Connect with us

Obama Talks About Rush Limbaugh’s Attacks As Advertiser Loss Skyrockets

Published

on

President Obama weighed in just minutes ago on the scandal Rush Limbaugh caused when he started his misogynistic attacks on Sandra Fluke six days ago. Asked by a reporter at the first Obama news conference of the year about Rush Limbaugh and the uproar Limbaugh’s attacks have caused, the President remarked, “All decent folks can agree those types of remarks don’t belong in civil discourse.” Obama added he had his daughters in mind when he placed a call to Sandra Fluke last week, but noted he would not comment on the choice advertisers made to dump Limbaugh. Obama said he could not know what was in Limbaugh’s heart.

The first tangible impact to Limbaugh’s media empire came from the Sleep Train Mattress company last Friday, when they pulled their advertising support. Since then, a total of 28 companies have publicly stated they are canceling or suspending their advertising from the Rush Limbaugh radio show, and two radio stations have dropped Limbaugh’s show altogether. More are still expected as social media activists continue their focus.

Grassroots campaigns across all social media channels have sprung up. The level of outrage and action is growing, not subsiding, perhaps fueled by Limbaugh himself, who over the course of three days last week hurled 53 separate attacks on Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown Law student whom GOP leaders, including Darrell Issa, refused to allow to testify at an all-male religious leaders Congressional hearing focused on women’s contraception.

After Limbaugh issued a tepid apology Saturday to Fluke, there was hope his personal attacks would have ended, but yesterday on his conservative radio talk show Limbaugh continued his misogynistic and personal attacks against Sandra Fluke, and added the President and the Left to his list of those responsible for his attack against Fluke and contraception, spurring other advertisers, plus two radio stations, to quit.

Last week, Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke, a 30-year old Georgetown Law student, a “slut” and a “prostitute,” and later she post online sex tapes.

Steve Kornacki at Salon notes:

Just before he made his comments about Fluke last week, a Harris poll found that Limbaugh is the most disliked “current affairs personality” in the country — by far. Given a list of 26 different television and radio hosts and commentators, 46 percent of respondents picked Limbaugh as their least favorite, well ahead of second place finisher Bill O’Reilly, who was chosen by 31 percent. On the flip side, only 9 percent cited Limbaugh as their favorite personality.

This is what makes the context of Limbaugh’s attack on Fluke so damaging for Republicans. It’s not just that he said something awful about a 30-year-old woman who hadn’t said anything about him. It’s that he did so by way of amplifying the GOP’s message on contraception. Republicans had been taking pains to claim their objections to the Obama administration’s mandate that women be able to obtain birth coverage through their health insurance plans were all about protecting religious liberty — that they weren’t on some puritanical crusade. With his unparalleled platform, Limbaugh has made a mockery of that idea, and he’s put a particularly nasty face on the GOP’s posturing. As GOP consultant Alex Castellanos told The Daily Beast, “we have just handed [Democrats] the cudgel one more time, playing into the stereotype that Republicans are anti-women.”

Because they put Limbaugh on a pedestal all these years, Republicans have only encouraged Americans to regard his garbage not just as the rantings of a radio host, but as the message of the Republican Party.

 

READ: Limbaugh: What Companies Still Advertise With Rush? A List.

As of this writing, here is the list of advertisers who have dropped their support from the Rush Limbaugh show:

Deere & Co. (John Deere)

Stamps.com

PolyCom

St. Vincent’s Medical Center

Bethesda Sedation Dentistry

Cascades Dental

Goodwill

Hadeed Carpet

Service Magic

AccuQuote Life Insurance

Bare Escentuals

Vitacost

AOL

Tax Resolution Services

Heart & Body Extract

Bonobos

Sears

Allstate

Sensa

Thompson Creek

ProFlowers

Carbonite

Geico

Sleep Train

Sleep Number

LegalZoom

Citrix

Quicken Loans

List courtesy of Media Matters

Image by Ustream via Twitter

Related:

Post-Apology, Poisoned Limbaugh Brand Loses 4 More Advertisers After Continued Attacks

Limbaugh: I Apologized Because I “Acted Too Much Like The Leftists” (Audio)

Sandra Fluke: “I Don’t Think Limbaugh’s Apology Changes Anything” (Video)

With 9 Gone, Does Rush Limbaugh Have Any Advertisers Left?

