Rush Limbaugh

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (January 12, 1951 - February 17, 2021) was a US radio host and prominent conservative political commentator. Limbaugh was noted for outspoken polemics, frequently accusing the mainstream media of liberal bias, criticising liberal policies and politicians, and promoting conservative positions.

Quotes

 * Chronological order

1970s

 * Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.
 * as "Jeff Christie" on a top-40 music program in Pittsburgh in the 1970s, quoted in ; also in, and

1980s

 * 1) The greatest threat to humanity lies in the nuclear arsenal of the USSR.
 * 2) The greatest threat to humanity lies in the USSR.
 * 3) Peace does not mean the elimination of nuclear weapons.
 * 4) Peace does not mean the absence of war.
 * 5) War is not obsolete.
 * 6) Ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force.
 * 7) There is only one way to get rid of nuclear weapons - use them.
 * 8) Peace cannot be achieved by developing a "understanding" with the Russian People.
 * 9) When Americans oppose America, it is not always courageous and sacred; it is sometimes dangerous.
 * 10) Communism Kills.
 * 11) Neither the US, nor anyone else, imposes freedom on the peoples of other nations.
 * 12) Freedom is God given.
 * 13) In the USSR, peace means the absence of opposition.
 * 14) To free peoples, peace means the absence of threats and the presence of justice.
 * 15) The Peace Movement in the US, whether by accident or design, is pro-Communist.
 * 16) The collective knowledge and wisdom of seasoned citizens is the most valuable, yet untapped, resource our young-people have.
 * 17) The greatest football team in the history of civilization is the Pittsburgh Steelers of 1975-1980.
 * 18) There is no such thing as war atrocities.
 * 19) War itself is an atrocity.
 * 20) There is a God.
 * 21) Abortion is wrong.
 * 22) Morality is not defined and cannot be defined by individual choice.
 * 23) Evolution cannot explain Creation.
 * 24) Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to the mainstream of society.
 * 25) Love is the only human emotion that cannot be controlled.
 * 26) The only difference between Mikhail Gorbachev and previous Soviet leaders, is that Gorbachev is alive.
 * 27) Soviet Leaders are just left-wing dictators.
 * 28) Abe Lincoln saved this nation.
 * 29) The L.A. Raiders will never be the team that they were when they called Oakland their home.
 * 30) The US will again go to war.
 * 31) To more and more people, a victorious US is a sinful US.
 * 32) This is frightening and ominous.
 * 33) There will always be poor people.
 * 34) This is not the fault of the rich.
 * 35) You should thank God for making you an American; and instead of feeling guilty about it, help spread our ideas worldwide.
 * , the first "Undeniable Truths of Life", also quoted in, , , , , and

1990s



 * Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?
 * around 1990


 * Greetings, conversationalists across the fruited plain, this is Rush Limbaugh, the most dangerous man in America, with the largest hypothalamus in North America, serving humanity simply by opening my mouth, destined for my own wing in the Museum of Broadcasting, executing everything I do flawlessly with zero mistakes, doing this show with half my brain tied behind my back just to make it fair because I have talent on loan from . . . God. Rush Limbaugh. A man. A legend. A way of life.
 * During the opening comments of his show as quoted in


 * I am on the radio for one reason: to attract the largest audience I can and hold it. I am not in a think tank.


 * I will do all your reading, and I will tell you what to think about it.
 * During his show as quoted in


