Rush Limbaugh

Rush Limbaugh is the outspoken, ultra-conservative, and ultra-popular radio host of The Rush Limbaugh Show. Limbaugh got his start in radio while still in high school. In the 1980s he landed in Sacramento, California and perfected the politically-oriented sarcasm that earned him national syndication. Limbaugh gained particular fame as a staunch opponent of president Bill Clinton; by 1995, when Newt Gingrich led a Republican majority into the House of Representatives, Limbaugh was one of the most popular radio hosts in the U.S., with a fervent audience of "dittoheads," fans who parroted his conservative views. In July of 2001 Limbaugh signed a contract extension, reportedly worth $285 million, to keep him on the air through 2009. Later that year Limbaugh announced that he was almost completely deaf, saying he had first experienced hearing loss only four months previously. In October 2003, after published reports linked him to illegal purchases of prescription drugs, Limbaugh admitted on the air that he was addicted to painkillers. He spent five weeks in a drug rehabilitation center and returned to the airwaves in November 2003. After a three-year investigation by Florida authorities, Limbaugh agreed to a deal in 2006: He was arrested on a charge of prescription fraud (or "doctor shopping"), pleaded not guilty, and agreed to pay the state $30,000 and to undergo 18 months of treatment, after which the charges were dropped. He is the author of the books The Way Things Ought To Be (1992) and See, I Told You So (1993).

Extra credit: Limbaugh has been married three times: to the former Roxy McNeely (1977-80), to Michelle Sixta (1983-90) and to Marta Fitzgerald (1994-2004). All three marriages ended in divorce. He has no children. His third marriage took place at the home of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who also officiated... Rush coined the term "femi-nazis," a derogatory term for liberal feminists... Early in his radio career, he broadcast under the name of Jeff Christie, according to The New York Times.