The Price of Loyalty

From this morning's Mark Steyn post:

Three years ago today, I was pottering about getting ready to guest-host The Rush Limbaugh Show when the telephone rang. It was Kraig Kitchin, his longtime friend (and head of the network that distributed his show), calling to break the news that Rush had died earlier that morning.

...

A couple of weeks back, in the witness box of the DC Superior Court, I was asked by Michael E Mann's lead counsel John Williams [Authorial Note: Not the Star Wars guy] whether it was not the case that I was a guest-host The Rush Limbaugh Show. I said I was.

A lot of trial observers seem to think that was the moment when the DC lefties on the jury determined to convict me, of whatever they could. Some of those close to hand suggested that I should have finessed the question: "Oh, I may have guest-hosted that show a couple of times over the years ...long time ago ...can't really recall all the shows I've guest-hosted ...Anne Robinson on the Beeb, all kinds of things..."

But Steyn didn't do that:

If I'm going down, I'd rather go down as who I am than try to thread a needle of lies. Rush was profoundly decent to me - especially when it mattered. He was very decent to untold legions of people, and certainly a much better man than the revenge-obsessed misogynist psycho sitting across the courtroom from me.

I guess we'll never know the mindset or the machinations of the DC jury. But one does have to wonder (at least I do) what on earth the question about Mark's substitute hosting for Rush Limbaugh had to do with the case, or what sort of reaction it was expected to provoke. (Just like the comparison, in Williams's closing arguments, between "climate denialism" and "election denialism," AKA "Steyn = Trump!" )

I'm a founding member of the Mark Steyn Club. As such, I can comment on his posts (which posts all of you can read via the link above). I don't think non-members can see those comments. This was mine, this morning:

RightWingKnitJob: I miss Rush like stink. After my husband died in July 2020, and it got rather quiet round here, my noon date with Rush took on a new importance. He was the greatest of all time, for all the reasons Mark mentions, but--I think--principally because of his fierce intelligence which was accompanied by (as with all the really bright people I've ever encountered, IRL or online, ahem) an insatiable curiosity about absolutely everything. That's why his chats with callers were so different from 99.9% of all other radio hosts--because he was actually interested in them as human beings, rather than just notching the bedpost with the number of calls received. His conversations with kids were especially charming as he treated them like small adults--the way the grown-ups in my life treated me--as if their opinions deserved equal consideration with his own and all the others.

There's no-one like him on talk radio today. Oh, some of the folks are nice enough. But none that I can think of has that palpable combination of penetrating smarts which--willy nilly--clears all the nonsense off the field with one swat, combined with perspective, humility, and a rare sense of both humor and the ridiculous. And I can't think of a single one who does other than take a call, give a brief (sometimes flip), response, and then cut the caller off. So I rarely listen anymore. It's just not the same. Or even equivalent.

I'm grateful for Rush's presence in my life, just as I'm grateful--for many of the same reasons--for Mark's.

Thank you.

Giants, both of them.

P.S: Lest any of you think I'm a latecomer to the Rush fan club, here's how I first remember him: