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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 12/12/12

Is Conservative Media One Big "Racket"?

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That feels like a racket to me.

Meanwhile, the incessant right-wing media desire to extract donations from followers for people and organizations that don't really need it can lead to baffling disconnects.  

Last week, while cheering the news that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) would be leaving the U.S. Senate in order to become president of the influential conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, Rush Limbaugh urged his listeners to support the institution and to become paying members. What Limbaugh failed to mention to his AM listeners was that The Heritage Foundation operates on an $80 million annual budget, lists assets totaling nearly $200 million, and receives generous support from of 3M, Boeing, and ExxonMobil, just to name a few, key corporate benefactors.

Indeed, the Heritage Foundation, with its gold-plated deep pockets and its big business sponsorship, has long been seen as the most prosperous think tank in all of Washington, D.C., boasting a staff of nearly 300 people. (As its new president, DeMint's annual salary will likely be in excess of $1 million.) Yet Limbaugh was urging his listeners from around the country, including those from small town America, to write checks to the Heritage Foundation so that its voice can be heard?  

And yes, according to this Washington Post report, Limbaugh has pocketed millions from the Heritage Foundation over the years, so this also feels like a racket. And there aren't many American political movements that have turned rackets to electoral success.

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Eric Boehlert is the author of Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush (Free Press, 2006). He worked for five years as a senior writer for Salon.com, where he wrote extensively about media and politics. Prior to that, he worked as a (more...)
 

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