Rush Limbaugh will join Radio Hall of Fame

From a new book to the Radio Hall of Fame, Rush Limbaugh is the talk of the town.

The conservative radio commentator's second book, "See, I Told You So," is scheduled to go on sale at bookstores across the nation today.

Limbaugh -- whose relentless attacks on liberalism on his nationwide radio show have become the stuff of legend -- will be profiled Friday night on ABC's "20/20" program. The program airs at 9 p.m.

On Sunday, the former Cape Girardeau resident will be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago.

His brother, Cape Girardeau attorney David Limbaugh, plans to attend that event along with their mother, Millie Limbaugh.

"I feel honored for him. I think he has earned it," David Limbaugh said Wednesday. "I am gratified that he is receiving that recognition from the industry."

As to Rush's new book, David Limbaugh said he likes this book even better than the first one, "The Way Things Ought To Be."

The book is dedicated to Limbaugh's grandfather, 102-year-old Rush H. Limbaugh, a Cape Girardeau attorney.

"I think it is more serious and more timely," David Limbaugh said of the new book. A good portion of the book deals with the past presidential election and Rush's criticisms of the Clinton administration.

Limbaugh's first book has sold over 2.5 million copies in hardback.

The new book has an initial printing of 2 million copies. "It's a record breaker," said David Limbaugh. Over 550,000 copies of the new book have been pre-ordered. "It's amazing," he said.

David Limbaugh and Limbaugh's mother were among those interviewed in Cape Girardeau in July by an ABC camera crew. Some of that footage is expected to be aired. ABC's Barbara Walters interviewed Rush Limbaugh in August for Friday's program.

David Limbaugh said his brother felt good about the interview. "He said Barbara Walters was extremely nice and he said the interview went very well and he anticipates an extremely good show."

Millie Limbaugh said she's looking forward to the TV show's profile of her famous son.

Calvin Chapman, Rush Limbaugh's former debate coach at Central High School, was also interviewed for "20/20."

Chapman said Limbaugh was a great debater. "He could make a prima facie case so well that it was difficult to refute," recalled Chapman.

He said Rush Limbaugh is somewhat reserved "one on one." But he said, "Even in high school, you'd give the kid a microphone and he'd go bananas."

He said Limbaugh had strong political views even at an early age. "He was telling his classmates that anybody who voted for Lyndon Johnson had to be crazy," recalled Chapman, who is looking forward to reading Limbaugh's new book.

Chapman said Rush Limbaugh has revitalized AM radio. "It was dead; he brought it back."

While Rush's new book goes on sale Thursday, two local bookstores were still waiting Wednesday for their copies of the book to arrive.

"We have three or four pages on our computer of people who have already reserved it," said Mike Moses, assistant manager of Waldenbooks at West Park Mall. "We have had a lot of people asking for it."

The Cape Girardeau store is scheduled initially to receive 360 copies. "I imagine we will sell out," said Moses.

Metro News Book Store in Cape Girardeau is also scheduled to receive several hundred copies to start with. The book's listed price is $24.

"I hope this one does as well" as the previous book, said Myron Anderson, the bookstore's owner. Rush's first book "is probably the best hardcover I have ever had."

One Cape Girardeau resident who already has a copy of the book is Millie Limbaugh. She said she recently sent a FAX to Rush telling him that the book is "awesome."

Millie Limbaugh said the book makes for informed reading. "It is like reading a textbook."

She said she's still reading the book, although she's read both the first and last chapters.

The writing "comes through just really like his dad," the late Rush Limbaugh Jr., said Millie Limbaugh.

Rush III "got all of his ideas, viewpoints about conservatism, from his dad. It's almost like he wrote it," she said.