You know liberals are running out of steam in criticizing Rush Limbaugh when they claim he's hardly known beyond hard-core conservatives -- seeing how there is no one who liberals obsess over more except the Benevolent One in the White House.
Making this off-the-wall claim was a left-wing radio host who you may have heard of, a real roll of the dice on that one, named Randi Rhodes. (Audio after the jump)
That egotistical blowhard thinks he's too famous to moderate a debate, he's too famous. I got news for you. Very few people in this country know who he is and that is the dirty little secret. You've got about 60 million people who are going to vote and they don't know who he is. Young people don't know who he is, OK? People who don't listen to talk radio don't know who he is. There's 3 million viewers on any given day on Fox News, no one outside of those 3 million people know who he is! It's ridiculous! He's so famous, he's so famous that he can't, uh, he can't possibly, you know, be a moderator. I just, I cannot believe the ego on this fat freak. I just, I mean, I have always said, you know, that if show business is a totem pole, then radio is where the dog lifts its leg. I make absolutely no bones about what I do for a living. I don't think I'm famous! I never thought I was famous, not even when I was semi-famous did I ever even contemplate or process that, OK? I never thought that! I just thought I have a job I really like to do and some people that appreciate what I do and that's great. Isn't that something?
Rhodes didn't elaborate on when she was "semi-famous" but most likely she was alluding to Air America Radio firing her after she maligned Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro each as "a f***ing whore" during a radio affiliate event in San Francisco during the 2008 Democratic primaries.
Turns out that might have been the high-water mark for Rhodes, seeing how she went from Air America (now defunct) to left-wing Nova M Radio (ditto), lasting there less than a year due to disputes with management.
Rhodes' website includes a link to clips of her recent TV appearances, the most recent of which occurred nearly three years ago on Joy Behar's old show on HLN. Before that it was another appearance on Behar's show in April 2010 and several spots on CNN in October and November 2009. Since then her appearances in other media have been limited to other left-wing radio shows.
Talkers Magazine, a trade publication that covers the radio industry, releases its annual "Heavy Hundred" of the most influential radio hosts in the country. As usual, Limbaugh was listed as number one this year. Rhodes can be found in the middle of the pack, at 49. Three years ago, to mark its 20 anniversary, Talkers Magazine released a "Heaviest Hundred" list of the "most important radio talk show hosts of all time." Once again, Limbaugh was ranked at number one. This time Rhodes came in at 45.
In other words, Limbaugh's influence remains strong -- and his radio audience is roughly five times larger than the "3 million people" figure cited by Rhodes -- while she appears on the wane.
If Limbaugh is so lacking in influence as Rhodes claims, why did liberals go ballistic last year when he labeled perennial student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" for wanting government to mandate free contraception? After all, if "very few people in this country" even know who Limbaugh is, how much harm can he do? Apparently quite a bit, at least as far as liberals are concerned, considering how their criticism of Limbaugh was based on the premise of him as an immensely powerful figure having bullied a helpless damsel in distress.