 * (All equally truthful: number 1 is not more or less important than 35.)
 * 1) There is a distinct singular American culture - rugged individualism and self-reliance - which made America great.
 * 2) The vast majority of the rich in this country did not inherit their wealth; they earned it. They are the country's achievers, producers, and job creators.
 * 3) No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity.
 * 4) Evidence refutes liberalism.
 * 5) There is no such thing as a New Democrat.
 * 6) The Earth's eco-system is not fragile.
 * 7) Character matters; leadership decends from character.
 * 8) The most beautiful thing about a tree is what you do with it after you cut it down.
 * 9) Ronald Reagan was the greatest president of the twentieth century.
 * 10) The 1980s was not a decade of greed but a decade of prosperity; it was the longest period of peacetime growth in American history.
 * 11) Abstinence prevents sexually transmitted disease and pregnancy - every time it's tried.
 * 12) Condoms only work during the school year.
 * 13) Poverty is not the root ("rut") cause of crime.
 * 14) There's a simple way to solve the crime problem: obey the law; punish those who do not.
 * 15) If you commit a crime, you are guilty.
 * 16) Women should not be allowed on juries where the accused is a stud.
 * 17) The way to improve our schools is not more money, but the reintroduction of moral and spiritual values, as well as the four "R's": reading, 'riting, 'rithmatic, and Rush.
 * 18) I am not arrogant.
 * 19) My first 35 Undeniable Truths are still undeniably true.
 * 20) There is a God.
 * 21) There is something wrong when critics say the problem with America is too much religion.
 * 22) Morality is not defined by individual choice.
 * 23) The only way liberals win national elections is by pretending they're not liberals.
 * 24) Feminism was established as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.
 * 25) Follow the money. When somebody says, "It's not the money," it's always the money.
 * 26) Liberals attempt through judicial activism what they cannot win at the ballot box.
 * 27) Using federal dollars as a measure, our cities have not been neglected, but poisoned with welfare dependency funds.
 * 28) Progress is not striving for economic justice or fairness, but economic growth.
 * 29) Liberals measure compassion by how many people are given welfare. Conservatives measure compassion by how many people no longer need it.
 * 30) Compassion is no substitute for justice.
 * 31) The culture war is between the winners and those who think they're losers who want to become winners. The losers think the only way they can become winners is by banding together all the losers and then empowering a leader of the losers to make things right for them.
 * 32) The Los Angeles riots were not caused by the Rodney King verdict. The Los Angeles riots were caused by rioters.
 * 33) You could afford your house without your government - if it weren't for your government.
 * 34) Words mean things.
 * 35) Too many Americans can't laugh at themselves anymore.
 * February 18, 1994, on The Rush Limbaugh Show, the second "Undeniable Truths of Life"


 * Styrofoam and plastic milk jugs are biodegradable! Do you know what isn't biodegradable? Paper!
 * , quoted in


 * The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.
 * , quoted in sourced to ; also ( and )


 * I believe in specific ideas and I believe that those ideas have consequences. I believe in the individual, in less government so as to allow that individual maximum freedom to create and achieve; that societies which are founded on restraining the government rather than the individual are optimum; that the individual is smart enough to solve his own problems and does not need to depend on big government for resolution of all his problems; that my belief in individuality and limited government does not preclude me from advocating the requisite amount of government authority to ensure law and order in our society; that our ability to enjoy peace vis-á-vis other nations is directly related to our military strength; that the best that we can hope for in an imperfect world will most likely be achieved by maximizing individual economic and political freedoms and, conversely, that social utopia cannot be achieved through governmental largesse and socialistic redistributions of wealth; that compassion is defined not by how many people are on the government dole but by how many people no longer need governmental assistance; that political and economic freedom are inextricably intertwined; that society owes its citizens equality of opportunity but cannot guarantee them equality of outcome; that strong, wholesome family values are at the very core of a productive, prosperous and peaceful society; that those values cannot be instilled by government but can indeed be sucked dry and eliminated by well-intentioned but destructive governmental programs; that human life is sacred and that God placed man in a position of having dominion over nature; that environmental awareness is healthy, but that apocalyptic environmentalism based on disinformation and hysteria is destructive to society and man's best interests; that racial relations will not be enhanced or prejudice eliminated by governmental edict; that there is one God and that this country was established with that foundational belief; that our morality emanates from our Divine Creator; whose laws are not subject to amendment, modification, or recession by man; that certain fundamental differences between men and women exist in nature; that men and women are not at war and that their relationship should not be redefined by by those who believe that we are; that the meaning of the establishment clause of the First Amendment should not be stretched beyond its intended dimensions by precluding voluntary prayer in our public schools; that the United States of America was founded on the beliefs I have just enunciated and that it is the greatest nation in the history of the world; and that the USA is the greatest nation, not because Americans are inherently superior but because its government was founded on principles which seek to allow maximum individual achievement.
 * I also believe that the dominant media culture is composed of liberals who seek to push their view on society without admitting they are doing it. I believe conservatives are indeed the silent majority in this country and that they prove that every four years at the polls. Finally, I believe that certain liberals have become painfully aware that they do represent the minority position in society. That they are losing, so to speak. They have read the writing on the wall and have made subtle adjustments in order to reposition themselves for another run at reestablishing control. These subtle adjustments have taken the disguised form of popular, sentimental political causes which are difficult for people to oppose, such as environmentalism, animal rights activism, and feminism. Although each of these programs superficially advocates the specific programs within their particular causes, a common broadsweeping theme underlies all of these "movements." Unmistakably, that theme is anticapitalism, secular humanism, and socialism.
 * Militant feminists are pro-choice because it's their ultimate avenue of power over men. And believe me, to them it is a question of power. It is their attempt to impose their will on the rest of society, particularly on men.
 * Militant feminists are pro-choice because it's their ultimate avenue of power over men. And believe me, to them it is a question of power. It is their attempt to impose their will on the rest of society, particularly on men.
 * Militant feminists are pro-choice because it's their ultimate avenue of power over men. And believe me, to them it is a question of power. It is their attempt to impose their will on the rest of society, particularly on men.


