RUSH-LESS DAYS NOT IMPOSSIBLE FOR FANS - DITTO, SAY OPPONENTS

Alas, poor Rush Limbaugh. We couldn't help but notice when this
Midwestern boy hit the big time, like him or not. Conservative
talk-show hosts came ploddingly along behind him, plowing much the
same ground. They make up a cadre of commentators who hold their own
but always pledge allegiance to the "Godfather," as libertarian
commentator Neal Bortz tags him. Limbaugh is off the air for 30 days,
a self-imposed vacation, while he takes yet another try at
rehabilitating himself from drug addiction. It's an addiction he says
he picked up after after having back surgeries.

I want to know how this will affect the Southwest-Missouri-Rush
Limbaugh-Headquarters of the World? The place where people used to go
to restaurants to meet and listen to his radio show, the Rush Rooms?

Stan Melton, assistant to the general manager at Mediacom, has been so
"into" Rush for years that he used to tape Limbaugh when his 8-to-5
job wouldn't let him listen live, and would even dub off radio
highlights for his friends. I know. I have some of those tapes.

"I'll listen to the replacements, but there's no one else like Rush,"
Melton reflects. "I'm just content to wait. All I hope is the
treatment takes and he comes back at the same level he's been at."

"I'll be fine, I'll be Hannitized," says longtime Rush fan Dave
Gingery, who now listens to syndicated broadcaster Sean Hannity on
KSGF-AM.

What? I expected at least a little gnashing of teeth, chewing on
toothpicks, at the sudden breaking of such an addiction.

These are folks who ran to turn the radio dial at 11 a.m., who
programmed their tape recorders to tape the show religiously. And
they're telling me they'll be fine? OK .

So what about the other side? They're having a River
Dance.

Bob Chancellor, former Springfield City Councilman and retired
reporter with Voice of America radio, doesn't think the airwaves will
miss Rush.

"There are so many Rush soundalikes. They think the same way. I still
know hundreds of people who listen religiously and their entire
thought process is guided by him," Chancellor says. "If I'm in the
car, I tend to turn him on ... but I've been having a hot time with
(the controversy). He's a drug addict and now going into treatment,
and he hasn't been very kind to drug users, has advocated harsh
penalties to drug users. I wonder how the conservative majority in our
area are going to look at this, and who will they turn to now?"

Some non-fans don't care. "I just don't think he's relevant anymore,"
said veterinarian Tedd Hammaker. "I think he's played out. He used to
have a TV show - what happened to that?"

Some non-fans are glad for the dead air. "I think it will be a good
thing to be without his negative messages," says Elise Crain of Ozark,
a longtime Republican, and like Limbaugh, from deep Republican roots.

"Rush says the conservatives believe this, the conservatives believe
that ... ," Crain says. "I think I'm a blend. His grandfather was one
of the original members of the Missouri Commission on Human Rights (on
which Crain serves now) and was even granted an award for his work in
behalf of human rights on the 40th anniversary of the Human Rights
Commission. But human rights has never been Rush's cause. ... Until
about two years ago I'd listen to him every two months or so, but I
just can't do it anymore. I decided I just liked myself too much."