Donna2: First, let me say it's a feeling I've gotten over the years of him getting an inflated ego and believing his own press clippings. It's not something I can pin down to any one thing, but I'll give you an example.

I used to have some philosophical disagreements with him on certain social issues. However, I found myself agreeing with him on issues that were easier to measure - things like taxes and spending, especially busting the myth that the rich don't pay taxes. But at least on social issues, I could find myself respecting him. Like when he explained his opposition to abortion. It wasn't any of the usual headline-grabbing slogans you hear. It was becuase he believed it was another instance of something that devalued the position of human life. Now, I didn't agree with him in specifics, but I understood him and I could respect that.

He used to joke a lot about what Democrats did - and you had to have an ear to 'get' or 'enjoy' some of what he said - he was kind of like a conservative Jon Stewart in that way, taking something that happened, reporting the facts, and having a little fun with it.

But now he acts like an evangelist. His ego, to this former fan, has gotten enormous - and I'm not sure I can blame him for that. People WANTED him to be the Pied Piper, to be honest and, let's face it, he's only human. His life has had so many influences since he started getting famous - the HUGE new contracts, the marriages, the drug incidents, etc. Eventually I changed jobs and didn't get much of a chance to listen to him but as time went on, when I *did* get a chance, he just seemed more 'nasty'. I still got a sense that there was a line he wouldn't cross. Now? I'm not so sure.

There's a theory going around as to why Rush has turned up the rhetoric - and it's competition. As one person put it "now he has to 'out-crazy' Glenn Beck for ratings". I don't know that I'd go THAT far but it does seem to me he's more about "whipping up the troops" than he used to be.

So now you get him out on the public speaking circuit and he's there acting like a wannabe-leader as opposed to more humble talk-show host he used to be. He's lost that humility - and the times of him universally excoriating drug users yet not holding himself to the same standard is probably the worst specific case that I can think of.

I certainly respect and admire the way he's been able to reinvent himself - especially all the early business problems he had and yet he kept right on trying until 'making it'.

It just seems that now he has, to some degree, become that which he mocked in years past. He's all about the slogans, the knee-jerk responses, the shouting, the demagoguery. It's kind of depressing.