Limbaugh: The gift that keeps on giving

Rush Limbaugh -- or at least his producers -- are starting to feel the heat:

Liberal watchdog group Media Matters noticed that on at least two occasions on Thursday, Limbaugh’s flagship station in New York, WABC, broadcast several minutes of dead air during commercial breaks.

There were over two and a half minutes of dead air leading into the show and then another minute of dead air during the first hour of the program.

It's not just affecting Limbaugh's show, either -- there seems to be a move on to cut right-wing shock-jocks loose completely:

Premiere Networks, which distributes Limbaugh as well as a host of other right-wing talkers, sent an email out to its affiliates early Friday listing 98 large corporations that have requested their ads appear only on “programs free of content that you know are deemed to be offensive or controversial (for example, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Leykis, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity).”

This is big. According to the radio-industry website Radio-Info.com, which first posted excerpts of the Premiere memo, among the 98 companies that have decided to no longer sponsor these programs are “carmakers (Ford, GM, Toyota), insurance companies (Allstate, Geico, Prudential, State Farm), and restaurants (McDonald’s, Subway).” Together, these talk-radio advertising staples represent millions of dollars in revenue.

The other side does it, too:

It’s been interesting to see Limbaugh’s allies try to defend him indirectly over the past few days, pointing out (rightly) that the left does not cry foul when liberal political entertainers use derogatory terms about conservative women in politics.

But the left-wing talkers being condemned are actually following a model that Rush & Co created. Complaining about the escalation on the other side while ignoring the ugliness from your ideological allies is the larger problem, and it goes beyond hypocrisy.

Yeah, yeah, Bill Maher used the c-word about Sarah Palin -- and then he apologized. It was a real apology, not like the one Rush came up with. The difference is, high-profile Democracts aren't scared shitless of him of Maher. Clarence Page has some clear-eyed comments on that whole phenomenon.

If you read Limbaugh's "apology," it's obvious that he either didn't bother to listen to Ms. Fluke's testimony or read a transcript, or he did and didn't want to be bothered with what she actually said. Her testimony was centered on medical reasons for taking the Pill.

But then, Limbaugh obviously had his script prepared -- approved, no doubt, by the Catholic bishops -- and didn't want to be bothered by the facts. And then when the shit-storm hit, he apologized for his "word choice." Let's face it, it's not his word choices, although those were outside the Pale -- it's his whole mindset. Check this article out. Of course, this kind of thinking has a long history in the GOP -- and, sadly enough, in some parts of the left, as well -- but very few capture the flavor of misogyny, wrapped in a nice blanket of racism and disdain for the poor, as good ol' Frothy.

I need to wash my brain out after reading this crap.