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Rush Limbaugh is no stranger to controversial statements Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh raised an eyebrow about the timing of the movie, “The Dark Knight Rises” and the name of its villain on his radio program. The bad guy’s name is Bane, which is audibly the same as Bain, the investment firm that Romney once headed.
Nov. 12, 1995
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh talks on a phone as then House Speaker Newt Gingrich gestures during a break in taping of NBC's "Meet the Press" in 1995. Limbaugh’s conservative rhetoric has made him a champion of Republican ideals, but he also has been critical of GOP politicians that he thinks have strayed from conservative principles.
DOUG MILLS
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Aug. 11, 1999
Then Republican presidential hopeful George W. Bush, left, speaks with Millie Limbaugh and her son at her house in Cape Girardeau, Mo., in 1999. The Limbaugh family has long been tied to Republican politics in Missouri. Several members of the family have served as attorneys and judges. Rush Limbaugh’s cousin, Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., is a U.S. District Court judge and a former justice of the Missouri Supreme Court.
LOU PEUKERT
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oct. 2, 2003
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh makes remarks at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Philadelphia in 2003. Limbaugh began his conservative radio commentary career in 1984, hosting a local show on a station in Sacramento, Calif. The show’s strong following earned him a national broadcast in 1988. Two decades later, he would sign an eight-year, $400 million contract extension with Clear Channel.
William Thomas Cain
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June 21, 1999
Professional golfer Fuzzy Zoeller, left, and Rush Limbaugh watch fellow golfers at the Mad Anthony's Pro Am Golf Tournament at the Fort Wayne Country Club, in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1999. In 1997, Zoeller, a winner of the Masters and U.S. Open tournaments, made an off-hand comment about fellow golfer Tiger Woods that was considered racially derogatory. Zoeller later apologized to Woods, who accepted.
C. SOMODEVILLA
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(FORT WAYNE) NEWS SENTINEL VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Feb. 3, 2001
Rush Limbaugh puffs on a cigar while waiting to tee off from the fifth tee of the Pebble Beach Golf Links during third round play of the 2001 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in California. An avid golfer, Limbaugh in 2003 admitted on his radio show that he had become addicted to painkillers prescribed to him to alleviate pain from years of back injuries.
ERIC RISBERG
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
July 11, 2003
In 2003, Rush Limbaugh joined ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” program, which aired before the weekly game broadcast. The show’s producers said they hired Limbaugh to “provide the voice of the fan and to spark debate on the show.”
Rich Arden/ESPN
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RICH ARDEN/ESPN VIA AP
Oct. 2, 2003
ESPN got more than it bargained for when Limbaugh made comments about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb that some considered racist. It enraged fans, such as Pete Tridish, wearing a jersey with McNabb’s No. 5 as he protested Limbaugh's appearance at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Philadelphia in 2003. Limbaugh resigned from his ESPN gig.
William Thomas Cain
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September 2009
Rush Limbaugh's comments on ESPN about quaterback Donovan McNabb may have cost him a chance at being a partial owner of the St. Louis Rams football team, which plays near his home town of Cape Girardeau, Mo. Some NFL players and owners spoke out against his potential stake in the team, and Limbaugh eventually dropped out of the group that was looking at the purchase.
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AP
Jan. 13, 2009
Rush Limbaugh talks with Edward W. Gillespie, counselor to then President George W. Bush and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Jan. 13, 2009, as they arrived for the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Australian Prime Minister John Howard. In March of that year, Limbaugh was the keynote speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference, at which he said: "What is so strange about being honest and saying, 'I want Barack Obama to fail if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation?' Why would I want that to succeed?"
J. Scott Applewhite
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jan. 18, 2009
Despite past controversies, Rush Limbaugh continues to have a strong following. Here he talks with fans on the sidelines before the start of the NFL’s AFC championship football game in Pittsburgh in January 2009.
Rob Carr
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AP
Jan. 1, 2010
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh speaks during a news conference at he Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu in January 2010. Limbaugh was rushed to the hospital after experiencing chest pains similar to a heart attack during a vacation. Limbaugh has suffered other health issues, including a loss of hearing caused by an autoimmune inner-ear disease. Cochlear implants have restored some of his ability to hear. In 2006, Limbaugh accused actor Michael J. Fox of not taking his medication for Parkinson’s disease so that his uncontrollable body reactions would be more prominent while he testified before Congress about the need for funding for stem cell research.
Chris Carlson
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AP
Jan. 27, 2010
Rush Limbaugh salutes as he is introduced as a judge before a preliminary competition for the 2010 Miss America Pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino January 2010 in Las Vegas. In 2007, Limbaugh used the term “phony soldiers” while speaking with a caller about soldiers who were speaking out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Limbaugh later said he was referring specifically to a man who had claimed to serve in Iraq but who had not completed basic training.
Ethan Miller
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Feb. 23, 2012
Rush Limbaugh’s latest controversy comes from comments he made about Sandra Fluke, a third-year law student at Georgetown University and former president of the Students for Reproductive Justice group there. He criticized Fluke, who spoke in support of birth control to a group of Democratic lawmakers who were debating a congressional measure that would have allowed religiously affiliated institutions, such as Georgetown, to avoid providing health-care coverage for contraceptives. Limbaugh called Fluke a “slut” on his radio show.
Alex Wong
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Feb. 23, 2012
Sandra Fluke, left, a third-year law student at Georgetown University, is greeted, from left, by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) after she spoke last month to the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on Capitol Hill.
Alex Wong
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