Rush to Riot

Kelley's supposition is underscored by the fallout from a 1994 incident involving Colorado Springs's Chuck Baker, a host for KVOR radio whose remarks about the need for "an armed revolution" seemed literal, not figurative; once a week, his program originated from an area gun shop. That October, just over a month after Baker chatted with a caller who wondered aloud "Who do we shoot?" (other than Ted Kennedy and a couple of other fellow travelers), one of his listeners, Francisco Duran, was arrested for firing almost thirty shots at the White House. Before long, reports about a federal probe into Baker's programs surfaced, but he denied having been quizzed by investigators and he was never charged with any misconduct. Although he voluntarily left his air gig for a time due to stress over the Duran situation, he returned a short time later and remains on Springs radio to this day — currently for a station with the unusual call letters KKKK.

Limbaugh's gotten his share of bad press, too, and not only because of his well-publicized jones for Oxycontin, which made headlines in 2003. Recall that in 2006, he accused actor Michael J. Fox of exaggerating the symptoms of Parkinson's disease in political commercials advocating stem-cell research, even doing a spastic shudder for the "DittoCam" that captures his broadcasts for the web — and the following year, he stirred more ire when he blasted what he referred to as "phony soldiers" who criticized the war in Iraq. And that's not to mention his sacking from ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown show after contending that Philadelphia Eagles signal caller Donovan McNabb was overrated because "the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well." Limbaugh's made similar intimations about another African-American leader, Obama, whom he needled last year with "Barack, the Magic Negro," a parody song and video crooned to the tune of "Puff (The Magic Dragon)."

Not that Limbaugh's a paragon of consistency. Westword blogger Joe Horton discovered that last year, he went after Obama for saying that disconnection, hopelessness and despair in forgotten communities constituted a "quiet riot"; in Limbaugh's estimation, "he was inciting riots." (Sound familiar?) Yet as recently as February, he was so negative toward the candidacy of presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, whom he saw as distressingly moderate, that he told listeners, with debatable sincerity, that he might endorse Obama. Since then, predictably, he's reverted to type, calling on Republicans in open primary states to vote for Hillary Clinton in order to throw the Democratic race into disarray that would benefit McCain. He's dubbed the scheme "Operation Chaos."

Of course, a riot at the Denver convention would be pretty chaotic, too. Nevertheless, attorney Kelley believes Limbaugh would only face trouble for mayhem of this sort "if he gets on the air during the convention, when he knows a crowd is assembled, and starts exhorting them to violence." His presence in Denver might further enhance this prospect, but Clear Channel's Olinger doubts he'll be heading this way in a few months. She says the folks at Premiere Radio Network, the Clear Channel subsidiary that owns Limbaugh's program, have told her that "he's not planning to attend either convention." Still, she acknowledges, "He's Rush. He can always change his mind."

If he waits too long, he may have trouble finding a hotel suite. Then again, maybe Dan Caplis has some extra room.