Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

[MattParker]

Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

A radio station in Tucson has taken down a billboard for the Rush Limbaugh show that called Limbaugh a "straight shooter" and was riddled with images of bullet holes.

Clear Channel, the radio giant that owns KNST (790 AM), said the billboard had been up for weeks, but was now inappropriate in the wake of the Tucson shootings...
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/01/14/2011-01-14_clear_channel_yanks_rush_limbaugh_straight_shooter_billboard_from_tucson_highway.html

Reportedly this sign was "down the street" from where the shooting occurred.

 

[Signal_Faded]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

And they did the right thing by taking it down.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

And they did the right thing by taking it down.

I don't think you get the point of these threads. Clear Channel, Rush Limbaugh, and conservative talk in general, can NEVER do anything right. Taking it down is an implicit admission of guilt in the eyes of some folks.

 

[Northwest Bobby]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

Hoolad Cooke said that was just mean!!! ???

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

And they did the right thing by taking it down.

I don't think you get the point of these threads. Clear Channel, Rush Limbaugh, and conservative talk in general, can NEVER do anything right. Taking it down is an implicit admission of guilt in the eyes of some folks.

Even though it is a rather natural, organic event, it is never polite to fart at a funeral.

Even if there had been a shooting at a retail store where a robbery was taking place and no political overtones were part of the story or part of any response to the story, it would be in good taste even under those circumstances to take down a nearby advertising sign portraying bullet holes.

If some one is too thin skinned to face the possibility of "an implicit admission of guilt" when it is simply an act of politeness, they shouldn't commission an advertising theme that is edgy in the first place. Never let your ad agency talk you into eating beans on the day of a funeral.... unless it is the funeral of a good friend who had a reputation for practical jokes.

 

[quadraphonic]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

Even if there had been a shooting at a retail store where a robbery was taking place and no political overtones were part of the story or part of any response to the story, it would be in good taste even under those circumstances to take down a nearby advertising sign portraying bullet holes.

This isn't about taste or decorum.
It's only about published outrage fueled by assumptions on the part of many people who are bound and determined that their initial assumptions (and what they were told) are still true, despite evidence to the contrary.
Then it's about specials that have been televised (but none were televised at Ft. Hood, or any other places, because of the lack of published outrage). That's why the sign came down.
A jewelry store in our town was robbed a couple weeks ago, and the owner shot. He will probably come through, but there won't be any Congress members or film crews there as he does, and there wouldn't be any outrage implied about any shooter-related ads in his case.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

Even though it is a rather natural, organic event, it is never polite to fart at a funeral.

Even if there had been a shooting at a retail store where a robbery was taking place and no political overtones were part of the story or part of any response to the story, it would be in good taste even under those circumstances to take down a nearby advertising sign portraying bullet holes.

If some one is too thin skinned to face the possibility of "an implicit admission of guilt" when it is simply an act of politeness, they shouldn't commission an advertising theme that is edgy in the first place. Never let your ad agency talk you into eating beans on the day of a funeral.... unless it is the funeral of a good friend who had a reputation for practical jokes.

You're absolutely right. But we're not talking about dealing with reasonable people. Clear Channel, or more specifically, someone at Clear Channel, decided to take the sign down because it's the polite and reasonable thing to do.

The implicit admission of guilt I referred to is in the minds of people who want nothing more than to advance an agenda. No reasonable person sees this as more than what it is: a billboard taken down because it could be seen as insensitive.

There is nothing even remotely edgy about that billboard until you put it into the context of both the shooting and the manufactured "rhetoric" argument that arose from the shooting. No one involved with the billboard could have seen that coming.

 

[Shoot From Hip]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

My guess is there have been other shootings in Tucson, maybe even near the location of that billboard, in the past year. Why didn't they take down the sign out of respect for those victims? Is there a threshold to the stench of the fart?

 

[listener-in]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

Clear Channel, or more specifically, someone at Clear Channel, decided to take the sign down because it's the polite and reasonable thing to do.

In that case it was a clear acknowledgment that the presence of the sign was neither polite nor reasonable before or after the assassination, and should not have been put up in the first place.

As to the wider issue of incendiary language - if you are Sarah Palin or her political and media allies, your violent language and images against your opponents cannot possibly incite violent actions; yet when those same people call you out on it, that's inciting violence. Funny how that works.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

In that case it was a clear acknowledgment that the presence of the sign was neither polite nor reasonable before or after the assassination, and should not have been put up in the first place.

No, it's done in order to appease those with attitudes like yours. Reasonable people didn't find the billboard objectionable before or after the shooting, since it was only a billboard. The manufactured issue of "political rhetoric" being somehow responsible for the tragedy led to the decision.

As the old saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the oil. In this case, "the squeaky wheel" are people trying to score political points off the deaths and injuries of a lot of innocent people by blaming it on talk radio or Sarah Palin. It's easier for them to just take the board down than to have to deal with a bunch of people who want to benefit from a sad situation.

By the way, I'm pretty sure the same people who defend Palin and talk radio also groaned in disgust when CNN issued an unnecessary apology for one of their guests using the word "crosshairs". I know I did. They had a show called "Crossfire" on the air for 25 years. To my knowledge it never caused a single death. There was no need to apologize, just like there was no real need to take this billboard down.

 

[MattParker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

No, it's done in order to appease those with attitudes like yours. Reasonable people didn't find the billboard objectionable before or after the shooting, since it was only a billboard.

Of course, "reasonable people" don't find the billboard objectionable since you have decided that anybody who does find it objectionable must - by definition - be unreasonable.

