Rush Limbaugh, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, GreenStone Media

RUSH BLASTS GREENSTONE

Slams Feminist Talk Radio Network Venture





Rush Limbaugh may have a long history of avoiding "inside radio" topics on his show, but that hasn't stopped him from spending two days slamming the new Steinem / Fonda feminist talk radio venture GreenStone Media.

Joking that GreenStone's first stations would be named WPMS, WNAG, WCRY and WFEM, Limbaugh also ran an excerpt from Jane Fonda's now- infamous MSNBC interview, where she trashed the talk titan.

Your Radio Equalizer hasn't heard Rush this worked up in a long time, as Fonda is really bringing about a return of the Limbaugh we remember from many years ago. The fire has been reignited in the belly!

What non- listeners don't realize is just how mellow El Rushbo has been in recent times. Could the Fonda - Steinem - O'Donnell axis of evil change that for good?

Some of the earliest reporting on GreenStone came from the Radio Equalizer (all the way back in March) including our exclusive news that the company was beginning to take over Air America's physical operations in New York City.


Not only has Rush posted transcripts from both shows, but some clever website graphics have also been created for the occasion:

(13 September 2006 show)

RUSH: Apparently Air America is going to file for bankruptcy this week or next. They'll continue to operate, but I knew that was coming. I've been hearing the rumblings. They're financially bankrupt. They've been morally bankrupt since they started, before they started, but financially bankrupt -- and now the Drive-By Media is just having sort of like a Vagina Monologue moment here with the announcement that Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda and Rosie O'Donnell have mounted a radio talk show network to challenge me. One of the stories here -- I've gotta find this, get the right determination here because the story I have is from NewsMax, and what I want is the AP story on this, because it's all about how they've got three stations that broadcast straight up.

You might be able to hear them five miles up but you can't hear them ten feet outside the tower. Let's see, where is it? Ah, here we go: (story) "Greenstone Launches All Woman Radio Network -- Greenstone Media, a radio company whose founders include social activist Gloria Steinem and actress Jane Fonda has launched an all-women, all-talk network across the United States." They have three stations! Four? They've got four stations now and, you know, what they say about it is incredible.

They say that women are leaving talk radio in droves because it leaves 'em wanting. They don't like people like me, you women don't, and they're leaving music radio because that's getting boring, and they want to go to all talk women radio put on by Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem.

But guess what it is that they're going to offer? They're not going to offer bra burning classes. They're not going to talk about militant feminism and all that. They're going to talk about children and cooking and Home Ec. Feng shui! We did a morning update on this. The icons of the feminist movement are going to do a women's talk radio network, basically which is a seventh or eighth grade home economics class.

Now, what does that tell you about what's become of the feminist movement? There already is a hugely successful women's talk radio network out there. One woman does it: Dr. Laura Schlessinger. But, you know, folks, can I tell you something? I often don't indulge in this Inside Baseball kind of talk.

I leave that to others because I stick to the issues here. But isn't it amazing, if I just may do this for a moment before we go to commercial break, in 1988 when the EIB Network debuted on 56 radio stations nobody gave it a chance because it had never succeeded in the daytime before. Syndicated radio was always at night when they didn't have to sell advertising, they used it as a loss leader. So at the time in 1988, we had ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, and that was it. We also had the Democrats controlling Congress with Ronaldus Magnus leaving office and George Bush 41 assuming office. Well, here we are in 2006, and virtually every Democrat thinks and has thought for a while that if they are to reverse their plummeting fortunes, they have to find a way to succeed in radio. They tried governor Cuomo. They tried Jim Hightower. They tried Gary Hart. I mean, the list goes on and on. Air America was supposed to be the salvation! Now it's going bankrupt and the answer?

"That doesn't mean anything."

That's okay. They served their purpose. Now progressive radio is firmly established. Tom Daschle after the 2002 elections talked to some experts and was appalled when he learned that Democrats actually listening to this program and others and have on occasion changed their minds and become conservatives. So it's sort of undeniable
that when the liberals think of their waning fortunes, they blame it on me and conser- vative talk radio and think if they are to reverse those fortunes they somehow have to find a way to get on radio. I mean, Whoopi Goldberg is doing radio! People who have never done radio before are doing a show.

