Opponents bring war against Rush Limbaugh to Georgia
On one hand, comic Bill Maher has an op-ed in today’s New York Times calling for an end to the clichéd cycle of insult and apology:
Let’s have an amnesty — from the left and the right — on every made-up, fake, totally insincere, playacted hurt, insult, slight and affront. Let’s make this Sunday the National Day of No Outrage. One day a year when you will not find some tiny thing someone did or said and pretend you can barely continue functioning until they apologize.
On the other, Rush Limbaugh’s critics have stepped up their war on his radio program. Note that Macon is a targeted city. From the Associated Press:
NEW YORK — Rush Limbaugh’s opponents are starting a radio campaign against him Thursday, seizing upon the radio star’s attack of a Georgetown law student as a “slut” to make a long-term effort aimed at weakening his business.
The liberal Media Matters for America is using a past campaign against Glenn Beck as a template. In Limbaugh, however, they’re going after bigger game. He’s already fighting back and the group’s stance has provoked concerns that an effort to silence someone for objectionable talk is in itself objectionable.
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. AP/Chris Carlson
Media Matters is spending at least $100,000 for two advertisements that will run in eight cities.
The ads use Limbaugh’s own words about student Sandra Fluke, who testified at a congressional hearing that contraception should be paid for in health plans. Limbaugh, on his radio programs, suggested Fluke wanted to be paid to have sex, which made her a “slut” and a “prostitute.” In return for the money, he said Fluke should post videos of herself having sex. Under sharp criticism, Limbaugh later apologized.
In one of the anti-Limbaugh ads, listeners are urged to call the local station that carries Limbaugh to say “we don’t talk to women like that” in our city.
Ad time was purchased in Boston; Chicago; Detroit; Seattle; Milwaukee; St. Louis; Macon, Ga.; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The cities were selected to support active local campaigns against Limbaugh or because of perceptions Limbaugh may be vulnerable in that market, said Angelo Carusone of Media Matters.
“What we’re really looking for is a way to demonstrate the persistence of the effort and the fact that it is on a wide scale,” Carusone said.
A spokeswoman for Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates Limbaugh’s show to more than 600 radio stations nationally, said Media Matters has gone beyond criticism of Limbaugh’s words to an attempt to silence him and intimidate advertisers.
“This is not about women,” said Rachel Nelson, Premiere spokeswoman. “It’s not about ethics and it’s not about the nature of our public discourse. It’s a direct attack on America’s guaranteed First Amendment right to free speech. It’s essentially a call for censorship masquerading as high-minded indignation.”
Limbaugh, on his radio show Wednesday, said he’s being targeted in an attack that was long-planned — not mentioning it was his words that lit the fuse.
“They’re not even really offended by what happened,” he said. “This is just an opportunity to execute a plan they’ve had in their drawer since 2009.”
Determining how much of a financial impact the Fluke comments have already had on Limbaugh is murky business.
Radio stations in Hawaii and Massachusetts have dropped his show. Media Matters claims that 58 companies have specifically asked that their ads be excluded from Limbaugh’s show. Radio-Info.com’s TRI Newsletter said Premiere has circulated a list of 98 advertisers who want to avoid “environments likely to stir negative sentiments,” essentially all politically pointed talk shows.
There’s more. TRI also said a group with several stations that air Limbaugh sent out a list of 31 advertisers who don’t want to be on Limbaugh’s show.
Premiere notes that a list is sent out four times a year reminding stations of advertisers who don’t want to be part of controversial programming, and suggests a reported exodus is exaggerated. The company offered no list of its own, or a comparison that could show advertisers resistant to Limbaugh or other controversial shows that predated the Fluke comments.
Some companies said not to want to advertise within Limbaugh’s program — JC Penney, NAPA Auto Parts, Chapstick, Gold Bond, Green Mountain Coffee — did not respond to requests to clarify their policies. One company listed, NBC-TV, said the network was unaware of any policy or past efforts to advertise with Limbaugh.
Valerie Geller, a veteran radio consultant who worked at Limbaugh’s WABC flagship in New York, said it appears that advertising money coming into Limbaugh’s show is slowing down. “I think it’s a very big wakeup call,” she said.
