A Statement from David Friend, CEO of Carbonite as of 6:45pm ET, March 3:
“No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse.” (my emphasis)
You can follow new developments on Twitter at #stoprush and #boycottrush.
Update: The Washington Post has an article on Rush tonight and the likely fallout with some interesting details on his ratings (may be less than previously believed due to a change in how ratings are reported), and some of his past attacks. On ratings:
Under the old audience-measurement method used by Arbitron, a sample of listeners recalled what they had listened to and listed these programs in a paper diary. The system favored big names such as Limbaugh and Howard Stern.
But a new system, in use in 48 large cities, employs electronic meters that automatically record what respondents are listening to. The electronic ratings have generally been lower than the old paper ratings, said Cooke, adding, “his audience may have been over-estimated all along.”
The past attacks:
Limbaugh has escaped lasting damage over inflammatory remarks before, such as when he suggested that Michael J. Fox was exaggerating the effects of Parkinson’s disease in a 2006 ad in which the actor advocated more funding for stem-cell research, or when he aired a song parody called “Barack the Magic Negro” that lampooned Barack Obama’s candidacy in 2007.
Limbaugh airs on 600 stations. Without advertisers, how long will they keep him? One potential replacement name floating around: Mike Huckabee.
And what Koolaid is this guy drinking?
Randall Bloomquist, a talk-radio consultant.... [says] "The people who listen to him may not agree with the language he used, but they like what he said.” “This is brilliant, in a way. It plays to his existing base and brings back fans who haven’t listened to him in a while.”
Nice try at spin, but I doubt anyone will buy that ton of lard. Rush may survive, but his image has been permanently tarnished by this latest debacle. The final lesson is far more apt to be that Rush is Expendable.
