Beck, Limbaugh & Co. Scare GOP Brass

Birthers, Limbaugh, Beck fill vacuum as Obama tries to stay above the fray

(NEWSER) - As recently as this spring, the Tea Party movement seemed anemic and wonky. But in the months that followed, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and others whipped the right-wing fringe into such a frenzy that a “separate reality grew like a second head on the American polity,” Philip Weiss writes in a New York magazine deconstruction of the anti-Obama movement. Nobody gets off easy: "I blame the whole birther movement on bad PR by the Obama campaign," says a veteran journalist. "They really bungled it." More»

(NEWSER) - Once again the right-wing radio guys have managed to convince everyone that they are a great and powerful force to be reckoned with. David Brooks revisits the 2007 Republican primaries, when Rush, Hannity, Beck and company were all weak-kneed over Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney, but bashed “unreliable deviationists” John McCain and Mike Huckabee. What happened? Huckabee emerged as a star and McCain won. More»

McDonald's, NBC, US Army join the anti-Rush list

(NEWSER) - The Limbaugh advertising stampede is now officially an exodus. What was "only" 45 companies listed last week has expanded into a mass migration of 141 advertisers, according to an internal Premiere Radio Networks memo obtained by the Traffic Directors Guild of America . The memo lists 96 national companies that "specifically asked" not to have their ads play during the Rush Limbaugh Show—91 of them new additions to the list. More»

Current Republican field riddled with weak spots

(NEWSER) - Republicans talk a good game about challenging President Obama in 2012, but the GOP would look scarier if it had even one legitimate challenger , says Dick Polman. "Obama's job-approval numbers are tepid these days—but he looks robust when matched against actual Republican challengers," warns the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist. "Not to mention the inevitable wounds and scars that any Republican will suffer during a primary season that promises to be downright Darwinian." More»

He's got about $3M, and she's got $2.1M

(NEWSER) - Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin lead the pack of possible 2012 GOP presidential challengers when it comes to fundraising, with $2.9 million and $2.1 million coming in over the last year, respectively. Romney still had $1.1 million in the bank at the beginning of the year after his 2008 run, while former VP nominee Palin held on to $928,000. During the last 6 months of 2009, Palin spent almost $900,000 on travel and consulting. More»