Michelle Malkin » The anti-Rush revival revived — and Barack Obama’s petty presidency

The anti-Rush revival revived — and Barack Obama’s petty presidency

By Michelle Malkin • March 5, 2012 10:55 AM

Barack Obama said he was going to go to Washington to change politics as usual.

But after two decades of left-wing attempts to silence Rush Limbaugh, Barack Obama and his “progressive” tolerance police are still…trying to silence Rush Limbaugh. As usual.

I weighed in on the Sandra Fluke kerfuffle on Friday before President Obama took time out of his busy fund-raising schedule to aid Democrat fund-raisers with a high-profile phone call to Fluke.

To which I can only say:

REALLY?

When Obama isn’t dialing for dollars, he’s dialing for cheap prog brownie points. This is another beer summit moment illustrating the utter pettiness of a White House willing to insert itself into a sideshow fray manufactured by femme-a-gogues for plain political gain.

Kirsten Powers recites the very familiar litany of slime against conservative women that goes uncommented on by the Obama administration every single day of the year. Been there, done that.

Like I always say: Double standards — it’s what’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the Obama 2012 talking points menu.

But it’s ok. Conservative women don’t need coddling phone calls from Obama. We just need him to get out of the White House and out of our lives.

Harangue Rush Limbaugh on your own damned dime.

***

Reminder: As I reported in February 2009 — after Obama specifically name-checked and targeted Limbaugh in concert with the umpteenth attempt by the Left to “hush rush” — using Rush as a left-wing bogeyman and failing to bring him down is as old as the hills. From my piece for the NYPost:

President Obama is throwing a bipartisan Super Bowl party Sunday at the White House. But one leading conservative football fan won’t be in attendance: Rush Limbaugh. The much-heralded new era of outreach and cooperation in Washington does not extend to the Right’s most powerful voice on talk radio. With his explicit attack on Limbaugh during a Capitol Hill meeting last week, Obama has signaled the end of Bush Derangement Syndrome – the defining mental illness of the Democrats for eight years – and ushered in the age of Rush Derangement Syndrome.

You would think that victories in the presidential race and Congress would be enough for the Left. But no. Like Captain Ahab, Sen. Lindsay Graham still bristles at the “loud folks” in conservative talk radio. Democrats even drafted a petition denouncing Limbaugh last week, showing that trying to save the economy doesn’t wait for petty personal attacks.

Too bad Obama hasn’t learned the lessons of his predecessors. Limbaugh not only has survived countless protests, boycotts, media smears and political attempts to kick him off the airwaves. He has emerged each time with a higher profile, greater influence, and a strengthened hand.

In a repeat of anti-Rush history (see “vast right wing conspiracy,” et al), the White House broadside backfired – disseminating his biting critiques of the trillion-dollar omnibus spending bill to a wider audience. Rather than dividing the GOP, it united them. Not a single Republican voted for the Obama plan after unprecedented wooing, courting, and cajoling. The Rush Effect is incontestable.

Which begs the question: Why did Obama – who told House GOP leaders “you can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done” – even bring him up?

It could have been unscripted, one of the president’s first political misspeaks. Or it could have been calculated (rather miscalculated), an effort to drive a wedge between Beltway Republicans and the outside-the-beltway king.

I think it points to a neurosis on the part of Democrats. By defining themselves more by who they oppose rather than who they are, they find themselves lost without an enemy.

The stimulus bill is a prime example – a collection of pet projects connected by no coherent ideological strategy except spending. Do Democrats really support it because it’s a good bill? Or is it simply because Republicans oppose it?

Either way, picking a fight with Rush was disastrous for the White House. Obama’s criticism of Limbaugh – and by extension, the broader influence of conservative talk radio and grass-roots activism – galvanized the base. Let’s face it – there’s been a little bit of moping since the November losses. Conservatives retreated into think tanks and blogs, trying to figure out what went wrong, sure that the public mood for empty promises would sour soon enough.

It didn’t take long. My colleagues here at the New York Post tell me after the newspaper ran its story about Obama calling out Rush, the article vaulted to No. 1 on its Web site for three consecutive days – and garnered more than 4,200 comments.

I asked Limbaugh this week why his enemies on the Left repeatedly fall into the trap of distorting his words and overreaching in their anti-talk radio demagoguery. Why, after 20 years, don’t they learn?

“On the contrary,” he said, “I think they believe all of these campaigns to have been profoundly successful. Their objective is to use their brethren in the drive-by media to echo their charges against me for the purpose of ensuring that I do not become ‘mainstream’ in the popular and political cultures. They strive to have the general population, particularly those who do not listen to the radio, hate me (and by association, all of conservatism). This happens for one reason: I am effective and thus have to be marginalized as an extremist, fringe figure.”

Several advertisers have bailed on Rush.

They are: ProFLowers, Quicken Loans, Sleep Train and Sleep Number, Citrix Systems Inc., Carbonite and LegalZoom.

William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection issues a call to arms:

I am dead set against the tactic of targeted boycotts used as a means of suppressing speech, as I have said many times here. But simply speaking out against the tactic is not working.

