A Conservative Icon
It’s hard to believe that more than a whole year has passed since Rush Limbaugh passed in February 2021. Millions of American patriots steadfastly tuned into Rush’s radio show during his thirty year career. But even more importantly, Rush’s work paved the way for the burgeoning Conservative talk radio and Conservative media sphere that exists today. He provided a conservative alternative to the overwhelmingly-liberal Mainstream News Media at the time–ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, etc.
Rush is undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the modern Conservative movement. He definitely left the movement in a better place than he found it. So, I thought it would be fitting to have a blog post dedicated to Rush’s most memorable speech: his speech at CPAC 2009
Rush at CPAC
Here’s the setting: in early 2009, Rush Limbaugh gave the keynote speech at the conservative political conference CPAC. The prior November, Barack Obama and the Democratic party trounced Republicans in the 2008 election cycle. The Democrats held the presidency, the House of Representatives, and the Senate going into 2009. So, things weren’t looking so hot for Republicans and conservatives.
Conservative patriots were looking for some hope after an increasingly progressive Democrat party took control of the Federal government. Thankfully, Rush Limbaugh gave this speech when things were seemingly hopeless in this country in early 2009.
Rush Limbaugh’s keynote speech at CPAC 2009 is probably his best speech ever for several reasons.
First off, Rush’s speech at CPAC 2009 was both highly entertaining and highly inspiring. Rush was always a comedian at heart, and this trait definitely showed in this speech.
Secondly, Rush’s CPAC speech helped give rise to the “Tea Party movement” of the early 2010s. This speech was the “boost in the arm” that encouraged grassroots conservatives to push back against the progressive, Big-Government policies of the Obama administration–which eventually led to the huge Republican victory in the 2010 midterm elections. Undoubtedly conservative radio show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck (P.S. I’m not much of Glenn Beck fan) were both influential figures in encouraging grassroots activism during the Tea Party era.
With that information, let’s now dive into Rush’s epic speech at CPAC 2009.
The Speech Itself
Rush Limbaugh started off his speech laying out what it means to be a “Conservative”. As great as Rush was, he was kind of a libertarian in some of his political thinking. So, his view of the conservatism movement was more of a “pro-freedom, anti-Big Government” political movement.
Nevertheless, Rush did hit the “nail on the head” in his speech when he talked about how conservatives want Americans to succeed. Your average conservative voter wants a competent government that will not hinder his ability to provide for himself, his family, and his community. Rush made that refrain throughout his speech.
Rush then goes into detail about the failures of then-President Obama and Liberal ideology. In Rush’s mindset, Liberal politicians and decades of Democrat rule hindered the potential of the American people through the “War on Poverty”, the Welfare State, and countless other failed government policies.
About halfway through the speech (around the 43 minute mark), Rush explains what we–the conservative movement–needs to focus on: winning. For too long, Republicans then-and-now compromised on their core principles under the guise of “bipartisanship”. Republican politicians in DC did nothing stop the “Long March of Liberalism” through American culture and American government. So, it’s refreshing to hear someone like Rush point how important winning is in politics. If they win, then we lose. It’s as simple as that, and losing in politics means that we lose the country that we all loved and grew up in.
Later on, Rush called out Beltway/Think Tank-conservatives for their desire to pander to the Liberal Media and non-conservative voters. Sadly, many DC Conservative-types used to and still care about whether Liberals like them. That thinking seems pretty strange ever since Trump came onto the poltiical scene in 2015. Nevertheless, Rush was one of the few people who called out the Mainstream Media (or the “Drive-by Media” as Rush called it) at the time for their Liberal Bias. He was one of the few people who called out the Media’s partnership with the American regime before Trump popularized the term “Fake News” years later. This aspect of Rush Limbaugh’s legacy is fairly underrated in my opinion–which is that Rush started the conversation on topics that other Conservative media hosts and politicians were not willing to talk about at the time.
Toward the end of the speech, Rush discussed the importance of the battle that we are engaging in. Here’s a quote in the speech about this topic:
“We’re in for a real battle. We are talking about the United States of America — and there will always be an America, don’t misunderstand me — we’re talking about it remaining the country we were all born into and reared and grown into. And it’s under assault. It’s always under assault. But it’s never been under assault like this from within before. And it’s a serious, serious battle.“
The conservative movement’s main purpose is to preserve the Traditional American Society. The goal is simple, but we’re going to have to work really hard to make it happen in the years to come.
In closing, Rush’s impact on the Conservative movement was truly monumental. Rush Limbaugh paved the way for future generations of Conservative media pundits, and he deserves honor and respect from us today. While Rush was not a “based”/”redpilled” conservative, he “passed the torch” of the conservative movement to current America First figures–like Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson–by fighting the Republican Establishment and Liberalism from the 1990s through the 2010s.
If you’re interested in watching Rush’s CPAC speech, then watch the video below. Rush was honestly such an entertaining speaker, so I definitely recommend giving it a watch. Anyways, take care & God Bless!