Goat of radio broadcast. Of the greatest of all time. He revolutionized talk radio, h singlehandedly saved the amb end and later even the fm band in radio. In doing so, he forged a bath, path for people like me, The Great One, mark levine, people like glenn beck you just heard form, and others. When he first indicated, the year was 1988, Ronald Reagan wa president , nobody thought it would ever work. They thought it was impossible, a daytime syndicated talk show. There were less than 200 Talk Radio Stations in the entire country, now i believe there is well over 4,000 stations, talk radio is by far the largest format in all of radio. We had podcast, website listening, exum listening, its a lot he also pave the way even for this network, fox news and even opinion shows on leftwing networks, not that theyd ever acknowledge it. Over five decades, it was his words, his principles, his ideals, his spirit, it shaped the soul of a nation, generations of americans. Now come out rush truly believe in this country, its goodness, its greatness, the greatness o you, we come of the american people. He believed always that this is the greatest country god ever gave man. He believed deeply in the principles outlined in our constitution. He was unyielding champion for freedom for all, for decades. And this is important, it wasn just a conservative or a republican, his love for countr and the people who live here wa boundless. By the way, he never wanted to cancel anybody, ever. He stood up for the likes of bill marr, his impact on this country, this land, our kids, generations, grandkids, guess what, this place we call home i beyond anything words frankly can even begin to describe. Take a look. Liberals think its morally superior to take from one group and give it to another group of people, isnt it always conservatives, arent we the ones that are often told were imposing values, but its the left thats always done that . Could get your exactly right. Conservatives has been so maligned in State Run Media for so many years. All we want is success for everybody, freedom for everybody , we understand that a great nation is made up of grea people doing great things. Ordinary people accomplishing extraordinary things. We dont look at the American Population with content and division. We dont look at the people and take out the number of blacks, whites, and women. We see human beings and potential strata liberals look at a group of people and they see incompetence, people who cant overcome the obstacles, and i think we talked about thi last time. They redefined and modernized era of reagan is over, no, no, no, Freedom Will Never Go Out O style and thats the foundation of conservativism. 31 year spread. 31 years, its flat out amazing, time has its like everything, time has raised by on certain things and other day its just been slow, but man am i blessed. We all are, its such a great opportunity to have to be able to talk about these things that really matter to the future of the country with so many millions of people, its really been an honor, and its ongoing. There is still nothing i do, that i get more enjoyment out o them this. And also, appearing on fox freight ive been very blessed to be here with you, and i can thank you enough for having me on pretty. Whenever he spoke, tens and tens of millions of americans listened. He had an apology unapologetic presence by was a true original. Never ever let his detractors slow him down. He did it with his mischievous humor, people get upset, bubble and fizz, snowflakes and the da when rush would say, that is so arrogant, not really, hes admitting all great talent come from god. And he always fought for what h believed in. By virtue of youre listenin tO My Radio Show and being active in this movement we all cherish and love, you have mean more to me come up my family, and my life, i know thats considerable. You still cant outdo the absolute joy and and things i feel for all of you. Ive been doing this for 20 years, and the numbers just kee growing and i cant tell you ho appreciative i am and proud to be in a movement with the same passions, desires that you all have because we know that it is right for the country, its not something that has to be forced on them, its not something tha has to be pressed on them, we are what is and that is why we are in enemy. Effectively people that do want to control, look at us as the enemy. We are always going to be, don ever measure your success by ho many driveby media reports you see, its never going to happen. Dont measure your success by how many people like you. Just worry about how they vote. America, its a better place because the conservatives was never that hard and for all the years he was on the air, he never changed. Conservatism is simple. What is her Route Conservatives believe in liberty, limited government, they believe in les bureaucracy so we can let business and american invention and ingenuity drive in this country. Lower taxes, less bureaucracy, you wanted lets see lilo in order, safety, security, every town, every city. School choice for every child s they can get the quality education they deserve. Secure borders, energy independence. Constitutionalist on the bench. Peace through strength. These are not complicated issues , he believed in our Second Amendment as well, but i wasnt just his unapologetic patriotism that made his great. He was also incredibly funny, incredibly entertaining, fun to be around i can tell you from m own personal experience, uplifting, he could put things in a perspective. He would have a take on something that always say i wis i thought of that, that no one else would have even soaring some of his toughest moments while