Rush To The Exits: Sponsors Continue to Drop Show; Limbaugh In Denial, Spinning Crazy Theory

The lefties made him do it! That’s Rush Limbaugh’s latest rationale for the controversy still raging over his despicable “Slut” rant. He confessed to his listeners that he played into the left-wing conspiracy to dump his big mouth. I’m not suggesting the left isn’t making great hay out of Rush’s rampage and the big sponsor blow-out blitz that followed. But who exactly made Rush go on a three day tirade against a then unknown Georgetown University law student? Okay, so let”s get a handle on how this all went down. Was it Ed Schultz who held the gun to the bloviator’s head while Lawrence O’Donnell held the script or the other way around?

Come on, Rush! Even your Ditto heads can’t buy this theory. Remember when Clinton claimed there was a vast right-wing conspiracy against him? Well, maybe there was, but he sure gave them the ammo they needed with his mischievous zipper. Same applies to Limbaugh. No one told Rush to pummel Sandra Fluke with a relentless dirge of insults. We’re talking three days straight–virtually 9 hours of radio–dedicated to a venomous attack on a private citizen. And for supporters who claim Rush gets the liberal shaft while Bill Maher got a pass for calling Sarah Palin the ‘C’ word, that isn’t a fair comparison. I’m not defending Maher, by the way. While I am a fan, such language is disgusting and, frankly, not particularly funny, no matter who it’s directed at. But there is a distinction.

“To compare that to Rush is ridiculous – he went after a civilian about very specific behavior, that was a lie, speaking for a party that has systematically gone after women’s rights all year, on the public airwaves,” Maher told Jake Tapper of ABC News. “I used a rude word about a public figure who gives as good as she gets, who’s called people ‘terrorist’ and ‘unAmerican.’ Sarah Barracuda.”

And until the brouhaha Fluke was, indeed, a private citizen. I know some fright wing rabble rousers are tossing out the idea that she’s a long time “contraceptive advocate,” whatever that is, and that her boyfriend’s family is a powerful mob of wealthy, well-connected “Jewish Brandeis socialists.” Even if such a threatening pedigree sends shivers up your spine it doesn’t–or rather didn’t–make her a public figure. She is now, and what she does with her new fame and platform is up to her.

But Rush boiled his own hot water with his opening, hate-filled, fact-free salvo. And the online boycott effort spearheaded by Media Matters, Stop Rush and other groups is working. Just how many sponsors pulled the plug is unclear. I’ve seen numbers ranging from 26 to 136. But there’s no question his syndicator, Premiere Radio has suspended all national advertising for at least a two week “cooling off period.” So someone’s losing money. Still Rush assures his audience everything is fine and dandy in his fright wing talk radio land.

Will Limbaugh fade into Glenn Beck’s oblivion? Who knows. And yes, Beck’s still around, as is Dr. Laura, but mostly on the Internet and Satellite. Absolutely nothing wrong with those outlets; they are the new frontier. But for those who’ve carved out a laudable swath of mainstream radio, it is an undeniable step down. Spin it any way you want, those blowhards didn’t go willingly. And neither will Limbaugh. if it comes to that.

And if it does Rush, you’ll have no one to blame but your own words And while you may find it hard to accept, that’s a truly fitting exit for an unabashed big mouth.

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