"Rush Limbaugh is a PRIVATE citizen, who has posed his opinions on the PUBLIC airwaves"

[SoCalDem]

Michael Steele accidentally spoke to the heart of the problem..

Once you are on the PUBLIC airwaves, you have forfeited your right to be just a "private citizen"..especially when you spend all that "air-time" denigrating, criticizing, and slandering ONE political party..

Rush IS a republican spokesperson, even if he did "occasionally" bash Bush a little.,. he only did THAT, after it was well-proven, that Bush had little support in his party..

It's high time that the act of political speech is addressed, in a substantive way.

Political speech proffered by candidates, costs BIG BUCKS, when they have to buy ads.

Some political speech, even with an offer to pay for the ad, is DENIED by corporate media, effectively shutting the door on those ideas, completely.

Only the Conservatives get ample FREE air-time for their lame ideas..radio,print, and tv.
All others must pay, IF their ads are even accepted.

The rare times they are "invited" to appear, are accompanied by oppositional guests..LOUD ones, who interrupt more often than the "hosts", making their message disjointed.

99% of radio media slants waaaay right, and their non-stop mantra of "republican is the ONLY way, vs democrats are always wrong/evil/silly/depraved/ridiculous/laughable/etc" is a BIG problem for our nation.

TV media is CORPORATE, so even if they offer up the occasional "liberal voice", those voices are drowned in a sea of right-leaning "guests/hosts" of all the rest of it.. Even the choice of news stories they offer, leans right.

The exclusion of voices is glaringly obvious. Until the recent implosion, Krugman was rarely consulted. He has been more visible, but in very constrained settings, and often critiqued before and after his stints...along with the usual "leftie" rhetoric, followed by lavish doses of guffaws and giggles.

Media is only NOW even starting to show us some of the people we needed to be hearing from all along. The mess is so awful, and the situation so dire, that they have finally started to bring in oppositional voices. Of course these people are quite willing to remind us all that they have been warning us for decades about the situation we find ourselves in, but to many people, these "new guests" are totally new to them, because they have been shut out for so long.

The situation we find ourselves in is so desperate, that even these real experts may not be able to un-do the damage..Diagnosing a terminal condition is no substitute for preventative care, years earlier.

Imagine if we had had these people on tv-radio for 20 years:

Glenn Greenwald, instead of Rush Limbaugh
Phil Donahue, instead of Sean Hannity
Thom Hartmann, instead of Glenn Beck
Bill Moyers, instead of Bill O'Reilly
Maria Hinajosa, instead of Laura Ingraham


there are many more, but those come to mind, immediately..

[gratuitous]

1. Is the GOP getting s-s-scared?

For years, and to Progressives' detriment, we've ignored Rush Limbaugh or not taken him very seriously. Well, Rush has finally gotten what he wants: To be noticed and taken seriously. In fact, we're taking him so seriously, we've made him the public face of the Republican party. Whatever he says, whatever he does, we're imputing that to the GOP. When he spouts off that he wants Obama to fail, we're saying that's the voice of the Republicans.

And the Republicans are saying, "Uh oh."

[Fornax]

3. Limbaugh

Really I am so tired of him gettin free airtime with all the networks when he pulls these antics.

[proud patriot]

6. Welcome Underground Fornax

:hi:

[jerryster]

14. Welcome to DU!

Of course you may not be a newbie, just changed your user name. If so, hey, Welcome anyway!

[conscious evolution]

12. And a very good tactic it is.

Putting him in the spotlight not only shines a bright light on the ugliest of the ugly for the whole world to see it also has the effect of taking attention away from other,slightly less insane pukes.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. Absolutely true! On the other hand, this cerebrally-challenged, disgusting man is the biggest thing

the GOP has going for it. And the GOP and Wall Street and the evangelicals are in bed with one another. That's why that pig is still on the air. :(

[deaniac21]

4. There is no such thing as free.

[Bozita]

5. Armed Forces Radio still carries Limbaugh's show, doesn't it?

How hard should that be to change?

[Faryn Balyncd]

7. Rec # 4

[Tigress DEM]

8. I am familiar with most of your list except 1, but ANYONE instead of Laura Ingraham. barf.

What a beautiful world it would be!