 * The worst of all of this is the lie that condoms really protect against AIDS. The condom failure rate can be as high as 20 percent. Would you get on a plane — or put your children on a plane — if one of five passengers would be killed on the flight? Well, the statistic holds for condoms, folks.


 * I prefer to call the most obnoxious feminists what they really are: feminazis. Tom Hazlett, a good friend who is an esteemed and highly regarded professor of economics at the University of California at Davis, coined the term to describe any female who is intolerant of any point of view that challenges militant feminism. I often use it to describe women who are obsessed with perpetuating a modern-day holocaust: abortion. There are 1.5 million abortions a year, and some feminists almost seem to celebrate that figure. There are not many of them, but they deserve to be called feminazis. A feminazi is a woman to whom the most important thing in life is seeing to it that as many abortions as possible are performed. Their unspoken reasoning is quite simple. Abortion is the single greatest avenue for militant women to exercise their quest for power and advance their belief that men aren't necessary. They don't need men in order to be happy. They certainly don't want males to be able to exercise any control over them. Abortion is the ultimate symbol of women's emancipation from the power and influence of men. With men being precluded from the ultimate decision-making process regarding the future of life in the womb, they are reduced to their proper, inferior role. Nothing matters but me, says the feminazi. My concerns prevail over all else. The fetus doesn't matter, it's an unviable tissue mass.


 * Can't take sides? — — —! These were American journalists, and they can't take sides? That attitude illustrates the haughty arrogance of people in the news business.


 * The way liberals are interpreting the First Amendment today is that it prevents anyone who is religious from being in government. They say that violates the prohibition against church and state.


 * There are more American Indians alive today than there were when Columbus arrived or at any other time in history. Does this sound like a record of genocide?


 * There are more acres of forest land in America today than when Columbus discovered the continent in 1492.
 * Later version of his claim: Do you know we have more acreage of forest land in the United States today than we did at the time the Constitution was written?
 * , quoted in
 * , quoted in


 * Let me tell you something. They say he lied to Congress. I can think of no better bunch of people to lie to than Congress.
 * , quoted in
 * on Oliver North


 * The second violent American revolution is just about — I got my fingers about a fourth of an inch apart — is just about that far away.
 * On his radio show ([February 22, 1995]), as cited in "The Emotional Politics of a Political Trial", The New York Times (April 27, 1997)


 * Too many whites are getting away with drug use...Too many whites are getting away with drug sales...The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.
 * The Rush Limbaugh Show (October 5, 1995), quoted in

2000s

 * It's beyond me how anybody can look at these protestors and call them anything other than what they are: anti-American, anticapitalist, pro-Marxist communists.
 * Speaking about Iraq War protests (February 2003), quoted in &mdash;


 * I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve.
 * , quoted in, , , , and.


 * The feminazis gathered in Washington on Sunday, about a half-million of them, it says here, and it was the first big pro-abortion rally in 12 years.
 * 2004: Limbaugh Referred To Abortion-Rights Activists As "Feminazis." On the April 26, 2004, broadcast of his radio show, Limbaugh said of a rally in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2004 "Feminazi": The History Of Limbaugh's Trademark Slur Against Women


 * You know I have always tried to be honest with you and open about my life, so I need to tell you that part of what you have heard and read is correct. I am addicted to prescription pain medication.
 * , quoted in


 * It's sort of like hazing, a fraternity prank. Sort of like that kind of fun.
 * Stated about abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib by United States soldiers (May 3-4, 2004), quoted in &mdash;


 * I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of need to blow some steam off?
 * Stated about Abu Ghraib (May 4, 2004), quoted in &mdash;


 * I think it's time to get rid of this whole National Basketball Association. Call it the TBA, the Thug Basketball Association, and stop calling them teams. Call 'em gangs.
 * December 8, 2004 on The Rush Limbaugh Show


 * Women still live longer than men because their lives are easier.
 * March 1, 2005, on The Rush Limbaugh Show