battling cancer, rush was finding the good in life the amazing thing is probably all o us have watched the movie the bucket list, and its a great movie come out Morgan Freeman jack nicholson, if i only have year to live or whatever, Rush Bucket List was to be with all of you. His listeners. His bucket list was to do what he was born to do. And he did even fighting through , you know what Cancer Treatments are light, we all know somebody whos been throug it, it is on earth, and he woul go through the treatment, get well, as soon as he got well enough being on the air. Here is one of his favorite radio broadcasts. Lou gehrig announced that he had his disease that was forcin him to retire from majorleague baseball. To the soldout yankee stadium, today i feel like the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I didnt understand that. Here is a guy that had been jus diagnosed with the most termina of terminal diseases. I said you cant really think this is the luckiest guy in the world, this is just something h saying because it will play well. I dont mean to be insulting lo gehrig, dont misunderstand, bu if your being honest how can yo feel like youre the luckiest man on the face of the earth. When i got my diagnosis and whe i began to receive all of the outpouring of love and affectio from everywhere in my life, fro so many of you, and so many way from our family who they have supported me my entire career, even even at times it wouldve been understandable and easy fo them to say rush who . We dont know this guy. But that never happened. I have been totally supported b virtually everybody in my family. Ive been propped up, ive been defended, ive been made to loo better than i am. My lovely wife catherine has done so much in that regard, sh has done so much in the charitable efforts we have engaged in, and all of it has been to my benefit, all of it has been and you are scum of th benefit of people who are the recipients of our efforts. So many people have put me first. I understand now, what lou gehrig meant because i certainl feel like that. I feel extremely fortunate and lucky. Even terrorist has hardest moments he felt like the luckiest guy on earth, through the treatments, through the pain , he fought on. He fought on, his bucket list was to be with you commit to fight for the country he loves and in the final days he wanted to be with all of us, all of you , he wanted to do that which i warn argue he was born to do to the very end, a man who cherish life, humble, grateful, generous, thankful, and loved his family, love god, love this country. I was lucky to know rush i know his wonderful family. My prayers are with his wife, his brother, his brothers wife this long extended family and Cape Girardeau, missouri. His nephews and nieces. I want to extend my deepest sympathy to his radio staff. I cant mention everybody, but you know where thinking about you, along the way, he loved al of you more than anything. He loved his wife catherine, catherine was the love of his life as he just said. Earlier deliver today delivered a powerful and as rush would wanted, still i get so difficult , but powerful tribute. Listen. From today on, there will be a tremendous void in our life, and of course on the radio. Rush loved our miraculous country beyond measure. In unwavering patriot. He loved our United States military, our flag, our constitution, our fee and founding fathers. He proudly fought for conservative values in a way that no one else can. Rush often stood up and took arrows on his own because he knew it was the right thing to do. Rush encouraged so many of us t think for ourselves, to learn, and to lead. He often said it does not matte where you started, or what you look like, as americans, we all have endless opportunities like nowhere else in the world. Rush gave us hope that through hard work, and determination, w can overcome the obstacles in our lives and be our best. Tonight we will honor rush. We will have full coverage of the life, legacy and President Trump will join us, The Great One mark within will also be here. Joining us now, former speaker of the house newt gingrich. You know, we all kind of intersected in 1994, although w both met in 1990 and a Holiday Inn Hotel room where you were giving a speech and i was a localhost in huntsville, alabama. And then i was a localhost in atlanta. You often talked about rush impacts, we have three ways of conservatism and that would be big income of the contract coming you, uas gave remote credit for being a big part of his success. I think there are a lot of things to be said about rush come up more than we have time for before the president comes on. Let me just say that Ronald Reagan after he left the white house, sent a note to rush saying im happy to acknowledge that you are now the leading articulate her of conservatism, and i think it was true. By it became national in 1988, by 1993, he played an integral role with what we were trying t do, and developing the contract with america. I dont think we would have won control of the house that year without rush support. I will also say i dont think donald trump would have won the republican nomination without rush support. Rush had billed much like you, sort of The Next Generation, bu rush is a pioneer. He built an army of 20 or 25 Million People who more than that because they would listen to him, and then they would go talk to their friends over coffee or at the office or afte sunday school, so probably rush was impacting 5070 Million People every single week. And he was a clear articulate her. When reagan left, nobody in the Republican Party understood wha reagan had achieved and they didnt understand how to talk about it they