People can criticize Rush Limbaugh, or Sean Hannity, or anyone else. That’s okay. The answer to speech one does not like is more speech, not silencing others. Carbonite has joined the side of those who want to suppress speech.

It’s time to take a stand against those advertisers who succumb to the pressure. We should not expect advertisers to take sides, and I would not want Carbonite to stop advertising on the Ed Schultz show. Carbonite should return to its prior, politically neutral position.

We need to send a message that we will not acquiesce in the new left-wing tactic of trying to force conservatives off the air by targeting advertisers.

Carbonite is the place to start.

***

September 3, 2008 The Four Stages of Conservative Female Abuse

September 19, 2008 Sandra Bernhard calls Sarah Palin “whore” and “turncoat bitch”

April 16, 2009 Matt Taibbi: “Now when I read her stuff, I imagine her narrating her text, book-on-tape style, with a big, hairy set of balls in her mouth. It vastly improves her prose.”

October 14, 2009 This is what a “big mashed up bag of meat with lipstick” looks like and The “M” in MSNBC stands for misogyny

Jan. 1, 2010 The progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010

June 14, 2010 TN Dem attacks female Republicans: “You have to lift their skirts to find out if they are women.”

Jan. 20, 2011 Lib radio talker attacks GOP Lt. Gov. of WI: She “performed fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee” and “pulled a train”

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Posted in: Politics,Rush Limbaugh

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#301

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:12 pm, Misscheryl said:

4:00 pm, letget said:

Ditto that! Listening to him it seemed as though he was speaking on behalf of our country for the safety of our country. It was odd because I felt our president should have been doing what Bibi was doing. Course he’s a man, our president is a whimp.
#302

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:16 pm, conservative hispanic said:

Misscheryl:

Bibi is THE MAN!!!
#303

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:22 pm, Green eyed Lady said:

Sarah Palin To Obama: If Rush Was Offensive, Why Are You Taking Money From Bill Maher

Governor Palin just left a quick note on Facebook, wherein she called out Obama’s SuperPAC for accepting $1,000,000 from a documented misogynist like Bill Maher:

“Pres. Obama says he called Sandra Fluke because of his daughters. For the sake of everyone’s daughter, why doesn’t his super PAC return the $1 million he got from a rabid misogynist?”
-Sarah Palin-
#304

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:22 pm, madshark said:

Just to show you what the events of the past few days have done to me…

I saw a headline that said “Chevy Volt factory to shut”, and upon initially reading it, I thought that the last word was “slut”. Since we’re talking about the Volt, I’m sure it’s probably applicable.
#305

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:30 pm, letget said:

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:16 pm, conservative hispanic

You are correct, Bibi is A MAN! What we now have in the wh is in the pocket of mo/jarrett/soros/trumka(union thugs) to spew what they want him to say?

If my hubby was such a non man as bho, I would say, sugar get a pill for some testosterone!
L
#306

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:35 pm, Green eyed Lady said:

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:22 pm, madshark said:

Just to show you what the events of the past few days have done to me…

I saw a headline that said “Chevy Volt factory to shut”, and upon initially reading it, I thought that the last word was “slut”. Since we’re talking about the Volt, I’m sure it’s probably applicable.

Now that’s funny!
#307

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:37 pm, Republicanvet said:

On March 06, 2012 at 02:22 pm, Green eyed Lady said:

Sarah Palin To Obama: If Rush Was Offensive, Why Are You Taking Money From Bill Maher

Governor Palin just left a quick note on Facebook, wherein she called out Obama’s SuperPAC for accepting $1,000,000 from a documented misogynist like Bill Maher:

“Pres. Obama says he called Sandra Fluke because of his daughters. For the sake of everyone’s daughter, why doesn’t his super PAC return the $1 million he got from a rabid misogynist?”
-Sarah Palin-

Considering how badly her daughter was savaged by many in the media, Urkel wouldn’t have a snowballs chance if the left were held to the same standard.
Anyone know if Carbonite stopped advertising on Ed Schmucks show?
#308

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:47 pm, Green eyed Lady said:

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:37 pm, Republicanvet said:

So right about standards..

Anyone know if Carbonite stopped advertising on Ed Schmucks show?

Don’t think there is any change with that.
I did see this:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/03/06/silence-from-carbonite-as-its-stock-price-tanks/
#309

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:53 pm, Republicanvet said:

On March 06, 2012 at 02:47 pm, Green eyed Lady said:

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:37 pm, Republicanvet said:

So right about standards..

Anyone know if Carbonite stopped advertising on Ed Schmucks show?

Don’t think there is any change with that.
I did see this:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/03/06/silence-from-carbonite-as-its-stock-price-tanks/

I saw that earlier. They get what they deserve. I would like to know what statement they put out regarding stopping ads with Rush, and how it compares to their silence on Ed Schmuck.
#310

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:53 pm, letget said:

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:47 pm, Green eyed Lady said:

I just checked and Beck still has them there. I heard him on ads today.
L
#311

On March 6th, 2012 at 4:54 pm, OK_Loyalist said:

In December 1999, Intuit Inc. (makers of QuickBooks, TurboTax, and Quicken) purchased Rock Financial for a sum of $532M. The company was renamed Quicken Loans. In June 2002, Gilbert led a small group of private investors in purchasing the Quicken Loans subsidiary back from Intuit for just $64M.[4]

Source
#312

On March 6th, 2012 at 5:02 pm, T-Bone said:

On March 6th, 2012 at 3:32 pm, happyscrapper said:
You have to give Obama some credit, folks. He can contradict himself in the same sentence. It is very impressive!

