I like snow. I like looking at it and driving in it. My dog likes eating it (so did my sister). In Washington, D.C., they think it’s radioactive, or something. Poor, deluded fools!

1. Well, you just lost THAT subscription, Craig. As the baseball season approaches, I’ve been considering subscribing to the baseball newsletter of former NBC Sports baseball writer (and recovering lawyer) Craig Calcaterra, who is approximately 4X smarter and funnier than the average sportswriter, and more astute than all but the very best. Craig quit, or was fired or something from his job at NBC and is now with the rest of the exiles at substack. My willingness to forgive and forget baseball’s revolting pandering to Black Lives Matter last season is still in doubt, so Craig’s newsletter, which he sends out free now and then to those who have expressed an interest in subscribing, was a luxury whose viability was hanging by a thread already. Then today I got one of his free editions, and Craig indulged his worst instincts (he is social justice warrior of the smuggest sort) were given free reign. In a missive that is supposed to be about baseball, I had to read a screed like this (I’ll spare you most of it):

For the past couple of days I’ve written about how right wing media has poisoned political discourse, mainstreamed fringe beliefs, laundered lies, and radicalized a large swath of Americans. The man who is arguably most responsible for that died yesterday. Good fucking riddance to Rush fucking Limbaugh.Limbaugh was a berserker of hate, spinning off vile, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and xenophobic attacks faster than could be chronicled… He reveled in spreading lies, punching down, directing cruelty at the most vulnerable targets, and voicing support for criminals and conspiracy theorists. He elevated and normalized bigotry and ignorance and gave others license to do the same….To the extent you have parents, grandparents, neighbors, college buddies, or coworkers hopelessly lost in that malignant vortex of idiocy, to the extent you know people who believe in harmful and violence-inspiring conspiracy theories and who remain beyond the reach of fact or reason, and to the extent anyone you know takes pride in offensive and obnoxious behavior because, to them, it’s all about triggering the libs, Limbaugh and everything he stood for is very much to blame….

And so on. I don’t really care about the political views of sports writers and pundits who stick to their areas of expertise: one of the best and most enjoyable baseball analysts was Keith Olbermann. But Craig here displays poor judgment and out-of-control bias: that’s essentially 100% Left-wing anti-Rush propaganda by someone who obviously didn’t listen to him enough to make those kinds of pronouncements. Nor does it have anything to do with baseball.

I’ll defend to the death his right to write junk like that, but I’m sure not going to pay for it.

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It was a busy day, but I want to at least start this post about Rush Limbaugh, who died today of lung cancer, before it ended.

Three kind of people said negative things about Limbaugh: liberals/progressives who hated him for removing the Left’s monopoly of journalism, punditry and public debate; his targets, which were the political correctness mob, identity interest groups, and statists; and people who never listened to him and didn’t know what they were talking about. Rush Limbaugh was a transformation figure in broadcasting, politics and culture over many decades, and he should be recognized and honored as such. Yet do you know how I found out he had died? I saw this Boston Glove headline on an Associated Press breaking story:

“Rush Limbaugh, conservative talk radio host who employed vicious but influential rhetoric, dies“

Absolutely despicable. Limbaugh’s rhetoric was seldom “vicious,” though those who never listened to his show would usually talk about how nasty he was. To the contrary, he was usually the opposite; funny, light-hearted, witty, and almost always engaging and civil to callers when they took issue with him. He did not mince words, that is true, but his targets had long been protected by a general fear of calling them what they were. The AP story is typical of what the mainstream media will write about Rush, focusing on the various controversies he stirred up, some when his rhetoric was unduly harsh, as when he called Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student who argued that the government should pay for birth control, a “slut.” But that was the worst of Rush, and considering how long he spoke extemporaneously about hot-button topics for three hours five days a week, it is amazing that he didn’t have more misadventures. He apologized for the worst of them, particularly a period in which he mocked AIDS victims, saying later, “It’s the single most regretful thing I’ve ever done, because it ended up making fun of people who were dying long, painful and excruciating deaths, when they were not the target. It was a totally irresponsible thing to do.”

I speak for a living, also extemporaneously and fearlessly, and it is dangerous. Anyone in the field knows that it is inevitable that words will leave your mouth that you wish you could take back, and I grant a lot of understanding and “there but the grace of God go I” sentiments to a speaker, DJ,Talking head or frequent interview guest who has a bad moment. For the most part, Rush Limbaugh didn’t require any slack. He was superbly prepared, clear, articulate, and entertaining, while having the kind of voice and delivery that few could match in the history of radio.

He succeeded because he was talented and worked hard, and especially because he had guts. These factors, and good timing, allowed his show to change so much for the better that it is futile to try to cover his impact in a brief post. Limbaugh gave conservatives a voice and a sense that they could make a difference, while inspiring others to follow his lead. He weakened the Left by exposing its hypocrisy. He helped reveal how many conservatives there were in America, and almost certainly was a catalyst for Fox News to emerge as a desperately needed alternative to the mainstream journalism echo chamber. For this, he was hated; before Donald Trump, no national personality was the target of such venom. For his critics on the Left, those champions of insisting that mocking personal characteristics was a hallmark of bigotry, calling him fat was their favorite mode of attack.

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