Month: March 2012

Gingrich Super PAC Rushes in to Buy Ads on Limbaugh Show

Jon Ponder

Newt Gingrich with his granddaughters
Newt Gingrich with his granddaughters
As of March 5, 11 companies had pulled their ads off Rush Limbaugh’s radio show in protest over Limbaugh’s labeling millions of American as “sluts” and prostitutes because their contraceptives are covered by insurance.

But the Los Angeles Times reports that at least one advertiser has rushed in to show support for Limbaugh’s rampant misogyny with an increased ad buy:

A spokesman for Winning Our Future, a “super PAC” backing former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s presidential bid, said the group purchased more airtime. “He apologized and we’re satisfied,” said spokesman Rick Tyler, who said the group began advertising with the program two weeks ago.

The “Winning” super PAC is funded almost entirely with multimillion dollar donations from Sheldon Adelson, owner of two high-profile casinos in Las Vegas, the Venetian and the Sands. Adelson’s wife Miriam also donated millions to the Gingrich fund. The Adelsons’ donations have kept the Gingrich campaign going well past its “sell by” date.

What’s telling about this move is that Gingrich is an infamous serial philanderer who left both his first and second wives in favor of his mistresses not long after each woman had been diagnosed with a serious illness — his first wife Jackie with cancer and second wife Marianne with multiple sclerosis.

So it is likely that operatives at the pro-Gingrich PAC figured they had nothing to lose in supporting Limbaugh, because no self-respecting woman would vote for Newt Gingrich in the first place.

Radio Station Pulls the Plug on Rush

Trish

We are strong believers in the first amendment and have recognized Mr. Limbaugh’s right to express opinions that often times differ from our own, but it has never been our goal to allow our station to be used for personal attacks and intolerance. The most recent incident has crossed a line of decency and a standard that we expect of programming on KPUA.

–Hawaii radio stationi KPUA, announcing it will no longer carry Rush Limbaugh. The man himself remained on the defensive, blaming the left for his strange diatribe, and insulting former sponsors who have pulled their ads as a result of his attack on a Congressional witness.

Will: GOP Leaders Afraid of Limbaugh

Buck Banks

Mr. Boehner comes out and says, Rush’s language was inappropriate. Using a salad fork for your entree, that’s inappropriate. Not this stuff… And it was depressing, because what it indicates is that the Republican leaders are afraid of Rush Limbaugh. They want to bomb Iran, but they’re afraid of Rush Limbaugh.

— George Will, on This Week, ripping Republican leaders for their weak response to Rush Limbaugh calling Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut.” The AP reported yesterday that seven national advertisers have pulled their ads from Limbaugh’s radio show.

Rush Limbaugh Is Employed by a Subsidiary of Romney’s Bain Capital

Jon Ponder

logo-bain-clear-channelThe chances that Rush Limbaugh will be fired for disparaging women whose insurance covers their contraceptives as “sluts” last week have always fallen safely within the range of slim to none. Limbaugh is, hands down, his employer’s biggest revenue producer, and even if he were caught with the proverbial live boy or dead girl, his bosses at Clear Channel Communications, a multi billion-dollar right-wing radio network based in Texas, would be hard-pressed to send him packing.

But as the controversy over his lies and smears has played out, a key factor related to the politics behind the scandal has generally been overlooked. Clear Channel is a subsidiary of Bain Capital, the firm founded by GOP presidential frontrunner, Mitt Romney in 1984. And although Romney officially resigned from Bain in 1999,he left the company with a deal in place that continues to add millions in income to Romney’s fortune every year. (These millions in revenue were the subject of a campaign controversy earlier this year when Romney was forced to admit he only pays around 15 percent in taxes on his income from Bain.)

In 2008, Bain bought Clear Channel, whose on-air roster includes such heavyweights in right-wing broadcasting as Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage and, the heaviest weight of them all, Rush Limbaugh.

Earlier this year, allegations surfaced on the far right that Clear Channel’s influential on-air personalities, including Limbaugh, were in the bag for Romney and so were marginalizing fringe candidates like Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul:

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Borowitz: Birther Questions are Good News for the Economy

Trish

birther

We heartily embrace this leading economic indicator from satirist Andy Borowitz.

While most economists agree that any significant improvement in the US economy is generally accompanied by an uptick in GOP questions about Mr. Obama’s place of birth, there is now an econometric tool for measuring the increase in those claims: the so-called S & P Birther Index.

The Birther Index, established in 2008, measures the occurrences of such words as “birth certificate,” “Kenya,” and “wasn’t born here” in Republican statements about the President, and has proven to be a surprisingly reliable tool for tracking improvements in the economy.

As is generally accepted, the best way for Republicans to take the White House this fall is to sabotage the economy. Failing that, they can fall back on such hot button issues as whether the president was really born in Hawaii, and how he personally is responsible for the price of gas at the pump. Then again, there’s always assailing people who provide testimony to Congressional committees.

Two Months into Republicans’ Clown Car Primary, WSJ/NBC Poll Finds Voters Turning against the GOP – Again

Jon Ponder

In the midterm elections just two years ago, voters punished Democrats for the crime of passing universal health care by voting to give Republicans control of the House. Now, a new Wall St. Journal/NBC poll finds that these same voters appear to be changing their minds again:

55 percent of respondents — including 35 percent of Republicans — believe the Democratic Party does a better job than the GOP in appealing to those who aren’t hard-core supporters.

How damaging has the primary season — with all of its debates, attack ads and scrutiny — been for the Republican Party?

Forty percent of all adults say the GOP contest so far has made them feel less favorable about the party, while 12 percent say they now have a more favorable impression. Forty-seven percent say it’s had no impact.

Even among Republicans, 23 percent maintain the primary season has given them a less favorable opinion of the party, versus 16 percent who say it’s been positive.

In addition, 55 percent of respondents — including 35 percent of Republicans — believe the Democratic Party does a better job than the GOP in appealing to those who aren’t hard-core supporters. Just 26 percent say the Republican Party does a better job on this front.

And, as we noted here, the poll found that Mitt Romney’s favorable rating has dropped down into George W. Bush territory. He has a 28 percent favorable rating among all respondents and a 22 percent favorable rating among independents.

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George W. Romney? Romney Now As Unpopular As Bush Was – Approval Rating Drops to 28%

Jon Ponder

28%

Mitt Romney’s favorable rating, according to the new Wall St. Journal/NBC poll. And there is even worse news for the putative GOP nominee. Among independents, the voters who will likely decide the election in November, Romney’s approval is six points lower — just 22 percent. If something about these disastrously low numbers for a national politician have a ring of familiarity, it may be that they call to mind the approval ratings of George Bush in the final years of his presidency, including his all-time low favorable rating of 25 percent, in 2008, according to Gallup. In fact, George W. Bush was the most unpopular president in the history of presidential polling. Now it’s looking like Mitt Romney could become the most unpopular nominee for the presidency in history.