didnt understand conservatism, and rush filled the vacuum. He enabled a generation to lear how to think about these things and to learn how to stand up to the left. And to learn how to use languag that was effective. I think historians will look back and realize that he as one of the great cultural figures i american political history, and that his total impact is almost beyond measure. Beyond that, because you and i both know and loved him, and knowing him as a person, not just an icon or a national figure, i found rush to be very personable. I always said he left Cape Girardeau, but he never left Cape Girardeau in his heart, this is the rush that was still here just a few days ago. He was somebody whos whose heart, whose patriotism, whose core values, came out of Cape Girardeau and he knew it. He was never affected when he lived in new york, he never became a new yorker, he always thought people up there were weird. Thats why he went ultimately t palm beach. But, if youre out on long island, lets be honest here, people on the island are often weird. Im an idiot for staying appear, i admit it. There was something about him that was so downtoearth, so practical. He had a lot of tactical reason it worked. He wasnt essence of. You make sure you wanted to listen to what hes going to do next. But that was also the professional rush, the personal rush, and i had the remarkable experience of being with calist at lunch one day. It turned out they had both bee the smalltown radio stations. Rush dropped completely the national figure. He went right back to what it was like in high school. They were swapping ideas, and i just thought this guy is so natural. I think its one of the things thats very hard for the media to capture, but he in fact love people, and in a very real sense , and i think that he loved america. He was convinced in the end Tha Freedom Defeats Slavery and therefore free people will defeat the socialist and all th other people that wanted to control our lives. Hes in the enormous laws, but at the same time, he has been i normas gift to all of us. A lot of people call my radi show today and i talked to a lo of people, and i talked to all of the staff, they are like family a lot of them. And ive known them for years. You know, he is just the type o person, mister speaker, he is irreplaceable. Nobody can replace him. And what he would want for us, this much i know, we would want us all to up our game and take the mantle. She was kind of a rush baby coming next generation, but he actually educated Generations O Americans and what it mean to b a conservative. That is profound. In all fairness, i think wha rush would say is he doesnt want sean hannity to become the next rush when limbaugh, he wants sean hannity to be the best possible sean hannity. I think he understood that authenticity is at the heart of freedom. You have to be an authentic person if youre going to truly be free. So he would have cherished ever single commit no matter how strange you were, no matter how different your views were, he cherished each individual is somebody he could interact with and have a great time with and argue with, and sometimes educate. Mr. Speaker, thank you for sharing hit your memories. You occasionally filled in and neil bortz will join us with th program two. You occasionally filled in, you did fill in and host radio shows. How did you like it when you di it . Until you have tried to fill three hours, and to fill it wel enough that the audience stays with you, you have no idea, youre the same way as the grea leaders in both radio and of course the television, but of course he was really mad becaus somebody said to him, i could talk, and rush is saying i spen my whole Lifetime Learning to d this, i know how hard it is. This guy hasnt got a clue, by the way, the guy didnt do very well because he didnt have a clue. Talk radio at the level of rush is a lot like football that we just saw with tampa bay. Brady and rush are very similar he is the peak of the game, he is a model that people should study that never pretend that they could be this good. I cant imagine going throug any Election Cycle without him. Its going to be hard. Mr. Speaker. Could get you better up your game, hannity, because you got no choice now. Nobody could fill those shoes. We been blessed to have them al these years. Joining us now with more on the person who did pave the way, when rush started, he opened th door, it was a big forest and there wasnt a single tree cut down. All of us that followed after, that path was made so much easier, the slings, the arrows, the attacks that he took his entire career paving the way fo the rest of us and making it easier for the rest of us. Im the product of that and so is that guy on the screen with me, i call him The Great One, mark will then. You and rush had various bush special close relationship. You knew the man, you knew the person. Tell us the other side that som people dont know. You told a good story on my radio show today. You know, first of all, i want to wish his family the best. Its a hard thing. You and i would talk about this day coming and we dreaded it, but we knew it was coming. Rush is the kindest most decent thoughtful person. Every birthday, september 21, h would fire off an email, happy birthday, flee. He would call me flee because many years ago, i would send hi some legal information or constitutional information when i was listening to him, maybe its 25 years ago. And the wonderful cookie he would call her, kathleen, she would run it down with a fax because we read really didnt d emails back then to rush. He would look at it come out on day all of a sudden he called me , the director of his legal