Limbaugh launches 'babe' outreach effort
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has launched "Rush Babes for America," an outreach effort conceived as a pre-emptive strike against activist organizations trying to have "The Rush Limbaugh Show" pulled from the air, according to Politico. The group's Facebook page declares itself to be "dedicated to the millions of conservative women who know what they believe in: family, American Values, and not being told by Faux Feminist Groups how to think."
The National Organization for Women (NOW) launched a campaign of its own on April 19. Called "Enough Rush," the effort's goal is to "deliver the powerful message to Rush Limbaugh and his apologists that bullying is no longer profitable."
On Tuesday's edition of his daily, three-hour radio broadcast, Limbaugh issued a warning that additional outside forces are about to assail his program. "Sometime later this month the Femi-Nazis are going to be working with Media Matters for America in kicking off some giant program, some coordinated plan to have me taken off the air, under the premise that women hate this program and that this program is an unfriendly environment for women, that this program laughs at, impugns, makes fun of women," he said.
"Rush Babes" is the conservative entertainer's answer to these charges.
The group's logo features a woman's outline similar to the frolicking nude female figures cast in chrome on a trucker's mud flaps. She is provocatively straddling Limbaugh's "EIB" seal, which stands for "Excellence in Broadcasting." The "Rush Babes" Facebook profile photo features the logo printed on a yellow plastic "Baby on Board" sign, emblazoned with the slogan, "Rush Babe on Board."
Limbaugh's goal, he said, is to paint NOW as an organization that does not actually care about women, "The National Organization for Women is not a female organization," he said on Tuesday's show, "It's a liberal organization disguised as a group that's interested in the rights of women."
Limbaugh has never been a great friend to women, calling 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton "the White House dog" and saying that he learned everything he needed to know about women from his cat, which "gets loved," "petted," and "fed" and "doesn't have to do anything for it." Things hit a flashpoint earlier this year, however, when the host went on a shocking three-day sexist tirade against Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, alternately calling her a slut and a prostitute and urging her to make sex tapes for him and his listeners to watch online. Horrified advertisers bolted as the outburst made headlines.
Angelo Carusone, creator of Media Matters's "Stop Rush" campaign told Politico, "Rush Limbaugh and his crisis manager continue to claim that everything is fine and yet continue to act otherwise." Carusone cites the roll-out of "Rush Babes" as an indication that targeted actions are working, and that Limbaugh is beginning to feel the heat from the loss of sponsor money.
Politico reports that one company that carries Limbaugh's program, Cumulous, lost millions of dollars in the first quarter of this year.
NOW representatives were unavailable for comment at press time.