Oops! Did Dems mean to start this fire?

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Oops! Did Dems mean to start this fire?

Posted: March 19, 2010
1:28 pm Eastern
© 2010

Leftists don't quite grasp the "Law of Unintended Consequences." Maybe this news will help them out:

"The more heated the debate in Washington, the more profitable it seems to be for broadcasters," reports RBR.com. http://www.rbr.com/radio/22506.html "The healthcare battle will continue on to the November elections, regardless of how any votes turn out on Capitol Hill."

According to "the voice of the broadcasting industry," with talk radio show hosts urging their listeners to fight Obamacare and providing energized audiences with breaking news and in-depth analysis, broadcasters aren't exactly hurting for ratings and ad revenue.

"Progressives," when they aren't trying to shut down conservative talk radio, have even tried (and failed) to co-opt it for their own purposes, as we reported here a few weeks back. http://www.wnd.com/index.php/index.php?pageId=127041 But now, through the Obamacare fight, the left is inadvertently only strengthening talk radio both financially and in terms of audience morale.

And yet they insist they're the "smart" ones!

Rush Limbaugh

Listener favorite Mark Steyn sat in for Rush on Monday, and filled the airwaves with three hours of sarcastic, sophisticated mockery of President Obama (FREE audio). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Oa_ajqfpa0

Rush was back at the mic on Tuesday and did something that (contrary to popular belief) he rarely does. For only the second time since his show began decades ago, Rush asked his listeners to call their Congressmen – this time to protest Obamacare.

The results? A half-million calls hit the Capitol switchboard on the first day.

As the week went on, Rush urged listeners to keep calling, telling his millions of fans, "So all three of these numbers are busy, which means that you are continuing to melt the circuits in Washington. http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/ ... guest.html The phone lines are finite, you can overwhelm them – it's a little harder to overwhelm an Internet on an e-mail circuit, but phone lines are finite and they can only have so much capacity and we've obviously maxed it out here, so much so that they're expecting the max-out to continue the entire week."

Rush had a similar effect http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2010 ... otten.html on a much more trivial matter last week, while I was away: A work by a forgotten Argentine composer briefly rocketed to No. 1 on Amazon after Rush played it on the air.

Rush also called Obama "a Third World president" and blasted the White House's overblown response to the building of new apartments in Jerusalem (FREE audio). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBKdy4tQ ... r_embedded

Mark Levin

"Hearing this makes me want to start listening to Mark Levin again every night," wrote one blogger, who was fired up by Levin's attack on the so-called "Slaughter Rule" on Neil Cavuto's show.

Video of Levin's comments can be seen below:

On Cavuto The Great One Mark Levin - 100 Times Worse Than Watergate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dai9aHxp ... r_embedded

Levin also had Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., on the show to explain that the "Slaughter Rule" will leave taxpayers with a bill for $900 billion (with a "b") (FREE audio). http://marklevinfan.com/?p=6533

Levin maintains that the Slaughter Rule and other tricks to get Obamacare passed are unconstitutional and says he will immediately file a lawsuit "if House Democratic leaders try to use an unconstitutional maneuver to pass the Senate health care bill without actually having to vote on it" (FREE audio). http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=128773

Sean Hannity

Continuing the fight against Obamacare, Sean Hannity told his audience, "House Democrats are attempting to put wording into the bill that would not allow any portion of the bill to be repealed at anytime, by any Congress. ... They are literally stomping on our Constitution."

Hannity provided a valuable service on his website, posting "How Your Congressman Stands," http://www.hannity.com/pages/where-your ... obama-care a constantly updated chart of each Representative's stance on the current healthcare legislation.

This week, Hannity's guests included John Bolton, Marco Rubio (FREE audio) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWoKRz8vYTc and "America's second-most hated woman," Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. (FREE audio) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NAbqremcyM

Laura Ingraham

Laura called out Washington's bullying elite on her blog, calling Obama a "runaway, radical president" who is leading "a Congress of cowards."

She also started the week blasting actor Tom Hanks' outrageous remarks about America's treatment of the Japanese during World War II.

Her line up of guests this week included Pat Buchanan, anti-global warming campaigner Lord Christopher Monckton, rising GOP star Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., Bill Kristol … and Laura's brother! (FREE audio) http://www.lauraingraham.com/mediabits

Michael Savage

A few months back, Michael Savage left his longtime station in San Francisco and joined the city's sports-talk station. Now some TV stations are refusing to air his new promo for the show, allegedly because he uses the word "schmuck" in it.

View the new Savage ad below:

Michael Savage TV Spot - "THE NEW AD TV STATIONS WOULD NOT RUN" - XTRA SPORTS RADIO 860 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lg_oGek ... r_embedded

While I was away last week, Savage ripped into Tom Hanks. I was sorry I missed it, and can't resist sharing it with you (FREE audio). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHU6tvWQE68

Savage also had choice words for Glenn Beck's decision to have Eric Massa on his show, calling Beck "an animal with a tie" (FREE audio).

Outspoken media maven – and the man who championed those infamous "ACORN videos" – Andrew Breitbart, was a great choice for guest host for Michael Savage on Tuesday. He talked about his personal political evolution, as a 40-something conservative in Los Angeles (FREE audio). http://www.trn1.com/uploads/automp3/sav ... 0_FULL.mp3

Breitbart also praised Savage for "the service he does for America" fighting political correctness, which Breitbart called secular Sharia law.

Dennis Prager

Back from his annual listener cruise, Prager welcomed Phillip Jennings, author of the new (and desperately needed) book "The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War."

Guest John Fund declared on Wednesday that the Democrats don't have enough votes to pass Obamacare (FREE audio).

G. Gordon Liddy

Liddy's attacks on the proposed health-care legislation focused this week on why Catholics in particular should be troubled by what it contains.

On a related note, he marked the fifth anniversary of the death of Terry Schiavo with her brother, Bobby Schindler.

WND's Aaron Klein came on to discuss Joe Biden's trip to Israel and Obama's "questionable relationships with famous anti-Semites."

Other guests included Debra Burlingame, sister of one of the 9/11 pilots.

(All audio archives for G. Gordon Liddy's show are free, and make for great listening.) http://www.liddyshow.com/show.php

Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck, who previously called the dispute over President Obama's eligibility for office the "dumbest thing I've ever heard," told another host this week that it is not a "winnable argument."

"I haven't looked into it at all," Beck told Peter Boyles KHOW-Denver. "It doesn't matter to me because I don't think you can make the case" (FREE audio). http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=128201

Apparently Beck's controversial views have led to tensions at Fox News, with staffers divided into pro- and anti-Beck factions. http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc ... 155060.asp

Meanwhile, on the left side of the dial

Just when it seemed Rosie O'Donnell couldn't get any stranger, the satellite talk show host bemoaned the fact that "unwanted" children who aren't aborted supposedly cost the taxpayers money. At least, that's what it sounds like (FREE audio). http://preview.tinyurl.com/yjj59wm

As industry watcher Brian Maloney quipped, "Who knew Rosie O'Donnell was so concerned about public spending?"