Wow. The man needs a course in Logic 101.
The man is a blazing idiot.
He's an idiot who's making (I wouldn't characterize it as earning) millions of dollars with his schtick. Hey, Pet Rocks sold. Mood rings too.
There's a theory in economics that goes something like this: How does a company (or a person, for that matter) know that they should enter a particular market? The answer is this. If the least efficient company is STILL making a profit, they should enter the market. What am I getting at you may be asking. Rush's great breakthrough is that he proved that there was money to be made by peddling his particular brand of A. conspiracy theories, B. Paranoia, and C. Disenfranchisement.
As each new person (radio hosts, RW authors, etc) entered the so-called RW market of 'ideas,' the market continued to get ever more crowded, BUT it never really became SO saturated as to where there was not enough room where everybody couldn't get a slice of the action. Under this umbrella, all kinds of organizations have sprung up, collecting money directly through donations supposedly for pushing political causes on Capitol Hill through lobbying and donating campaign funds etc. (They also pay their officers a pretty nice salary, unsurprisingly).
Men like Beck may not be educated in the formal sense of the word. They may not understand public policy, etc. But they know which side of the bread has the butter on it. They ALL do.