 * We need to shut down this Gitmo prison? Well, don't shut it down - we just need to start an advertising campaign. We need to call it, 'Gitmo, the Muslim resort.' Any resort that treated people like this would have ads all over the New York Times trying to get people to come down and visit for some R&R, for some rest and relaxation.
 * Stated about Guantanamo Bay, on The Rush Limbaugh Show, (June 14, 2005), quoted in &mdash;


 * If the word of how they're being treated keeps getting out, we're going to have al-Qaeda people surrendering all over the world trying to get in place.
 * Stated about Guantanamo Bay (June 16, 2005), quoted in &mdash;


 * Look it, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it.
 * , quoted in (also )


 * The dream end of this is that this keeps up to the convention and we have a replay of Chicago 1968 with burning cars, protests, fires, literal riots, and all of that. That's that's the objective here.
 * telling his listeners about his idea to turn the National Democratic Convention into "Operation Chaos" on The Rush Limbaugh Show (April 9, 2008)


 * He discusses his service in Iraq, the wounds he suffered there, and he says to me in this ad, "Until you have the guts to call me a 'phony soldier' to my face, stop telling lies about my service." You know, this is such a blatant use of a valiant combat veteran, lying to him about what I said, then strapping those lies to his belt, sending him out via the media in a TV ad to walk into as many people as he can walk into.
 * On Brian McGough's VoteVets.org ad criticizing him for "phony soldiers" comment, on the October 2, 2008 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh


 * What [Obama] is talking about is the absorption of as much of the private sector by the US government as possible, from the banking business, to the mortgage industry, the automobile business, to health care. I do not want the government in charge of all of these things. I don't want this to work. So I'm thinking of replying to the guy, "Okay, I'll send you a response, but I don't need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails."


 * So I shamelessly say, no, I want him to fail, if his agenda is a far-left collectivism, some people say socialism, as a conservative heartfelt, deeply, why would I want socialism to succeed?
 * Asked if he wanted Barack Obama to succeed as a president on Hannity's America January 22, 2009


 * You know, this is all BS, as far as I'm concerned. Cross species evolution, I don't think anybody's ever proven that. They're going out of their way now to establish evolution as a mechanism for creation, which, of course, you can't do.
 * On evolution, ''The Rush Limbaugh Show, May 19 2009


 * Let's remember one thing, folks, while we go forward. Not one Republican voted for this bailout. Remember way back in the fall, not one Republican voted for the TARP bailout, and this was why.
 * , quoted in


 * I don't doubt that the number of H1N1 cases out there is being hyped. And for many of the same reasons that AIDS was—and still is—hyped in Africa. Everything in Africa's called AIDS. The reason is they get aid money for it. AIDS is the biggest pile of-the biggest pot they throw money into.
 * October, 2009


 * You've got enough in here that people who get hold of this — like AP or any of the state-controlled media — they're going to focus on the soap opera aspects of your book and they're going to ignore what is truly one of the most substantive policy books I've read.
 * On Sarah Palin's Going Rogue: An American Life, ''The Rush Limbaugh Show, November 20, 2009


 * Black unemployment is terrible. The black frame of mind is terrible, they're depressed, they're down &mdash; Obama's not doing anything for 'em. How is that hoax and change workin' for ya? They're all livid. I mean, they thought there were gonna be an exact 180-degree economic reversal and it's done nothing but get bad for everybody, but they're especially upset about it because they look at him as one of them, and now they feel abandoned. And I'm sure Tiger Woods' choice of females not helping 'em out with their attitudes there either.
 * On the Black state of mind, The Rush Limbaugh Show, December 8, 2009

2010s

 * And I'm not going to apologize for it, I'm just quoting Emanuel. It's in the news. I think the news is that he's out there calling Obama's number one supporters effing retards. So now there's going to be a meeting. There's going to be a retard summit at the White House, much like the beer summit between Obama and Gates and that cop in Cambridge.


 * Net neutrality would require that every search engine produce an equal number of results that satisfy every disagreement about [every] issue... Just think of it as Fairness Doctrine for the Internet. I'm not making this up.
 * On net neutrality, The Rush Limbaugh Show,


 * World Health Organization did a massive worldwide study of secondhand smoke, and they found it has no impact at all, zilch, zero, nada, and it was suppressed. You can't find it. We have it, we kept it, we copied it ourselves, not relying on their websites. [...] I don't know how many people have been around secondhand smoke all their lives. This is just— It's all lies. It's what the left does. Lies about our light bulbs, lies about global warming, and now lies about this, all for the express purpose of ending up controlling people's lives. That report that I talked about, we first revealed it March 22nd of 2001, secondhand smoke is harmless. "Passive Smoking Doesn't Cause Cancer — Official."
 * The Rush Limbaugh Show,
 * The World Health Organization's study found that passive smoking causes lung cancer in non-smokers.


