We know Media Matters hates Rush Limbaugh. It's an obsession second only to the
fixation on Fox News.
Media Matters was behind the
astroturfed Stop Rush campaign targeting advertisers, which ended in a
complete failure.
Nonetheless, the Limbaugh obsession continues at Media Matters.
The latest iteration is an article published yesterday claiming that Rush Limbaugh's ratings are so bad, Limbaugh's taken to claiming ratings don't matter,
After Getting Bad Ratings News, Limbaugh Tries To Prove "Ratings Don't Matter"
Rush Limbaugh used CBS' decision to hire comedian Stephen Colbert as the new host of The Late Show as evidence that ratings are irrelevant following reports that the talk radio firebrands' own ratings have collapsed.
On the May 1 edition of his radio show, Limbaugh declared that CBS' decision to replace David Letterman with Colbert is proof that "ratings don't matter in a lot of television." Limbaugh latched onto recent comments by CBS president Les Moonves to repeatedly gloat that he was right when he claimed that "it's not about ratings anymore" but rather about coolness. In fact, during the entire first segment of his show, Limbaugh repeated the phrase "ratings don't matter" a total of nine times....
Media Matters provided a 7 minute audio, and a partial transcript, to back up its claim.
I happened to listen to that segment live when I was in the car yesterday, so I knew what Media Matters readers were not informed: The audio and transcript were edited to end just before Limbaugh made clear that the type of approach the networks can take for late night TV does not apply to him.
Here's the part of
the transcript Media Matters did not include: