Freedom of Speech? Flush Rush?
carolyn By Carolyn Gargaro
Rightgrrl Co-Founder
January, 1998
The Flush Rush campaign isn't anything new - it was started around 1994. Basically, the idea behind the campaign is to get Rush Limbaugh taken off the air by having people write to the FCC and complain, and to boycott his show's advertisers. There is also a "Flush Rush Quarterly" which has a goal of refuting what Rush says. I knew that NOW had been active in the campaign, but I had not heard much about it in the past few years, until recently.

Someone recently informed me that NOW is still on the "Flush Rush" campaign, and are using it as the focus for some of their fundraising and membership drive mailings. NOW calls for people to donate money to help them get Rush taken off the air.

I have a copy of the mailing piece here in front of me. It's actually pretty funny - there's a big Flush Rush logo smack on the front of the mailing (classy!) and inside, they describe the "right-wing" and Rush as no less than the siblings of Satan who, unless stopped, (with your donations of course), will have women locked at home in chains, slaving over hot stoves and raising at least nine children. Oh -- and they'd be barefoot too.

With all the issues facing women today, this is NOW's primary focus? They really believe that Rush is the biggest threat to women's rights? Why? Because he is pro-life? Rush is pro-life but abortion is far from the main focus of his show. Rush's primary focus is on small government. Perhaps it is because he uses the term "feminazi" - a term which he says applies to less than 10 women. If NOW is concerned about "name calling" though, perhaps they should re-work their mailing material - for instance:

"We need to expose the hateful, divisive fanaticism of Rush Limbaugh"

"Limbaugh's advertisers subsidize his hostile, right-wing demagoguery."

Don't get me wrong - NOW has the perfect right to ask people to write letters to the FCC and to boycott advertisers. Personally, I haven't listened to Rush in quite a while -- it just seems a bit odd to be calling for Rush to be taken off the air because, and I quote, "unfair or unbalanced use of public airwaves for political goals." Excuse me? Unfair? How so? Unfair because Rush doesn't agree with NOW's agenda? Unbalanced? Why? Because he doesn't "balance" his show with liberal beliefs? Does NOW hold liberal talk show hosts to the same standards? Do they ask that liberal talk radio programs to provide a conservative counter point? Do they call liberal talk radio an "unfair use of public airwaves for political goals"?

I often hear cries from people regarding other boycotts, such as the Disney boycott. How dare the Southern Baptists boycott the company! Do these same people complain about NOW calling for people to complain about Rush? With the many liberal talk radio programs, are conservatives not supposed to have a time slot? 

This article copyright © 1998 by Carolyn Gargaro and may not be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of its author. All rights reserved.