 * From this day forward, somebody propose it, liberals should not be allowed to buy guns. It's just that simple. Liberals should have their speech controlled and not be allowed to buy guns. I mean if we want to get serious about this, if we want to face this head on, we’re gonna have to openly admit, liberals should not be allowed to buy guns, nor should they be allowed to use computer keyboards or typewriters, word processors or e-mails, and they should have their speech controlled. If we did those three or four things, I can’t tell you what a sane, calm, civil, fun-loving society we would have. Take guns out of the possession, out of the hands of liberals, take their typewriters and their keyboards away from ‘em, don’t let ‘em anywhere near a gun, and control their speech. You would wipe out 90% of the crime, 85 to 95% of the hate, and a hundred percent of the lies from society.
 * Radio show assertions, reported in "Rush Limbaugh: Here’s way to stop 100% of lies in society" at American Grand Jury (19 January 2011)


 * The people we see protesting in Madison are the equivalent of Hosni Mubarak apparatchiks who are trying to hold onto their privileges despite the will of the people who are being exploited to pay for them.
 * Regarding comparisons made between the 2011 Wisconsin protests and the 2011 Egyptian revolution
 * Regarding comparisons made between the 2011 Wisconsin protests and the 2011 Egyptian revolution


 * Lord's Resistance Army are Christians. It means God. I was only kidding. Lord's Resistance Army are Christians. They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them.
 * , quoted in
 * Defending the Lord's Resistance Army, a terrorist group criticised for gross human rights abuses in Uganda.


 * The Republican establishment has decided they don't want any part of conservatism, and this is really not new. People surprise to hear this. But the republican party formative event of conservativism is Goldwater's landslide defeat. That's what they think of when they think "conservative". They don't think Reagan. They think Goldwater. They believe what the inside-the-Beltway philosophy is about conservatives: they're racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe, Southern hayseed hicks. They're pro-lifers, they're embarrassing to have to go to convention with them, and they're just embarrassed to have those kind of people in the party.
 * , quoted in
 * What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We're the pimps. (interruption) The johns? We would be the johns? No! We're not the johns. (interruption) Yeah, that's right. Pimp's not the right word. Okay, so she's not a slut. She's "round heeled". I take it back.
 * Comments on The Rush Limbaugh Show from February 29, 2012, that sparked the Rush Limbaugh – Sandra Fluke controversy




 * So, Ms. Fluke and the rest of you feminazis, here's the deal: If we are going to pay for you to have sex, we want something for it, and I'll tell you what it is — we want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.
 * , quoted in


 * God may have replied
 * , quoted in


 * The study's leaders claim to have bona fide research — I say "bonified" probably here — bonified research that says the average size of a penis is roughly 10% smaller than it was 50 years ago, and the researchers say air pollution is why. Air pollution, global warming has been shown to negatively impact penis size, Italian researchers. I don't buy this, I think it's feminism. If it's tied to the last 50 years — the average size of a member is 10 percent smaller than 50 years — it has to be the feminazis, the chickification and everything else. Give 'em time and they'll blame Bush. Give 'em time. But air pollution vs. feminazis? Ha!
 * , quoted in


 * You know how to stop abortion? Require that each one occur with a gun.
 * , quoted in


 * If one of the main reasons for passing the Gang of Eight immigration bill is so Republicans can prove that they don't hate Hispanics, then what's next? Are the Republicans going to have to support gay marriage to prove that they don't hate gays? Are the Republicans then going to have to support affirmative action to prove they don't hate blacks?
 * What do we have to do to make the women realize we don't hate 'em? Change our attitude on abortion? Where does this stuff stop?


 * You know, folks, I have to tell you something. This, this white guilt, it's time for all this white guilt to end. I know it won't because I know that most people are scared to death and live lives totally immersed in fear because that's what other people want them to live like, but I'm sick of it. White guilt is doing nothing for anybody, and white guilt is not solving anything. And besides that, a little history lesson for you. If any race of people should not have guilt about slavery, it's Caucasians. The white race has probably had fewer slaves and for a briefer period of time than any other in the history of the world.
 * July 22, 2013 on The Rush Limbaugh Show


 * You find yourself staring, looking at, casually glancing at a woman, but you know that it's now socially taboo. You shouldn't be doing it. And you think everybody is noticing you doing it and condemning you in their minds. You shouldn't — so you walk up to the woman and say, "Will you please ask your breasts to stop staring at my eyes?"
 * , quoted in


 * You know what the magic word, the only thing that matters in American sexual mores today is? One thing. You can do anything, the Left will promote and understand and tolerate anything, so long as there is one element. Do you know what it is? Consent. If there is consent on both or all three or all four, however many are involved in the sex act, it's perfectly fine. Whatever it is. But if the left ever senses and smells that there's no consent in part of the equation then here come the rape police. But consent is the magic key to the left.
 * "Limbaugh: The Left Sends Out "The Rape Police" Whenever There's Sex With "No Consent" (Also Known As Rape)", Media Matters (October 12, 2016).


