If Rush Were A Woman

"Doris Kearns Goodwin is married to Richard Goodwin, who is a funny guy. If I were a woman, I wouldn't want to be married to him, but women look at men differently, I suppose."  Rush Limbaugh


Now, Rush isn't a guy I like to quote. But this one just struck me as so essentially Rush, that I had to share it.  Why, you may ask, do I consider it essentially Rush?  Well, because, in the first place, it doesn't say anything particularly relevant. And yet, it says so very much. About Rush.

I think well of both Goodwins, although DKG had her share of criticism for citation omissions (and, it is pretty easy to do). To her credit, she has admitted her own errors and gone on to do some fabulous work. RG, likewise, is a gifted writer, thinker and has numerous qualities women everywhere would find seductive. 


So, what is Rush's point?  "If I were a woman" is a curious thing for even Rush to say.  Can we imagine it?  No, we can't. In the first place, if Rush were a woman, he wouldn't have money.   No woman could ever be hired to do what he does. No woman could even pretend to be as monumentally stupid as Rush sounds. No woman could look in the mirror every day at that face and not do something about it. Rush could not be Rush and be a woman.


"I wouldn't want to be married to him" really insinuates more than just a small gender identity issue here.  Obviously, Rush has given some thought to the kind of man he would want to marry, at least enough to have identified qualities he would want and not want in a husband. It would appear, to my mind at least, that Richard Goodwin isn't quite the hot looking stud type Rush would go for, if he were a woman. Richard Goodwin is not what I would call handsome, in the strictly physical, superficial sense, although he does have really nice eyes. He's also 78, so hunk is pretty much not there for him any more, if it ever really was.  On the other hand, Richard Goodwin is funny and he is absolutely hands down a fucking genius.


Rush has been married - three times. And divorced three times.  I'm not sure what kind of woman would want to marry Rush, but it is clear that there is no kind of woman who want to remain married to him.  So, here's the kicker.  Rush is right about something - women do look at things differently, Rush. Indeed, we do.