Updated at bottom of post | This morning, NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell sent letters to Jay Farner and David Friend, the presidents of Quicken Loans and Carbonite, respectively, addressing the hypocrisy of how their companies pulled out of the Rush Limbaugh program over comments for which the conservative talker has since apologized, even as they continue to advertise on the programs of hateful left-wing radio hosts.
For example, Carbonite continues to advertise on Ed Schultz's radio program, although he maliciously slammed conservative author Laura Ingraham in May 2011 as a "right-wing slut" and "a talk slut."
Schultz, you may recall, was briefly suspended from his radio and MSNBC programs, and offered on-air apologies to Ingraham.
In the case of Quicken Loans, the hypocrisy is arguably much, much worse. The company advertises on the Mike Malloy program, the host of which has a long track record of vicious and vile comments not just about conservatives but even ordinary citizens. For example, on Malloy's March 2 program, he seemed to revel in the deaths of tornado victims in the South and Midwest, typically Republican states in presidential contests:
“Their God, if this is the way they want to look at it, keeps smashing them into little grease spots on the pavement, in Alabama, in Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia and Oklahoma – you know, the Bible Belt...where they ain’t gonna let no g*dd*mn science get in the way, it says in the bible, blah blah blah, so according to their way of thinking, y’know, God with his omnipotent thumb, and so far tonight, has smashed so far 20 people on Highway 12, or whatever the hell highway they live next to.”
After the March 1 death of Andrew Breitbart, Malloy seethed with malicious rage, "Roast in hell you son of a bitch Breitbart -- I mean seriously, you thug punk!"
"Breitbart was 43 at his passing and is survived by a wife and four children," Bozell noted in his letter to Farner.
"Perhaps you did not know about Malloy’s comments or even your sponsorship of his show. That is entirely possible. But you do now," Bozell noted, adding:
If you continue to exercise an obvious double standard of condoning left-wing hate speech, while caving in to partisan pressure to discontinue sponsoring the Rush Limbaugh Show, we will expose Quicken Loans for hypocrisy.
Mr. Farner, the MRC is committed to defending free speech. You have the constitutional right to sponsor or not sponsor anyone you like. But, if you drop a conservative radio host under the pretense that he made an uncivil comment about a political activist, yet continue to sponsor a leftwing host who relishes in the death of innocent children, we will hold you accountable for that decision.
You can read the letter to Quicken's president Jay Farner here and the letter to Carbonite president David Friend here.
You can also sign our pro-Rush petition at IStandWithRush.org.