 * Nobody is a fiscal conservative anymore. All this talk about concern for the deficit and the budget has been bogus for as long as it's been around.
 * "Rush Limbaugh just admitted Republicans have totally abandoned a core party principle", CNN (July 17, 2019)

2020–2021

 * This coronavirus, they're just — all of this panic is just not warranted. This, I'm telling you, when I tell you — when I've told you that this virus is the common cold. When I said that, it was based on the number of cases. It's also based on the kind of virus this is.
 * The Rush Limbaugh Show,, quoted in "Rush Limbaugh: Coronavirus is like the common cold, and “all of this panic is just not warranted”", Media Matters (


 * I actually think that we're trending toward secession [...] I see more and more people asking what in the world do we have in common with the people who live in, say, New York? What is there that makes us believe that there is enough of us there to even have a chance at winning New York? Especially if you’re talking about votes. (December 7, 2020)
 * I know that there’s a sizable and growing sentiment for people who believe that’s we're headed to, whether we want to get there or not, secession [...] Now, I didn’t advocate for it. I never would advocate for secession. I’m simply repeating what I have heard. (December 8, 2020)
 * Comments on nationally syndicated radio show, as cited in "Secession? Rush Limbaugh floats a startling notion — then quickly backs off" The Washington Post (December 10, 2020)


 * There's a lot of people calling for the end of violence. There's a lot of conservatives, social media, who say that any violence or aggression at all is unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances. I'm glad Sam Adams, Thomas Paine, the actual Tea Party guys, the men at Lexington and Concord didn't feel that way.
 * Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has deactivated his Twitter account, 2021


 * I love you, too. Big time.
 * Limbaugh's last words, early February 2021.
 * As recorded by David Limbaugh in his eulogy Goodbye to my brother -- for now

I’ve Had a Year to Think About What’s Important (2020)

 * "I’ve Had a Year to Think About What’s Important" (23 December 2020)

I have very much that I want to say to all of you today, and I’m feeling very pressured. Not pressured. I’m feeling stage fright kind of thing. There’s so much I want to say, and I want to say it correctly. I want to convey my feelings, and I want to do it right. I want to do it to the best of my ability. Now, I have found in circumstances like this that the best thing to do is not to think about it. Don’t make it more pressure packed than it already is. But it’s very important. You all are very important. My family is very important to me. I’ve had a year now to reflect on the things that really matter, a year to reflect on the things that are completely relevant and important to me. And all of you are in that large conglomeration of people and things that are very important to me.
 * This is, in fact, the last program of the year for me. And, folks, I want to tell you at the outset here, to me this is a very important program.


 * I have outlived the diagnosis, I’ve been able to receive and hear and process some of the most wonderful, nice things about me that I might not have ever heard had I not gotten sick. Again think, how many people who pass away never hear the eulogies, never hear the thank-yous? I’ve been very lucky, folks, in I can’t tell you how many ways.

So you can’t — I can’t — be self-absorbed about it when that is the tendency when you are told that you’ve gotta due date, you have an expiration date. A lot of people never get told that, and so they don’t face life this way. This is not a complaint. I’m simply… This is why I say, there’s so much I want to say today and so much I want to say well, so much I want to say exactly as I’m feeling it, because my point in all of this today is gratitude. My point in everything today that I’m sharing with you about this is to say thanks and to tell everybody involved how much I love you from the bottom of a sizable and growing and still beating heart, and there’s room for much more. All because I have learned what love really is during this.
 * You, I — When this kind of thing befalls you, it’s hard not to become self-focused. It’s hard to not just think of yourself, and it’s hard to think that everybody’s gonna drop what they’re doing and deal with me, with you. You have to guard against that because, to the family, this is as disrupting, it’s as upsetting as it is to me and in some cases even more so.

It may not reveal itself immediately, and even in the most dire circumstances, if you just wait, if you just remain open to things, the good in it will reveal itself.''' And that has happened to me as well in countless, countless ways.
 * '''You know, I have a philosophy there’s good that happens in everything.

