Glenn Beck’s Mercury Radio Arts has re-upped with syndication partner Premiere Networks in a deal that will pay Mr. Beck a staggering $100 M. over five years, reports The New York Times. It’s a significant bump from his previous contract, worth $10 million a year. Read More
The landmark confrontation between Rush Limbaugh and Sandra Fluke came wrapped in irresistible media tropes. There was, first off, the reliably charged set of associations that come with pinning words like “slut” or “prostitute” on a heretofore unknown woman, for the trespass of speaking out on a public health question that might conceivably also touch on matters of sex and reproductive rights. There was also the David-and-Goliath symbolism of a media titan such as Mr. Limbaugh brought low by a composed and articulate college student: We were seeing not just the weary politics of “slut-shaming” backfiring at last, but also an overdue and refreshing real-time crash course in debate. After no end of jowly posturing over Ms. Fluke’s alleged sexual license and the aloof cultural mores of liberal elites burrowed into institutions such Georgetown Law, Mr. Limbaugh came off to any fair-minded listener as the terminally louche and untrustworthy figure here—and not just because of his own flagrantly hypocritical record as a Viagra enthusiast and reputed sex tourist. No, Limbaugh was seeking to exercise the crass historic prerogative of the powerful male to smear his antagonist (be it Anita Hill, Monica Lewinsky, or the numerous accusers of Dominique Strauss-Kahn) as a sexualized nonentity—another soon-to-be-forgotten casualty in the culture war.
But here’s the thing about Ms. Fluke: When it comes to the standard rules of media engagement, she’s something of a conscientious objector.
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In light of comments noted pill popper and radio host Rush Limbaugh made about a Congressional witness’ testimony (he called her a “slut”), Rush Limbaugh has suffered at the hands of popular opinion designating him a categorical creep. Soon after this happened, a bunch of The Rush Limbaugh Show’s sponsors weighed in by pulling their advertising from his show after he apologized, helping shift that categorical designation into a technical one. Is there anything he can take away from all of this? What, if anything, does Rush have left?
But of course: Twitter. Read More
Conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh has issued an apology for the incendiary comments he made on his radio show earlier this week regarding Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke. Mr. Limbaugh drew fire for remarks implying Ms. Fluke was a “slut” and for stating that if Ms. Fluke felt taxypayers should fund contraception via President Barack Obama’s healthcare measures, “and thus pay for you to have sex,” she should “post the videos online so we can all watch.” Read More
On the same day Rush Limbaugh made bigger waves than usual with some remarks on his nationally syndicated radio show, Suspicious Package Santa visited the long-time conservative radio host’s home in Palm Beach, Florida.
Mr. Limbaugh’s frequently white-hot rhetoric may have reached the melting point Thursday when he addressed Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student who was famously ejected from Rep. Darrell Issa’s February 16 hearing on whether the health reform law’s contraceptive coverage was a violated religious freedom. Mr. Limbaugh implied Ms. Fluke was a “slut” and a “prostitute” but didn’t stop there. Addressing Ms. Fluke directly, Mr. Limbaugh said, “If we are 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.”
As a furor was erupting in the media over his remarks, someone at Mr. Limbaugh’s oceanfront home in Palm Beach reported a suspicious package. A bomb squad was dispatched and traffic re-routed from a nearby road. Read More
Manhattan Transfers Cheat Sheet
— Screenwriter Allan Loeb penned the soon-to-be released Michael Douglas sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and it looks like he’s taking his own advice, spending those insomniac bucks on a luxe unit at the newly renovated 141 Fifth Avenue. The former bank building, whose copper-topped cupola penthouse lingers on the market for $12 million, Read More
Via the DP. Stay classy, Rush. Stay classy.
Listening to right-wing talk radio on the day after Congress passed health care reform, Bill O’Reilly was stunned. To him, the hosts and the callers sounded “crazed” as they shrieked about “the end of the world, we’re socialist now, we have to take the country back.” Maybe the Fox News host hasn’t been listening, but Read More
PLATTSBURGH—Here’s a new theme of the Owens campaign: vote for me because I’m not one of those horrible people who are mistreating Dede Scozzafava.
The Democratic Party’s congressional candidate interrupted a supporter at the Clinton County Democratic headquarters here on Route 3 to call comments made by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh “obscene.” This Read More
Those Battles for the American Soul are usually left to the other pages–front, politics, and lately, business. But this morning, we get one in the sports pages, with news that Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from a collective bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams.
Several players had said they would rather not play for Read More
