Rush Limbaugh: An "Intellectual-Force Multiplier"

The most interesting snippet from the lengthy cover story on Rush Limbaugh's empire by Zev Chafets in Sunday's New York Times Magazine was a brief quote from Karl Rove. "Rush is an intellectual-force multiplier," Rove told Chafets. "His listeners are, themselves, communicators." I found Rove's reference to "intellectual-force multiplier" pretty revealing because it is derivative of the Pentagon's "message-force multipliers," the phalanx of former military officers that infiltrated the corporate media in an elaborate psy-op against the American people to sell the invasion of Iraq. A "message-force multiplier" is Pentagon-Speak for a paid propagandist.

According to the article, Limbaugh received a seven-digit payout to sign a $400 million contract for the next eight years (about $38 million a year). He also controls five minutes of airtime for each hour of his show, which he sells to advertisers for undisclosed amounts, plus added charges if Limbaugh himself mentions the product, and even more hard cash if advertisers want him to work their product into one of his monologues. He owns a $54 million private jet, a dozen cars (the one he took Chafets for a ride in was valued at $450,000), plus he does lucrative speaking gigs at all of the Republicans' big events. He owns at least five homes including an opulent beachfront mansion. Life is good for Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh's show reaches about 15 to 20 million listeners each day, and he openly boasts that he is promoting "corporate America." He uses the public's airwaves to frame every issue so it cuts the Republicans' way.

Limbaugh's catchphrase should be: "And-Now-for-that-Woefully-Under-Represented-Rich-White-Man's-View-of-the-World!"

Too bad Zev Chafets didn't tell his readers what the average income of the average Rush Limbaugh listener is. But I'm sure Limbaugh makes more in an hour than the majority of his "Dittoheads" make in a year. He's a fabulously rich white man framing the political debate for working-class slobs he doesn't give a damn about. Limbaugh's shtick is simple: You got a grandma living in the basement? Throw her Social Security to Charles Schwab! You send your kid to public school because you can't afford anything else? Screw your kid -- break the teachers' unions! Global warming? Phewey! Lost your home? You shouldn't have signed the contract! Five-dollar gas? Let's drill everywhere especially in endangered species' habitats! Torture at Abu Ghraib? That's just letting off steam! Imprisoned without due process? You must be a terrorist! Parkinson's disease? Hell, Michael J. Fox was just puttin' us on!

And what is the biggest enemy facing America in Limbaugh's world? What's bigger than Al Qaeda? What's far more sinister than Islamo-Terrorism or Iraqi jihadis?

Why it's the Democrats of course!

But the "Left," and you can throw in all of Hollywood if you want to, and George Soros and Al Gore and Al Franken, and the rest of the liberal crowd, pool all of their muscle and influence in our society and they still don't add up compared to Limbaugh and his imitators. Add in the Rush wannabes like Sean Hannity, Mike Savage, Glen Beck, Neil Boortz, Michael Medved, Dennis Miller, Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Bill O'Reilly, and so on to infinity -- plus the influence of Matt Drudge on the mainstream media, and Regnery on book publishing, and Fox News and the Murdoch empire on television -- and -- Wow! The "Left" is not even in the same league as these guys. Call it the "echo chamber" or the "vast right-wing conspiracy" or anything you want to -- but the fact is that progressive social change in this country is never going happen as long as this crowd is allowed to dominate OUR public airwaves.

Here in Sacramento we used to have an Air America affiliate, but we lost that a couple months ago, we were told, for "financial reasons." Now a city of 400,000 people with a Democratic Congressional Representative, a Democratic Assembly person and a Democratic State Senator, which is the capital of the largest "blue state" in the Union that never gave George W. Bush one electoral vote -- has ZERO progressive AM radio stations but two Far-Right Republican stations. How does that happen? A market consisting largely of liberals gets right-wing talk shoved down its throat.

