How Limbaugh Manipulates Listeners

**sabang** · 18-07-2012, 04:13 PM

Oohh, and maybe 'Dark Knight' is a coded allusion to Obama.

Stick to Sesame Street, Rush- a hotbed of sedition if there ever was one.

**attaboy** · 04-08-2012, 01:18 AM

Limbaugh Boycott update. This is what happens when people allow the left to bully them. Will Media Matters help to make up for the company's losses? Read the update at the bottom of this article. EX-Carbonite CEO and boycott decision maker David Friend has left the company with another executive and started a potential competitor business.

Carbonite CEO admits dropping Limbaugh hurt growth more than expected

Posted by William A. Jacobson Friday, August 3, 2012 at 12:13pm

Carbonite famously dropped Rush Limbaugh on a Saturday Night at the height of the Sandra Fluke controversy. Carbonite became the poster child for the Rush boycott movement organized by Media Matters, which coordinated the effort with so-called independent groups.

At the time I examined Carbonite’s SEC filings, and how Carbonite had built its business model based on high growth driven, in significant part, by the promotion of Carbonite by Limbaugh. I predicted that Carbonite had shot itself in the foot, and put political correctness before the interests of its shareholders.

Since that time the Stop Rush effort has imploded, with backstabbing and accusations among the participants. Limbaugh has had better numbers than ever, and the hype surrounding Mike Huckabee as a Limbaugh replacement has gone flat.
Yet what became of Carbonite?

On August 1 Carbonite released its 2d Quarter 2012 results, the first full quarter after dropping Limbaugh in March. The results shocked Wall Street, as Carbonite did not meet its growth targets, causing multiple analysts to drop the target price. The stock dropped 15% in a day. (h/t reader W)

Most important, in a conference call held on August 1, the CEO David Friend admitted that dropping Limbaugh damaged Carbonite’s growth, and is likely to do so for at least one or two more quarters.

The full audio is available here. The key passage is embedded below. (Transcription mine, official transcript not available yet)

(3:10) CEO Friend: ”There were four factor that contributed to this slower growth. First, in March we stopped working with one of our top producing radio endorsers. While we recently contracted with three new radio personalities, it takes 3-6 months to ramp up new radio hosts so we probably won’t see the full effect of this for another quarter or two.”

(24:15) Q: “I guess I’m a little surprised that you were caught by surprise by the radio host change ’cause I know we’ve talked and I guess my impression was that it wouldn’t be that impactful but I guess it was quite impactful.

CEO Friend: “Yeah, I’d say it turned out to be a bigger issue than we had anticipated. Because you know at the time there was a lot of noise, I mean we had a huge spike in web traffic around that time just because of all the interest in the whole subject. And it took close to a month for that to sort of die down. And meanwhile our metrics were, we really couldn’t see what was going because there was so much noise around the website that we had no idea what the ultimate impact was going to be. It turned out to be a bigger hole in our revenue than we had thought when we initially did this. However, I don’t think there was any, I’m not regretful of the decision, I think things would have been worse had we not done that.

(added) The analyst asking the question indicates that Friend previously had indicated in private conversations that there would not be a substantial impact. This demonstrates how Friend misjudged the situation. Additionally, Friend says the “metrics” could not be known for a month after dropping Limbaugh and that Carbonite had no way of judging the impact. Yet I don’t recall any statements from Carbonite reflecting the disarray in its ability to measure its own business model.

The last statement by Friend, that the damage would have been worse had Carbonite not dropped Limbaugh is laughable. Friend has been cause doing serious damage to shareholders based on a political decision which was taken precipitously on a Saturday night. It’s too convenient now to say things would have been worse, when Friend completely misjudged the impact of dropping Limbaugh.

Update: Carbonite shareholders have another reason to worry. Friend has just started a potentialy competitive online storage company with a recently departed executive.

Carbonite CEO admits dropping Limbaugh hurt growth more than expected

**Boon Mee** · 04-08-2012, 10:02 AM

^
Sounds like the CEO needs to be fired. He's more concerned with being PC than making a profit. He's also too thick to admit he was wrong.

**attaboy** · 05-08-2012, 02:45 AM

There's some interesting reading on the William A Jacobson,Associate Clinical Professor Cornell Law School, blog. He has audio phone call evidence that the STOPRUSH movement used 500 fake twitter accounts to harass and intimidate Limbaugh sponsors.

