Petrelis Files

Rush Limbaugh: CBS News Boss Gave to Bush/Cheney ...

Is Rush still on painkillers and are they influencing his mind and mouth, to say more vastly idiotic things than normal?

The big mouth of the hard-right labels Editor & Publisher a left wing web site, which, of course, it isn't. E&P is a publication for the newspaper industry, and it covers rags of all sorts regardless of the leftist or right-wing or middle political thinking of a given paper's owners, reporting staff or editorial writers.

Rush's mislabeling of E&P aside, I'm happy he's giving attention to the fact that McManus made a donation to Bush/Cheney last year. You can be sure that if McManus had instead donated to the Democratic loser from Boston, Rush's lips would be flapping nonstop about his political leanings and that doom awaits CBS News.

But McManus gives $250 to Bush, the AP wire and E&P report on that and his larger contribution to liberal Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and Rush doesn't like the news. Oh, well. Let him be upset with the word getting out on the McManus donations.

Not that CBS has asked for my advice on how best to explain the McManus donations, but I'd like to suggest to the network brass that they issue a statement making these points: 1) The donations show he's somewhat bipartisan, 2) He was engaging in civic participation, and 3) In spite of his political giving, McManus will deliver equal and balanced news coverage.

The silence of CBS on the donations of their new boss for news is an unnecessary thorn in the eye. C'mon, CBS say something.

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The Rush Limbaugh Show
October 27, 2005

[...]
But he said, "You know, we need to totally rethink the news and we need to get out there and do a talent search that goes beyond what the norms are," and I've thought about, "If you want to shake things up, here I am," knowing it would (laughing) never happen. Can you imagine? But that's not the story. That's a prelude to the story.

The story is this. This is from Editor and Publisher, which is a left-wing website that chronicles the great left-wing work of the media. "New York -- Conservatives may take heart in a scoop by blogger Michael Petrelis that the new boss of CBS News, Sean McManus, donated $250 to the Bush-Cheney re-election bid in 2004, while shunning John Kerry. Petrelis, who specializes in digging out election contributions from media types, reported the donation on Wednesday by the New Canaan, Conn., resident, found in Federal Election Commission files."

So he gave 250 bucks to Bush-Cheney. How long does he last at CBS, now? How much respect will he have from his colleagues in the CBS News division? He donated to Bush-Cheney, didn't donate anything to Kerry -- and isn't it interesting that this is news? This is news! I mean, it's quite natural and normal for media people to give to Kerry and other causes, but, wow!

When somebody gives to Bush-Cheney, why, Katie, bar the doors! We've got to look into this! Who is this guy? Interesting. I like Sean McManus. He has revamped CBS Sports, and he's done an excellent job with it. [...]