Book Review

Rush on the Radio, James Golden a.k.a. Bo Snerdly

After Rush passed, Snerdly… I’m sorry, James Golden (who will always be “Snerdly” to people who listened) put together a twelve part pod cast series interviewing family, friends, and co-workers of Rush as a wonderful memorial tribute. The first quarter of this book was a summation of that series with excerpts from the interviews and biopics. I’d listened to the pod cast in real time so there was nothing new here for me, but then Golden went into details about his own life and career as it weaved in and out with Rush’s emphasizing the influence Rush left on him and the legacy he leaves behind with a call to other conservatives to help pick up the mantle. So, it’s only a partial biography of Rush Limbaugh. I imagine his brother will write a more complete biography one day. What you do learn in this book is an account of Rush as witnessed by people who were very close to him as an adult from his staff, to the guest hosts, to president Trump, to even James Carville whose wife, Mary Matalin, was a former guest host and long time friend to Rush. You learn of his humor, generosity, and what a great boss he was. There are also many, many excerpts of Rush’s monologues explaining conservative philosophy. If you’ve never heard it explained before, he taught an ongoing Master Class in it for 30 years, and the few bits and pieces chosen for this book are a good start if you’re curious to learn about it. Then you learn from Golden his personal journey from a former Black Panther evolved into a black Conservative. A vegetarian, black Conservative that doesn’t celebrate the 4th of July and has a healthy pride in his race. Healthy because, and it never really dawned on me until I was reading his viewpoints, how liberalism has poisoned the genuine and pure form of racial pride with identity politics. Reading about his life and how his attitudes changed is quite illuminating. And a large portion of the book is Snerdly’s commentary focusing on the pain it caused him to see Rush continually lied about in the media. He considered Rush to be his best friend. Naturally he wants to bring the truth to light about a man he loved like a brother. You would too if someone you knew was being judged unfairly. This is another attempt to set the record right that, sadly, many will not read. Not just liberals, but those who have believed the media’s portrait of him over the years and are afraid to investigate themselves. But those of us who listened know the truth. He also highlights his own contributions to the show over the years. His experiences with callers. The ups and downs of Rush’s last year. And he talks about how he’s carrying on Rush’s crusade in his own career. It’s a great book. Please, put aside your prejudices and read it. You’ll get a different perspective, if nothing else.