Notice how they use the word HATE in caps. I'd say typing "HATE" if a form of intimidation. Who like reading HATE HATE HATE Who likes that? If someone shouted the word HATE at you would you think they are filled with hate?

Check this out

StopRush’s Own Illegally Recorded Phone Call Exposes OFA, Soros, Van Jones, and 500 Automated Twitter Accounts

OFA is Organizing for America is a community organizing project of the Democratic National Committee.[1][2][3] Founded after the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, the group seeks to mobilize supporters in favor of Obama's legislative priorities.

Listen to the phone calls here:

StopRush’s Own Illegally Recorded Phone Call Exposes OFA, Soros, Van Jones, and 500 Automated Twitter Accounts | The Trenches

See how an employee of Media Matters launched the coordinated STOPRUSH attack using 500 fake twitter accounts:

» Media Matters astroturfed the Limbaugh secondary boycott - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Angelo Carusone is the Director of Online Strategy for Media Matters a Washington DC activist group. Washington DC. Grassroots indeed.

**attaboy** · 05-08-2012, 02:48 AM

Boy they must think Limbaugh is a major major political enemy.

**misskit** · 28-08-2012, 01:50 PM

Rush blames Obama for everything. I've heard he blamed the weather on Obama once before, but here is his latest lunacy.

Limbaugh Suggests Obama Admin Manipulated Hurricane Forecasts To Harm GOP Convention.

He's not suggesting it's a conspiracy, but.......

Limbaugh Suggests Obama Admin Manipulated Hurricane Forecasts To Harm GOP Convention | Video | Media Matters for America

**misskit** · 22-09-2012, 01:32 PM

Another good one from Rush. He is siting an Italian study on penis size but came to his own conclusion.

"'The study’s leaders claim to have bona fide research that says the average size of a penis is roughly 10 percent smaller than it was 50 years ago,'[at] Limbaugh quoted CBS Philly as reporting. "And the researchers say air pollution is why," Limbaugh added.

"I don't buy this. I think it's feminism,” Limbaugh explained to his listeners. “If it's tied to the last 50 years, the average size of a member is 10 percent smaller in 50 years, it has to be the feminazis. I mean, the chickification, everything else."

Poor Rush. The feminazis shrunk his willy. 555

**sabang** · 22-09-2012, 05:06 PM

^ speak for yourself Rush.

He is predicting the end of the Republican party too, 'if Obama wins'.

MSNBC host Chris Matthews saying last week that an Obama re-election would mean the end of conservatism. “Nope,” Limbaugh disagreed, “if Obama wins, it’s the end of the Republican Party.”

“There’s going to be a third party that’s going to be orientated towards conservatism — or Rand Paul thinks libertarianism,” he continued. “If Obama wins, the Republican Party will try to maneuver things so conservatives get blamed. The only problem is right now, Romney is not running a conservative campaign.”
Rush Limbaugh Predicts ‘End Of Republican Party’ If Obama Wins Re-Election | Mediaite

He may turn out correct if the Republican party doesn't reform- it's demographic appeal is looking utterly appalling, and it's performance in the upcoming elections will likely be an embarassment. But I rather suspect one of the two major US political parties will not go the way of the dinosaur, rather choose the path of reform and moderation instead. The GOP allowed itself to be lead too far to the Right, accompanied by a trail of economic debris, and is paying the price.

**barbaro** · 22-09-2012, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by sabang

^ speak for yourself Rush.

He is predicting the end of the Republican party too, 'if Obama wins'.

[I] MSNBC host Chris Matthews saying last week that an Obama re-election would mean the end of conservatism. “Nope,” Limbaugh disagreed, “if Obama wins, it’s the end of the Republican Party.”

Correction:

I think it means the Republican party will be a small minority party.

Effectively dead.

Remember....a lot of pundits and people said this in 1992, but that was a different time.

And seriously, as much as I loathe the GOP, the Demo majority will accelerate the nation to tatters (just like a majority GOP would).

**Boon Mee** · 19-10-2012, 03:01 PM

Overheard on Rush the other day:

"Obama has binders full of women that he pays less than men."

Heh, indeed...

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