Whether the advertisers return is another question. Limbaugh has a daily audience estimated at between 2 million and 3 million people, according to Talkers magazine.
“I suspect some people will permanently stay away,” said Tom Taylor, executive editor at Radio-Info.com. “I suspect some people will drift back to Rush. What you won’t see is a press release of someone saying, ‘Hey, we’re back with Rush!’”
While a law student, Carusone was active in a campaign to reach Beck’s advertiser that began after the commentator said in July 2009 that President Barack Obama had “a deep-seated hatred for white people.” Eventually, more than 400 advertisers said they didn’t want to be part of Beck’s show and, for Fox, the ad revenue was nowhere near what would be expected for a TV show as popular as Beck’s. When Beck left Fox in June 2011 to take his show to the Web, the parting was mutual.
The idea with Limbaugh is similar: take advertisers away so rates go down, Carusone said. Couple that with the need to keep track of ever-changing lists of who will advertise with Limbaugh and who won’t, and Media Matters hopes that station managers, market by market, may someday conclude that it’s just not worth the trouble.
Conveniently, many stations will soon have a choice. Former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is launching his own syndicated radio show in April that will air at the same time as Limbaugh’s, and Huckabee’s backers are touting the show as a more civilized alternative.
Beyond the First Amendment concerns, industry experts like Talkers magazine publisher Michael Harrision are concerned that Media Matters’ effort will simpy take some advertisers out of radio altogether when they have different options.
Carusone said Limbaugh has a chilling effect of his own. “There are plenty of people who self-censor out of fear that Mr. Limbaugh will smear them,” he said.
The means of protest puts Media Matters and the conservative Media Research Center in the unlikely position of agreeing with each other. Brent Bozell, founder of the conservative media watchdog, said his group also informs advertisers of things it considers objectionable.
“We all have free speech,” Bozell said.
That’s where the agreement stops. Bozell this week called on MSNBC chief Phil Griffin to resign, citing objectionable things said in the past by Ed Schultz and Al Sharpton, both MSNBC show hosts. It’s in part retaliation for attacks on Limbaugh, he said. The Fluke story was covered extensively by MSNBC.
“There’s a great sense of selective outrage that is going on here,” he said.
***
On a related note, the AJC’s Politifact Georgia has this look at whether comic Bill Maher measures up as the liberal equivalent of Rush Limbaugh when it comes to attacks on women.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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328 comments Add your comment
Listen up!
March 22nd, 2012
11:11 am
@Timbo…here’s something else the puppetmaster democrats are obviously making the republicans do (with the exception of Scott Brown and a couple of other repubs):
In 1994, Congress stood together and passed the Violence Against Women Act, which provides grant money for police departments and agencies to aid victims and prosecute domestic violence offenders.
The law, which is up for re-authorization, is facing opposition from many Republicans who believe Democrats included language which would extend protections for tribal Native Americans, undocumented immigrants and same-sex couples, to politicize the typically bipartisan re-authorization
Independent
March 22nd, 2012
11:12 am
And by the way “Conservatives”. He flunked out of college after one semester, is a convicted drug addict, has had four failed marriages, has never held political office (and these are the things that we know about) yet wrote a book titled “The Way Things Ought To Be”. I’m not necessarily and Obama supporter, but he’s 100 times the man that Limbaugh is.
plow
March 22nd, 2012
11:13 am
Oh yeah, Rush is a big fat idiot.
Real American
March 22nd, 2012
11:14 am
Rush is a liar, drug addict with erectile dysfunction issues, which probably make him lash out at people more than normal. However, why can’t he go to satellite and really test his free market principles? Won’t his listeners be willing to pay to listen to him? Outta 20 million, it wouldn’t be a problem, right?
plow
March 22nd, 2012
11:14 am
Is everyone in the South and inbred idiot?
OSAMA
March 22nd, 2012
11:14 am
@JB
yeah OBAMA is a chump….i dont like him either
findog
March 22nd, 2012
11:14 am
so sorry John, got you confused with Bronco
please accept this heartfelt apology
liberalefty
March 22nd, 2012
11:15 am
conservative christians love this obese convicted junkie…
southern royalty
March 22nd, 2012
11:16 am
A bit off topic…..but didn’t Rush promise to leave the country if President Obama won back in 2008? What happened with that!!?? I say….”make him apologize for getting our hopes up!”