Nine years ago, there were a number of businesses using "Ground Zero" in their name. Many decided to change their names. I guess that was "unreasonable," too.

After Kennedy was shot, ASCAP removed the song "Big B" by Frank Loesser (from the musical "Most Happy Fella") from air play. I guess that was also "unreasonable."

Meaning comes from context and contexts change.

Conservatives are very "reasonable." They keep making up reasons to justify questionable actions and untenable positions.

 

[Shoot From Hip]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

Sorry...people of principle are not intimidated by "squeaky wheels."

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

Sorry...people of principle are not intimidated by "squeaky wheels."

We're not talking about people of principle. We're talking about businesses who are scared to death to be labeled "insensitive" or any of the other new mortal sins.

Meaning comes from context and contexts change.

I don't disagree with this, but you alone (or one side of an disagreement) can't just redefine context at will. You want for someone you disagree with politically to be held at fault for this so bad, that you've abandoned all pretense of even appearing reasonable.

You are surely entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts. The facts are that this event had absolutely nothing to do with politicians or people on TV and radio saying mean things about other politicians and TV/radio hosts. Nothing. No matter how much you want it to be so, in order to give you some sort of moral superiority over people you disagree with, it just isn't.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

You are surely entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts. The facts are that this event had absolutely nothing to do with politicians or people on TV and radio saying mean things about other politicians and TV/radio hosts. Nothing. No matter how much you want it to be so, in order to give you some sort of moral superiority over people you disagree with, it just isn't.

You know, what would really be helpful in this conversation (and other topics) if you would come here prepared to talk about RADIO. You seem to come here to PROVE that the conservative position is always right and the liberal position is always wrong. We get that. Some agree with that. Some do not. But what is the reality of radio broadcasting. Listeners have emotions. Sponsors have expectations. What we try to discuss here is what makes for good radio, what makes for radio of integrity.

We get it. Nothing bad ever happens when conservative things are said on the radio.

People die and mental hospitals overflow when liberal things are said on the radio.

Does your song have a second verse?

I'm going to trust the station manager and the sign company staff sitting in Tucson. If they thought it was the sensible and honest thing to do to take the billboard down, great. It may not have been a political question at all. What if the station manager was a neighbor of the judge and planned to attend the funeral. What if he went over to convey his sorrow to the widow and she looks up at him and says: "If you were sorry you would take that sign down!"

There some decisions in life that do not see-saw on the fulcrum of conservative vs liberal.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

You know, what would really be helpful in this conversation (and other topics) if you would come here prepared to talk about RADIO.

I think you'll find that I'm the one trying to keep this about radio. You don't see me throwing around phrases like "Conservatives are very "reasonable." They keep making up reasons to justify questionable actions and untenable positions." Every time a conservative host gets canned from a 500 watt AM station in East Nowhere, South Dakota the message board equivalent of a party breaks out. We can't even have a "happy birthday Rush" thread without people making pill popping and hate mongering references. So don't go pointing the "uncivil" finger at me.

The fact is that a very large segment of the radio business is under attack. We can either allow it to happen because we don't agree with what the people say, or we can stand up against it on principle. You won't ever find me saying that Ed ome Schultz should be fired because he advocated ripping Dick Cheney's beating heart out. You won't find me threatening to boycott Rhandi Rhodes's advertisers because she played a "comedy" bit advocating the assassination of President Bush. In this very thread I said CNN shouldn't have to apologize for using the word "crosshair".

This isn't about my politics. This is about standing up for the free exchange of ideas on the public's airwaves. Everyone here seems to give that lip service until someone goes after a guy they disagree with or a syndicated host that put them out of a job 20 years ago.

We've become a nation of apologizers. That's all we do anymore. Apologize, then apologize for apologizing.

 

[UpstateNYBill]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

You know, what would really be helpful in this conversation (and other topics) if you would come here prepared to talk about RADIO.

We can't even have a "happy birthday Rush" thread without people making pill popping and hate mongering references. So don't go pointing the "uncivil" finger at me.

How can you wish a hate monger a happy birthday without hate mongering?

 

[listener-in]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

In that case it was a clear acknowledgment that the presence of the sign was neither polite nor reasonable before or after the assassination, and should not have been put up in the first place.

No, it's done in order to appease those with attitudes like yours. Reasonable people didn't find the billboard objectionable before or after the shooting, since it was only a billboard. The manufactured issue of "political rhetoric" being somehow responsible for the tragedy led to the decision.

If media organizations were really out to appease attitudes like mine, station managers would long ago have looked in the mirror and asked themselves if they would dare speak face-to-face with their neighbors in the same manner as the overpaid “stars” that they give a platform to abuse well over half of their potential audience. The very reason they did it was that its was "only" a billboard.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

How can you wish a hate monger a happy birthday without hate mongering?

I guess your mothers never taught you the old "if you don't have anything nice to say" rule of thumb. But thanks for proving my point.

if they would dare speak face-to-face with their neighbors in the same manner as the overpaid “stars” that they give a platform to abuse well over half of their potential audience.

Yeah, conservatives are the violent ones. :

 

[MattParker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

I guess your mothers never taught you the old "if you don't have anything nice to say" rule of thumb.

I guess Mrs. Limbaugh, Mrs. Beck and Mrs. Hannity skipped that one, too.

 

[DonTheTrucker]

Re: Rush's Billboard near Shooting : "Straight Shooter" riddled with bullet holes

I guess Mrs. Limbaugh, Mrs. Beck and Mrs. Hannity skipped that one, too.

I don't see them bemoaning the state of discourse in this country, then in the same breath calling someone a fat pill popper. That happens an awful lot around here, and you're one of the main culprits.