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Justice

Texas Judge: Vote For Me Because Rush Limbaugh Loves My Decisions Favoring Energy Corporations

Judge Trey Loftin

Texas trial Judge Trey Loftin is running for reelection. He’s also currently hearing a case in which he’s handed down some rulings favoring a drilling company. And he wants you to know that his decisions favoring this corporation are why you should vote for him:

A Texas state judge is promoting his recent decisions favoring a gas driller in its dispute with a local landowner as part of his election campaign, a move some legal scholars say may violate state judicial ethics rules.

With aspects of the case still pending in his courtroom, Judge Trey Loftin sent fliers to voters saying he forced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to back down.

Loftin, who is campaigning to keep his state judgeship in a county west of Dallas, also sent out materials with the image of talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who credited the judge’s ruling in favor of driller Range Resources Corp. (RRC) (RRC), based in Fort Worth, Texas, for getting the EPA to reverse course.

The clear implication of his campaign fliers, of course, is that a vote for Judge Loftin is a vote for the very same kind of industry-friendly, Limbaugh-approved decisions he’s handed down in the past. Rather than, say, future decisions that side with big business only when the law favors big business and with local landowners when the law is on their side.

Worse, by making a case that is still pending in his courtroom a centerpiece of his campaign, Loftin might as well advertise that voters (and industry donors) can influence the outcome of that very case simply by supporting his campaign. This kind of campaign would be inappropriate even if Loftin were simply suggesting that he would rule against a frivolous lawsuit claiming that every Texan has a fundamental right to an unlimited supply of purple plastic plates, but it is all the more troubling when he implies that a wealthy and powerful industry group could keep a friendly judge on the bench by throwing their support behind him.

NEWS FLASH

Missouri Spends $1,100 In Tax-Payer Dollars To Guard Limbaugh Bust | The Missouri House “spent more than $1,100 in taxpayer money on a security camera to keep watch over a new bronze bust of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh.” The small-government conservative talk show-host was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians during a closed-door ceremony last week. He joined the ranks of “President Harry Truman, Walt Disney and former Cardinals baseball star Stan Musial.”

NEWS FLASH

Limbaugh Sees Ratings Dip Following Attacks On Sandra Fluke | The ratings for Rush Limbaugh’s radio show have dropped significantly in key markets since he attacked Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke as a “prostitute” and a “slut” after she spoke out in favor of the Obama administration’s contraception rule requiring coverage at no additional cost. Despite claiming in March that his ratings were up 60 percent, Limbaugh’s numbers have fallen 27 percent in the 25-54 demographic in New York City, 31 percent in Houston-Galveston, 40 percent in Seattle-Tacoma, and 35 percent in Jacksonville, Politico reports. The numbers come from a selection of the March 29 to April 25 Arbitron ratings.

Media

Rush Limbaugh On Hillary Clinton: ‘All She Is Is A Secretary’ Who Needs To Wear Spanx

Since March, advertisers have been abandoning Rush Limbaugh in droves following a series of sexist attacks on Georgetown Law Student Sandra Fluke.

Today, Limbaugh turned his attention to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Limabugh said that Clinton “has reached a pinnacle and all she is is a secretary,” adding that the left has “the strangest definition of success.”

Limbaugh then said he was being prodded to talk about Clinton’s need to wear “Spanx,” but suggested she had a greater need for “Spankles.” Spanx are undergarments designed to reduce the visibility of body fat. Listen:

You can listen to Limbaugh’s attacks on Sandra Fluke here.

NEWS FLASH

CBS Affiliate Will Stop Airing Limbaugh | Philadelphia CBS affiliate WPHT will no longer broadcast Rush Limbaugh’s show, replacing the hate radio host with the far more moderate talker Michael Smerconish. While “the move does not appear to be directly related to the recent ad boycott” against Limbaugh in the wake of his sexist attacks on Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, it’s the latest sign that Limbaugh’s dominance in the talk radio world may be waning. Limbaugh will likely move to an AM station in the city.