division. I said thats called. He gave me his personal email address and that was really cool. We became very close friends. We would email and text as tim went on a lot. In fact every day and every night we would discuss the issues and so forth. He would send gifts to my kids around christmas time. Just so thoughtful. What does chase want, does he want an ipad . , he would have us to his house from time to time. He was such a just a wonderful nice man, but i want to mention a few other things too. I want the people watching to understand something. You were his family. He loved you. You could tell by the way he go behind that microphone every day. You could tell he fought with cancer because he wanted to kee talking to you. He wanted to be with his magnificent family dave and catherine and just fantastic people. But he wanted to talk to his audience. And this was his passion, this was his love, not tv, not writing, but that. You should also know he was a voracious reader, he had a huge library, he would read classics philosophy, read about economics. When he prepared for it shows commit many years ago he had me at his house where he would broadcasting, they eventually forced him into a studio , and h said flee, sit next to me. I sat next to while he was doin the radio show, he had stacks o stuff, and he was just perfection. He turned to me and he said youre studying me, arent you . Your studying me. He said do you want to get into radio . I said no, not really, but i enjoyed watching him, i enjoy watching you as well. I would call him people have come up with a lots of names, and rightly so. Even bigger than thomas paine, he would be preaching the case for america. He was americas spokesman, he knew the constitution backwards and forwards. He knew the decorations backwards and forwards. He didnt like school because h didnt like the bureaucracy. He didnt want to be hemmed in. He felt as many times as he did he fell to the point where he wildly succeeded. He created this industry this nationally syndicated talk radio , and its not that you and i even think about competing with rush or beating rush or anything like that, and rush would want us to. Rush can only fill three hours day, but he would want and be s proud and was so proud of all the people who were also workin in the talk radio. Never said nasty thing about another talk radio host, i neve heard him say a nasty thing about too many people. I think its important that we ignore everything the left is saying and is going to say whether its the New York Times or the Washington Post because they didnt know rush. They didnt want to know rush. They never engaged with rush, they never discuss the ideas with rush. So they are not legitimate sources of information. I think the people who love rus and listen to rush, his audience , it is we who are dealing with this irreplaceable loss. I also think as you pointed out earlier, he would want us to carry on. He would want us to fight for liberty. He would want us to make sure The Next Generation is in a better situation than we are in. This is what he believed in. This is a man without children who was fighting for our children, fighting for our grandchildren. Heres a man who understood, an by the way, i know im rambling a little, he was great with children. He was terrific with children. So come out when it comes to Rush Limbaugh, i not only think i and you and others have lost dear friend, i think the listeners have lost a dear friend. I think they viewed Rush Limbaugh as their friend, some of them as a Father Figure A Brother figure, but they lost a friend. You and i know when there was some big hot issue going on, we as a country wanted to hear wha would rush say. What would rush say . That was the big forwards. What is rush thinking. Its because he was so outofthebox, he was so point of this fear. Ive been thinking about his adoration for President Trump and he really did love presiden trump. And i think in part, not only because he loved the fact that they both he was charismatic, that he was conservative and so many ways, that the bushes werent, and the romneys warrant, and the others werent but i was thinking about this today. Rush limbaugh is considered at least at the beginning and outsider. Rush limbaugh was independent, he was his own man. He was told you must follow these rules, he broke them and look what he created . Rush limbaugh would speak his mind, and Rush Limbaugh would b attacked from the left. I think he saw the same thing i trump, an outsider, independent who spoke his mind, attacked from the left, and attack from the republican establishment. For a period of time rush was attacked by the republican establishment too. Anyway, ive got to tell you weve got broken heart here, an im sure across the nation. Well said, he loved you too. Thank you. You know, i have a lot of anecdotal stories that i could tell myself, i actually had the honor of filling in for rush on my radio show, and one day come out when i first filled in, i had been on wabc in new york, and they gave me the opportunit to fill in. Im thinking oh my gosh, 21 Million People, 600 plus radio stations, and you know, i was a pretty daunting moment. Im in the middle of the openin monologue on the show, and in the middle of that opening monologue, the golden eib microphone dropped right onto the desk. As it dropped on the desk, it sort of come straight down like this, and im doing the rest of the monologue like this Sweatin Profusely and having a full on panic attack, and you know i tr to do my little clinton voices. And i do my mark we gain voice. Rush comes back from vacation o at the next day that he was on and he says sean hannity dented the golden microphone, which