Three years ago today, I was pottering about getting ready to guest-host The Rush Limbaugh Show when the telephone rang. It was Kraig Kitchin, his longtime friend (and head of the network that distributed his show), calling to break the news that Rush had died a earlier that morning.
Post-Limbaugh talk radio seems smaller to me than it once did - not just because Rush had a big personality, but because he managed to fit the flotsam and jetsam of the news cycle into the big picture. Whatever topic he'd alight on, he would enlarge, and connect to the great coursing currents of the age. He was also incredibly, naturally funny. I have nothing against any of his successors up and down the dial, but, on the rare occasions I switch on the radio in his time-slot, it's not the same.
One year ago, the anniversary of Rush's death fell on the day of our weekly Clubland Q&A. It wasn't intended to be a one-hour remembrance of America's anchorman, but, because listeners had so many questions about him and his show, it somehow turned into one. Listening to it twelve months later, I thought it was worth a re-broadcast - not just for the questions and answers, but for other aspects, too: a musical selection courtesy of his beloved Kathryn, a brief evocation of my guest-hosting days, and the last words Rush ever spoke on air.
Click above to listen.
As you can hear toward the end, I was still recuperating from my (first two) heart attacks. Nothing like a spot of ill health to prompt intimations of mortality. We all deal with it in our own way, as I reflect re Rush in the course of the show. A couple of weeks back, in the witness box of the DC Superior Court, I was asked by Michael E Mann's lead counsel John Williams whether it was not the case that I was a guest-host of The Rush Limbaugh Show. I said I was.
A lot of trial observers seem to think that was the moment when the DC lefties on the jury determined to convict me, of whatever they could. Some of those close to hand suggested that I should have finessed the question: "Oh, I may have guest-hosted that show a couple of times over the years ...long time ago ...can't really recall all the shows I've guest-hosted ...Anne Robinson on the Beeb, all kinds of things..."
But, as I say, intimations of mortality: If I'm going down, I'd rather go down as who I am than try to thread a needle of lies. Rush was profoundly decent to me - especially when it mattered. He was very decent to untold legions of people, and certainly a much better man than the revenge-obsessed misogynist psycho sitting across the courtroom from me. So please click away and enjoy the show.
UPDATE! Steve from Manhattan, who was present in the courtroom:
Mark, I remember that, when John Williams asked you if you had guest-hosted for Rush, your response was: 'Till his dying day.' As with all of your testimony: well said.
~Stick with SteynOnline over the weekend for movies with Rick McGinnis, further refections on Mann vs Steyn, and our traditional Presidents Day observances.
