RUSH: Grab sound bite number one, I just want to get this out of the way and then we will move on. There are two things about this. I’m tempted to talk about things that are maybe a little inside baseball before we get to Obamacare delays and more Putin and Ukraine and all that. Do you remember this young man that may be Frank Sinatra’s son, Ronan Farrow? After three days they gave him the Cronkite Award for Excellence in Exploration and Journalism. He’s got one week now under the belt, one week of the show, 26 years old.
I now know what’s going on here. He was hired ostensibly to attract a younger demo, but they’re not watching. They tuned out. Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington, is creaming this guy in the previous hour in the beloved 25 to 54 demographic. This guy is losing everybody under 50. Only seasoned citizens like this guy, and that’s not enough. He’s losing audience left and right. And I was reading, there’s a profile of the guy, things about him that I didn’t know by Eliana Johnson at National Review.
It turns out Richard Holbrooke mentored this guy from the time he was 15, and Hillary mentored this guy and so forth. I now know why they’re — I don’t know what took me so long, do you know what’s really going on? I got to thinking about this. Maybe I’m wrong. Snerdley, maybe you can help me with this. Can you name for me — seriously, now — can you name for me a big liberal media star? The media’s filled with leftists; we know this. They’re all over the place. Can you name for me a single liberal media star? There isn’t one, right? There really isn’t one.
There isn’t one. It’s just a collection of a whole bunch of nameless, faceless — well, we may know the names, but none of them really — that’s what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to come up with a singular, big liberal media star, and that’s the role they wanted to plug this young man into. That’s the role they hoped he would fill. And it isn’t working for a host of reasons, and it won’t work for a host of reasons, and the reasons have to do with the business of broadcasting and, to a lesser extent, the business of journalism. But that’s what struck me.
These people are obsessed. They are still trying to come up with a liberal version of this program, is what they’re trying to do. They’ve tried with Governor Cuomo; didn’t work. They tried with Gary Hart, all these other guys on the radio. Now they’re trying to come up with a singular face or name that equals liberalism, leftism, that people love and adore, ’cause there isn’t one, when you stop and think about it. I mean, the media is filled with leftists; don’t misunderstand. But they’re all the same. None stand out. None of them are appointment reading, viewing, listening. None of them on the radio anymore that matter. And here’s why.
Let’s go to CNN. This is a classic illustration of how I am and this program is purposely mischaracterized, taken out of context, and used to tar and feather all conservatives and Republicans to low-information voters. This is Crossfire last night, and they’re discussing me and what I said about the movie 12 Years a Slave. Now, how many people have commented on that movie winning an Oscar? How many people in the media? How many people could they have chosen to play a audio highlight of comments on 12 Years a Slave? Of all the people in the country, who did they choose but your beloved host and leader, El Rushbo. And here is how it sounded.
SALLY KOHN: It’s time for our outrages of the day. So, I’m thrilled that 12 Years a Slave won best picture at last night’s Oscars. Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, said 12 Years a Slave won because it had the magic word in the title: slave. No, it won because it’s an exquisite film. But thank you, Mr. Limbaugh, for reminding us how far Hollywood and America still have to travel on issues of race and racial justice.
RUSH: They don’t even play the sound bite. They don’t even bother playing the sound bite of what I said; they just claim that I make this comment, take it totally out of context. Let’s remind everybody what the host of the show said about this as the show began.
ELLEN DEGENERES: Anything can happen. So many different possibilities. Possibility number one: 12 Years a Slave wins best picture. (cheers and applause) Possibility number two: you’re all racists. (laughter)
RUSH: And yet it is your beloved, harmless little fuzzball host that they focus on here. By the way, the woman on Crossfire, Sally Kohn. (interruption) What was the question? Sally Kohn is her name. Anyway, the interesting thing here is that all I said was, once this movie hit there was no way it wasn’t gonna win no matter what, and everybody knew it. And that’s why they’re mad, calling them out.
I basically just agreed with Ellen DeGeneres. The real racists are in Hollywood. The movie was gonna win no matter what because of the subject matter, title in it or what have you. It was a no brainer. Talk to anybody. There was no way that the Academy was not gonna vote that move the best picture, and to point that out shows how far the Academy has to go. Anyway, I just wanted to get that out of the way so we can move on to some of the other things.
There’s a new Obamacare delay, ladies and gentlemen. Well, no. I’ll give the numbers on the Sinatra kid/Woody Allen kid Ronin Farrow. I’ve got ’em. I’ve put them further down in the Stack. I basically gave you the highlights. He’s in the 150,000s, and he’s down. Look, he took over Andrea Mitchell (NBC News, Washington). She had the one o’clock hour; he took it over. He has lost numbers from what she had, and in the 25-54 demographic, which is where they thought he would be a magnet for like-minded 25 to 50.
‘Cause they think that’s hip and cool, and apparently they have been molding and shaping this guy for this since he was 15. They have been grooming him to assume a role. Why give a guy the Cronkite award after three days on the air? Anyway… (interruption) I know what they’re doing. I know they’re just frustrated as all get out, and… (interruption) Yeah, that’s right. Anderson Cooper was supposed to be, and that hasn’t worked out.
(interruption) That’s right, they just keep coming up. You’re right. It’s exactly right. They keep trying all of these people. They promote ’em into superstar level or status in the dominant media culture, and they’re bugged because there isn’t one. (interruption) And they’re trying to manufacture one — and that’s not real. You can’t manufacture it; it has to happen, and they do not understand. I don’t make too big a deal about it, but it’s abundantly clear.
Even though they own the media — they own it, they literally own it — like everything else, they’re never happy no matter what they get. No matter what you give ’em, no matter how much you concede to them, they’re never happy and they’re never satisfied, and they’re always ticked off about it, always angry.