IN EXCESS : Anti-Dittos

Rush Limbaugh appeals to the nicest people. When Brian Keliher published the 12-page Flush Rush Quarterly in March, the La Jolla resident expected a negative reaction from Limbaugh fans. But he didn’t expect the dozens of threatening phone calls and letters, including several death threats, from “dittoheads” (as the fans call themselves).

Keliher, who works as a literary agent and attends law school, says his goal with the publication is to wipe out “Limbo-suction,” a process in which “common sense is sucked out of a rational person’s brain.” The newsletter has taken Limbaugh to task for his stands on feminism (created, Limbaugh has said, to allow unattractive women into the mainstream), the rights of the accused (he favored them for the Rodney King defendants, opposes them otherwise) and the environment. For example, Keliher says that Limbaugh correctly notes that U.S. factories are among the cleanest in the world, but then ignores the role of the “environmental wackos” in making that so.

The newsletter, which is available at several San Diego bookstores and through mail order, prompted one local Limbaugh supporter to leave a message on Keliher’s voice mail: “Rush Limbaugh owns L.A., pal, and don’t you ever forget it. He owns the whole country and a little (bleep) like you won’t make a scratch in his popularity.” Another particularly angry caller put in, “Listen here, Keliher, you (bleeping) liberal. You better get off Rush’s case, or we’ll blow you away, pal. Leave him alone or you’re a dead man.”

But Keliher, who is putting out his second issue this month, is undaunted. “The threats prove my point,” he says. “They illustrate perfectly the mentality of these so-called dittoheads. They’re morons, reactionaries with nothing better to do. I don’t think they’re serious.”

However, after a pause to think, he adds, “I must admit, lately I’ve been more careful about locking my doors and bolting my windows.”