It may take a while for historians to realize its significance, but when the story of this decade’s politics is written, I am convinced that one of the most important vignettes will be the one that covers Rush Limbaugh’s degradation and (hopefully soon) demise as a political force. And for that we should all stand and applaud the folks that conceived, executed, and persevered in their #StopRush/#FlushRush efforts.
I’m not going to rehash LImbaugh’s career in depth, but it is worth noting the historical cycle we’re witnessing. Limbaugh began political radio in Sacramento in 1984. Four years later, he launched his national program out of New York City. In 1990 his show was carried by 650 affiliate radio stations and his was the most popular talk radio program in America. Then, by 1994, he had established himself as a key component of the GOP, so much so that when the House of Representatives flipped to Republican control for the first time in decades, the freshman class of GOP representatives invited Limbaugh to the House floor where they made him an Honorary Member of the Republican Caucus.
The rest of the 90’s saw his popularity continue its growth trajectory, fueled by anti-Clinton and anti-liberal conspiracy theories and hype. From Vince Foster, to Web Hubbel and the Rose Law Firm, to Whitewater… (the list really is too long for this diary...), if someone had something negative to say about the CLintons — no matter how inconceivable, unlikely or outrageous — Limbaugh was happy to repeat it to his 20 million listeners across the U.S.A. He did not single-handedly make the GOP the party of paranoids, crazy, and stupid — there have been Birchers and plenty of similar groups throughout history — but Limbaugh contributed mightily to the disease.
Ultimately, Clinton passed the Oval Office to his successor, George W. Bush. One might have thought that a change in tactics was in order for Limbaugh... that he’d find himself running point on defense with a Republican leading the country. But nope. Instead, Limbaugh led the attack against anti-war Democrats and anyone else that opposed the Bush agenda. And at the same time, his devotion and adoration toward Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and Tom Delay and Dennis Hastert was unconditional. Even today, I’ve not heard a single word of criticism for anything done by Republicans during the Bush years. Once again, Limbaugh, as much as anyone else, led GOP message development and delivery. Nobody did it better.
That continued when Bush passed the torch to Obama. Limbaugh was the first to say that he wanted Obama to fail. And he meant it. And he walked the walk. Again, no conspiracy was too large — remember the death panels? — or too small — Michelle Obama is trying to give our kids carrots in their school lunches? Tyranny! And again, Limbaugh was effective. In 2008, Democrats enjoyed a near supermajority on both sides of Capitol Hill. After the 2010 elections, the House was GOP again and by 2014 the Democrats had lost 14 Senate seats and control of the chamber. Anyone questioning Limbaugh’s dominance over the GOP need only recall the number of Republican politicians who expressed disagreement or otherwise challenged Limbaugh’s authority and how that worked out for them. Perhaps the most notable example is that of the Chairman of the Republican National Conference, Michael Steele. In response to a question about Limbaugh’s leadership of the Republican Party Steele replied...
“No he’s not – I’m the de facto leader of the Republican Party,” Mr. Steele responded.
“Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer,” he said. “Rush Limbaugh, the whole thing is entertainment. Yes, it’s incendiary, yes, it’s ugly.”
Steele’s comments were made on a Saturday. By Monday evening, after Limbaugh’s weekday program had concluded, Steele had this to say:
"I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. ... There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership."
[...]
Steele, who won a hard-fought chairman's race on Jan. 30, told Politico he telephoned Limbaugh after his show on Monday afternoon and hoped that they would connect soon.
"I went back at that tape and I realized words that I said weren't what I was thinking," Steele said. "It was one of those things where I thinking I was saying one thing, and it came out differently. What I was trying to say was a lot of people ... want to make Rush the scapegoat, the bogeyman, and he's not."
But here’s the thing: Limbaugh’s influence is much more pernicious than the hold he has over Republican elected officials and their base. He also holds great influence over much of the American media landscape. No, I’m not speaking of the right-wing media — Fox News, National Review, Breitbart… They may take Limbaugh as a role model or aspiration, but they are what they are — partisan media.
No, it is the non-partisan media that watched as Limbaugh came out of nowhere to amass 20 million listeners — by far the largest political news audience in America — in the 1990s. No Sunday show host approached those numbers. Nobody on cable news could compare. Rush had clearly tapped into an audience, and they wanted a piece of it too.
So we saw Whitewater on the front pages of the New york Times a lot more than we should have. We saw serious discussion among “serious” journalists about whether or not lying about a blow job was a high crime and misdemeanor.
Then, in the Bush years, we the press actually sat on a story covering illegal government surveillance of phone calls because they were concerned Bush may not be re-elected.
We even saw Democratic elected officials laugh at their own base when they called for impeachment hearings to begin in 2006 for, among many, many other things, the manufactured intelligence used to coerce support for the Iraq War (remember Dick Cheney speaking of nuclear tubes after leaking discredited reports to the New York Times’ Judith Miller?)
