One of the world’s most studious and influential broadcast personalities that has ever lived – Rush Limbaugh – has passed away aged 70.
Limbaugh announced his battle with lung cancer to his multi-million-a-day audience back in January 2020. Since then, the radio giant had battled to continue bringing his show to his beloved audience, throughout one of the most fraught and contentious electoral battles the U.S. has ever seen.
Limbaugh, an avowed conservative, had been broadcasting his show since 1988 and was entered into the Radio Hall of Fame and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Fox News’ obituary states: “He was a five-time winner of the National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Award for “Excellence in Syndicated and Network Broadcasting,” a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author and was named one of Barbara Walters’ 10 Most Fascinating People in 2008 and one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2009.”
While Limbaugh made his career on radio, a speech he delivered at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2009 is widely considered one of the most important moments of his career — an explanation of “who conservatives are” that caused the crowd to erupt with chants of “USA! USA!”
“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,” Limbaugh told the crowd.
“We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence,” he continued. “We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, Freedom and the pursuit of happiness.”
Limbaugh was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald J. Trump in 2020.
He is survived by his wife Kathryn, and the tens of millions of lives he influenced and changed for the better with his programming.
