…Over the years, a lot of people have been very nice telling me how much this program has meant to them. But, whatever that is, it pales in comparison to what you all have meant to me. And I can’t describe this. But I know you’re there every day. I can see you. It’s strange how, but I know you’re there.

I know you’re there in great numbers, and I know that you understand everything I say. The rest of the world may not when they hear it expressed a different way, but I know that you do. You’ve been one of the greatest sources of confidence that I’ve had in my life. So, I hope I will be talking about this as little as necessary in the coming days.

But we’ve got a great bunch of doctors, a great team assembled. We’re at full-speed ahead on this, and it’s just now a matter of implementing what we are gonna be told later this week. So, I’ll be back here. I hope I’ll be back Thursday. If not, it will be as soon as I can — and know that every day I’m not here, I’ll be thinking about you and missing you. Thank you very much. – Rush Limbaugh, 2/3/2020

FoxNews.com reports that

Author and columnist Mark Steyn reacted Monday to Rush Limbaugh’s announcement that he has advanced-stage lung cancer and will be off his syndicated radio show until at least Thursday to visit with his physicians.

Steyn, who frequently guest-hosts the “Rush Limbaugh Show,” said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that he owes a debt of gratitude to the 69-year-old radio legend.

“Unlike many people at the top of this business, Tucker, he has no insecurities, no petty jealousies,” said Steyn, who will be filling in for Limbaugh most of this week. “He is secure and kind and generous. Everyone who has had anything to do with ‘The Rush Limbaugh Show’ will be rooting for him.

“He is the kindest. I owe him everything. In America, I owe Rush everything.”

Steyn said Monday’s show was a typical mix of honest conservative insight, humor and random pop culture references. He joked that Limbaugh sounded as at ease as he always does when he made an offhand joke about a song by Welsh singer Tom Jones.

“In the last ten minutes of the show, he told us some really devastating and tough news,” said Steyn, who added that the news was shocking coming from Limbaugh, who he described as an upbeat, kind man who has had a “rich life.”

Steyn added that Limbaugh, who has been broadcast nationwide since 1988, is remarkable in the way he has been able to keep his program at the top of the ratings for decades despite having nearly no guests. He recalled a visit to Australia where he had to tell then-Prime Minister John Howard that he had to fly back to the U.S. to guest-host Limbaugh’s show for the first time. Howard remarked to Steyn how large the radio legend’s following was.

“I said ‘Yes, about 25 to 30 million listeners’. [Howard] goes, ‘Rush has more listeners than we have Australians’.”

Earlier Monday, Sean Hannity credited Limbaugh with helping him build his prominence in the radio industry by allowing him to guest-host in the 1990s.

Since then, Limbaugh has welcomed a handful of commentators and regional AM radio hosts to helm the show while he is away, most recently including Steyn and Harrisburg, Pa. talk show host Ken Matthews.

I can remember when I first started listening to Rush Limbaugh.

It was in 1988 on WMC 790 AM in Memphis, Tennessee.

Having been a Radio News Director in the late 1970s on the student-run station at then-Memphis State University, the first time I listened to Rush, my mind was completely and utterly blown away.

Here was a guy who was also from the Mid-South, getting paid to interpret the news on radio and to interact with listeners.

Not only was this guy funny, his comments were informed and spot on.

He talked with reverence about “Ronaldus Maximus” (President Ronald Reagan) and later would drive both the Clintons and the Obamas absolutely crazy.

He spoke for those average Americans living between the coasts who would later be labeled by Democratic President Candidate Hillary Clinton as “Deplorables”.

He spoke about God and country, sports and entertainment, economics and foreign policy, interpreting all as only he could, with optimism and good humor that even when times were rough, the American people would see them through.

Over the years, he has taken a lot of heat from the Main Stream Media and their bosses in the Democratic Elite for his bombastic personality and his willingness to speak out against the Democrats’ poor stewardship of the land which he loves.

Rush Limbaugh was and is a fighter.

And now, he is in a fight for his very life.

So, if you would, any of you who, like myself, have been inspired by Rush Limbaugh, take a moment out of your hectic day to say a prayer for this good man who has helped not only to launch radio careers like the late Tony Snow, Sean Hannity, and Mark Steyn, but has quietly contributed a lot of time and money to charities, both on his show and in his private life.

Rush Limbaugh has spent a lifetime standing up for us.

It is time for us to return the favor.

Until He Comes,

KJ