Add AOL To List Of Rush’s Advertisers Fleeing Toxic Limbaugh Brand

UPDATE: Why Is LifeLock Still Sponsoring Rush Limbaugh?

Now 8: Limbaugh Brand So Toxic Two More Advertisers Quit After “Apology”

Limbaugh: Apologies, Excuses and Sluts

Limbaugh Brand Poison As List Of Advertisers Quitting Jumps Yet Again

Breaking: Fifth Advertiser Quits Rush Limbaugh After “Slut” Comments

Santorum On “Slut” Slur: Limbaugh An “Entertainer” Who Was “Being Absurd”

Limbaugh “Should Apologize” Says Scott Brown, First GOPer To Denounce

Third Limbaugh Advertiser Quits After Rush Calls 30 Year Old A ‘Slut’

Limbaugh Advertiser Exits Stage Left After Rush’s “Slut” Comments

Limbaugh: Law Student GOP Wouldn’t Let Testify Must Post Sex Tapes Online

Limbaugh Calls Law Student GOP Wouldn’t Let Testify “Prostitute” And “Slut”

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

Pence Ordered to Comply With Subpoena, Testify Before Special Counsel’s Grand Jury

Published

on

Mike Pence, the ex-vice president, must testify before Dept. of Justice special counsel Jack Smith’s grand jury investigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection, a federal judge has ruled, rejecting his claims of executive privilege.

The judge is requiring Pence to answer questions about his conversations with Donald Trump leading up to the insurrection, and to answer any questions related to any possible illegal acts Donald Trump may have committed, according to ABC News’ senior investigative reporter Katherine Faulders and CNN’s Abby Phillip.

Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, “outright rejected Trump’s executive privilege challenge, but ruled more narrowly on Pence speech and debate challenge,” Faulders adds.

The judge, apparently citing Pence’s “speech and debate clause” claim, said “that Pence can still decline to answer questions related to his actions on January 6 itself, when he was serving as president of the Senate for the certification of the 2020 presidential election,” CNN reports.

READ MORE: ‘We’re Not Gonna Fix It’: TN Republican Says Congress Can Do Nothing to Stop Gun Violence – Calls for Christian ‘Revival’

NBC News reports Judge Boasberg “did, however, grant Pence a partial victory as to his argument that he was shielded from having to testify about Jan. 6 because of his constitutional role as part of the legislative branch.”

In what some legal experts dismissed as a faulty argument, “Pence’s legal team had argued that the Constitution’s ‘speech and debate’ clause should prevent special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecutors from eliciting any testimony about communications or activity related to Pence’s role as president of the Senate in presiding over the certification of the election results.”

Overall CNN calls it “another win for special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating the Trump-aligned effort to subvert the 2020 election. Smith subpoenaed Pence for testimony and documents earlier this year.”

Pence can still appeal.

Watch MSNBC’s report below or at this link.

This is a breaking news and developing story.

This article has been updated to add video.

Continue Reading

RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘Taking Guns Away Is Not the Answer’: Scalise Encourages Prayer After Nashville School Mass Shooting

Published

on

The official line from House Republicans on Monday’s mass shooting at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville is to encourage prayer and making schools “safer,” but “taking guns away is not the answer.”

GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the second-most powerful Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, on Tuesday encouraged prayer, waiting for more facts, and looking into mental health option, despite his record of voting against them. Six people, including three nine-year olds and three adults, were shot to death after a shooter shot through the doors of Covenant Presbyterian Elementary School.

“The first thing in any kind of tragedy I do is I pray,” Scalise told a reporter Tuesday when asked if there’s anything Congress can do to reduce gun violence and deaths. “I pray for the victims. I pray for their families.”

