Rush Limbaugh is now doubling down on his non-apologetic apology by attributing his gynophobic language to his having fallen for the “tactics of the left.”
Insincere regrets are not helping Limbaugh this time, however. His show continues to bleed advertisers. Eleven is the latest number of advertisers who have announced they are either suspending or terminating their business relationship with him. In addition, four female veterans, in a statement put out today by VoteVets, called for the American Forces Network to stop carrying Limbaugh’s show.
The woman at the center of this firestorm — Sandra Fluke, whom Limbaugh described as a “slut” and a “prostitute” for testifying to the importance of contraception to women’s health — is not buying Limbaugh’s “apology.” On the ABC talk show The View today, Fluke said, “I don’t think that a statement like this issued, saying that his choice of words was not the best, changes anything, and especially when that statement is issued when he’s under significant pressure from his sponsors who have begun to pull their support.”
By Alex Seitz-Wald on Mar 5, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Rush Limbaugh continued his personal attacks on Sandra Fluke today, despite issuing an apology this weekend for his verbal assault on the Georgetown Law student last week. While Limbaugh tempered his tone slightly, refraining from the most belligerent name calling he initially engaged in, he nonetheless went after Fluke personally, questioning her motives by portraying her as a deceitful and radical activist trying to undermine religion.
Limbaugh did some research into Fluke’s life and cast doubt on Fluke’s testimony before Congress, insinuating — without presenting any reason why — that Fluke’s testimony was fabricated. In this new narrative, first advanced by conservative blogs, Fluke is perhaps not a slut, but instead the pawn of a radical leftist conspiracy to infiltrate Georgetown to force the school to provide birth control coverage to students:
more
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/05/438008/limbaugh-fluke-day4/
Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart. ~ Phil Jackson
As a “son of the South” (and Texas, too!), my preference for traditional family values bring me to reflect upon the family situation of Ms. Fluke — does she not have male kin sufficiently enraged by this whole imbroglio to deprive Br. Limbaugh of his ability to spew such filth? Surely the removal of this four times married, viagra-dependent sack of shit would be a misdemeanor at its worst.
lets not resort to the level of Rush and the tactics of the right
Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart. ~ Phil Jackson
apology.
And it was not delivered to the offended party, just a generalized statement. It won’t do very much, particularly since over time the self-righteous Limbaugh will fall off the wagon once again. I do think his diatribes on this issue fall to close to home regarding the women who are actually, you know, in his life.
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/06/438817/four-more-advertisers-ditching-rush-limbaugh/
Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart. ~ Phil Jackson
He fell off the wagon in half a day:
“What is it with all these young, single, white women? Overeducated doesn’t mean intelligent.†Said this morning.
USA Today and the count is up to 30 now
Bill Maher
✔
@billmaher
Hate to defend #RushLimbaugh but he apologized, liberals looking bad not accepting. Also hate intimidation by sponsor pullout
http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/03/07/439805/bill-maher-defends-rush-limbaugh/
what apology?
Always keep an open mind and a compassionate heart. ~ Phil Jackson
is a pompous sexist douchebag.
“OTP – Occupy The Patriarchy” ~ me
BREAKING: 98 Major Advertisers Dump Rush Limbaugh, Other Right-Wing Hosts
Think Progress, By Judd Legum, March 10
Industry website radio-info.com has the scoop:
This helps explain why, on Rush Limbaugh’s flagship station WABC, almost of the commercial breaks were filled with unpaid pubic service announcements. You can check out the list of the 50 advertisers who were known to have dropped Limbaugh before this report here.
Rush Limbaugh Scandal Proves Contagious for Talk-Radio Advertisers
Ninety-eight major advertisers—including Ford and Geico—will no longer air spots on Premiere Networks’ ‘offensive’ programs. Insiders say the loss will rock right-wing talk radio.
The Daily Beast, By JohnAvlon, March 10
Rush Limbaugh made the right-wing talk-radio industry, and he just might break it.
Because now the fallout from the “slut†slurs against Sandra Fluke is extending to the entire political shock-jock genre.
Premiere Networks, which distributes Limbaugh as well as a host of other right-wing talkers, sent an email out to its affiliates early Friday listing 98 large corporations that have requested their ads appear only on “programs free of content that you know are deemed to be offensive or controversial (for example, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Leykis, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity).â€
This is big. According to the radio-industry website Radio-Info.com, which first posted excerpts of the Premiere memo, among the 98 companies that have decided to no longer sponsor these programs are “carmakers (Ford, GM, Toyota), insurance companies (Allstate, Geico, Prudential, State Farm), and restaurants (McDonald’s, Subway).†Together, these talk-radio advertising staples represent millions of dollars in revenue.
[...]
