Limbaugh explained his rhetorical strategy: “I set myself up by presenting the liberal point of view” because “I'm the only one who'll do it honestly”

Written by Jeremy Schulman

Published

On the October 18 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh explained why he does not invite liberal guests to debate him on his show. After Limbaugh played a recording of former ABC News anchor Sam Donaldson's observation that on Limbaugh's program “you don't hear a lot of the other side,” Limbaugh explained that the problem with allowing a liberal guest on the show is that “I'm not guaranteed the liberal guest is going to be honest about what he believes.”

Limbaugh noted that he sets up “the other side's position” because he is “the only one who'll do it honestly.” Limbaugh further explained that “in order to establish what I believe and what I think, I set myself up by presenting the liberal point of view.”

From the October 18 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: Moving onto the audio sound bytes. Yesterday, Michigan State University. A forum on the state of news journalism. ABC's Sam Donaldson says, “How important is objectivity?”

DONALDSON (audio clip): If you listen to Rush Limbaugh, you don't hear a lot of the other side. I try to --

LIMBAUGH: Stop the tape. Sam, you don't listen to Rush Limbaugh. Otherwise you wouldn't have said that. What do I do on this program? I set up exactly what the other side's position is. I'm the only one who'll do it honestly. If I have a liberal guest on this program, I'm not guaranteed the liberal guest is going to be honest about what he believes. So in order to establish what I believe and what I think, I set myself up by presenting the liberal point of view on whatever issue it is I'm talking about. So he's wrong about that.

Media Matters for America has uncovered several examples of Limbaugh's unique willingness to portray liberal viewpoints “honestly”:

  • June 8: Limbaugh asserted that Democrats are “more fearful of Christians than they are of Al Qaeda” and that Democrats “probably have more fear of Christians than they do nuclear weapons being launched by North Korea”:

LIMBAUGH: Let me tell you something, the Democrats are more fearful -- and I've told you this too -- they're more fearful of Christians than they are of Al Qaeda. The Democrats are more fearful of Democrats [sic] than they are of Islamist terrorists living in this country. They are more fearful of Christians than they are of any enemy of the United States of America. They probably have more fear of Christians than they do nuclear weapons being launched by North Korea.

  • August 1: Limbaugh insisted that “this abortion business” is “the sacrament” and “the communion” for the “religion of liberalism” and that liberals are advocating stem cell research “as their means of actually promoting abortion”:

LIMBAUGH: The left in this abortion business -- when I tell you that that's the sacrament to their religion of liberalism, you've got to understand. It's their communion. It's everything, and you cannot touch it, and nobody's going to stop it, and it's got -- whatever they can find to legitimize it. And what better way than to come off of the stem-cell research business oriented towards saving lives as their means of actually promoting abortion?

  • August 15: Limbaugh claimed that liberals “probably wouldn't have cared about the war on terror or the bombing on 9-11” and “would have sought out bin Laden and tried to make a deal with him.”

    LIMBAUGH: If it were up to you people, we wouldn't exist as a country today. You would have given in to the Soviets long ago, you would have appeased the Soviet communists. You would appease Iran right now. You probably wouldn't have cared about the war on terror or the bombing on 9-11. You would have sought out bin Laden and tried to make a deal with him, and this country exists today only because we have been able to prevent you from gaining power to do that kind of thing. We've had our run-ins with Neville Chamberlain types, and you're the modern incarnation.

Limbaugh has previously defended his ability to explain liberal viewpoints by telling a caller that “I know you liberals like [I know] every square centimeter of my naked body, and I'm able to explain what liberals mean when they say things as well as they are.”