I had this image of Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, talking out of his butt but it was Obamas face. Very impressive.
#313

On March 6th, 2012 at 5:15 pm, spaceycakes said:

I had this image of Ace Ventura

Ace (singing): Ass-Hol-o-mio!
#314

On March 6th, 2012 at 5:24 pm, T-Bone said:

Good chuckle on that one.
#315

On March 6th, 2012 at 5:30 pm, Republicanvet said:

On March 06, 2012 at 03:02 pm, T-Bone said:

On March 6th, 2012 at 3:32 pm, happyscrapper said:
You have to give Obama some credit, folks. He can contradict himself in the same sentence. It is very impressive!

I had this image of Ace Ventura, Pet Detective, talking out of his butt but it was Obamas face. Very impressive.

I have the same image, talking out his face, but it was his butt. It was CNN.
#316

On March 6th, 2012 at 5:38 pm, T-Bone said:

Well CNN does it’s best to cover his butt. They may have given up on Meanchelle.
#317

On March 6th, 2012 at 5:40 pm, fussbudget said:

Meanwhile, CNN continues propping up the latest Obama straw man (or, in this case, woman) as Wolf Blitzer moderates a so-called “debate” with the caption “Critics: GOP waging war on women.”

Well, I’m a woman and I don’t feel like I need to defend myself against anyone except the liberals who want to violate the feminine privacy of my pocketbook. But if this is truly a “war,” then let it be known that this gal comes armed with Glock and I hit my targets at the range much more often than I miss.
#318

On March 6th, 2012 at 7:02 pm, OneNation said:

Wow Checked out the Media Matters site, and I see they showed the advertisers that aired on so & so date, then show the ones that dropped after that. This is an organized WAR against RUSH by the left.
We need to fight back and contact and let the advertisers that are supporting RUSH know that we support them. And I wrote more letters to the ones listed.
If I use them such as JC Penny, and let them know that if this is in error (because you can’t believe Media matters) to let me know.
#319

On March 6th, 2012 at 7:20 pm, Hiraghm said:

On March 5th, 2012 at 11:44 pm, Member-VRWC said:

I think Stacey just got schooled, and quite well GEL.

In Zerobama parlance, Stacey brought a (butter) knife; Green eyed Lady brought a gun (semi-auto with a 15 round ~~clip~~ magazine)!

FIFY
#320

On March 7th, 2012 at 1:41 pm, ModerateSuccessfulDem said:

Several advertisers have bailed on Rush. They are: ProFLowers, Quicken Loans, Sleep Train and Sleep Number, Citrix Systems Inc., Carbonite and LegalZoom.

Try again, Ms. Malkin. There are 39 advertisers that have dropped Rush Limbaugh. Funny how the free market works both ways. Advertisers don’t have to give their money to shows they don’t agree with. I thought you were all for free-market capitalism?
#321

On March 7th, 2012 at 1:42 pm, ModerateSuccessfulDem said:

I weighed in on the Sandra Fluke kerfuffle on Friday before President Obama took time out of his busy fund-raising schedule to aid Democrat fund-raisers with a high-profile phone call to Fluke…When Obama isn’t dialing for dollars, he’s dialing for cheap prog brownie points.

Funny, if she had been a conservative, and a Republican President had done the same thing, Ms. Malkin would have said how compassionate and thoughtful he was. God forbid we attribute those to this situation here.
#322

On March 7th, 2012 at 1:58 pm, spaceycakes said:

LOL@PeterPrincipleDem
#323

On March 7th, 2012 at 2:22 pm, txvet2 said:

On March 7th, 2012 at 1:41 pm, ModerateSuccessfulDem said:

There are 39 advertisers that have dropped Rush Limbaugh.

Wrong, as usual. Most of the claimed “drops” were companies who never advertised with his national show. Some, like Capital One, have advertised with him in the past but not currently, others advertise on various local stations and have asked that their ads don’t air during his program – but that isn’t the same as cancelling the advertising. By the way, FWIW, Rush reported today that a couple of those companies who really did pull their advertising are begging to be reinstated.
#324

On March 7th, 2012 at 7:23 pm, ModerateSuccessfulDem said:

Wrong, as usual.

Try again. But whatever spin you have to put on it, go right ahead: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73675.html (now it’s up to 42)
#325

On March 8th, 2012 at 9:53 am, thejim said:

Try again. But whatever spin you have to put on it, go right ahead: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73675.html (now it’s up to 42)

Only a moron would believe Politico on any subject. So, let’s see 42 out of 16,000 advertisers nationwide?
#326

On March 8th, 2012 at 10:05 am, thejim said:

Commodem you may have missed Limbaugh’s show yesterday, he estimates a possible 16,000 advertisers on 600 stations carrying the program nationwide.