Limbaugh says it’s time to turn off Fox News

By Stephen C. Webster
Tuesday, July 9, 2013 9:14 EDT

Topics: rush limbaugh

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Update (below): Limbaugh walks back Fox News criticism

Republican shock jock Rush Limbaugh advanced a view on Monday that very few in the conservative media would dare to enunciate: he told a caller to stop watching Fox News, particularly the network’s panel discussions, which he said are “designed to get you ticked off.”

“You know, you need to stop watching these people, because they’re not going to change, Tony,” Limbaugh said, talking down a caller who seemed convinced that Obama is preparing to launch a “Stalinist” attack on America with windmills and solar panels. “I really care. You’ve got to stop watching these people.”


“All these names you mention, they’re not going to change,” he went on, noting the caller’s reference to the network’s ostensibly liberal pundits. “And you’re exactly right, if all of this were happening with a Republican president — which it wouldn’t, it couldn’t by definition, we don’t believe in these policies — but if it were, you’re right. They’d be raising holy hell about it. They’d be calling the president cold-hearted, mean, extremist, exclusionary. The rich, they’d be all over a Republican president. But that isn’t gonna change.”

“So your blood pressure is going to suffer if you keep watching these people,” Limbaugh added. “They’re designed to get you ticked off. They’re designed to make you question your sanity. You’re gonna watch these people and say, ‘How in the world can we have such idiotic people?’ And you’re gonna thing maybe they’re not and you’re crazy. And I assure you, Tony, you’re not. Trust me on that.”

A recent Gallup poll of Americans’ news consumption habits revealed that Fox News is still the most popular 24-hour news network, with about 8 percent of Americans who use TV as their primary source of news tuning into the Republican-leaning channel. As such, a whopping 94 percent of their viewing audience claims to be either a strong Republican voter or at least leaning Republican.

However, a University of Maryland study published in 2010 discovered that Fox News viewers were the most widely misinformed news consumers around on a whole host of issues. A full 60 percent of Fox News viewers surveyed said climate change is not happening; 63 percent said the president is not an American citizen or that his citizenship is unclear; and a whopping 91 percent thought that the economy-saving Recovery Act, widely credited with preventing another Great Depression, somehow cost American jobs instead of bolstering the economic recovery.

CNN trailed behind Fox News in AP’s news consumer poll out on Monday, pulling in about 7 percent of American TV news viewers, most of them moderates or voters who lean Democratic. That’s still pretty good compared to the Democratic-leaning MSNBC, which clocked in at just 1 percent of TV news viewers, just above “non-specific” cable news in the poll.

This audio is from “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” aired Monday, July 8, 2013, snipped by The Daily Rushbo.

No, he said to stop listening to a certain broadcaster.

No, he said to stop listening to a certain broadcaster.

Rush Limbaugh used his golden microphone Tuesday to shoot down claims he told a member of his vast audience not to watch Fox News after the caller complained about one of the fair and balanced network's liberal commentators.

A caller named Tony from Tampa dialed Limbaugh on Monday to vent about a comment Fox News Channel contributor Julie Roginsky had made regarding coal on a show hosted by Neil Cavuto.

Tony lumped Roginsky, a former aide to the late Democrat Sen. Frank Lautenberg, in with several other left-leaning contributors who appear regularly on various Fox News shows. Limbaugh advised Tony not to watch people he disagreed with, but several websites decided the talk show titan was telling him to tune out Fox altogether.

"I said, 'Tony, stop watching these people because they're intended to make you question your sanity.You need to stop watching these people because they're not gonna change,'" a frustrated Limbaugh said on his widely-heard radio show. "That has become 'Limbaugh told listeners to stop watching Fox. 'I did not tell anybody to stop watching Fox."

Mediaite, one of the websites -- along with Huffington Post and Politico -- that initially said Limbaugh had told listeners to stop watching Fox, noted in a Tuesday afternoon posting that Limbaugh had subsequently "clarified" his remark. Mediaite quoted him as saying, it “was interpreted by people as a blanket, overall criticism of Fox. It wasn’t!”

Mediaite reported he said the comment was aimed at the liberal pundit class that are “designed to make you question your sanity.”

In addition to its new posting, Mediaite updated its original post to reflect the clarification.

Even before Limbaugh and Mediaite clarified the matter, several posters chided Mediaite for taking El Rushbo out of context. One, identified as “Blottomania,” called the original article “patently disingenuous” and said it was obvious that “Limbaugh's not referring to the entity that is Fox News, but rather some of the individuals who prop up the Democratic line on Fox News.”

“What this also makes clear is that there certainly are outlets for the Democratic viewpoint on Fox News, contrary to the ridiculous contentions to the contrary made by many here and elsewhere,” Blottomania wrote.

Another reader urged people to listen to the tape.

“Anyone with half a brain who listens to the recording you posted will conclude Limbaugh was NOT referring to Fox - but to the liberal Democrats who stir things up ON Fox,” he wrote. “Love him or hate him, you shouldn't put words into Limbaugh's mouth!”

Limbaugh said he would in fact "be urging people to watch Fox," and went on to display his extensive knowledge of television ratings.

"Fox is the most-watched news network in the country," Limbaugh said. "More people get their news from Fox News than anybody else.Now, if you add up [all] the others, they will outnumber Fox, but if you take a side-by-side individual network-by-network comparison, Fox is it, it's numero uno."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/09/spinning-rush-limbaugh-fox-news-comments-taken-out-context/?intcmp=features#ixzz2YbXC17Qx

I gotta Fever and the only cure is more cowbell.

"However, a University of Maryland study published in 2010 discovered that Fox News viewers were the most widely misinformed news consumers around on a whole host of issues. A full 60 percent of Fox News viewers surveyed said climate change is not happening; 63 percent said the president is not an American citizen or that his citizenship is unclear; and a whopping 91 percent thought that the economy-saving Recovery Act, widely credited with preventing another Great Depression, somehow cost American jobs instead of bolstering the economic recovery"


and....soooooooooooooo.....there's an error there? sounds spot on to me

except fot the part about climate change. that is happening

There's 3 sides to every TV news story....

CNN the Demonicrat channel

FOX the Repulsicon channel

and then there's the truth.... which neither will tell