There are some who say that no way Rush will go down, that Clear Channel definitely wouldn't pull the plug on him and now he himself has claimed that this is no big deal, that there is turnover in advertisers every day and that he can get new ones.
Firedoglake had a post that makes it sound like it will be very difficult to take him down.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/03/06/the-chances-of-driving-rush-limbaugh-off-commercial-radio/
Maybe, maybe not. What is undeniable is this. If there was nothing going on here Rush would not have apologized-check his record. Apologizing is not something he does a lot of. His usual modus operandi is to double down on offensive comments as he initially did last week.
For him to apologize at all is very out of character. Even more is the timing. Why on a Saturday afternoon, unless this is a big deal?
What seems to be the case is Rush was directed to make this apology because Premiere was already feeling pressure.
"Unless he throws cads of money at politicians to get them elected, he is not a leader. People like Kochs are the power, not Limbaugh. He is just a puppet the money guys use to manipulate the rabble."
This comment by contrarienview at Firedoglake misses the point. It's not true that the Koches are the power and Limbaugh is the puppet. Limbaugh is a power too. To argue that David Koch is really powerful and Limbaugh isn't misconstrues the relationship between Koch and Limbaugh in the conservative movement.
To say that Koch is more powerful than Limbaugh is wrong. Comparing the two is apples and oranges. Koch's role in the movement is not more important but different-their roles are different. To claim that Koch is more important and powerful would be like claiming that the Secretary of State is not the real power in the country, because the Treasury Secretary is the real power. The relationship between the two isn't vertical but horizontal-both are very powerful within their own spheres.
His relationship to the movement is that like the Ministry of Truth. He is the chief ideologist-propagandist. Think of the original Ministry of Truth-the British in WWI who were dedicated to convincing the British people-and the American people, particularly the American government-the justice of Britian's role in WWI.
That's Rush's role in the conservative movement. The role of a David Kock would be of a wealthy financier in WWI. Propaganda and funding are two distinct things, but both very important.
What does seem clear is that if Rush is going to go, it will require work. Rush was playing defense today, trying to spin this as not a problem. it's no big deal if he's lost 28 advertisers-at this point more now.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/03/07/clearing_up_misinformation_on_our_sponsors
He claims that this is just the "Left" trying to demoralize his dittoheads. He then taunts liberals that he's still on the air. Rush claims they expected him to be gone by now. Not really. I mean it's just a few days. It took the better part of a year to bring down Beck.
Can Limbaugh go down? No question he's a very big fish to target. But that would make success all the sweeter. While Rush is not gone yet, it has surprised many analysts in the radio industry with how fast the advertisers have started pulling out.
"I have never seen a statement issued that fast, Premiere issued it on a Saturday," said Tom Taylor, news editor of Radio-Info.com, a radio industry news site. "Rush doesn't issue a lot of apologies, and to have it happen on Saturday afternoon tells you it is a bit of an unusual thing. This is something to watch, it changes all the time."
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201203060006
This shows that far from liberals being demoralized they should be feeling pretty good-this has already been moving much quicker than would be expected.
For those who want to bring down Rush, they have their work cut out for them. But the payoff is tremendous. It would be a very powerful statement that this kind of demeaning public discourse is just not acceptable to us. Let's do it!
No comments:
Post a Comment