Rush Limbaugh Reportedly Considering Major Radio Shake-Up

A Sunday night POLITICO report claims Rush Limbaugh, host of the most listened to radio program in the country, is considering a major shake-up at the end of 2013.

Sources reportedly say he is considering ending his affiliation agreement with Cumulus Media, which would mean roughly 40 Cumulus-owned radio stations across the country would no longer be able to broadcast the program.

POLITICO continues:

According to the source, Limbaugh is considering the move because Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey has blamed the company’s advertising losses on Limbaugh’s controversial remarks about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown law student. In Feb. 2012, Limbaugh referred to Fluke as “a slut” because she had called on congress to mandate insurance coverage of birth control. The subsequent controversy over those remarks resulted in a significant advertising boycott.

The true extent of Limbaugh’s effect on Cumulus’s advertising revenue is not known. In an August 2012 earnings call, Dickey said Cumulus’s top three stations had lost $5.5 million, in part because of the boycott. In a March 2013 earnings call, Dickey said the company’s talk radio side had “been challenged… due to some of the issues that happened a year ago.”…

Cumulus Media, which has a contract with Limbaugh through 2013, declined to comment for this report: “Cumulus owns the premier talk radio distribution platform in the United States and doesn’t comment on negotiations with talent under contract,” Davidson Goldin, a Cumulus spokesman, told POLITICO. Clear Channel, which distributes the Rush Limbaugh Program through its Premiere Radio division, also declined to comment.

Read more here.

Freedom Flashback: Margaret Thatcher Batters the Socialists

Margaret Thatcher Has Died

According to The Independent,

Margaret Thatcher has died following a stroke her spokesman Lord Bell has said.

RNC Declares War on Conservative Grassroots

At a meeting of the Ripon Society held in Washington, D.C.’s exclusive Capitol Hill Club on Tuesday, new Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Mike Shields effectively declared war on the conservative grassroots. In a strong attack, Shields coined a new derogatory term, “the professional right,” to refer to groups that have publicly criticized the recent RNC “Autopsy” report.

“It’s a term I’ll be using often in the coming months,” he told the crowd of about 40 Ripon Society members, RNC insiders, and Capitol Hill staffers. But Reagan biographer Craig Shirley, who was not one of those in attendance at the meeting, was quick to note that Shields’s new term had already backfired. “As opposed to what, unprofessional Republicans?” he shot back.

“These attacks on conservatism by the Establishment GOP are reminiscent of those made against Reagan all through the 1960’s and 70’s and even into his presidency,” Shirley added.

Shields, five weeks into his new job as RNC Chief of Staff, applauded the RNC on its “courage” in publicizing its own “Autopsy” report. According to the source, Shields “gloated that not even the Democratic National Committee was critical of the report, while only the ‘professional right’ pounced on it.”

When questioned about his eagerness to offend the “professional right” even as he was reaching out to other groups, Mr. Shields fairly bristled. According to our source, Shields stated that he is totally eager and willing to remove “the professional right” from the GOP. “They won’t come to us and ask. They just send out lies and ask for money. I have to tear up mailings at my own parents’ house and tell them which emails to delete,” he said, according to the source.

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How To Start A Conservative Third Party

With the news coming out of DC that many “conservatives” in Congress are no longer willing to fight to repeal ObamaCare and the recent compromise on the “fiscal cliff,” I have just about given up on the GOP. The Republican Party controls the purse that funds the Federal government, but one would never know that from watching their actions. Moreover, after watching over 30 tea party-supported freshmen sell out on the debt limit and other fiscal issues, I am just not sure we can ever reform the GOP. It may be time to create a conservative third party.

Efforts to create a conservative third party have never been successful; the biggest obstacle to such an effort is the fear conservatives have that by going third party, it will weaken the GOP and thus allow more Democrats to win. And that’s a legitimate fear. And that is why all the third parties that exist today end up with a few percentage points every election and have zero impact. However, here’s an idea that addresses this issue.

For a third party to be effective, millions of voters need to join it, become active, recruit others, and support its candidates. Moreover, millions of dollars need to be raised to market the party and fight for ballot access. I propose that a website be set up that collects pledges. By that, I mean a person would log on, register himself, and then electronically sign a “pledge” that he will vote for a 3rd party when the party officially launches.

The when part is the key to this effort. When the number of pledges reaches, say, thirty million voters, only then does the party launch and actually field candidates. The same kind of tactic could be used to raise money for the party. When contribution pledges reaches say, $40 million dollars, the party launches. No more feeble third parties that get 1% of the vote. The party only launches when it has enough voters and money to be a serious electoral player.

Read more here.

Robert Spencer Disses Leaders of CPAC 2013 at CPAC 2013

Pam Geller on CPAC’s Refusal to Recognize Radical Islam: “It’s a Crime”

Let Them Be Damned

‘Uninvited’ Panel

A strong movement has to be willing to not only discuss the issues where everyone agrees, but also to debate important issues where opinion isn’t settled. The goal isn’t to get acclimation on every issue, but to understand the views of allies with differing opinions. By dampening distrust, it allows more robust cooperation on issues where there is agreement.

The conservative movement, in particular, has to be willing to confront important issues, even if causes some members discomfort. The left comes from a singular philosophy; increase centralized control over citizens. Conservatism is built on the sanctity of the individual, but its members are animated by different issues. Conservatives must address all issues where individual liberty is threatened, and it must allow all voices to be heard. That is the spirit underlying Breitbart News’ “Uninvited” session at CPAC on Saturday.

Andrew Breitbart’s animating vision was that all conservative voices deserve to be heard. Moreover, that all issues vital to our national interest deserve a hearing. If the conservative movement bows to the media or a political establishment and censors its discussions, it is cheapened and made weaker.

In that spirit, Breitbart News has organized an impressive panel of experts to address issues which are all to often swept under the rug.

The “Uninvited” panel will take place on Saturday, March 16th from 1-3pm. The event is being held at the Gaylord Convention Center at National Harbor, host hotel for CPAC. The wide-ranging discussion will address the threat of radical islam, the rampant rise of crony capitalism and the undermining of our nation’s military, among other issues. Through active engagement between policy experts and CPAC attendees, “Uninvited” will provide conservatives a robust forum on issues that pose an existential threat to our nation.

Stephen K. Bannon, Executive Chairman of Breitbart News Network, said, “This session is not simply about speakers and panelists, but about direct engagement and participation by the CPAC audience. Andrew Breitbart believed in more voices, not less, and that is what this session will be about. We will get as many people as possible to the microphone to ask their questions and engage our speakers.”

Read more here.

Sen. Rand Paul at CPAC 2013