"Rush's ratings are down. He knows he has to have controversy to hold the numbers. Cheer leaders only draw an audience if they wear very very short skirts and kick their legs up a lot. Rush looks terrible in short skirts and can't even wiggle his tu tu."
ROFLMAO!!! You make an inarguable point, my FRiend...however, distancing oneself from Dubyuh's recent policy capitulations goes beyond one individual's rantings, especially one with a 10-year guaranteed $200+ Million contract. You are FRee disparage Rush's motivations all you want, but he's always been a net positive in my book. Please don't be too quick to discount his counsel, my learned FRiend.
"Rush does tell the truth about his profession. He says he is an entertainer and he is. The competition is getting a lot tougher. Controversy makes talk radio. Rush is well aware of that."
Sure he is...but I do not remember Rush criticizing Dubyuh about his response to 9/11. Nor do I remember him calling out Dubyuh for his Tax Cut...except for maybe the indisputable fact that it was too little, too far in the future. As a former commentator, I'm sure you have a unique appreciation of the importance of ratings, but courting controversy only works for a short period of time unless you are on the Right side of the issue...wouldn't you agree?!
"We will know Rush's ratings are really bad when he has Hillary on to talk about her run for the presidency."
LOL!! Yes...and I will hereby grant you full smack-talkin' privileges on the day that happens, my wise FRiend...MUD
Once buys like Rush get past the "I can buy anything I want syndrome" the money is not a motivator at all. What is the motivator is prestige, position, and power.
Very few men that make it big in any field do it for the money. What Rush, Larry King, Rather, Brokaw, Jennings and the rest do it for is the prestige and power. Most of them will let go of the power and prestige when is is pried from their cold dead hands.
People in both politics and the media are like ball players. They will do what ever it takes to get in the game. They will play for any team. The will switch teams. They want to play and will do all it takes to get to play. They are players .... not partisans. The fans are the partisans, not the players. But unlike Sports politicians never get too old to play. Media types do.
Rush is just doing what he thinks will keep him in the game. I am not sure it will, but he thinks it will help
The media guys are like ballplayers in that they want to be in the record books. And the record books for both broadcasting and politics are like sports. What they remember years later is how many home runs you hit or how big the audience was for how long. Not what they paid you to hit the ball or garner the audience. Money is not what gets you in the record books. It is not even how they keep score.
Don't you think Rush has noticed what Bill O'Reilly has done to Larry King. Don't you think Rush knows Bill wants to take Rush down?
If Rush dropped to 16 million audience and Bill picked up just 4 or 6 million every TV News show in the country would carry it. Then the story this station or that one dropped Rush for Bill.
I think it was either Jerry Springer or Dan Rather, I can't remmber which that said Controvery sells tickets.
It does.. indeed.
Rush like Johnny Carson wants to go out as king of the his division of broadcasting. But right now Rush hears heavy breathing behind him. He does not want to get beat.
I have learned one other thing over the years. Guys who are afraid of getting beat... Get beat.