There'd be no Christmas in Palm Beach without Rush

By Dian Vujovich

I’ve never met Rush Limbaugh. Probably wouldn’t know him if I was standing next to him at Main Street News. Particularly now that he’s dropped a ho-ho-whole lotta weight.

Wouldn’t know his new wife either.

But what I do know is that there wouldn’t be Christmas in Palm Beach without him.

Yes, it’s true. The tiny little island filled with CEOs and the top 1 percent of wage earners in America is poor. So poor that last year the best the town could drum up for holiday decorations along its magnificent Royal Palm and Royal Poinciana Way’s was to wrap the stately palms in motley red bows.

Looking seasonally tacky and very un-Palm Beachy, town folk complained. And that’s when Rush stepped in. Well, Rush and David Rosow.

Rosow is president of the Town Council and without any prompting says, “I love Christmas.” Apparently so does Limbaugh who coughed up 100 grand last year that, when added to other donations Rosow had collected, paid the lion’s share of the cost for the thousands of lights that wound up draping the palms along each street. The result? A delightful sight worthy of ooh’s and aah’s from both sides of the aisle.

This year the town —one of America’s glitziest that’s now boasting about its multi-million dollar Worth Avenue makeover—is apparently more broke than ever reeling from lost tax revenues thanks to declining prices in its multi-million dollar home real estate market. As a result, the Christmas tree that was to stand on the newly spruced-up Avenue had, according to many, seen better days.

Yes, that fake tree probably could have made it through another season. But hey, with the street all gussied up, an aging old holiday tree would have been as unsightly as, well, Joan Rivers having another face-lift and forgetting to do her neck.

So for the second year in a row, Rush came to the rescue.

The 40-foot tree, btw, was trucked down from Minneapolis, came decorated with LEDs and a price tag just under $50,000. Since Rush was buying, Rosow said that The Radio Man thought the lights were too bright. So off they went. On came softer ones, along with the decorations from trees of years gone by. And then, in almost the twinkling of an eye, Palm Beach had a Christmas tree to behold.

Now I ask you: Who would have even imagined that this guy, whose radio words can enrage as easily as they entertain, had a Santa heart? Surely, not I.

And thank heavens he does for without him, the budget-strapped island town would appear like many others across America—suffering.