it really was gold which is a Pretty Amazing thing. A true original. Joining is now on the phone is president donald trump. Mr. President , i know the hono of his life came from you, and what that Medal Of Freedom mean to him. I know the behindthescenes story. I know who made the first call to me anyway was matt drudge an i know that you made your decision with your wife there i about five seconds and you said thats a great idea. Tell us about it. It was an idea that we had that a lot of people suggested to me frankly, a lot of great people of our country. Largely republicans. It was an amazing night because the republicans went wild and the democrats sat there, but they all respected rush. I think it was one of the great honors of his life, the president ial Medal Of Freedom. Its a big deal, and he was ver honored by its. He was a great gentleman, just like mark said, i listen to mar and mark is so terrific, but he said he special, and rush was a very special guy. You said irreplaceable and its true hes irreplaceable. I remember discussions that we would have, id often ask you , if you Come On My Radio Show or on 600 stations, and yo would always ask me about why our Radio Numbers so massive, rush had 21 million plus listeners, and you would always ask me about rush. And id explain it to you, and youd never for a while, i don think you i knew you knew radio because she used to go on howar stern, youd Come On My Radio Show years and years ago, and, but you are surprised that ther wasnt this competitive thing going on. I kept telling you theres no competition, there is nobody in his league. Thats right, you did say that, and radio is big stuff. He made it that way. He was the king, and by the way congratulations because i looke at some numbers, you do real well on the radio, you would be the first one to say that he wa there first, and he was a brilliant guy, just a totally brilliant guy. He could do things a lot of people couldnt do. He could just talk for three hours, no phone calls, no anything, just talk and everybody found it spellbinding. So it was an honor to know him. I got to know him right after coming down the escalator. He was there right from the beginning. It like you, you are so great and rush was so great, and it was something very special to know him. A very terrific man. It is a side of you that i know a lot of americans dont know and i know many people tha this story holds true for and i know on the case of rush, and when rush had his diagnosis a little over a year ago, i knew you were calling him regularly minimum of once a month, often much more than that, and you would always be checking in, ho are you feeling, how are the treatments, how is everything going. I know you talk to him a lot, what were those conversations like . It was interesting because i didnt know rush at all. I had gotten word from somebody that rush was with us all the way. We have this guy who is so big on radio, i knew a lot about rush, but i didnt know him. I wouldnt say he was not outgoing, but he was very very warm just a very warm person, and when people got to know him i used to call him the bowl because he was actually a very strong guy physically a very strong guy. He hit the ball a long time and when he hit it and went along way. But you got to know him and he loved this country and he loved his wife because catherine, she was fantastic. She had this last period of time , which you know better than almost anybody, this last perio of time was very rough for him. Very rough or him. He really adored her. You know, its interesting, on his show today, i was listening before i began my radio program, and they played segment of rash, in that segmen he said if you took tapes of hi when he started in 1988 in syndication, nobody thought anybody could syndicate during the daytime and be successful and prove all the naysayers wrong, if you look at conservative justices, liberty, freedom, Less Government intrusion, less regulation, les taxes, lower taxes, energy independence, secure borders, choice in schools, the Second Amendment, free and fair trade, peace through strength. Some familiar clicks because that your agenda. Thats what you did. He was right there. He understood it. He got it and hes been that wa for a long time. He hasnt been somebody that changed. He didnt go from being a liberal to being a conservative. He was there from the beginning and he hasnt changed, his view havent changed very much. His audience, as you know probably better than anybody, the loyalty of his audience was staggering. Nobody had seen anything like it. He was just a very special guy and hes going to be missed by you and by me and by as you said , 21 Million People and i guess a lot more than that even he will be missed by a lot of people. And the most loyal audience, your own Press Secretary said she was a rush baby, her dad would be listening in the car and it shaped her viewpoint to conservatism. And he did that for so many of us and so many around the country. I want to thank you, i appreciate you being on the program, i know i read your statement the other day, and i know you said in the months ahead, you have a lot you want to tell us and we wont do it tonight obviously, but when tha time comes, we are looking forward to hearing what your future plans are, and what you are planning to do. I have a funny feeling we are going to hear a lot more from donald trump. Are my instincts correct . There is a lot to talk about and our country is a great plac and we are going to make It Eve Greater as the expression goes, but we have a lot to talk about but today is all about rush, dont you think . Went he left behind, he will never be forgotten. Big impact, great