But this latest controversy comes at a particularly difficult time for right-wing talk radio. They are playing to a (sometimes literally) dying demographic. Rush & Co. rate best among old, white males. They have been steadily losing women and young listeners, who are alienated by the angry, negative, obsessive approach to political conservations. Add to that the fact that women ages 24–55 are the prize advertising demographic, and you have a perfect storm emerging after Limbaugh’s Sandra Fluke comments.
Think Progress, By Judd Legum, March 12
ThinkProgress has obtained an internal memo from Premiere Radio Networks listing 96 national companies that have “specifically asked†their advertisments not be played during the Rush Limbaugh Show. Premiere is the distributor of Limbaugh’s program. The advertisers have also requested to be excluded from other right-wing hosts including Michael Savage, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. According to the memo, the listed companies’ advertisements should be excluded from these programs because they have been “deemed to be offensive.â€
The existence of the memo was first reported over the weekend by Radio-info.com, an industry newsletter. Radio-info did not publish the full list of companies. The memo was posted website of the Traffic Directors Guild of America, an association of professionals who distribute paid advertisements to radio stations. It was quickly deleted but ThinkProgress obtained a copy from a Google snapshot of the site taken on March 9.
Pinterest: Companies No Longer Advertising On Rush Limbaugh
Also, Think Progress: Rush Limbaugh Syndicator Suspends National Ads For Two Weeks
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73935.html
Forbes
IHT Global Opinion by Frank Bruni
Hussy. Harlot. Hooker. Floozy. Strumpet. Slut.
When attacking a woman by questioning her sexual mores, there’s a smorgasbord of slurs, and you can take your rancid pick. Help me out here: where are the comparable nouns for men? What’s a male slut?
A role model, in some cases. In others, a presidential candidate.
“Gigolo†doesn’t have the acid or currency of “whore,†and the man with bedpost notches gets compliments. He’s a Casanova, a conquistador.
The lady is a tramp.
Nearly two weeks since Rush Limbaugh let loose on Sandra Fluke, equating her desire for insurance-covered birth control with a prostitute’s demand for a fee, the wrangling over how awful that really was and whether it will truly haunt him continues.
Advertisers bolted in protest; advertisers come and go all the time. It was the beginning of his end; it was ratings chum. He lost his way; he was Rush in Excelsis.
One especially robust strand of commentary has focused on whether Limbaugh, a god of the far right, was smacked down for the kind of thing that less conservative men routinely get away with. More at the link
“OTP – Occupy The Patriarchy” ~ me
by commenter walterrhett
As I have so often said, the west uses words to stone a woman into shame and silence and to crush her sexual spirit.
“OTP – Occupy The Patriarchy” ~ me
Activists planning for a protracted fight against Limbaugh, and provoking 1 themselves
AP, March 22
New York — Rush Limbaugh’s opponents are starting a radio campaign against him Thursday, seizing upon the radio star’s attack of a Georgetown law student as a “slut†to make a long-term effort aimed at weakening his business.
The liberal Media Matters for America is using a past campaign against Glenn Beck as a template. In Limbaugh, however, they’re going after bigger game. He’s already fighting back and the group’s stance has provoked concerns that an effort to silence someone for objectionable talk is in itself objectionable.
Media Matters is spending at least $100,000 for two advertisements that will run in eight cities.
[...]
Ad time was purchased in Boston; Chicago; Detroit; Seattle; Milwaukee; St. Louis; Macon, Ga.; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The cities were selected to support active local campaigns against Limbaugh or because of perceptions Limbaugh may be vulnerable in that market, said Angelo Carusone of Media Matters.
[...]
“This is not about women,†said Rachel Nelson, Premiere spokeswoman. “It’s not about ethics and it’s not about the nature of our public discourse. It’s a direct attack on America’s guaranteed First Amendment right to free speech. It’s essentially a call for censorship masquerading as high-minded indignation.â€
Limbaugh, on his radio show Wednesday, said he’s being targeted in an attack that was long-planned — not mentioning it was his words that lit the fuse.
“They’re not even really offended by what happened,†he said. “This is just an opportunity to execute a plan they’ve had in their drawer since 2009.â€
Huffington Post, April 24
Rush Limbaugh went after Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke again on Tuesday for what he called “coordinating” with President Obama to “scare students about the interest rates on their loans.”
During his Tuesday radio show, Limbaugh read a tweet Fluke sent, which said, “#DontDoubleMyRate. Many students will see the interest rate on Fed #StudentLoans increase if Congress doesn’t act by 7/1.”
Limbaugh called Fluke’s tweet a coincidence since she allegedly sent it thirty minutes before Obama told students at the University of North Carolina that their federal student loans will double if Congress doesn’t act by July 1.
Limbaugh laid into the law student, saying that “contraception isn’t enough” and that “some people want their education paid for by other people too.” He also seemingly mocked Fluke as the person his listeners all knew for “courageously and bravely fighting for contraception at Georgetown and wherever else it can be provided at no charge.”