Women Leaning Toward Obama

        Ann Romney

Women were the main reason for the GOP takeover of the House of Representatives in 2010.
by Charlie Leck

For the first time in some years, the House of Representatives fell under the control of the Republicans as a result of the 2010 elections. That devastated the President’s game plan and set up two years of turmoil and disagreement between the administration and the House.

Democrats were shocked by the results of 2010 – not so much that they were defeated, but that it had been women who brought them down and sent a very clear message that they shouldn’t be taken for granted. Women wanted better treatment within business and they wanted equal pay for equal positions and equal work. It seems they saw better opportunities with Republicans than Democrats.

President Obama got the message. The 2012 election campaign for both the President and the Congress will be designed to bring women back – at least by a three percentage point margin, which is what it will take (all it will take) to win. The President’s campaign strategy team has been at work on the project (bringing women back to the Democratic Party). And, they haven’t been kidding around about it. They see their goal as a formidable one.

Now, the Republicans seem to be doing the job for President Obama and Democratic members of the House. Thanks to guys like Rick Santorum (Mr. Opposition-to Birth-Control Santorum) and the defacto leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh (Mr. wanting-contraceptive-pills-paid-for-by-your-health-insurance-company-makes-you-a slut-and/or-a-hooker Limbaugh).

Kathleen Parker, writing in the Washington Post, calls this “…a perfect storm of stupefying proportions.”

Listen, Democrats are absolutely thrilled to have Republicans take such radically crazy positions on matters of women’s reproductive rights because those positions make it seem that, as Parker writes, the “Republicans are waging war on women.”

Meanwhile, Democrats will continue to say that these are matters regarding a woman’s body and they will be very content to let women decide about those issues.

One has to be aware, that there are also plenty of men out here who also think there is wisdom in wise contraceptive planning. Too many children are born into families that are under economic stress. Plenty of married couples would like to build up a nest egg before they start a family. They don’t want politicians telling them when they can or can’t or should or shouldn’t! And, too many unintended children are born to unmarried young girls who don’t want those children.

The fact is, as Parker points out, “the GOP long ago made its bed with social conservatives, a large percentage of them Southern evangelicals, and now must sleep with them. After marriage, of course.”

When all the dust settles after Election Day in November it will be interesting to see just how much this single issue had to do with the results of the voting. Those of us who enjoy observing politics in action will find it fascinating to watch how the Republicans are going to reverse gears now that they see how they are offending women with their moralistic positions. Just yesterday (Saturday), Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, introduced him at a major campaign stop and it was clear that she was trying to direct the conversation back to economics and how the Republican Party can benefit women workers.

David Maraniss, an associate editor of the Washington Post wrote this week about the President’s extraordinary luck…

“Yet now, how lucky for him that the Republican candidates maul one another in their frenzy to replace him. How fortuitous that they keep veering further right, giving the president the opportunity to seize the middle and possibly win back the persuadable voters who will decide this election.”

The ultra-conservative positions of the Republican candidates didn’t hurt them too much until they started to be about women’s sexual and reproductive rights, something about which a panel of four gentlemen shouldn’t assume to be significant authorities. One must quickly add that Ron Paul has wisely stayed away from the issue.

As for Rick Santorum, I just can’t wait for him to open his big mouth again!

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Who Sponsors Rush Limbaugh?

Sponsors are falling away from Rush Limbaugh at a pretty good rate and the old feller must be shaking in his boots right now. Let’s make him shake some more.
by Charlie Leck

It’s time to wallop Rush Limbaugh – to discipline that bad boy and teach him a lesson or two. I’m well aware that he’s had bad behavior in the past, but this time he’s gone way, way too far. If you agree that Limbaugh’s behavior has been downright awful, let’s do something about it.

What can one say?
Haven’t we all had enough of Rush Limbaugh. If you mention his name around my wife, she shudders and looks like she wants to spit (not lady-like, however). Just when you think Rush couldn’t do anything worse, he does.

Rush has been hell-bent on this contraceptives issue and on the question of just what right the government has to force institutions that morally oppose birth control to offer contraceptive products under their insurance coverage or through the institution itself (Catholic hospitals, for instance). Fair enough! Debate it like intelligent human beings.

No, Rush has got to turn it vile and nasty. In an email communication I received yesterday I was told what Rush said on the air. I fact-checked it and, indeed, Rush did say this despicable stuff in talking about a young lady, Sandra Fluke, who is an advocate of having contraceptives included in insurance coverage. Then he went very low and sick!