I got to hand it to him, Limbaugh even managed to slip one over on Chafets by inserting some partisan lies about Barack Obama buried in a longer quote: "We... can't talk about his terrorist friends... We can't talk about bombers and mobsters who are his friends." Chafets might have at least asked Limbaugh to which "terrorists," "bombers," and "mobsters" he was referring. But he just quotes him and moves on.

Add to your Netflix queue when you get a chance the DVD entitled: "The Goebbels Experiment," (narrated by Kenneth Branagh from First Run Features). It chronicles the rise of the Far Right in Germany and how it worked hand-in-glove with huge corporations and a wealthy elite to win elections and bring down the Weimar Republic. Joseph Goebbels recognized early on radio's power to further his political party's agenda. When you watch the documentary if you substitute the term "public relations" or "P.R." whenever you hear the word "propaganda," you'll find some recognizable patterns. Goebbels had his own "message-force multipliers," among them former officers who served in World War I, and he also had a stable of "intellectual-force multipliers."

Comments

[Joseph A. Palermo - Huffpost Blogger]

See Joseph A. Palermo's Profile

They always make that argument that "the people" want Rush, and hence his ratings soar and America agrees with his views. But polls show over and over again that the people don't want commercials but commercials are rammed down their throats -- Robert McChesney has a great analysis of this in Rich Media, Poor Democracy -- Rush is promoting corporate America -- he's talented, but there's lots of talented people -- look at Thom Hartmann or Randi Rhodes -- they don't get the exposure because Clear Channel and other conglomerates don't want their message to get out -- they want us to be dumb right-wingers, go to work, drink coffee and alcohol, and stay complacent -- just like George Carlin talked about.

[certainot]

until progressives recognize the talk radio problem they will continue to play politics without a front line.

forget FOX TV, the local radio stations (limbaugh has around 400, i read somewhere, that's 8 avg per state) are the power centers of the GOP. that is where the dirty work and the groundwork for the swiftboating is being done on Obama.

it wont change until either the monopoly situation is fixed or progressives recognize the problem and begin taking their picketing and boycotting to the local stations. that is where the iraq occupation lies were sold and that is where the next bad occupation is being rationalized. the monopoly will continue to be protected until Americans realize that democracy and bipartisanship is impossible as long as hate and fear mongers like limbaugh have all the biggest soapboxes and those soapboxes have virtual moats around them, called screeners.

[gregrocker]

Fringe right tricksters (many from the original Nixon squad) spent 20 years pirating AM radio in order to dupe 100 million willfully-ignorant rednecks who have taken over and wrecked the country. Dem leaders claimed before the 2006 election they had finally gotten the message that this is a mammoth disinformation juggernaut which would make Goebbels blush, yet when elected they did absolutely nothing to put pressure on media ownership to return some balance to the AM dial. And now they will be steamrolled again like witless chumps, since the AM radio juggernaut (plus Faux News) frames the national debate and there is nothing that comes close to countering it.

For a dozen years, the conservative Annenberg School at Penn studied AM talk radio, finding that 50-100 million listeners were being duped with utter "false certainty" on every issue and had swung the past five of 6 elections. This information was reported extensively in Europe and has led to them writing off the U.S. as hopelessly ruined by willful ignorance, yet the Annenberg study was barely mentioned here even though researcher Kathleen Hall Jamison was available for hearings and would have perfectly made the case for taking back our public airwaves. One of the surviving Dem appointees on the FCC pleaded with the Dem Congress to put some pressure - ANY pressure - on ownership so that they would think twice about running a far-right disinfo operation on public airwaves. Witless Dems did nothing.

[avraamjack]

.
So get someone as entertaining......
.

[greenlightwilly]

I read the Chafets article - despite my better judgment and having dicey blood pressure. And yeah, he dutifully reported all of Limbaugh's lies, spin and cheap blows with the naivete of a TB carrier - passing on the very poison that the faithful execution of his 'craft' portends to dispel.

