Posted on 03/14/2012 7:39:14 AM PDT by Battle of Tours
Time for a Rush Reboot?
While the Fluke fallout may not be as bad as suspected, it's still bad. I cringed when El Rushbo, on Day 2 of the Fluke matter, doubled down on his remarks and reveled in the reaction he was getting - from members of Congress and the press. A complete miscalculation. But ultimately PR war was lost, simply because a gentleman can't call a woman a 'slut,' and if it takes a half-hour to explain what you really meant, you failed in making your point. The whole thing was like watching Lucy trick Charlie Brown into trying to kick the football. But in HD, and super slow-motion. While EIB's ratings may be up, I'm afraid the Fluke fiasco exposes what I see as Rush Limbaugh's problem: declining relevance, and (like many on the Right), reacting to the topic du jour, rather than driving the agenda. The Left chose this whole contraceptive battle ground, and set it up well in advance, starting with George Stephanopolous. But remember when Rush called the shots? Remember the spontaneity and populist feel of Dan's Bake Sale? Or when, in response to critics who said Rush artificially generated calls to Congress, he demonstrated what would happen if he gave out those numbers to call - and melted the DC phone system. That was the heyday of EIB! But on any given day lately, if you want to hear what will be on Rush (or Beck or Hannity), you can simply read the Drudge Report, which is about all Rush seems to do now. Matt Drudge, the Great Aggregator, drives the news cycle, and Rush seems content to merely comment on it. A far cry from the day when Rush drove the issue of the day, like exposing the House Banking scandal? Rush is The Voice on the Right, and to paraphrase him, I hope he succeeds. So I humbly offer some suggestions, and would be interested to read your comments or additions to them.
Bombshell Mondays
When Sarah Palin was named as John McCain's VP pick, an army of Dem investigators headed north to Alaska. We soon found out more (true or not) about her than anyone dared disclose about Barack Obama. Porn king Larry Flynt offered serious cash, and still does, to anyone exposing sexual misdeeds by Republicans. As a result, Congressman Bob Livingston resigned, Bill Clinton was not impeached, God knows what else due to Republicans being sh_t-scared of being embarrassed. When Donald Trump took up the Birther controversy, and backed it up with his resources, he forced Obama to release what he should have released long ago - his long-form birth certificate (or is it? Ask Joe Arpaio). It took a tabloid's digging to prove Johnny Edward's philandering. The point here is, well-funded and well-executed investigating yields results, except most of it is done by the Left. I can see why pre-rehab Rush wouldn't go here, as his own secret problems would have been exposed. Now that the Enquirer broke that (another example), what's to lose? Young Guns on the Right are doing similar work, but with the loss of Andrew Breitbart, some of that has gone, too. I want to see an army of EIB investigators digging into all the Left has to hide, with Rush leading off each week with Bombshell Mondays. Make the other side respond to Rush all week. Offer $100,000 or more for any of Obama's old girlfriends to come forward, then up it each month when it goes unclaimed. Offer money for anyone who can produce a report card, syllabus or class notes from an Obama-taught course. I bet they don't exist, either. Find the two people that the $11 million Business Attire boondoggle serviced, and see if they even got jobs. Look into Sarah Fluke herself. She has advocated so much for gay and lesbian issues, you have to wonder if she even needs birth control. Find the town hall sob story people that Obama promised to help, and see where they are now. Find out who paid for Obama's college tuition. Give a teaser of the bombshell expose on Friday, and make 'em sweat all weekend wondering what will happen Monday. Rush, stop relying on reporters to report, and get back in the driver's seat, please. The Left will never love you, so take a page from Machiavelli: better to be feared than loved.
Audacious, News-Grabbing Acts of Generosity
Any listener to Rush knows he is very generous, probably far more so than he lets on to the public. Countless times I've heard him give things away to callers (except the schmoes that ask for things), not to mention his annual fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. But imagine if, rather than call Sarah Fluke a slut and prostitute, Rush had sent her a Sleep Number bed, some Pro Flowers, and a thousand condoms. Point well made. On a grander scale, this has a lot of potential to show the hypocrisy of the Left, like Dan's Bake Sale showed that taking kids' donated money for deficit reduction was not beneath the Clinton Gang. The contrast to Fluke and her self-centered ilk's representation of womanhood is seen in Stephanie Decker, the 36-year-old Indiana mother that lost her legs trying to protect her children during a tornado. Decker's home was demolished. Buy her a new one, handicap-accessible. Hand her the keys yourself, that woman is a living, breathing example of the best of a woman's virtue, who's actions did more in a minute that Fluke has done in her measly, academic/activist life. Find Obama's half-brother George, who reportedly lives in a hut on next to nothing per year in Africa. Get him a job and a house, and get your picture with him in the process. Imagine how the President, who loves to quote the Bible and 'brother's keeper' language when it means separating taxpayers from their cash, would look in contrast. I would bet most people don't know Obama has an indigent brother. Or pay for Obama's illegal-alien uncle's legal fees in his drunk driving casae. Pay him to wear a Rush tie in court. Why? First, because it's funny. Second, because there's no comeback to that. It again shows Obama does not take care of his own, despite demanding other's money for his political agenda. Once a month, select a servicememberat random returning from war, and send, along with family members, them to Disneyworld for a week. All expenses paid. It's a slap in the face to the commander who never stops apologizing to foreigners for the actions of Americans. Oh, and mention it all during the Armed Forces Radio portion of the show. Pick a Chicago gas station, and offer a Pre-Obama Gas Price day. Get the local affiliate to cover it. Man, can you picture that? The lines that would form, the riot that would likely ensue, to sell gasoline at $2.40 per gallon, and more importantly, what a message it would send about the spike in gasoline prices under Obama. Sponsor a Steven Chu Bicycle Race in DC, with the winner getting a BMW (like Chu's wife drives). Targeted philanthropy coupled with a potent message is hard to criticize.
