Bill To Create ‘Rush Limbaugh Day’ Approved By Missouri’s GOP-Led House

Conservative News DailyMay 8, 2021

Missouri’s Republican-led House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation that would honor the late Rush Limbaugh, recognizing the syndicated conservative radio host every year on his birthday.

Limbaugh, originally from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, died of complications from lung cancer in February at the age of 70.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the proposal would designate each January 12, Limbaugh’s birthday, as “Rush Limbaugh Day” in Missouri, noting, “the measure must receive approval from the Senate before the end of the legislative session next Friday,” which is also controlled by the GOP. According to the outlet, the vote followed a failed “Democratic-led effort to designate Jan. 13 as ‘Walter Cronkite Day,’ after the Missouri native and broadcast journalist who anchored the CBS Evening News.”

“Rush Limbaugh’s contributions to broadcasting and the conservative movement cannot be overstated. He was, simply put, a legend who cannot be replaced,” state Rep. Hardy Billington, a Republican from Poplar Bluff who sponsored the measure, had said previously. “This is one way we can recognize the outstanding impact Rush Limbaugh has had on our state and country.”

Some Democrats spoke out against memorializing Limbaugh with an official state designation, including Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove from Kansas City, who issued a statement accusing the late entertainment icon of “constant attacks on Black people and other people of color.” They said Billington had added the proposal to an underlying bill addressing several official designations, like honoring famous black Missourians and establishing a day to celebrate random acts of kindness.

The Post-Dispatch reported that Democrats “cited decades of racist, misogynistic and homophobic statements by Limbaugh as reasons he should not be honored.”

“Have you ever heard him say any negative things on the radio about any race or another?” Rep. Jerome Barnes, a Democrat from Raytown, reportedly asked Billington.

“To me, he had been an outstanding deal; he had done so many great things,” Billington said, according to The Post-Dispatch. “Now I think I told you before he probably had not been perfect by no means of the imagination but he had done an outstanding job.”

As The Daily Wire previously reported:

Limbaugh’s “The Rush Limbaugh Show” first aired in 1988 and spent 33 years on the air, growing from being nationally syndicated with 56 radio stations to more than 600 stations with up to nearly 27 million weekly listeners.

President Donald Trump awarded Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the 2020 State of the Union following Limbaugh revealing to the world that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

Back in December, Limbaugh opened up about his cancer diagnosis, saying that people should take time to be thankful for life because everyone has “an expiration date.”

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