My argument is that the media wants to serve ALL the people of the United States. They recognized Limbaugh’s success and took undue pains to avoid offending his audience, even to the extent of shaping their coverage to serve delusional conservatives. Ratings matter in media. Without them, you don’t sell advertising. And without advertising sales, you cease to exist. Best to maintain a wide viewership/subscriber base. Best not to offend conservatives with the truth.
The problem with that is, of course, that the media sets the tone for the entire country. It’s one thing when Rush Limbaugh says ACORN tried to help a pimp by a house for his underage prostitutes. But when the rest of the media climbs aboard, Congress defunds ACORN. And then some people lose their houses. Or don’t get registered to vote. Or don’t learn about pre-natal care.
Which brings me to the point of this story: #FlushRush/#StopRush and all of their allies have done heroic work. And finally, it isn’t just them telling you so; you don’t have to take their word for it. I cannot grab enough quotes from this (though I’ll try to get the best), so… Check out this Politico bombshell from a couple of days ago:
Limbaugh’s show is on shaky ground. In recent years, Limbaugh has been dropped by several of his long-time affiliates, including some very powerful ones: He’s gone from WABC in New York, WRKO in Boston and KFI in Los Angeles, for example, and has in many cases been moved onto smaller stations with much weaker signals that cover smaller areas.
Why? Because four years after Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” on air, spurring a major boycott movement, reams of advertisers still won’t touch him.
[...]
Media Matters for America launched a $100,000 (at least) campaign calling for advertisers to refuse to buy time on Limbaugh’s show and for local affiliates to jettison it. The anti-Limbaugh faction came up with the social media-friendly slogan “Flush Rush.” The group’s efforts met considerable success in the months that followed. Dozens of companies, including Netflix, JCPenney and Sears, announced they would boycott Limbaugh’s show. Most have yet to return. And the increasing popularity of platforms like Twitter, which can be used to stoke outrage and promote boycotts, makes it highly unlikely they ever will. [...]
In 2015, the top five national radio advertisers were T-Mobile, Comcast, Home Depot, GEICO and Sprint. But you won’t hear ads from those giants on the Rush Limbaugh Show. Instead, most of Limbaugh’s spots are so-called “direct-response ads” (“enter the promo code Rush”) from the likes of home security companies, gold and silver purveyors and flower delivery outfits.
[...]
Limbaugh left his long-time affiliates in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and moved to more obscure stations, higher on the dial, that iHeart Media owns.
Bigger blows followed. Last summer, 50,000-watt powerhouse WRKO, out of Boston, the 10th largest radio market in the country, dropped Limbaugh. He ended up moving to a tiny, suburban iHeart Media station in Everett, Massachusetts, a 5,000-watt signal that until then had offered Spanish-language programming. The smaller the wattage, the smaller the coverage area of the station: Limbaugh will now barely be listenable outside Cambridge, Medford, where the station’s transmitter is located, and downtown Boston. [...]
Radio is also saddled with an aging audience; at many talk stations, the average listener is in his early 60s, outside the key demographic (generally, 18-to-54) that advertisers prize.
In this sense, the fact that Limbaugh still draws some 13 million listeners a week (though that’s down from his 1990s peak of more than 20 million) is impressive.
Read more: www.politico.com/...
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So let’s summarize: Listenership down 35%. Limbaugh’s lost several “blow torch” stations with powerful signals, forcing him to move to tiny stations simply to say he’s “in carried in a such-and-such market.” He’s got an aging audience with diminished purchasing power (thus unattractive to advertisers). All of his major advertisers have fled, leaving behind mostly con-job companies selling gold and bullshit identity protection subscriptions. And with fewer advertisers, station have been forced to cut their rates, sometimes to the point of eating a loss.
And all of this came about because MEdia Matters, #FlushRush, #StopRush and so many other activists (many of them organized right here at DailyKos) saw the opportunity and swung for the fences.
And now…
Those of you that know me are well aware that I’m happy to kick a wingnut when he’s down.
This happened yesterday: (audio at the link)
RUSH LIMBAUGH (HOST): Mike in Washington D.C. let's get started on the phones here. Great to have you here sir. Hello.
MIKE STARK: Hey Rush, just one second here, you caught me in the library and I didn't think you were going to get through this hour. Ok I'm good I'm outside. Sorry, I apologize. I wanted to say that I'm reminded so much of the 90's after this IG report. You know there are a lot of good reasons people wouldn't want to cooperate that have nothing to do with guilt or innocence. Look at all the people in the 90's that were bankrupted over legal fees. The cheapest way to avoid that, is to say nothing to the prosecutors, they don't tell you what they're investigating. You know knowledge of the law is no excuse. The cheapest thing to do is to just say nothing. I mean this is kind of like you not announcing the price of your next contract is a tacit admission that flush Rush got you bad man.
LIMBAUGH: I gather what you are talking about here is the -- back to the Clinton scandals in the 90's. I guess you are talking about tort reform somewhere in there.