guy. Mr. President , we always appreciate you being with us pray thank you for your time tonight. Thank you. Coming up, fellow talk show host reflecting on the legacy o radio giant legend, oneofakind, true original, Rush Limbaugh as we continue. Set of xrays with no obligation. No insurance . No worries, its free. Plus, now all patients can get 20 off their treatment plan. Find every reason to smile. Every day at aspen dental. Call 1800aspendental or book today at aspendental. Com hi, im pat and im 75 years old. We live in the mountains so i like to walk. Im really busy in my life; im always doing something. Im not a person thats going to sit too long. In the morning, i wake up and the first thing i do is go to my art studio. A couple came up and handed me a brochure on prevagen. Ive been taking prevagen for about four years. I feel a little bit brighter and my mind just feels sharper. I would recommend it to anyone. It absolutely works. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. A little more than a year ag Rush Limbaugh received the meda of freedom from President Trump. This is what happened that night. Rush, in recognition of all that you have done for our nation, the millions of people day that you speak to you and that you inspire, and all of Th Incredible work that you have done for charity, i am proud to announce tonight that you will be receiving our countrys highest civilian honor the president ial Medal Of Freedom. Here with more reaction to the incredible life and legacy of rush, our other good friend, we have a lot of good friends, you know, dan, i look at your success and i champion your success. Rush championed all of our success. He never thought it was a zero sum game. His answer was im only on thre hours a day. An entire industry built up, al of us followed that forged path that he trail blazed for us, an took a lot of heat for. Your reverence for rush, you know, if i may, i wont share any of the details, but i talk to you once in a while and whenever i ask you for advice o tv or radio, or my career, i just started a few years ago an youve been in the industry decades, like rush, you would always say here is what rush would say. What was the meat and potatoes of rep radio. It was limbaugh, hannity, and livein. To hear you guys who have both given me an amazing levite, weve always used a to site rush. Neither you or mark would ever mention rush in his final weeks or days. Or ever mention his past, i jus a member of the conversations. You never mention Anything Abou Successors because it really again speaks to the reverent spread can i make another point the greatness of Rush Limbaugh, its really tough to talk about and i think Sports Analogy work best for us. Willie mays was a great basebal player, so was Mickey Mantle an they probably had to inure runs when they were best in the business but willie mays didnt invest invent baseball. Rush limbaugh can invented the conservative talk radio space. Before him there was talk radio but the National Talk radio space that you come up mark, glenn, and other titans of the industry took from rush, he created the game. Not only did he create the game comey he was number one in the game, not for a decade, not for two decades, but more than two decades. Thats an absolutely phenomenal achievement. It is. I look at somebody, we are clos friends. Im not hiding the fact, we are close friends. And i look at every platform it was over 4,000, says the am band , the fm band, and then youve got web streaming, then youve got podcasting then you got fox news, and how that was built. This model just grew and grew and grew and the appetite for news and information especially in light of the media be and he always understood that. The one thing they have in common they hate us all, the people that didnt like rush, w always wear it as a badge of honor and kind of like rolls of us like water off a ducks back in it did off of rush two. He was about eight years before fox news even went on th air. I mean before fox news commit there was only rush, that was it. Thats a fascinating question. The french have that term weve kind of adopted was it that he was funny. Mark is very funny. But rush, everybodys funny. What was it about rush . The answer is, who the knows. He was unbelievably special. Youve been in radio a long time. From the local level to one of the biggest radio host in the world, everybody dials it in once or twice in radio. Youre sick, you dont feel good , you take a lot of calls, whatever it may be. Not rush. If he didnt commit you could never tell. I would listen on apps, id go to i listen on the wherever i was, and im telling you, i never heard a time where i coul tell you, alright, today he is dialing it in. Not once in 20 plus years, and we all remember the first time we heard Rush Limbaugh, sadly i remember the last time two, december 23rd. If i only wouldve known as i was listening i was actually brushing my Teeth Listening on december 23rd, in my bathroom that those were the last moment that we were going to hear Rush Limbaugh on the radio, you know i would have treated those moments a little differently. I think we all would have. I dont think the country ever took him for granted. Its funny because after every political cycle and rush experience rush experience this a lot too, he started when reagan was president , he was there for bush 41, eight years of clinton, mary said and i mentioned this with Harris Falconer and bill hemmer earlie today, you know, mary said how would we have survived without rush during those years because he lifted everybody up, that resulted in 43, then 43 led to obama than we had donald trump, and now we have somebody whos cognitively