Posted on 03/05/2012 6:46:44 AM PST by mandaladon
Emboldened by Rush Limbaugh’s public apology over the weekend to a law school student whom he had called a “slut” and a “prostitute,” critics of the radio talk show host are intensifying their online campaign against his advertisers. he apology, they said, was a signal that the campaign was working. On Sunday, a seventh company, ProFlowers, said that it was suspending all of its advertising on “The Rush Limbaugh Show” despite his apologetic statement a day earlier.
For now, the ad boycott is uncomfortable but not crippling for Mr. Limbaugh, who is estimated to make $50 million a year and whose program is a profit center for Premiere Radio Networks, the company that syndicates it. The program makes money both through ads and through fees paid by local radio stations, and while it often has sparked outrage during more than two decades on the air, efforts at ad boycotts in the past have had no measurable effect. Liberal groups and activists, however, hope that this time is different.
Mr. Limbaugh has been roundly criticized for talking at length about the sex life of Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student who testified in support of the Obama administration’s requirement that health insurance plans cover contraceptives for women. For three straight days he lambasted her, before saying in a statement Saturday afternoon that he did not intend to attack her personally. “I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation,” he said.
By the time he apologized, online protesters had been organizing for days on social networking Web sites and liberal hubs like Daily Kos. They called on companies like ProFlowers to remove their ads from “The Rush Limbaugh Show” and appeared to be having some success, as companies like Sleep Train said they had suspended advertising.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I will be listening. I always thought that there were way too many commercials on Rush's show anyway.
Like those capital letters, dontcha!
Maybe its me but I think I can see the old media deflating, years ago this kind of manufactured outrage would be alot bigger.
You’re missing the point. Rush calls someone a slut, and he’s a bad guy. Maher calls someone a (censored) and no one says a word. You’re going to help the left pile on here?
“Did you know Carbonite was advertising with Ed Schultz while he called Laura Ingraham a slut???”
Do you have verification of that for my archives?
I think announcing to a sponsor that you’ll never buy their product or service again is a waste of time. Rush doesn’t need us to ‘rush’ to his defense. He’s got plenty of folks on waiting lists to advertise on his show.
Rush’s only mistake was feeding the beast by apologizing.
Let them go. They are going to pay the price for it. We are awake and I thank Rush for that.
These companies more support liberal causes and it is my hope that conservative companies will fill the void.
The only mistake Rush made in this whole affair was to apologize to the aptly named Fluke.
Never apologize to the Left.
NEVER.
To them, it’s blood in the water.
Rush OWNS his company and has for many years...before Beck or Breitbart were ever on the scene. He is NOT an employee of Clear Channel. He contracts with them to air his broadcasts. He owns that content completely and answers only to himself.
You may be right that Rush could have approached this a different way, but again, you are missing the BIG PICTURE. Actually, TWO big pictures.
Just getting my monies worth.
Well, I think it’s good to stand in support of one another as best we can, but I’m glad to hear he has lots more advertisers. As someone else said, it’s nice to hear new ones. (I must disclaim that I mostly read the transcripts now, and don’t hear the advertisements, but used to listen at work, before someone got “offended.”)
This Fluke fluke has absolutely nothing to do with free speech per the First Amendment. The First Amendment only prevents government, not private businesses, from restricting political speech. Rush’s advertisers are free to cut off their ads whenever they want so long as their contracts with Rush permit it.
As for Fluke being a slut, point out anything in her testimony that proves she, personally, is a slut. It’s just not there. Rush simply made a mistake when he implied she was a slut.
Granted the left gets away with these sorts of comments all the time, but the fact remains that Rush made an incorrect implication that did not help the larger conservative cause. BTW, Rush also apologized, so by his own admission, he made a mistake. If you disagree, take it up with him.
I just called Pro-Flowers and ordered 10 dozen red roses and after the clerk on the phone was all bubbly and gooey, I axed if this was the company that just cancelled Rush, and she said yes, and I said, well then cancel this order.
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Will call all these advertisers and use this technique. Love it!
Yes. The left engages in this name calling all the time, but we hold people to a higher standard. Why? Because conservatives believe in truth and civility. If we become just as jaded as the left, willing to lie in our cause, then we are no better than them.
If you disagree, simply point to anywhere in her testimony where Fluke admitted to being a floozie. She talked about her friends but never mentioned her own sex practices. Therefore, Rush was wrong (and he’s apologized).
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