"Gravitas."
I send a lot of time on the road, and I used to listen to Rush when he was funny. One thing he did point out during George W's first campaign was how democrats would work out talking points for their people before the Sunday morning talk shows. I had never heard the word "gravitas" before but Rush played a montage from the interviews after W had picked Cheney as his running mate. Every single Democrat Party spokesperson said Bush chose Cheney to bring some gravitas to the campaign.
That's where that word came from. I had heard it multiple times but always forgot to look it up.
Also:
I used to listen to Rush when he was funny.
I totally get that. I listen to Alex Jones a few hours/day while driving. If the guy wasn't funny (intentionally or not) I'd not listen to him. It's quality entertainment
Your last paragraph does bring up a good point. I'm very often critical of the left's hypocrisy, but the same exists on the right. Everyone needs to be aware and able to point out bias on both sides. It's honestly stupid to dilute it to only two sides though in a period where we're supposed to believe there are millions of genders and only two different political viewpoints.
Andrew Breitbart first woke me up to the the idea of challenging the mainstream smears of people and ideology in an interview where he talked about how he turned from a far left idealist to a new right wing guy when he first listened to Rush Limbaugh. He did it to write on how racist and sexist he was told Rush was, then realized everything he was told about the guy was a lie. I loved Andrew (RIP) and never followed Rush, but I see the same pattern happening all over the place these days.