Transcript
March 22nd, 2012
11:16 am
I find it interesting how few people have actually read the transcript of Fluke’s testimony. But then I remembered, very few people like to discuss facts when it is more fun to jump on a bandwagon.
calliope
March 22nd, 2012
11:16 am
Enter your comments here
liberalefty
March 22nd, 2012
11:18 am
he sees OBAMA , a fit healthy black man in the white house and it makes him angry since hes old fat and cant get it up”,not to mention almost deaf…OBAMA like other black men makes RUSH feel insecure..
john k
March 22nd, 2012
11:18 am
Water under the bridge, finddog.
Atlantan
March 22nd, 2012
11:18 am
@independent – you don’t get out much do you? Please share with us all the Limbaugh lies and propaganda
Jeff H.
March 22nd, 2012
11:19 am
I just had to laugh at the Limbaugh impersonator here that says birth control is immoral after calling the left ‘looney’.
You are the nutjob.
john k
March 22nd, 2012
11:20 am
Transcript, that’s what I find funny too. They just want to be obedient & blind little dittoheads, and stick with whatever their Oxycontin addled blowhard tells them to believe.
liberalefty
March 22nd, 2012
11:21 am
RUSH makes insecure white males feel good about being a failure…they blame their failures on OBAMA,BLACKS,HISPANIC,WOMEN,GAYS, ETC….
honested
March 22nd, 2012
11:25 am
This problem could be fixed by eliminating the ‘expense’ deduction for ALL advertising.
Then, the public at large would not be paying the freight for the wrong-wing-rant-radio parasites.
The only reason I ever listen to talk-radio is to keep my boycott list current so my customers can keep current as well.
catlady
March 22nd, 2012
11:25 am
Is that a large hair growning out of Rush’s ear?
HENRY
March 22nd, 2012
11:26 am
GIVE ‘EM HELL, RUSH….WE LOVE YOU BECAUSE YOU TELL IT LIKE IT IS AND SCREW THE DEMOCRATS THAT HATE EVERYTHING……………
DannyX
March 22nd, 2012
11:26 am
Speaking of morals…
Why would Limbaugh need Viagra while traveling with 4 other guys during a trip to the Dominican Republic?
calliope
March 22nd, 2012
11:31 am
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1895
the above article may help some of you realize that if this radio voice does not have a good story, he will MAKE ONE UP. but even as I post this, i know in my heart that there are many who will not or cannot read it..they will lead their lives based upon what someone says.. even if it is not true. i was in education for 30 years, many of which were in poverty areas..the people were often wonderful and kind, but the things they believed were beyond me…there were parents who believed pregnancy could result from a girl using the toilet after a boy had used it. there were kids who believed snakes would seek revenge on you, there was a preacher who was so ignorant he said dinosaurs were “made up” in california to trick us into thinking the Bible was a lie. they had heard it from someone they trusted..well that is exactly what is going on here. instead of researching and checking facts, people are just trusting in this radio announcer as if he were the preacher. they are being tricked and taken advantage of and it is sad, because many who believe in what he says are actually good people. they are just ignorant and the radio voice simply preys on them.
levite
March 22nd, 2012
11:33 am
Does anyone else see the irony of HENRY’S last comment?
Listen up!
March 22nd, 2012
11:37 am
@Calliope, I was about to post Sandra Fluke’s actual testimony as well. However, I decided not too because they won’t read it! It’s much easier for them to have someone tell them a lie and believe it true than to read and know the truth for themselves!
Joe Mama
March 22nd, 2012
11:47 am
Markie Mark — “For all of you so offended by what Limbaugh said, where were you when Ed Schultz (of MSNBC) call Laura Ingraham a right wing slut? Where was the outrage then? Where were you when the “women” of THE VIEW laughed at it?”
“You want to know the REAL difference? When Ed Schultz apologized, Ms. Ingraham was adult enough to accept it…..what about Ms.Fluke? …hardly….”
Actually, the REAL difference is that Ed Schultz apologized unreservedly, called his own actions “wrong” and said that he dishonored himself, his family and his employer by what he did. Rush’s mealymouthed non-apology consisted of him saying that he’d ‘chosen the wrong words’ and didn’t once say “I’m sorry” or anything approaching it.