It’s not embarrassing. It’s just gratifying, and it has helped me to see so much so clearly about the goodness of people and their decency.
 * So many people have done things this year for me, and it’s… I don’t know.

Attributed

 * Great comedy is great comedy only if it has an element of truth in it.


 * More people have died at Chappaquiddick than have died at nuclear plants.

Quotes about Limbaugh

 * In alphabetical order by author or source.


 * Whatever hesitations they ever had, Trump’s base had clearly gone all-in with him by March 2020 when, after spending weeks telling Americans that the COVID-19 virus was unimportant, totally under control, and even a hoax, he announced that he had known all along that the virus was going to cause a pandemic, it would spread rapidly, and everybody had to take precautions to protect themselves or risk death. So, by his own admission, he had either been lying about this all along, or was an ignoramus who hadn’t know what he was talking about when he was regurgitating the stupidity coming from Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. Believing him in January and February, 2020 could have gotten you personally killed, and no doubt did for some unhappy souls.
 * Bob Altemeyer, "Lessons of the 2020 American Election, January 6th, and Beyond", October 20, 2021.


 * Regardless of political labels, for any radio announcer to wish a riot on a city so his party could win, that's disgraceful and it's absurd.
 * Republican Denver Councilman Charles Brown, on Limbaugh's comments that "Riots in Denver at the Democrat Convention would see to it we don't elect Democrats …and that's the best damn thing could happen for this country as far as anything I can think", as quoted in "Limbaugh "dreams" of - doesn't advocate - Denver riot" by Joey Bunch in The Denver Post (April 24, 2008)


 * The picture of this grieving mother demanding answers from a war president was too much for Bill O'Reilly of Fox News. He and Rush Limbaugh launched a relentless right-wing smear campaign against her...Limbaugh dismissed Sheehan's protests as "the latest effort made by the coordinated left."
 * Amy Goodman and David Goodman, Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders, and the People Who Fight Back (2006)


 * Rush is by far the most articulate, defining voice of conservatism in America today, the most articulate voice of raging conservatism in the country. Rush is a powerful voice. I would argue that Rush is the leader of the conservative movement in the country.
 * Sean Hannity


 * Those thoughts are made more compelling both by Rush's long track record of accurate predictions and analyses, and by his unique form of exposition — leaping from A to D, then backing up to explain how he got to his seemingly unrelated conclusion, holding the audience enthralled.
 * Heather Higgins, in


 * We have no intention of prosecuting Rush Limbaugh because lying through your teeth and being stupid isn't a crime.
 * Leo Jennings, a spokesperson for the office of the Ohio Attorney General, after Limbaugh urged Ohio Republicans to reregister as Democrats to disrupt the Democratic primary, which would be a felony if done with fraudulent intent; reported in "Limbaugh safe from voter-fraud charges" in The Columbus Dispatch (March 28, 2008)


 * What [Limbaugh] clearly has become over the last two or three years is something of an icon to millions of conservative listeners around the country. I think it would be too easy to dismiss him as being irrelevant to the shaping of opinion in this country today. He's very smart. He does his homework. He is well-informed. And you ignore him at your peril.
 * Ted Koppel, as quoted on dust jacket of See, I Told You So


 * What's so special about Rush? Besides his remarkable talent and the fact that Rush not only shared political principles with WFB, but Rush also has his graciousness and humility?
 * Kathryn Jean Lopez, in


 * He epitomizes what we all aspire to be, both as citizens and individuals.
 * Mary Matalin, in


 * Given Mr. Limbaugh’s history of support for our soldiers, it would be unfair for me to assume his statements were intended to personally indict combat soldiers simply because they didn’t share his own views on the war in Iraq.
 * Mark P. Mays, President of Clear Channel Communications, in "Limbaugh Broadcaster Comes to Radio Host's Defense" FoxNews.com (October 3, 2007)


 * Through the ups and downs of two decades, his message — always delivered with optimism, civility, and good humor — has been faithful to two core convictions: the power of freedom and the power of American exceptionalism.
 * Andrew McCarthy, in


 * Yes, I have heard them for myself. I have read the transcripts. I have heard the audio. I was asked if I would be interested in doing an ad. I told them I would be as long as I agreed with the language of the ad. I read the language of the ad and agreed with it. It's something that I stand by and stick by. I do believe it and I can think for myself. And for Rush Limbaugh to say that an American soldier like me can't think for myself because I speak out against the Iraq war is preposterous.... A lot of veterans and troops don't believe in the war. What he is really saying is that a growing, large number of veterans can't think for themselves.
 * Sgt. Brian McGough's response to Limbaugh's implication that he was lied to about Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" comment before doing an ad for VoteVets.org, on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, MSNBC (October 3, 2007)