Justice

Rush Welcomes Republican Fifth Circuit Judge To The ‘Team’ That’s Trying To Make Obama A ‘One-Termer This November’

Earlier this week, Republican Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry Smith ordered the Justice Department to submit a three page, single-spaced letter responding to President Obama’s recent criticism of judicial overreach. Smith’s order is widely perceived as a partisan effort to embarrass the president — even Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren thought the order was so inappropriate that she said that “I’m not so sure the Department of Justice has to comply with this.”

Republican radio host Rush Limbaugh, however, was delighted to see this Republican judge reaching out to aide the Republican Party. As Limbaugh said on his show yesterday:

Now, yesterday afternoon a federal judge by the name of Jerry Smith at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Houston had had enough, and he demanded that the Justice Department give him a three-page memo on whether or not this administration understands the concept of judicial review. Now, I saw this and I started cheering. I started laughing. Because it’s about time people started fighting back on this. The American people love the concept of a team. You have to have the right people on the team, but we are a team here. There is a team that’s opposing this president, and attempting to make him a one-termer this November at the ballot box. It’s great to have this response.

It is, of course, not at all surprising to see a leading Republican so gleeful at this Republican judge’s Republican Republicanism. The only loser in this incident is any perception whatsoever that the Fifth Circuit can be relied upon to see aside its partisan preferences and fairly apply the law. As Orin Kerr, a former constitutional advisor to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), explains, “the court’s order was highly inappropriate, and Rush’s comments are an excellent example of why. Whatever the judges were thinking, their order was inevitably going to be interpreted as the product of three conservative judges trying to enter the political fray and take on a Democratic President.”

Update

On a personal note, I want to offer a special thanks to Mr. Limbaugh for helping me rebut Fox News’ suggestion that Judge Smith’s actions had to do with anything other than partisan politics during an appearance on the network this morning. Watch it:

Alyssa

Limbaugh Defends TV Producer’s Sexist Remarks: ‘It’s All Vagina All The Time…OK Women, Let Us Alone’

Lee Aronsohn, the co-creator of the hit comedy sitcom ‘Two and a Half Men,’ issued a host of sexist remarks at a television conference recently, complaining about the over-saturation of female-oriented comedies. “We’re approaching peak vagina on television, the point of labia saturation,” Aronsohn said, adding, “‘Enough, ladies, I get it. You have periods.”

Calling Aronsohn a “sexist creep,” Alyssa Rosenberg noted the comment “tells you everything about how cosseted Hollywood’s disgusting sexists are.” Aronsohn issued a flippant apology on Twitter: “Yes, yes – it was a stupid joke. I’m sorry.”

While Aronsohn elicited widespread anger as a result of his snide insults, he did find one defender: Rush Limbaugh. The hate radio host, who constantly bemoans the “chickification” of various aspects of American life, used that term his defense of Aronsohn, urging women to leave them alone today:

All he’s talking about here is the chickification of his business. He writes sitcoms – he’s a comedy writer. He says the women have taken over. It’s all vagina all the time. We get it! Ok women, let us alone.

Watch it:

Limbaugh is trying to repair his corporate brand with advertisers, hordes of whom have left his show due to his willingness to engage in sexist attacks. Limbaugh is of course a suitable defender of Aronsohn, given his distinguished track record and his willingness to call female advocates “sluts.”

Media

Limbaugh On Trayvon Martin: ‘This Story Is Doing More Harm To The Black Community Than Anything Else’

This afternoon, right-wing radio host Rush Limabugh said that the tragic death of Trayvon Martin — which has outraged millions inside and outside of the African-American community — is “doing more harm to the black community than anything else.” Ignoring the tens of thousands of people who have engaged in non-violent protests throughout the country, Limbaugh said nothing in the response to Martin’s death has been “uplifting” or “admirable.”

