Absolutely. Why not? It’s a sh*t award given to some of the worst humans to walk the earth.

1. No
2. The SOTU is theater. Why not then?
3. The SOTU was a reelection speech. This will go over well with conservatives.

As much as Bill Cosby.
Does he deserve the lung cancer he has? Yes. Yes, he does.

Yes.
This makes it more meaningful.
I have no problem with him announcing it at that time.
Rush spent thirty-two years espousing the virtues of liberty & freedom while being assailed by virtually the entire press for holding those views and having the audacity to speak them out loud within the backdrop of current events.
His cancer diagnosis might have played a large part but better now than posthumously.
Petulant actions last night were all on Pelosi.
Doing the right thing is never a petulant act.

Rush is a lying, hate mongering, P.O.S.
So, it seems appropriate that he is given the Medal Of Freedom by a president who is a lying, hate mongering, P.O.S.

”let’s try and expand on this a bit and not just turn this into “I hate Rush/Trump” or “I love Rush/Trump”. Rush and Trump are polarizing figures, I get it.”

And:

”Was the award only given to piss off Democrats (which is like shooting fish in a barrel for Trump, but I digress…)?”

Now, what is it?
You want to keep it civil, or not?

The only ‘medal’ that I would value was one that was ‘awarded to me’ by my girlfriend, my children, or my friends.

I don’t have much with state given ones.
To me there’s always the suspicion that they are politically laden.

1. Is the Medal of Freedom meaningful? What kind of person deserves it?

It seems to be a discretionary medal for people who are valued by each President. I suppose if that means something to you, its meaningful.

I see Lorne Michaels and many others given by a previous President, and he’s not done anything spectacular that I’m aware of.

2. Was the SOTU an appropriate venue to announce an award?
Why not? Saves us from another get together.

3. Was the award only given because of Rush’s cancer diagnosis?
I think he’s been an unflinching ally to Republicans and Trump, and the timing was probably due to his cancer diagnosis.

I see it was given twice prior to this, to radio personalities.

As far as free advertisements for Trump, Rush has been invaluable. So did he deserve it from Trump? I’d say yes.

No. Not at all.
Trump bestowed that on him because he is the voice of the almighty Republican Party that hates everyone who is not “of the party.”
If I was Rush Limbaugh, I would have been embarrassed as hell.

Edward Kennedy got one, and he got drunk and drove his car off a bridge and killed a pretty, young staffer. Hopefully, her parents were long gone when he got the award.

So why not Rush Limbaugh.

@josie -That was Ted “Driver of the Year” Kennedy.

The fucking “Lion of the Senate”!!!

@josie It is well documented that he colluded with Russia against Reagan.

Rush Limbaugh was, and is, an asshole. Even when I was a practicing Christian I found him vile and disgusting. I could not understand my Christian friends gushing over him like he was the second coming. I really wondered what was wrong with them.

@Dutchess_III I’m not a fan either.

@Dutchess_III I was reading about his positions on LGBT people. He was more anti-LGBT in his early days and made numerous tactless comments about AIDS, including that he thought HIV was the only “federally-protected virus”. He later said re. his comments about AIDS: “it was the most regretful thing I’ve ever done” (so, one redeeming point of light). But how someone as crass as him could be popular with the “family values” crowd is beyond me.

It was mostly his anti-abortion stance.

@Demosthenes You think he’s bad, read up on Pence regarding LGBTQ legislation. Scary.

No! He is a terrible, mean, misogynistic, racist.

Yes. Freedom and liberty are his rally cries.

It’s absolutely perfect, and says more about Trump’s range and depth than the combined collection of ghost written trashy biographies of our penultimate dummy. It is exactly the sort of decision one would expect from a man intellectually restricted to ideas suited to a barnyard. The reactions here to so appalling a choice are like the choice itself, absolutely telling. Those of you who fail to appreciate just how hopelessly embarrassing to your country and yourselves the awarding of a medal of freedom to the monumental emblem of vulgarity and bad taste—what happened to you?

God I love it when you talk like that @stanleybmanly!

Relevant: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/sunday-review/rush-limbaugh-trump-medal.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-nytimes