Rush Limbaugh Foes Furious Over Mega-deal Announcement

COMING UNGLUED

After Contract Renewal, Rush-Haters In Meltdown Mode





*** NEW: BOSTON HERALD- HOW THE RADIO EQUALIZER BROKE THE STORY ***


As if on cue, many of Rush Limbaugh's traditional enemies came unglued Wednesday after hearing of the talk titan's stunning new mega-deal.

The extreme nature of the leftist backlash, in addition to the source of some of the objections, did provide a few surprises, however.

Even an aviation website took issue with him over the deal, in this case for lacking an "environmental conscious (sic)" over his flying preferences.


Almost immediately after your Radio Equalizer broke the story of Limbaugh's stunning new contract, which includes a signing bonus worth more than $100 million, angry comments began to crowd our in-box.

Here are but a few examples (warning: strong stomach and high tolerance for liberal hate speech required):

BleedingPigman:

Most Americans would pay at least $39.95 for a public execution of this filthy pig man. The enemy of civilization, the enemy of common sense, the enemy of the Middle Class. Maloney wonders why people post such things, rush has treated the entrie country with pure contempt, so naturally people hate him..


Dead-Rush-listeners-make-me-smile:

I have a good idea, rent a huge building, set up a gas chamber. Announce on the right wing radio, that Rush Limbaugh is making an appearance.

No great loss
Some of the people's greatest enemies worship Rush


Cons:

You know what would be great? If someone took a shot gun, and emptied a round into Rush's big fat water head. America would instantly be a better place. The people who signed these contracts, need to be slaughtered like the pigs they are as well.

Patriot's all over America pray everday for this piece of human turd's painful death. It is a requirement to be a patriot.

At the Democratic Underground and the Huffington Post, look for more of that kind of rhetoric, if you haven't yet seen enough.

In the realm of liberal talk radio, where success has been elusive, some hosts ignored the issue, while others criticized Rush and the new contract.

Leading the charge was Randi Rhodes:

RHODES (HOUR THREE, 46:43): I don’t know, my Clear Channel stocks keeps getting worth less and less and less and less. All of a sudden today they go hey we’re gonna pay Rush 400 million dollars with a 100 million dollars up front.

Meanwhile when I first worked at Clear Channel and had my Clear Channel stock, Clear Channel stock was almost 100 dollars a share and now the companies been sold for $35 a share. Way to go Rush. Thanks. The shareholders really appreciate this deal you made. God! You know he sits there and talks about (Rush Limbaugh imitation) ‘Yeah yeah the Free market and everybody owns a share of stock.’

Yeah, my stock is worthless because they just given all and and really are the new owners going to honor this deal? Cause I'll tell you something, you know, I work inside Clear Channel for Nova M. I sit in a Clear Channel (ah ah). They have a hiring freeze. No one can get a nickel for scotch tape. Ah they can’t buy Post-Its. They can’t buy paper clips, but they can make a deal like this.

And the new company’s gonna come in and say, ‘yeah that’s good fine.’ Cause your hundred-dollar stock is now worth $35, which is what we bought it for the bargain basement price of $35. Ah yeah, we’re in the mood to do what you did. You wanna repeat that history. Good luck. That’s why he wanted the upfront money. I’m sure that why he wanted it up front.

Your Radio Equalizer could find no record of Clear Channel shares ever trading at $100, though they did reach $85 during the market bubble of 1999.


Beyond the extreme left's violence fantasies, the mainstream media has raised their own objections, even if the tone was a bit less unhinged. The Business and Media Institute caught CNBC devoting a curiously substantial amount of airtime to questioning the deal:

It’s time to short-sell Clear Channel Communications stock if you follow the analysis by CNBC contributor and Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Wolff. He criticized a record deal that locks Rush Limbaugh in with the radio company through the next eight years.

Wolff mocked Clear Channel’s (NYSE:CCU) decision to sign Limbaugh to the long-term agreement on CNBC’s June 2 “Street Signs.”

“I think it’s a monster error,” Wolff said. “I know – I’m sitting here saying, ‘What are these people smoking?’ You know, the truth is that Rush Limbaugh has been – he’s ridden the rise of conservatism for 25 years and I don’t, maybe nobody quite, quite has been following the news, but that’s coming to an end.”

Wolff based his assessment on the assumption Americans are shifting to the left politically, based on the success of presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, of Illinois. Wolff’s comments repeated Obama’s theme word “change” at least six times.

“It’s going to be over and Rush Limbaugh in a relatively short period of time is going to look like a really kind of out-of-it kind of oddity,” Wolff said. “And I can not for the life of me imagine how someone could have made this deal.”

Rush didn't overlook CNBC's obvious anger, either, choosing to confront it head-on during his program:

What? Oh. (laughing) Snerdley just interrupted me, ladies and gentlemen, to describe for me what is being discussed about my new deal on CNBC. There's somebody up there looks like Lex Luthor, and you say he's upset? Really? Really upset? Really? Really? Lex Luthor on CNBC, and he's really upset. Well, you look like you're enjoying it in there. (laughter) I'm sure I know who it is. It's Michael Wolff. Michael Wolff. He's a New York journalist and he's uninformed. He doesn't know how these things work. He's just jealous, angry.

I heard in the commercial break, "I don't know who would make this deal? It's a stupid deal! Limbaugh is said to have been this great revival factor for conservatism. I don't know if anybody's seen the news lately, but conservatism is about over." (laughter) You just have to laugh at these people. Snerdley is laughing. He just couldn't wait to tell me.

Meanwhile, the AP's approach was to utilize the wildly inaccurate talk radio audience figures published by Talkers Magazine in order to diminish his true impact:

Limbaugh's three-hour show, broadcast from his office in Florida, is heard on some 600 radio stations across the country. More than 14 million people listen to him at least once a week, according to Talkers magazine. Sean Hannity is second with more than 13 million listeners.

Limbaugh actually has 20 million weekly listeners.


We could provide additional examples until the cows come home, but why? Isn't it already clear? This is the worst news the left has heard in ages.

Don't expect them to recover anytime soon.


FOR New England regional talk radio updates, see our other site.


Amazon orders originating with clicks here benefit The Radio Equalizer's ongoing operations.

Your Honor System contributions keep this site humming along. Thanks!


Technorati tags: talk radio rush limbaugh contract cnbc democratic underground radio equalizer limbaugh story