his only real introduction to liberals and their crazy ideas.
Maybe rush just got tired of putting his hands over his ears and screaming lalalalalalalala all day long.
March 1, 2009 9:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Beware the failed painter.
March 1, 2009 10:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Brilliant!
March 1, 2009 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think the big point here is that he is well-rounded only in a physical way. He has obviously not educated himself except to reinforce his own beliefs.
My degree is in nursing, and so I didn't get a well-rounded education there, but I have read and traveled widely, and met people from all over who think differently than I do; my way of thinking and my point of view have changed over the years. If you see the world exactly the same way you did in your twenty's, you're probably not paying attention. College does that for some people, but if a person wants to learn, they don't have to do it in a college setting.
March 1, 2009 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
This may sound naive but, it's really hard for me to comment on what Rush Limbaugh does or says because I'm not sure of how much he really believes and how much is said to prop up his image and keep his billion dollar empire alive. And if it's the latter, I hate him even more.
March 1, 2009 11:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
For someone who touts their degrees and tries to make others believe that must mean you have intelligence, you only proved the opposite. Too bad you can't give credit to someone who has made something of themself vs. taking handouts, living on welfare, foodstamps, government subsidies, etc. You and other "participants" who name call and rant deserve the unemployment line that is in store for you.
March 1, 2009 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yikes!
March 1, 2009 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
"someone who has made something of themself..."
In more than one opinion, that "something" is not very respectable, let alone honorable...
What is it worth, when so many have been so misled, whether by design or fault, to turn against their fellow Americans who call themselves progressives or liberals, as if they were some sort of foreign enemy? The Luimp would have us hate each other, just so his ratings stay high. The same with Coulter, Hannity and O'Rielly, and the rest; they depend on our partisan hatred for their power and their ratings.
The Lump is not an ideological icon, he really doesn't know WHAT he believes outside his patented knee-jerkism. And he has never learned enough in his lifetime to form an educated opinion. That is what this post really is saying.
The Lump is no solid conservative ideologue, like Buckley, or even Pat Roberts, he's no more than an ideological lump, and probably malignant at that.
He sure seems to have metastasized throughout the Republican Party.
March 1, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like handouts and welfare. It pisses people like you off.
The poor did not get us into this mess.
March 1, 2009 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, lets just cut off all welfare, and see how long it takes The Mob to form and start looking for a handy-dandy, high-tech new guillotine.
If the wealthy class is going to use the rest of us as disposable labor, they should expect some "unrest" when they try to walk away with their easy-money profits.
Sadder even that these wealthy people having no concept of what "commonwealth" means, is how many middle-class and even poverty-class advocates they manage to fool into supporting them, both at the ballot box and on blogs such as this one.
March 1, 2009 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
JEP, you are a guy after my own heart! hahahaha
March 1, 2009 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
wow Esad, why the venom! what in the world does welfare and handouts have to do with the comment, just stating the guy is the leader of the republican party. he worked hard to get to his position...good for him...follow him with pride.
March 1, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
"he worked hard to get to his position..."
You mean the ankle-grabbing thing?
I doubt he's ever been able to assume that position, honestly.
March 1, 2009 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, good. Let's make fun of fat people while we're at it.
March 1, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Rush deserves credit as an entertainer. Only problem is many people believe what he says. I think he dishonors himself and has hurts the country by using his platform to perpetually lie to the American public. He deserves a lot of credit for creating the mess that we are currently in.
March 1, 2009 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fascinating to learn... quite personally, too.
While "The Lump" was in SE Missouri doing college radio, I was in SW Missouri doing college radio.
Same year...
But I never sold my soul to the devil, so I never got in on the same sort of deal The Lump made,(Luke, Chapter 4, verses 5-7) to gain the whole world (or at least a quarter billion dollars of it.)
March 1, 2009 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
JudyAnn, It sounds like a bunch of Republicans are running rampant in this forum, purposely taking your comments out of context to Swift Boat you. I got your point on Rush's lack of education and how he's somehow the de facto leader of the GOP. Sounds like he has a lot in common with Sarah Palin. With the country in the mess it's in, I'll take the elitist (without fear of being labeled) any day if it means that the person making the decisions is able to comprehend the complex subject matter.
March 1, 2009 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hear you. Being an elitist doesn't preclude being elite
March 1, 2009 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can anyone tell me how many times Rush used the word "I" in his speech to CPAC on Saturday, February 28? Thanks
March 1, 2009 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
five hundred and eighty-one thousand times. (But that's just a rough estimate. It's probably more)
March 1, 2009 3:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Less said about Limbaugh the better. THIS kind of conversation is his meat and potatoes.
March 1, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
“The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so that they believe they are as clever as he”
Karl Kraus
March 1, 2009 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
If we can't poke fun at Rush Limbaugh, who can we poke fun at? I mean, that is his own stock in trade. His shtick is to poke fun at about everybody, so, if you dish it out, you gotta take it. Right?
I used to listen to Rush in the early eighties. Back then I was certain he was mostly pulling our legs. He didn't expect us to believe him, it was an act. His tone of voice was not at all serious. Remember his Femi-Natzi routine? I think, though, it all turned so profitable that he now wears the robe. He has become the Pied Piper of a long line of lemmings, but I am not at all sure he believes half of what he says.
One more thought. Rush is not educated, but lets admit - he is highly intelligent.
March 1, 2009 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Intelligent? How is that possible? How could Limbaugh be intelligent if he "dropped out after two semesters and one summer in college, "flunked everything," even a modern ballroom dancing class?" Tell it to me like I'm a six year old.
March 1, 2009 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know a half dozen extremely intelligent people who are dyslexic. Going to school was sheer Hell for them.
March 1, 2009 6:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Faroff, yes, Limbaugh is very intelligent like Hilter, Franco or Castro. The problem is that intelligence unhinged from conscience, respect for others, compassion and morality is a dangerous thing. Rush's whole game is based on stirring up hatred while wrapping himself in the flag and claiming that he is on God's side.
March 1, 2009 10:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Limbaugh is in the same category as most of the talking heads on the cable networks. They pass off personal opionions as informed information, and lead the public down the same primrose path!
March 1, 2009 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Education is highly overrated. I mean look at the last President. He was a "B" student making it all the way through a Haavahd MBA by just showing up. If that made him qualified to run the country, it's an easy stretch to say Limbaugh is qualified to run the Republican party with his two flunking semesters.
March 1, 2009 7:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think rush is going down the same path with the republicans that the prominant evangelicals did a few years back. Anyone remember how badly they got burned? The republicans can't come up with new ideas and concepts so they stick to the tried and true method of new mouthpieces - fools the people everytime don't it? I think of all the things they have done and are doing I am most in awe of their apparent lack of awareness of what is going on in this country today. All those people on the unemployment rolls are going to remember what governors turned down what money for a really long time.
I can't wait to see what rush does to Cantor.
March 1, 2009 7:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think you nailed it.
March 1, 2009 8:49 PM | Reply | Permalink