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 ...
Maher is an ass. Maher, to my knowledge, used the extremely offensive term twice and should apologize. Rush spent four days talking about Sandra Fluke and use the term repeatedly, over and over and over. He didn't just call her a slut, he said specifically that Fluke had claimed she slept with with so many men that "she could barely walk." For hours at a stretch, he talked about Fluke's claims about her sex life and her contraceptive needs. And he kept calling her a slut and a prostitute over and over - and tying it to what Fluke (allegedly) had said, asking her parents if they were proud of Fluke and all of the sex she said she was having.
The problem is, Fluke never said any of that. Rush went on for - what, eight hours? - about Fluke being a slut because he attributed to her specific things she was supposed to have said about her sex life, and amount of sex she was having.
And she never said any of that.
Maher's comment was an insult - a slanderous general term. Rush's comments (tons of them) were insults based specifically on having sex with lots of guys, and Rush was telling everyone he was using the term advisedly because Fluke had just told Congress and the entire world that she was having all of that sex.
But Rush was full of nonsense.
He was a bad guy.
Two bad guys don't make a good guy.
Abe Lincoln said:
"I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.”
I'm not going to stand with Rush on this just because he's a conservative. Conservatives are better than that. Part of being a conservative is standing up for what is right, not sticking up for a fellow conservative when he's an idiot and defames a blowhard liberal 30-year-old Georgetown gasbag by telling the world for four days that she's a slut based on things she told Congress - when she never said those things.
It's not piling on. It's standing up for what is right. I'm not willing to sink to the lever of Bill Maher. And I'm not going to cheer Rush Limbaugh for doing it, particularly when he's totally wrong about what he claims Fluke said.
I’m not sticking up for Fluke. I’m sticking up for the truth. Just because I think Fluke is a feminist hack with an ax to grind, it doesn’t mean I’m willing to misrepresent what she said. She never said a word about her own sex life.
I agree conservatives are held to a higher standard, but part of that is because we believe in higher standards in the first place. If we are willing to distort the truth and engage in unproven personal attacks against our perceived political foes, then we are like the left. They are the ones who will do or say anything in their cause, but our cause is about being truthful, civil, and honorable.
ProFlowers = Shari’s Berries = QVC. Let’s remember these connections for Easter and Mother’s Day.
You’re sticking up for the “truth” Fluke and her ilk want you to stick up for. You’re a good little useful idiot. I’m sure she’ll want to pat you on the head for reacting exactly as she’d hoped.
Funny how he is just an entertainer, until the NYT decides they have an issue to grind with him.
Bfl
You're 100% correct about that. I would argue that we should continually and forcefully point out that double standard, and not simply descend to their level.
But sometimes you've got to take the low road. The trick is to do it with slyly, with a sense of humor. Rush is normally very good at that. He just missed the boat this time.
I am thinking the same thing....if I had a product that I needed advertised to a large audience right now, I would be doing everything I can to buy ad time on Rush’s show today, tomorrow, and for the forseeable future!!
I repeat—I’ll care about something “bad” (yet likely truthful) that Rush says when the left shows the same outrage for what is said about conservatives. You can join the political correctness brigade if you like, but I’ll sit this one out.
No. I’m not missing the larger argument of gangster government and coersion on businesses that don’t toe the line. Nevertheless, it’s honorable to admit it when one makes a mistake. That doesn’t mean Rush has to back down on everything he said, but he should admit it when he makes a mistake and then counterattack with the exact things you mention, like the double standard for conservatives.
Now the truth about Sandra Fluke! She sounds like a slut to me!
She goes “shopping” at the age of 30 (not 23) for a Catholic College that does not have coverage for birth control pills.
She chooses Georgetown at the cost of $65,000 per year, but she can not afford ALL the birth control pills she needs!
She just “happens” to show up in Congress to testify about how she must have the U.S. taxpayers pay for her birth control pills.
The Socialists in Congress call her brave, wonderful, and Obama tells her her parents should be so very proud of her!
Obama’s message to parents? When looking for a college for your daughter, make sure they cover the cost of ALL the birth control pills she will need!
LOL
He might just bump those ad rates up.
Very immature and juvenile.
The apology was wise and there’s no down side to it.
Go Rush! Hit ‘em as hard as ever today!!!!!
No he didn’t and stop saying that. You are reading from David Brock’s and George Soros play book.
Frankly, I think it's amusing that the Old Grey Lady is crowing about this, considering how the circulation numbers of the paper has fallen over the last few years.
Feminazis have always wanted Rush fired. Their point of view is not to be considered. They are pure evil.
Stop it already. We have to fight fire with fire. She deserved the ridicule she got. She said “we” in talking about the wretched sluts at Georgetown Law. She cited $1,000 as the cost of birth control for a single year. She said “we” can’t afford it. Did you expect her to testify that she was a slut? They did this to cover their efforts to strip the first amendment from people who opposed the contraceptive/abortifacients rule. They are playing for keeps and intend to strip us of all our rights. Wake up!
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