During his lengthy career in broadcasting, Rush Limbaugh has ignored the boundaries of decency on countless occasions, but he's never lost so many sponsors, so quickly, as he has over the last week.
Six days after the right-wing host's verbal assault on Sandra Fluke, Limbaugh no doubt enjoys the condemnations and attention, but can't be pleased with the reactions from those who pay his bills.
Many thought Limbaugh's initial apology was inadequate, and their outrage helped compel advertisers to pull their commercials from Limbaugh's program. Two more national advertisers -- online giant AOL and tax service Tax Resolution -- said Monday that they were suspending their sponsorship of Limbaugh, bringing the total number of companies fleeing Limbaugh to nine. [...] Whether Limbaugh's on-air apology will stanch further losses remains unclear. A boycott campaign on Twitter and online petitions urging sponsors to remove their ads continued to draw supporters Monday.
If one includes local advertisers in the overall count, Limbaugh has lost 11 sponsors. ThinkProgress' running count reached 12 late yesterday after Allstate Insurance pulled its ads, too.
Making matters slightly worse, two stations that have aired Limbaugh's radio show -- WBEC in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and KPUA in Hilo, Hawaii -- dropped the program yesterday. WBEC's general manager said yesterday, "This time he's taken it too far."
I guess the half-hearted, not-exactly-sincere "apology" didn't persuade the Republican's detractors that he felt genuine regret.
Of course, the news for Limbaugh wasn't all bad -- the Missouri Legislature will apparently still honor the right-wing broadcaster with a statue at the state capitol, giving him a place in the Hall of Famous Missourians. Limbaugh's bust will sit alongside the likes of Mark Twain, Harry Truman, and Walt Disney.
