Some things about Limbaugh and talk radio. [View all]

[certainot]

1) This is a talk radio problem, not just a Limbaugh problem. Sean Hannity started his 500-station radio show with excuses for Limbaugh and he said if Georgetown female college students had so much trouble paying for contraceptives they should just buy the much cheaper condoms. He may have though of that solution all by himself, as opposed to getting it from the Heritage Foundation.

2) No one better represents the ideals and morals of the GOP better than Limbaugh. He's the biggest PC cop and censor-by-threat in the country. No one has done more to take the GOP toward the edge of the cliff and like cowards they're dragging the country along with them. Anything to challenge Limbaugh and RW radio is a plus for liberals and especially needed this election season. Anything that brings Limbaugh out from under his invisibility cloak and puts him in his rightful place as point man for the talk radio monopoly and at the top of the GOP is good for democracy. "That's what Limbaugh said" should be a common retort for any Democratic politician or spokesperson in media who has to debate lying Republicans and their media shills. The Party of Lincoln is now the Party of Limbaugh and it needs to be treated that way.

3) Merely going after national advertisers may not work in the long run. And some national advertisers have been sponsoring progressive talkers, probably to a much smaller degree, but significant for them. There are probably plenty of teabagger business owners lined up and ready to fill in. The Citizens United ruling may allow massive infusions of cash to make up the difference.

4) To make a long term difference the response to Limbaugh needs to extend to right wing radio in general and the individual stations that make it up. The 'Left's' response to right wing radio, the Right's most important media tool, has usually been limited to anger at individual examples of 20 years of lies, hate, racism, and misogyny. Meanwhile the coordinated campaigns that deserve much of the credit for getting us where we are now have largely been invisible until too late and often attributed after the fact to their other media assets.

5) There is still no organized effort by the 'Left' to monitor and counter RW talk radio. Isn't it possible now to use voice recognition software to provide a daily online written record of the main national and local talkers? This year with Citizens United it is especially important to fix this advantage the Republicans and 1% have. Far too many good candidates and issues get attacked and lied about unnoticed, until it is too late. Until there is an organized opposition progressive organizations and the Democratic Party will continue to waste volunteer hours and donations because they ignore the giant coordinated megaphones shouting over them.

6) The radio stations that put Limbaugh on are the problem. They need to feel pressure to balance with progressive talkers or quit talk radio. For most of their air time they function as continuing free political advertisements for the GOP and the 1%. With few exceptions, radio stations that play Limbaugh are dedicated to GOP, Tea Party, and right wing think tank propaganda. They are coordinated locally and nationally to attack all things liberal and sell all things republican. Consider them KKK radio stations that do some sports and community programming once in a while. They play the racism and hate most of the day and part time on weekends. Staff and producers and managers are tied in with the local GOP. Those stations are licensed to operate in the public interest but worked together to obstruct action on global warming, lie us into Iraq, deregulate Wall Street, make single payer politically impossible, make Bush an acceptable election thief, and pass voter suppression laws.

7) All advertisers on those stations need to feel the shame. So do the universities that endorse RW radio by broadcasting athletics on them. Like these 76 that broadcast on Limbaugh stations ( Universities for Rush Limbaugh . One of the most significant boycott successes may be the Cleveland Cavaliers dissociating themselves from his radio stations. University and pro sports dissociating from RW radio will be a hit they can't fix.

8) I think ad agencies and RW radio stations move ads around to reduce the 'liability' (is that standard? Or maybe they don't want to give advertisers the option of opting out of supporting Limbaugh, for instance). It may be that ads are moved around to make sure the Limbaugh show is covered. Anyone out there in advertising? Ad agencies need to be pressured to offer choices to opt out of RW radio so that Cabot Cheese can't use the excuse that their ads on the Limbaugh show were just part of a larger apolitical ad buy. Maybe there's a job in that.

9)) It's easy and fun to listen for a few minutes to get the phone numbers of local advertisers and talk to owners and managers. It's fun to hear the horror in the voice of an employee who didn't know they were advertising on Limbaugh. Few I've spoken to will scream into the phone that they love Limbaugh. Most are making business decisions and buying ad packages. Most probably believe the lie that Limbaugh and Hannity are just political entertainers. Most have no clue how badly some of their neighbors think of them.

10) Limbaugh is and will have a lot of influence in the primaries, keeping non-establishment candidates in. When it's time for him to follow orders and get behind Romney, what will be his price? Another Palin? There still may be some thinking moderates in the GOP ready to dump Limbaugh.

11) Don't waste time emailing his show and thinking it matters. I think I once heard him joke that all emails are counted as fan mail. This morning the day after calling Sandra Fluke a slut he says he was inundated by emails wondering if he was okay after the bomb scare at his house.