The Rush Limbaugh glow: Is that a halo or nuclear radiation?

In any contest of wits, I would concede to Rush Limbaugh in a heartbeat -- even if he had both hands tied behind his back and duct tape over his mouth.

Limbaugh has a gift. He can communicate his ideas so well and so entertainingly and so logically that millions of Americans tune in daily to his three-hour radio program.

This ability to reach a vast audience with the spoken word isn't something you pick up from book learning or career-improvement workshops. This skill comes from shaping and reshaping your message and your image. A good communicator pays attention to what keeps an audience's attention. A good communicator delivers an unwavering message.

Rush Limbaugh, in addition to having a sharp mind and a fantastic radio persona, also owns one of the most valuable personality franchises in the world. Like Martha Stewart and Jerry Springer and Oprah Winfrey, Limbaugh has turned what he does best into enormous wealth.

So why don't I listen to what Limbaugh has to say every day? And why has he become the news instead of commenting about it?

Let's start with his shift from commentator to newsmaker.

Rush Limbaugh is not the only conservative voice in America, but he is by far the most compelling -- and, as explored in Kansas City Star reporter Dave Helling's recent story (reprinted on Saturday's Opinion page), the most respected and the most feared spokesman for the ideas and policies that should be -- but aren't always -- embodied in the Republican Party.

I was taught -- by my family, my teachers, my bosses -- that every story has at least two sides. In the world of journalism, this grasping for objectivity is channeled by a subjective thought process that determines what will be reported and how it will be conveyed. Still, the overarching ethic in journalism is one that seeks to present facts on both sides of a given issue in a quest for fairness, even when the aim is to make a predetermined point.

Most consumers of news and commentary also have a sense that "fair and objective" is the goal of the news media. Which is why most criticism of what goes into newspapers generally starts with a blanket accusation of bias -- sometimes accurately, sometimes not.

What Limbaugh brought to the radio airwaves early on was something contrary to the "fair and objective" concept. Listeners were drawn to his unyielding support for all things conservative. More than that, Limbaugh's spiel for the conservative cause was bolstered by his condemnation of any liberal line of thinking -- or any argument that took issue with his own thoughts.

By all rights, this approach should have been a mere novelty act on the broadcast stage. To the contrary, Limbaugh's listeners can't get enough of what he has to say in the course of three hours every Monday through Friday. His choir fervently hopes their evangelist never stops preaching.

Now the same base that hangs on Limbaugh's daily pronouncements has a new fascination: the ever-growing awareness that the man behind the microphone is no longer merely an observer of the conservative angst but, in the minds of the faithful, a divine or divinely inspired leader of true conservatives, as opposed to make-believe conservatives or wannabe conservatives or duplicitous conservatives -- which for much of the Limbaugh base would include a chunk of elected Republicans and the GOP leadership.

While most of the world's fortunes endure cycles of highs and lows, Limbaugh's stock relentlessly spirals upward. Some prognosticators may see his star crashing down someday, but they have little, if anything, on which to base such an expectation.

I became a regular Limbaugh listener 15 years ago when I moved to his hometown. In my effort to understand my adopted hometown I tuned in almost every day. I was -- and still am -- fascinated by Limbaugh's ability to take even trivial topics and turn them into lessons on conservative righteousness.

Unlike the dittoheads, however, my appetite for bashing was eventually sated. I wearied of the nonstop carping. I grew restless waiting for Limbaugh -- and his sound-alike on-air companions -- to offer something better instead of unceasingly tearing down something worse.

And there came a point when I realized I wanted to hear both sides of the issue, because I knew from my own experience that adversarial debate helped me understand my own viewpoint on matters that were important to me.

The tipping point, though, was Limbaugh's name-calling and ridiculing of those with whom he disagreed. Here Limbaugh would be giving a brilliant discourse on a complex and important principle only to jump off into a sinkhole of junior-high vitriol.

So I turned off my radio.

There is no one else -- of any ideological persuasion -- who comes close to Limbaugh's style, ability, persuasiveness, logic and showmanship.

But my distaste for juvenile shticking and my desire for information beyond a narrow spectrum has freed up three hours every weekday to do something productive, to look for answers to my nagging questions from a variety of sources.

That includes listening to what Limbaugh actually said -- thank God for the Internet -- when his critics attack him for uttering what he thinks -- and doing it so well.

Will Rush Limbaugh capitalize on his prominence as the most powerful conservative voice in America? Anything is possible in this age of media-driven perception-as-reality.

jsullivan@semissourian.com