Limbaugh Gives a Conservative Prediction

Jay Leno was quoted not long ago saying political comics will never have a better run than the presidency of Bill Clinton, who provided ample fodder for late-night amusement.

But what about talk radio--a medium dominated by conservative hosts who have feasted for eight years off Clinton’s peccadilloes? How will they fare with a Republican back in the White House?

Just fine, insisted Rush Limbaugh, the nationally syndicated conservative talk icon, who--despite the attention he has attracted as a sharp critic of the outgoing administration--dismisses any suggestion of symbiosis between his enduring popularity and the hostility the Clintons engendered.

“Liberals are always my target,” Limbaugh said in a phone interview. “The notion I’m going to have nothing to say because Clinton is gone is ridiculous.” In terms of his ratings, he added, “I’ve always said it doesn’t matter who wins elections.”

With a weekly audience the trade journal Talkers magazine has estimated at more than 14 million listeners age 12 and older--still tops in the talk world and towering over a host of imitators--Limbaugh’s baritone remains the loudest voice in talk radio.

As for the liberals he lambastes daily, Limbaugh maintained, “They’re more fun when they lose. They’re knocking on doors to get noticed. They get more extreme, they get wackier. . . . They are giving me more material.”

Although Limbaugh launched his show 13 years ago--near the end of the Reagan administration, and through the tenure of George Bush--his prominence in the national debate clearly appeared magnified by the Clinton years.

Indeed, in 1994--when the Republicans claimed control of the House of Representatives--the newly elected honored Limbaugh as an honorary member of their ranks and dubbed themselves “the Limbaugh Congress.” The same year, President Clinton denounced Limbaugh and the Rev. Jerry Falwell, saying, “Anyone who doesn’t agree with them is fair game for any wild charge, no matter how false.”

Clinton again singled out conservative radio for criticism after the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995, stating that inflammatory voices over the airwaves “leave the impression, by their very words, that violence is acceptable.” Limbaugh countered by saying that liberals were seeking to “use this tragedy for their own gain.”

Limbaugh’s vast audience peaked in the mid-1990s and has exhibited modest declines since then. As Clinton began his second term, Limbaugh became such a symbol of the Republican Party that humorist Al Franken titled his 1996 bestseller “Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot”--a sentiment many Democrats would no doubt rush to embrace, even if Limbaugh has since slimmed down considerably.

The impeachment proceedings brought against President Clinton again seemed to invigorate talk radio and make Limbaugh a lightning rod of criticism, which, in this line of work, amounts to little more than free promotion. In a 1998 commentary, for example, Carl Bernstein, co-author of “All the President’s Men,” argued that “the venom of the Clinton haters . . . from Rush Limbaugh to the New York Post . . . has poisoned the American political well at the expense of decent civic discourse.”

The incoming administration will undoubtedly represent a different dynamic for Limbaugh, who lobbied for President-elect George W. Bush during the Republican primaries, when the host fell staunchly behind Bush and directed pointed attacks at principal rival Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Still, Limbaugh maintained he will have no trouble criticizing a Bush presidency if it fails to pursue a conservative agenda. He has already questioned the incoming administration, he noted, in regard to some of Bush’s cabinet appointments.

Though he acknowledges part of his show is about entertaining an audience, Limbaugh also cited a sharp distinction between comics such as Leno--who could run wild with Monica Lewinsky jokes--and his radio program.

“I didn’t find anything funny about Monica and impeachment,” Limbaugh said. “To me, that was serious, just like I didn’t find anything funny about O.J. [Simpson].”

Despite the occasional, prerecorded parodies and the time devoted daily to promotion of his own accomplishments, with “talent on loan from God,” Limbaugh said he’s never quite sure precisely what direction his show will take even five minutes before beginning his daily three-hour broadcast. Limbaugh is heard locally on KFI-AM (640) from 9 a.m. to noon--one of nearly 600 radio stations that carry the program.

“I never want to come off as a policy wonk,” he said. “I don’t think that’s entertaining, and I don’t think that’s persuasive.”

Limbaugh indicated that his latest contract will ensure that his show continues another seven years, extending through a first Bush administration and well into whoever follows. As Limbaugh put it with customary bombast, “I’ve always said I’m not going to retire until every American agrees with me.”

If that’s unlikely, Limbaugh takes a certain pride in the fact his audience isn’t entirely confined to “ditto-heads,” the like-minded fans who seemingly absorb his every word. Even many who disagree with him feel compelled to tune in, he noted, simply to enjoy his droll sense of humor or perhaps monitor what the political opposition is saying.

“Some people listen to things that really bother them. It gets the blood flowing,” he said.

Whether Limbaugh can stay as relevant with Republicans occupying the Oval Office and controlling Congress--instead of providing the daily voice of the party out of power--remains to be seen. After weeks of continuous broadcasts as the prolonged election battle played out, he is taking a break until Jan. 8. (Radio ratings for the fourth quarter of 2000--including the election and its aftermath--won’t be available until next year.)

Shortly after Limbaugh returns, the Clintons will be out of the White House. Of course, there will always be newly elected Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) to discuss, as well as whatever path her husband chooses to pursue--one few expect to stray too far from the public spotlight.

Limbaugh, however, contends he will not miss the Clintons in any way, and, to paraphrase a famous conservative, doesn’t need Bill Clinton to kick around anymore.

“I don’t care. I’m bored with them,” he said of the first couple. “I rue the day they ever arrived on the scene. These past eight years have been torturous to me.”