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A longtime American Thinker contributor describes what Thomas Lifson's founding of this publication meant to his development as a writer.As an aspiring freelance writer, shortly after discovering I was a conservative, I became obsessed with the idea of writing an article worthy of publication by American Thinker. I knew Rush Limbaugh regularly read the website because he frequently quoted the writers multiple times. In fact, the first person I associated with American Thinker was writer James Lewis after Limbaugh quoted him in The Limbaugh Letter. I was most impressed. I hoped to emulate Mr. Lewis and perhaps have the great Rush Limbaugh notice something that I’d written one day.
I still remember the day I discovered Rush on my way home from the office (the show was tape-delayed.) The first question that popped into my mind was, “who is this idiot?”
Rush spoke at length about an ACT UP protest at his television show and explained he had to fake the end of the show to get rid of the malcontents in the crowd. I was both confused and amused. But by the time I finally got home, I couldn’t get out of the car before the show ended. I had to keep listening to find out who was speaking and learn what ACT UP was all about. Rush said things that resonated with me and agreed with my common sense.
More importantly, Rush often made me laugh while he entertained, for example with hilarious bits such as the “commercial” for Tom Delay’s pest extermination business that suggested Delay was “responsible for the deaths of millions.” I remember that sketch because one of my more liberal friends who never cared for Limbaugh called me in tears from laughing so hard when he heard it—even people who didn’t like Rush listened to him.
Rush was one of a kind, a thought leader. He was hilarious, smart as a whip, and his thinking was bound by common sense. Unfortunately, his legacy immediately began to shrink upon his death because while Rush was truly irreplaceable, his brand was his name. Nobody will be forgetting that Rush Limbaugh once existed anytime soon, but in my opinion, we’ve already forgotten some of what made him so brilliant because of the adage out of sight, out of mind. No new material.
I love reading articles at American Thinker, and from the time I first saw Rush quoting James Lewis in The Limbaugh Letter, I really wanted to become a contributor. It didn’t bother me in the least that I wouldn’t get paid for published articles until it dawned on me that I also wouldn’t get paid for the articles I spent hours writing that would be rejected. I had to learn to write concisely, preferably about current events, and that my articles must stay on point.
Typically, the author will hear back from one of the editors who do the thankless daily chores of reading all the submissions, deciding which merit publication, and then working with the authors with creative suggestions to produce a final copy. Rarely do the editors add verbiage to submitted articles, and usually you must ask them to do it.
For example, my article titled “The Media’s Massive Thumb on the Electoral Scale” had already been submitted and scheduled to be run when the news broke that Joe Rogan’s podcast with Donald Trump was being censored by Google algorithms to make it virtually impossible to find the show by searching the Internet, and Monica Showalter graciously added two sentences to describe the Rogan situation, as per my request.
I must have written and submitted at least a dozen articles or more before something was finally published but then to my surprise, two of my articles were published in successive days, and the article submitted last was published first. It was titled “Race, Violence, and the Columbia Professor.” I soon developed a habit where now each day begins around the crack of dawn with a fresh scan of American Thinker to see what new insights were brought to light by the day’s writers (the new day’s articles normally drop around 5:00 a.m. Eastern). I remain a huge fan of James Lewis because of the connection to Rush but of course, Mr. Lewis is just one of many contributors whose work I’ve grown to love and appreciate.
Brian Joondeph, Rajan Laad, Ted Noel, Jack Cashill, and J.B. Shurk are but a few of the names I eagerly read on a regular basis. Of course, I also consider anything written by one of the American Thinker editors (J.R. Dunn, Monica Showalter, Drew Belsky, and Andrea Widburg) a “must-read.” And Clarice Feldman, who should be declared a national treasure.
My interaction with Thomas Lifson was infrequent but when he did send me the occasional email, I paid close attention. I wish that I’d kept all my correspondence with Mr. Lifson but sadly, I’ve changed computers one time too many over the years and lost most of those exchanges. Nevertheless, I can share with you a few of the highlights from memory.
For example, I recall submitting my article titled “The Christmas Truce of 1914” and feared I’d finished it too late and missed the opportunity for consideration because it wasn’t completed until the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Mr. Lifson wrote back and said the articles for Christmas Day had already been slated, but he promised to look at mine all the same. On the following day when I saw the article had been published, I was elated because I knew Mr. Lifson had personally approved of what I’d written and thought it worthy.
What I won’t be able to share with you is the humor of Thomas Lifson because I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting the man in person, given that we live on opposite coasts, but I’ve known from our interaction that we have a similar sense of humor and appreciation for music. I just can’t give you any specific examples of something he said that amused me, but it happened more than once, I can assure you.
I also recall submitting one article for the blog that I suggested was too short to be considered an article, but Mr. Lifson wrote back to say he decided to run it as an article because it was about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and readers were interested in always seeing articles about her.
There was also the occasion when Mr. Lifson wrote an email to inform me that my article titled “Worse Than Watergate” had gone viral after being distributed by Lucianne Goldberg and other conservative media. He seemed to be almost as excited as I was.
But the highlight of my career as a writer for American Thinker came when I had the honor and pleasure of speaking with Mr. Lifson over the phone as he and Richard Baehr interviewed me as guest co-hosts for the Dennis Miller Radio Show about my article titled “Was AirTran Flight #297 a Terrorist Dry Run?”
I recall being rather uncomfortable with the idea of being interviewed on a national radio show because I had little or no experience with public speaking and had barely begun my career as a freelance writer, but Mr. Lifson was very friendly and reassuring, calming my nerves quite a bit. I even remember him saying that he liked my Southern accent. To this day, that interview remains one of the true highlights of my career as a freelance writer. I’ve sold some books and won a few writing awards, but I’ve only done that one radio interview with millions of listeners.
The legacy of Rush Limbaugh died when he passed away, I’m very sorry to say. However, the legacy of Thomas Lifson will continue to grow and prosper as he steps into retirement because the publication has never been about him. It’s always been about conservatism and providing a forum for people like me to share our thoughts and opinions.
God bless Thomas Lifson! And thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
John Leonard is a freelance writer. He blogs at southernprose.com. His books can be found at LeonardBooks.net.
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