struggling. And you know, you think about it , people would always say what is rush going to talk about now or what are you guys and talk radio going to talk about now, now a republican is elected. Theres always a lot to talk about because the battles and the principles that we care about as conservatives that we care deeply about, they never change, they stay the same. If i think one thing that mark said that i agree with and i wa saying on my radio show, and i mentioned it with newt, is that i know that rush would want all of us, nobody can ever replace him, but he would want all of u that care about these issues, that learned so much from him, to up our game, and he would want us to fight for everything he believed in and his bucket list was to stay on the air to keep fighting until the very last day. Which is a lesson also i think for a lot of us. You know, you mentioned the Press Secretary saying she was rush baby, i consider myself th same. For a lot of us, im in my mid 40s, the first time we ever heard the true essence of conservatism was when we accidentally flipped on the radio and heard talent on loan from god. You heard that and you said who is this guy. That is the first time. The first time was about. Half my brain tied behind my back. I didnt even know it was a place before Rush Limbaugh. I dont even think they knew as a place before Rush Limbaugh. He was a legend. The first time i heard the essence of conservatism and it woke me from the doldrums of my College Years when id been indoctrinated by a Bunch Of Liberal Lunatics was sitting outside a Queens College and flipping on the dial and hearin the incredible what voice of Rush Limbaugh. It changed my voice. I would not be here talking to you tonight, no doubt without Rush Limbaugh. God rest his soul. Amen. Good job good and faithful servant. Joining us now, dennis prager, and he shouldnt be retired, bu he is retired retired in spite of all my admonitions to get back on the air, traveling the world, syndicated host neil bortz. Neil, you were the one, i alway gave you attributes when you said he is the babe ruth, you only get one babe ruth,. Then the Arnold Palmer because he did for radio what Arnold Palmer did for golf. I was practicing law, there was no way i could make a Career Ou Of Radio until Rush Limbaugh came along and boosted just lifted the water under anyones boat. I dont know, i have so many great, i could go for an hour with anecdotal stories about Rush Limbaugh, and i know you d not want me to do this story about women applying makeup in their cars. On their way to work. I know exactly, a certain word that is associated that with that that blew up into a big controversy i remember. I conceived chain since youve gotten on, but you havent changed a bit, you are still rattling every page you can com you cannot help yourself. No, i cant. The greatest story, i have to say this, and this involves you. 2009, m inducted into the radio hall of fame, and years earlier Rush Limbaugh had said to me commit neil if you ever go into the hall of fame i want to deliver your induction speech. 2009, i sent him an email and remembered him reminded him. And never heard back for the longest time meanwhile you said if he doesnt respond, ill com to chicago and deliver your induction speech, then about a week before, the induction ceremony, rush said look, that my golf weekend down here in palm beach, but im going to load all my golfing buddies in the plane, and were flying up t chicago together and im going to deliver your induction speech. He really stepped forward on that promise. He was always a good man. I admired him so greatly. Dennis, your memories . Quickly here, i know theres not a lot of time, but dn mentioned his joy in the succes of the rest of us in talk radio. To months ago, i broadcast at the exact same time, i have fro the 20 years of my syndication. I broadcast at the same time rush does come at rush with a much larger audience, i loved his success. I find out, on his show he is reading my column allowed, my weekly column, he is reading it aloud. Who else would do that . The guy on at the same time. And hes extolling my virtues, that gives you a sense of the type of man he was because he loved america and he loved conservatism more than he loved Rush Limbaugh. A believe that, everyone of us who knew him, also believes that. One more point. Whenever i have a guest from European Countries on the show, i always tell them you know wha the big difference between america in your country . We have talk radio and you dont. And might let you tell the O My Radio Show tomorrow. More hannity after this. quiet piano music loud music noises quiet piano music comfort in the extreme. The lincoln family of luxury suvs. Before we go, one more note about rush, our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, his entire family, he reminded his listeners there is good that happens in everything, even in the toughest moments, he was always able to see the Beautifu Forest through the trees and once all of us to pick up that mental. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones. Rush, we will miss you. Laura im Laura Ingraham and this is an ingraham angle. A a group mournful, but grateful , washington,. We are mournful because we lost a joined today, a great and unparalleled radio icon, of course Rush Limbaugh, but were also grateful for having heard his voice and wisdom for as lon as we did too. I know a lot of you heard a lot about rush today, of course the conservative media pioneers, defender of freedom and patriotism, but speaking as his friend commit what i think i will remember first and foremos about rush, is his uproarious sense of humor and his kid lik