Ralph Nader Attacks...Rush Limbaugh??

Ralph Nader is running for president *YAWN*, so you would expect him to be attacking the GOP and Dem candidates. Not so. Nader is going after....wait for it...Rush Limbaugh:

NADER TO LIMBAUGH, GET OFF WELFARE

WASHINGTON, July 10——Independent Presidential Candidate Ralph Nader today released the following letter to radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh.

Rush Limbaugh
The Rush Limbaugh Show
2 Penn Plaza
New York, NY 10121

Dear Mr. Limbaugh,

The Associated Press reports your new contract with Premiere Radio Networks will enrich you with at least $38 million a year over the next eight years. You are making this money on the public property of the American people for which you pay no rent.

You, Rush Limbaugh, are on welfare.

As you know, the public airwaves belong to the American people. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is supposed to be our trustee in managing this property. The people are the landlords and the radio and TV stations and affiliated companies are the tenants.

The problem is that since the Radio Act of 1927 these corporate tenants have been massively more powerful in Washington, DC than the tens of millions of listeners and viewers. The result has been no payment of rent by the stations for the value of their license to broadcast. You and your company are using the public's valuable property for free. This freeloading on the backs of the American people is called corporate welfare.

It is way past due for the super-rich capitalist—Rush Limbaugh from Cape Girardeau, Missouri—to get himself off big time welfare. It is way past due for Rush Limbaugh as the Kingboy of corporatist radio to set a capitalist example for his peers and pay rent to the American people for the very lucrative use of their property.

You need not wait for the broadcast industry-indentured FCC and Congress to do the right thing. You can lead by paying a voluntary rent—determined by a reputable appraisal organization—for the time you use on the hundreds of stations that carry your words each weekday.

Payment of rent for the use of public airwaves owned by the American people is the conservative position. Real conservatives oppose corporate welfare. Real corporatists feed voraciously from hundreds of billions of dollars in corporate welfare gushing out of Washington, DC yearly.

Whose side are you on? Freeloading? Or paying rent for the public property you have been using free for many years?

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely yours,

Ralph Nader

I know, it reads like a parody but it's legit. My guess is that Rush will have a response on today's show, and it will likely consist of one of a couple of three word phrases that I can think of, though at least one of them couldn't be said on the radio.

Actually, Rush will probably make the logical argument that he is paying rent - it's called "income taxes". Rush's tax bill on that $38 million per year will be staggering and that money goes straight to the federal treasury. That's all the "rent" the government needs.