What Did Fox News and Rush Limbaugh Say About Continuing Resolution Not Containing Border Wall
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Conservative media icon Rush Limbaugh's talent was such that even in death he continues to provoke.
He has managed to open a battle front in the culture wars he's credited with creating as America's leading talk radio host. This time, it's over whether the state should recognize him with one of its most public honors.
Gov. Ron DeSantis last week said he would direct flags to be lowered to half staff after Limbaugh's body is laid to rest. He has authority to do so under state law, though it's unclear whether some local governments will comply.
Rush Limbaugh:Florida to lower flags to half staff for conservative talk show icon
Florida law directs the governor's office to develop guidelines, but says flags may be lowered "upon the death of high-ranking state officials, uniformed law enforcement and fire service personnel, and prominent citizens."
The Governor's Office's own flag protocol, however, which was last updated in the first term of former Gov. Rick Scott, doesn't mention prominent citizens but does say "approval for displaying the flags at half-staff ... resides with the Governor."
The governor's press office did not immediately respond Monday to a question about the flag protocol; DeSantis has directed flags to half-staff to honor law enforcement officers killed on duty, Navy members killed in a mass shooting in Pensacola and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, to name a few.
Local officials respond to DeSantis' order
Nonetheless, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried — a Florida Cabinet member and the only statewide elected Democrat — on Monday told offices under her control to disregard any order to lower flags to honor Limbaugh.
Limbaugh is widely mourned by conservatives, but his critics point to a history of his ridiculing people with disabilities, and his racist, anti-women and homophobic remarks.
"Lowering to half-staff the flag of the United States of America is a sacred honor that pays respect to fallen heroes and patriots. It is not a partisan political tool," Fried said in a statement. "We will not celebrate hate speech, bigotry and division ... Lowering the flag should always reflect unity, not division and raising our standards, not lowering them."
Her move follows a call to action by the mayor of Oakland Park in Broward County. Jane Bolin on Sunday released a statement criticizing DeSantis and calling on other officials, mayors, city commissions and city managers throughout Florida to protest what she called an outrageous and inappropriate gesture to the radio provocateur.
"Once we cross that divide and say, 'Well, I'm going to say Rush Limbaugh is a prominent citizen and I'm going to lower the flag' ... to me, it just adds more to this political theater and is not what our country needs right now," Bolin said Monday.
To comply with the order, Bolin added, would make one complicit in demeaning the flags' dignity.
Oakland Park, like Tallahassee, has a city commission form of government; Bolin is now mayor for a year as the position rotates among commissioners. Bolin is lobbying her four fellow commissioners to ignore the order to lower flags for Limbaugh if DeSantis issues one.
Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey, independently elected but with no more power than the four other members of the Tallahassee City Commission, said no decision has yet been made as to whether his city would comply with the order.
"I know that lowering the flag to half-staff is something citizens take seriously ... I know in the state of Florida we do it to honor national leaders, military leaders and great Floridians, so we are researching our policies and procedures," Dailey said.
At the crux of the debate is what one thinks of Limbaugh's decades-long run as the king of conservative talk radio.
In a statement put out by the Republican Party of Florida, DeSantis referred to Limbaugh as the GOAT, or greatest of all-time, "of radio, of conservative media and of inspiring a loyal army of American patriots." Last week, at a campaign-style event in Limbaugh's home of Palm Beach, DeSantis called him "one of our own."
"There's not much that needs to be said; the guy was an absolute legend," the governor said. But from south Florida to the Panhandle, those who opposed Limbaugh said they found it outrageous DeSantis would honor him.
DeSantis antagonist and Santa Rosa County attorney Daniel Uhlfelder, who has sued the governor and protested the state's COVID-19 policies by dressing as the Grim Reaper around the state, said he could think of anyone less worthy of the honor.
"Death is a sad affair; I'm traveling the state trying to save lives," Uhlfelder said in a phone interview. "But to lower the flag to honor this man is so disgusting. It's offensive."
James Call is a member of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on him Twitter: @CallTallahassee
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/22/plan-lower-flags-rush-limbaugh-causing-controversy-consternation/4546858001/?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
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