The real difference is also that Ed Schultz got a week’s suspension for his misdeeds. Rush was back on the air the next day and doubled down on his BS.
I guess that’s why conservatives and Republicans from George F. Will to Ron Paul have rejected Rush’s bulldada ‘apology’ and have called for him to issue a REAL one.
Georgia, The " New Mississippi "
March 22nd, 2012
11:47 am
Macon is a part of Bibb County. It is loaded with GOP Simpletons like Erik Erickson. His program rating may actually go up in Macon.
gsueagle
March 22nd, 2012
11:55 am
GO RUSH! listening more than ever.
kreedham
March 22nd, 2012
12:01 pm
To Danny X..I think JB missed your point-that Maher has no advertisers since he’s on HBO. He then comes back with saying he boycotts by not getting HBO. Now if he dropped HBO because of Maher that might qualify but I suspect he didn’t have HBO to begin with!
In regards to George Soros…yes he gives to “left” causes primarily Center for American Progress, moveon.org and America Coming Together but there’s no record that I can find that he’s given to Media Matters. His contributions over the years have come to about $25 million while the Koch Brothers contributions to the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups are around $100 million.
As far as Jim Galloway he may think left, I don’t know but he just publishes what’s in the news. Most of it these days happens to be on the right, a large portion of it just happens to show the crazy things they say or come up with.
As far as the comment on David Brock’s attack on Anita Hill…that was when he was a right winger before he saw the light. He has since apologized to her.
liberalefty
March 22nd, 2012
12:02 pm
insecure white males in GEORGIA hate blacks but love theyre GEORGIA BULLDOGS…
liberalefty
March 22nd, 2012
12:03 pm
@liberalefty 12:02
whoever u are u need to stop using my name…u must be an insecure white male who blames all his failures on someone else.
Refugee from Dikkksie (Thank God We Escaped)
March 22nd, 2012
12:10 pm
Give Bill Maher credit for coining the name by which the Southern Primaries will always be known: “Toothless Tuesday”
The Truth
March 22nd, 2012
12:11 pm
Anybody that would waste their time listening to a college drop-out drug addict like Rush Limbaugh doesn’t have a bit of common sense.
liberalefty
March 22nd, 2012
12:14 pm
@refugee
the most toothless region in the country is eastern KENTUCKY according to a segment on 20/20
gm
March 22nd, 2012
12:17 pm
To all the Limbaugh lovers who loved to be pimped:
Name one event or something he stood up for and went to the streets other then behind his mic? I am still waiting
liberalefty
March 22nd, 2012
12:19 pm
LIMBAUGH makes racists feel good about being a racist
limbagh says
March 22nd, 2012
12:22 pm
Why go to the streets when I can make millions spewing hate and make low self esteem tea party people do the work for me.
MyPatootie
March 22nd, 2012
12:23 pm
The writer of this article is typical of the one-sided view expressed by the liberal elite media, of which he is definitely a part of. Notice he concentrates on what RL said, but nary a word about what Bill Maher(Mr. DirtyMouth himself) said. This is the double-standard that has everyone’s attention(that is, anyone who PAYS attention).
calliope
March 22nd, 2012
12:26 pm
@Listen up! I understand. What I posted was an article in which the author had researched some of the radio show host’s claims and comments and found them to be blatantly false. Famous among these was his claim that Michael J. Fox was faking his Parkinson’s Disease..that Anita Hill pursued and dated Clarence Thomas. This article covers economic and global statistics as well as his famous AIDS/condoms debacle. It is a toheckwiththefacts, I am swami and I think i will say this today. And people eat it right up. Frightening is that people believe and are stirred to contempt and hatred by half-truths and all-out lies. But as the sweet ignorant folk used to say..”why you know it true..it say so on the radio.”
Hollis
March 22nd, 2012
12:28 pm
Keep up the good work, Rush!!!
gm
March 22nd, 2012
12:29 pm
Retards on the right, Bill Maher is a paid comedian who goes on tour, Chris Rock is a paid comdedian who also gets paid to go on tours.
