Rush Limbaugh: 'I'm not the leader' of the GOP

[Emit]

~snip~

“I am not the leader of the Republican party,” the 58-year-old Limbaugh told TODAY national correspondent Jamie Gangel in an exclusive interview airing Monday and Tuesday on the program. “Don’t wanna be the leader of the Republican party. It’s silly for them to keep talking about how I’m the leader of anything.”

~snip~

...When Emanuel answered 'Rush Limbaugh,' it set forth a firestorm of controversy. It led national Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele to knock Limbaugh, calling his conservative rhetoric “incendiary” and “ugly.”

Meanwhile, Limbaugh says he is laughing – all the way to the bank.

“It’s just creating more curiosity about me,” Limbaugh told Gangel in a preview from a taped interview that aired Friday on TODAY. “It’s 21 years, more popular than ever. Lord, thank you for my enemies.”

~snip~

Limbaugh makes no bones about doing his radio show for the love of money, not necessarily for the love of politics or the spirit of debate.

”My audience, my ratings,” Limbaugh replied when asked by Gangel who he does his show for. “For ratings, I will admit it.

“Let me shock the world right here on NBC. I am doing my show for ratings. I want the largest audience I can get because that’s how I can charge the highest advertising rates. Which means what else do I want? Money.”

~snip~

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33244211/ns/today-today_people/

[Democrats_win]

1. Corporate media's big lie: we do it for the ratings, not for the power.

We know that corporations pay for Rush's big mouth in hopes of getting government contracts, tax breaks and a free hand at ripping off America.


One more time. This is your country run but corporate money: Rush's big mouth fools American idiots into voting against their best interests.

[notadmblnd]

2. you think his ollowers are going to mind being duped?

or will they even realize it?

[Zix]

4. They're going to re-organise their own ideology to fit this revelation.

Their ideology is plastic and follows people and party, not principles or logic.

[Old and In the Way]

3. The Reans* (because there's no 'public' in their agenda)

and Rubes will come away without getting the point...Rush is an entertainer who knows his audience.

*ht/ ThinkProgress poster

[timtom]

5. Yeah, not any more.

Glen Beck now wears the crown.

(Chuckle!)

[Vinnie From Indy]

6. Limbaugh also made no bones about his doing his schtick for...

bowls full of Oxycontin and Viagra pills that litter his mansion in Palm Beach Florida.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Rushbo Better Bank Those Checks Fast...

They could be coming to an end as his main benefactor, Clear Channel...that own Premeier that syndicates his swillfest is in a world of hurt...

http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/10/clear_channels_future_looks_murky.php

Oct 7 2009, 10:47 am by Daniel Indiviglio

Clear Channel's Future Looks Murky
The New York Post is reporting that Clear Channel Communications is having trouble getting loans from banks to help pay the interest on its current loans. Clear Channel is by far the largest radio station owner in the U.S. If these problems persist, it's rather difficult to imagine what would happen to radio.

Clear Channel has been having cash flow difficulties for some time. But here's the latest news, from the NY Post:

After failing twice to restructure the company's debt, the private-equity firms that own the radio and billboard giant are asking some big banks to help them keep the company from defaulting on its loans.

But after a bruising fight two years ago to force the banks to live up to their commitment to fund the ill-fated buyout, those same banks now are telling the PE firms to take a hike, two sources close to the situation said.

That means Clear Channel may now default by year-end or early next year, one of the sources said.

One of the big stickng points is Rushbo's big salary...his "ratings" don't justify that kind of money in a business that has been losing 20% or more in revenues every year since 2002. Cheap Channel may be forced to liquidate a lot of stations...and possibly turning some of their least profitable (many that are AMs and carry Rushbo) off.