Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh, through his radio syndicator Premiere Radio Networks, sent out a press release titled “Limbaugh Leads the Race Against Liberal Talkers,” purportedly comparing his ratings to those of progressive talk stations.

The release lists ratings info for five cities — Austin, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Memphis — for Spring 2005 (March 31 to June 22). In two of those cities, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, the stations that Rush claims he “defeated” didn’t switch to the progressive talk format until July 2005 — after the ratings period in question ended. Two of the other comparisons are also misleading. Rush claims to have won the ratings battle in Austin — but the progressive alternative is a low-watt station that broadcasts not out of Austin, but 20 miles away in bustling Pflugersville, Texas. The same is true of Rush’s performance in San Antonio, where the weaker progressive talk station is actually based in suburban Devine, Texas.

In other words, of the 591 stations on which Limbaugh broadcasts, he chose to highlight four where his “victories” are at best misleading, at worst plain dishonest.

The reality is that in several major markets, ratings for progressive talk are booming. In Denver, Air America’s ratings are up 500% from one year ago. “Seattle’s newly talk-formatted KPTK, doubled in the winter [ratings] book, Portland’s KPOJ-AM grew 1000% in audience share. In conservative San Diego, KLSD-AM went up 73%. … Other markets with similar success include: Boston, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Sacramento and Columbus.” Rush is even on the verge of being overtaken in his own home state.

An even more interesting comparison is found when looking at stations with integrated lineups that carry both Rush and a progressive host. In that apples-to-apples comparison, we see that Rush Limbaugh and Ed Schultz are actually very competitive.

It’s not an easy time to be a progressive in America. But things aren’t all bad, as a new study by the Center for Policy Alternatives called “Progress in the States” demonstrates:

Progress in the States describes 144 proactive, progressive measures that have become law, or will become law, in 2005. Overall, the study demonstrates the vitality and variety of progressive successes in the states.

The report documents successes at the state level on issues ranging from minimum wage to energy efficiency to prescription drug prices. Take a trip on the sunny side and check out the full report here.

At today’s “Ask the White House,” Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Al Hubbard showed his compassionate conservative side:

Bobbie, from Dallas, TX writes:
Everybody keeps talking about how the economy is growing and so good yet I have been out of work for 6 12 months now. I am a legal assistant with 15 years of experience. Law Firms seem to be looking for people with 2 to 5 years of experience so they can pay them less. I need a job now, what help is there for me?

Al Hubbard
As I mentioned in my opening statement, the job situation has improved dramatically over the past 2 years. Just last month the economy created over 200,000 new jobs. My suggestion to you is to remain persistent in your job hunt and I am sure you will find the right job for you.

There’s a reason why Hubbard had to sidestep Bobbie’s question: the heavily-touted economic recovery isn’t as rosy as the administration is making it out to be. According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, “Employment and wage and salary growth are especially slow in the current period, underperforming not only the historical average but, in the case of employment growth, every comparable period since the end of World War II.”

But don’t worry Bobbie, you just keep being persistent. Looking for a job is hard work.

pork-filled transportation bill — calls it “fiscally responsible.”

Yesterday at the Department of Defense press briefing, Secretary Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers touted new poll results of Iraqis that claim to demonstrate that the insurgency is losing political steam. What they didn’t reveal about the poll is that it surveyed only those Iraqis who already despise the insurgent activity and have actively worked against it.

Here’s what Rumsfeld said yesterday when asked whether he truly understands the nature of the insurgency:

Q: “If I can take you back to your opening statement when you — actually, General Myers made similar references to the failings of the insurgency, including their failure to garner public support. And yet, this far into the operation, the insurgency has managed to sustain itself. Does this suggest a lack of understanding on your part on what the insurgency is about, who they are, the durability of their effort?”

SEC. RUMSFELD: “The people who are involved in analyzing that think not.”

Myers followed up with the evidence to back Rumsfeld’s statement:

GEN. MYERS: “The polling data would certainly — and we have some recent polling data that certainly indicates just the opposite, and I think we can release that at some point. Yeah, we can release the polling data.”

Some of the polling data was released in an article written by Jim Garamone of the Armed Forces Press Service (the AFPS is a propaganda arm of the DoD, sending out news articles daily that carry only the administration’s point of view). Here’s what Garamone wrote of the polling data:

“The poll – done as part of the Tips Hotline number campaign – was conducted in Baghdad, Basrah, Salah Ad-Din, Najaf, Diyala and Irbil. More than 1,200 Iraqis answered the questions.”

What is the “Tips Hotline number campaign?” The Tips campaign was originally established by U.S. forces in Baghdad to give ordinary Iraqis the opportunity to call in leads regarding suspected insurgent activity (see this article by the AFPS on the hotline). Pollsters were able to gain access to the database for this most recent poll. The problem with the poll should be clear at this point: Iraqis who were already predisposed against the insurgency are being asked about their feelings toward the insurgency, and the results are being used to portray the entirety of Iraqi opinion. It is not surprising to learn that 95+ percent of those surveyed said attacks are not justified — that is why they’re calling them in.

I called the Pentagon to ask them about this misleading survey. Read more

If you don’t like what the mother of a fallen soldier has to say, what do you do? Smear her! Last night on Fox’s O’Reilly Factor, O’Reilly and right-wing columnist Michelle Malkin launched the personal attack on Cindy Sheehan.

First, O’Reilly painted her as a traitor:

I think Mrs. Sheehan bears some responsibility for this [publicity] and also for the responsibility for the other American families who lost sons and daughters in Iraq who feel this kind of behavior borders on treasonous. LISTEN HERE

Malkin took it up a notch by bringing Sheehan’s son, who was killed last year:

I can’t imagine that Casey Sheehan would approve of such behavior. LISTEN HERE

Is smearing grieving mothers how the right-wing supports the troops?

UPDATE: See Crooks and Liars for video of the segment.