"What does it say about the college coed ... who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex."

“So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis… If we are going to pay for your contraceptives… we want something for it. We want you to post the videos online so we can all watch.”

At Georgetown University (a Catholic university), where Fluke is a student, 130+ faculty members signed a letter that praised her for "grace and strength" and condemned the remarks by Limbaugh. The president of the university, John J. DeGioia, also condemned Limbaugh.

And, what’s Limbaugh’s response?
"I think this is hilarious. Absolutely hilarious," Limbaugh said on the air. "The left has been thrown into an outright conniption fit!"

Whether you listen to Rush or not (and I don’t), you ought to do your part in boycotting all and any of Rush Limbaugh’s sponsors and stop buying from them. These sponsors will then, as sponsors in the past have, end their relationship with Limbaugh. He will then take on new sponsors. When he does, then let’s stop buying from them.

Start a Movement!
I’m serious about this. All of you out there who detest the dishonesty and constant exaggerations of Rush Limbaugh should get on the bandwagon. Stop buying from any and all of Rush’s sponsors and email and ask your friends (your reasonable and sensible friends) to also stop buying from those sponsors.

Remember, this is the same oaf who mocked Michael J. Fox’s and his Parkinson’s disease. Limbaugh also caused a huge kerfuffle when he smeared professional football quarterback Donovan McNabb in a way that carried strong racial undercurrents. These are but a couple examples of Limbaugh’s foolishness and hurtfulness.

Select Comfort broke with Rush!
Congratulations to the Select Comfort Company, maker of the Sleep Number Bed, for breaking with Rush. They found the big guy’s remarks about Sarah Fluke to be just too much.

You can see from this that pressure can be put on sponsors. The economics are simple here. These companies don’t want to lose ten, or twenty, or thirty percent of their potential market.

A San Francisco company, Sleep Train, also announced it was pulling ads. The company had advertised with Limbaugh for over twenty-five (25!) years. They had enough.

And, this morning it appears that AutoZone is also dropping its long running relationship with Limbaugh.

The marketing division of Limbaugh’s radio empire must be pulling its hair out and losing a great deal of sleep this morning as it worries about its future. Let’s make them worry some more. Limbaugh has spread his hate around long enough.

As best as I can determine (and I’ll be regularly checking and I’ll edit this list if I find inaccuracies) this is the list of Limbaugh’s current sponsors. I suggest you not do business with any of them and that you might want to notify them that you are finished buying from them until they drop Limbaugh.

UPDATE to this blog post: This morning!
Now it looks like Quicken Loans and the Citrix Company have also pulled their advertising from the Limbaugh radio show. Congratulations to them.

Limbaugh’s Sponsors
So, let’s not do business with any of the following companies until we’ve confirmed that they are no longer going to advertise on the Rush Limbaugh radio show. [If you know of errors in this list email me promptly at chasleck@gmail.com and I’ll make the appropriate edits.]

Century21

Citracal – Mission Pharmacal Company

LendingTree

LifeLock

Midwest Life Insurance Co. of Tennessee

Oreck

TaxResolution

ProFlowers comments on Facebook
ProFlowers put a comment on Facebook and immediately got hundreds of responses to it. The company said: "We would like to assure you that we do not endorse the views expressed by Rush Limbaugh. We understand your concerns and value your feedback." As of this moment it appears they’ll continue their sponsorship. [Post 5 March 2012: ProFlowers has discontinued it association with Rush Limbaugh. The above list is getting shorter.]

Of the companies on the above list, I regular frequent Sears (bought a dishwasher from them not too long ago) and I use ProFlowers. They won’t see or hear from me again unless they drop Limbaugh. I’ve sent notice to all of the companies above that I have both personally decided not to use them and I’ve told them about this blog. Sears is now saying it does not advertise with Limbaugh but stations where they buy time may have put them on the Limbaugh Show.

Congratulations to Legal Zoom
Legal Zoom just announced that it is pulling its ads from Limbaugh’s show. I just took them off the above list. Legal Zoom is an on-line legal document service and they can be found at http://www.legalzoom.com/.


Carbonite has also dropped out and we congratulate them.


A telephone called to us from eHarmony tells us that they are not an advertiser on the Limbaugh show and we apologize to them.

Another Question!
Why haven’t we heard denouncements from the four Republican candidates for the U.S. presidency? Why?

President Obama has called Limbaugh’s remarks “reprehensible!” The President also personally called Ms. Fluke and spoke to her. Fluke is reported by the Associated Press to have said: “"He's really a very a kind man…. He just called to express concern for me and to make sure I was OK and to say that he supported me and to thank me for speaking out about something that's so important to so many women."

