RUSH: Cookie gave me a couple other sound bites here. A lot of people have been asking me about some things about this program in the news. And I have chosen not to be specific in comments about it because others I knew would and have, and so we can hit the sound bites in that regard. Let’s grab sound bites five and six. This is on CNN’s Reliable Sources yesterday. They’ve got a new host in there, Patrick Gavin. You know, Howie Kurtz went over to Fox News Channel. So their new host at Reliable Sources, Patrick Gavin, had Michael Harrison from Talkers magazine on there and a syndicated talk show host by the name of Thom Hartmann on. I guess he’s a liberal.
And they were talking about the stories that have been in The Politico lately about me supposedly being dumped because I am losing everything that’s going on and the people can’t wait to get rid of me and so forth, they wanted to put these stories in perspective. This is what you’ve e-mailed me about. So the host of this show says, “There are two ways to look at this. One way is that it’s a big blow to conservative media if Limbaugh gets dropped. The other way to look at this, simply people sorting out the negotiations in public, simply two people trying to resolve a business deal, and we can’t read much more into it. What is your take from what you’re hearing about what exactly this debate’s about?” And here’s Michael Harrison.
HARRISON: It’s clearly a radio deal. It has nothing to do with the future of conservative talk radio. It has nothing to do with the future of Rush Limbaugh. It just is a deal between two giant radio companies trying to negotiate whether they’re gonna continue to be in business together, and they’re two competing companies that also work together, Clear Channel and Cumulus, and they’re just trying to come up with a deal.
RUSH: Okay, so I have to tell you he’s right. And in this sense it’s probably a little bit better that somebody outside this program who I don’t know that well, I mean, I know Harrison, but I wouldn’t call him a friend, but he’s an acquaintance and I know him fairly well, Talkers magazine, but he’s got it exactly right. And I don’t want any of you to be concerned about all this because it’s being written up as a content issue and it has nothing to do with content. It’s strictly dollars and cents, it’s strictly business, and one side decided to start negotiating in public, and the left wants this to be about something that it’s not, so they write it up that day.
Now, here’s the liberal host by the name of Thom Hartmann. The question he got was, “Media Matters said on MSNBC, this a huge victory for progressive radio. And you’re in progressive radio. When you look at this, do you view the fact that Limbaugh might get dropped by these 40 radio stations as a victory?”
HARTMANN: No, I agree with Michael that it is just a business deal. In fact, I’d take a step further. David Brock and Media Matters were leading the boycott Limbaugh crusade. I can tell you it did a lot of damage to progressive talk radio because a lot of advertisers right across the board said, “Just pull me out of all talk radio.” I don’t know Limbaugh’s numbers, but I do know on our side of it that progressive talk radio took a hit as a consequence of that.
RUSH: Anyway, the bottom line from all of this is that it isn’t about conservatism, and no matter what happens, I am not going to be on 40 fewer radio stations, no matter what happens here.
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RUSH: I checked the e-mail. “You sound awfully tentative about…” No, no. I don’t… Folks, I already know how this ends, and I’m sorta hamstrung. I already know. It’s just the bottom line is — let’s put it this way — it’s all good. We’re in our 26th year and we are continuing to grow. It’s the number one radio show in the country, and there isn’t a station that doesn’t want it. Well, there might be a couple of radical leftists, but you get my point. It’s better than okay.