And the party continued today, as well:

(14 September show)

Jane Fonda was being interviewed by Rita Cosby on PMSNBC about the new women's talk radio network. By the way, we have the stations that that network will appear on. They've got four stations: WNAG, WCRY, WFEM and WPMS. They're working on a fifth affiliate, WBI-ITCH, but they're having to get FCC approval on those call letters because it's too long. You're allowed three or four, and they can't figure out how to put WBI-ITCH in the call letters (actually three after the W).

But nevertheless Rita Cosby is talking about male talk show hosts and just asks her specifically -- we've got the audio of this coming up; Cookie is working on it now -- "What do you think of Rush Limbaugh?"

She got this sour look on her face and she turned away from the camera and just was so pained, and said, "Oh, toxic! Toxic! Are you kidding? I worry about the future of my country. I worry about my children and my grandchildren." This from the woman who sat atop a tank over in North Vietnam! Yeah, Hanoi Jane Fonda is worried about the future of the country because of me. You know what the smart answer would be? -- and, folks, this is not ego speaking. You know what the smart answer would be? Here are these babes trying to start a talk radio network, right? She gets a question about me or anybody else, say, "You know, it's amazing the success that they've had, and we hope to duplicate it." Just say something like that and be done with it.

Oh, no! (Paraphrasing Fonda) "Women aren't listening to talk radio. Why, women don't like talk radio. Why, women don't like combativeness; they don't like argumentation." (chuckles) Really? "They don't like conflict. They don't like confrontation! Women are more nuanced than men; they don't like black and white all the time. They get into more gray areas out there." Really her opinion of women was demeaning.

Women don't care about the fate of the country so much -- you women that listen to talk radio, you're supposed to be leaving in droves. It makes it sound like conservative talk radio is on its last legs and they're going to be there to pick up the pieces.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: All right. Michelle in Albany, we'll take a quick phone call from you as we get going here today on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. I just gotta let you know that Hanoi Jane does not speak for me and it's just another left-wing kook elite who's out of touch with the mainstream.

RUSH: Isn't it amazing how these women come along, these liberal woman (and they've always done this), trying to speak for all women?

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: The NAGs tried to speak for all women. Now Jane Fonda is speaking for all women -- except when Paula Jones or somebody like that comes along then we reject them because they're too bourgeois, too lower class, to middle class.

CALLER: Oh, of course.

RUSH: That's why the left hates Wal-Mart, by the way, because the middle class loves it.

CALLER: (Laughing.) I just want you to know that I'm a rabid female Dittohead, stay-at-home mom. I change diapers to the sound of your lovely voice in the background.

RUSH: Well! (Laughing.)

CALLER: And I live for a lively debate and welcome the opportunity to conflict with those delusional pacifists of this country.

RUSH: I'll tell you what, did you hear what Jane Fonda said?

CALLER: No, just from what you've said.

RUSH: Well, I've got the audio. We've got two sound bites. You want to listen to them with me?

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: And then you can offer cutting-edge analysis, as a woman, because she's speaking for you here on all of this.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: Rita Cosby says, "What do you specifically think about Rush Limbaugh?"


FONDA: (laughs) You've gotta be kidding. They make me feel, um, worried about the future for my grandchildren. This is not -- these are not voices -- that I want to invite into my brain. I feel like they're toxic to myself -- to my soul and to other people's souls. Life shouldn't be like that. We women want thought-provoking, friendly, trustworthy, funny.

They want a [sic] laugh, informative talk radio. And 75% of them, and we did a lot of research, said they would come back to women's talk radio if they could hear what they want to hear, and we hope to provide it for them.

We know what they want and we think we can give it to them.

Come on Rush, show us this kind of fire going into election day!


NOTE: Part two of our exclusive Dr Laura interview has been pushed back to Monday morning, where it can get the full attention it deserves. This has been an especially busy news week and we don't want Dr Laura's advice to President Bush, among other details, to get lost in the shuffle. To see part one, click here.


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