Limbaugh expatiates on his marriage

Rush Limbaugh, while insisting that he had wanted his wedding to be private, went on and on yesterday about his wedding and how happy he is and how crazy he is about his wife. He should have been consistent and kept it private. He should have kept his on-air remarks about the wedding and about his new, fourth wife to a minimum. I thought that when people were married for a second time they were supposed to treat the event in a more subdued manner as compared with their first wedding, let alone when they are married for a fourth time.

Limbaugh said:

I want to tell you a little bit more about the wedding weekend because, frankly, folks, it was one of the happiest weekends—probably the happiest weekend—of my life, and I would much rather relive it than talk about Obama and what he’s going to do to damage and ruin this country.

Translation: “My first marriage, as well as my second marriage, as well as my third marriage, were nothing, they didn’t count. Only this one counts.”

But of course that’s what he thought at the time of his second marriage about his first marriage, and what he thought at the time of his third marriage about his first marriage and his second marriage. Celebrating one’s nth marriage so extravagantly—indeed boasting about it—trashes the very idea of marriage, which, after all, is supposed to be for life. That’s why people should be more modest about a subsequent marriage following divorce, because the later marriage takes place in the light of the failure of the earlier marriage or marriages, each one of which, particularly the first, was billed at the time as the happiest day of one’s life.

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Laura Wood writes:

He’s not just saying that his first three marriages don’t count, he’s saying that marriage itself doesn’t count. He’s a walking advertisement for post-marital America and its sickly sentimental narcissism, which elevates feeling over loyalty, vows, and honor.

He’s like a teenager announcing that his latest girlfriend is the one.

Does he have children? If so, it’s all the more offensive.

Mark D. writes:

If you think four wives is bad, you should look at the Wikipedia profile for Larry King. King has been married eight times to seven different women.

Both King and Limbaugh probably condemned the FLDS polygamists when they were run out of their hometown of Colorado City, AZ and yet engage in a far less desireable practice in their personal lives.

LA replies:

And King’s current wife, who at age fifty is about thirty years younger than he, just attempted suicide over his adulterous affair with her sister. The story was in the news last week.

N. writes:

It appears that Limbaugh is thoroughly modern when it comes to nuptials. Consider that two of the biggest industries around marriage are the bridal/wedding industry and the divorce industry. Big, showy weddings that cost tens of thousands of dollars, followed by a let down to the ordinariness of marriage, followed by in too many cases a divorce initiated by the woman. It’s like an assembly line in operation sometimes, and I have wondered what degree of correlation exists between “circus” weddings and subsequent divorces two to five years later. The process can be seen in any magazine rack: the women’s magazines with articles on how to “get a man,” the bridal magazines, the other women’s magazines urging women to “realize their full potential.” Although I confess I haven’t seen any magazines on how to divorce. Not yet anyway.

Returning to Limbaugh, he certainly does seem to enjoy his weddings. So it seems possible he shares one trait with far too many American women: thrilled at the idea of getting married, not so interested in being married.

LA writes:

It will be interesting to see if any establishment-conservative writers and bloggers criticize Limbaugh’s extravagant on-air boasting about his fourth marriage. I think it’s fairly likely that none of them will do so. The thought that there’s anything objectionable about his behavior wouldn’t even occur to them. Such is the state of “conservatism.”

Paul K. writes:

I don’t listen to the Limbaugh show, but the transcript of his description of his wedding you linked to is well worth reading for anyone curious about the man. He sounds manic. He’s babbling as if he’s coming completely unhinged. Who talks like this but Hollywood phonies and flamboyant gay men?

I’ve had people come up to me, guests there that were former producers for major networks, movie theaters, studios and so forth, “I’ve never seen a production like this. There has never been a wedding that we have been to, and there never will be. Any time anybody goes to a wedding from now on that was at yours, Rush, they are going to never forget yours.” And it was memorable. We wanted to make everybody a part of it. We wanted everybody to feel they were there because we love ‘em….

I couldn’t take my eye off of [Kathryn] during the whole thing. I never did, from the time she started walking down the aisle. I have people telling me you were bopping up and down up there waiting for her. “You had this giant smile on your face,” which was true. All of that was true. I was delirious. And at the time the Hutch said, “And I now pronounce you husband and sla — uh, husband and wife,” I went, “Yes! Yes!” Two different times, and then we took our tour back down the aisle where we went for photos and everybody else went for the cocktail reception — which, of course, as the bride and groom you never get to because you have to do the photos and all that….

We were supposed to be outside in the courtyard but it was very hot and humid so we did it in the circle room. It was a gorgeous room. Every venue, every venue was just perfect and well done. But it was a major, major production. And everybody who attended will attest to how flawless and seamless and huge and big and unique and surprising and unexpected it all came off, and it all happened because Kathryn did it. It was just amazing, folks….

[Elton John] came out and you could tell he was a little surprised that he got a standing ovation from this crowd — and after every song he got a standing O. What did he do, ten songs I think in the 75 minutes. He actually went an hour and 20 minutes, supposed to be an hour and ten. And it ended then the after party began, went on ‘til about two o’clock, and that’s when all the guests said, “It’s never stopped. Every moment, every venue has been bigger than the preceding one. This has been the greatest thing we’ve ever been to,” and I have to tell you, folks, it was for me, too. This was the greatest weekend of my life.

Rush Limbaugh’s wedding has to be the greatest event that anyone has ever been to! It will never be surpassed!!! (Three exclamation points necessary!) And I’m sorry to be a cynic, but this is all going to look extremely silly in five or six years when the marriage breaks up. They say that second marriages are often solid, as people can learn from their mistakes. When it comes to third marriages, the odds of it lasting drop precipitously, as we are now dealing with people who make the same mistakes over and over.

LA replies:

Thanks for this. Does anyone remember Liza Minnelli’s wedding several years ago to David Gest? It was her fourth wedding (like Limbaugh’s) and it was one of the most extravagant weddings ever seen (like Limbaugh’s). It was intensively covered in the New York media. As I remember, she even wore a white gown, as though it were her first wedding. And how did it fare?

From Wikipedia:

She was married to David Gest, a concert promoter, from March 16, 2002, until they divorced in April 2007. (They separated in July 2003.)

One of the biggest weddings ever, and it lasted sixteen months. So, as N. said, in our culture it’s not about having a successful marriage, it’s about having a great, eye-popping wedding—lots of them.

Paul T. writes:

Your correspondent N. writes: “Although I confess I haven’t seen any magazines on how to divorce. Not yet anyway.”

Ah, we in Toronto are so far ahead in these things! Witness “Divorce Magazine.”

LA replies:

When I read N.’s comment about there being no magazines on how to divorce, I thought of joking: “There needs to be a magazine called Modern Divorce.” Now it turns out that there is something like that.

Peter H. writes:

I agree with Paul K. This guy sounds unhinged. In agreement with other comments, the lavish celebration of one’s fourth wedding is garish, gaudy, unconservative, and un(traditional)American. There was a time when such a thing would have been done essentially in secret and with reticence, not to say embarrassment.

I’m a little amazed that Rush still holds such sway with conservatives given his personal foibles (including his drug abuse). If he were a man of the left, I believe they’d have written him off as subhuman by now. And, given his appearance on a clip of his radio show shown on Fox News the other night, his jerkiness, twitchiness, and face-touching, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were still drug-addled.

Limbaugh (not to mention Beck and Hannity), although he has provided great service to the conservative cause, is morphing into an awful publicity hound.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 16, 2010 11:48 AM | Send