When I named Rush Limbaugh hunting and fishing’s Villain of the Year in the current issue of Field & Stream (December 2009-January 2010), some readers immediately fired back at the magazine—and me—with angry letters. Some wanted their subscriptions canceled. Some accused me of being a Democrat and a Communist. Some alluded to a physical impossibility involving where they believed my head resided. Some were even unpleasant.
As I explained in the story, Mr. Limbaugh received his honor for having produced two public service announcements in April on behalf of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). What was disturbing about this was that we have come to expect support for anti-hunting groups when it comes from the usual suspects: teen movie stars or vegan leftwing whackjobs. But Mr. Limbaugh is someone whom we might have assumed knew better than to provide aid and comfort to the likes of HSUS.
In one of the PSAs, Mr. Limbaugh spoke of his vast affection for the “treasure” that is his little cat Punkin, promising ominously that if anyone ever did harm to her, “they would be punished” by him personally. He went on to claim, though, that the HSUS was there to help other animals not under his direct protection and to praise it as an “ally” of law enforcement in the “animal realm” when it came to the crime of dog fighting. (Never mind that the manager of the HSUS’s “animal fighting campaign” has been reported by The New York Times as having been convicted of animal-rights vandalism and as describing himself as a “graduate” of the Animal Liberation Front, which is identified by the FBI as a terrorist group.) In the PSA, Mr. Limbaugh also managed to repeat the HSUS’s sinister and dubious statistics about dog breeders being known associates of dog fighters and other violent lawbreakers—a ploy the HSUS uses in a continuing crusade to prohibit the breeding of all pets. Don’t forget to spay and neuter, folks!
PSA number two was, if anything, only weirder. Mr. Limbaugh took note of what he termed a “new alliance forming out there” that is a “positive one for the sake of America’s traditional values.” This alliance is based, according to Mr. Limbaugh, on a “new faith outreach program” instigated by the HSUS that, according to the HSUS, “seeks to engage people and institutions of faith with animal protection issues.” (Forgive the cynic in me for sensing more than a whiff of sanctimonious hypocrisy on the part of the HSUS.)
In a way, it might be understandable that some Field & Stream readers—those who revere Mr. Limbaugh as a conservative role model, radio legend, irreverent slayer of sacred cows, and American patriot—would be outraged to see him attacked or even questioned on any grounds. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of dedicated hunters and anglers, it is utterly incomprehensible to believe that it’s no big deal for Mr. Limbaugh to lend his considerable support to the HSUS, or that the HSUS isn’t such a bad organization and that it even does some genuine good for animals. This is what is commonly referred to as “magical thinking.”
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Looney tunes deductive reasoning:
--Me smell Mohican burning
--Me last Mohican
--Must be me!!!
--EEEOOOWWW!!!!!
To be fair to Limbaugh, the ads were removed from his site quite some time ago, and, while they were supportive of certain HSUS ventures, the ads were not specifically, or even by inference, anti-hunting or anti-RKBA....
In one of the PSAs, Mr. Limbaugh spoke of his vast affection for the “treasure” that is his little cat Punkin, promising ominously that if anyone ever did harm to her, “they would be punished” by him personally.
During this Fall's turkey season I went to my favorite turkey hunting ground in a state wildlife area I walked six miles and hunted for three hours and not only did I not see a turkey but I did not even see any turkey tracks which I have always seen plenty of in the past. Finally, I did see the problem, a cat, probably feral. These invasive poult killing machines have no place in a wildlife area, so it received the 2 1/4 ounces of #4 shot from my SP-10 Magnum that I initially planned on using on a tom.
Wouldn't you say that any ad supporting HSUS or Peta or the like, no matter how benign they may seem, is, by their very nature, anti-hunting???
I do find them inappropriate, regardless of who made them. When Rush placed the ads, I was one of the many who e-mailed him expressing my displeasure. And, Rush pulled the ads. It seems to me a bit ridiculous to name him as "Villain of the Year" when we've got folks in actual positions of power who can actually adversely impact our rights, saying things that are directly and specifically anti-hunting and anti-RKBA. Check out some of the things that Obama-appointee Cass Sunstein has said about hunting and animal rights. Check out that a whole assortment of elected officials and their appointees have said about RKBA... The Rush thing is a very large mountain being made out of a relatively small mole-hill...
it is not well known that HS is antihunting outside of the hunting community. they are know as an animal shelter organization to most. Im sure it was an oversight on limbaughs part. I think cass sunstien would have been a better choice along w/ about a thousand other tree hugging libs over limbaugh. That said, I havent bought or even seen a copy of F&S in a decade, they are irrellavant.
EDIT: oops redundant, points made in previous post
Last edited by DeerandbearhoG; 12-10-2009 at 10:10 AM.
You have to understand the collective mentality of that magazine. Field and Stream magazine is not friendly to us folks who own those awful black "assaulting rifles." Yep, Field and Stream magazine even made US senator Chuckie Schumer their Person of The Year.
Mr. Schumer's hunting trip and legislation are part of his transformation to a gun stance more in keeping with his statewide constituency. He bragged Wednesday that Field and Stream magazine named him its person of the year for pushing legislation making more privately owned land available for hunting.
Limbaugh named Field and Streams' villian of the year
