Professor Cnut, in the John, with a Dildo

Like me, you’ve probably been witnessing the last few days of Post-Breitbartocalypse Rightwingsexscoldslutslutslutblowhardgate with jaw agape alternating with teeth clenched grindingly shut.

It’s been quite the sight to behold, even marked in my homeland by the appearance of fiery balls in the sky (which I sadly missed through inattention/embarrassment/partial cloud cover).

I haven’t felt the urge to blog about it since innumerable bloggers have been writing up a storm about the libeling and attempted shaming and silencing of Sandra Fluke, not least John Cole on the sane side of the kerfuffle, countered in inimitable fashion by too many lying rightwingnut scribblers to mention, all singing from the songsheet Rush was yodeling from till he saw the writing on the wall and backtracked just a tad.

One I will mention is Colonel, a.k.a. Professor, “Cnut”* Mustard, who this morning staggered through the detritus of discarded Cheeto wrappers, soiled underwear, and scraps of the Constitution that litter his lair to hammer out on his keyboard a call to arms to his loyal followers:

Make an example of Carbonite

Liberal groups have seized on a strategy I didn’t think would be effective, but has had some success, to go after advertisers of prominent conservative media personalities.

Media Matters explicitly seeks to bring down Fox News and investigate its executives, and Fox News advertisers have been targeted by groups like Color of Change, which has targeted Glenn Beck, Eric Bolling, Lou Dobbs, Pat Buchanan and Andrew Breitbart.

Now Rush Limbaugh advertisers are the target because of an analogy he used.  As Jimmie Bise points out, Rush’s comments were overblown if one listens to what he actually said, but nonetheless, the use of “slut” or “prostitute” even in an analogy was inappropriate, as Rush has acknowledged.  It also distracted from the attack on religious freedom which is the heart of the controversy.

As has become the pattern, Rush’s advertisers immediately were attacked and threatened, and several gave in quickly, like Quicken Loans and Sleep Number, pulling their advertising.

No advertiser was more associated with Rush than Carbonite, an online computer back up company.  Rush often would read Carbonite’s ads himself, and would tout their service.

The Colonel then bemoans Carbonite CEO David Friend’s decision to withdraw sponsorship of Limbaugh’s shows (after many years of apparently not turning a hair at the daily diet of bilge associated with his company’s name, but we’ll let that pass for now) with a superbly phrased announcement:

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.”

Perhaps with an eye to his own blog’s ad income (“Anything is possible — well almost anything.  Send me an e-mail, “contact -at- legalinsurrection -dot- com” specifying what you have in mind.”—times are evidently hard for law school hacks driven to prostitute themselves), the historically boycottophobic Colonel decides that attack is the best form of defense:

This is not a question of promoting more speech, or alternative views.  This is an attempt find something, anything, to force Rush off the air.  Ms. Magazine has launched a campaign do do just that by going after Clear Channel Communications, whose stations carry Rush’s program.

Rush will survive this controversy, but most conservatives would not.  It takes just one joke gone bad, one misplaced analogy, and a conservative talk show host could see his or her advertisers under organized assault.  As Ed Schultz shows, a completely different standard is applied to liberal talk show hosts.
...
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.

The Colonel is totally unspecific about what such a “start” would involve, possibly because all he’s got to even hint at is a counter-boycott, having decried and pooh-poohed the tactic so often in the past.

In any case, this would be a more powerful plea were it not for the plaintive addendum:

Update 2:20 p.m. ProFlowers just announced on Facebook that it is dropping its advertising on Rush.  DailyKos and others had been organizing a boycott of ProFlowers, which had held out until now.

Even in his own comments stream, the rabble are barely roused. In fact, there are vestiges of intelligent life that must make the Colonel grind his own (or indeed, somebody else’s) teeth and reach for his finest set of clutching pearls:

All these sponsors leaving Limbaugh exemplifies the snowball effect of how quickly people clump together to leave a sinking ship.

If you don’t leave, or at least chastise Limbaugh, will that mean that you approve of what he calls women? That’s the problem, nobody wants to be left holding the bag of “omission,” if and when this question crosses a woman customer’s mind.

“Bag of ‘omission’” may be a typo, it may be a euphemism. After the past few days, I just don’t know any more.

Here’s the thing, Professor, or Colonel, or whatever you call yourself: This may be a mere bagatelle to you, yet another theoretical political catfight about whatever leftwing boogieman you’re chasing this week.

For others, it strikes much, MUCH closer to home. And you’re part of it whether you like it or not, and they’re pissed, and I don’t think they’re going to go away because there really isn’t anywhere to back down to for them. So suck on it.

* I’m aware that contrary to myth, King Cnut was a wise monarch who tried to show he was not all-powerful and couldn’t turn the tide at will. In my current work- and Limbaugh-addled state, the only alternative metaphor I could come up with involved boys and thumbs and holes and dikes, which seemed less than politic in the current climate.

Posted by YAFB on 03/04/12 at 06:18 PM • Permalink

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