 * My initial reaction is disgust. How someone can sit in that chair and say that I am a car bomber or — excuse me, a suicide bomber — is disgusting. I have seen the after-effects of a suicide bomb. I have friends that were hurt by suicide bombs. It makes me mad down to a place where I can"t even think to describe. It's just repugnant.
 * Purple heart recipient Sgt. Brian McGough's response to a Limbaugh metaphor saying that someone was "strapping those lies to his belt", on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, MSNBC (October 3, 2007)


 * Who’s off his meds and is exaggerating the effects of his illness? Comedian Rush Limbaugh, that’s who!
 * Keith Olbermann while naming Limbaugh "Worst Person in the World" on Countdown with Keith Olbermann referencing how Limbaugh said that of Michael J. Fox. (October 26, 2006)


 * You know, if you played a drinking game where you did a shot every time Rush Limbaugh attacked someone for being elite, you'd almost be as wasted as Rush Limbaugh.
 * Bill Maher, talking about right-wing attacks on elites on Real Time with Bill Maher (April 13, 2007)


 * Limbaugh hasn't had a natural erection since the Nixon Administration; think he's compensating for something? Now, I wouldn't pick on him for any of this stuff, not his blubbiness, not his man-boobs, not his inability to have a natural erection -- none of that stuff -- to me, off limits until! until! -- Mr. Limbaugh, you turn that sort of gun on somebody else -- once you start doing that, you're fair game, fat boy. Absolutely, you jiggly pile of mess. You're just fair game, and you're going to get it, too. [Laughs] You'd better watch what you say, Limbaugh, because it can come back the other way.
 * Ron Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan, 'The Ron Reagan Show (18 May 2009).


 * Everyone knows that Rush Limbaugh and I don't agree on everything in life, and maybe that is kind of an understatement … I strongly believe when we can put our differences aside, even Harry Reid and Rush Limbaugh, we should do that and try to accomplish good things for the American people.
 * Harry Reid, as quoted in "Anti-Limbaugh letter nets $2.1 million" by Brian Skoloff, in The San Diego Tribune (October 20, 2007)


 * You have to give him credit — he works hard at getting his facts right.
 * Tim Russert, quoted in


 * data about the demographics of COVID-19 victims began to trickle out. On April 7, major outlets began reporting that preliminary data showed that black and Latino Americans were being disproportionately felled by the coronavirus. That afternoon, Rush Limbaugh complained, "If you dare criticize the mobilization to deal with this, you're going to be immediately tagged as a racist"... The nationwide death toll that day was just 13,000 people; it now stands above 70,000, a mere month later. (p 235-6)
 * Adam Serwer The Cruelty is the Point (2021)


 * I couldn’t sit through some of it, and we ended up leaving, especially when they just went just full-out applause when they put that medal around Rush. And then — I know. I know. Do you know there was a 97-year-old man who was a guest of another colleague, who has been working really hard to try to get the Medal of Freedom for this man, who survived Nazi Germany? And he invented something to do with solar, profound accomplishments, profound strength, things that we need to be celebrating in our country. And he watched in the gallery to see somebody like that get the Medal of Freedom, when he’s sitting there, asking — you know, when he’s sitting there, just like, “I’ve done all these things in my life. I’ve survived all this.” And he did it from — you know, in this beautiful, gracious way, even after all that he’s been through.
 * Rashida Tlaib, Interview with Democracy Now after the State of the Union speech (2020)


 * [In the period after the Gulf War (1990–1991) ended] Around the same time, [Timothy] McVeigh began listening to Limbaugh, who was just coming into his own as a best-selling author, television performer, and talk radio megastar. "As they say, 'Rush is right,' (double meaning)," McVeigh wrote to a friend, "and many people (opponents) consider his views extreme." He became an ardent fan.
 * Sean Wilentz "American Carnage" The New York Review of Books (August 17, 2023)
 * From a review of Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism by Jeffrey Toobin (Simon & Schuster)


 * Airing anti-Rush Limbaugh commercials during the Rush Limbaugh show would only conflict with the listeners who have chosen to listen to Rush Limbaugh.
 * A WJNO spokesman, explaining why the Palm Beach station will not honor Limbaugh's promise to air a VoteVets.org ad during his radio show in his town of residence, as quoted on Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' (October 4, 2007)