Scum Limbaugh speaks at rep events, introduce rep at events, he has received awards at rep events, when will you idiots stop listening to 3 times college drop out Sean Hannity? and use common sense.
timbo
March 22nd, 2012
12:31 pm
Lets not focus on high unemployment, out of control spending, record high debt, problems in the Middle East, or high energy prices…..no, lets go after a talk radio host and this fake ‘war on women’.
Aaron Burr V Mexico
March 22nd, 2012
12:34 pm
So let me get this straight…
It’s OK to call for a boycott of MSNBC and ‘uphold you ability to vote with your dollars’ when they want to retaliate against things Al Sharpton and Ed Schultz have said..
But if Media Matters tries to organize a campaign for something Rush said to encourage people to vote with their dollars against him, that’s against the First Amendment and horrible?
Yeah, IOKIYAR.
Which is why arguing with conservatives is pointless. They don’t ‘DO’ introspection. They just do what they’re told.
Which is why this fight matters. Limbaugh is the the Pope of the Republican Church.
Aaron Burr V Mexico
March 22nd, 2012
12:36 pm
Note the focus on employment, spending, debt, middle east and energy when dealing with issues the Republicans don’t want broadcast, but its perfectly ok to have Voter ID (supression) laws, Pro Business (Union destroying) laws, Pro Life (Anti Women) laws etc.
Note the number of ‘jobs’ bills coming out Republican dominated legislatures. Yeah.
None.
IOKIYAR.
gm
March 22nd, 2012
12:38 pm
timbo
You mean like over 15 states have unemployment less then 8% or do you mean the out of controll spending of the last President with billions going to build up Iraq and not the USA.
How about the $4 gas Americans paid under Bush? funny how the rep were quiet on all these issues.
timbo
March 22nd, 2012
12:44 pm
Hey Aaron
What was unemployment when Obama took office? What is it now? What has it been for 3 years?
Voter ID suppression laws? So you are against someone showing an ID when they vote? That is sad.
Unions destroy businesses, that is just a fact that libs don’t understand. Look at the UAW.
Anti-women laws? Really? So you are also playing the ‘war on women’ game? Sham set up by the left and the leftist media, but they know their sheeple will follow them wherever they go.
timbo
March 22nd, 2012
12:51 pm
Hey gm,
When gas prices hit $4 per gallon under Bush, didn’t they come back down? Now we have an energy secretary admitting that lowering gas prices is not the goal of this administration. They would rather waste tax payer dollars on ‘green energy’ companies that are going bankrupt. Yeah, lets throw our money down that rat hole.
Funny that the left thinks 8% unemployment is an achievement on their part.
2012 will be the end of an error.
timbo
March 22nd, 2012
1:03 pm
So now we have Obama blaming someone else for Solyndra??? This food stamp president, community apologizer, and failed leader will never take responsibility for anything. I am shocked he hasn’t blamed Bush for this …….yet.
http://freebeacon.com/obama-on-solyndra-loan-this-was-not-our-program/
markie mark
March 22nd, 2012
1:12 pm
Joe…BEFORE ED apologized….there was NO Outrage on the left…by you or anyone else….and as I stated before, Limbaugh is self syndicated….he works for himself. Your premise is the Ed Schultz’s apology is sincere…..you are entitled to your opinion, but the facts are that Laura Ingraham graciously accepted it, even when the left was NOT OUTRAGED AT ALL…but you didnt bother to address that….
honested
March 22nd, 2012
1:14 pm
timbo,
You demonstrate that the ‘talking points’ work well with the underinformed.
You also show quite clearly how factual discourse is wasted on those who cannot see beyond the baseless talking points.
Here, I’ll prove my point, where are the imaginary WMD we wasted 5,000 American lives chasing?
Phil McGroin
March 22nd, 2012
1:19 pm
Nothing to see here. Obama has increased our deficit at an alarming rate, underemployment and unemployment are at too high a numbers (especially if unemployment was calculated correctly), billions wasted on alt energy startups for Al Gores pals, Afganistan is a quagmire, energy cost and food cost are moving up faster then raises, housing is in the toilet despite govt “aid”, welfare at an all time high. Millions of US dollars going to pay for gold toilet seats in Saudi palaces, racial divide at a clear high level, GM making crappy volts on taxpayer dime.
Nothing to see here…doing a great job.