Rush Limbaugh has gone far enough. Let’s put the brakes on him.

Media Matters
One of the most important sites on the web is Media Matters. It keeps tabs on the media and reports exaggerations and inaccuracies (to be polite) and all informed citizens should know about this web site. Here’s its report on this matter (it includes a video of Limbaugh’s remarks).

NYTimes
Brian Stelter writes a blog on the NY Times called Media Decoder. Here’s his blog about this growing boycott. It has some good information about other Limbaugh sins and the hole that Rush has dug himself into.

Join the boycott!


CORRECTION: A reader sends a correction. It points out that the  American Force Network (AFN) is not a sponsor of the Rush Limbaugh Show. AFN does carry the show on its network, enabling military personnel to listen to it, but it does not consider itself a sponsor. I'll agree with that and I apologize to AFN. Many published lists include them as a sponsor.

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Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Limbaugh is a Radio Pig

This multi-millionaire does not represent the hardworking people of America!
by Charlie Leck

Have you ever listened closely to Rush Limbaugh and the kinds of things he says? Probably not, because you don’t want to waste your valuable time on such idiocy. I don’t blame you!

Now, however, it is time to form a Limbaugh truth squad. We absolutely must have someone listening to this mangled mind at all times. Whether the Republican Party likes it or not, the ground forces of that party are tied overwhelmingly to the shirt-tails of this radio talk show host.
And, this is not good! Limbaugh foments attitudes of hate. He deals in fear and threat.

If Rush Limbaugh were running the country I don’t even think he would listen to the blatantly stupid things he says on the radio. If he did, he would take the country down to absolute ruin.

Though we need to pay attention to him solely because so many ordinary people take him seriously, we must remember that Limbaugh is an entertainer and his success is dependent on high ratings and he earns that status by being bombastic. Yet, I circle back to the fact that he has enormous influence because people take him seriously. I know several people who listen to him fanatically. I promise you, they take what he says as solemn truth – unfortunately.

“I hope he fails!”
Limbaugh makes several millions of dollars each year. His big listening audience pays for that. So, when he said that he hopes the President fails in office, it was pretty easy for him to brag that he meant exactly what he said. So what if he fails? Doesn’t hurt Rush one little bit. He’s socked millions and millions away and lives high off the hog.

The people I know, who listen to Rush, live considerably lower on the hog and only irregularly at that. A failed economy will hit them where it really hurts! If Obama fails they will fail; yet they stand and cheer for Rush and virtually beg him to “let ‘em have it!”

His statement claiming he hopes Obama fails in office is worse than obscenity. It shows he has no patriotism and no allegiance to those who tune him in each and every time that he’s on the air.

Rush Limbaugh is a radio pig!
This is the straight scoop: Rush Limbaugh sucks! He pretends to be a super-patriot, but he’s not. He contends he’s the voice of the under-voiced. Nonsense! Rush Limbaugh is the voice of all those corporate executives who’ve been hauling in multi-million dollar bonuses for the last decade. He’s the voice of Halliburton and Exon! He speaks for the big banks and the big pharmaceutical companies. He is no friend of the working man and no friend of real, true conservatism.

“Limbaugh has been plowing the field of moral outrage for decades, but unlike Billy Sunday and the other hot-headed radio preachers who cashed in on social resentment in the Great Depression, Limbaugh threw out God. With no religious tradition to anchor himself, he can swing wider. Anything Limbaugh judges against is condemned, not by scripture, but simply by him being pissed off. Whatever Limbaugh hates -- however petty, personal, and arbitrary his animus -- is ipso facto wrong.’ [Deepak Chopra, Alternet, 9 March 2009]

I wish the people I know, who listen to Rush, would get this figured out about him. Rush Limbaugh is trash and he’s bad for America.

“I’m sorry Limbaugh called for harsh sentences for drug addicts while he was a drug addict. I’m also sorry that he’s bent on seeing America fail. And I’m sorry that Limbaugh is one sorry excuse for a human being.” [Representative Alan Grayson (D-FL)]

Want to read some of Rush’s greatest, all-time hits?Media Matters has created a web site where you can do that [click here]. This organization does a great job keeping on top of Rush Limbaugh’s absurd and erroneous statements. Too bad we can’t get the working class population to come on over to read some of this exposure of the first class boobhead of the radio.

Visit Media Matters’ Limbaugh Wire!