On Monday, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) also encouraged prayer over action. “We’re not gonna fix it,” he declared point-blank, while calling for a Christian “revival.”

READ MORE: Tennessee Governor Slammed After ‘Praying’ for Nashville School Community Without Mentioning Mass Shooting

Scalise was shot in 2017 in a rare act of left-wing gun violence by a man angry at then-President Donald Trump. He and House Republicans have repeatedly used that attack to target Democrats and their policies.

“I really get angry when I see people trying to politicize it for their own personal agenda,” Scalise continued, referring to shootings, “especially when we don’t even know the facts. There are facts coming out.”

“It looks like the shooter originally went to another school that had real stronger, much stronger security and ultimately went to this school,” Scalise said, which is false. According to a CNN report, the shooter had previously “scouted” a second location but had a detailed plan and maps of The Covenant School.

“Let’s get the facts,” Scalise insisted, suggesting no action should be taken before any investigations into this shooting are complete.

The Washington Post in a continually-updated report notes, “There were more school shootings in 2022 — 46 — than in any year since at least 1999.”

It adds, “There have been 376 school shootings” since Columbine, in 1999, and, “More than 348,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine.”

But Scalise urged Americans to “work to see if there’s something that we can do to help secure schools.”

READ MORE: New WSJ Poll Is Devastating for DeSantis and His ‘Anti-Woke’ Policies

And he insisted reducing the number of guns in America, currently believed to be over 400 million – more than the total population of the country – is “not the answer.”

“We’ve talked about things that we can do, and it just seems like on the other side, all they want to do is take guns away from law abiding citizens, before they even know the facts. The first thing they talk about is taking guns away from law abiding citizens. And that’s not the answer, by the way. So why don’t we number one, keep those families in our prayers and see if there were things that were missed. Along the way, we’ve talked about the need to improve mental health in this country, and that’s been a driver of a lot of these shootings as well.”

But just last September, Scalise, along with all but one House Republican, voted against a bill that would “increase access to mental and behavioral health care.”

He also skipped a vote one week earlier on the Mental Health Justice Act of 2022.

Watch Scalise’s remarks in this clip, below or at this link.

 

Continue Reading

News

‘We’re Not Gonna Fix It’: TN Republican Says Congress Can Do Nothing to Stop Gun Violence – Calls for Christian ‘Revival’

Published

on

U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) says there’s nothing the 535 elected officials in the House and Senate can do to reduce gun violence and gun deaths.

“We’re not gonna fix it,” Congressman Burchett said on the steps of the Capitol.

“I don’t see any role that we could do other than mess things up, honestly,” he said in response to Monday’s school mass shooting in Nashville, where three nine-year olds and three adults were shot to death by a shooter with two AR-15 style assault rifles and a handgun.

READ MORE: Tennessee Governor Slammed After ‘Praying’ for Nashville School Community Without Mentioning Mass Shooting

Instead of Congress enacting stricter gun laws, background checks, and a ban on assault weapons, Congressman Burchett said, “you’ve got to change people’s hearts,” as he called for a Christian revival.

“As a Christian, we talk about the church. I’ve said this many times, I think we really need a revival in this country.”

Monday’s shooting at the Covenant Presbyterian Elementary School was the 130th mass shooting this year in America, bringing the death toll from all gun violence across all causes to 9989, including 403 children 17 or younger, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Congressman Burchett is a member of the far-right Republican Study Committee, which has strong ties to the National Rifle Association (NRA).

READ MORE: ‘Our Children Deserve Better’: First Lady Jill Biden Speaks Out After Six Die in Nashville School Mass Shooting

On Monday, Burchett released a statement saying, “Kelly and I are praying for everyone at The Covenant School, especially the families of the shooting victims. No one should have to go through that kind of horrific event or lose a loved one like that. I’m so thankful to those brave folks who brought down the shooter and took care of the students and their families.”

Earlier this month Rep. Burchett was one of 26 House Republicans on the Oversight Committee who refused to sign a simple two-sentence statement denouncing white supremacy.

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.