Glenn Greenwald, instead of Rush Limbaugh
Phil Donahue, instead of Sean Hannity
Thom Hartmann, instead of Glenn Beck
Bill Moyers, instead of Bill O'Reilly
Maria Hinajosa, instead of Laura Ingraham

[tomreedtoon]

9. Problem: You can't make fun of Limbaugh.

Al Franken tried with his book of the famous name. Didn't do much.

The problem is that you can't make fun of Limbaugh. He's already a ridiculous figure. He has taken steps so that he never has to encounter reality. Hell, he was brought up on charges of drugs, and there were pretty good allegations of him renting foreign male children for sex. He's still talking.

You would have to literally pull him out of his studio, away from his security guards, and into the light of day to make people see how incompetent and ridiculous he is. And at this point, it would take God to do it, because only God can lift anything as fat and lethargic as Limbaugh.

[KharmaTrain]

10. Restore Local Voices And Control Of The Airwaves...

One great things we DO have that the right wing has never figured out is the Internet. While hate radio is one way propaganda, the Internet not only brings a diversity of people and information around the corporate media filter, it allows people to network and dig further and expose wider a lot of things that the corporate media ignored.

Rushbo is an actor...an "entertainer"...a stalking horse...a mouthpiece. That's his public personna. What we know of the private Rushbo involves late night "pick-ups" at the local pharmacy and trips to the Dominican Republic. He's not given the "golden microphone" by his shear personality, but by a corporate radio power elite that saw hate radio as a way to quick ratings and revenue without the expense of having local talent. Hate radio was one of the last refuges of a medium that had lost anyone under the age of 35...a small but vocal minority that voted and were the bread and butter of the repugnican hate machine. It was a perfect "marriage" of convenience.

The saving grace is after all these years, there's very little new or inspiring about Rushbo. He doesn't attract people...if anything he's become a liability. One could say he cost the GOOP the House in '06 with his attack on Michael J. Fox (surely helped in the Missouri Senate race) and that he and his "dittoheads" couldn't get their favorites...Thompson and then Rudee nominated...and having to support a man that he had bitterly chastized...McCain. It hasn't been a fun ride for Rushbo as of late.

The world is changing, the nation is changing and the media will change as well...or lose audience and relevence. With the collapse of the corporate media empires, there will be opportunities for Progressives and Liberals to fill the void...to take back what remains of the airwaves and continue to exploit and dominate the growing online world.

Rushbo and his ilk are soooooooooo 20th Century...

[Optical.Catalyst]

11. Rush Limbaugh led the Republicans to defeat in 2006 and 2008

The gap tooth followers of Limbaugh are following his fat rear end off of a cliff. Let them GO!

[OneGrassRoot]

13. Can you direct me to what Michael Steele said?

I wholeheartedly agree with what you wrote. I simply missed what Steele said (probably intentionally, as I'm not paying attention to him...lol).

Thanks. :)

[Baikonour]

15. Moyers may not have a primetime cable talk show

But he's still one of the most respected men in the business.

[elizfeelinggreat]

16. Give him the sunshine treatment!

Pretending Rush didn't matter never worked - why ignore a problem as big as he is?

We need to challenge him. If anyone really believes that only a few people listen to him, they're not paying attention.

I love your suggestions and I wish they could get some/more airtime ASAP.

[OnyxCollie]

17. Ding! Ding! Ding!

That's why I think Obama was so smart to make Limpballs the de facto leader of the rethuglican party. Make Limpballs come up with an effective plan for the economy.

[Cleita]

18. If Rush Limbaugh claims that his show is his opinion only, I think that would

be a step in the right direction. If he claims most of it is fiction he made up and that he does no fact checking, that would be the second step. Then and only then would I say that he has gained his right to free speech. What he actually does is propaganda and I think there was a time that this could be fined or at least frowned upon unless it was labeled as such or as advertising. Also, worse than other voices out there being in short supply, there are markets where he is carried simultaneously on several stations because Clear Channel owns them all and supposedly can do that. The time for some sensible regulations has arrived as to exactly what programers can and cannot do and how many radio outlets can be owned by one corporation.

[marshall]

19. It's all about ratings and advertising

If everyone stopped listening to him and stopped buying the products advertised on his show it would all be over with.