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Limbaugh Advertisers Flee Show Amid Storm
The New York Times ^ | 5 Mar 2012 | BRIAN STELTER

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 ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: duplicate; rush; rushsponsors; sandrafluke; sandytheslut; slut
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To: southernerwithanattitude
Can you imagine the numbers of listeners he will have today? What a stupid move to come off his show now! The advertisers he keeps will be getting more than their monies worth!

I will be listening. I always thought that there were way too many commercials on Rush's show anyway.

41 posted on 03/05/2012 7:12:55 AM PST by oldbrowser (They are Marxists, don't call them democrats)
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To: Clint N. Suhks

Like those capital letters, dontcha!


42 posted on 03/05/2012 7:13:18 AM PST by southernerwithanattitude (New and Improved Redneck!)
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To: mandaladon

Maybe its me but I think I can see the old media deflating, years ago this kind of manufactured outrage would be alot bigger.


43 posted on 03/05/2012 7:13:35 AM PST by junta ("Peace is a racket", testimony from crime boss Barrack Hussein Obama.)
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To: C. Edmund Wright
I hope this doesn't hurt Rush, but facts are facts. Fluke did not mention her own sex life. For all anyone knows, she could be completely chaste. Rush implied Fluke was a slut. There is no evidence of that; therefore, Rush is wrong. Rush should have focused on the two main issues here: private property rights, i.e. forcing people to pay for other people's contraception, and religious rights, forcing people to pay for other people's contraception against their religious beliefs. Rush screwed up because he made this about Fluke and himself, not the real issues, and the left is doing everything it can to make political hay of it.
44 posted on 03/05/2012 7:14:08 AM PST by CitizenUSA (Why celebrate evil? Evil is easy. Good is the goal worth striving for.)
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To: Scoutmaster

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?


45 posted on 03/05/2012 7:14:14 AM PST by MizSterious (Now that Perry's out, I guess I'll just have to vote for "Generic Republican Candidate")
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To: MadelineZapeezda

“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?


46 posted on 03/05/2012 7:16:06 AM PST by traderrob6
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To: JDW11235

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.


47 posted on 03/05/2012 7:16:06 AM PST by pgkdan (Rick Santorum 2012. Conservative's last, best chance!)
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To: mandaladon

Rush’s only mistake was feeding the beast by apologizing.


48 posted on 03/05/2012 7:16:34 AM PST by Inwoodian
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To: mandaladon

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.


49 posted on 03/05/2012 7:16:55 AM PST by mardi59 (I'm not looking for MTV, I'm looking for MVP. Newt 2012!)
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To: mandaladon

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.


50 posted on 03/05/2012 7:17:12 AM PST by Westbrook (Children do not divide your love, they multiply it.)
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To: butterdezillion
I wish Rush would consider his own media company, like Beck and Breitbart. As long as you’re an employee of somebody else they dictate what you can say. And that includes if you have to count on Clear Channel - or whoever - to exclusively distribute your product.

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.

51 posted on 03/05/2012 7:18:35 AM PST by pgkdan (Rick Santorum 2012. Conservative's last, best chance!)
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To: traderrob6
See this thread midway down post 15
52 posted on 03/05/2012 7:20:36 AM PST by MadelineZapeezda (Conservatism: "It's either there or it isn't.")
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To: CitizenUSA

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.


53 posted on 03/05/2012 7:21:03 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright
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To: southernerwithanattitude

Just getting my monies worth.


54 posted on 03/05/2012 7:21:14 AM PST by Clint N. Suhks
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To: pgkdan

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.”)


55 posted on 03/05/2012 7:23:53 AM PST by JDW11235 (http://www.thirty-thousand.org/)
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To: C. Edmund Wright

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.


56 posted on 03/05/2012 7:24:23 AM PST by CitizenUSA (Why celebrate evil? Evil is easy. Good is the goal worth striving for.)
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To: USS Alaska

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.
- - - - - -
Will call all these advertisers and use this technique. Love it!


57 posted on 03/05/2012 7:24:33 AM PST by cblue55 (Mr. Obama, was your mother punished with a baby?)
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To: CitizenUSA
NAGS President on CNN now. Wants Rush fired.
Of course she danced around the Mr. Ed slut remark saying it was not the same.
Ms. O'Neill is a SLUT.
58 posted on 03/05/2012 7:28:05 AM PST by AGreatPer (Obama has NEVER given a speech where he did not lie!!!)
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Comment #59 Removed by Moderator

To: MizSterious

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).


60 posted on 03/05/2012 7:29:40 AM PST by CitizenUSA (Why celebrate evil? Evil is easy. Good is the goal worth striving for.)
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