Out of the twitter stream of babes:
Luckily, Russert is in a perfect position to ask significant GOP leaders whether they denounce Limbaugh's statements. Sandra Fluke is the Georgetown college student who Democrats had asked to testify in the infamous Issa no-girls-allowed hearing about women's health. Democrats held their own hearing to get her testimony on the record, which led to Limbaugh's tirade, calling Ms. Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" and saying "if we're going to pay for your contraceptives and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch."
Republican leadership is too intimidated by Limbaugh to denounce him and so far the media hasn't done much of a job in pushing those Republicans to make public statements. Pressure is going to build, however, as Limbaugh is getting hurt where it counts: with his show's advertisers.
After being bombarded on Twitter, mattress store Sleep Train said that it would no longer advertise during Limbaugh's top-rated show following days of outrage over Limbaugh's statements about Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown student who was denied a chance to speak at a Congressional hearing about birth control.
"We are pulling our ads with Rush Limbaugh and appreciate the community's feedback," the company wrote in a tweet.
The Twitter campaign focused on Sleep Train, but there are plenty of other advertisers: Pro Flowers,
Domino's Pizza, Lending Tree, Life Quotes, e-Harmony, OnStar, Hotwire, CARBONITE, Select Comfort,
The Neptune Society of Northern California,
Oreck Corporation,
Mid-West Life Insurance Co. Tennessee, AutoZone Inc., Mission Pharmacal (Citrical), LegalZoom, Blue-Emu, Citrix Online (GoToMyPC), and American Forces Network.
Sign our petition to demand that these advertisers stand up for their customers (particularly the female ones) and pull their ads from his show.
1:38 PM PT: Based on feedback from companies, we've removed Dominoes and Mid-West Life Insurance Co. Tennessee from the list. Also note that Sleep Number/Select Comfort has pulled their advertising, as has Quicken Loans.
2:31 PM PT: Oreck Corp. says
First, we do not support any derogatory comments to any person, female or male. Second, we do not advertise on Rush nor any other radio show; however, apparently a year or so ago we did some radio ads which may have aired on Rush as part of a broad media placement (we are looking into that); so, from what we can find out, we show up on some sort of sponsorship list that is not current (at least not with regard to us). Now, to be completely honest, it is possible (but unlikely) that one of the many hundreds of independent retailers who carry Oreck products and place their own local advertising ran a local radio spot that aired during Rush’s show.
9:55 PM PT: The Neptune Society e-mails to clarify that they "are not running any radio advertising, we are not fans of his show, we have never supported his show and never will." Our apologies to them.
