Advertisers Bailing on Limbaugh

Once again, Rush Limbaugh has said something ignorant and over-the-top, and once again, a long list of people are seeking a boycott of his advertisers in the hopes of getting him taken off the air.

ThinkProgress.org, is one of the groups calling for a massive boycott.  They’re pretty upset with some things Rush Limbaugh has being saying, and their response has been to go after the money, and pressure his advertisers to yank their support. Yesterday they reported that Limbaugh advertiser “Sleep Number” tweeted that:

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This made us curious. After all, if they initially thought that “Rush Limbaugh aligned with their values” enough to sponsor his show…what could he have possibly said that scared them off?   Well, we talked about it yesterday here on TheInterrobang.com.  If you missed it, basically, Rush called Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” and  “prostitute” for her stance on making birth control more readily available.

And thinkpostive.org isn’t alone.  A California Congresswoman, has joined the campaign to go after all of Limbaugh’ s advertisers (click here to hear what Cal. Rep. Jackie Speier has to say about all of this),  New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney is getting involved  and even Preident Obama has gotten involved (he telephoned Fluke to offer support).  In the meantime, the boycott has resulted in at least four sponsors dropping Limbaugh’s show.

Obviously we agree that Rush’s ridiculous tirade against supporters of birth control is as ignorant, closed minded and foolish as anyone else.  But are we so afraid of Rush that we need to make sure nobody can hear what he has to say?  Is a Congresswoman led boycott of a public speaker a reasonable response?s

Let us know what you think.

You can read more about the ThinkPositive.org campaign at digg.com.

UPDATE: Rush has now issued an apology for his statements to Sandra Fluke. Read the story at Huffingtonpost.com.

“For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.”