Push Aside the Haters and Promote your Supporters
It's always been weird how Rush trumpets Apple products, when, as a company, they recoil from him. I admit I enjoyed the report of Carbonite stock falling after they dissed Rush in the wake of Fluke. Now certain musicians are complaining about Rush using their music on his show. I'd like to see Rush pump up those who support him, and ignore the detractors. Trim from the bumper rotation those that have come out and repudiated you. There's a ton of musicians that would love that exposure (but please, no more Robert Davi tracks). Make a contest of it - submit your band's tracks to appear on Rush's bumper music, mention who it is on the website. Then thumb your nose at Peter Gabriel. Same goes for any ex-advertiser.
>>>He’s a moron.
Which makes you what exactly???
Dumber than you think Rush is in my book.
Can you provide a reliable source for the 20 million?
More than a week later where is Sandra Fluke? Any idea? Where is Rush? He “suspended” himself for a Pro-Am tournament; there's a one/two week suspension of national sponsors; and, by all accounts, his audience has increased. So, who won?
Where is the issue of women needing to get free birth control? Is the issue still front and center on the media radar? Are Obama’s poll numbers still climbing as women flock to support him? I don't know about your neck of the woods, but in mine political talk is about high gas prices, high food prices, Iran, Afghanistan, and why they don't like Barry.
Rush's comments, whether appropriate or not, are a minor blip on the radar. One battle in a larger war.
- “It’s time for this to cool off and start going away”, says one radio operator. He doesn’t carry the Rush show, but he’s worried about the long-term damage to radio and specifically talk radio. One market manager who does have Rush says “If this sort of thing holds from the protests, the only home for political talk will be on Sirius XM – a discovery Dr. Laura made before the rest of us did.”
What Rush did was calculated from the very beginning, and it worked. Go look at Breitbart’s Big websites (start at Breitbart.com), and you will see how the blowback has been entirely against the Rats.
And your point is?? Rush is still on. Your have had your rant. Nothing much is new in the universe.
But Rush does not win the battle of public opinion in this case.
I believe Rush should not have taken the Fluke/Pelosi/MSM bait. I agree that he did not win in the court of public opinion among non-Rush listeners. But as you point out, mainstream listeners don't listen to Rush anyway. His listeners are still listening. So, while he didn't win; he didn't lose either. He proved to be too powerful and the Fluke affair is already a tiny footnote to history.
The Left's Mau-Mauing, threats, and actual violence has worked for decades.
The conservative under attack yields 90+ percent of the "debate" just to get the harassment to stop. The Left has only to yield ten percent or less and advances another notch toward seceding from our Republic to create their "democracy."
(It cannot be a real debate because the Left quit actually debating fifty years ago and instead just screams "Nazi!" "Bigot!" "Hate monger!" "Racist!")
Back then we did not have modern talk radio -- the liberals used the "Fairness Doctrine" to suppress the right -- and there was no Internet. If the city had no conservative newspaper you were SOL vis-a-vis free speech.
I had to search through magazine stores to find the few limited-circulation conservative publications and shop John Birch Society's American Opinion book store to "get the rest of the story."
We were the silenced generation -- that's why we were silent except on election day; e.g., election 1972 when we rejected the MSM's McGovern; to wit,
Richard M. Nixon.. 520 electoral votes 46,740,323 popular votes.
George McGovern.... 17 electoral votes 28,901,598 popular votes.
(The MSM got even with Nixon, what did Nixon do that LBJ and JFK didn't do? Ans: Nothing. IMO.)
The most common caller comment during the early days of modern talk radio (early 1990s) was "This is great! I didn't know other people share my opinions!"
Fluke the fascist Left!
It was a setup to take the focus off of Obama, off of energy, off the economy, and look what happened?
All he did is make it worse.
He should have known better, yet he didn’t. Case closed.
Having lived there for a while when I was a kid I can say that it has beautiful countryside, but would not move there now. Way to Lib.
Sleep Train made a big show of cancelling their advertising (rah rah rah) and is one of those advertisers begging to come back and asked Rush to do the voiceover commercials once again.
Rush told them NO.
Wonder if those showrooms were empty over the weekend.
The Democrats really wanted this to be an issue, REALLY wanted it. Unfortunately, we had a boatload of their media figures using words far worse, far more often, and not apologizing for it. Rush did. He was right to apologize.
And as for the poor, traumatized Ms. Fluke - she was so traumatized that she ran from microphone to microphone to relive it - and then hired a PR firm linked to Obama operatives.
The week before all the pressure was on Sebelius to reiterate their policy a hundred times to stop offending Catholics. Since Rush made his comments it has all been about contraception. Contraception is a symptom, but it isn't the whole disease. The disease is Obamacare and its mandates.
Lessons learned:
1. Rush’s listener loyalty trumps protester weasels.
2. Rush wins again. No such thing as bad publicity.
3. The realization that the connection between advertiser and endorsement of show content is weak at best as the public becomes educated on the inner workings of this business.
4. By yielding to protesters, the advertisers are taking sides and must weigh risks.
5. Advertisers should explain that they pay for listeners, not for particular content.
Everybody Call in and Tell Rush How to Run His Show Friday.
Could not agree more. Rush sailed through this like a pro and probabbly bumped his listeners by 10%. Rush played them like a fiddle.
Ditto
Spot on commentary for the young skulls full of mush.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.