Operation Chaos Mastermind Stirring up Obama, Hillary Camps Again

The Right Frequency details how in 2008, Rush Limbaugh called on his conservative listeners to vote in Democratic primaries for Hillary Clinton – at a point when it appeared evident she would lose to eventual nominee Barack Obama. The reason, Limbaugh said, was to keep the primary battle going on for as long as possible.

Rush Limbaugh

Rush has recently sought to stir up more heat between the two camps. He suggested that it was the Obama White House that was responsible for leaks to the New York Times about the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal.

“Maybe he’s worried that Hillary would do a better job that he’s done and wouldn’t want to have the next Democrat president end up looking better than he does,” Limbaugh said. “I think that’s entirely possible.”

To learn more about how Limbaugh interjected himself into the 2008 Democratic primary, read The Right Frequency.

Why Alternative Media is Better than the Good Old Days

The rise of new media has produced too much “advocacy journalism” according to Larry Atkins a journalist and attorney.

Walter Cronkite (NASA.gov)

From Huffington Post

Over the past 15 years, as newspaper circulation has declined, more and more people are turning to advocacy journalism via websites, talk radio, cable TV, and blogs to get their news. …

Advocacy journalists do not set out to inform; they set out to advance an agenda, whether it be conservative or liberal. While FOX News and conservative talk radio show hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are the worst offenders, liberal television hosts like Al Sharpton and Rachel Maddow also fall into this category. They are all giving their opinion and reporting news with a goal and a biased agenda.

In light of the explosion of media outlets ranging from cable news outlets, talk radio, blogs, and websites, we need to be more savvy news consumers. As I tell my journalism students, it’s important to consider the source of the information before we make our judgments.

Atkins is both right and wrong.

Neither Rush Limbaugh nor Rachel Maddow are journalists, and have been known to omit facts to push their point of view.

However, Atkins longs for the good old days that never really existed, of The New York Times setting the agenda and Walter Cronkite telling America, “That’s the way it is.” Today we know that establishment media had their own agenda and framed debates in one way.

So the public should be more savvy news consumers and always consider the source of information. That’s always been the case. What’s better about today than Atkins’ mythical yesteryear is that an alternative media has produced multiple sources to check both politicians and media.

To learn more about how talk radio established a successful commercial model for the exploding alternative media universe of today, read The Right Frequency.

O’Reilly vs. Limbaugh – What About the Facts?

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly took a swipe at Rush Limbaugh this week, actually comparing him to Al Franken – a former leftwing talk radio host now serving in the Senate.

Bill O’Reilly and Rep. Sam Johnson (sam.johnson.house.gov)

Speaking at an event in New York, O’Reilly said:

“I’m not Rush Limbaugh or Al Franken, where everything has to fit into my worldview… I’m a fact-based guy. A lot of people don’t understand that.”

O’Reilly and Limbaugh have had a bit of a rivalry for a while. As The Right Frequency explains, O’Reilly – the king of cable news – tried to take on Limbaugh head to head in a Noon to 3 p.m. talk radio program. It didn’t work out so well.

To learn more about the feud with O’Reilly and Limbaugh, Sean Hannity vs. Michael Savage and other talk radio rivalries, read The Right Frequency.

Right Frequency Hits 3 Bestseller Lists — Topping 1

The Right Frequency is once again the #1 Best Selling book in Amazon’s category for Radio History & Criticism, as of June 13. It ranks #2 among overall books in the Amazon category for Radio books.

That outranks two books by Wendy Williams, a book about National Public Radio and a book on Rush Limbaugh.

The book ranked #24 in Public Affairs & Administration, where it beats out Bill Clinton’s book, “Back to Work” among others.

It also ranks #27 in Amazon’s category for Media Studies, where it is beating out books by former pro wrestler-turned politician Jesse Ventura and well known conservative pundit Michelle Malkin.

The climb comes the same week talk radio made news for its influence in swaying voters to oust House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican primary in Virginia, which had political tremors nationally.

More readers are finding out why Mark Levin said, “Anyone who loves talk radio will love this book.”

Dick Morris said, “Talk radio destroyed the liberal media monopoly and gave the conservatives a voice. But precisely because it brought the giants low, the publishing industry has ignored its history. Fred Lucas now fills that void, explaining from where it came and where it might be headed.”

Brent Bozell wrote, “”Author Fred Lucas chronicles conservative talk-radio stars over the decades, reminding us how they kept the American idea alive.”

To learn about the history and influence of talk radio going back to the earliest days of the medium — from Walter Winchell to Limbaugh — read The Right Frequency.

What Makes Award-Winning Children’s Author Rush Limbaugh’s History Books so Offensive?

Rush Limbaugh won the Children’s Choice Book Award for author of the year. He beat out other famous children’s authors.

Rush Limbaugh

In an excellent op-ed about Rush Limbaugh’s two history books for children, David Deming, a professor of arts and sciences at the University of Oklahoma, explains why the left is so upset.

From the Washington Times:

What Mr. Limbaugh’s critics find intolerable is that these are children’s books. The first, “Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims,” narrates the story of the Pilgrims’ emigration to America in search of religious freedom. The second, “Rush Revere and the First Patriots,” describes the events leading up to the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and protests against the Stamp Act.

