No, not for that!
For this:
Odd...one would think that a bed company would be familiar with this expression. Well, NOW it is!
After Rush Limbaugh’s personal attack on Sandra Fluke for her testimony before some House Democrats generated furious backlash and activist threats of boycotts of his sponsors, Sleep Train, which calls itself “the No. 1 Bedding Specialist on the West Coast, and most recognized mattress retailer in the region,” announced that it was ceasing its advertising on Limbaugh’s daily radio show. It had been a national sponsor for 25 years. “As a diverse company, Sleep Train does not condone such negative comments directed toward any person,” the company said in a statement. “We have currently pulled our ads with Rush Limbaugh.”
Sleep Train is, to use the vernacular, a corporate worm. It began advertising with Limbaugh when it was a small company, and he has treated it well. At a moment when the talk show host was under attack by political opponents who want to get him off the air and be free of influential political commentary that often spears their cherished objectives, the company not only abandoned Limbaugh but kicked him when he was down. It was also deceitful about it: while it’s announcement sounded unequivocal, in fact it had only suspended its ads rather than withdrawn as a sponsor.
A company is free to advertise with whomever it chooses, but boycotts aimed at chilling free expression and political speech are despicable and un-American. The companies that encourage this unethical tactic by yielding to them show themselves to be venal, cowardly, and without principles, to which Sleep Train added betrayal and disloyalty.
Then the company handed Rush Limbaugh the opportunity to make a strong statement about such conduct, and to his great credit, he took it. This week, when Sleep Train proved that its ad withdrawal wasn’t based on its own principles but rather craven expediency by asking to be reinstated as a sponsor, Limbaugh directed that the company be sent the following response, via email:
“Thank you for your requests last week and this week to restart your voiced endorsement in local markets of The Rush Limbaugh Show.” Rush received your requests personally. Unfortunately, your public comments were not well received by our audience, and did not accurately portray either Rush Limbaugh’s character or the intent of his remarks. Thus, we regret to inform you that Rush will be unable to endorse Sleep Train in the future.
“Rush appreciates your long friendship and your past support, and we wish you good luck in the future.”
Perfect.
Sleep Train values money over loyalty as a value, but Rush Limbaugh does not. It is responsible and appropriate to punish corporations that yield to threatened boycotts by would-be censors and dictators of public discourse. Rush did what his former sponsor didn’t have the integrity or courage to do: stand up for free speech and diverse opinion.
This doesn’t make Limbaugh’s personal denigration of Sandra Fluke for her opinion any less objectionable. In the long-run, however, his response to Sleep Train was more significant.
Recall that I noted in a previous post that one of the characteristics of an Ethics Train Wreck was that after a while it becomes hard to distinguish among the miscreants, victims and heroes.
Rush Limbaugh has managed to take the role of all three.
Ethics Alarms 
My dad always used the phrase- “When chickens come home to roost….”.
And companies that cave to boycott threats are definitely chicken…
I don’t blame Rush , but he is still an idiot!
Whatever he is, idiot he isn’t. You try talking coherently on diverse issues three hours, live every day. I do it on a narrow topic maybe 6 times a month, with an audience, and it’s exhausting and hard. Limbaugh has done it for over 20 years with spectacular success, and not just by calling people names. He launched a whole industry, and influenced a political movement—more than one. Idiots don’t accomplish those kind of things. Ever.
He has said idiotic things, but so do we all.
I don’t think Rush is dumb nor should he be silenced. I would advertise on his show. However, I do think he is arrogant, a jerk, and a bigot. Many evil people have been successful. I still think he could have found ways to get his ideas across without the terminology and the insults.
He tells the truth and does it right in the teeth of those for whom “truth” has been redefined as “whatever is politically expedient to say at the moment”. That invariably makes him arrogant/jerk/bigot- et cetera- in the minds of the Left. Thank God for him.
I don’t care who they or where they are on the political spectrum; I call them as I see them. And Rush is a jerk. It is a lack of class talking that way to a citizen. It’s pretty rare in my book to call someone a jerk. I wasn’t brought up that way. I think anyone can use that kind of rhetoric. It’s easy to call someone names or denigrate people, but it shows a lack of character. Everyone talks about poor Rush being bullied into silence by losing his sponsors. I hope he continues to do what he does. But he started the bullying by his tactless, offensive, language. I know Schultz and Maher have used the same language and believe they are jerks too. Just because someone is from the left or the right is no excuse for talking like that…PERIOD!
I never said it was a matter of left or right, Michael. Limbaugh’s standards along these lines over time speak for themselves. He let something slip out that few of his rivals on either side would have apologized for. He did because it violated his own standards. After more than 15 years, you’re going to have some misstatements or wrong words in a moment of passion. Invariably. Limbaugh doesn’t make a practice of it. And, since you brought it up, few right wing commentators make a practice of it, either. On the left, it’s rampant. As always, you can tell the worth of a cause by the worth of its adherents.
So… how are we to tell the difference between an ethical statement “to his great credit” and a petulant snit-fit, which would have read precisely the same?
Oh, we can’t. The scale tips for me because it was the right thing to do. I’m sure it was both.
Don’t you love it when throwing a petulant snit-fit also makes the right statement? Example: Obama firing General McCrystal.
Sleep tight, Sleep Train.
It should be noted that another spineless company that owes him so much- Carbonite- saw their stock value crash soon after they withdrew their sponsorship from Rush. Poetic justice, I’d call it. I almost became a Carbonite client myself! Glad now I didn’t.
Steven, thanks for mentioning Carbonite. Friday, I actually listened to Limbaugh for about 30 minutes. Although I was “multi-tasking,” so I might have heard something and imagined what wasn’t there, I could swear I heard a commercial for Carbonite. It has made me want to do a little more checking, if not a little more listening to Limbaugh.
I saw the transcript of Carbonite’s letter to Limbaugh withdrawing their sposorship. Limbaugh posted it himself. It was the same conceited wordsmithing that you’d expect from some actor’s publicist. Carbonite also sponsored other conservative commentators. I’d like to see if they have the moral fibre to tell Carbonite to go jump off a cliff!