September 13th 2019

By Jen Hayden

Daily Kos

Conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump share several hobbies and characteristics—both play golf, have homes in Florida, each has their own tacky clothing line, both have an affinity for marriage … and divorce, with seven marriages and five divorces (thus far) between them, and both publicly bash women with glee, particularly female journalists.

Donald Trump has famously smeared the likes of Megyn Kelly, Mika Brzezinski, April Ryan, and so on. And Limbaugh once used his show to launch an ugly attack on journalist Melinda Henneberger after she appeared on Face the Nation in 2012. A show topic that day was a Time Magazine cover featuring a working mother pictured breastfeeding her son. Here’s what Limbaugh had to say about Henneberger after her appearance:

“See, TIME Magazine blew it,’’ Limbaugh explained. “You know why it’s not working with the feminist women? Because the woman on the cover of TIME Magazine was too pretty. I call your attention once again to Undeniable Truth of Life Number 24. Dare I speak it again? Brian’s nodding his head yes. Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream. Here is Melinda Henneberger, who’s somewhat trying to be funny here, but in all comedy, there is a grain of truth, and she’s quite upset. And, believe me, she speaks for the Maureen Dowds of the world and the Gloria Borgers, the whole crowd.”

What a sweetheart, right? Never mind that radio was made for guys who look like Limbaugh.

That leads us to the latest ugly Limbaugh episode, this time involving journalist Krystal Ball, a former MSNBC host and one time congressional candidate in Virginia who now hosts Rising with the Hill's Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti for Hill.TV. Limbaugh told his audience last week that Ball had posed nude when she was 14 or 15 years old and shared the pictures on social media, something that is patently untrue. Ball was alerted to his comments when her husband checked the Google alert set for her name and read the transcript. 

Krystal Ball said she was stunned reading the transcript and pondered what to do about it. On one hand, she didn’t want to give him additional attention and make the issue even more widespread, but on the other hand, she wanted to defend herself and make another important point—even if she had posed nude at some point in her life, how does that preclude her from being on television or running for office? She decided to fight back against Limbaugh and his slut-shaming.

Listen to Ball directly address the issue with viewers, saying “it is not your job to be the moral police or to shame me or any other young woman out there who may have nude photos. If they want to run for office, if they want to be political leaders, they still can and I wanted to make sure that I was able to put that message out there.

HEAR, HEAR! Thank you, Krystal Ball! 

It’s amazing someone like Rush Limbaugh thinks he has the right to comment on other people’s looks or even their history. The thrice-divorced radio host was once arrested for doctor shopping to support his prescription drug habit, a habit that may have cost him his hearing.

Prosecutors seized Mr. Limbaugh's records after learning that he had received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his house in Palm Beach. The investigation was held up as the prosecutors and Mr. Black battled in court over whether the records had been properly seized.

Mr. Limbaugh reported five years ago that he had lost most of his hearing because of an autoimmune inner-ear disease. He had surgery to have an electronic device placed in his skull to restore his hearing. But research shows that abusing opiate-based painkillers can also cause profound hearing loss.

Of course, before Limbaugh was arrested, he was a proponent of prison time for drug charges.

"And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up."

Once he was charged with prescription fraud, he suddenly wanted drug treatment and fines to be sufficient for the crime. Prosecutors agreed and eventually dropped the case if he continued seeking treatment. 

That isn’t Limbaugh’s only brush with the law. He was once detained at the Palm Beach airport after a trip to the Dominican Republic with four buddies. Customs authorities discovered he was carrying a bottle of Viagra that was not in his name. That case was also eventually dropped.

In short, Rush Limbaugh has issues. A lot of them. It’s just too bad he keeps taking them out on successful women. 

Posted with permission