Rush Limbaugh gets $400M contract

He's been doing this for 20 years at a high level, which is an incredible accomplishment. If he was going to be a fad and be overtaken, it would have happened by now. The audience will go away when Rush hangs it up and probably not before that.

 

Or until he overdoses on pain pills, leaving behing a fat, bloated, limp-dick carcass.

 

Rush will always have his audience, unless the Equal Time law gets revived.

A couple of months ago, I was listening to Hannity bitching about how the Equal Time law was evil because the Dems were supporting it. I couldn't help but think that if the law came back, the right-wing radio shock jocks would have a hell of a time spewing their rhetoric without having someone else call them out for it.

 

Aren't you just a lovely human being

 

And the First Amendment wept.

 

Why? Rush and Hannity would still be able to give their talking points. They just would have to give up some air time for a counterpoint. If anything, it would give more people the right to free speech.

 

Everyone has the right to free speech -- the "Fairness Doctrine" does not create more of what you already have. Since when is my right to free speech predicated on giving equal time to those who disagree with me? Furthermore, it promotes a false dichotomy that there are two views on any given issue. It leads to more milquetoast "speech" instead of a robust debate. You want to challenge Rush/Hannity? Get your own radio show. Start a blog. Exercise your free speech rights instead of inhibiting theirs.

 

Limbaugh: He put the "high" in "high level."

 

Considering he is the tent pole for conservative radio, he's well worth it. No matter where you are in this country, you can probably find at least three stations up and down the dial that are carrying his show. That is reach.

 

Actually, the U.S. government (I believe it was the Supreme Court, but I could be wrong), has ruled that the airwaves belong to the public. That's you and me. The Fairness Doctrine does create more free speech because it would allow other viewpoints to be heard. I'm sure you've heard of radio and TV stations not showing certain shows (such as Ted Koppel's reading of the names of dead American servicemen, for example) because they don't want certain viewpoints.

Look at how the networks decide who will be in presidential debates. They don't mind the Dems and Reps, but heaven forbid if a Ross Perot decides he wants in. The second time Perot ran, the networks 'decided' that he wasn't qualified enough.

My point was, Rush and Hannity would hate to have Fairness Doctrine laws, because then, someone could go on the air to point out the flaws in their bullshit rants.