When are these guys gonna learn that merely REPORTING that dirge without offering the anti-venom of critical thought and facts is doing Limbaugh's work for him??

But for many of the posters to this blog who believe that Rush's popularity is a sure sign the end is near - there is hope. Rush could NOT move the needle in the recent primaries (despite his bald-faced lies to the contrary) nor could he put the Humpty-Republicans back to together again during the '06 mids.

[Bluedog12]

"Intellectual force multiplier" or in laymens term "Brown Shirts".

[rshrink]

Rush Limbaugh has had three failed marriages. In spite of his usual home, the 30 million dollar one in Florida, women don't care to date him. He is so arrogant and self absorbed that he is totally unattractive. When he ran the stadium in Kansas City, he was hated by his co-workers. His own father, who was an educated man, criticized Rush for being unconcerned with facts. He used his own maid to get drugs for him. Although he was ordered to treatment when caught, he denied his problem and remained critical and harsh towards other addicts. If it wasn't for Reagan eliminating the equal time aspect in media, Rush would have never had any kind of success. I personally called a radio station in Kansas to criticize his constantly being broadcast while no one with an opposing view was even on the air at all. The manager told me, "well, we can't find anyone who is an entertaining as him." Rush is a fictitious person. He promotes other fictitious people who promote him. Yes, the neocons are like characters in a James Bond movie. They want to take over the world. That is dangerous and we Americans are definitely under-reacting to this scourge.

[Veratruth]

I didn't know Rush Limbaugh was so richly blessed. I try to avoid his "love of chaos" like the plague. I'm thankful we are all blessed with a soul or a conscience to GUIDE us, and we were given the FREE WILL to obey of disobey. It is sad that many people will allow themselves to be led down a path of destruction by dishonest and ungodly human beings.

[Cathexis]

I don't think Liberals can compete with the same "Business Plan" because they don't sell the same product: Hate. And let's face it: That is exactly what the Right is pushing. They have absolutely no positive agenda. It is identifying the Enemy (Liberals-Democrats-Socialists-Gays-Blacks-Muslims etc.) and loathing/fearing them. This message seems to resonate perfectly over the AM radio delivery.

The Left doesn't exhibit that mindless hatred. Thus our radio doesn't attract the same rabid loyalty as theirs.

[DallasMike]

The Left doesn't exhibit that mindless hatred?
B.S Air America did nothing but spew hate.

[arvay]

There's also the fact that Limbaugh's "philosophy" comes out in short, shallow sound bites that are difficult to answer adequately in the same sloganistic diction that suits the uninformed and intellectually lazy.

There may be a progressive talk show host somewhere who can do it, but he or she hasn't surfaced yet. I think radio companies would love to find such a person: the prospect of dueling radio hosts would attract many advertisers and boost ratings.

However, his audience is limited. I don't think he's gaining many converts: 20 million is not a small number of adherents, but on the other hand they can't really tip the balance.

Our country is stuck with x number of reactionaries, religious wingnuts and bigots. We won't change that by squelching Limbaugh, but rather by working to change America.

[certainot]

they can and have been tipping the balance.

limbaugh and co reach 50-70MIL with uncontested repetition of coordinated framing and talking points coming from 400 or so radio stations around the country- an avg of 8 per state. nothing competes for managing and intimidating politicians and media.

as far as progressive counterparts, while he is a very skilled propagandist with one hundred percent certitude when he lies, he is not funny unless you are racis, sexist, a bully, like making fun of people. without the truth he can't use satire, irony, sarcasm. there are many progressive talkers that are funnier and well informed and offer much more than most media outlets and web sites, especially if you're driving and working and want to keep up.

unfortunately their near-invisibility compared to the blowhards that have been proven wrong on everything of major importance and have been instrumental in selling us the iraq occupation and this bush economic disaster and now rush us off the cliff of global warming have a monopoly and the biggest soapboxes in the country and so called "market forces" have little to do with keeping them on all the biggest radio stations in the country.

work to change america all you want but one local blowhard with the GOP and chamber of commerce talking points and the biggest uncontested soapbox in the community can easily undo the work of thousands of citizen volunteers. and that is why the monopoly is so important to them.

