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"I've been fascinated... with the attention paid to me by people who really have not undertaken to understand how I succeed, how I define my success."

By Ann Althouse

You may hate Rush Limbaugh. You may despise him and everyone who listens to him. But do you even understand what he is doing?

I don't think [the mainstream media] understand why I do it, number one. I treat it as a business. My definitions for success have nothing to do with who wins elections, but rather, Is the program growing audience-wise? Are we attracting new sponsors? ...

Now, in terms of the content, I just come here and I try to have fun every day. And I'm honest. I don't say outrageous things I don't believe just to get people in a tizzy....

The second thing that the media doesn't understand ? and I think it's because talk radio is outside the Beltway. It's a phenomenon that attracts what I call the people who make the country work. I don't think politicians and elected officials and bureaucrats and even the media are responsible for the greatness of the country. I think it's individual Americans laboring in anonymity, not seeking fame, just trying to get by, play by the rules, work hard, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. And those are the people that listen to talk radio. And the media thinks that they're all hayseeds and hicks without minds of their own....

He's having fun. Doing a radio show.

I've been listening to the show ? over the website, without the commercials ? for the last month, so I've developed my own opinions about Limbaugh. One thing I've noticed ? which doesn't come up in the linked Time interview ? is that he has no real affinity for social conservatism. He likes to talk about the "3 legs" to the "stool" of conservatism. (That sounds so wrong!) But this leg man is only interested in 2 legs: national security and economics. He doesn't care about family values and that sort of thing. He's constantly alluding to his interest in having his fun with women and evading any burdensome entanglements. He has absolutely no interest in children. And he brags about his pleasures: parties, good food and drink, cigars, comfy beds, nifty gadgets. He gives every sign of being a shameless sybarite.

Full post as published by Althouse on February 14, 2008 (boomark / email).