FLASHBACK 1993: Gloria Quick grills the right-wing jester politics at Joe Morley's Smokehouse. 

click to enlarge

In commemoration of City Weekly's 40th anniversary, we are digging into our archives to celebrate. Each week, we FLASHBACK to a story or column from our past in honor of four decades of local alt-journalism. Whether the names and issues are familiar or new, we are grateful to have this unique newspaper to contain them all.

Title: Ribbing Limbaugh
Author: Gloria Quick
Date: Aug. 25, 1993

click to enlarge

If your idea of ambiance includes huge servings of barbecued meat, photos of departed mining towns, and airwaves vibrating to the sounds of new right-wing cult-hero Rush Limbaugh, head for Joe Morley's Smokehouse in Midvale. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the Rush Room with free reruns until 4 p.m., Rush imparts daily quixotic suggestions like—if people wore large dollar bills on their suit lapels, it would decrease the circulation of money, thereby adding to Clinton's economic woes.

My friendly blond waiter confided the first few minutes of Rush are okay but the rest, and I quote, "...is bullshit." In the weeks that the room has been open, most of the customers had stiffed him on the tip, and all-in-all, he said, the Rush Room was the pits.

Wouldn't he get in trouble for saying that?

It didn't matter. The young waiter was counting the days before he left the Rush Room behind to go on a mission.

But proprietor/owner Morley says that he opened the Rush Room to promote business, and, in fact, customers initiated the idea. Morley says he thinks Rush is funny, and that he agrees with much of what Limbaugh says. For example, the economics of the past decade made it tough for small business owners like himself, and were caused by a Democratic Congress. But, admits Morley, not all customers agree with Limbaugh and the Rush Room did cost him a couple of patrons.

Former client and University of Utah student Kevin Hofeling, remarked that though it defies the imagination, it's typical for Limbaugh disciples to imagine that the Reagan and Bush administrations had no part in the economic woes produced during the 1980s. He said that, using a thin layer of humor, Rush cloaks a degree of tastelessness and disrespect for the office of the President of the United States that would not otherwise be tolerated.

"Don't be fooled," he said, claiming that Limbaugh-humor is only a distractive tactic to accomplish his real intent, which is to isolate the relationship of the present from its history and culture, and to frame several insignificant events into extraordinary conclusions. Limbaugh indulges a sort of McCarthyist evangelism, bashing every person with an opinion different from his own with a paranoid attack, said the disavowed customer. But, he said, Limbaugh is actually a very insecure man; when appearing on television shows with knowledgeable and well-educated people who question him on specific statements that he has made, Limbaugh tends to back off and suggest that everything he says is not meant to be taken seriously.

However, other customers consistently agree with "Rushphilosophy," maintaining that he is fair and accurate. Lured by Rush Room specials, they eat pork to the tune of personalized chastisements of Rush's critics, and commendations of people and places that support him, including Joe Morley's Smokehouse, plus denouncements of a Clinton economy and pronouncements on good family values, e.g., opposition to abortion, gays in the military, and "feminazis."

Virgil Grillone appointed himself spokesman for three men recently dining together at Morley's. "There are degrees of it," offered Grillone, explaining what Limbaugh means by "feminazi." He confessed that sometimes his wife leans toward feminaziism. "A feminazi is a woman who has a chip on her shoulder, because she feels she needs to put herself above a man, for some reason." A woman on a talk show gave herself away as a feminazi by her definitions of "woman," "lady" and "girl"—"lady" implied subservience to men. "That," said Grillone, "is ridiculous."

He thought it proper that Americans stopped referring to men as "lords," which, along with "lady," originally denoted English class status, centuries ago. Grillone explained that "lady" has come to mean a refined and educated woman, and suggested that only a feminazi would find the epithet disrespectful.

Limbaughnian ladies do not find it disrespectful for Rush to ridicule heads of state or whoever opposes his views. What they do find disrespectful is feminazis—women who don attire that fails to meet Rush standards. Such women must either dress according to Rush decorum or be excluded from his television show.

Respectful visual decorum includes sets decorated with books and videotapes, which Rush pushes. And Rush ingeniously uses visuals to make his points. He pieces together portions from video tapes or photos of his opponents, augmenting them with clever dialogue in just the right spots.

Morley's clients eat it all up. And if restaurants like Morley's continue to serve up enough pork in their Rush Rooms, they'll probably find customers eager to tune in to Limbaughnian jester-politics. However, beyond the laughter, adoring fans take Rush seriously, and adversaries have likened Rush to a dangerous, charismatic sort of 1990s Hitler, with an ominous comedic twist.