It looks like radical right-wing radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh is sustaining even more damage than originally contemplated as the result of his Sandra Fluke controversy. Back in April, Ms. Fluke became newsworthy when she aired her belief that religiously affiliated employers (such as Georgetown Law School where she is a student) should be forced to provide the same contraceptive health care insurance coverage to women as all other (non-religiously affiliated) employers.
Fluke’s comments sent Rush Limbaugh into an on-air public tirade against her. In a lengthy three day long diatribe, he called her a “slut” and a “prostitute”. Limbaugh also said that Fluke was having so much sex she couldn’t walk to Capitol Hill to testify before Congress. He also said, “So, if we’re gonna sit here, and if we’re gonna have a part in this, then we want something in return, Ms. Fluke: And that would be the videos of all this sex posted online so we can see what we are getting for our money.”
Unfortunately for Limbaugh however, he came out looking like a bully and the public reacted accordingly. A massive threatened boycott against those national businesses that continued to support Limbaugh by means of advertising on his program led to a sponsor evacuation. Some 168 national sponsors stopped advertising on Limbaugh’s radio program and at least 2 stations dropped his show. Indeed, for a lengthy period on his flagship station WABC, his commercial time consisted only of free public service announcements while his online feed featured dead air. The Stop Rush Project provides a detailed listing of all national advertisers who have dropped or are avoiding placing ads on Limbaugh’s program.
Thereafter, the National Organization for Women (NOW) focused upon persuading local business sponsors to cease associating themselves with Limbaugh’s program. NOW organized a series of protests at local radio affiliates who carry the Limbaugh program in an effort to convince those stations and local advertisers to sever ties with Limbaugh. Some of the cities where the protests were held included, Washington, D.C., New York City, Phoenix, AZ, Indianapolis, IN, Columbia, MO, Toledo, OH, Grand Rapids, MI, and West Palm Beach, FL. The message that the National Organization for Women sent is that the pressure is not going to stop. Any advertiser who supports, or radio station that carries Rush Limbaugh will be held accountable.
NOW President Terry O’Neill said, “For more than two decades, Rush Limbaugh has degraded women, people of color and anyone who doesn’t look or think like him. Like bullies everywhere, Limbaugh uses the age-old tactic of savaging one woman for the purpose of intimidating all women away from the public square. Rush’s hostile, hateful speech is destructive to our public discourse, our communities and our democracy…NOW is proud to stand with Sandra Fluke and everyone Limbaugh has degraded and insulted over the years. We hope that women’s rights and social justice supporters around the country will join us in this campaign.”
The anti-Limbaugh movement seems to have worked. Limbaugh’s radio listening ratings have plummeted since the Fluke controversy. Politico reports,
“The conservative radio host’s ratings fell 27 percent in the key 25-54 demo in New York City, 31 percent in Houston-Galveston, 40 percent in Seattle-Tacoma, and 35 percent in Jacksonville, according to a selection of the March 29-April 25 Arbitron ratings provided by an industry source.
Limbaugh’s detractors attribute the losses to a rejection of the show following his controversial comments about the Georgetown law student.
‘Clearly Sandra Fluke isn’t the only one who didn’t like Rush calling her a ‘slut’ given how many viewers that comment incinerated,’ one radio insider said.”
First the drug-addicted Limbaugh loses his advertisers and then he loses his listeners. This looks like the demise of Glenn Beck all over again. How low can Rush go?
Please click on the song link below to familiarize yourselves with the tune and to have more fun singing along with the song parody.
Puff The Magic Dragon song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92fBySoAQaA&feature=fvst
RUSH THE TRAGIC MAGGOT
(sung to the Peter, Paul and Mary song “Puff The Magic Dragon”)
Rush the tragic maggot lives by the sea
Was born in 1951 in a state called Missouri
Limbaugh’s education went down in a flush
He made it two semesters and his family kept it hush, oh
Rush the tragic maggot had an injury
It was a pilonidal cyst in a place he could not see
Rush the magic maggot petitioned his country
Then they deemed him too unfit for the military
Therefore he did not travel off to the Ho Chi Minh Trail
Limbaugh the rabid chickenhawk was deemed to be too frail
So he became a disc jockey and pursued his fame
Alas he was a failure as his music taste was lame, oh
Rush the tragic maggot found ABC
And began his talk radio stint shilling for the G.O.P.
Rush the tragic maggot tried football on Monday
But when he showed his racist trait they canned his ass hastily
The maggot talks forever and his voice sure annoys
Calls his listeners “ditto heads” while he’s making noise
Rush thinks that he matters and is gen’rally adored
Poor Rush does not realize he’s like a mouse that roars
The mike that he speaks into bigger, than his brain
His brain-dead thoughtless audience is his gravy train
“Operation Chaos” failed in a big way
Despite all Rush’s efforts the Dems won running away, oh
Rush the tragic maggot lives happily
He doctor shops his days away and frequents pharmacies
Rush the tragic maggot loves his Oxy-C
And when he’s feeling a bit down, there’s the blue pill known as “V”