Limbaugh also alleged that media coverage of the case was a conspiracy between Obama, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to ensure Obama’s relection. Listen:

Limbaugh argued that the case received scant media attention for the first several weeks because the media needed to focus on attacking him and the Republican “war on women.” Actually, media attention increased when the police finally released 911 tapes that revealed Zimmerman had pursued Trayvon Martin.

Get the essential facts of the case here.

Media

Women’s Groups Protest Placement Of Limbaugh Bust In Missouri Capital

A poster protesting the addition of Rush Limbaugh to the Hall of Famous Missourians (Source: AP)

Days after Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” on his radio show, Missouri House Speaker Steven Tilley (R) announced his decision to honor the conservative radio host with a bust in the state Capital’s Hall of Famous Missourians. Tilley is not backing down from his plan, but women’s groups are continuing to protest the bust’s placement.

Groups are keeping up the pressure on Tilley to change his mind. Two weeks ago, one group brought 600 rolls of toilet paper to the legislator’s office with signs calling on him to “Flush Rush!” And yesterday, another group marched outside the state Capital before leaving 35,000 petition signatures against the bust’s placement.

But Tilley insists that Limbaugh must be honored for having been “successful”:

Tilley said Limbaugh, who is from Cape Girardeau, is an important — if controversial — figure in Missouri’s history.

“He’s transformed talk radio, he’s the most popular radio personality in the country and he’s from our home state of Missouri,” Tilley said. “Does he say controversial things? Yes. Does he say provocative things? Yes. Does he say things that I disagree with? Yes. But he certainly has been successful.”

The fact that Limbaugh attacked Fluke, disrespecting all women in the process, should prevent him from receiving the honor, said Jessica Peters, a Planned Parenthood volunteer in Missouri. “If we say that it’s OK for somebody to call somebody a ‘slut,’ then it’s OK for people to use name-calling,” Peters said.

Alyssa

Mike Huckabee Takes on Rush Limbaugh, Giving Radio Stations a New Choice in Conservative Hosts

Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke have provided an embarrassment and a revenue sink for his employer, Clear Channel, which has had to contend with increasing numbers of advertisers who have pulled out of advertising on Limbaugh’s show. And as Limbaugh has continued to magnify his own woes, first with an anemic apology about his word choice, and then with an incoherent Twitter campaign against his critics, the signs are clear that Limbaugh’s position as an icon of the right might no longer be secure. In Limbaugh’s self-inflicted wounds lie the opportunity for a conservative rival to emerge—and for a rival network to Clear Channel to scoop up an enormous amount of money.

That rival talker is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and the rival network is Cumulus Media. “The Mike Huckabee Show” launches on April 9, and Cumulus is eager to sign up radio stations to carry it. The opportunity for them is two-fold: if stations decide to drop Limbaugh, there’s an obvious opening for them to carry Huckabee’s show instead. But even if they don’t, most of the local station contracts with Limbaugh are exclusive: another station in the same market can’t carry him. In the past, that meant the station had snagged itself a prize. In the future, it might look more like they’re saddled with a cigar-smoking albatross.

Cumulus Media’s seized that opportunity, telling stations that don’t have Limbaugh now and that might choose not to reup their contracts to carry him in the future, that in Huckabee, they’ve got a better alternative. The company’s distributed a list of 31 advertisers who have asked that their spots not be affiliated with any Limbaugh-related programming. And they’re pitching Huckabee’s show by telling stations it’ll offer “more conversation, less confrontation.”

In a few weeks, we’ll start to see if that strategy works. And even if it does, Huckabee’s tone may be different from Limbaugh’s, but that doesn’t mean his positions—with a few exceptions like childhood obesity and arts education—will vary much from the man he has a chance to dethrone. But as radio stations reassess their budgets, they might want to reconsider whether Limbaugh’s once-vaunted brand will continue to be worth it to them at the end of the next contract they sign. More than 140 advertisers have already made that assessment and decided to move on.

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