[SeriousBlack]

Exactly. (A) It is easier to win if one is a liar and a bully (a lesson learned, unfortunately, by most of us in kindergarten) and one shamelessly takes advantage of others who are fundamentally honest and have good intentions (just ask Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, etc.), and (B) If one wants to become as rich as Limbaugh by BEING a shameless liar and conscience-less bully who peddles hatred, bigotry and stupidity for their money, they can have it.

I will concern MYself with honesty, compassion and kindness and accept my meager living. Happily, while feeling nothing but sorry for __________ (fill in the blank with the noun of your choice) like Limbaugh who are destined to pathetic, wasted, worthless lives of hate-filled desperation.

[certainot]

The coordinated uncontested repetition from the GOP talk radio monopoly does more to determine what is acceptable news than any other single medium. it largely determines the political and media flavor of America but without searchable transcripts of their shows the media analysts and haven't been able to document the migration of GOP talk radio talking points and lies to the lazy celebrity media circuit. they like taking the prechewed bushit off the talk radio bandwagon (reinforced in faxes and emails) because they know it's already been pounded into the ears of tens of millions by the end of the day or week. doesn't matter how false or absurd it is, they feel like they're on a red velvet GOP bandwagon.

Meanwhile progressives completely ignore talk radio because it hurts their ears and they strategize in a vacuum, looking for explanations, and excepting explanations that falsely and tragically attribute Dem failures and GOP gains to social movements instead of the coordinated mass repetition by raving blowhards on the talk radio monopoly.

Increasingly, progressive media activists cede the talk radio monopoly to the right thinking they're passing them with the internet. a big mistake. The internet seems progressive since it is still somewhat democratic and reflects real America- it may inform people who search for information but it is not a monster coordinated propaganda outlet reaching 50-70 MIL.

[certainot]

"but the fact is that progressive social change in this country is never going happen as long as this crowd is allowed to dominate OUR public airwaves." ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!

and one correction- the article says he gets a NINE figure signing bonus. no one will ever get that kind of money for selling T-shits and penile enhancement formula. The NYT article fails to point out that Limbaugh was heavily subsidized to start, by a bunch with old CIA connections. his entertainment value his highly exaggerated. and with the GOP closely guarding their major source of political and social power limbaugh and his wannabes never have to take real calls and hardly ever have to compete directly with progressive talkers.

The talk radio monopoly which limbaugh spearheads is the main reason we are in this bush disaster.
We don't have red states and blue dog democrats. the last twenty years they have been talk radio states and talk radio dems.

[haleywins]

Evil is revered in our culture today. Be proud.

[Bendersky]

I read about a non-partisan study--might have been by PEW--that compared groups of people who received their information from primarily one source. It found that, by far, Limbaugh listeners thought they were the most politically educated and by far they were the least politically educated. No surprise there, though it was interesting to see it in black-and-white. The far right have been evil geniuses in media manipulation, so in that sense, kudos. The other side of the coin is obvious: Rush (and his ilk) have created an atmosphere where sloganism and lies rule, where his listeners are almost proud not to have to form their own opinions or (god forbid) truly educate themselves, and where the dems and the press have been so cowed that they're afraid to report facts for fear of being labeled "liberal" and "unpatriotic." The true terrorists have been in power for seven-and-a-half years and counting, but hey, lets see if there's another sex scandal out there to report.

[HopeandChange]

Maybe someday Rush will be as succesfull as the Air America talent.

[eden4barack08]

Only a devious person like Rove could utter the words "intelligence" and "Limbaugh" in the same sentence, knowing full well they're mutually exclusive!

[Tommygun264]

More "FARCE" than "FORCE".