What makes these books so offensive to progressives is that Mr. Limbaugh has the audacity to challenge them on their own turf. The great irony of the 20th century is that while the United States won the Cold War abroad, we lost the battle at home for the hearts and minds of our children. While Ronald Reagan was preoccupied with defeating the Soviet Union, the left was quietly cementing its control over American education. Public schools in this nation, from kindergarten through graduate school, are quietly but effectively destroying our country by teaching our youth to hate it.

To learn more about how Rush changed the political and historical conversation in this country, read Chapter 7 of The Right Frequency.

Rush Limbaugh: Shinseki Got his Job for Slamming Bush

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned Friday over the VA book cooking scandal. Talk radio superstar Rush Limbaugh reminded his audience this week that Shinseki was a hero to the left because as Army Chief of Staff during the Bush administration, he criticized President Bush and the Iraq war.

VA Sec. Eric Shinseki (Photo Credit: VA.gov)

From Fox News:

“Shinseki stood up and said, ‘it’s going to take hundreds of thousand, and we don’t have a chance. And the Democrats loved that, so they put him in this job, maybe as thanks, maybe as payback.”

“They’re not qualified to run Obamacare. They’re not qualified to run energy. They’re not qualified to run the economy. They don’t have anybody that knows what they’re doing in anything.”

Read more about how Limbaugh and other conservative hosts backed President Bush in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in Chapter 9 of The Right Frequency.

Riding the Rush Wave, Sandra Fluke is Back

Whatever future she has, Sandra Fluke owes it all to being insulted by Rush Limbaugh. Now she is planning to run for the California state legislature.

Sandra Fluke (Photo Credit: Pelosi.House.gov)

From Bloomberg News:

Fluke, denounced by the talk-show host for testifying in favor of requiring employers to cover birth control, is trying to capitalize on the incident without being defined by it in her first run for office. Voters are surprised to learn she’s the daughter of an evangelical pastor, she said, “because that’s not the Sandra Fluke of the Rush Limbaugh situation.”

One of eight candidates in the most contested of any of the 20 state senate primary races in California, the 33-year-old lawyer is campaigning for environmental protection, affordable education and the repeal of part of the tax-limiting Proposition 13 law. Like her opponents in the Los Angeles-area district, which hugs the coast and stretches inland to Hollywood, she’s an abortion-rights advocate.

Learn more about the Limbaugh-Fluke controversy from 2012 by reading The Right Frequency.

Rush and Obama Agree on Something

Rush Limbaugh is a huge NFL fan, and has not been happy with the criticism of the game over head injuries.

This week, the White House held a conference about brain injuries suffered in youth sports. President Barack Obama opened the forum talking about the days when he played football as a young man.

“When I was young and played football briefly,” said the president, better known for playing high school basketball in Hawaii. He said he recalled a “ringing in my head” that he probably suffered a “mild concussion.” But because in those days, it’s something that high school athletes didn’t check out.

Limbaugh – the loudest critic of the president – found himself in agreement.

“He won’t get any argument here that he’s had some brain injury,” Limbaugh on his program Wednesday.

To learn more about Rush Limbaugh’s love of football, read Chapter 7 of The Right Frequency.

Monica Lewinsky and Talk Radio’s Road to Impeachment

The reemergence of Monica Lewinsky last week with the Vanity Fair essay, “Shame and Survival,” prompted plenty of chatter on talk radio, as it sounded like a throwback to the 1990s hearing Rush Limbaugh explain the entire scandal was not about sex but about perjury and corruption in the White House.

Rush Limbaugh

“They’re discarded after being used. And if they dare speak up at the wrong time and the wrong place, they get destroyed not just discarded. There’s Hillary. Monica Lewinsky is making the point that it was Hillary blaming all the women that were involved, including her. Lewinsky, she says she considered suicide. So Hillary and Bill… I mean, War on Women?” Rush said.

The Right Frequency explains “radio’s road to impeachment” in Chapter 8, detailing how Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy and other talkers fanned the flames and built public pressure that ultimately led to the House impeaching President Bill Clinton.

For more information on how talk radio helped prompt the Clinton impeachment, read The Right Frequency.

 

Limbaugh: Obama Makes U.S. Seem Powerless in Boko Haram Kidnapping

First Lady Michelle Obama delivered the White House weekend address about the more than 200 kidnapped Nigerian school girls by the terrorist Boko Haram.

Rush Limbaugh

But this past week, Rush Limbaugh ripped the administration for its failure to do anything meaningful on the matter.

“The most powerful man in the world looks impotent and pathetic and then so does this country when the twitter hashtag becomes the instrument here,” Limbaugh said.

He added, “It’s unbelievable…what message does this send?” he said. “Is the United States really this powerless? And then if you answer yes, we are really this powerless, then isn’t Obama to blame?”

Limbaugh typically is critical of the Obama administration, so much so that the White House once developed a strategy to target Limbaugh as the “leader of the Republican party,” as detailed in The Right Frequency.

For more information about the Limbaugh vs. Obama rivalry, read The Right Frequency.