Rush Limbaugh vs. George Washington

• Conservatism defined
• cost of listening to Rush Limbaugh
• 24/7 comparison
• audience = 14-30 Mill
• Rush = GOP shill
• What has Rush accomplished? legacy?
• $50M/yr

Limbaugh wrote in an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal in 2005:

• We believe in
  • individual liberty,
  • limited government,
  • capitalism,
  • the rule of law,
  • faith,
  • a color-blind society and
  • national security.
• We support
  • school choice,
  • enterprise zones,
  • tax cuts,
  • welfare reform,
  • faith-based initiatives,
  • political speech,
  • homeowner rights and
  • the War on Terrorism.
• And at our core we embrace and celebrate the most magnificent governing document ever ratified by any nation — the U.S. Constitution. Along with the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes our God-given natural right to be free, it is the foundation on which our government is built and has enabled us to flourish as a people.
• We conservatives are never stronger than when we are advancing our principles.^[32]

Limbaugh, Rush (2005-10-17). "Holding Court: There's a crackdown over Miers, not a "crackup."".

Wikipedia:

Limbaugh's rising popularity coincided with the Persian Gulf War, and his support for the war effort and his relentless ridicule of peace activists.

In 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States. Limbaugh satirized the policies of Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as those of the Democratic Party. When the Republican Party won control of Congress in the 1994 midterm elections, the freshman Republican class awarded Limbaugh an honorary membership in their caucus. This event confirmed him as an influential figure on the national political scene.[11]

According to a 2001 article in U.S. News & World Report, Limbaugh had an eight-year contract, at the rate of $31.25 million a year.[18] In 2007, Limbaugh earned $33 million.[19] On July 2, 2008, Matt Drudge reported that Limbaugh signed a contract extension through 2016 that is worth over $400 million [$50M/yr], breaking records for any broadcast.[20]

A November 2008 poll by Zogby International found that Rush Limbaugh was the most trusted news personality in the nation.[21]

Limbaugh's Audience Size? It's Largely Up in the Air - washingtonpost.com

Is it 30 million (Pat Buchanan on MSNBC), 20 million (Time magazine, ABC News), 19 million (Fox News), 14 million (CNN), or "14.2 million to about 25 million" (The Washington Post)?

In order to listen to one hour of Rush Limbaugh, you must sacrifice two hours of time.
One hour of radio = 25 min. commercials + 35 min of Rush

35 min of Rush = 5 minutes of shtick ("half my brain tied behind my back") and 30 min content.

30 minutes of content can be distilled into 16 minutes of didactic exposition.
      • no cross-talk with Mr. Snerdly
      • no parodies

Rush = 16 minutes at a cost of 44 minutes.

16mins of content /hr = 48 minutes of content per day @3hrs/day

GWCoaching gives a daily dose of 48 minutes of didactic exposition, Biblical, Calvinist, Capitalist, Theocratic, Preterist

saving 44 x 3 = 132 minutes

If you're an average American earning 50k/yr, your time is worth $25/hr. or 41.6¢/min

132 minutes = $54.912/day x 365 = $13,508.35

In 1984, Limbaugh returned to radio as a talk show host at KFBK in Sacramento, California, where he replaced Morton Downey, Jr.

On August 1, 1988, after achieving success in Sacramento and drawing the attention of former ABC Radio President Edward F. McLaughlin, Limbaugh moved to New York City and began his national radio show.

What has been the result of his political commentary over the past 25+ years?